Jump to content

What it is and isn't


Supreme Cmdr
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...

I have questions regarding the size of the game.

A 400km square world is obviously a substantial area and i`ve seen your comments regarding the sparsity of the world and the cities/installations you`re planning for it. Now, i`ve played lots of games that contained "open worlds" and large areas to play around in. Some concerns i always have about these types of games is that the size is meaningless if it doesn`t contain something to do.

If you have a massive area filled with nothing to see and nothing to do, then you`re just wasting time till you hit the next area which something to entertain in, so i`m asking, frankly: will this large area you have planned contain plenty to entertain, excluding your planned cities/installations/odd area of interest?

I suppose an example of that is maybe the odd outpost or overnight camp that you can happen across, roving patrols or anything of that description - hostile or otherwise.

The other concern was longevity. Massive areas and reptitive tasks can really shorten a games life for me (thanks Just Cause/Farcry2) What sort of playing time could you see the "average" player getting out of your game?

That does it for my questions for now, but i`ll add that i stumbled on this quite recently, after a long time apart from your forum and i`m really surprised by the quality of the graphics and textures. The game`s looking really sharp and it`s good to see the vehicle designs are still as good as ever; that was one of the things i really did appreciate about your games. Fantastic new weapon models, by the way!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not 400 sq. km so you can go roving around in it. On foot. Read my dev blogs over on the game's website. http://www.allaspectwarfare.com

The world was made this big so that fighters/gunships - given the speeds - don't run out of airspace. And plus we're simulating a small area of a planet where they crash landed - not a boxed-in level.

Unless you are in the air, you have no business wandering outside the confines of the bases because apart from scenery, there's nothing out there that is remotely interesting other than the terrain itself.

I never consider "playtime" in my games because it is irrelevant to me and to the scope of my games. You get what you put in. And placing artificial limits on a game's time - or even quantifying it - is pointless because then you have that whole stupid argument about a long or short game. Games are what they are. Long on short, it is how they were developed.

This game is not an MMO so the longevity issue is irrelevant. Thats why we have multiplayer. Between the instant action and campaign scenarios as well as multiplayer (which we wrote from *scratch* for this game), it won't be any shorter than any similar multiplayer game.

And if you're concerned about repetition - in games - you might want to find a new hobby. :)

The game looks tons better in real-time than in shots and movies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, well, screenshots and videos are only ever indicators of graphical quality, even so the textures are looking pretty sharp the objects.

I never thought for a second anyone would want to go yomping around on foot but i`ll admit i wasn`t considering the aircraft either, i was thinking more along the lines of the buggy-type vehicles.

I suppose what i was driving at is that your previous titles have a very large area/volume to play in and plenty to keep you occupied in terms of micro-managemnet, exploration, battles, etc and i was just curious as to how that will play in this.

Please don`t misunderstand me, i tend to follow most games you produce and i very rarely feel the urge to discuss projects with games developers when given the choice (not often) but on this project, i am genuinely curious and hungry for facts about the game.

As for repetition in games, i don`t know; i seem to have coped with gaming so far, repetition is common in games but not necessarily certain and there`s repetition X3/Transport Tycoon/Silent Hunter III/Universal Combat style (to name a few) and then there`s Spore and the like.

I`m well aware you`re not going to say, "I`m producing a game that`s a non-stop repetitive grind-fest with no redeeming features!" and i`m sure that whatever it is, you`ll have made it to the best of your ability and it will indeed be an enjoyable experience - i`m just trying to get a feel for the game and i`ll take the opportunity to get the information from the guy that makes it whilst i can.

Thanks for your time, Derek, i`ll keep scouring your site and wait for the updates!

Edited to ask a quick couple of questions:-

If you don`t mind telling, what do you make your vehicle/weapon models in?

I noticed you mentioned Lee Adams in an interview you did recently, could you give me the titles or ISBN numbers of those books if you get the opportunity? I`d be interested in reading them - thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose what i was driving at is that your previous titles have a very large area/volume to play in and plenty to keep you occupied in terms of micro-managemnet, exploration, battles, etc and i was just curious as to how that will play in this.

Different game entirely this time around.

All our models are done in 3Dstudio Max. I don't do them, my modelers do.

As for the Lee Adams books, they are useless now since they close to 30+ years old!! And they were more about programming - and nothing to do with modeling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Derek, there are those of us who would argue that more play time means a better value (one of the things that contribute towards the game's quality, others being graphics, interface, gameplay, etc.) Many people would include it in their criteria of a good game. Quantifying playtime can be kind of an ambiguous process, I agree, but your approach can only make so much of a difference. For example. You can't stretch out call of duty 4 to 15 hours, unless you are you spend lots of time deliberately standing around and staring at the ground for no apparent reason. You may not be able to place an exact quantification on a game's length, but a rough estimation is certainly possible and canáhelp to one to gauge the appeal of the game in question. That said, Derek's games all seem like they pack a lot of playtime.

Izzanbaad, that's not entirely true. Screenshots may be fairly limited in their depiction of a game, but videos can help you to gauge both the graphics and gameplay. If an enemy is taking an entire magazine to kill, you might have cause to question the quality of the gameplay. If the AI demonstrate a lack of tactial skill and "creativity", then you definitely have cause to question the gameplay.

Derek, Im curious. Obviously the land vehicles wouldn't be able to match the speed of the air vehicles, but im assuming that they are "pretty" fast right? What if you are driving around and you're vehicle is taking hits, forcing you to jump out before it blows up. In that kind of a situation, would you have to retrace your steps on foot, back to a base for a new means of transportation?

The new screens are looking pretty nice. There are some blury weapon textures such as here though

http://www.3000ad.com/aaw/media/shots/09-04-30/pic005.PNG

Does the game use detail textures to preserve quality up close? I also noticed some clipping during reloading in a video on gametrailers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Well I played your demo and for the most part i found it very enjoyable with far fewer bugs than previous games. I loved the gunships and fighter. Your right about the bases being so far apart cause of the radar capability. the moment i go oh 2 - 5k away from the main base the enemies bases are already lock on me and firing long range missles which are fun to dodge. The only thing I wish was the ability to command things around like a RTS game. I would like to build outpost mining installations etc. The game feels like a FPS/RTS game. Has anyone played endwar??? im not saying command units around with mic. Im saying a player can swing to a units 3rd person perspective and issue orders for that unit such as a squad of marines or a gunship to lay down fire support for a impending attack against the enemy :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...