[Strygon]

Yep, here we go again lads.
Since O:CaD went surprisingly well, I thought to myself:
"Hey, let's use this experience i gained and make another mod in the same universe?"
Anyway, this one's going to be ranging from 8-10 Missions and will use a couple new ideas and experiments I've discovered over the course of development of O:CaD.
This one has a higher focus on plot, characters and the relationship between fighters, CAS and bombers.
Oh, and most of it will take place on planetary surface this time.

Anyway, here's the basic gist of the story:

The Story

It is a time of great political tension. The United Star Front and the Glisean Steel Pact are at the brink of war. The possibility of a second Interstellar Conflict is higher than ever before.
Enter Glacia, a very remote ice planet in the Hydra System. It's desolate, hostile and beset with frequent violent blizzards. But it also contains Colossite, a highly durable crystalline compound that is very crucial in the process of manufacturing ship hulls. The planet is inhabited by dozens of mining colonies and a few airfields, owned by the Solarian Air Defense Force (SADF).

Glacia Orbital Command Station Foxtrot suddenly loses contact. Glisean dropships, fighters and bombers enter the atmosphere, with the intent of capturing the planet. Falcon and Vulture Wings, of the 3rd Birds of Prey Aerospace Division, must hold off the Glisean Army and re-establish contact with the Solarian main fleet before Glacia falls to the enemy. <will reveal a bit more as development goes on>

What to expect in this mod

• An expansion on the lore previously laid out by OCaD.
• More New ships!
• Actual characters this time
• (possible) New Head.ANIs

Progress Report

Y'all know the drill by now, here I will update what's done, what isn't, yadda yadda yadda.

Missions: 14% [2/14]
Music: 100%
Sounds: 100%
Ships: 51%
(Possible) New HUD: 0%
New Interface: 25%
Skyboxes: 25% [1/4]
Weapons: 35%

Predicted Release Date: None

[woutersmits]

do you have a lodt freetime

[Strygon]

do you have a lodt freetime

I've got like a week of holidays, so, kinda.

[Nightmare]

Will play when it's done.

[Strygon]

Showing off some finished assets. Skyboxes were a bit of a pain to make but creating ground environments is really really fun, even if it results in weird shading from time to time.

[Strygon]

I'll be calling in a delay, because while the assets are nearly all complete and missions are coming along smoothly, the visuals and Head.ANIs all need to be scrapped and reworked.

[Nightmare]

Still faster than almost anything developed here.

[Strygon]

I know I said I have to work on the art a lot more, but decided to go against my own judgement and post this thing here anyway:




Yes, you're seeing this right, it's another anime mod...

Hey, HEY! I can hear you guys groaning all the way over here!

Anyway, with this out of the way, it's time to reveal the FULL story of the mod:

You play as Yumi Okumura, a rookie pilot who was transferred to Glacia after trying to enter the Union Navy and failing. The SADF needs all the pilots it can get however, so you get shafted into a squadron consisting of a laid-back idiot, a stuck-up goody-two shoes squadron leader and some German pilot who never talks for some reason.

As to follow the tradition of other anime mods here, there will be hand-drawn Head.ANIs, anime soundtracks, and some more fun stuff.

[Nightmare]

Sweet, moar Anime! BTW the OP still has the old "Predicted Release Date".

[Strygon]

Ah, thanks for reminding me. I'll change it right away.

[Droid803]

Sounds promising!

[Strygon]

It has been a long while since I updated you all on this thing. As such, I'd first like to apologize for the unannounced hiatus. I will begin working on this project again, at a higher pace this time. No deadlines, because I'd like to avoid the stressfest that was O:CaD and the burnout that followed after.

But for now, let me show off the stuff I have managed to throw together for this little mod:



This is the design of some of the hostile aircraft. The large ones are the GSAF Sledgehammer Strategic Bomber, and the small ones are GSAF Gnat-class Air Superiority Fighters



I've also been experimenting with terrain modeling and such, to set a stage for potentially interesting missions. Here you see a squadron flying through a canyon



Another important part of the campaign will be ground forces. Here you see a type of enemy tank. They don't pose much of a threat to your aircraft, but they pose dangers in the form of halting your own ground units, overtaking installations, etc.



Just because the mod focuses on Air to Air or Air to Ground combat, doesn't mean that you won't be seeing any threats from orbit too. Due to a severe lack of proper funding, Glacia lacks orbital defenses, making orbital bombardment a real threat to both troops and aircraft. Some missions may take place in low orbit, but be warned. You don't have proper spacecraft, but the enemy sure does.

That is all I can show you right now, in terms of progress. Some other concepts are also in the works (such as night time missions requiring the use of limited night vision) but they're not in a state yet to be shown off to the public.

[Nightmare]

That looks already pretty nice; 2nd pic is particular awesome!

[Nightmare]

BTW, there's a way how you can make "proper" ground impact so that instead of the "weapon impact + firespew" like you get it on ships you get a "weapon impact + dust explosion" when it hits the ground. Just add this to the table of the ground ship:

Code: [Select]

$Shields: 10000
 +Auto Spread: 1
 +Spread From LOD: 0
$Shield Impact Explosion: Rock_Exp

...

$Flags: ("Capital" "Surface Shields" "Auto Spread Shields")

[Strygon]

Oh that's incredibly useful, and one of the main problems I had at the moment. Thank you very much, Nightmare!

[0rph3u5]

BTW, there's a way how you can make "proper" ground impact so that instead of the "weapon impact + firespew" like you get it on ships you get a "weapon impact + dust explosion" when it hits the ground. Just add this to the table of the ground ship:

Code: [Select]

$Shields: 10000
 +Auto Spread: 1
 +Spread From LOD: 0
$Shield Impact Explosion: Rock_Exp

...

$Flags: ("Capital" "Surface Shields" "Auto Spread Shields")

I must make a note of that.

[Nightmare]

Glad I could help~

[Strygon]

While development of First Contact War is progressing ever so nicely, I must unfortunately declare this mod as temporarily put on ice (hehe).

If I do recommence development, it will most likely be integrated into FCW. The assets all need an overhaul anyways.

Speaking of assets, I will be making a release of this mod tomorrow so that you can toy around with whatever was already put in place. It's all mostly just test missions, but who knows, maybe you'll find something cool in there.

Thank you, and I apologise for the necro.

[Mobius]

This may be sad news but you're being extremely cautious and mature here the moment you decide to focus on one project in particular, and put on hold the other. There's a chance for this project to be integrated into FCW, which is a very good thing, IMO. Looking forward to both mods. 

[Nightmare]

Making new projects > completing old ones