[Ransom]

This isn't my next big campaign. It's a side project I began in February because the idea hit me like the blunt side of a hammer and I needed a break from my other campaign.

What this is is a few things. It's a proof of concept, it's me stretching my FREDing legs, and it's an experiment in storytelling. Far from the unwieldy length of Transcend, though, this one's a bite-sized four missions. Specifically, it's a very rudimentary implementation of tactics-based gameplay in the FS engine. It's far from an RTS, but it's certainly not regular Freespace gameplay either.

I make no guarantees about how much fun this is to play. It may very well be no fun at all. As I said, it's a proof of concept. And I'm sure some of the more advanced FREDers here are going to tear their faces off when they see the messes I've almost certainly made.

WINDMILLS

[DOWNLOAD] (30 MB)
The campaign's designed to be played on medium difficulty and with these custom flags: "-ambient_factor 200 -nomotiondebris"
Requires a recent build of FSO. If in doubt, it's been tested and works with this build.



Thanks.

[captain-custard]

i dont know if its me or lots of ppl are downloading this but i can only dl at 9kbps........

[Snail]

Sounds... Interesting...

[Mobius]

Tactics in FreeSpace? That's something I worked on a couple of years ago. My idea was to design a minicampaign called "FreeSpace: Tactics" (vaguely inspired by Final Fantasy Tactics) in which the player could only issue orders.

I dropped the idea after a single mission, mostly because of the fact that FRED2 didn't have enough tools to handle tactics. With FRED2 Open, however, it'd be possible to implement something like that: cutscenes, camera handling options and image subtitles can really give the impression of a strategy-based game.

By the way, I'm downloading Windmills right now.

[Herra Tohtori]

Hell yes Total War.

[Mobius]

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Windmills

Created in record time, and waiting for more info.

[Snail]

I've not finished it yet, but this is pretty cool. I suck at it. But it's cool.


The SIMULATION dude is really cool. IMO he'd make a badass villain... Playing games with you... While people die...

[redsniper]

-ambient_factor 200

WHAAAAAAT???

[chief1983]

Download finished for me in less time than it took me to read this thread, so it's not a problem on the host's end.

[lostllama]

This is...unreal, man. It almost feels like a different game altogether. Homeworld-like, and.....scary-ish too. I'm not sure I'm gonna sleep tonight. I kept thinking - this is like Ender's Game.

Puts a new perspective on it all. I really liked the final bit. Maybe now I understand why GTVA command doesn't seem to care about it's pilots...

[chief1983]

Also, is there anything it needs that is specifically in the Wanderer branch, or would it likely work fine with the 3.6.10 RC1 build?  I mean I bet it's nice with the radar icons and all (assuming the HUD is enabled), I'm just curious if there's anything it needs.

[Snail]

Wow the last mission is a complete mind****... It's not something you can play twice.

[Ransom]

Thanks to everyone who's responded so far. I'm incredibly relieved at least some people enjoyed this. The whole thing was a bit of a gamble.

Unfortunately I'll be without computer access for a little over a week starting a couple hours from now, so I won't be able to help with any of the bugs or what have you that'll no doubt crop up in that time. Just wanted to get this released before I left.

WHAAAAAAT???

Haha. It was necessary to get the visual style I was aiming for - unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to get the same effect on a per-mission basis.

Also, is there anything it needs that is specifically in the Wanderer branch, or would it likely work fine with the 3.6.10 RC1 build?  I mean I bet it's nice with the radar icons and all (assuming the HUD is enabled), I'm just curious if there's anything it needs.

Shouldn't be. I'll confess I just grabbed the newest build I could find at the time to test it with - probably any build released this year will work fine.

[ShadowGorrath]

Not recommended to play before sleep. . . or for people who get nervous easily.

You really got a gift for scaring people

Love the campaign though. Something unique and can make you respect Command more. And I only just completed the second simulation. Now I'm off to sleep. . . as soon as I calm down.

[redsniper]

so wait, how do you make the friendlies green and the hostiles red like that?
EDIT: OIC, it's just texture replacement.

[Mobius]

so wait, how do you make the friendlies green and the hostiles red like that?

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Iff_defs.tbl

[redsniper]

so wait, how do you make the friendlies green and the hostiles red like that?

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Iff_defs.tbl

What? NO! The actual ships, geez.

[Ransom]

so wait, how do you make the friendlies green and the hostiles red like that?

I'd love to tell you it was some staggeringly clever piece of trickery on my part, but alas. They're just different .pofs with the textures changed.

[redsniper]

Yeah, I thought there might be some trickery with red and green suns and the high ambient factor, but I just cracked open the VP and figured it out.

[Mobius]

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Iff_defs.tbl

What? NO! The actual ships, geez.

Oh, sorry. I misenterpreted your post.