So this was maybe a bit under the radar, but "Writing Bull" in germany released an "exclusive" letsplay of the new Jagged Alliance Rage from https://www.handy-games.com/en/portfolio/jagged-alliance-rage/ which will be released in a couple of months.
The other parts can be found in his channel. Looks like a mobile game, what do you think? I don't know why but I had high hopes from thq nordic licensing Jagged Alliance ...
Tries really hard to make it look good, pretty much no crtic. Dunno if that's due to him knowing the dev (which he admits in E4) or due to the annoying 'breakfast radio' style of his channel.
Not my kind of game and surely not even close to a JA2 1.13.
How come it is that hard or unrewarding or whatever else to keep the mechanics and content of JA2 1.13 and polish the graphics and the GUI a bit?
Any of the dedicated modders on here ever thought about some kind of crowdfunding for such a game?
We wouldn't have the licenses and would have to create a new brand and some new chars but it is pretty obvious what people want, isn't it?
Thinking of something like Pillars of Eternity as a new brand was somehow still building on Baldur's Gate as an archetype.
Right now to me it looks like only people here at bear's pit seems to understand what makes JA2 and tactical game type great and expand on that. All others are like trying to reinvent/modernize the chess without remotely understanding what makes a chess great for 100s of years.
If anybody heard/played tycoon deluxe in 90s then you can check out OpenTTD https://www.openttd.org/en/ (if you haven't heard of it yet)
Josef Draxler created "patch" that expanded game like 100 times similar like you guys did with ja2 1.13
Then people at OpenTTD went further with idea and took/copied what made tycoon deluxe great, went with open source and now this game has so many options, mechanics, possibilities that I don't even know how to use and it expands and expands. No fancy next gen 3d graphics, mocap gamepause/cutscene animations and all other unneeded/intrusive crap. Think of it like 1.13 x 10000 but no hardcoded "limitations"
I don't know crap about coding/programming but how hard it is to make some simple turn based platform with just basic abilites like move/rotate in squares, shoot, AI sees you AI shoots and then expand on that features?
Designing a new game from the ground up? Over several years? Coordinating what amounts to a company? Paying salaries? Somehow keeping it all together? That is very hard. Even the much derided JA successor games, like this one, present a huge amount of work going in.
And you can forget any idea about 'the comunity' somehow making it up on the go by everybody commiting tiny bits of work for free that somehow mesh up to become a functioning game. To be polite, that's an extremely idealistic hope. The best you can hope for is 1.13 in its current state, with all of the many flaws it currently has. Itmight be different in other communities, but nothing I've seen so far gives me reason to believe otherwise.
I've lost count of how often I've heard 'hey, let's create a new JA game from the ground up'. But perhaps I've just missed all the games that came out from that.
[Updated on: Wed, 22 August 2018 21:28]
I know now that it could never work between us, as much as we wanted to, it could never be! Not because you're a rabbit, but because you're black.
If you want, you can donate to me. This will not affect how and what I code, and I will not code specific features in return. I will be thankful though.
You have to do it professionally. For that you have to know people and resources in the buisness. I know one thing for sure and that is, you can organise such a thing with enough passion and dedication.
I could deliver/organize trailer, teaser, intro, cutscenes. I do work in the film industry. There are probably others willing to help... But the most important is, there has to be a professionall foundation and on top you could make an crowd funding.
I'm not as naive of thinking that some small contributions from each of us would result in a great game, or even in a complete game at all. I don't think that is possible just using the community. I'm totally with Flugente. But on the other hand, do we have to start out big with a complete plan of everything? I don't think so.
On here, we do have the knowledge what makes JA2 great and there hasn't been a worthy successor for JA2.
With those two facts, wouldn't it be possible to start out small by e. g. creating the gaming concept incorporating the ideas from JA2 & 1.13 + some sketches of how it should look etc..
This info should be enough to then start a crowdfunding campaign with which we hopefully get our proof of concept (people backing us).
If people don't back us enough, just forget about the thought, not too much energy has been spent.
If people back us, we could take the second step and look for a game development company, that would realize this on the promise of our concept.
To make a long story short: Let's use what we have and put together of what we think would be a great successor without investing too much time into it. If it proofs good, let's see how we advance then.
This is only possible though, if we can get some of the veterans on here contributing as well, otherwise I wouldn't even start phase 1.
Give me some feedback on those thoughts and if theres enough response, I would create a separate thread for this.
Messages:1533
Registered:January 2015 Location: Home Free
The thing is, we cannot use the JA2 code base. So everything every modder has done would have to be done again on a new code base that would have to be developed from scratch . . . and then there's the voice actors and the character development . . . and everything. Unless, of course, you are just talking about packaging a free game around a (wait for it) stable build of the mod.
I'm not thinking so far as completely finnished product like game box in the game store ready to be sold.
More of a chess or even better tabletop game where instead of you needing to know/read all the rules for each combination of unit, weapon, gear, range, terrain, situation and calculate (add random throw dice) each shot, move, wound computer would do that for you. And then if that is possible we can add shot sound, hit sound, move forward animation, skills etc.
More like engine(is it right word?) that can/will handle/do that rulebook and calculation stuff.
Oh yes, please make a proper new JA . If Star Citizen could crowdfund 200 million dollars, I'm sure you could get enough as well, if you form a team and a project, and ask on Kickstarter. That would be so awesome.
I'm not thinking so far as completely finnished product like game box in the game store ready to be sold.
More of a chess or even better tabletop game where instead of you needing to know/read all the rules for each combination of unit, weapon, gear, range, terrain, situation and calculate (add random throw dice) each shot, move, wound computer would do that for you. And then if that is possible we can add shot sound, hit sound, move forward animation, skills etc.
More like engine(is it right word?) that can/will handle/do that rulebook and calculation stuff.
It's not that easy I'm afraid.
Let's start from the basic concept...
Do we want to use/keep a Voxel engine?
Pros: deformable terrain, easier on hardware, we could re-use JA2 assets for prototypes
Cons: art has to be hand made, difficult to animate, difficult to make high definition art
Do we want a ready engine like Unity?
Pros: Easier start-up, tons of ready assets for productivity, good talent pool available
Cons: Commercial license is an issue, hard to customize beyond a certain point, it will likely end up like a Wasteland 2 or XCOM clone in the best case
That doesn't even start to touch issues like paying for artists (both for GFX and VA), QA, etc...
No matter the choice, even making something with a bare semblance to a JA clone will take years and in the meantime all you will be able to show would be a very limited and unpolished demo at best.
Pfft, like people still care about Blackwater et al. The only major concern is tanking on the CIS market because you set your game in not!Ukraine fighting separatists backed by not!Russians.
Messages:384
Registered:December 2017 Location: here
Streamers are likely to do the voice acting for the fame/expense contribution, (one could still be so "stupidly" fair to make a contract which lets them benefit on commercial success of the product)
their videos allow to estimate their voice "quality" and the attitude that may fit best to it,
these people also tend to have the equipment/expertise to get recordings in sufficient audio quality.
To set stakes high, the sandbox should cover the whole planets terrain,
huge dynamic faction system which gives a $#|7 on sociopolitical stuff and allows to chose any side to play and as enemy.
(just publish only conform gameplay, when people realize the games full range,
the outcry in mainstream media will only help to increase fame and sales;)
Well, at least it seems there are quite some people thinking about how this successor could look and would also be willing to contribute somehow.
It's obvious that the way to a full game is anything but easy or short but to take the philosophical way: every journey - even the big ones - begin with the first step.
I was working in a simple game like JA2 1.13 with a friend but more focused in a "Black Lagoon" kinda ambiance, but... long story short my good PC died and i can't keep working on it for now. (my current PC struggles not to fall apart)
And what keeps me awake at night thinking in wether is a good idea or not is the why, WHY!? every game after JA2 has met a horrible fate?
althought i "kinda" enoyed the "online reloaded" one casually, like... i'd play it if it was a mobile game... and it didn't had microtransactions pushed everywhere...
[Updated on: Sun, 26 August 2018 04:43]
Oh, God please tie this rope tight, A noose that fits just right, Oh, God please tie this rope tight, Hold my head upright, Take this knife across my throat, And make amends for all my lies.
Me, I have>
I've been/am scribbling/collecting ideas/concepts/thought for couple of years of what would make a good turn based game. Focus is more on a turn based platform which would be easy to mod, expand and with all this could be used then to make turn based games.
Where game would be like lego town with police stations, fire station, train, roads... This would be more like lego bricks/parts which you can turn into lego town, lego desert, lego under earth tunnels... Kind like Minecraft with much smaller blocks would be good example.
This is not some finished guidance, plan or anything easy to read and understand but lots of bits and pieces here and there... room full of parts scattered around the floor, walls, closets.. and it all this mess needs to be collected, explained, expanded, categorized... So everyone could understand it.
I'm collecting this into html file since this has been easiest so far.
(Aybody knows any program or whatever where you can write text, link documents, add tables, include images, draw arrows/pointers/lines and easily drag all this around screen? Tried some free wikilikes systems but no joy yet)
Also I can create 3D meshes (I use wings 3D, free 3d program) I'm more into "static" mechanical stuff, like guns, vehicles, structures than organic things that can change shape/mesh like face, clothes.
What others have, can, think they can, willing to?
i learned how to model/texture in blender to work on my previous project (RIP)
i also do some concept art here and there once in a while.
it usually ends as a mere fantasy tho, probably because i tend to have kinda ambitious projects and something ends up happening.
idk how to actually code but i know a thing or two about scripts.
Oh, God please tie this rope tight, A noose that fits just right, Oh, God please tie this rope tight, Hold my head upright, Take this knife across my throat, And make amends for all my lies.
The game looks like a shit and is clearly made with a small budget. Will probably try it though if there is a demo. I rather liked the JA Online (free beta phase) before they completely ruined it with ridiculous micro-transaction scheme. Is this from the same developer? Style looks the same.
Watching some more LP episodes, AI's dumb as bricks and whistle+neckbreaker is apparently the ultimate cheese so far. Also, dude's now splitting those tiny maps up into multiple episodes - What is this, Dragon Ball Z?
Messages:1411
Registered:July 2006 Location: People riding polar bears...
Something like this doesn't really deserve full sentences but alright. Let's see what I can muster.
Seems like one of the modern XCOM games had a malformed baby somewhere in a radioactive jungle and someone named this baby Jagged Alliance Rage. I say radioactive jungle because the mercs obviously have super powers now. "Hero" skills. It's all very mundane at this point. Another lame cash-grab (however that works) attempt built on what seems like a reverse engineered foundation. Jumping in place instead of innovating.
I get that making a full scale Jagged Alliance game takes up a lot of development time and money but, you know, seeing another game like this really does make me rage. (Oh, maybe it's self-aware!) Something like this NEEDS a lot of time and effort to work. Rage is small. It just feels bad. Wrong. Do any of the recent JA games have a fan base? Do people still play them? Are people interested in them? What's the point?
Time for an experiment. Let's just see what people on Youtube (as an example) are up to when it comes to JA. Just gonna search for Jagged Alliance and sort by date.
Plenty of JA2 videos showing up. There's the ongoing Rage series + trailers + press. Oh, even a JA1 video. A long way down and I see one video on Back in Action. 3 months old now. One on Online Reloaded below that. Certainly seems like Flashback went up in smoke.
The recent games lack depth and personality. Rage seems just as dry.
It probably can be fixed with workshop support? or is it plain broken like 7,62?
i don't HATE the sci-fi-ish stuff but JA2 probably does it better giving you the chance of disabling all that stuff.
Oh, God please tie this rope tight, A noose that fits just right, Oh, God please tie this rope tight, Hold my head upright, Take this knife across my throat, And make amends for all my lies.
Basically he does acknowledge that making a game that is a worthy successor, a real JA3, would require way more resources and time than they have at this point (he mentions that creating a true successor would take 4+ years). So the idea behind this game is that of a smaller spinoff.
He also confirms that the merc roster is indeed smaller (you start with 2 mercs, but get more mercs and mechanics later on), which allows them to focus more on individual mercs. As they have fewer mercs, this allows fleshing those that they have more (also seen in the gameplay videos where Shadow and Raven argue, I imagine this will continue later on. Benefit of having mercs in a defined state, we can't do that in JA2).
The interviewer also asks whether the cheap-90s-action movie vibe was intentional - which it was (make sense, since JA games always had that).
He acknowledges that the games focus is on tactical combat, you can't do as much as in JA2.
Honestly? The dev sounds pretty reasonable to me. If the idea is to have a small-scale JA-lite game, then this kinda works (yes, there are a ton of features I'd really want and stuff that annoys me. For me, a part of that also comes from the gameplay videos itself). As they are a small developer, its easy to see they used what they could (engine-wise and all).
I guess what will really, really bite them in the ass is that everyone assumes (well, I did) this was supposed to be a 'full' successor, which it isn't. As a worthy successor, it fails imho. As a small spin-off (to me it has a commandos vibe) it might work on it's own, but the unfortunate comparisons will be tough on this.
I know now that it could never work between us, as much as we wanted to, it could never be! Not because you're a rabbit, but because you're black.
If you want, you can donate to me. This will not affect how and what I code, and I will not code specific features in return. I will be thankful though.
Messages:344
Registered:July 2006 Location: France
Thank you very much Flugente (and thank you for the laughs, Slax).
Does the interviewed say anything about a future JA3 then? (by them, by another dev or else)
I have the same feeling about that game and how it will be received, Flugente. This genre is already niche, and those accustomed to the franchise are waiting for a JA2 successor. They are already disappointed by what has come with JA in its name ever since, and they won't get what they want with "Rage".
I'm lowering my expectations and start to believe i will have some fun with this game as a small tactical game, not a big multi layered game like JA2.
Exactly, it will be a 60 score game again and the only selling point is the label "JA" and that is also the reason they censor the complaining in the steam forum to protect the expectations,
Messages:42
Registered:March 2003 Location: California
Looks like this was delayed the day before it was to come out. I felt like when they first announced this release date that it was a bit too soon, and obviously it was. They dropped a new trailer
doesn't look too bad. I can spare $20 to check it out. Couldn't be much worse than Flashback which I wish I had never spent money on haha
Messages:344
Registered:July 2006 Location: France
A bit of explanation on their part about the delay would have been nice. The game has been on preorder the whole time until now.
The communication on this project is severely missing. One has to dig deep to have crumbs of infos and videos, only in german.