ForewordThis one is probably not much of a secret anymore after my loose mouth and hands showing off a whole bunch of assets in the HLP Discord, so I decided to might as well make it official.
This project has been in development for almost 4 years, undergoing 3 massive redrafts in the process. Said final draft and official development began with the development of Operation: Cloak and Dagger.
(Fun Fact: remember how the mission files are named DM01, DM02, and so on? That actually stood for "Demo Mission".)
At the time I was still a major newbie to almost everything, so my originally daunting Total Conversion Campaign got downsized to a TC Minicampaign.
Well, for those of you who really liked OCaD, I bear good news. The full mod is now officially in development.
What is this mod about?Taking place in the same universe, roughly 10 years after the events of OCaD, the First Contact War no longer puts you in the shoes of a silent protagonist mercenary pilot, but rather, you play as a lively United Solarian Defense Federation Naval Pilot Ensign, Ayako Matoke. Transferred into the 58th Stormclouds, your missions will initially involve fighting off your long time foe, the Glisean Confederate Steel Pact.
But another threat lurks in the dark...
What kind of mod is this?So, remember when I said OCaD didn't have anime head.ANIs due to time constraints?
Yeah, they're in now.
If you don't like anime, you miiiiight want to steer clear. The tone will be fairly light hearted (not quite as much as WoD/DE but it's not gritty and serious like FS) and you will find a lot of hand drawn art adorning various bits all over the game. Be sure to check the folders every once in a while for any *cough* goodies
Overall takes very heavy inspiration from anime, often the older sci fi shows like Space Battleship Yamato.
In general, expect a balanced focus on story and gameplay but somewhat shifted to gameplay. If you've played OCaD, the flight model will be very similar but with added lateral thrust.
Cloak and Dagger was a 6 mission minimod. How big is this one going to be?I'm looking at an exact 20 missions, leaving out filler or cutscene missions. The whole mod will be divided into three arcs.
As for the assets, there will be at least 50 completely new, original and fresh ships. The ones in Cloak and Dagger will also be given a fresh new PBR Coat of paint. Weapons will also get their unique models, with several already being in.
Yeah that's nice and all but so far we only have your word. What do you have that you can SHOW us?Glad you asked! Here are some screenshots of what's been competed so far.
USDF Aquila - Your fresh new Space Superiority Fighter
USDCv Spearhead - The old mini carrier from 2 years ago now has a fresh HTL
A USDF Fleet on patrol
(Bad Image, will swap with better one later) USDCv Vega - A monstrous and powerful Battlecarrier. Armed with a dual beam cannon battery and burst missile launchers.
Right, but who's working on all this?NeonShivan has graciously volunteered for being a tester, but in terms of development I am doing this solo, just like usual.
Lafiel and Nyctaeus are also on the testing team, as is spart_n
Development is proceeding very smoothly but I cannot predict how long it will take to finish the mod. It will certainly be a while though. But don't think I'll just drop this and then say nothing for a year until its released. I intend to actively keep you all updated on the development by way of posting pretty images most of the time.
