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Frontlines 2334 progress (formerly "Request - Single in-game cutscene mission)

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Black Wolf:
Right, so I've recently re-started on my Frontlines project (A series of TV-War minicampaigns - there's info on the wiki, although most of that is for the very early minicampaign - the one I'm working on now is the very latest, in 2334) as I'm up at site, and I can FRED but not do much else. Personally, I think it's turning out pretty cool - old-school, FS1 style action without shields - it's very different to a post Capella type campaign. Cruisers are a threat (Hell, freighters are a threat) and mistakes are punished, even by retail AI. Also, since it's a minicampaign (6 playable missions), and is set a few months before FS1 (so is pretty low on mods), it's progressing at a decent pace (I'm hoping to have the bulk of the FREDding done before I go home in a week or so, although there'll probably be some bugfixing and beta testing and whatnot to do afterwards).

I do, however, have a problem. One pivotal moment in the campaign is intended to take place in an in-game cutscene (showing events happening while the player is elsewhere). Without giving away any details, it'll show a major battle between Terran and Vasudan forces will tip the balance one way or the other (no Spoilers!). Unfortunately, while I am technically capable of making ingame cutscenes, artistically mine leave a lot to be desired. I feel like the scene will have a lot more impact if it's done well, and I don't think I'm capable of creating it to the standard that I want it to be at.

So, what I'm asking for is someone who knows what they're doing with cutscenes to take a crack at this one. It wont require any special mods - I'm basically just using the Port, plus a few public mods - in terms of this cutscene, all that would be needed would be a few custom weapons, one of Axem's skyboxes and my GVGs Hemsut gunship (cunningly disguised as the PVGs Hemsut). It also doesn't have any kind of script that I want slavishly followed - I have only the roughest idea of what I want to see, and essentially it boils down to "Show the two sides fighting, show a specific event, show the result, fin" so there's lots room for interpretation in terms of how you might want to present it, what music to use etc. etc. I'm anticipating the whole thing being two to three minutes long, but that too is flexible.

In return, I can offer my undying gratitude. :nod: I'm conceptually open to a trade - I think my skillset is pretty well known, but I can kinda model, kinda texture, make head anis and kinda FRED - but I freely admit that I am horrendously unreliable (ask Goober - sorry Goob! It's coming!), so depending on what you want, it may take awhile. :nervous: I'm good at stations! :p

If nobody's interested, well, it'll still get done, never fear. It'll just take longer, and probably not be as good. So, with that exciting preamble out of the way, is anyone interested?

mjn.mixael:
Dibs

Black Wolf:
Well, that was easy! Although I may regret it, depending in how much rigging I have to do... ;)

Anyway, since that went so well, I might as well turn this into a progress thread! :D

Frontlines 2334 is a TV War era minicampaign, the first in what I hope to develop into a series of similar campaigns in the future. Set a few months prior to the events of Freespace 1, you play the classic Freesoace role of (who else?) Alpha 1, and join the GTD Minnow and the GTAs expeditionary force in their attack on the Vasudan colony system of Deneb.

Frontlines 2334 is very much inspired by the clean, simple design ethos of FS1, and will provide a similar atmosphere, but the game play mechanics associated with shieldless combat and late TV War equipment mean that the experience will be a novel one, especially for those used to post-Capella campaigns.

Current progress is one fully-complete mission, one gameplay-complete mission (I.e. Needs a few messages and a debrief, but is fully balanced and ready to go), one approx. 60% complete mission (this mission will very likely be the most complex in the campaign, FREDwise). Two other missions have been started, and two are yet to be begun (No feature creep, I misremembered in the first post :P). In terms of pace, pretty much the entirety of the FREDding has been done in the past week. I have another six evenings to work on it, so I anticipate a reasonably similar amount of progress to take place, probably 5 missions done by then. Following that, who knows. ;) But I suspect I can throw it together quickly if release proximity gets my motivation going. The only non-public mods I'm planning are table tweaks and a few custom weapon effects/missile models - these I can put together fairly quickly, but if for whatever reason I struggle, they're purely aesthetic, so release could easily go ahead without them (can't see this happening though)

Beyond that, there's not much to say. I'd show off some screenshots except A) My graphics are buggy and B) It kind of just looks like regular Port gameplay at present. So, for now, unless I've forgotten something, or there's anything you really want to know, I guess wish me luck, and watch this space! :)

Lorric:
And now I know why you liked my campaign idea!  :)

Good luck with this. I will play it if you release it, it appeals to me for the same reasons my own idea appealed to me.

Black Wolf:
All three of the above mentioned partially complete missions are now fully complete, although one is pretty complicated, and may yet have some hidden bugs, so it'll need a bit more playtesting yet. The other two are still only really in the "started" category, but they will move fairly quickly in the next few days, I'm expecting. Still hoping to have all five (or ideally even more) done by Friday, leaving me two to do when I get back home.

In other words, [Emperor]Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen it.[/Emperor] :D

I'm almost tempted to declare a release date sometime next month, but I know the folly of that all too well. :|

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