Multi Career Campaign

[grunt249 0]

I'm not sure if it's been done before, and if so how popular it was. But I'm interested in making a new campaign that offers the player the option to choose his/her career field from within the campaign.

There are a few options that I want to include in this campaign, such as the ability to select new mission choices at certain points in the game. I already understand how to do all of this, but I have no scripting ability. At the moment this campaign is in its initial design and planning stage, but before I get too far into it I would like to find out if anyone has mission ideas based on the overall genre of this campaign.

The campaign will take place in modern times, between 1995-2005. It will involve US forces in a fictional role assisting a foreign country that is also fictional. Addons used will be some of the most popular available to keep the missions interesting but also limit the amount of addons needed (hopefully 80% or more of the required addons will already be on most people's computers). These include BAS vehicles and units, COMBAT! addons, HYK/LSR infantry, and possibley SUCH USMC units. There are also a few others I have been looking at such as the HEP units with the M82A1, but before I include them I would rather take a poll and see what everyone else thinks first.

The campaign will try to include missions with realism and intensity, and I want to give the option for the player to have some open ability to plan his mission based on his own style. This means giving a wider selection of available weapons and equipment in the briefing, as well as including realistic briefings and intel reports. Missions will not be the "Rambo style" missions, but will require proper planning and use of available resources and team members.

One of the key features of the campaign will be the option to select one of four career types: Infantryman, SpecOps, Armor Crewmember, and Pilot. Each career type will offer various mission tasks, and will give the player the option to choose the role he/she is best suited for. Along the way, the player will have some missions that he/she can choose which mission they will do next, sort of like the "choose-your-own-adventure" books some of us read as kids. All careers and missions will blend together into the overall campaign, keeping the story held together.

I will need the help of someone who is skilled in making intros and cutscenes, as well as a scripter. At this time, I would like to hear any suggestions for some mission types that everyone might like to have included, maybe something that hasn't been done yet that you would like to play. I will work on the storyline as new ideas come in, and if anyone is interested in helping that has some free time please let me know. This will be my first public-release campaign, but I want to make sure it's a good one.

I appreciate any comments or suggestions, thanks.

[eestikas88 0]

I would like a fighter pilot carreer.

Oh and each carreer should start with a training of the thing what player will play.BAS infranty is not so good.I thing that you should use HYK infranty.

Oh and some mid-night stealth bombings too.And in the planes some radio chats you know like in the movies.This type.No no no...not the ofp radio chat.Real life one.You get the idea.

Your idea is great!

[grunt249 0]

Based on the forum topic regarding most preferred infantry addons, I had chosen to use the HYK/LSR infantry instead of the BAS units. (No offense BAS, I love 'em.) The BAS addons used will be the vehicles, especially for the SpecOps aircraft. I also might use some of the BAS OPFOR vehicles and units, not yet decided. That all just depends on the missions chosen.

The idea about training missions will be included, but they will only be basic training. For example, if you don't know how to fly well, I would recommend you practice first before trying this campaign. The training missions will mostly just be used to get the player accustomed to the specific addons and features.

I do plan on including custom sound files, but I personally don't like to include music within my missions. I never carried an MP3 player in the field, so listening to Metallica in the middle of a firefight just seems a little too "movie-like" than realistic. But some of the intros and cutscenes will include music files, such as the opening intro. I can include the option to have music during missions, like to make two versions of the download, one with music and the other without. There will be a lot of missions in this campaign due to the four career types, so music files would surely increase the download size to a fatty file. But for the custom "radio chatter", that will already be included in most missions.

[havocsquad 0]

Will most of the U.S. forces be "landing" on the area, or will it be a forward operations type of campaign like the War in Afganistan where most of the forces are far away in bases (Over 100 miles) and have to be transported to the region by air.

Just curious, if its close then use F-16C's for multi-role. If its far away, use F/A-18C's or the F-15E.

Just a suggestion.

Later,

Havoc.

[grunt249 0]

My plan is to use a few different islands during the span of the campaign. Since I have not yet developed the storyline, I can't give too many details about the overall conflict.

As of now, I would like to have the start of the campaign begin with the US forces being used mostly as support and security roles, operating on a remote island. As the campaign evolves, the "enemy" forces will advance to another island that happens to have a smaller US installation, allowing for more close-range aircraft and vehicles. This might also help to make the first missions a little "easier" and kind of open the player up to the whole campaign, getting used to the units and equipment before they must take part in the serious battles. Don't take this the wrong way though, I don't plan to make the beginning missions a cake walk either. It's just an idea to create a "step" approach, by increasing difficulty as the missions progress. And by increase in difficulty, I mean both enemy strengths and size will go up, as well as required player skill in operating more advanced vehicles or weapons.

For the vehicles and aircraft to be used, there are a few very nice addons that are in their final stages that I hope might be released shortly, and if so they can be included within this campaign. For the most part though, I would like to take a vote later on which addons are most popular. I would like as many people as possible to enjoy this campaign, and many people might not play it if it requires a bunch of addons they don't already have or addons they aren't too interested in to download before. I don't include addons that will be used just with this campaign, I think it's a waste. Much better to use addons that everyone already has or plans to get.

I appreciate the comments so far, please keep them coming in. Mission ideas, suggested addons, and other comments are all welcome, positive AND negative. And if anyone with free time is interested in helping out, please let me know. Thanks.

[The_Oakster 0]

The PMC Fury campaign has a step by step approach to 'the war'. Starting from your insertion as a Navy Seal, through taking the airport and then taking each town and major crossroads as well as some pretty boring missions where you are just clearing woodland.

I found it really immersive as you was following the 'war' as it happened. On the briefing there is a war situation report for every mission saying what you did in the last mission and what was going to happen in the next mission.

The majority of missions themselves involved air, infantry and armour all working together which would fit a career campaign because it wouldnt matter what career you chose, the missions would be the same albeit from a different perspective...

As far as addons go, you could just do it with the standard BIS stuff as there are several 'complete mods' so people could use whatever addons they wanted, and you wont get the continual - "I think this would be better than that" argument...

Just some suggestions

[hellfish6 7]

The Taiwan mod team did something similar in one of their campaigns. You get drafted into the army, do basic training and at graduation you get to pick from the Army, Marines, Special Forces and Airborne. You may do some advanced training at that point (HALO jumping was one, I think, where you parachuted and you had to find your way back to base without a compass or GPS) and if you pass you get to fight in the war. I didn't fail in my SF training, so I don't know what happens if you fail. Maybe just go back to the Army?

Anyways, it was a very cool system and the best campaign I've ever played in OFP and if you do it (and do it right!) I'm sure I'd love yours too.

Might I suggest basing the campaign on Tonal?

[grunt249 0]

@The_Oakster

Quote[/b] ]I found it really immersive as you was following the 'war' as it happened. On the briefing there is a war situation report for every mission saying what you did in the last mission and what was going to happen in the next mission.

That sounds pretty cool, similar to what I was thinking about. But I rather use cutscenes than the briefing to show after-mission "footage" and reports. I think it will allow more room in the briefings for the OPORDER and Intel reports, and reduce the amount of things the player has to read before they can continue on to the next mission. I know about using the "television" for cutscenes, so might use that as a way to show news broadcasts every couple of missions to give updates to the progress of the campaign, instead of after every single mission.

Quote[/b] ]As far as addons go, you could just do it with the standard BIS stuff as there are several 'complete mods' so people could use whatever addons they wanted, and you wont get the continual - "I think this would be better than that" argument...

Regarding the addons, I know there are a few people that choose not to use the complete mods, I am one of them. I rather pick and choose the individual addons I like most, and find it a little "annoying" that I must use a full mod of addons if there is only one or two that I really like. But I will take suggestions on which addons to use, since this mission is being made for everyone, and I'd like to make sure the units and vehicles are of interest to all. I think most people already have the BAS and the COMBAT! addons, as well as the HYK/LSR units. For the others I will really put a lot of thought into what I use, and make sure they are fully tested with minimal lag effects or bugs.

@Placebo

Quote[/b] ]Anyways, it was a very cool system and the best campaign I've ever played in OFP and if you do it (and do it right!) I'm sure I'd love yours too.

I surely plan to do this one right, and make it fun for all. The reason I'm making the campaign like this, instead of several different campaigns that include the seperate career types, is so the player can have the same overall story and still have the choice to choose what kind of missions they want to play. And once you've played one career, you can go back and redo the campaign again as another career type, but with the same overall storyline and events. Missions will vary, but you might run into your old characters at times. Just felt like a fun and interesting way to make a new campaign.

Quote[/b] ]Might I suggest basing the campaign on Tonal?

I am really considering it, because I would like to use some of the nice islands that many people have but I rarely get to see in campaigns. I have also looked at Trinity Island, as there are a lot of nice places on it. But Tonal is one of the better picks since most have it. Right now I'm looking at all the popular islands and trying to choose a combination of which islands are most common and which islands fit the geography of the storyline.

One thing that I plan to use is the option for the player to choose his next move at the end of certain missions. The campaign will include a few spots along the way where your next mission is based on actions you take. Also, many of the missions will have alternate endings. So if you fail a mission, you don't just repeat it over and over until you pass it. There is the option to continue on and play the next mission while suffering the consequences of your past failure(s). This will require more planning with the mission tree and to make more missions for the overall campaign, but will also mean that every time you play the campaign it can be different based on how well you do. What does everyone think of this idea?

[AdmiralKarlDonuts 0]

I think that this is one of the best ideas I've heard in a while, although it's going to be an absolute monster to create properly.

If you need any help with the story side of things, I'd be happy to assist...i.e. backstory, overall plot, or even mission ideas within it. What can I say, I like the storytelling aspect of OFP almost as much as I like playing it.

[LP4Life 0]

Quote[/b] ]It will involve US forces in a fictional role assisting a foreign country that is also fictional.

Why make it fictional? Thats kinda stupid when there over a 100 countries in the world to choose from.

[hardrock 1]

Quote[/b] ]It will involve US forces in a fictional role assisting a foreign country that is also fictional.

Why make it fictional? Thats kinda stupid when there over a 100 countries in the world to choose from.

I personally like the idea of a fictional country, since, while being another American-saves-the-world type campaign (which isn't ment negatively and understandable, since many very good addons are made for the american side), it still isn't clearly defined, which country is affected. I mean it's no America-saves-Germany, America-saves-Iraq or something similar, but e.g. America-saves-Fanelia, which is easier to play for those who already are a bit annoyed of this topic (like me).

Know what I mean?

[grunt249 0]

Quote[/b] ]Why make it fictional? Thats kinda stupid when there over a 100 countries in the world to choose from.

The island locations used for the campaign are not of real places or of real countries, so I felt that using a real country for the storyline had no purpose. This is to take place in a fictional conflict, but I plan to ensure the storyline isn't "cheesy" in any way. I just didn't see the point in using the name of a real country if the campaign will take place on an island or group of islands that don't exist.

As for the progress right now, I have been reviewing different addons and islands to better determine what will be included in the campaign. Once I have decided which addons to use, I will know what kind of equipment to base the storyline on, as well as what geographical areas will be usable in the missions. So far, the main island I'm interested in using are Tonal, Trinity, and Nogova. I am most interested in using islands with a combination of forest and mountain areas as well as some medium or large populated towns. Tonal is a nice island, but due to the type of terrain and foilage I will really have to consider how that type of environment will play into the overall story and if it will work with the other islands used. I'm thinking of starting a poll to see how many people have Trinity island and how many are interested in seeing missions for that island.

I'm still looking for volunteers to help with some of the mission scripting as well as cutscene/intro work. That portion of the campaign won't be ready for another week or two at least, and I think the overall project might take about a month or so to finish. There will be a lot of missions total, and I'm going to make sure everything is done right, no slop.

[DB-ERAUPilot 0]

either tonal or the newly updated afghanistan map would be GREAT for a new campaign

[LP4Life 0]

I'm just saying that if u make it a real country it will seem 50% more real.

[eestikas88 0]

@grunt:

I don't agree with you that ALL the island don't exist in real life.

Kolgujev and Kodiak islands exist so do Falklands mod places exist in real life.And so exist some other islands too (but not as islands).

[Odin -AEF-Kampa- 0]

how does this island look like ? ;)

Or this one ?

Do you know this one ?

[grunt249 0]

@eestikas88 and Odin [AEF-Kampa]

There was a misunderstanding with the phrase "The island locations used for the campaign are not of real places or of real countries.."

Are OFP's island maps based on real islands?

Nogova and reality

These are a couple of sites with info about the places in OFP, compared to some of the real places. As you can see, there is no "real" place called Kolgujev. The OFP island of Kolgujev is based on an island called Tenerife. The rest of the islands are also explained on those web sites. I don't use Kodiak island, so that was not part of my comment. What I'm talking about are the islands I had stated that I might be using.

I do know that some of the islands used in OFP are of real places, but they are not actually real. Some of the original islands are based on real places, but are not the actual places themselves. What I was trying to say is that there is no country named Trinity, Tonal, Nogova, etc. And it feels a little odd for me to base the storyline on a real country such as Bosnia for example, when the map city names are not in that country. I felt that if the overall mission map is of a fictional location, then the country that the story is based on should be fictional as well. Another reason I wish to use fictional country names for this story is because the story itself is of a fictional event.

By using a fictional country, I can create a background story that fits the needs of the campaign. If I used a real country's name, then I would have two choices...First, use only their name but create a false identity for it such as population and history; or Second, use that country's real background and try and conform my storyline around that country's real history and identity. The second option is not going to work for me, as I have a bit of experience in writing screenplays and storyboards...this option would leave me little creative room for the story. And option one would be a little pointless I think, because in a sense I'm creating a fictional country but just using a real country's name. So why not just create an entire fictional country, including name and background?

I don't plan on making the storyline seem stupid or non-believable. I plan to put a lot of work into the story and make it seem very real, just like in many of the movies that you see using fictional locations. But if the overall public would prefer I use the names of real countries, then I am open to hear suggestions based on the islands I am planning to use. And remember that for the most part, the country in the campaign will have its own background and history written for it in order to tie in with the storyline. So far, the islands I am considering are Trinity, Tonal, and the default islands such as Nogova. Tonal is a maybe, and any desert-only based islands are a negative. I am using maps with a variety of foilage and terrain, and desert maps do not offer much in my opinion (unless doing a desert warfare campaign, which this is not).

At this time, I am in the process of planning the missions and working on the storyline. I already have decided on the addons to be used, but will be open to suggestions or changes through the progress of the campaign. Since this might take a month to release, there might be a few popular and desired addons released in between that period that I can include if the majority wants them. But I will be limiting the addons used to as few as possible while retaining realism and adding modern combat units and vehicles. Most of the addons I have selected so far should already be in use by 70-80% of the community. The others are quite small and very nice addons, and I will submit the current addon list soon for review and comments.

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions so far, and hope to have cleared up any misunderstandings about the island "reality" issue.

[eestikas88 0]

If you look very closely the world map you'll see an island called Kolgujev just east from Murmansk.I think it's in the Barents sea.

But it doesn't have that shape.

edit: if you can you could make a whole new island for your mission based exactly on the location you want.

[grunt249 0]

Just an update for anyone interested, I am working on a lot of the aspects of this campaign and it's going well so far. I am probably taking a slightly different approach that some others have, in that I am developing the storyline and characters in almost the same way I have developed movie screenplays. I feel that the two most important aspects of the campaign are the overall story, and the missions that blend it all together.

This method might take a little while longer to complete than others, but I feel it is the best method for me to ensure the story is solid, works with the missions, and has a good overall appeal and interest to the public. Scripts will also be made later for the spoken dialogue, and storyboards will be made to better create intros and cutscenes. When the voice actor scripts are ready, I will also post here a request for volunteers.

A lot of work still needs to be finished, but soon I will have a good summary of the story to post here. Thanks for your interest so far.