[CAMP] Lions of Kandahar

[LeClair 56]

Hey LeClair, I see you registered here and posted an update to the Armaholic thread. Looks like you are raring to go, thank you for following through! Unfortunately, at the moment, there aren't any Canadian voices I need done at this point. However, I have a pretty substantial voice acting part for an American company commander named Jared, the accent is up to you as long as it sounds American. If you're interested, PM me and I'll send along the script. I have a few other parts I could use a voice actor for, all of which are American at the moment.

Whatever you need done I can try and help with. I also know a number of people who may be interested in playing small roles.

[h34dup 147]

Whatever you need done I can try and help with. I also know a number of people who may be interested in playing small roles.

Thanks a lot for offering your help, PM sent with the scripts.

******

For others who may be interested in voice acting, I essentially have my bases covered at this point, but let me know in this thread and I'll reach out if this changes, or for a future project.

[h34dup 147]

PROGRESS REPORT:

M9 - Put Your Mouthpiece In - Much of this mission is in place, you have to fight for control of a large ridge line with 4 key capture points, but there is still a good bit of work to be done to bring the mission to a close.

M10 - Friends for Life - The skeleton of the mission is in place- you have to defend the Casualty Collection Point and then make a daring rescue effort, pulling bodies of your wounded comrades to safety and defending them until MEDEVAC arrives, but more structure will need to be built out. This mission is really challenging from an editing perspective, hope to get it squared away soon.

M11 - Holding On At All Costs - Starting to plan for this one, which takes place mostly on an AC-130 gunship.

Also started learning about intro/outro cutscenes, under the guidance of nettrucker. I am hoping most of the intros/outros will be quick and to the point, not taking long to implement or experience, but that it will boost the storyline.

This campaign will have a rather high level of detail, hopefully you guys will enjoy experiencing and exploring it!

Screens to come soon, hopefully...

[ei8ght 11]

nice:bounce3:

[Kommiekat 11]

PROGRESS REPORT:

Also started learning about intro/outro cutscenes, under the guidance of nettrucker. I am hoping most of the intros/outros will be quick and to the point, not taking long to implement or experience, but that it will boost the storyline.

You could do as I do, just get a basic going and always came back to it when you have time with an update.

You're in good hands. I call nettrucker "El Professore"

I actually got a -C on my last homework assignment. :(

[h34dup 147]

I managed to get the intro/outro for Mission 1 to a point where I could send to nettrucker for some feedback late last night. Excited to hear his thoughts, I'm fairly happy with it as far as my first try, but there is of course always room for improvement. Another chance to tie in the book in a meaningful way, I think the story will be more cohesive now with these cutscenes.

The opening scenes take place half-way thru the campaign, with Rusty and his team getting engaged for the first time by a sizeable enemy force and a radio message saying "Talon 30 this is Eagle 10, here is your situation: the enemy count is not in dozens, but hundreds, maybe even a thousand" as the camera pulls back to show the swarm of Taliban coming from Sperwan Ghar. Then the scene cuts to 1 month earlier, as the player returns to Afghanistan in the belly of a C130-J and begins the game at Kandahar Airfield.

I may release a teaser trailer if you guys are interested.

[folgore_airborne 1]

this is getting more and more promising! Looking forward to play it!

[Harzach 2505]

Great choice of inspiration/source material. I read Rusty's book a little while ago - looking forward to "living" the experience!

[h34dup 147]

Great choice of inspiration/source material. I read Rusty's book a little while ago - looking forward to "living" the experience!

Awesome, I'm especially interested in hearing from people who read the book. There are tons and tons of references throughout, it is a very concerted effort at doing a faithful adaptation, so please be sure to keep an eye on this thread and share your thoughts when it comes out.

Still a couple of months probably until release, but not too long.

[nettrucker 142]

I managed to get the intro/outro for Mission 1 to a point where I could send to nettrucker for some feedback late last night. Excited to hear his thoughts, I'm fairly happy with it as far as my first try, but there is of course always room for improvement. Another chance to tie in the book in a meaningful way, I think the story will be more cohesive now with these cutscenes.

The opening scenes take place half-way thru the campaign, with Rusty and his team getting engaged for the first time by a sizeable enemy force and a radio message saying "Talon 30 this is Eagle 10, here is your situation: the enemy count is not in dozens, but hundreds, maybe even a thousand" as the camera pulls back to show the swarm of Taliban coming from Sperwan Ghar. Then the scene cuts to 1 month earlier, as the player returns to Afghanistan in the belly of a C130-J and begins the game at Kandahar Airfield.

I may release a teaser trailer if you guys are interested.

Hi everybody

have sent you back the mission by mail and some further explanations. I've made some changes to the intro scenario all the rest I left untouched. I redid the scripts because they were messy. I opted for a more traditional code rather the ones you've send me. To get the cam positions on the plane that was a nightmare. I did get some shots but I'm afraid that I'm unable to improve it further.

I just want to stress it once again I'm by no means an expert or authority in cam scripting. If you need some inspiration watch some stuff from Binary Orchestra , Pete Waddell , AZCoder these people and some others are doing some serious stuff.

In any case I hope you are happy with it. The intro-outro you did was quite ok I just smoothed out the edges and used a more effective code for our needs.

Keep it up. :D

Edited October 13, 2012 by nettrucker

[h34dup 147]

Alright, as promised, here is a screenshot update. The full gallery with more new images can be found here.

The first post will also be updated with completion statuses.

M9 - Put Your Mouthpiece In - You must capture Sperwan Ghar, pushing up the ridgeline and eliminating scores of enemy combatants standing in your way.

M10 - Friends For Life - Immediately after Sperwan Ghar has been captured, you must defend the Casualty Collection Point (CCP) against counterattack and be prepared to go above and beyond to keep your brothers safe.

[h34dup 147]

Here are some screens from the newest mission In-progress. Things are coming together very well, it's a blast (no pun intended) to have all the firepower of the AC-130, essentially leveling the playing field when there are 6-8x as many OPFOR as BLUFOR...

M11 - Holding On At All Costs - The Taliban has been defeated, but waves of enemies are closing in, as desperate for control of Sperwan Ghar as you... only you have 3 AC-130 sorties at your disposal. You'll have to take out their key positions (while avoiding firing upon civies or NATO forces) and defend your position at the same time.

[zimms 22]

Can't wait to play this! Thx for all the work you put in there.

[h34dup 147]

Updated the first post -- after going back through the book to set up my mission outlines for the last missions, I've decided an additional mission needs to be added to do justice to the story.

New additions to the Campaign list:

~ M12 Today Is Not Your Day [TBC] Strengthen your defenses by completing three key tasks - secure the village at the foot of the hill, patrol the exposed southern ridge, and take up a sniper position

~ M13 The Dragon's Back - The Taliban are making their final push for Sperwan Ghar, defend your hard-earned positions from their counterattacks

Also, to clarify, there will be bonus SP scenarios -- a new one will be released each time a substantial Campaign update is released.

~ Bonus Mission 1 [TBC] As a member of Canada's mechanized infantry in Charles Company, participate in the opening assault

~ Bonus Mission 2 [TBC] As a Dutch Apache Pilot, use your AH-64 to decimate the enemy strongpoints

~ Bonus Mission 3 [TBC] ANA Commandos from the 3rd Kandak go on a routine patrol in Kandahar...but will it go as planned?

[nettrucker 142]

Man that sounds really awesome. I've never used a book to get inspiration for missions. Mine are all products of pure fantasy. :D

Looking really forward to it. How are the cutscenes going? I was going berserk over finding the right coordinates to attach a camera to different vehicles. All trial and error . . . a real pain in the back so to say.

Keep it up.

cheers

Edited October 18, 2012 by nettrucker

[lightspeed_aust 681]

do we read the book first then play the missions? or play missions then read?

[h34dup 147]

Man that sounds really awesome. I've never used a book to get inspiration for missions. Mine are all products of pure fantasy. :D

Looking really forward to it. How are the cutscenes going? I was going berserk over finding the right coordinates to attach a camera to different vehicles. All trail and error . . . a real pain in the back so to say.

Keep it up.

cheers

Thanks dude! I made a 3rd pass on the intro to Mission 1, made some final tweaks, added some sound fx, and added the credits. I couldn't be happier with the opening cinematic, and it would not have been possible without your help! Hope the voice stuff I sent you for HoT turned out well btw.

As for doing an adaptation of a book, this is my first time. My last release, Battle of Tora Bora was partially based on an account in the book Jawbreaker. Once I released BoTB, I knew that doing adaptations and simulations of real military operations was what interested me the most. It's good because there's always something to fall back on, but it's also kind of challenging because everything needs to be possible using the game engine...fortunately, thanks to the awesome platform and amazing community, it is possible.

do we read the book first then play the missions? or play missions then read?

Either or... a main goal of this Campaign is to turn people onto the book so as long as you check it out my goal is fulfilled. I guess I'd recommend reading the book first, it's a pretty easy read, a good story, and it draws the reader in.

[mueller 10]

Looking good! Can't wait to try this campaign out.

[Kommiekat 11]

Your pics look awesome. You must have one hell of a pc going....

[h34dup 147]

Your pics look awesome. You must have one hell of a pc going....

Err, no, actually it's a 2011 MacBook Pro (upgraded CPU) running Bootcamp. I set the video settings to very high when I want to get some images for sharing, it runs OK surprisingly, but I usually play with the settings on normal. The only real drawback of doing all this on a laptop is that I don't have a full windows keyboard with Num Pad, so doing intros/outros is next to impossible unless I stay late in the office or something...

EDIT: Giving serious consideration to buying a custom desktop PC for modding and editing Arma III and the new Company of Heroes when they come out...

Edited October 18, 2012 by h34dup

[Wiki 1558]

can' wait to play it!

[docbrown 1]

I don't have a full windows keyboard with Num Pad

I'm in the same boat. To create intro/outro with numpad are you constantly pressing keys or are they just single keystrokes?

If its any help, i'm using VAC to voice activate numpad keys, ie use the MFD in ACE.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?96773-ARMA-2-and-VAC-(Voice-Activated-Commands)

Would be useful if you need to press a numpad key every now and then.

Back on topic, frothing for the campaign! =)

[h34dup 147]

I'm in the same boat. To create intro/outro with numpad are you constantly pressing keys or are they just single keystrokes?

If its any help, i'm using VAC to voice activate numpad keys, ie use the MFD in ACE.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?96773-ARMA-2-and-VAC-(Voice-Activated-Commands)

Would be useful if you need to press a numpad key every now and then.

Back on topic, frothing for the campaign! =)

Interesting, thanks for the link! Over the past months, I spent a little while trying workarounds like replacing windows key bindings to no avail, never seen this VAC program though... so it can be used for something like intro/outro stuff? I would be using the numpad keys for very meticulous camera rotation, and numpad plus/minus keys for zoom-- as of now, all I can do is pan, the camera only faces a single northward direction. As I said, I'm thinking of either staying late in the office at work when I'm ready one day, or just buying a usb keyboard that could work on both OSs.

Started working on Mission 12 last night, things are going very smoothly so far (I find I'm getting more efficient with each mission I create), and I found all kinds of ways to tie in Rusty's literal account in the book. This is where doing an adaptation gets interesting because the challenge then becomes to balance this with making it a gaming experience and not just a diorama or machinima, all while juggling the constraints presented by the map and my decisions to-date. For those who have read the book, the schoolhouse has been really tough to tie in, and there aren't huge fields of marijuana at the foot of what I've chosen to make into Sperwan Ghar. In reality, it's Reshmaan province and wasn't designed around the book at all. However, conveniently, there are a couple of small fields in the middle of the town of Ishfaaq, which is at the foot of Sperwan Ghar. So, rest assured, you'll still get to hear the jokes when you walk near the burning pot field in town in Mission 12. It's details like these that I'm counting on readers to pick up on all throughout the Camp.

tl;dr Making some good progress...

EDIT: Loadscreens

Edited October 19, 2012 by h34dup

[Kommiekat 11]

I'm sorry for my confusion, but....

You said that you play the game on Windows, take snap shots on Windows, move the pics over to your Mac and photochop them?

I'm getting the idea that you play it on Mac? I think I need to re-read your post again...

[docbrown 1]

On Mac via Bootcamp on Windows. Just like a regular PC, but the problem is that Apple Keyboards have no numpad =)

h34dup a USB numpad is probably the better option since you are controlling the camera with it. It would probably get annoying constantly saying to your computer "left, left, left, left, up, zoom in, left, right, down" etc etc haha.