In regards to the new Insurrectionist weapon: sideloaders are more or less obsolete. I can't think of any that were designed after World War II. They disrupt the balance of a weapon, and the only real benefits they offer are that they're easier to go prone with. The magazine on your weapon seems a bit thick for a submachine gun. Thick to the point of being suitable for a 12 gauge. If you're wanting a high-capacity mag that's easy to go prone with, a feed system akin to that of the P90 would be more appropriate. I think the "misfires" are a good idea, but any misfire that caused harm to the operator (while the muzzle was not pointed towards him) would more than likely render the weapon inoperable. You could incorporate jams and misfeeds, though, which would break up the consistency of prolonged bursts (and might incorporate a quick animation of the operator pulling the charge handle to clear it), but I don't think they should hurt the operator.

^Exactly my thoughts :P

[18:26] An Eilifint Míchothrom: actually oyu know what
[18:26] An Eilifint Míchothrom: now i want to make an innie weapon
[18:26] An Eilifint Míchothrom: just to use the misfire effects
[18:26] An Eilifint Míchothrom: since nobody ever uses them :P

[13:38] An Eilifint Míchothrom: well the idea is that the innie weapons will probably be more powerful
[13:38] An Eilifint Míchothrom: but they'll damage the user on misfires
[13:38] An Eilifint Míchothrom: and theres a misfire anim

Your wish is granted :P

Great. So Gamma can grant wishes now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL-MRSu_LPs




E: posted this before I was ready gimme a sec
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 10, 2013 at 08:58 PM

A few more pics of the decals on this guy:



Eventually he'll carry a chaingun just like the one on the warthog, and in addition to being obviously more heavily armored, headshots will not instantly kill him, and he will not drop his weapon if shot in the hand.
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 10, 2013 at 09:18 PM
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 10, 2013 at 09:19 PM





I'm definitely going to take what you said into consideration but I'm kinda set on a side mag. This is a weapon that the innies cobbled together out of scrap and spare parts. I got the idea from the Metro 2033 SMG, which is indeed made out of spare parts.
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 10, 2013 at 09:46 PM

*stamps seal of approval*
There seems to be a bit of clipping between the shoulder plates and the torso (maybe remove the bits that flare out at the top of the shoulder pads?), but all-in-all it looks pretty good. Rather than the triple fist decal, a single fist with an extended middle finger could be a comical substitute.

In regards to the Warthog's minigun, though, I think that might be a bit much for an unaugmented soldier to lug. Something like the M247 GPMG or a confetti-maker would be better-suited, methinks.

@the SMG: Fair enough, but it seems to have too many gubbins to look like something homemade. Something more visually akin to the Sten submachine gun might be worth looking into, if you're wanting a cheap, easily manufactured, side-feeding gun that could be made in a rebel's garage.
Edited by Echo77 on Aug 10, 2013 at 10:01 PM

to add to this, Bungie had to bake lighting and bumps into the textures due to the graphical limits, so keep the shape of the armor in mind when placing decals on, as adding a decal could remove some important detail that defines certain parts.

Thanks for all the info on guns, man :P the warthog's chaingun did prove to be rather large, so for now I've scaled it down. As of now it's basically a smaller version of the chaingun and I think it looks decent enough for now, although I might go back later. Here's what it looks like:


The SMG was tough, since I wanted it to look cobbled together out of 'sci-fi' parts, which is why part of the silhouette strongly resembles the original ar's top. I'll admit I'm not thrilled about how it turned out. I'll look into what I can do to make it seem less 'advanced'. Perhaps if I get the right texture that will help a bit.





I do agree that in all likelihood nicely color coded insurrectionists are a bit improbable, but I also need a way to easily let the player know what type of enemy they are facing. With Covenant it's easy because each race looks so different, but these guys' silhouettes are more or less the same, so my current solution to this problem is to just slap different colored decals on. I'm still racking my brain trying to find ways to distinguish each enemy though, I'm sure I'll think of something eventually, but in the meantime if you've got some ideas don't hesitate to let me know. It's also worth noting (perhaps I should have stated this earlier :P) but these guys are still WIP. I'm definitely going to keep this in mind though when I go back for a second pass at the textures.

I really do appreciate all the feedback, guys. It definitely helps. You're gonna have to bear with me on the textures though, since it was never my strong suit :P


fake edit:
I did a bit of work on this decal. I don't think it's great but it's a step in the right direction imo:




real edit:
I just realized I never showed the pilot. I rigged the female drop pod pilot to marine anims last night. It's nothing special, but you can see it in the background of that second picture. Dunno what I'll use her for, maybe some kind of medic unit?
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 11, 2013 at 12:00 AM

Wow, it's all looking very good indeed

Perhaps a method of distinguishing between rank and specializations amongst your band of rebels could be based on body armor; who has it, how much they have, and what it looks like. An example of this might be:

Rebel Infantry: The standard rebel is outfitted with only basic body armor. A helmet, chestplate, and kneepads offer a minimal level of protection.
Rebel Sniper (Color of fatigues should be somewhat similar to the terrain of the surrounding area): The rebel sniper is unarmored, wearing only fatigues, a face-obscuring balaclava, a bandana, and a hood. The sniper relies on stealth, and requires a degree of mobility that would be hampered by cumbersome body armor.
Rebel Shotgunner (Red or Orange Decals): Shotgunners are more heavily armored, which helps them shrug off hits they may sustain during close-quarters combat. They forego a helmet for sake of an unobstructive field of view, but wear a bandana and/or a face-obscuring balaclava. Armored gauntlets provide a mounting point for additional shotgun shells. Thigh plates protect the femoral arteries. Shotgunners sport knee armor, but lack shoulder pads for sake of increased maneuverability in close-quarters.
Rebel Heavy Gunner: (As you posted, but with an M247 GPMG.)
Rebel Officer: Officers function as squad leaders, and are generally clad in a full set of UNSC Marine armor. Officers can often be identified by a skull and crossbones painted across the front of their helmets or chestplate.
Rebel Medic: Medics are equipped similarly to Rebel Infantry, although they lack a helmet and have a crudely-drawn red cross emblazoned upon a splash of white on the front and back of their torso armor.
Rebel Pilot: Rebel pilots, at a glance, appear very similarly to UNSC Bumblebee lifepod pilots, but often wear personalized helmets and flight jackets. It's not uncommon to see rebel pilots with helmets painted to resemble those of 21st century fighter pilots. The back of their flight jacket is emblazoned with a mascot and a kill tally, much like bomber jackets of World War II. The right side of the front of the jacket may also feature a kill count.
Rebel Driver: Rebel drivers operator the various vehicles utilized by the insurgency. They lack any form of body armor, instead relying solely on the armor of their vehicle. They may carry a sidearm or submachine gun for personal defense.

What other classes do you need, if you don't mind my asking? I'll see if I can come up with more combinations.
Edited by Echo77 on Aug 13, 2013 at 12:26 PM

These are all some great ideas. I really like the pilot customization idea. I could reuse the flamethrower decal and make a few of my own. Have like, a shark, claw marks, an eagle, etc.

Actually I think I might apply the customization stuff to the officers. The pilots are likely to not be featured or only included as a weak enemy/perm for the normal enemies so I think the cool customization icons would be put to better use on the officers. I might also give the officers some kind of Portable Radio.

I was definitely planning on doing unarmored variants of the Innies as well, so expect to see some less protected variants up soon.

The other classes I was considering was a flamethrower Innie and an Innie with an actual shield, basically a human jackal, but those guys I'm not too worried about, since the flamer innie will probably have pretty big fuel tanks and the shield innie will have a big slab of metal. They should be distinctive enough on their own I think, but if you've got some ideas on them I'm open to hearing them as well.

Also if you happen to think of any other cool enemies let me know :P

E: also the suicide Innie, I forgot about him, although his flailing around is rather noticeable, heh.
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 11, 2013 at 01:39 AM
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 11, 2013 at 01:41 AM

love the witty banter on these guys, "get bent" on the heavy torso

^^

You could always try a grenadier rebel, with a sort of semi automatic grenade launcher. They could be a dangerous combat support trooper. You could also try to do a rebel "supersoldier", meaning he wears a mixture of stolen odst and spartan armor pieces slapped together with marine armor and other odds and ends. They could maybe have a weak active camo ability or limited energy shielding. They could also maybe be faster and more accurate than average rebels. Another idea might be a melee type soldier, who could use an electric cattle prod-like weapon, and a shield, but would also be rigged with explosives that if killed their bodies would detonate afeter about 4 seconds. One more thing you could try would be a "doughboy" rebel, who would have a machine gun and weak infantry armor. They would come in groups of three or four at first, and spray endlessly at targets and their last known location, but would be very inaccurate, and be more of a support unit for heavy suppressive fire on targets, and alerting other rebels of activity. The more doughboys that show up, the more dangerous they would become.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head.
Edited by Delicon20 on Aug 11, 2013 at 02:04 AM

Unarmored rebels is a good idea. I doubt there'd be enough body armor for everyone. Some additional suggestions:

Flamethrower: Flamethrowers are equipped with large fuel tanks strapped to their backs, and some form of eye protection and a balaclava to protect their faces from the extreme temperatures involved. They typically sport full UNSC Marine body armor emblazoned with flame decals. A pair of thick gloves help with handling the hot flamethrower.
Riot Shield Insurrectionist: Riot shield rebels are defense-oriented, turtling behind slabs of armor capable of deflecting small arms fire. The rebels themselves sport a helmet, chestplate, and armored kneepads. They may wield a sidearm or submachine gun for personal defense.
Bomber: An insurrectionist with a deathwish, the bomber often foregoes any form of body armor, instead opting for a vest of explosives. Bombers may inject themselves with rumbledrugs prior to deployment, using their heightened physical stamina and resiliency to increase their chances of getting to the target.


I appreciate the high praises, but an idea is one thing, actual visuals are something else entirely. Ideas I can do. But if you asked me to actually make most of those ideas, I couldn't do it. I think that shield might be cool for the insurrectionists to carry. Maybe with a crimson fist emblem in place of the Marathon logo.

@Delicon:
I was going to put in a grenadier at one point, but the shotgunners throw grenades over 2x as much as the normal innies so they sort of fill both roles in a more interesting way (imo).

I like the idea of a melee guy, it reminds me of the Rumbledrug soldiers the Innies supposedly used, but the marines don't have a melee animation. I could make one but again, I feel that the shotgunners fill the role of a close combat unit rather well. It's something I'll think about but will probably get implemented only if the rest of the enemies already play really well.

@Echo:
Again, great stuff. The rumbledrugs were exactly the inspiration behind the suicide innie. Glad someone else made that connection, heh.

I'll be back most likely tomorrow with some more variants, but is there anything else you guys want to see? Surely you must be getting tired of all these permutations by now? :P

I'd like to see if anything new has been done with vehicles. Rebel structures and fortifications could be worth looking at as well.

I suggest giving the heavy units gloves, especially the flamethrower guy. Those flamethrowers could get really hot and burn the user's hands (inconvenient and uncomfortable at best)

he's right, I can only imagine the result on the skin if the heat spreads down and becomes a bit too hot after excessive use... oh man...
Edited by rcghalohell on Aug 11, 2013 at 11:20 PM

I would imagine it would be more inconvenient to design a gun that can harm the user when used properly. gloves would be useful, but should be unnecessary.

has anyone suggested the Doozy yet?


The Doozy was a UNSC watercraft that was going to be included in Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, but was deleted from the games ~ Wiki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MZ2YXQxmm4M&t=4315

I'm really glad you toned down the ridiculous amount of cliche red fists. I see you've already read what Tiel had to say on the subject, but also:



I really don't like the triple-fist to be honest. The two top fists look off being upside-down and all, and the whole symbol all together looks too over-the-top to me. I think you should remove them and move up the bottom one so it's better centered. (The middle finger thing sounds like a great idea too).

I really like the subtle but effective placement of the symbol on the shotgunner though.



Will there be civilian or unarmed units once you get inside the heat of the base? This brings me back to that part in The Fall of Reach where the Chief had to blow up that Innie installation with all the civilians in it. Really adds emotional depth if you ask me.

I figure they'd be perfect for light units and the way you could do it is re-skin the crewmen in like black jumpsuits or something. Obviously, if the goal is to add emotional depth (to keep the player from wanting to shoot unarmed men) you have to simultaneously give them a reason to have to reluctantly do it anyway. Hence two variants, some with pistols, some without. The level could even play out so that the first "light" units are all unarmed and run away, but then slowly start to fight back. Eventually units could start to run away, but pull their pistol on you when you're not looking. Even better, units with no guns at all could throw grenades at you. These same units could play the "panic" animation, then whip out a grenade if you got close to them, WWII Japan style.

When the versions with pistols start to appear, the would congregate in large, concentrated groups to pose at least some of a threat (basically Innie grunts).


I can just imagine a great encounter would be walking into the stock cafeteria full of these things, and indiscriminately pouring bullets into them as some run for their lives in horror.

The Doozy is really outside the scope of this project. There's only 1 pool of water and nobody has really gotten boats working perfectly yet. If the map was all water I could make boats quite easily, but it's not. A boat map (sort of like that one in that one call of duty game, idk which, the one where you get shot with a revolver at the end or something by that general) is something I really think would be cool and I've wanted to do it for a while (if you look at the pics you can see a boat in the background, and I released boat tags on halomaps a while back), but I just can't fit it into this map. Plus, I already have a warthog run at the end, which is essentially what the boat segment would turn into.

Unarmed variants are in a similar boat (heh). To do the build up you are talking about would require space that I just don't have. The level already feels rather cramped with stuff as it is and tbh it doesn't seem like it would be really worth the effort. I've already got units that throw grenades, and units that suicide when they get near you, so making duplicates of those enemies for a 'no russian' style scene which you're talking about is again, outside the scope of this project. I mean, don't get me wrong guys, I like both the ideas, but this map has been delayed enough as it is and I'm putting all my effort into making sure I don't waste my time until next semester starts (sept 3rd)

Also there's some actual history behind that emblem. The white circle is actually the moon, Deimos, and each fist is the three groups of innies which merged into the one you currently fight. That probably won't ever make it into the actual level, but it's important to me :P


In other news, I had some bad lightmapping errors today (check my post in the tech help section for an overview) but they seem to be partially fixed for now. I think I've come out ahead. I used to need two BSPs, but now only need 1 for the first part and I no longer get portal flickering (as far as I can tell). Downside is that I will most likely have to overhaul every recorded pelican animation, which will be a pain, as there's at least 8 pelicans to test out.

This is really all I have to show for today:


Remember the 16 minute gameplay video? (You can find it on the first page) This picture is of the area where those AI froze. What used to be a flat, boring, 5 man encounter, will now hopefully be a lot more interesting shootout.
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 13, 2013 at 04:05 AM
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 13, 2013 at 04:07 AM

It COULD happen!

This has already been put in CE, on the map Fox Island Insane. It acts more like a ghost though



It looks nice, but can we get something put there so we can get a sense of scale? (ie, put a tank model, or Spartan)
Edited by R93_Sniper on Aug 13, 2013 at 07:39 PM

as much as I love disagreeing with the guy who attacks me, my god if the hands burn.... I mean... those may be some red... or if really burned, possibly red and white mix, hands, plus the gloves give a chance to add a cool new design

Bumptiy bump :3 (sorry, I don't normally do this...)

How're things coming along? Any new progress, Elefant?

cant wait for stealthy adventures

Yeah, so my college decided to drop a section of the intro course to my major, which is a pre-req for just about every course I'm taking this semester, so I had to email a bunch of different people and get it completely redone at the last minute (semester starts in 2 weeks ._.).

So I've been busy with that, but I also managed to get the flamethrower innies functional. Their flamethrowers work differently than the stock one (I think my way is better tbqh):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gosnAw6ny4

They still need animations so they don't run so fast, and the flamer still needs his own model. I just wanted to make sure the AI and weapon works before I put the effort into a model.

Next, I've dropped the desert theme. On a whim I decided to try out grass and it looks wayyy better:






Just a bit of trivia, this map went from being snowy (when gamma's preliminary builds were set in snowtorn_cove), to sandy (when I took over and made the original bsps), then back to snowy (quick retexture that lasted for less than a week), then stayed sandy for pretty much 80% of it's development, before now turning to grassy.


After this it's probably gonna be a bunch of scripting work to get the level back to full functionality, since a lot of stuff is temporarily broken while I update it all. I'm also reorganizing my scripts and commenting them all out because I wanted to release the .hsc's for people to learn from if they want.

E: try to ignore the floating objects. They cast light and are just for debugging purposes while I figure out how I want to light the level.
Edited by UnevenElefant5 on Aug 20, 2013 at 02:36 PM

I'm liking the new flamethrower, and the map seems to coming along nicely. However, a few suggestions:
•I'm not a big fan of the Marine protagonist's visor. Perhaps you could give the player matte black armor, a black uniform, and a face-concealing balaclava like these fellows.
•Your stationary gun turrets seem to be a bit exposed, and since they require that the operator be standing when utilizing the weapon, some additional cover could be helpful. Perhaps you could put the gun turrets behind one of those metal barricades, with the gun protruding from the notch in the middle.
•And lastly, I feel that perhaps the emplaced miniguns could be replaced by conventional machine guns. Miniguns are inherently more complex and heavier than single-barreled guns, and for irregular forces such as the insurrection, it would make sense for them to be using simpler equipment. A weapon such as the M247 GPMG (in the configuration carried and deployed by the Marines in Halo 2) would also allow the operator to fire from a lower profile position, negating the issue I mentioned in my second point. It would also be better-suited as a man-portable weapon for your heavy gunners.

@Tiel: I just used a different texture on the corners of the pillar to break up the large grey area. It shouldn't be any lower res than the rest of the textures iirc.

@Echo77: I could put them behind the barricades, but then they'd clip through them when they rotated and it would obscure their field of fire.

I could use the GPMG, but then I'd have to model, texture, and set up animations for what would essentially be a clone of what I have now. I probably does make more sense for them to have a GPMG, but the chaingun is instantly recognizable to anyone who's played halo and it's already done so it's not going to change. Besides, we're 500 years in the future, we can afford to bend the rules a bit here.

Née a way to light the map, eh?

That last pic with the group of Innies might look nice with a fire barrel, or a barrel of fire. (However you'd say it)
:D

FIRE!!!! >:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqSdtQmVFME
Hey guys, here's a little video I made. This is mostly to show I'm still working on this project (wow it's been a month since my last update >_>)

It was cool to look back at how far the project's come. I started work on this in Sept 09 so this is around the 4 year anniversary of this project (which was supposed to take 6-9 months at most).

So here's a bit of trivia:

• Originally, you dropped into the map via a drop pod. It was a vehicle that I loaded you into and spawned in the sky. On my Youtube account you can find a video of a prototype titled 'drop pod test'


• An innie varient of the scorpion was planned to appear in the firefight at the end, but I couldn't get the driver to follow the command lists, so it got cut.


• The map has changed 'themes' 4 times by now. Snowtorn Cove had it icy, then I made it a desert, before changing it to icy for about a week, then back to desert for 3 years. Now it's grassy.


• A sequel was planned to be set in a slummy city where you chase the leader of this rebel group, but that never got off the ground


• I put in an easter egg that exceptioned the game, so I had to take it right back out


• Believe it or not, the level was inspired by COD's blizzardy stealth mission 'Cliffhanger'


• I wanted to implement blizzards and sandstorms at one point, but could never get the particles right, and the AI wouldn't respond properly anyway, so it got cut


• The guy doing the captain's dialog is me


• I used half-life 2 music ripped by Higuy for 3.5 years. The songs were named 'lambda', 'tau-9', 'scan', and 'here'


• I don't know who's HUD I'm using. I believe it might be Jesse's from several years ago, but I thought I got it from Gamma. If you know, let me know, cause I want to credit the right person


• Until recently, the entire thing was scripted as one huge startup script, with a few continuous scripts running in the background. This meant, that if anything failed to happen, the entire map would just stop, since there was no failsafe if an event didn't trigger. (there still isn't a failsafe tbh, it's just harder to mess it up ;D

I've gotten some work done but it's really not much to make a fuss about, just scripting and tag work. I think what I'll do next is redo the MAKO drones. I'm gonna give them custom anims/collision and make them truer to their role as scouting drones. Lighter, faster, and with less powerful weapons.

When that's done, I'll put up some pictures/videos of that.

Liking the changes a lot. Though im not too keen on that flame grenade (Huge radius for a small thing huh?), the rest seems pretty stable. Not to mention those 2 planes.

great to hear ur still working on it :)

How's this going?

I enjoyed these updates. :)

It's always something new and/or creative.