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Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Blue Planet => Topic started by: emark4 on January 15, 2018, 02:08:57 pm

Title: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on January 15, 2018, 02:08:57 pm
Been wondering how things have been going for blue planet. I've just started going back to playing war in heaven and on the back of my mind, I always wondered if this would ever be completed because this mod is just sooooo goooood!. This mod ain't dead is it? Or is it like... on hold or something?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Aesaar on January 15, 2018, 05:35:03 pm
The team usually does most of its work when at least one person can work exclusively on it for a month or so.  The last time that happened, we did the VA for Acts 1 and 2.  We haven't had time for one of those sprints in a while though.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on March 15, 2018, 05:25:03 pm
The team usually does most of its work when at least one person can work exclusively on it for a month or so.  The last time that happened, we did the VA for Acts 1 and 2.  We haven't had time for one of those sprints in a while though.

So I guess it's on hold then for now due to RL.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on March 17, 2018, 11:19:53 am
It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work. But I dunno when the bug is gonna bite again and drive me FRED crazy.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on March 17, 2018, 01:46:07 pm
It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work. But I dunno when the bug is gonna bite again and drive me FRED crazy.

Uhh... care to elaborate General?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: wookieejedi on March 17, 2018, 03:07:07 pm
Even from my experience (albeit less impressive) that FRED bugs is sporadic as all heck.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on March 17, 2018, 07:12:44 pm
It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work. But I dunno when the bug is gonna bite again and drive me FRED crazy.

Uhh... care to elaborate General?

It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work, but I don't know when I'll be struck by the motivation and spare time to do 4-5 months of semi-fulltime FRED.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on March 18, 2018, 08:21:55 am
It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work. But I dunno when the bug is gonna bite again and drive me FRED crazy.

Uhh... care to elaborate General?

It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work, but I don't know when I'll be struck by the motivation and spare time to do 4-5 months of semi-fulltime FRED.

Okay, 4-5 months does sound like a long time.

Couldnt other people that know how to FRED be able to take over FREDing duties or something?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Cyborg17 on March 18, 2018, 12:05:38 pm
BP missions are some of the most complex that the modding community puts out.  There are a few that possibly could do it, but they have their own projects themselves that they would have to decide themselves to take a break on.  They would also be less familiar with the modpack, how they do their messaging, and what story elements to emphasize. So you would have to tack on an extra month at the very least.

And they would need the same kind of drive that Battuta is talking about to finish in a similar time frame.

Yes BP is awesome, but honestly the only thing we can really do is to have some patience and play some of the other awesome mods out there while we wait.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on March 18, 2018, 01:02:51 pm
BP missions are some of the most complex that the modding community puts out.  There are a few that possibly could do it, but they have their own projects themselves that they would have to decide themselves to take a break on.  They would also be less familiar with the modpack, how they do their messaging, and what story elements to emphasize. So you would have to tack on an extra month at the very least.

And they would need the same kind of drive that Battuta is talking about to finish in a similar time frame.

Yes BP is awesome, but honestly the only thing we can really do is to have some patience and play some of the other awesome mods out there while we wait.

Well... At least there is bombe3man's Friends and Foes mod , with a part 2 hopefully on the way.

Unless bombe3man could do BP act 4-5.

Damn, I wish I could write and FRED...
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on March 18, 2018, 01:54:35 pm
It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work. But I dunno when the bug is gonna bite again and drive me FRED crazy.

Uhh... care to elaborate General?

It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work, but I don't know when I'll be struck by the motivation and spare time to do 4-5 months of semi-fulltime FRED.

Okay, 4-5 months does sound like a long time.

Couldnt other people that know how to FRED be able to take over FREDing duties or something?

Darius, me, and Axem do the FREDding. Any of us could push missions forward but all of us have lots of **** going on. And usually missions turn out best when all three of us are tagteaming them.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on March 18, 2018, 02:12:24 pm
It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work. But I dunno when the bug is gonna bite again and drive me FRED crazy.

Uhh... care to elaborate General?

It could get done at almost any time with a solid 4-5 months of work, but I don't know when I'll be struck by the motivation and spare time to do 4-5 months of semi-fulltime FRED.

Okay, 4-5 months does sound like a long time.

Couldnt other people that know how to FRED be able to take over FREDing duties or something?

Darius, me, and Axem do the FREDding. Any of us could push missions forward but all of us have lots of **** going on. And usually missions turn out best when all three of us are tagteaming them.

Cant say I blame you guys. You must have been lucky to even have the chance to push out act 1-3 at the time. Maybe one day that chance will happen again.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on April 04, 2018, 12:29:24 pm
BP Act IV, V, BP3.

I want to believe.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Erebus Alpha on June 05, 2018, 10:24:04 am
I'm making a mini-campaign that is HEAVILY inspired by Blue Planet. An alternate reality, where stuff went down differently at Saturn, and the GTVA finds themselves on the losing end of the war.

It won't be Act 4, and it won't be BP canon. But it is BP-adjacent, and it is being actively worked on!
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nagrach on June 05, 2018, 10:04:53 pm
BP Act IV, V, BP3.

I want to believe.

So say we all.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Cazzym on June 07, 2018, 07:13:24 am
Maybe Kickstart / Patreon the rest of the game?

You've already got a solid few chapters and a dedicated fanbase. A bit of cash could ease the burden of working on the campaign. Its also a good opportunity to get some publicity for the excellent work already done on this. Frankly given the quality of the mod I think its almost criminal how poorly known this mod is.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: FrikgFeek on June 07, 2018, 09:05:49 am
Well, that's unlikely for multiple reasons. Unless the patreon is for a pretty hefty amount of money people won't quit their dayjobs over it which doesn't solve the time problem.

And it's also totally against the FSO license agreement which clearly states:

Quote
"Copyright (C) Volition, Inc. 1999.  All rights reserved.

All source code herein is the property of Volition, Inc. You may not
sell or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you
created based on the source."


And I imagine some team members wouldn't be comfortable receiving money for BP. And it would totally muddy up the asset-sharing part of the community. BP still uses some community assets and the original Age of Aquarius was completely made from community assets. It wouldn't really be ~right to start selling it now.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Snarks on June 07, 2018, 09:19:57 am
At best, that money can be used for specified goals, say hiring voice actors. Then if there's any excess, it would be donated to maintain the servers.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: MC_Kejml on June 09, 2018, 08:43:05 am
The money is not received for BP, nor is BP sold - the money is used for covering the costs.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: JSRNerdo on June 09, 2018, 09:24:20 am
The money is not received for BP, nor is BP sold - the money is used for covering the costs.
...of BP. So the money is, in fact, being used for BP. Which I don't think is legal nor desirable for the community tbh, as neat as it would be for us to see BP3 out sooner.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 09, 2018, 07:52:49 pm
I'd do a Patreon in a heartbeat but first I would want to be confident I could actually deliver.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on June 09, 2018, 08:04:40 pm
Q. How long are Act 4 and 5 then mission wise, and how much work do they require compared to the other Acts? Are they comparable in complexity, or do they require MB sized mission files?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 09, 2018, 08:26:54 pm
There are a few missions in advanced stages, it'd probably be comparable to Act 1+2 with a focus on building a few consistent new mechanics instead of new **** every mission. Mostly about bomber and capship interaction.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: MC_Kejml on June 10, 2018, 05:07:58 pm
The money is not received for BP, nor is BP sold - the money is used for covering the costs.
...of BP. So the money is, in fact, being used for BP. Which I don't think is legal nor desirable for the community tbh, as neat as it would be for us to see BP3 out sooner.

It covers the costs. What would be needed would be that it was not used for profit, which NGOs do on average basis.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Erebus Alpha on June 12, 2018, 06:06:06 am
Well, on the plus side, once the BP team does get those core mechanics figured out, and they can be easily applied from one mission to the next (not having to reinvent the wheel every time), they might make some FREDing progress.

I'm doing mostly the same thing for my campaign. Setting up all those SEXPs to get my first mission running properly was a nightmare. But now that it's done, I have a 'blank' mission template, which requires (at most) aggressive copy-pasting. Now I can slam out a decent mission in just a few hours, because the player's ship handles mostly the same from mission to mission.

I would totally give to a BP kickstarter. But it's not one of those things that can be solved by throwing money at it.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on June 22, 2018, 06:13:20 pm
I'm making a mini-campaign that is HEAVILY inspired by Blue Planet. An alternate reality, where stuff went down differently at Saturn, and the GTVA finds themselves on the losing end of the war.

It won't be Act 4, and it won't be BP canon. But it is BP-adjacent, and it is being actively worked on!

Sounds like fun! I hope to play that story someday.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: bigchunk1 on June 27, 2018, 03:47:53 am
Hi all. I was hoping the next episode would be released in the 4 years it took for me to log back on. I understand how getting busy derails projects though. Hope all is well. Was some good times with Blue Planet. Really quality stuff.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 27, 2018, 05:12:26 am
Hi all. I was hoping the next episode would be released in the 4 years it took for me to log back on. I understand how getting busy derails projects though. Hope all is well. Was some good times with Blue Planet. Really quality stuff.

HI BIGCHUNK

I actually did some work today, we'll see if it goes anywhere!
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on June 27, 2018, 10:18:12 pm
Hi all. I was hoping the next episode would be released in the 4 years it took for me to log back on. I understand how getting busy derails projects though. Hope all is well. Was some good times with Blue Planet. Really quality stuff.

HI BIGCHUNK

I actually did some work today, we'll see if it goes anywhere!

Yay!
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Vidmaster on June 28, 2018, 07:02:08 pm
Yay the second  ;)
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: QuakeIV on June 29, 2018, 04:42:20 am
*hype intensifies*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on June 29, 2018, 09:00:36 pm
*hype intensifies*

Bit early for getting hyped, hmmm? :p But anyway yay^3, unless "I worked on it" means "fixed a couple typos". :D
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 29, 2018, 09:02:28 pm
Nah, we've outlined a new gameplay system we want to carry through Act 4 + 5 (we want to do a few consistent mechanics rather than new mechanics every mission), and now we're working on new code and LUA to support it. I'm digging back into the missions we have and tuning them up.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Snarks on June 29, 2018, 09:09:08 pm
Nah, we've outlined a new gameplay system we want to carry through Act 4 + 5 (we want to do a few consistent mechanics rather than new mechanics every mission), and now we're working on new code and LUA to support it. I'm digging back into the missions we have and tuning them up.

Are we talking about completely new mechanics, or are we recycling some of the ones from earlier acts, particularly Act 3.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: The E on June 29, 2018, 09:32:52 pm
A bit of column A, a bit of column B.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 29, 2018, 10:03:37 pm
You should not expect tower defense, reinforcement point buy, or the flashbang to return as regular every mission mechanics.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on June 29, 2018, 11:17:20 pm
Nah, we've outlined a new gameplay system we want to carry through Act 4 + 5 (we want to do a few consistent mechanics rather than new mechanics every mission), and now we're working on new code and LUA to support it. I'm digging back into the missions we have and tuning them up.

*Hype intensifies uncontrollably*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Vidmaster on July 10, 2018, 08:16:52 pm
This community is really looking forward to Blue Planet's (WiH) conclusion...
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: -Sara- on July 13, 2018, 08:10:55 am
Maybe we ought to create a betting pool on whichever will be released first: Blue Planet - Act 4, or George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter.  :nod:
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on July 13, 2018, 01:59:46 pm
Maybe we ought to create a betting pool on whichever will be released first: Blue Planet - Act 4, or George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter.  :nod:

Weren't you the one who made some BP character art some years back?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: -Sara- on July 13, 2018, 04:00:59 pm
Maybe we ought to create a betting pool on whichever will be released first: Blue Planet - Act 4, or George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter.  :nod:

Weren't you the one who made some BP character art some years back?

Yep, ages ago. Nowadays I barely have time to do much of anything. Trying to move in with my significant other, pay the bills, wanting to play a hundred games but being able to afford only so many. I bet real life past the age of 30 gets a score of 1 on MetaCritic. :P
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on July 13, 2018, 04:23:03 pm
I always wonder what this RL is people are talking about... ;)

No, really. :D Mind reuploading the things you made somewhere? Even though they weren't official I remember they were pretty good, and I think there are enough BP fangirls around who'd take a look.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: -Sara- on July 13, 2018, 04:30:37 pm
I'm not even sure if I still have it, I highly doubt it. That was two computers ago.  :sigh:
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: QuakeIV on July 13, 2018, 06:31:37 pm
On a related note, that VOTC thing on Knossos is pretty awesome (though it sadly only seems to have one mission at the moment).  It also had what I would call surprisingly good writing.  Did any of you BP guys work on that?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on July 13, 2018, 10:03:56 pm
Maybe we ought to create a betting pool on whichever will be released first: Blue Planet - Act 4, or George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter.  :nod:

Weren't you the one who made some BP character art some years back?

Yep, ages ago. Nowadays I barely have time to do much of anything. Trying to move in with my significant other, pay the bills, wanting to play a hundred games but being able to afford only so many. I bet real life past the age of 30 gets a score of 1 on MetaCritic. :P

Wait whaaaa? There's character artwork? I would love to see what Noemi and samuel Bei looks like :)
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on July 13, 2018, 10:05:51 pm
On a related note, that VOTC thing on Knossos is pretty awesome (though it sadly only seems to have one mission at the moment).  It also had what I would call surprisingly good writing.  Did any of you BP guys work on that?

I'm wondering why no one has brought attention to that mod yet...
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on July 13, 2018, 10:29:02 pm
Maybe we ought to create a betting pool on whichever will be released first: Blue Planet - Act 4, or George R.R. Martin's The Winds of Winter.  :nod:

Weren't you the one who made some BP character art some years back?

Yep, ages ago. Nowadays I barely have time to do much of anything. Trying to move in with my significant other, pay the bills, wanting to play a hundred games but being able to afford only so many. I bet real life past the age of 30 gets a score of 1 on MetaCritic. :P

Wait whaaaa? There's character artwork? I would love to see what Noemi and samuel Bei looks like :)

IIRC the devs stated somewhere rather explicit that this is not BP Canon, and it was never added to any BP release.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on July 14, 2018, 01:53:38 am
God damn it guys, I'd take even a cinematic cutscene to close this series out. :P
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on July 14, 2018, 02:07:05 am
God damn it guys, I'd take even a cinematic cutscene to close this series out. :P

Sssshhhh.... saying that BP requires extra custom assets to be complete will make Battuta hate you. ;)
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: emark4 on July 14, 2018, 03:47:50 am
I'm making a mini-campaign that is HEAVILY inspired by Blue Planet. An alternate reality, where stuff went down differently at Saturn, and the GTVA finds themselves on the losing end of the war.

It won't be Act 4, and it won't be BP canon. But it is BP-adjacent, and it is being actively worked on!

Hey Erebus, there is a mod on Knossos called VOTC Serkr's Story and I was wondering if that was you.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on July 14, 2018, 05:14:48 am
God damn it guys, I'd take even a cinematic cutscene to close this series out. :P

Sssshhhh.... saying that BP requires extra custom assets to be complete will make Battuta hate you. ;)

We won’t hate you, we’ll just release a campaign instead of sitting around for nigh on 20 years waiting to finish assets.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on July 14, 2018, 08:39:21 am
God damn it guys, I'd take even a cinematic cutscene to close this series out. :P

Sssshhhh.... saying that BP requires extra custom assets to be complete will make Battuta hate you. ;)

We won’t hate you, we’ll just release a campaign instead of sitting around for nigh on 20 years waiting to finish assets.

Good to know. :D
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: ShipMaster on June 04, 2019, 06:42:16 am
Sup people

2019 is here and still nothing concerning BP act4 & 5 ?
as a huge freespace fan i must admit that im really sad to hear that the team isen't able to make any progress

tho im still curious to know if the project was dropped or will it someday see the light of day ?


-PS :act 3 still lacks voice acting btw but we all know that -
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on June 04, 2019, 06:58:46 am
Act IV is quite advanced, just that none of the team members has time to finish it right now.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Assassin714 on June 04, 2019, 08:37:08 am
It will be out when it's done  :pimp:

Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on June 04, 2019, 02:44:31 pm
Act IV is quite advanced, just that none of the team members has time to finish it right now.

I do have hope, one day, someday. Keep the faith.

Was the plan to finishing out part II of WiH with 4 + 5 or has that changed?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 04, 2019, 03:05:13 pm
Yeah, ideally they would both be done together.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on June 04, 2019, 03:35:39 pm
Yeah, ideally they would both be done together.

Wouldn't that be more difficult? AFAIK, Act IV was quite far ahead, but Act Vs premise sounded very complex again.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on June 04, 2019, 04:08:27 pm
I actually have a better picture of how difficult it would be than you do, believe it or not. :p
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on June 04, 2019, 04:17:56 pm
I actually have a better picture of how difficult it would be than you do, believe it or not. :p

Sure, but IIRC it sounded like you were intending complete branching with multiple endings and hence more missions.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: ShipMaster on October 03, 2019, 12:33:11 pm
so i read that act IV is in an advanced state.

may we please get an idea of how much work is left ?
and when might we get a Voice acting for the previous act ?

i also read that we might get act IV and V released together but i feel like this is a bit too much work imo
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 03, 2019, 01:51:13 pm
Can't tell about the state of Act 4 of course but further VA is unlikely to happen as it takes much time that the team probably invests into more playable content.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: mjn.mixael on October 03, 2019, 04:45:14 pm
Can't tell about the state of Act 4 of course but further VA is unlikely to happen as it takes much time that the team probably invests into more playable content.

That's not my experience with BtA... but I was probably a lot less picky. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 03, 2019, 05:28:19 pm
On the other hand, Scroll and Solaris use only computer made voices.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 03, 2019, 11:03:03 pm
Can't tell about the state of Act 4 of course but further VA is unlikely to happen as it takes much time that the team probably invests into more playable content.

That's not my experience with BtA... but I was probably a lot less picky. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The casting and processing takes ages, and we did end up spending a couple grand on voice talent in total (iirc? Like 1500 plus or minus a thousand?). I can’t really afford it right now and it just takes eons to get everything recorded and in place: Act 3 has so much dialogue, too.

Act 4 is not in what I’d call an advanced state. I’ve been feeling the call lately, but before I can take a bunch of time to work on BP I have two novels on deadline and a AAA title hiring me for lore.

It is impossible to say how much time is left before a release. It could be next year, it could be never. Right now no work is happening, but that might change.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 03, 2019, 11:07:13 pm
My big passion for Act 4 right now is getting rid of per-mission mechanics in the Starcraft 2/Call of Duty mode and instead building systems which span the whole act and which the player can really learn and master. Also trying to polish off the rough edges of FS2 gameplay, make it smoother and less finicky.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 04, 2019, 05:35:43 am
Thank you for the update.  :)
One more question though: what was that about Act 4 and 5 supposed to be released at the same time?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: ShipMaster on October 05, 2019, 07:19:01 am
i fully understand that Battuta is having a really busy time with other projects and all, but would there be a possibility to hire more "active" people to the team or something to finnish the BP campain ? atleast FREDing wise i mean. If it's impossible, we would atleast have an idea of how the story ends, i don't mind spoilers if u ask me
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 05, 2019, 01:25:36 pm
You can always read Morrigan in Shadow. It’s not the ending BP will have but it’s an ending.

And would it really be BP without Darius and Axem and I doing missions? It’d be cool to have more talent, but they’d have to really be on the same wavelength.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: taoofcrime on October 05, 2019, 08:00:09 pm
I'm always torn between begging Battuta for more BP, knowing that'll mean I gotta wait longer for a new Baru Cormorant book and vice versa.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 05, 2019, 08:08:23 pm
I'm always torn between begging Battuta for more BP, knowing that'll mean I gotta wait longer for a new Baru Cormorant book and vice versa.

Well more of the latter means more money for the General, so more chance for BP. Hopefully. ;7
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 06, 2019, 02:07:42 pm
Thank you for the update.  :)
One more question though: what was that about Act 4 and 5 supposed to be released at the same time?

That was the hope, to release 4 and 5 at the same time and so complete BP2.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 06, 2019, 02:17:29 pm
Thank you for the update.  :)
One more question though: what was that about Act 4 and 5 supposed to be released at the same time?

That was the hope, to release 4 and 5 at the same time and so complete BP2.

90+% of HLP community: And, Battuta, sir, what has become of your masterplan? Is Act IV nearing completion, and how much of Act V still needs to be done?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Cyborg17 on October 06, 2019, 04:51:12 pm
You can always read Morrigan in Shadow. It’s not the ending BP will have but it’s an ending.

And would it really be BP without Darius and Axem and I doing missions? It’d be cool to have more talent, but they’d have to really be on the same wavelength.

Maybe you could put out the call for it -- ask community members to try their hand at the first mission of Act 4, and if the work is close enough to how you would do it, then you could greenlight them for a couple more missions, etc.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 06, 2019, 08:19:17 pm
You can always read Morrigan in Shadow. It’s not the ending BP will have but it’s an ending.

And would it really be BP without Darius and Axem and I doing missions? It’d be cool to have more talent, but they’d have to really be on the same wavelength.

Maybe you could put out the call for it -- ask community members to try their hand at the first mission of Act 4, and if the work is close enough to how you would do it, then you could greenlight them for a couple more missions, etc.

It’s a nice idea, but...I dunno. If anyone is wildly talented and not admitting it please send us a sample mission!

Thank you for the update.  :)
One more question though: what was that about Act 4 and 5 supposed to be released at the same time?

That was the hope, to release 4 and 5 at the same time and so complete BP2.

90+% of HLP community: And, Battuta, sir, what has become of your masterplan? Is Act IV nearing completion, and how much of Act V still needs to be done?

I can’t find any way to read this except as some kind of weird passive-aggressive dig.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 06, 2019, 08:50:00 pm
 :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

If you don't want to awnser, than don't awnser. Dunno what your pblm is but OK.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 06, 2019, 10:35:07 pm
What are you even asking that hasn’t already been answered on this page? It sounds like you’re just mocking the fact that it’s not done.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 06, 2019, 10:50:13 pm
The info I got so far was that Act 4 is "quite advanced", but requires more work. On the other hand, you stated that BP2s next release contains Act 5 as well, which was, to my knowledge supposed to have multiple endings, each path probably consisting of more than just 1 mission. Aside that you said several times that the basic mechanics in Act 4 and 5 would be similar and hence take less overall work, there wasn't a single comment yet on the status of Act 5 AFAIK (unless you were simply referring the entire time to the 4+5 combination without saying it), which could be anywhere from "roughly the same state as Act 4" to "maybe I or the rest of the team finds the time to built 10 or 15 missions from scratch".
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: General Battuta on October 06, 2019, 10:55:25 pm
Act 4 is in a state of...moderate progress? It's hard to say. Act 5 ain't got ****. But the branching endings will probably just be cutscenes.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Col. Fishguts on October 07, 2019, 10:32:41 am
My big passion for Act 4 right now is getting rid of per-mission mechanics in the Starcraft 2/Call of Duty mode and instead building systems which span the whole act and which the player can really learn and master. Also trying to polish off the rough edges of FS2 gameplay, make it smoother and less finicky.

:yes: As cool as the Act 3 gimmicks were, I'd wish that you'd pick 1 or 2 extra gameplay mechanics and focus on making them a polished and useful tool throughout the campaign.
Things like the tower defense mission are an impressive achievement in the FSO engine, but are maybe better left for single missions in the tech room.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: mjn.mixael on October 14, 2019, 01:14:10 pm
Maybe you could put out the call for it -- ask community members to try their hand at the first mission of Act 4, and if the work is close enough to how you would do it, then you could greenlight them for a couple more missions, etc.

It's worth noting that HLP's history is covered with evidence that larger teams do not necessarily mean work gets done faster or at a higher quality. In fact, in most cases, it's been the small teams that actually release something at all. Battuta already hinted at it when he said anyone joining the team would really have to be on the same wavelength. FRED skills are only the first requirement.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: taoofcrime on October 17, 2019, 02:35:16 am
:yes: As cool as the Act 3 gimmicks were, I'd wish that you'd pick 1 or 2 extra gameplay mechanics and focus on making them a polished and useful tool throughout the campaign.
Things like the tower defense mission are an impressive achievement in the FSO engine, but are maybe better left for single missions in the tech room.

Yeah learning and then forgetting all those new mechanics was a little frustrating. But you gotta hand it to the BP team for finding a way to make FS2 work as a dating sim/visual novel.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: TechnoD11 on October 17, 2019, 03:47:29 pm
Yeah learning and then forgetting all those new mechanics was a little frustrating. But you gotta hand it to the BP team for finding a way to make FS2 work as a dating sim/visual novel.

I think you are referring to Wings of Dawn (or Just Another Day, possibly) here. That was made by Spoon (with Axem's help), not the BP team. It just uses the same FSO engine.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: taoofcrime on October 18, 2019, 04:11:13 am
Yeah learning and then forgetting all those new mechanics was a little frustrating. But you gotta hand it to the BP team for finding a way to make FS2 work as a dating sim/visual novel.

I think you are referring to Wings of Dawn (or Just Another Day, possibly) here. That was made by Spoon (with Axem's help), not the BP team. It just uses the same FSO engine.

Actually i'm talking about the mission where you can flirt with Simms
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: TechnoD11 on October 18, 2019, 10:56:50 am
Yeah learning and then forgetting all those new mechanics was a little frustrating. But you gotta hand it to the BP team for finding a way to make FS2 work as a dating sim/visual novel.

I think you are referring to Wings of Dawn (or Just Another Day, possibly) here. That was made by Spoon (with Axem's help), not the BP team. It just uses the same FSO engine.

Actually i'm talking about the mission where you can flirt with Simms

Oh, ok! my bad!
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: X3N0-Life-Form on October 18, 2019, 11:18:14 am
Still doesn't qualify as visual novel though.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on October 18, 2019, 11:38:08 am
Next BP fan campaign Laporte x Simms dating VN. ;)
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: TechnoD11 on October 19, 2019, 12:26:37 pm
Next BP fan campaign Laporte x Simms dating VN. ;)

Someone call Axem!
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on January 31, 2020, 01:25:06 am
About every six months or so I pop back in and take a looksie. And I will. Till its done. :P
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Su-tehp on January 31, 2020, 02:30:19 pm
About every six months or so I pop back in and take a looksie. And I will. Till its done. :P

That's actually a valid tactic. Keep annoying and scolding someone until they get their work done.

Actually, that sounds like marriage, now that I think about it.... :lol: :nod: ;7 :drevil:
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: spectata on May 25, 2020, 12:03:05 am
Any news / updates on Act 4 and Act 5?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: captain austin on May 27, 2020, 08:37:25 am
Any news / updates on Act 4 and Act 5?

Shhhhh we still have two months to go until our six-month check in :P

About every six months or so I pop back in and take a looksie. And I will. Till its done. :P
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on June 05, 2020, 05:25:33 pm
*hovers eagerly*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Su-tehp on June 05, 2020, 07:41:24 pm
*hovers eagerly*

*Also hovers eagerly over manwithamachinegun's shoulder without caring about anyone else's personal space*  :D
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: danilm on June 25, 2020, 04:16:59 pm
BP is so good, so fun, so engaging, and so moving, that I'm happy to wait however long it takes. If I win the lottery I'll happily hire the whole dev team full-time to get it done.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on June 28, 2020, 08:22:46 pm
Someone post anime cat girls to get their attention, wait, that only works on Spoon... Damn. :3
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: spart_n on June 28, 2020, 08:55:57 pm
draw laporte as an anime cat girl. do we even have a canon appearance for laporte?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on August 02, 2020, 01:56:32 pm
Clap your hands if you believe in War In Heaven and BP3. :D
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: SaltyWaffles on August 09, 2020, 01:41:30 am
*Clap*

Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Vidmaster on August 14, 2020, 01:39:29 am
*CLAP*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Madeye on August 16, 2020, 03:26:00 pm
*CLAP*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Iain Baker on August 16, 2020, 05:57:55 pm
draw laporte as an anime cat girl. do we even have a canon appearance for laporte?

*clap*

Also, stumbled upon these the other day:


https://youtu.be/9DyrfWf-ue0 (https://youtu.be/9DyrfWf-ue0)
https://youtu.be/yaCx0kZl1ns (https://youtu.be/yaCx0kZl1ns)
https://youtu.be/AGFxbOnVy-s (https://youtu.be/AGFxbOnVy-s)

Not sure they count as canon. She might have anime cat ears under that helmet though  :lol:

Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: taoofcrime on August 17, 2020, 02:06:33 am
draw laporte as an anime cat girl. do we even have a canon appearance for laporte?

She's described as "raven dark" in one of the interludes and her parents are from North Africa.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: taoofcrime on August 17, 2020, 02:07:12 am
A new Baru Cormorant book just came out (buy it) which means Battuta isn't on deadline right now, so there's some hope
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Iain Baker on August 17, 2020, 05:10:09 am
draw laporte as an anime cat girl. do we even have a canon appearance for laporte?

She's described as "raven dark" in one of the interludes and her parents are from North Africa.

Indeed. I could never work out if that and the *'dark little Noemi'* meant she was White with dark hair or if she was Black. I had assumed the latter due to the African heritage. That said, it is set in the 24th century, so it's perfectly possible that people of all races have intermingled throughout the world. For example, finding a Hispanic living in Finland, a Nordic in India, an Arab in Japan, an Asian in Kenya, a Somali in Russia and a European in Africa might be perfectly normal by that point. We are already starting to see this in the present as technology makes travel, migration, relocation etc. easier. If by the 24th Cent. people can travel to other planets and solar systems relatively easily, then moving around the Earth from one continent to the other would likely be fairly trivial.

*NB* This might have been a line from the "Morrigan in..." stories so I might be mixing things up a bit.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Rheavatarin on August 17, 2020, 06:40:38 pm
A new Baru Cormorant book just came out (buy it) which means Battuta isn't on deadline right now, so there's some hope

Ahhhh!!!! How did I miss that?!

*finds his local bookstore and purchases immediately*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Nightmare on August 19, 2020, 06:21:35 pm
-Sara- made a number of fanart things like 10 years back, these are probably the only ones that survived to this day. Non of them was BP canon though, that's why they weren't included.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: flipdark95 on September 03, 2020, 09:55:12 pm
I always figured she was white with dark hair, but I guess not.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Ertanax on December 30, 2020, 08:12:56 am
Etymologically, Laporte, and Laporte's family, are from ethnic groups based in modern-day Zambia or modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo, with some Occidental French mixed in. Manuel is likely French from the limited information that can be parsed, here, whilst Martin is probably African. They're not from the same sides of Laporte's family tree.


Laporte is likely mixed race and brown skinned from a postcolonial nation. Laporte grew up in a household with Zambian cuisine.  Another indicator is the bloodshot eye hallucinogenic bitmap in BP Complete. The image shows one of Laporte's eyes. Whilst you don't see the entire face, the reference image for Laporte shows a coffee brown woman with prominent, plausibly mixed race cheekbones.


Chiwetel Steele has a middle-English and West African name. You can assume he's a person of colour, as well, or he grew up in an environment with a high level of cultural interplay.


However, that is a blinkin' good head avi that deserves to be in -something- BP-esque. I'm going to  liberate it.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: EAD_Agamemnon on January 24, 2021, 02:27:36 pm
The crawl this mod has taken on it's way to completion...though I could never get much beyond TBL modding...I can sympathize & understand FIRST HAND what it's like to try and complete something that started with a kind of love.

I have a fan-fic that I started on 20 years ago that can never see the light of day. Based on a loop-hole in the STARFIRE universe by David Weber & Steve White. At least the 1st of the 2 can't but even the latter which takes place MUCH later can't really. The latest installment has been in the works (3 parts) since 2003. Pt 1 went through numerous re-writes. Pt 2 went by fairly quick as I began to "write as I see it happening". Pt 3 has been ongoing for about 10 years with the last major "spurt" happening sometime in early 2012. I've crawled tooth & nail from chapter to chapter as I near the end which is only a few chapters away. Currently trying to complete the last BIG chapter after I introduced an original enemy of my own creation. The problem is figuring out how to tie things up. This project has enough OEM content to serve as an internal resource for some back stories to be retold later.

Furthermore the current project had a wrench threw into it when the main nemesis in the later STARFIRE returned in latest 2 installments that Steve White & a couple different go-authors released. Using the same opening I used 15 years before they did. But I can't start the new project until the CURRENT project is complete despite the monkey wrench. Tried starting the future one while working on this (years ago)...but succeeded in only grinding both to a halt.

All I can say is it takes time. Just hopefully we ALL can see the end before the end...
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: manwiththemachinegun on February 12, 2021, 01:16:10 pm
*Sends his Ki energy for the BP2-3 completion spirit bomb*
I know you guys have no obligation to finish BP, but I do want to encourage you it's not just one of my favorite mods, BP is one of my favorite games. I replay it probably once every 2 years or so, and I only do that for games that really show their quality.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Iain Baker on February 12, 2021, 01:21:25 pm
*Sends his Ki energy for the BP2-3 completion spirit bomb*
I know you guys have no obligation to finish BP, but I do want to encourage you it's not just one of my favorite mods, BP is one of my favorite games. I replay it probably once every 2 years or so, and I only do that for games that really show their quality.


THIS. I have started replaying though BP now, starting with AoA, then The Blade Itself, Battle for Neptune and now WiH (although I have put that on hold until the bugs that have been reported get fixed.) In the meantime I'm playing through Crysis 2 with a certain difficulty mod that is kicking mah a$$  ;7
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: kosigan on July 31, 2021, 04:12:53 am
I haven't played BP since 2010. Decided to check in on it and give it a spin after playing around with the new TIE Fighter TC mod for XWA. I am about to experience Act 2 for the first time, woo! And seriously guys, Blue Planet is in the top 3 of my favorite games ever.

I see it as a tribute to the golden age of PC Sims... Mechwarrior 2, TIE Fighter, WC III/4, Commanche/Hind... capped off with Freespace 2 as the 90s ended. I experienced that golden age of PC gaming at the exact age when most people form unshakeable nostalgia about things (10 - 15yrs old). As I grew older, I often wondered if the reverence I had for those games was that kind of nostalgia - reverence of lost youth and young imagination. You'll never experience games like you did when you were a kid, y'know?

Well, upon playing BP and WiH p1 in 2010 I became that 90s kid again losing his **** over what a computer could simulate and the world, story, and artistic vision it could convey. I was completely absorbed. I even subjected my girlfriend at the time to discussing possible theories behind the Shivans and Vishnans. Your mod is one of the best video games ever, seriously. There's magic in it.  Take as long as you guys need, and I hope one day this can reach a wider audience as more than just a mod to an old 90s game, but rather a masterpiece of interactive art that should be enjoyed like a cherished TV series or movie.

Off to get started on my campaign replay and then WiH pt 2 :D.
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Iain Baker on August 01, 2021, 08:20:04 am
I recently watched "The Children of Dune". So that's where BP got some of its orchestral music  :p
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: praseodym on May 09, 2022, 06:13:31 am
Hopefully, I am not too late...

*clap*
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: + Rennie Ash + on September 16, 2023, 07:02:43 am
Well, that's unlikely for multiple reasons. Unless the patreon is for a pretty hefty amount of money people won't quit their dayjobs over it which doesn't solve the time problem.

And it's also totally against the FSO license agreement which clearly states:

Quote
"Copyright (C) Volition, Inc. 1999.  All rights reserved.

All source code herein is the property of Volition, Inc. You may not
sell or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you
created based on the source."


And I imagine some team members wouldn't be comfortable receiving money for BP. And it would totally muddy up the asset-sharing part of the community. BP still uses some community assets and the original Age of Aquarius was completely made from community assets. It wouldn't really be ~right to start selling it now.

Well, since Volition uh, died, what happens to the copyright now?
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: Renegade Paladin on September 16, 2023, 09:16:52 am
Well, since Volition uh, died, what happens to the copyright now?
Their parent company still has it.  The rights may or may not end up auctioned off. 
Title: Re: Sooo, act 4 for war in heaven is still being worked on?
Post by: The E on September 17, 2023, 03:54:08 am
Well, since Volition uh, died, what happens to the copyright now?

Nothing.