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IndeedPete

[SP/Coop 04] Contention Zone

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Looks very interesting, I'll keep an eye on it.

Good luck with this project.

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Thanks for your nice words, chaps! We'll do what we can in our limited time.^^

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Great to see this is picking up some followers! Here's some new screenshots of the CONTENTION ZONE's scenery:

cz_tower2wjvt.jpg cz_truckf7kma.jpg cz_aztec6pks6.jpg cz_barbq29jq2.jpg

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Screenshots just ooze atmosphere, keeping a close eye on this project.

Good luck gents.:)

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Great progress, guys! Glad to see this coming along!

If you need any voice acting done, PM me! :D

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Very nice. Will keep my eye on this project. :)

Although I am wondering about one thing. Since it's coop (unlike SP MERCS), I am wondering if the experience will be as good as the single player one? How much dependable is it on Player 2 or AI led teammates etc.?

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Interesting question.

I wonder too as I mainly play SP.

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Well, the story is mostly told through text-based convos, i.e. the multiple choice boxes known from M.E.R.C.S. What won't be there are longer cutscenes, maybe an intro and outro but nothing fancy in between.

It is designed to be playable both in SP and MP. I haven't planned any missions with AI comrades yet. Freezoners are usually roaming the zone alone or with friends in COOP (not sure about the number of players yet). The mission framework is quest-based, thus players can agree to do stuff for the different characters and only then related events and enemies are being loaded to keep performance at bay. After completion or death, spawned stuff gets removed again. Other than that players can go out and roam the zone freely, encountering anomalies, random patrols, zombies and loot of course.

Originally, there were plans to enable multi-group support and the possibility to become a renegade, so players in COOP can leave their group (or divide into several groups) and do stuff on their own or even engage and kill other players. However, I'm not sure if this is really a good idea, I'd rather keep it small to preserve the atmosphere. Also, it would require some rework of the quest system. From a technical point of view group leaders request a mission at an NPC, then the reqest is passed to the server which runs a seperate mission flow - all server-side. This flow is running as long as the quest is unfinished and at least one player in the group is alive. Therefore, some quests could only be done by one group at a time to prevent spawning of multiple enemy squads etc. So, multi-group support is something I'd like to keep out, at the beginning at least.

In short. Everything's working in SP as well but there's no respawn and some quests might get tough, especially with the scarce resources. I suppose the atmosphere will be better in SP, at least from my experience. Though gameplay might change (in a positive way) when playing with friends. Most already implemented quests don't require a weapon, yet the player can die quite fast. There's even one quest where players can find an empty gun - but only one, means in COOP the group has to work together.

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Definitely looks nice. Usually I'm very critical when people glue together prefabs that weren't meant for that, but in Surfer's case it actually looks good. Can't wait to play it, and if you'll be looking for voice actors somewhen, I could send you a sample so that you can see if my voice would fit any character. My best wishes for your further work.

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Attention! New captured footage from the Zone!

I had to pull some strings to get this into my hands but I feel the public needs to see what's going on on Altis these days. This fellow Freezoner gave his very life for what scientists refer to as "Blowout". Remember, fellow Zoners: Don't forget your gas mask if you head out into the Zone!

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ETA unknown. It's not like you can just take a plane to Altis! And with that radioactive storm around the island plus Contention mercs with orders to shoot on sight it's not an easy task to get on the island. I'll try to reach my contacts when we have a working sat link again but I can't promise anything. But stand by for departure just in case... :)

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Attention! New captured footage from the Zone!

I had to pull some strings to get this into my hands but I feel the public needs to see what's going on on Altis these days. This fellow Freezoner gave his very life for what scientists refer to as "Blowout". Remember, fellow Zoners: Don't forget your gas mask if you head out into the Zone!

IndeedPete, pleeeeease, try to include some UI scripts to the gas masks (maybe you could use LordHearts scripts for glasses... they work on glasses, diving masks and googles, but doesn´t have official suport to Cunico´s masks =P) http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?163658-ZAM-Glasses&highlight=Lhm_Glasses

Are the gas masks going to be "depleteable" like on Metro 2033?

Quite anxious to test it! cheers!

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Since it's all set to run in vanilla, there are no dedicated gas mask objects. There's just a list of facewear that can protect you from the poisonous fog, like the facial bandanas. (We've also repurposed the minde detector to work as anomaly scanner. :D) You see, you must be pretty inventive to survive the zone with little resources (read: vanilla assets).^^

There could be a scripted way to achieve what Metro offers. But we'll see the Alpha results first. One shouldn't die that fast from the fog like in the vid, that needs to be tweaked.^^

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Excellent video! Well done mate!

Edited by Surfer

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Whoa, amazing atmosphere! Wish Arma would've allowed underground structures :D

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We would like to inform you that we're currently putting together a completely new intro level and with the blowouts finalized thanks to Indeed Pete, the respawns in place, lots of scripts written I think we can honestly confirm an ETA of the Alpha rather in weeks than in years. Believe me, I am as excited as you are to see all the elements put together.

Maybe now is a good moment for you volunteers of voice acting to step up. Help us to make this mission not just great but kickass! Thanks in advance!

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[...]ETA of the Alpha rather in weeks than in years. Believe me, I am as excited as you are to see all the elements put together.

Well, once the intro's done and functionality is more or less clear, a closed Alpha might be a good idea. :)

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We would like to inform you that we're currently putting together a completely new intro level and with the blowouts finalized thanks to Indeed Pete, the respawns in place, lots of scripts written I think we can honestly confirm an ETA of the Alpha rather in weeks than in years. Believe me, I am as excited as you are to see all the elements put together.

Maybe now is a good moment for you volunteers of voice acting to step up. Help us to make this mission not just great but kickass! Thanks in advance!

I really hope I can replay my role on the development of "Somewhere in Syberia" mission - throughly playtest with lotsa feedback and (sometimes silly) suggestions ;)

Whenever the Alpha is available for closed test... BRING IT ON! =D

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Maybe now is a good moment for you volunteers of voice acting to step up

Sure, I'll do it if I have the time :)

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Glad to hear, chaps! For voice acting better contact Surfer directly, he's organising all the fancy stuff. ;)

I was just testing when I encountered zombies at night, ugly situation. Glad I made it out alive (apparently their movement still needs some tweaking). But I happen to take another small vid, don't mind the ugly debug hints.

It really was that dark - damn you Surfer and your bloody PP-Effects! And yes, I panicked and shot without seeing anything. :D

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