Modding, Mission Design, and Coding > The Modding Workshop
Freespace: Tactics - A Tactical RTS Conversion
Sniflheim:
Hello!
Some of you may already know about this project from my Discord announcements.
Well, the project is AlmostTM ready for a public alpha, and I am just so excited to get this out there, and I hope by the end of this post, you are just as excited as I am.
This is a total conversion of Freespace 2 into a multiplayer tactical RTS. I started with a blank Unity3D project and built it up from there.
The amazing work done by the FSU team as well as the meticulous documentation on the HLP wiki has enabled me to create a totally new, visually stunning game that I have been slaving away on for a few months now.
Important note: This is a FREE game. Free as in really free. I do not have any intentions of making a single penny on this creation. There will be no limits to gameplay, no microtransactions, etc. etc.
I feel this is necessary to mention. Rights to the FS IP obviously still lie with Interplay, and I am hoping to operate in the grey area that others mods do. With that being said, when this is released, you should own a copy of Freespace 2 before playing.
I will be replying to questions in this thread, but I will be making updates to this post to announce news or post new videos. I will also update this original post when I release the public alpha.
You can also catch me on Discord to chat or ask questions, Sniflheim#6415
3 March 2022 - Update after the holiday break: Zone Control gametype, non-fumbling AI, bug fixes. (.8a)
11 Nov 2021 - 1440p showcase of the experience as it stands now, with only a few serious totally minor bugs.
(.75a, AI fighters don't engage properly, friendly fighters only engage capital ships, ships repeat comms twice)
26 Oct 2021 Video (Shivan Player Fleet, 0.7a)
Screenshot Blob from 0.7a testing (25 Oct 2021)
Procedural Scenario Test (9 Sep 2021)
Bomber testing (Sep 2nd 2021)
Older:
Here's a few more videos of previous builds and other tests:
Thanks for your attention!
Elaheh_Aiza:
Looks amazing! :D Hope you keep up with it!
How hard would it be to, say, add your own ships? I am curious.
Sniflheim:
--- Quote from: Elaheh_Aiza on July 28, 2021, 02:53:43 pm ---Looks amazing! :D Hope you keep up with it!
How hard would it be to, say, add your own ships? I am curious.
--- End quote ---
My experience with Unity has never included creating a modding interface, however I have had several questions from others about that, so I'm looking into it. Definitely a 'later on' kind of feature. Right now there is no exposed interface for modifying ships or properties, and this is partially intentional: #1, it is easier to iterate changes when these values are inside the game; #2, I don't want to end up with fragmented multiplayer compatibility.
All that said, eventually I will expose property tables in text form, and hopefully more, with the caveat that games hosted by a modified client will be tagged as such.
Also, I am already working on a battlefield editor to allow for some more custom experiences, and that won't affect multiplayer compatibility because the host can merely send the required positional data to the client for scenery.
deep breath
And finally, as long as a ship can be balanced to be in line with the others and mostly fits the aesthetic, I have no issue at all with including it as an 'official' asset. Just let me know.
Cyborg17:
I think there are a couple ships that could fit that description. Once we get to that point, the Nemesis and Phobos would be good choices as Easter Egg or unlockable ships.
Our Multi service PXO
has built-in table validation, which allows us to use multiple mods and even versions of the same mod on that service. Players just need to be on the same mod.
I don't know how much effort it would be to duplicate or port that code or add this to PXO, but I am really excited to play some games with this it's ready.
Sniflheim:
A simple MD5 hash of the tables would suffice for mod compatibility, as well as a check for the assets required. I have the solution sort of floating around in my head in a foggy, pseudocode kind of state, I just haven't really had a desire to focus on it right now.
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