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ArtifeX's ProMod 1.0 Beta -- Released


ArtifeX

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**UPDATE**

 

Official Server up!

 

Artifex's Official ProMod 1.0 Beta Server

IP: 63.99.213.122:28070

 

**UPDATE**

 

ProMod 1.0 is now up on fileshack.com. Here is the link to download:

 

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=837

 

**UPDATE**

 

ProMod 1.0 Beta has been delivered to jediknightii.net's file upload address. It should be available in their file section as soon as their admins can get around to posting it.

 

The mod is based off of the issues I had in my article "What needs to happen in 1.04" (http://www.oculis.org/asc/features_104.html), which some of you may already be familiar with. Its aim is to replace the official version of the game in competitions and pro tournaments.

 

Two major things have been done in the mod:

 

1.) Saber Combat bugs have been fixed. The infamous, "hit-from-behind-from-in-front" bug is gone, among others. The mechanics have been altered to more accurately reflect true sword combat. See the promod_readme.html file in the distribution file for more info.

 

2.) Random factors have all been removed. All combat logic is now based upon player skill and input rather than random number generator calls. Again, see the promod_readme.html for more details.

 

I will be putting up an official game server sometime today hopefully. What was originally the *ASC* challenge server will become the official ProMod dedicated server. Any server admins who would like to get their server up and running with ProMod before jkii.net gets the files posted can contact me at arsartifex@msn.com and I'll see about sending the files directly to you. You can also contact me through that address if you'd like to mirror the file or with feedback on the mod.

 

I'll update this post throughout the day as questions arise.

 

*update*

 

A short feature list:

 

1. Combat Strength Crosshair (CSC) -- This is a secondary crosshair that will appear outside the radius of the normal crosshair. It shrinks and grows depending on how accurately you are aiming at your opponent.

 

2. New Combat Engine -- All blocks, parries, deflections, knockaways and defense breakers are linked to the CSC of both players. Two sabers coming into contact with one another will result in an opposed check on both players' CSC's. The player with the higher value (better aim) will end up inflicting some kind of effect on the losing player. The greater the differences in CSC values, the more drastic the effects to the losing player. This means that there are no unblockable swings in ProMod, but neither are there any swings which are 100% blockable.

 

3. Lightsaber Style Personalities -- Each of the different saber styles gives bonuses and penalties to certain types of combat. For instance, Light style gets bonuses to blocking, but lacks the finesse to Deflect and Knockaway well. Medium style is excellent for Deflections and Knockaways, but has poor Defense Breaking capabilities. Strong is weak on Blocking, but Defense Breaks much more often. This underscores the need to switch between styles as the situation demands.

 

4. CSC Bonus System -- How many Levels you buy in certain Force Powers can affect your ability to perform different physical and force powered combat maneuvers. Force Jump (which now allows kicking at even Level 1) will change the strength and ease with which you can kick other players and wall jump. Saber Offense and Defense greatly affect your CSC values.

 

Check out the full readme file: http://www.oculis.org/promod

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I haven't downloaded it yet (hence haven't read the readme files), but just wanted to ask quickly how much has been done in terms of playtesting??? (balance issues etc.???)

 

It sounds really interesting, if it's well made I'll definitely host this on LAN games...

 

cheers!

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I've been playtesting with competition level players for about a week, and against a few other good players for almost the length of the development cycle. I think the game is well balanced at this point, but this is a beta, and all feedback will be heard and considered.

 

Originally posted by karismatik

I haven't downloaded it yet (hence haven't read the readme files), but just wanted to ask quickly how much has been done in terms of playtesting??? (balance issues etc.???)

 

It sounds really interesting, if it's well made I'll definitely host this on LAN games...

 

cheers!

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CoOoOOOoool!

 

One of the quirks of the saberfighting in this game is that reflexes and aim wasn't rewarded to the same degree of FPS games with guns - pretty much only raw technique or relying on powermoves would win the day.

 

This mod might be what the "hardcore" gamers and above all, the competetition gamers, are desperately looking for.

 

Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds very well thought out, and simple to handle - yet it opens up for a lot more tactics than the usual ones (none mentioned, don't wanna upset anyone).

 

Try it guys, you might just like it.

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This Mod sounds great, if it works like you say. I love the fact that all the randomness is gone. This mod seems like it will give the player greater control on wheter he/she wins or loses..sounds awesome. Going to try it as soon as i find a server w/ the code up.

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The amount of damage you do when you kick is related to two things: first, which kick you do, the front or side flip kick, and second, your CSC value at the time of impact.

 

One of the big changes in the mod is that now only front kicks do damage and only side kicks do knockdowns. So, you'll have to make a decision about what you want to do before you choose your kick.

 

The actual amount of damage you do (or knockback/knockdowns) is directly related to your CSC. If you have a weak aim, then the amount of damage (knockback) you do will be negligable. Another factor is how many levels of Force Jump you have. Kicks can do as little as 0 damage (very, very poor aim) or up to 21 points (lvl 3 jump, absolutely precise aim).

 

Originally posted by Jah Warrior

Now this sounds interesting, I'll d/l it and give it a trial run on our server later.

 

One question though, does kick still do too much damage or has it been nerved to a sensible level?

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Remember, you can choose just to run a game against the bots on your own machine for practice--the new combat code works just fine for them as well. One word of caution: the bots have great aim!

 

Originally posted by Mallakai

This Mod sounds great, if it works like you say. I love the fact that all the randomness is gone. This mod seems like it will give the player greater control on wheter he/she wins or loses..sounds awesome. Going to try it as soon as i find a server w/ the code up.

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Just played a great game versus a master bot....

 

I won, but the bot showed me some good hits on the way as well!

 

I like the increased damage, but does it depend on your CSC?

 

And yep, I can confirm that the increased aim will greatly help or hurt you! I actually blocked a red swing while facing the bot.....

 

Cool stuff, I recommend it, though I haven't got the chance to playtest it properly yet.

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There were a few times where i had some really heated battles with the Desann bot on JMaster level. Tavion and luke can give you some pretty good runs too.

 

If you do some in-depth playtesting, make sure to let me know how it turns out. I'd like to see if you arrive at the same conclusions that I did.

 

Originally posted by cjais

Just played a great game versus a master bot....

 

I won, but the bot showed me some good hits on the way as well!

 

I like the increased damage, but does it depend on your CSC?

 

And yep, I can confirm that the increased aim will greatly help or hurt you! I actually blocked a red swing while facing the bot.....

 

Cool stuff, I recommend it, though I haven't got the chance to playtest it properly yet.

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I've sent the file to jediknightii.net, but they're notoriously slow in putting up files. Fileshack got it posted in 10 minutes from when i sent it to them. :/

 

My server is still not running promod; I'm having trouble with my host giving me the access i need to set it up. What you downloaded was probably the 1.04 patch, which is installed on that server, though it is possible that sometime today the ISP could get their ass in gear and get it running.

 

Originally posted by Rad Blackrose

Dammit ArtifeX, did you just HAVE to put it on fileshack? ;P

 

I downloaded the mod from the server you had going about 2 days ago. Is this the same version?

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Originally posted by Jah Warrior

yes it is running artifex, but there was no one for me to fight. may pass by later for a go on it.

 

Jah, guys - just play against bots for now, they're not that bad, and you get a general idea of the feel and changes in the mod.

 

I'd love to do some playtesting, but until I can play multiplayer with it, it remains to be seen... Jah, I hope you'll put it on ya server sometime, I'd like to see how well I fare against you with this pig of a mod LOL!

 

It's good to see the increased damage in yellow and blue stance - this eliminates the special spammage somewhat.

 

Kicks are harder to do now, with the airkick removed. Some people may argue that it's actually easier to do now, but I think it's the opposite - and so did you apparerently, the way you described it in the readme.

Something that might be the new trend now though: Sidekicking to knock down. If this succeeds 100% all the time as you said, then people might simply go for it, and then chop you up on the floor.

 

Red stance has got it harder now I suppose, since the usual red-wh*re relied on doing huge swings(surprise!) while they weren't facing their enemy - sort of doing swings that could reach the enemy without facing him.

 

Defense with yellow stance is a lot easier now, very frequently blocking red swings, as well as conjuring up a wall of blocking against another yellow user. Then, I guess, it comes down to the players CSC's.

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What game directory is it reporting that it's running? I told them to set it up for the mod, but...

 

Originally posted by Jah Warrior

yes it is running artifex, but there was no one for me to fight. may pass by later for a go on it.

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Whoooo!

This is great! I tryed connecting to your server, only one guy there, AFK :S. Maybe you can incorperate a way so that you only see promod servers when your runing it, so far yours is the only one i know.

 

Lol what's funny is useing blue againsed a bot useing redstance and NOT geting killed with the first blow!

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Good! then my server is running the mod.

 

I tried for the last couple days to catch you for a closed beta, but didn't manage, sorry. Managed to round up some others for a quickie run-through and everything turned up well.

 

Originally posted by zerowingzero

Whoooo!

This is great! I tryed connecting to your server, only one guy there, AFK :S. Maybe you can incorperate a way so that you only see promod servers when your runing it, so far yours is the only one i know.

 

Lol what's funny is useing blue againsed a bot useing redstance and NOT geting killed with the first blow!

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Sideflip kicking is a double-edged sword in ProMod. Yes, you can knock them down with a well placed side kick, but you are also going to be knocking them quite a distance away from you, leaving you with many meters distance to run before you're within striking range. It'll take some strategy on the part of the player to maximize the use of this.

 

Originally posted by cjais

 

Kicks are harder to do now, with the airkick removed. Some people may argue that it's actually easier to do now, but I think it's the opposite - and so did you apparerently, the way you described it in the readme.

Something that might be the new trend now though: Sidekicking to knock down. If this succeeds 100% all the time as you said, then people might simply go for it, and then chop you up on the floor.

 

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Hahaha i can't belive that blue stance can acutally blocking, today there was a person lungeing me like 8 times in a row, i just kept blocking all of them and he's like "wtf!" lmao this is great!

 

 

Also about heal, it's a great power now but maybe you sould make it use 51% of your force power or initialte some kind of cooldown, it's great for ffa's but for duels if your opponent isnt that great you can survive buy useing this power alone

 

And for frontal kick, maybe make the max damage 15 or so or a cooldown, in hallways you can get about 3 kicks in before the opponent can counteract effectivly.

Side kicks are good though ;) don't know how they fit in to this cos thing if technically you can't aim it at them when you kick

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Well Mr Artifex,

 

Its very good this mod of yours, having had 30ish bouts now. Would be nice if you could add a cvar to get rid of kicks for "no force" duels. I cant stand being kicked.

 

I think the mod is going to take a little while to get used to, it doesnt suit my playing style really, maybe because i very rarely look directly at my opponent. Whereas, before players that would face their opponent dead on, would often be easier to kill than players that adopt a side on approach to increase the reach of the saber.

 

I do have an idea though.

 

I've noticed as I'm sure you have that the different stances are kind of left handed or right handed. Is there a way to make say, yellow stance block best on the right hand side, and blue stance block best on the left etc. This may sound over complicated but in a real sword fight, I'm sure that the side that the sword is held on will be better defended. I hope that makes at least some sense.

 

Please dont take this as negative criticism because I certainly DO NOT intend it in that way, they are just ideas. And good work on a very professional bit of work here.

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Sideflip kicks get their CSC score from a sideways aim. This isn't reflected directly in the crosshair, as there's no way for the computer to know ahead of time that you want to do a sidekick. Still, if you practice kicking at exactly a 90-degree angle from where you're facing, you'll notice you can knock your opponent down and push him back a looong way.

 

Originally posted by zerowingzero

...

Side kicks are good though ;) don't know how they fit in to this cos thing if technically you can't aim it at them when you kick

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