Recent Posts

51

Arma3 - Single Player Beta Testing / Re: [SP/CAMP] Black Lands

« Last post by Undeceived on 23 Jan 2024, 21:04:05 »

Hello guys!

So finally here we go with a new version (0.7 beta, see first post). I still can't believe that this is true. 

B E T A ! !  Everything's in?!? What the heck??

Since November I worked non-stop on the campaign and not even a bad case of flu this week was able to stop me (I'm still not well though).

I really hope that everything works. Because of the illness, I really couldn't manage do another test run...

If there is any trouble, I will be able to fix it quickly.

All tests are - as always - highly appreciated! Thanks for your time and have fun.

I'll post some things later that I'm planning for a next version, just as reference, in case you notice them too.

52

Comments & Suggestions / Re: Happy new year!

« Last post by savedbygrace on 13 Jan 2024, 20:42:26 »

Happy New Year folks. This is going to be an interesting year indeed.

53

Arma3 - Reviewed Missions / Re: (Review Completed) [SP/CAMP] Underdogs

« Last post by Undeceived on 08 Jan 2024, 18:26:17 »

Was there anything you wanted to get my opinion on?

No, nothing special at the moment.

On the revive system: I think the process doesn't stop, only the circle disappears. But not good anyway. I'll see if I can do anything to fix that.

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Arma3 - Reviewed Missions / Re: (Review Completed) [SP/CAMP] Underdogs

« Last post by Gruntage on 07 Jan 2024, 22:42:39 »

maybe OPFEC could expand their review contents a bit

I think h- would need to elaborate on this but we're quite limited in terms of what we can change website-wise. I would like to see the review system improved but I'm also aware of what can and cannot be done.

What were your problems with the revive scripts? The only thing I remember was that sometimes the progress circle would disappear if you didn't look at the wounded which could be confusing (like as it would have aborted the process). Other than that it was quite solid, better than the former one (Psychobastard's AIS, which over the years has gotten some serious stability problems). I'm using exactly the same settings in BL. Would it be better to decrease the reviving time a little bit?

My problem was that the process would stop randomly (the circle would disappear) even though I was still looking at the wounded guy, meaning I would have to start the process again. So a process that should only really take a few seconds would either not complete at all or take up to 20 seconds to complete. During this time I'm a sitting duck waiting to be shot and this happened a lot.

I'm not sure what to suggest but I guess reducing the amount of time needed to revive would be a good start. I probably wouldn't have implemented such a system because the protagonist realistically shouldn't be able to do it; he's not military trained as far as I know  . This means that if a guy dies, then he dies, and I would take the time engineer the campaign so that if someone does die, it impacts the story. It's a LOT more work, which I do appreciate and is why a campaign like this is something I wouldn't undertake because of the time needed.

That's an interesting point - you mean the subtitles in general? Could it be related to your interface size?

It was the subtitles used in cinematics for expository text and dialogue. I'm just using the default interface size at 1920x1080 resolution. The text doesn't need a massive increase in size. Also sometimes the white text was a little hard to read on bright backgrounds as well. My point about the text is a nitpick but it was more noticeable because there wasn't voice acting to go alongside. My focus was therefore almost entirely on the text and it being on the small side was more glaring to me.

Your feedback on the cinematics (really thanks, much appreciated!) got me seriously motivated to implement voice acting for the next projects again (in fact Underdogs is my first project without voice acting apart from BL for Arma 2, but this I still consider WIP), but given the size e.g. for Black Lands, I really don't know where to find enough actors who are up to that amount of text.

Yeah I appreciate that it's not exactly easy to find voice actors. If I had been in your position, I probably would have done it myself because the end would justify the means, even if meant doing all of the dialogue in German. Players would be able to pick up on the emotion in the spoken language even if it's not in a language they understand.

I'll use a real world example. I can watch 'Der Untergang' without the English subtitles and I would be able to get an idea of how the characters are feeling at a given moment. Like I'd be able to tell whether a character is panicked, angry, sad, etc, even if I don't speak the language to the level they do. You get the point.

I absolutely would have appreciated the effort even though it wouldn't make sense for a bunch of Greek guys to be speaking German  .

Do you have any other thoughts you would like to elaborate on when thinking about upcoming projects of mine?

Possibly  . Was there anything you wanted to get my opinion on?

"Click to see 1 other mission by this author." Actually there are two. For The Life Of A Friend was reviewed here, too.

Yeah I saw that and I wasn't sure why that was. I'll have a quick look at why that is. Should be fixed now; the review for the FTLOAF mission just need a little tweak.

Thanks,
Gruntage

55

Arma3 - Reviewed Missions / Re: (Review Completed) [SP/CAMP] Underdogs

« Last post by Undeceived on 07 Jan 2024, 21:58:12 »

Small feedback on your thoughts on the overview: Indeed the good/evil or light/shadow was the intention here. The main protagonist looking "Into The Darkness". Also a bit of a modern look, perhaps something maybe remembering some video games such as Counter Strike that these young modern Altian guys could have been playing as well (e.g. like this).
But it was rather an experiment and I was curious how what its effect would be from a player's point of view. I agree though on the downsides if such an approch though. Probably wouldn't repeat it.

The process for reviewing this particular section of a mission/campaign has been made more challenging now as the Steam Workshop allows for additional images to be incorporated in the 'overview', so to speak.

That said, maybe OPFEC could expand their review contents a bit. But on the other hand I fully agree: The review is very important, and this is especially true for the Steam Workshop, where thousands of projects are listed on every page and you have to stand out with your overview to raise interest. I like how OFPEC emphasizes this part of a project.


On the other points:
What were your problems with the revive scripts? The only thing I remember was that sometimes the progress circle would disappear if you didn't look at the wounded which could be confusing (like as it would have aborted the process). Other than that it was quite solid, better than the former one (Psychobastard's AIS, which over the years has gotten some serious stability problems). I'm using exactly the same settings in BL. Would it be better to decrease the reviving time a little bit?

The text however is also a little small to read in places

That's an interesting point - you mean the subtitles in general? Could it be related to your interface size?
Anyway, I was already thinking about changing the subtitle style to something bigger but was unsure if it's good or not. Or if it would fit the scene, if you know what I mean.


Your feedback on the cinematics (really thanks, much appreciated!) got me seriously motivated to implement voice acting for the next projects again (in fact Underdogs is my first project without voice acting apart from BL for Arma 2, but this I still consider WIP), but given the size e.g. for Black Lands, I really don't know where to find enough actors who are up to that amount of text.


Do you have any other thoughts you would like to elaborate on when thinking about upcoming projects of mine?


Again, thanks for this review, it helped me a lot!


EDIT: "Click to see 1 other mission by this author." Actually there are two. For The Life Of A Friend was reviewed here, too.

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Arma3 - Reviewed Missions / Re: (Review Completed) [SP/CAMP] Underdogs

« Last post by Undeceived on 07 Jan 2024, 18:54:38 »

Great review, Gruntage! Thanks for the time you have put in it.

I was only able to skim the text briefly, but the points of criticism are well-founded and justified. I will go into them in more detail later because I want to take up and optimize the points for BL.

Again, thanks.

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Arma3 - Reviewed Missions / Re: [SP/CAMP] Underdogs (REVIEW COMPLETED)

« Last post by Gruntage on 07 Jan 2024, 16:43:51 »

This campaign has been reviewed and is now available from the Missions Depot

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Comments & Suggestions / Re: Happy new year!

« Last post by Undeceived on 01 Jan 2024, 10:46:25 »

Happy new year to everyone!

59

Arma3 - Single Player Beta Testing / Re: [SP/CAMP] Black Lands (Arma 3)

« Last post by Gruntage on 22 Dec 2023, 15:09:07 »

I'll be very happy to continue play testing this one when the new version is up 

60

Arma3 - Single Player Beta Testing / Re: [SP/CAMP] Black Lands (Arma 3)

« Last post by Undeceived on 22 Dec 2023, 01:25:46 »

Hello guys.

A small update for those who are interested... Since November 2023 I'm back working full steam on the campaign. In the past years I always returned to it and pushed it forward. In the current phase I'm getting there slowly, which means that I really want to get a new version out soon, which probably won't be in December anymore, but it should / could perhaps be possible in January. Or even between Christmas and New Year's Eve (not sure on that though).

I'd appreciate it if there were some willing souls to test the hell out of the campaign again. There are so many improvements that made it in. Other than that all (or at least the most important) ideas and wishes in this thread are in as well. Some of them are so cool, I still remember our discussions five years ago so well. And they really pushed the campaign forward.

And of course the rest of the missions is in there too, in the last version, there were only the first 13 out of 20 missions.

Ok, as I probably won't be able to publish the new version as a Christmas gift for you, I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!