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h34dup

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Posts posted by h34dup

  1. Posted

    Wiki has an interesting idea but the problem with that is you may lose players because if they've played the Camp in what ever beta version you send out, they may have the " been there what's next to play" attitude. I mean why go back to something when there is so much out there........(I think. Maybe. Hmm. I don't know for sure what I'm talking about here).

    So, imho, sending out a fully completed satisfied mission of the camp as a teaser may be best. You may also get some noteworthy feed back about it, otherwise, take your time and continue to finish it and send it out whole and complete to your satisfaction.

    Of course there is also the beta testing step you can take by selecting a few people to help out with critique.

    I think Wiki would be a good choice on that. Better to get Camp mission makers like him, tom3kb and nettrucker and anybody else.

    SaOK has a keen eye, but I imagine he's got his head stuck in the editor most of the time.............:)

    I agree, to an extent: I am doing everything I can to make sure the Campaign will be stable, bc it's true people will play it for the first time and likely call it a day whether they finish it or not. You should see the checklist I have of all the things that must be in-place for the initial release. The other thing I've found is that even if the voice acting isn't studio-quality, it helps immerse the player, much more so than without. I get distracted and miss the story when I can't divert my eyes to read the chat, and story is important in this Camp especially. Thankfully, I've got some great backup on the voice front! I will take a bit of time tomorrow to split the script up into the individual characters and start sending them out.

    I've thought about releasing the first mission, but for some reason there is an issue that irks me with the taste of action you get in it, plus I have some last-minute additions to make.

    Testing, however, may be an option pretty soon. I dunno, there are just all these loose ends I'm tying up I feel like once they're addressed it'll be release time. I did get some valuable feedback much earlier in the project from Wiki. We could see how things go once I get voice stuff underway.

  2. Posted

    hi headup.

    couldn't you release your campaign in 0.9 or 1.0 WITHOUT voice acting and then add them in v1.1 or higher?

    Potentially, perhaps. But if I still have work to do before the camp is ready to go, and I can get a decent portion of the voice stuff in there from helpful and responsive community members like you, then it won't necessarily hold up the release too much. There may be a couple of empty lines without voice in there, but I figure it's worth a try to get this done while I'm working on other stuff like intros/outros, and ensuring all the essential elements are in the missions like task hints, modules, weapon selection in Descriptions, etc.

    I initially planned to do this project without voice stuff, but thanks to those who have already participated, they proved that it's not that big an obstacle when you delegate properly and stay on top of people.

  3. Posted

    Cool, a sizable flurry of PMs have been sent out to a bunch of people. If I didn't reach out to you this week or this morning, and you want in, just post here or send me a PM!

    The campaign's release will really depend on how long it takes for me to get the voice acting done and included, first-iteration intros/outros are taking less time than I thought, it won't be hard to have something together for the beta release, but the full-voice work will make this a much stronger experience, so time is of the essence!

    Thanks to everyone who has been following, the project is nearly ready for you guys to jump into. Of course, once its out, the work will continue on updates and bug fixes, as well as the bonus SP scenarios I promised!

    Stay tuned.

  4. Posted

    All loading screens are complete and in-game. Need to address the Overview images and descriptions too.

    Also, I've rounded out MOST of the remainder of the script and transferred it to the individual missions, just need to script the radio messages now - and get voice acting underway for round 2.

    This is an official "public" request for volunteers for voice acting, there are a bunch of cameos I would like to give people the opportunity to be a part of the campaign. I will be reaching out to Laqueesha, KommieKat, and Krytosss and SavageCDN as well as the people KommieKat suggested earlier in this thread.

    New voice "cameos" (just a couple of lines max, should be very easy to record) include: Canadian Infantry (3 different soldiers), US 10th Mtn Division, US Artillery Pit, 2 NATO Apache Pilots (can be euro accent!), Ben (a sharpshooter on Bruce's US SOF team), Smitty (Rusty's intel sgt), and a couple others. Also have a couple main character voice scripts (substantial amount of lines) which still need to get done. I may do these myself, we'll see.

    Anyway, we are getting closer! At this rate, the Camp will be out in Early/Mid Dec.

  5. Posted

    Tom, so sorry. I completely forgot about that.

    Also forgot movie/environmental effects.

    This is exactly the feedback I need. Thanks for playing and the feed back.

    Will get on it soon.

    You mean like Movie Day/Movie Night? I was wondering, do they affect performance at all? I have them in all of my LoK missions to add depth and texture that I think makes it look much better.

  6. Posted

    Hey Blackadder, I have not heard of other players having this experience -- it definitely sounds like an AI bug. Are you running only the mods in the required addons list for this mission when you play it? Sometimes other mods, especially stuff like ACE which I have never tested this Scenario in can have unexpected effects.

    Still, I'll be sure to look into this when I revisit the mission for updates. I have a new version in-place, and almost switched focus from my Campaign to doing an update, but I have switched back to full-speed ahead on the Campaign and will likely revisit this at a later date. Still, I haven't forgotten about this mission and will update it soon. Most of the issues I've read from players are things that are not necessarily bugs I can fix-- more engine/AI related gripes.

    Anyway, make sure only the specified addons are activated, try restarting, and if nothing works you could always un-PBO and move the unit outside of the TOC. Like I said, I haven't seen this myself, so it's tough to know what the cause may be. Perhaps an older version of the ToraBora island?

    Thanks for playing and posting, hopefully you can get this sorted out so you can enjoy the rest of the mission!

  7. Posted · Edited by h34dup

    Do you think you could give us one full working Mission with intro/outros and voices?

    Some women are Pr#ck teasers.

    You sir, are a User Missions teasers.

    I don't know which is worse.:p

    Mission 1 has all of these things, Missions 2 & 3 could be close if I have voice stuff. Patience though, my friends, we are getting close! I really truly appreciate the words of support guys, I think this is going to be a lot of fun for you guys to play when it's ready.

    In response to Col Stagler's observation -- I definitely didn't know what I was getting myself into with this project, but it's been such an awesome experience revisiting my game-making hankering. Although I love my job these days, my dream job has always been doing stuff like this, so I get the best of both worlds, I just wish there was more time in the day!

    Anyway, here are some more screens:

    From Mission 4 - Cat and Mouse - Exiting the Red Desert, as "Taz" an ANA Commando and "a ranger born in an Afghan's body," the 3rd Kandak is sent north to scout out the southern Panjwayi valley

    pSnEbl.jpg

    From Mission 12 - Today is Not Your Day - as Sgt. Dave, help create "white space" around your defenses atop Sperwan Ghar by doing stuff like raining .50 cal fire on this compound

    w2kqEl.jpg

    From Mission 13 - The Dragon's Back - the climax of the battle for Sperwan Ghar, one last hurrah with all the guys together on the same team

    A94M9l.jpg

    From Mission 13 - Your comrades in Talon 26 got cut off while on patrol, you need to fight your way to them before they get overrun. Fortunately, you have artillery support from 10th Mtn Div's Comanche Co.

    no97kl.jpg

    From Mission 14 - Epilogue - Months later, it is time to rebuild. Explore the former AO and try to help the civilians reclaim their lives.

    ydEDul.jpg

    From Mission 14 - I've recreated Firebases Sperwan Ghar and Masum Ghar based on what few photos I could find.

    QTKDRl.jpg

  9. Posted

    Well, ask and ye shall receive. I did the final round of screen shot grabbing, the LoK gallery is now filled with shots from the next few missions. I also tried grabbing some movies from the intros I did, but the format from Fraps seems corrupted and is obnoxiously limited anyway suggestions of free alternatives could help see some trailers released.

    In the meantime, I'm going through each mission and trying to really finalize everything, things are going well and work on the intros/outros is going fast than expected, but still a lot of work ahead.

    Here are some screens from Mission 2 - Bingo Red One (As a private in the ANA's 3rd Kandak, participate in training exercises at Firebase Maholic and a combat patrol near the site of a deadly ambush on the Canadians)

    0VuyDl.jpg

    yQv6Tl.jpg

    FfVoAl.jpg

    copg9l.jpg

    sQ5m1l.jpg

  10. Posted · Edited by h34dup

    There was an awesome feature on Operation Medusa and Rusty Bradley and Co.'s involvement in the Battle for Panjwayi on TV! National Geographic's Inside the Afghanistan War has some solid interviews and footage. Really surprised to see how close everything in the campaign has aligned with what is in the documentary - I'm on the right track in terms of fidelity to the story, good to see.

    http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/episodes/inside-the-afghanistan-war/

    http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/facing-the-enemy/

    Anyone else catch this? Pretty well-done documentary overall, but especially recommend this if you want to get pumped for the CAMP!

    EDIT: More video from Operation Medusa

  12. Posted

    Come to think of it actually I'm pretty sure all I did with those normal maps in my pack was remove the badges. You can un-pbo my pack and use the Czech normal maps from it if you want. Might save you a little time and effort unless you prefer to do it yourself of course. The offer is there though if you want them.

    Normal mapping adjustments should be very easy for your to smooth out, especially if you're removing the ACR patches (which seem to remain in a lot of other unit addons, like ANA/ANP, for example) - just use the healing or clone tool in Ps ;)

  15. Posted

    Great news - this past weekend has been highly productive and I was able to get over the hump with Missions 2 and 5. Two missions I was kind of worried about are now two that I'm excited about.

    Mission 2 - Bingo Red One

    You play as a private in the Afghan National Army (ANA) undergoing training and qualification for the 3rd Kandak at Firebase Maholic. Two different training activities outlined in the book have been recreated in this mission - a shooting course involving moving to different points of cover and hitting a series of targets (complete with some badass training music), and a long-distance run, an exercise in patience and taking in the scenery. You'll run in full kit past a bustling marketplace and a few friendly vehicles, there to ensure no one dies of heat stroke. The dialogue still needs to be implemented but it will help set the stage.

    Mission 5 - The Notebook

    This one was originally going to be done by Damian, but school and social life got too hectic, so I've sort of picked up where he left off...well, I had to re-do a bunch of things using techniques I'm familiar with, but now the mission has been completely re-done and works from start to finish (with placeholder hints for dialogue), just need to add some more details. You'll get to rock a cool-looking night ops kit as Sgt. Bill (Rusty's 2nd-in-command) as you and medic Greg creep around at dusk. You have the option to pursue more information from a local Kuchi tribesman who was helpful in revealing the three possible enemy locations. Talking to the tribesman or clearing a specific one of these three locations opens up an optional objective to secure an IED in the area. When you have completed the recon mission, the perspective switches to Rusty as he and his team advance on a suspicious compound only to find a valuable piece of intel.

    At this point, in terms of mission structure, I only have a few details to finalize in a couple of missions. This means that the missions themselves are almost ready for beta release. The other substantial project would be Intros/Outros, which would be next on the list, and then of course, the voice stuff.

    Screenshots will be on the way fairly soon, maybe in the next day or two. I have a lot of progress to show -- Mission 2, Mission 5, Mission 12, Mission 13, and the Epilogue.

    so, do you have now a more accurate ETA of release for this campaign?

    I think a lot of people here are waiting very much to test it!

    (I am jealous, I don't have the feeling that my missions are expected that much lol ^^)

    My goal is to have this CAMP out as a beta before the end of the year, possibly sooner. It depends on how long it takes me to do these intros/outros and get the voice acting scripted, out, back in, and inserted into the game.

  16. Posted · Edited by h34dup

    I'm now supporting this mod in my open world Apocalypse mission

    new chooseable factions:

    - UK SF Assault (SFSG assault + SFTG assault combined)

    - UK SF Light (SFTG patrol)

    Glad to see you got support for this one in there so quickly! Downloading this addon and the updated Apoc now, can't wait to try.

    EDIT: WOW. Speechless, SAS-SBS Urban is awesome. This could seriously overtake my current obsession with McNools' Tier One Operators. Great work Massi!

  18. Posted

    I am trying to back things up semi-regularly on Dropbox from now on, so I could always share those folders with others. I'd rather do my updates by development milestone-- so I'm on track to finally get the meat of all the briefings finished, I'll back er up then.

    As for giving the password to some faithful stewards, maybe I can advance things just a little bit more, that way the stewards could also serve as pre-beta testers.

  19. Posted

    im itching to dive in and play...so im reading the novel right now!

    Good stuff! You'll get more out of this if you read the book, either before (preferably) or after.

    Still working on the briefings, it's going to probably end up having taken about 12 hours to get everything in there. I also plan to be adding some extra details to the briefings like photographs. It's a good thing I'm tackling all briefing files at one time to ensure the story is cohesive, and I've read back through the book at least a half-dozen times now (though I'm sure I'll miss things that observant readers like you might end up pointing out).

    Once briefings are together, I can ensure the mission skeletons and tasks/objectives are working correctly, add and finalize the voice acting and dialogue script once and for all, and then work on my intros/outros. Finally, I will run an audit on the whole thing and it will be ready to go.

  20. Posted

    Update: I survived Hurricane Sandy, and although I've been working from home and checking on friends and loved ones, I've had time to work on getting together a final checklist of all the elements that need to be present for the beta, so I can rely on that plan.

    Mission 5 - The Notebook

    is now a more collaborative effort between Damian Teo and myself, we made a hand-off this past weekend and I'll be taking it over the finish line from here. That means all missions for the core campaign are in-place and at some level on their way to 100% completion.

    I also received some voice acting from SavageCDN, excited to get that in soon, sounds very convincing as a Canadian CSOR operator on a stealth mission.

    Finally, I got to spend the most of my time working on LoK focusing on the briefings.

    Now that all missions are established, I can make sure each Briefing is consistent, informative, and most importantly, interesting to pick through. Initially, I planned to stick closer to the traditional "super-brief" BIS-vanilla-style briefing format. However, I feel like one thing that has resonated about my work with players is the painstaking detail that goes into the 5-paragraph format I used in Tora Bora. While not as detailed as a real 5-paragraph order, it is based on the real model for WARNORDs in NATO military options. Some missions that don't involve contact will not need or use this format for the briefing, but it is useful in others. In other cases, I have written journal entries or fictional correspondances from some of the characters to help flesh out the story even further for those who want full-immersion, sometimes quoting or referencing events from the book.

    For the Epilogue "sandbox" I am trying to build renditions of the real-world firebases, but decent imagery of them is hard to come-by. I'm forced to refer to whatever can be made out in the background of a photo from a press release, but nonetheless, I feel like there will be authenticity throughout.

    The gloom of autumn in the Epilogue provides some interesting contrast to the warmth of sweltering late-summer during the rest of the Campaign.

    Starting to think about how my modding obsession has come full-circle with this project.

    It started in 2001 and was my favorite creative outlet until around 2005 or 2006, when I shifted to other hobbies and now, since getting into Arma 2 (late) in 2011, I have been tempted back into modding and editing - coming up with ideas out of the blue and investing this kind of time into seeing it realized. Needless to say, this release will be a milestone, and it will deepen the mystery of why I can't resist the chance to play with ideas and inspiring stories like this.

  22. Posted · Edited by h34dup

    I appreciate that offer Harzach.

    The structure for Mission 13 is largely in-place, you will go up against a daunting enemy force, but the support options at your disposal will devastate them if applied properly. You have to make sure that both you and your squad aren't getting bogged down in the larger battle, you have a specific objective and the longer you wait, the more bad guys will have arrived by the time you get there. The mix of ANA, 10th Mtn Div and ODA 331 feels cool as the AO evolves over the course of the Campaign.

    The Epilogue is going to be a non-combat intensive (may not feature combat at all) show-case style experience where you drive around the former AO two months after the Battle of Panjwayi. You will visit a village that laid in ruins coming back to life, an enemy strongpoint that has been converted to an ISAF Firebase, the Canadian OP that is now an FOB, and more. I was originally struggling with the morality of how I depict the end of Lions of Kandahar, based on the book, but I think I have it figured out. I'll save the spoilers for release...

  23. Posted · Edited by h34dup

    Hey Fox, this addon looks very promising indeed.

    EDIT:

    Read through a bit of the thread to get a sense of what's been going on. If there's anything I can do to help with this project, please let me know. Really excited to see some fresh new US Tier 1/CIA SAD units in the works. Not sure who is going to take up the reins from here, but someone should! Keep me in the loop, I've never dived into the code side of Arma 2 unit addons and now is not the time, but I've done player skins for MoH, CoD, CoD2, BF2, etc., and I'm a designer by trade so I can definitely work the textures.

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