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« NEWS ARCHIVES »
September 2003 |
| Urgant Fan Input Needed! | | - MooMan65 | September 25, 2003 | Lately I have been in a dilemma about some particular goals of YR˛ and I am not totally sure at all if I should make some heavy changes to the way in which I am creating the mod or not. In the end it has come down to see what you people think I should do or not. Since you will be playing it in the end. Let me explain the changes that I am considering:
The issue here is the original Red Alert. Lately I have been dealing with it a lot as I impliment new features into Yuri's Revenge through YR˛, and all the memories of the original game keep flooding back into me. Before you ask; no I DON'T intend to change YR˛ into RA1˛ hehe. The fact of the matter is I'm just overwhelmed at how well-made it was, and how far RA2 and YR have gone in terms of science fiction. Time Travel and Prism Weapons? Mind Control even? It's always sounded so far out. RA1 really had only three rather unique technologies: the Tesla Coil, Chronosphere and Iron Curtain, and they were both based on real world documents and events in some form or another. But now with all this new weird stuff introduced it's kinda like a melding of the past with the future.
But anyway, here's the deal, what I am trying to decide is should I continue just balancing and adding in new features to the current game of YR? Or do I challange the entire concept, basically making things more believable being a sequal of RA1 and then adding in the same new features to this modified version? (aka the main features of the mod will be the same, just the units, structures and concepts for each side will be revamped) I won't wipe out any of the existing story and realistic concepts, just certain things that really just don't seem right. All the basic game elements will remain, just the specific technologies that need looking at will be replaced or removed. Things like Prism Beams, Weather Control, Tanks magically transforming into skinny trees etc. I want to replace them with things more feasible but just as effective on the Battlefield. Just because the unit is available at a high techlevel it doesn't mean the concept has to be so far out. The Battle Fortress is a perfect example of a totally feasible idea yet perfectly suited to being built after a Battle Lab.
So you basically know where I'm going here. And before you wonder: YR˛ will not take any longer to produce if I change the goals now compared to if I didn't, AND the majority of the game features and enhancements I have done will not be removed. Only certain aspects of the game will be replaced. Because quite a few things use these weird technologies, I felt I should open this up to public opinion, as this will affect you when you play the mod when released.
What do I plan to change things to exactly? Well the majority of that will be thought up after I get a clear idea if these changes should be done. But to give you an example of what you can expect; take the Weather Device and Storm for instance. There are other more realistic ideas that could be done to replace it (it still does exactly the same amount of damage and destruction as it always has, just the concept is changed). Maybe it could always be changed into some orbital bombardment of some sort. Another idea is the Prism Tower. Both Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun both had differences in the way the two sides defend themselves. One side (Allies/GDI) had all their defensive weapons available right after a Barracks was built, while the other (Soviets/Nod) had only one with another more powerful one available later on. With RA2 that concept has gone, both the Allies and Soviets now get defensive structures at the same level, and thought up a weird concept (Prism beams) at the same time. What could be done is restore the original way by giving the Allies full defensive capabilities at the beginning. So now you see where I'm heading with this.
The decision will be done in the form of a poll. The right hand menu has been updated with the new poll as well as a specific thread in the forums also created for in-depth discussions. I urge you to leave your comments for this as its very important to the future of the mod. I am willing to continue either way, I'd just prefer to know that I'm going in the direction that the majority of you want me to go.
Oh, and that you to everyone who voted on the last poll, I realise it went on much longer than others, but at the time I really did not know anything else I wanted to ask until now. You can check out the Past Polls for final results on that vote. And it is because of those results I am doing this who ordeal now. The majority of you want to see new Units and Structures in the game, and so because the units and structures will be affected by this change, I needed your opinions on it.
So please vote and definatly leave your comments on this! Also I'd love to see you participate in the forum thread also related to this matter as this is a big decision for me. | |
| Shoutbox: Trial Period | | - MooMan65 | September 6, 2003 | You should see a new addition to the right-hand sidebar. This is a 'shoutbox' which can be used for anyone to simply post a message and have it displayed for myself and other users to read and respond. This is a trial-run, as I want to see how well used and received it is amongst the general populus who visit the site, and will choose to keep or remove it later on depending on the reactions I get.
I think it is an easy-to-use solution for those just wanting to say something that is not worth starting up a topic on the main C-GEN Forums or to e-mail me personally. I will be visiting quite often if you wish to ask something quick through this box, or to have discussions amongst yourselves. 
Please note the whole design and such is a work-in-progress, as well as the integration into MooMan's Corner. So there might be some issues, although from what I have tested the basics work fine. Carry on. 
UPDATE (7/9/03): Pressing the ® button just above the smilies will refresh the box. As (for me anyway) it does not refresh by itself, you'll most likely see a version of the box from when you last visited instead of the current one. Clicking it will refresh it to its latest state. | |
| Exam Time! | | - MooMan65 | September 4, 2003 | I am currently devoting all my spare time to studying and preparing myself for the exams which start tomorrow and last for the next two weeks. As a result I won't be doing any mod work until this time is over. However the good news is I have reached the point where I have redone everything on YR˛ since my computer crash earlier! I hope to start news updates on proper features for the mod as soon as they become solid for the first beta test.
I might as well start some feature reports now! I just want to show off the excellent work done by Airstriker in converting the Soviet Psychic Beacon to a Yuri scheme which will be used in YR˛:
This is Yuri's new Psychic Radar structure as his current one is being reverted back into the original high-tech Psychic Sensor that the Soviets had in the original Red Alert 2. I did this because I felt Yuri had an unfair advantage to have his detection technology available so early in the game as well as receiving the Psychic Reveal ability, so I've split it up, and in the process increased the number of Yuri structures are available at Battle lab tech level, considering his structure count is below the Allies and Soviets in that level. | |
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