Whats up with everything (possibly) being automatically done for us? First the auto bite on the end of a leap, and then auto squad. The whole reason ns swept me off my feet was how it was NOT linear at all. The gameplay is so dynamic, based off of each individual player and their separate experiences and wrapping it up with the commanders strategic vision.... in many servers certain relationships are built between regulars that should lead the commander to decide squads for himself.
Next, i agree with tomgupper, i liked the smaller ip meaning aliens had to face downward and focus their fov in a very vulnerable fashion.
Also, if the spinning arms are strong enough to knock a skulk and lerk off, would they just jam on an onos or break entirely? how about if a marine already spawned walks across it to get to the giant armory?
Anyway, besides my criticisms the art and modeling work looks great! can't wait for alpha
hum the arms collide as they unfold and their appears to be a small clipping issue before they unfold its nothing too major.
I am not to fussed about doing away with phase gates, does it blend kharra, i am more interested on the size, of things and things to come this is drastically going to effect game play, ether rooms are going to be HUGE which means a shooting gallery for kharra no were to hide.. except behind the armor. or your going to have such a confine space no one will be able to breath. you will need to duck jump to get up onto that console that arm then onto that box then duck jump ontop of the armoury then walk at a slow pace ducked over the armoury to spring out into the waiting jaws of a ono's and then not be able to get back over your wall of constriction before the ono's impales you and toses you around like a chew toy.
additionally its starting to sound more like a prequel, as in a lore and or time line of things as technology advances its gets small with more features it better suits and fits ergonomics'. when nanites are phaseing and building all this stuff its not like they need a giant vending machine its not like its a gun safe or cabinet, esply when you go from small drinking fountain like structures in ns1 to old British telephone booths were you could stuff about 20 female marines.
sure some of it can be explained the IP and phase gate are now combined, perhaps the armoury stores nanite tooth brushes and vends plush gorges. its almost a double edged sword it has some good positives and some strong negatives. sure the kharra can now hang off of and climb all over said structure use it as a obstical to block fire , plus you can fit more kharaa on it to kill it quicker instead of a onos and not much else, esply on a FF server. marines cant mine every inch of it so you have to spend 40 seconds finding a way to chomp this thing. yet you now have marines able to camp or hide behind said structure block line of sight and be stealthy use it as a wall to defend and shoot from, block access points remember the issues we had with come chairs. yet you could hide mines in hidden nooks and cranny's were they most likely wouldn't be visually seen but still get a good kill, with questions like "omg how can he stand on the structure and bite it but I cant I blow up and die" or where your all chomping it and even a pro marine could stand on a invisible well hidden land mine and blow up his entire team.
as digital piece of art work in their own right or even in a set of works they are ###### fantastic guy serious they are gorgeous bit a grit bit of future grade A quality art assets keep up the good work.
in hind sight I hope kharra structures are small, and still able to fit into vents, I see large marine structures as a way of keeping marines out of vents and so on, as a additional note large structures are going to put more work on the com, slow him down and make him highly consider base size flow and ergonomics, unless maps are wide open high ceiling then kharra are going to get sprayed too easily in these fortified area's.
Looks awesome. The visuals are perfect. I figure a delay of 4 seconds while the Marine is spawning in with the arms spinning is cool. A cool animation for the Marine spawning in with visual effects. Also creates a sort of spawn protection, which is an added bonus.
I like the idea of upgradable ip. Most likely early game is still going to have that reinforcement cutting element while sooner or later the upgrade replaces PGs to some extend. Doesn't look all that bad on paper at least.
The model itself is cool, but I'm a bit confused how all the visual obstacles, hitboxes and collisions are going to work out when there are skulks around. Still, the desing is looking very good right now.
Just because everything is big and the rooms will probably be bigger does not necessarily mean there will be less cover for Kharaa. I think a lot of people -still- have difficulties understanding that NS2 is -not- NS1. It's a new game with new game mechanics, not the same game with updated graphics.
I love the new design on the IP, I found that the design in NS1 was somewhat lacking even if it made aliens vulnerable when biting it. This time around it just looks pure awesome in almost all ways. Only fixing that needs doing is the minor clipping issues. But I didn't notice them until they were mentioned in this thread. Can't wait to see this in-game!
I too look forward to seeing the ip with it's particle effects. Looks good though as is.
A little bit of information though just gives me more questions: - How does it work with squads and teleporting? Do you just teleport into mid air? Can you choose the squad? - Do the arms collide with players? - Can Skulks climb on top of the computer for perfect spawn camping?
I can't wait for the game to be released to find out!
Looking great guys! When I saw the concept design I thought: "Would be cool if there were spinny things on it." Happy to see that there are indeed spinning thingis :D. As stated in previous comments, I would love to know whether those spinning arms will do damage. Love the regularity of updates - really shows that there's some good progress being made.
AbraWould you kindlyJoin Date: 2003-08-17Member: 19870Members
Very TF2 like, the teleporter. I think you guys could have put more effort into the idea of a infantry portal. The model looks good though, they all do - top quality. I very much enjoy these updates.
<!--quoteo(post=1723544:date=Aug 19 2009, 03:04 AM:name=schkorpio)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (schkorpio @ Aug 19 2009, 03:04 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1723544"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->oh hey the cells in your body constantly dying and regenrating, so its not too different :) anyway i think if teleportation is ever real it will use the wormhole method<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actualy teleportation already exists, and it is based on the technology described by Cory for the teleporter.
But only for really small particules and really small distances.
just wandering how the phase to squad function will work. incase you havent noticed on public ns, people rarely work as a team and stay in their "designated teams" so will the player get teleported to where the most ppl in the squad are, or to a squad leader etc?
<!--quoteo(post=1723601:date=Aug 19 2009, 11:32 AM:name=tjosan)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tjosan @ Aug 19 2009, 11:32 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1723601"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But i'm predicting more or less instant communication using this method within the next century! :D Oh wait, we already have copper wires, damnit.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Copper sux! Fiberglass ftw :D
I love the new style of the marine buildings, they make much more sense now (how would you fit all the technology in the little ns1 ip?!). Big + mean = fighting machine :D
Have to say that the IP and RT both look amazing while the armory looks great. My guess is that the arms will start spinning up when you as a marine get "you are now teleporting back in". So basically you spend the last bit of spawn time on the platform and the arms stop spinning at the same time as you are good to go again. Hope there will be a nice buildup animation of the marine. Would be great if there was an effect from the point of view of the player who is spawning back in too. Dark and muffled sounds, blured distorted vision and back to normal.
And there probably wont be any hitboxes for IP or armory arms. I can imagine it would be a bitxh if there were.
Looks good. I'm kind of disappointed about the Phase Gate replacement, though. While encouraging squads is good, I liked having a way for aliens to disrupt Marine transportation for a while, and the Marines having to put a little effort into establishing a foothold when expanding into a new territory.
Maybe a compromise could be worked out? Like instead of a Phase Gate, have a Phase Tower that allows Marines to teleport from an Infantry Portal to their squad <b>if it's within range of the tower</b>. So you still keep squads together, but you get the gameplay of the old Phase Gates as well. Exact range of the Tower would need some testing to figure out. Alternatively, maybe have the towers be a map feature, and let the mapmaker determine the area covered by each tower.
<!--quoteo(post=1723597:date=Aug 19 2009, 03:55 AM:name=Gregzenegair)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Gregzenegair @ Aug 19 2009, 03:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1723597"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Actualy teleportation already exists, and it is based on the technology described by Cory for the teleporter.
But only for really small particules and really small distances.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, extrapolating that into a larger system is something we should ignore as you really can't jump in scale from one particle to a protein without major overhauls of the technology... let alone an entire person. I'm willing to go with the "no one cares because no one can know" argument, but he really should try not to say things like "based on _____ technology" because there are folks around here who paid a lot of attention to that research and it makes his statement seem kinda silly. I think we're all willing to say a huge extrapolation on that technology could look like anything, and that at the end of the day he may just be trying to say that teleportation isn't completely science fiction (despite its current limitations and early assumptions of what it's accomplishing).
Should they address the "phase to group" idea? I dunno... this seems like something that is key to the gameplay. Perhaps the squad leader has to be alive to phase to the group? Or perhaps we're switching to a "room-based combat" and as the rooms power up there will be something that allows them to phase there. They'd really have to let us know or it's just idle speculation. I doubt they'd allow something that didn't give the aliens a way to intervene. The last thing they probably want is for half of the marines to go ramboing to find a weak point and then for the other half to instantly phase to whoever finds it.
Are the structures too big? I'm really wondering about this too. I'd venture to say that the buildings being too small is what allowed for the vent building in NS1... which really broke the game but was fun none the less. Perhaps the devs felt that the marines were making their bases too compact and easy to defend while the khara were forced to build at multiple locations in a spread out fashion. This could be one of the most game balancing change we've seen, and so far it's just really hard to tell if that's the goal or just something they did by accident.
<!--quoteo(post=1723604:date=Aug 19 2009, 12:29 PM:name=JAmazon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JAmazon @ Aug 19 2009, 12:29 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1723604"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->HAHA phiXX i think you mean fiber-optics :P Fiberglass is what boats are made of...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> lol :D had to look that one up and it just sounded like the german word (glassfaser - glass fiber xD)
<!--quoteo(post=1723604:date=Aug 19 2009, 11:29 AM:name=JAmazon)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JAmazon @ Aug 19 2009, 11:29 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1723604"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->HAHA phiXX i think you mean fiber-optics :P Fiberglass is what boats are made of...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Guess what optical fibers are usually made out of.
Really like the overall look, only slight issue (going to guess someone's pointed this put but don't have time to read all posts) is that the arms clip each other when unfolding - it's a very fast movement but would only take 5 mins to fix so should be no biggy =)
Hmm... if the IP "prints" the body, and then the mind of the marine is downloaded into it, does that mean this new IP mimics the Kharaa way of handling deaths? That is, instead of zerg-rushing the aliens with a seemingly limitless number of marines, it's the same 10 or so marines, reborn a lot.
<!--quoteo(post=1723629:date=Aug 19 2009, 02:43 PM:name=Cereal_KillR)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cereal_KillR @ Aug 19 2009, 02:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1723629"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Guess what optical fibers are usually made out of.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Boats?
Comments
Next, i agree with tomgupper, i liked the smaller ip meaning aliens had to face downward and focus their fov in a very vulnerable fashion.
Also, if the spinning arms are strong enough to knock a skulk and lerk off, would they just jam on an onos or break entirely? how about if a marine already spawned walks across it to get to the giant armory?
Anyway, besides my criticisms the art and modeling work looks great! can't wait for alpha
I am not to fussed about doing away with phase gates, does it blend kharra, i am more interested on the size, of things and things to come this is drastically going to effect game play, ether rooms are going to be HUGE which means a shooting gallery for kharra no were to hide.. except behind the armor. or your going to have such a confine space no one will be able to breath. you will need to duck jump to get up onto that console that arm then onto that box then duck jump ontop of the armoury then walk at a slow pace ducked over the armoury to spring out into the waiting jaws of a ono's and then not be able to get back over your wall of constriction before the ono's impales you and toses you around like a chew toy.
additionally its starting to sound more like a prequel, as in a lore and or time line of things as technology advances its gets small with more features it better suits and fits ergonomics'. when nanites are phaseing and building all this stuff its not like they need a giant vending machine its not like its a gun safe or cabinet, esply when you go from small drinking fountain like structures in ns1 to old British telephone booths were you could stuff about 20 female marines.
sure some of it can be explained the IP and phase gate are now combined, perhaps the armoury stores nanite tooth brushes and vends plush gorges.
its almost a double edged sword it has some good positives and some strong negatives. sure the kharra can now hang off of and climb all over said structure use it as a obstical to block fire , plus you can fit more kharaa on it to kill it quicker instead of a onos and not much else, esply on a FF server. marines cant mine every inch of it so you have to spend 40 seconds finding a way to chomp this thing. yet you now have marines able to camp or hide behind said structure block line of sight and be stealthy use it as a wall to defend and shoot from, block access points remember the issues we had with come chairs. yet you could hide mines in hidden nooks and cranny's were they most likely wouldn't be visually seen but still get a good kill, with questions like "omg how can he stand on the structure and bite it but I cant I blow up and die" or where your all chomping it and even a pro marine could stand on a invisible well hidden land mine and blow up his entire team.
as digital piece of art work in their own right or even in a set of works they are ###### fantastic guy serious they are gorgeous bit a grit bit of future grade A quality art assets keep up the good work.
in hind sight I hope kharra structures are small, and still able to fit into vents, I see large marine structures as a way of keeping marines out of vents and so on, as a additional note large structures are going to put more work on the com, slow him down and make him highly consider base size flow and ergonomics, unless maps are wide open high ceiling then kharra are going to get sprayed too easily in these fortified area's.
lets just say its not looking very melee friendly
And wow its huge.
I figure a delay of 4 seconds while the Marine is spawning in with the arms spinning is cool. A cool animation for the Marine spawning in with visual effects. Also creates a sort of spawn protection, which is an added bonus.
The model itself is cool, but I'm a bit confused how all the visual obstacles, hitboxes and collisions are going to work out when there are skulks around. Still, the desing is looking very good right now.
I love the new design on the IP, I found that the design in NS1 was somewhat lacking even if it made aliens vulnerable when biting it. This time around it just looks pure awesome in almost all ways. Only fixing that needs doing is the minor clipping issues. But I didn't notice them until they were mentioned in this thread.
Can't wait to see this in-game!
A little bit of information though just gives me more questions:
- How does it work with squads and teleporting? Do you just teleport into mid air? Can you choose the squad?
- Do the arms collide with players?
- Can Skulks climb on top of the computer for perfect spawn camping?
I can't wait for the game to be released to find out!
When I saw the concept design I thought: "Would be cool if there were spinny things on it." Happy to see that there are indeed spinning thingis :D.
As stated in previous comments, I would love to know whether those spinning arms will do damage.
Love the regularity of updates - really shows that there's some good progress being made.
I very much enjoy these updates.
Actualy teleportation already exists, and it is based on the technology described by Cory for the teleporter.
But only for really small particules and really small distances.
incase you havent noticed on public ns, people rarely work as a team and stay in their "designated teams"
so will the player get teleported to where the most ppl in the squad are, or to a squad leader etc?
Copper sux! Fiberglass ftw :D
I love the new style of the marine buildings, they make much more sense now (how would you fit all the technology in the little ns1 ip?!). Big + mean = fighting machine :D
keep doing this great work :)
And there probably wont be any hitboxes for IP or armory arms. I can imagine it would be a bitxh if there were.
I wish I could make models that good :(
Maybe a compromise could be worked out? Like instead of a Phase Gate, have a Phase Tower that allows Marines to teleport from an Infantry Portal to their squad <b>if it's within range of the tower</b>. So you still keep squads together, but you get the gameplay of the old Phase Gates as well. Exact range of the Tower would need some testing to figure out. Alternatively, maybe have the towers be a map feature, and let the mapmaker determine the area covered by each tower.
But only for really small particules and really small distances.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, extrapolating that into a larger system is something we should ignore as you really can't jump in scale from one particle to a protein without major overhauls of the technology... let alone an entire person. I'm willing to go with the "no one cares because no one can know" argument, but he really should try not to say things like "based on _____ technology" because there are folks around here who paid a lot of attention to that research and it makes his statement seem kinda silly. I think we're all willing to say a huge extrapolation on that technology could look like anything, and that at the end of the day he may just be trying to say that teleportation isn't completely science fiction (despite its current limitations and early assumptions of what it's accomplishing).
Should they address the "phase to group" idea? I dunno... this seems like something that is key to the gameplay. Perhaps the squad leader has to be alive to phase to the group? Or perhaps we're switching to a "room-based combat" and as the rooms power up there will be something that allows them to phase there. They'd really have to let us know or it's just idle speculation. I doubt they'd allow something that didn't give the aliens a way to intervene. The last thing they probably want is for half of the marines to go ramboing to find a weak point and then for the other half to instantly phase to whoever finds it.
Are the structures too big? I'm really wondering about this too. I'd venture to say that the buildings being too small is what allowed for the vent building in NS1... which really broke the game but was fun none the less. Perhaps the devs felt that the marines were making their bases too compact and easy to defend while the khara were forced to build at multiple locations in a spread out fashion. This could be one of the most game balancing change we've seen, and so far it's just really hard to tell if that's the goal or just something they did by accident.
lol :D had to look that one up and it just sounded like the german word (glassfaser - glass fiber xD)
Guess what optical fibers are usually made out of.
Boats?