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...but never... never get a trojan...

Well unless....

You went onto a, originally, Splinter Cell website and a Trojan tried to sneak itself into your system. That's just about priceless.

I'm waiting for something now like, "I started up Hitman and it killed my video card." ;)

I think Hitman's Contracts Mode stole your idea, lol.

...God ...Damnit... I'm genuinely surprised at how closely that follows what I was getting at. Still.. Not cool Sheik. I wanted at least a few more months of believing I was creative. :P

It's getting pretty quiet in here!

I'd like to see a level much like warehouse... or perhaps it's more like museum.. Not sure. Spies first have to go through the baggage area (like where baggage gets sorted to the appropriate planes), then the baggage check area (with all the metal detectors and whatnot) , then ending part takes place in the main area the airport (restaurants, shops, etc.). So pretty much like you're going through the airport opposite of what a normal person would do.

I see the Spies starting on the tarmac. Not sure how they got there... vehicle, parachute, hopped a fence... but perhaps their spawn in a Maintenance shack. One entrance leading from there. Other entrances require you going outside.

Mercs have a view of outside (and thus the spy spawn) from the passenger waiting area. That area is an overhang portion of the building, entrances located below so that Mercs cant just see exactly where the Spies are going, but instead see the direction and Spies could change up from there. The windows are bullet-proof though, so there is only watching, no sniping.

As for what kind of objectives... I never really care. It doesn't seem like there is ever really a rhyme or reason as to what objectives are where anyway. Other than making sabotage centrally located, disk hunt farther away and everywhere else neutralization, it seems like it doesn't matter.

Art direction... airport-like. ;)

It also depends on what the objective is. I can't really think of anything that would require the need of even more coordination (maybe Spy Vs Spy... Disk hunt kind of objective?), but that would also make more worthwhile.

Or even something completely out there. Imagine a mode where the maps you go to aren't vacant. NPC's in the level have routines. Spies are given a description of one NPC in the level. Mercs only know that someone, somewhere is gonna be killed. The operator/coordinator would then have a bigger role, trying to locate the NPC that is targeted.

Nobody liked my completely vague, concept of a concept Spy/Merc base ideas!?

You guys are just mean. Frvge, let me vote twice so I don't feel as bad. ;)

I like the idea here. I've always been interested in gameplay things like this. I'm still waiting for a game to do this on a like... RTS/FPS style game. Like how I'm imagining that game Eve Online is going to work with Dust 514.

The only problem I have with it is if this 3rd member has too little to actually do and interact with in a tangible way. The "special abilities" seem like the only thing worth while, and those are limited (in your idea). Perhaps if they recharged instead of being a set amount.

Perhaps also if there were more options, and they had to pick their "gadgets" themselves. Balance would come with cooldown times. You could have 4 drastic abilities, but if they take 3 minutes (or more) to recharge then you couldn't spam it.

It would suck if you blew your special abilities within the first 5 minutes of a round, not even in a stupid way. You then get to be a security guard watching cameras the whole time.

"There's a Merc in that room"
"Now he's in another room"
"Oh, now both Mercs are in your room"
"You should probably run"

The only thing fun about that is if the Spies were blind and dumb. :P

So in the end, I'd personally like to see more emphasis on their abilities, as that is what would make the person feel useful/have fun.

What exactly needs to be done in that top half of the list?

What's the difference between only 80 hours on gameplay, and 160?

Title: Spy Base

Description: Base for the Spies. Merc's have decided to bring the war right to the Spy's front door.

OR

Title: Merc Base

Description: Merc's have been less than good at doing their job against the Spies. They've been pushed back to their base.

That's all I got for them. I'm not sure what kind of backstory is there for either side, so I'm not sure what the levels would actually look like.

(Is this set in the future? Are the Spies Robots!? Are the Mercs ROBOTS!?!?!?! Is it a problem that I hope there are some kind of robots?)

The only problem I have with your level tigaer is that the Spy objective seems so tacked on. Even though the Merc objective is pretty vague, it fits. They are just guarding something.

In my head I'm imagining a version of Story mode that would make use of vague objectives. Imagine if Story mode wasn't just 1 map, but a pack of maps that are determined by who wins or loses the round. Start with a Neutral map. The idea of this map would be that both sides are trying to figure out who each other are (or that they are fighting for more information). Depending on who wins or loses then goes to a map more personalized for the group that lost (plus maybe geared more towards the losing team). To make the idea simple, we'll say there is only 3 maps in each pack (1 neutral map, 1 Spy centric map and 1 Merc centric map).

Spies lose, Mercs move onto "Spy base" map. Geared more towards Spies because it's their base. So more air ducts, maybe doors that only open to spies (so Mercs have to hack) and generally more places to hide. Something to give the Spies a little bit of a handicap. If the Spies lose then the "Story" ends. Mercs killed off the enemy. If the Spies win then everyone gets transferred to one of many neutral maps.

If Mercs lose neutral map, then Spies move on to "Merc Base" map. Like the "Spy Base", it is more geared towards Mercs. Doorways opening to them, less air ducts, more environmental objects that need to be shut off to help spies (like how you have to hack the glass ceiling in Club House to gain easier access to Garden Room).

Maybe the Spy/Merc base maps are the only maps were Spy/Merc is able to switch weapons/gadgets mid-round. Since it is THEIR base.

Anyway, in the end, the Story mode always ends on 1 of 2 maps, but you have many "neutral" maps that consist of everything other map created by the community or devs.

If someone doesn't want to play Story mode, then there could just be the option to play Objective mode. Kind of the same as what Story mode is right now on CT. Pick a map, pick Objective(s) and play.

Frvge (or whoever knows), what is the requirements for AAA quality for Models/Textures/Animation? Also what stuff needs to be done for Asylum (or anything else)?

I ask because that's how you brought up this topic. "Want to help out? Learn 3d modeling/texturing/animation/UDK..." is the topic of this thread. Once I showed interest in learning stuff (or other people potentially learning stuff) you pushed off and said that a Community Map might be better suited to those same people you were trying to recruit at the start? If you want some kind of help, then you can't keep the people that want to do this in the dark. So again, what actually needs to be done?

Make this a contest or something!

Each week have 1 item you need to be modeled/textured/animated (nothing too complex so beginners can give it a shot. Or at least not always something complex.). Give the dimensions needed, preferred poly count(?), reference, etc. and let the community try their hand at making it. Prize being that they get a special... thank you or something in the credits of the final game or something (not sure if that's possible). Or if they show strong potential, invite those people to be a part of the team.

Throw it up on IndieDB and here, plus anywhere else you guys post, and link to the PS forums for official entries to be judged. Maybe make a whole new sub section in the Presentation area for this so it's not all cluttered. This could let the community know that the project is still alive, while also gathering those people who aren't ready to run full tilt into designing a map from scratch for a game that does not have a vague hint of a release date.

It's going to be hard to catch on at first because our community is so small, but if enough buzz gets put on it then more people might start coming in. More people means more potential AAA quality people that can help you with actually get this up and running.

...plus it gives us all here something to do while we wait for an update.

What are some things that need to be modeled or whatevs? I'd be interested in trying my hand at it. Considering I have a bit of books on Maya and whatnot and no real motivation to work through them without some kind of purpose (for some reason self-accomplishment doesn't register for me as a valid reward). I keep getting distracted by TF2 without proper motivation. :P

I'm interested in getting into animation though. Not that I think you'd let me play around with that stuff, but just a little insight on what I've been trying to accomplish.

In the end though, it seems like you should be a little more open with the things you want from people. I get that you guys don't want to give away all the surprises, as come reveal time there would be nothing to show, but it seems to be hampering the random passerby's interest if the biggest hint you can give is "really cool things to show soon" and a poll that has the few of us around picking between 5 things we'd be interested in giving feedback about. Be it finished, or not.

(This post sounds like a real downer in my head! Just getting some thoughts out there since it's been a while since I posted. ;))

It has gotten pretty quiet in here. Not sure if it's Dread being gone or the (understandable) lack of news, but it's pretty apparent that there isn't much to talk about. So... here's a thread to talk about whatever is going on with you at the moment.

I'LL START!

It seems like I've been gone a while on here, but I just haven't had anything worthwhile to say, so I've kept my fingers off the reply button (some would probably prefer that. I get a little long winded). There has been a bit going on somewhat recently with me. I got a new job, a new place to live and everything that comes along with that! Granted at this point I've had those for about 3 months, but none of YOU knew that!

The job is pretty boring. I'm answering phones for Comcast. Not sure if there are people that don't know what Comcast is, but just in case, it's a phone/tv/internet/home security provider. I'm troubleshooting internet and phone. I find it almost funny that I had like 8 weeks of training and most of my calls boil down to unplugging and plugging something back in... well that and resetting passwords. I don't know what will happen to this job if customers figure out these technical secrets!

My new place is pretty cool, at least to me. This happens to be my first place that isn't at my parents. Still trying to get my head over actually buying food. I look in the cabinets still with only the slightest understanding at how all these random things can combine to make a dish that's worth eating. It's lucky I moved in with my Girlfriend who knows how to cool, else I'd be on a strict diet of things that's number of directions I could count on one hand (I've messed up a Cup Noodle, just to put this in perspective).

I finally got my computer up and running! Getting it all together only to figure out that a stick of RAM was bad kinda sucked. Got it RMA'd and now it's rockin' it's little heart out. Got this all set up so I could get back into trying to teach myself 3D animation or 3D modelling, but it seems like most of my time is taken over by TF2 or random other games. My discipline needs some work. I thought if I left a book on my desk in front of my monitor then I'd be more apt to apply myself, but it's funny how tunnel-y my vision will go when I find something more interesting than "Education". Even this right here is my clever way of rationalizing a reason not to start up Maya and get to work.

AAAANYWAY. I'm gonna stop here, mainly because admitting that I'm procrastinating something I actually want to do sounds even more ridiculous when reading it to myself, but anyone who is still looking at this place should post what they are up to!

Add me on Steam or Xfire also. If you see me playing games then shout out for me to do something more worthwhile (unless, of course, you want to play that game also ;))

Really, no participation? Gonna have to make me do it...  :-\

I have a feeling that the amount of people that consider themselves "artsy" was wildly over-estimated.

Go to Oregon. Much cooler. ;)