Crucible of Omens: Forum news feed

[skacky]

This is looking great, guys. If I may, I find the cliff on the right very flat, giving it more depth would help a ton methinks.

[Bikerdude]

Looking back at the previous update, you guys seem to have done wonderful progress! I love how the lighting and textures make everything feel so dirty yet natural. Reminds of the beginning of Tears of St. Lucia with its littered streets and smelly corners. Keep up the good work.

Heh, this is just a very small snapshot of the work we have done.

This is looking great, guys. If I may, I find the cliff on the right very flat, giving it more depth would help a ton methinks.

A lot of stuff is still wip, but we are always open to suggestions etc. Im guessing if we made a model with hanging grass and such that would be the depth your looking for..?

[zergrush]

More importantly, how are the maps working, performance-wise? Are they loading fast enough, and have you tested them in low-end computers?

[Bikerdude]

More importantly, how are the maps working, performance-wise? Are they loading fast enough, and have you tested them in low-end computers?

Please....are you serious! you do know than I am on the case... that, bikerdude is on the case

 

OK, but on a serious note. I have worked on or looked at every map in the campaign and if the perf needed fixing you can can be rest assured it will be good enough or better. Im confident my campaign colleges will confirm this :-)

[Melan]

Reasonable precautions have been taken to make the missions run well. Whether that is enough for a really-really weak PC -- probably not.

[skacky]

Heh, this is just a very small snapshot of the work we have done.

 

A lot of stuff is still wip, but we are always open to suggestions etc. Im guessing if we made a model with hanging grass and such that would be the depth your looking for..?

 

Yes, that would help, but I was thinking making it more noisy and giving it more shapes like the one on the left with the rocks, making its surface irregular without exaggerating. Cliffs are quite delicate to make correctly.

One of the best cliffs I've seen in a video game so far were in Dear Esther. It's a combination of displacements (I assume you're using patches to make them in Dark Radiant) and models.

Edited April 6, 2013 by skacky

[zergrush]

I'm going to risk a question now. Will the campaign be finished on time for the 1.09 standalone, considering Springheel said he hoped it would probably be released this fall (1.09, that is)? Because it would be nice if it could be bundled with the release, so all the new players could have a full campaign right from the start.

Edited April 6, 2013 by zergrush

[Melan]

No. If we decide on a mission-by-mission release, it may be possible to release the first mission, but at the current level of activity, completing the entire thing would be impossible.

[zergrush]

Ah, that's a shame. But don't do a mission-by-mission thing. It makes waiting even harder, as most of us can already feel with Grayman's William Steele series. If it takes another year for a full release, then let it take another year.

Edited April 6, 2013 by zergrush

[Midnight]

I think standalone would be enough big news for one release. A lot of people seem put off buying Doom 3 (or even digging up their old disks!) so removing that requirement would go a long way to introducing a lot of new people to TDM. New screens look nice btw, great work guys.

[demagogue]

Looking at the record of past campaign attempts, releasing them mission by mission is not a bad strategy. You have to remember the team is stretched to some limits, so releasing one level is a big accomplishment, and having them focused on that might help things along... Then they can turn all their attention to releasing the next, and so on... Take it down in bites.

[Sir Taffsalot]

From a personal POV I would rather the campaign was released as a whole. I would then have something to really sink my teeth into. From a mappers POV this is one hell of an under taking. Even though there are multiple people working on it. Realising mission by mission would in my opinion A) Help everyone to focus on one mission at a time and get it complete and B ) Assuming each mission is well recieved by the community, provide encouragement to keep on going.

 

I'm sure you guys know what you're doing anyway.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Sir Taffsalot

[zergrush]

From a personal POV I would rather the campaign was released as a whole. I would then have something to really sink my teeth into. From a mappers POV this is one hell of an under taking. Even though there are multiple people working on it. Realising mission by mission would in my opinion A) Help everyone to focus on one mission at a time and get it complete and B ) Assuming each mission is well recieved by the community, provide encouragement to keep on going.

 

I'm sure you guys know what you're doing anyway.

 

The thing is that according to what Melan said here (and I hope I'm not misquoting you Melan), it's mostly a miriad of small tasks that are left, which probably means most of the mapping is already done or nearly there. In case commnunity feedback is really needed at a certain point, releasing the first mission as a "demo" wouldn't be a bad a idea though, but after that, I would still prefer a full release instead of a sequential one.

[nbohr1more]

Article is up at Moddb now:

 

http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/crucible-of-omens-progress-report

[zergrush]

A small question, in the meantime. How are you folks balancing gameplay challenge? A common complain about most TDM maps is that a large amount of 'em seem to be on the easy side. Does this campaign follow the same route, or are you folks spicing up map difficulty levels with other than increasing the minimum amounts of loot?

[Melan]

I thought people were complaining more about unreasonably difficult missions? Anyway.

 

The campaign is not meant to be an "ULTRA hardcore eXXtreme difficulty" experience. It is probably comparable to Thief, which means experienced taffers may find it on the easy side. Let's face it, if you have been playing a game series for 15 years, you are bound to get better at it. That said, in multiple missions, higher difficulty levels will mean an increased challenge - objectives will be harder to accomplish, there may be more AI in harder positions, equipment will be more scarce, that sort of thing.

 

We are not using loot goals as mandatory objectives, but they are among the self-imposed goals / restrictions players may want to follow. There is certainly a lot to explore.

[Mr M]

It would be interesting to poll, as my belief is most ( almost want to say all, but ...) people who are playing the darkmod have played thief for a number of years.... and are very good at it; the harder a mission is, the more clever I have to be. It seems to me to be a very good thief is not a manner of how well you can move the player to knockout, lock pick, etc, it is how good your planning and creativity is.. my-two-cents.

 

Are there going to be multiple levels?

 

Always very thankful and appreciative for the work toward the DarkMod and campaign!

m

[Bikerdude]

Are there going to be multiple levels?

Yes, and some of the missions are almost big enough to be a campaign by themselves.

[PPoe]

What does multiple level mean? Some level inside level?

 

Im very excited about this, with all the names in team.. Cant wait!!

[Bikerdude]

What does multiple level mean? Some level inside level?

As in the amount of mission's in the campaign - more than 6, but less than 12

[lost_soul]

Artistic question: Will there be any daytime missions in this campaign? Think of something like Cragscleft, which is set mid-day. There are parts where you get to go outside and some really nice scenery, but you're not stuck hiding from guards in bright daylight.

[Bikerdude]

Artistic question: Will there be any daytime missions in this campaign? Think of something like Cragscleft, which is set mid-day. There are parts where you get to go outside and some really nice scenery, but you're not stuck hiding from guards in bright daylight.

At there isn't, but that's not a hard and fast rule.

[Bikerdude]

News update: 14/06/2013

 

While the team continues to toil away on the campaign here are some more spoilers to show the community what we have been building, Enjoy!

 

 

Ancient forgotten crypts: Vast, echoing halls and twisting passages deep underground - a resting place for barbarous kings and dark prophecies.

 

 

 

Grand imposing manors: A great lord from the city and his retreat in the mountains - what does he have to hide?

 

 

 

Large Industrial factories: Day and night, the foundries work, churning out gears and pieces of machinery. Yet there is a device they have never made...

 

 

 

Open sprawling cityscapes: Just another night on the rooftops: a narrow trail for some, a highway for others.

 

[Sotha]

*Swipes tears from eyes*

 

Beautiful, just beautiful.

 

When will it come out? 2013? 2014? 2015?

[raymeld]

Wow , wow and wow again!