Author Topic: TCP - Chapter One RELEASED  (Read 13122 times)

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Offline Nuclear1

  • 211
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
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Originally posted by Grunt
Nuclear1, I would appreciate your help with the grammar/style a lot. I tried my best but some mistakes are still there that I only noticed after release.


No problem. The English was actually extremely good, considering that you live in Hungary. ;) Just needs some fixing here and there, and I'll have it ready for you.

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I realize that some missions are really tough. A variation of difficulty from mission to mission was intentional, and some of them is impossible without intensive team play. You need to call reinforcement and need to use your wingies there. Also it gets harder and harder as the player fails critical objectives. He is kinda "punished" for mistakes, but can still finish the mission if he finds the way out of these situations.


That's really quite alright. I've honestly been looking for a campaign that has some real challenges (since I haven't really played many since Derelict and Warzone).

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Did you play it through with FSO ? It would be good to know if the major bugs were sorted with the patch.


Played it completely with retail. It's amazing how well campaigns can be made with the bare bones of FRED. :)
Spoon - I stand in awe by your flawless fredding. Truely, never before have I witnessed such magnificant display of beamz.
Axem -  I don't know what I'll do with my life now. Maybe I'll become a Nun, or take up Macrame. But where ever I go... I will remember you!
Axem - Sorry to post again when I said I was leaving for good, but something was nagging me. I don't want to say it in a way that shames the campaign but I think we can all agree it is actually.. incomplete. It is missing... Voice Acting.
Quanto - I for one would love to lend my beautiful singing voice into this wholesome project.
Nuclear1 - I want a duet.
AndrewofDoom - Make it a trio!

 

Offline Grunt

  • 28
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Quote
Originally posted by Akalabeth Angel
I'm only part-way through, but one question I had is how did you make the command briefings? I'd love to do some of that for my own campaign.


CB anis were all done in 3DS MAX (3.0 an early version that I have). You can do it in any 3D prog that can animate. I've built a 3D world, all in a huge sphere with background nebulae and stars on it, and other objects inside, and also the extended FS starmap.
Rendered frames were converted to 8 bit paletted images and pcx format with Corel Photo-Paint 8. Ani files were compiled from the frames with ANIBUILDER32. You probably find the d/l link and plenty of tutorials for using it in the community.
Once you build the 3D world and learn the animation and effects stuff, the rest will go relatively fast.
My CB anis are still not Volition quality, but I'm learning. :)
They also take up a lot of space so I only use them where they help to understand the story.

Ahh you can find a lot of the FS models converted to 3DS format here:

http://w3.enternet.hu/fscult/3dmodels.htm

Just import them into your 3D prog. Good luck. :)
Just fly on !

 

Offline Grunt

  • 28
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Quote
Originally posted by nuclear1
...Played it completely with retail. It's amazing how well campaigns can be made with the bare bones of FRED. :)


Yeah, the good old retail. I like it. ;)
I'll try to improve the eye candy as well in the next chapters..
Just fly on !

 

Offline WMCoolmon

  • Purveyor of space crack
  • 213
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Will the sequel be called "IP"?



Apologies if that joke has been made already. :p Downloading now...

Edit: Also, just for future reference, it's a good idea to make sure that your patch files have the same capitalization as non-patched ones, in case someone is using an OS other than windows.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2005, 05:48:41 pm by 374 »
-C

 

Offline Grunt

  • 28
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Quote
Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Will the sequel be called "IP"?



Apologies if that joke has been made already. :p Downloading now...

Edit: Also, just for future reference, it's a good idea to make sure that your patch files have the same capitalization as non-patched ones, in case someone is using an OS other than windows.


Heh, it's a good idea. Another thing I didn't think of..
Also an advice to campaign makers:
Always select an abbreviation for your project first ! Check if it isn't used already. If not, then find out a full title that matches. :D
« Last Edit: July 11, 2005, 06:08:53 am by 207 »
Just fly on !

 
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Okiedokie, just finished the campaign. On the whole I thought it was pretty good, the inclusion of voice acting was a welcome change from what I've played in the past, sometimes people forget (me anyways) how much of an impact it can have on the game. The acting was pretty good, though sometimes funny due to the accents. The one command guy sounds a bit like Arnold Swarzeneggar sometimes but since this is from hungary(?) and Arnie is from Austria (aka, right beside), it's understandable.

     The new ships were a mixed bag. I wasn't really a big fan of the Trifid/Nexus, but I like the dropship and the Woton. Now for some other recommendations.

There are a lot of missions with big ships. And that's okay, because the player always has something to do. But often I find that the big ships aren't doing anything, they just sit around at speed zero and blast one another. I'd like to see some ships moving around with waypoints, closing with their enemies, blasting 'em, flanking 'em, etcetera.

I would recommend you use the Escort list a LOT more. If there's a major ship in the mission, put it on the list, even if you don't have to defend it. The Woton was getting banged around at one point, and I wanted to know how it was doing. An escort bit would've been nice. Even in the final mission, put the Woton on the list with a low priority then when actual mission-critical craft arrive give them a higher priority.

Overall, I had fun playing it. And except for some minor grammar mistakes (I still understood the intent of everything), I didn't find anything wrong with the missions (ie, no bugs!). The grammar is entirely excusable anyway.

 
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
I went back and played it again and once again I enjoyed it. The comment above about the escort list I agree with. I also enjoyed the voices in the mission, that is something that I think is under valued by many, that is until they play a fully voiced mission.:eek:

Good work:yes:

 

Offline Grunt

  • 28
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Detailed comments indeed, thanks for that. :cool:

Some accent in 2377 is forgivable anyway. :)
Voice acting was completely done by me (except where I could convince the wife :D ), so poor Command had to be heavily pitch shifted to make him sound serious. Originally I intended to recruit for acting but I had really no time to manage it.

The Nexus was the very first model I made for FS and that time I thought I could make it a huge black and shiny piece of metal but it just didn't work with the retail engine. It was quite a challenge as I recall, because the size exceeded the polygon limits of all POF converters. So it was converted piece by piece and stitched together with a HEX editor.. :rolleyes:

Big ships are moving in most missions, but these are relatively far from the player indeed. They tend to make weird movements in free manouvers, so I refrained from this. Though there is often background action even after the "Return" directive. In the last mission the great showdown only starts when the player is called back.

Early missions don't use the escort list too much that's true. Note taken for a patch.. :)
« Last Edit: July 14, 2005, 01:32:40 pm by 207 »
Just fly on !

 
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
Big ships are moving in most missions, but these are relatively far from the player indeed. They tend to make weird movements in free manouvers, so I refrained from this. Though there is often background action even after the "Return" directive. In the last mission the great showdown only starts when the player is called back.

     Yeah, I noticed that but I was already jumping out :(

  

Offline Grunt

  • 28
TCP - Chapter One RELEASED
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Originally posted by Akalabeth Angel

     Yeah, I noticed that but I was already jumping out :(


Sorry m8, but that's war. You're just not there to enjoy it. ;)
Just fly on !