I have obviously not been updating this blog very much over the past two years, but rest assured, I have been working so heavily on the Alien Arena reboot(Generation 3) that I’ve just had very little time to do so. So, while I wait for yet another map to compile, I’m just taking some time to pass on some random thoughts(at some point I will make a more detailed update on the status of this game).
Generation 3 is in fact a complete and total reboot of Alien Arena. This wasn’t always the intention, originally it was to be a character and weapon overhaul and some level updates, but it just became apparent that everything needed to be redone. This is not just an artistic overhaul, it reaches throughout the code, game play, and pretty much every single aspect. At the time of this writing, there are 15 completed levels, with about 8 or 9 more to come. All powerups, weapons, HUD gfx, health, armor, etc, have been updated or redone from scratch. The game has a very updated look AND feel to it, as we’ve done a number of things with animations and sounds to achieve this. Most all levels now make use of our new terrain rendering tech, courtesy of the very brilliant Max Eliaser, who has devoted so much time to the game despite still pursuing his higher education goals. Our team is small, but it’s a really good one, and very talented all around. Netcode changes are in the works, and the final goal is to have an arena FPS that feels professional, modern, and well, fast. Bringing old-school to the new-school – that’s the modus operandi. I am happy with the diversity of themes our levels provide…with many UT3 influences in art, and many Q3 influences in design. Overall I think we have something pretty special, and am very excited about the eventual release.
Doom 2016, well, I have not yet played it due to my game rig being a bit dated now, but it’s on my list for sure. Everything I’ve seen, read, watched, makes me think id really nailed this one. The environments, monsters, gore, game play, all look so completely spot on and perfect. It’s one hell of a reboot(pun intended). The Spider Mastermind is so delicously beautiful and perfect, I’ll play it for that reason alone. Seems the multiplayer did not cater to old-schoolers like myself, or the ESports crowd(who given their druthers would just play Q3 with brightskins and no textures), but I can see the potential for it to draw some casual gamers into the world of the arena FPS games that are more old-school and fast paced like UT4…and…Alien Arena.
On sadder notes…Vic and Crizis have left Warsow, and that game appears to be now dead. They have hinted that they will be working on a new game that is partially based on Warsow, so that is something to keep an eye out on in the future. I wish them both the best of luck and can’t wait to hear the details.
Xonotic seems to have some new blood infused into their community as of late. Some are working on porting it to the Daemon engine, which I do understand given that Darkplaces is now defunct(at least as far as major work is concerned from Lord Havoc and others), but it’s a curious choice. I don’t know why they haven’t considered CRX, as adding support for Q3bsp would be pretty trivial, since map compatibility seems very important to them. Most of the problems they lament, CRX solves, and offers new possiblities for them. I really would like to see them use the weapons that Morphed designed, as those are vastly superior to what they have now.
I haven’t been able to keep up with a lot of the other open sourced games like Open Arena, or the ones based off of Sauerbraten. I know about Tesseract, and that’s a pretty slick engine that has a lot of nice possibilities.
Other arena FPS games…Unreal Tournament 4, I just saw a video of a new map that looked oh so very impressive, and their weapon models are starting to come to life too. I’m super excited for this, and I guess it’ll prompt me to buy that new game rig so that I can play it and Doom. I’ve been following Toxikk, and that now seems very much like a UT3 clone, which is a little disappointing. Look, I know I have cloned a few UT3 architecture items and ideas, but this seems to be taking it to another level. Reflex still seems to be going well, and is popular in the ESports crowd which was their target all along. Not a fan of changing to the mininalist art style though, and hope they reconsider that…please?
Well, my map is finished compiling. Visit http://red.planetarena.org/media.html to have a look at what we are working on, and how things are progressing. I’ll promise to have a more in-depth update in the near future that really goes into the nitty-gritty of what we are doing with Alien Arena, and what to expect. Until then, frag on…
