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31

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

« Last post by Gruntage on 27 Jan 2024, 21:31:43 »

So, let's continue the journey...

Death Came Upon Me

Good introduction cinematic; consistent with what I've seen so far. Nothing to change there. As far as the mission is concerned, I seem to remember it playing out a little differently to last time...for some reason I have this memory of starting in a forest. I dealt with the three guys by the house easily enough...though those guys couldn't hit a can off a fence which was of course a benefit to me 

But anyway, as far as functionality goes, there aren't any issues as far as I can see. I went to check out the UAZ and dealt with the officer who was there and grabbed the documents he had. I kinda expected another objective to pop up in relation to said documents but nothing happened. I don't know if something was supposed to happen but I think it would have been cool to have another objective to serve as a payoff for going to the UAZ. At the moment, from what I can see, there isn't any benefit to going to the UAZ. It seemed like it was road that didn't go anywhere, so to speak. Unless I'm missing something.

After the UAZ I went northwest to dodge the patrol I saw. After about 10 minutes I reached the task location the mission concluded without any issues.

It's certainly a simple mission but open to opportunities for adding content, like hidden objectives for example. Whether you feel like adding to it, is up to you. Maybe the only thing I would consider adding is some occasional quiet music just to serve as a mood multiplier. Maybe more gloomy weather with rain might also make the atmosphere more interesting.  But other than that, short and sweet without bugs.

As for the outro, it's every bit as great as I remember it. Love the choice of music; the Dark Knight's score is some of Hans Zimmer's best work and it works really well here. Also really like the Gladiator vibe as well; like when Maximus is trying to get to his family as quickly as possible. Love the idea of Tomas throwing his weapon away; like he doesn't give a shit about his own life anymore and all he cares about at that point is his family.

I mean it's an amazing cutscene, pure and simple. Don't change anything about it.

Anyway, I'll play Awakening next and report back...

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

« Last post by Undeceived on 27 Jan 2024, 18:07:14 »

Welcome to the party, Gruntage.

A real lecture on music selection and mood creation.

I choose this track back then to "introduce" the CDF which at first has courage and morale, hence a more positive and modern, west oriented track. Then the Russians destroy everything.

I don't care too much what track it is. I'll keep my ears open.

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

« Last post by Gruntage on 27 Jan 2024, 14:57:42 »

Man I really wanted to dive back into this as soon as the Beta post popped up, but I'm sadly swamped with IRL crap and so free time is in short supply. However, I've put aside a few hours today to post some of my thoughts. It's been a while since I played this so it feels like playing a new campaign again. Hopefully I won't repeat anything I've said previously. I won't be able to test as many missions in one sitting unfortunately.

But let's jump in;

Introduction Cutscene: Invasion

Starts off brilliantly; beautiful music and scenery with silky smooth camera angles. Very cinematic feel that makes me forget I'm playing a game and instead watching a movie. It's about as good as it can get. The scene with the camera panning over a lake with night turning to day was sublime. Every frame was a painting...which is exactly what a cutscene should be.

One little thing that made chuckle though was in the bar when we have the radio broadcast, the radio looks like it's on a stove. I could be wrong though  . It's not the first place I'd put a radio but hey, I'm not judgin'. There is a bit of camera stuttering when the camera zooms in on the radio (might want to transition to the next scene a little earlier in the zoom).

Later in the cutscene however we have what I think is a rather odd music track that I'm not convinced is entirely appropriate for what's happening on screen and what's been said in text. I don't know the name of the track, only that it accompanies a scene with CDF (or Resistance?) soldiers attacking Russian tanks with Mi24s flying in.

The reason why I found it odd was because it has a more 'uplifting' tone compared to the previous track, yet the tone of the scenes and of the text hasn't changed; the scenes don't depict positivity but rather the opposite. The previous track was perfect ( think it was from OFP originally) because it has a gloomy and foreboding tone; very appropriate for an invasion force. But when that track ends we fade very quickly into a much more positive sounding track. It made me think 'oh so things aren't so bad after all then'.

There are also moments around the same time where the music and the text aren't really working together in terms of tone. You've basically got this uplifting music combined with text saying that the Russians are 'smashing our hope to pieces'. It doesn't quite work for me.

An example of how this could be done would be to have scenes of the guerillas fighting and winning a battle against the Russians accompanied by the uplifting music and only hopeful text. You could then switch to a darker tone of music in order to convey the notion that no matter how hard the Resistance try, the Russians still have greater material might. You would have scenes showing the Russians gaining the upperhand and text driving home the point.

To be honest, I wonder whether you could try reducing the amount of text you have. You do have a lot of expository text in the cutscene. I like what you've written in terms of the wording, but I think you should try and let the scenes tell the story a little more. The more text you have, the more likely it is you'll have tonal clash with the music.

It's not easy I'll admit. You have a lot of background to set up and you have to get it out quickly. I would however try and reduce your reliance on the text for story telling. Less is more.

Yes, you did just read seven paragraphs of me criticising a single music track....THIS IS WHY IT TAKES ME YEARS TO MAKE MISSIONS 

Obviously this is not the first time I've seen this cutscene but the last time would have been 6 years ago, and so how I perceive things now is likely very different to how I perceived things then. When it comes to stuff like this I'm extremely nitpicky.

Is this a good cutscene? Of course, it's brilliant in so many ways and does exactly what it's supposed to do.
Can it be improved? YES. Even a small thing like changing a music track can make a huge difference.
But does it need improving? That's a question that I leave to you as the designer.

I'll move onto 'Death Came Upon Me' very soon and post my thoughts on it. I didn't think I'd spend so long on a cutscene 

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

« Last post by Clayman on 26 Jan 2024, 14:37:24 »

Hey, I don't have much time right now, but I wanted to tell you that I did another very quick run of the mission to check how Matai is doing. This time everything worked out just fine. Unlike yesterday, I made sure that the vehicle is in fact damaged. Last time I guess the car was still intact. Might have something to do with that.

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

« Last post by Undeceived on 25 Jan 2024, 23:10:23 »

Thanks!

I will adress some of the things. And ok, one truck cannot hurt. You should keep the limits of the crate in the camp in mind though (yes, everything, even vehicle cargo, is transferred to the crate at mission end)! I'm not planning to expand the storage capacities, especially because upcoming missions are not designed for an whole army, but for a small but effective group.

I guess as soon as I attack any russians, there is no way to go undercover again?

Exactly. I don't remember why, think, because it was to complex and buggy otherwise. This is why I wrote in the briefing that they'll send a person description to all units in the area.

Matei not working again?... Phew... I'll take a look what's the problem.

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

« Last post by Clayman on 25 Jan 2024, 21:41:07 »

So today I spent some time with Setting-up time. I hadn't planed to play that mission for so long, in the end it where nearly four hours ingame, disregarding some breaks I took and the countless reloads. I guess I got lost in the process at some point. It has been a long day.^^


Overall it was a disappointing affair, no vehicles to steal, no ammoboxes to loot. It made my life a lot harder trying to prepare my men for the next world war... As it seems my constant nagging finally shows some effect. 
On a more serious note, most of the mission went pretty flawless. No major bugs or showstoppers where spotted. I was always keeping my eyes open if I could find anything new to discover, like additional sidetasks or other hidden secrets. But the mission already is massive with lots of stuff to uncover.


However, there have been a few smaller flaws I encountered.
There seemed to be some missing buildings in Zelenogorsk. Looked kinda odd. Unless my graphics a going completely nuts.

I still couldn't get Matai to repair any vehicles. While I can talk to him and he will join my group, when I tell him to repair a vehicle, he immediately leaves my group and goes back to repair his own truck. After that I couldn't talk to him anymore.

On my way to Kamils house I took a detour to blow up the gas station. Although I destroyed both the actual fuel station and the fuel tanks in the yard, the objective didn't tick off. But therefore Matais dialog options suddenly showed up again. As I just wanted to end the mission at that point I didn't try to interact with him again.

While rescuing Pvt Radik, I noticed one unarmed russian soldier running all over the place. As he was no threat to me I spared him. Sergej however didn't show no mercy and killed the poor guy on the spot.

While I do appreciate that I can't capture a whole fleet of vehicles anymore, it would be nice if there would be at least one truck I could use. Either from the fuel depot or at Radiks house. Besides the fuel truck, the only vehicles I could obtain where two UAZs. Apart from the limited storage capabilities, getting Sergej to drive one of the UAZs back to the camp without running into one of the many patrols was not that much fun.
Talking of vehicles, I felt that a few parked trucks or something would do well at the depot. I looked a bit empty overall.

After I had stolen the motorbike it didn't take long for the police to show up. However, they were still searching the village three hours later. Doesn't the police in Chernarus have anything better to do? Actually I would be willing to return the motorbike after I had obtained a better vehicle. But the cops always started shooting at me on sight so I had to take a detour around the village every time on my way from the camp or back.

When I arrived at Kamils house, I noticed a dead civilian lying in front of a parked truck and some other guys standing around him. But noone seemed to bother.
When Kamil asked about our equipment and Tomas answered "almost nothing", I thought "well, except for hundreds of weapons an a ton of ammunition...". While looting the hell out of this mission still is fun, getting all the stuff back to the camp would greatly benefit from a larger vehicle. 

I guess as soon as I attack any russians, there is no way to go undercover again? There where several situations where a random patrol would shoot at me from afar, while I was in the UAZ and had no weapon equipped.


Overall I had a blast playing this. I guess I kinda fell in love with this mission (again). You can easily get lost in the atmosphere and the open gameplay. It was really fun and by times quite challenging. A great mission overall and I'm looking forward to your plans regarding Dalibor and the Salesman.

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

« Last post by Undeceived on 25 Jan 2024, 12:36:19 »

First the black Skoda isn't locked

The most important car. Thanks! It's locked now.

During the briefing to Setting-up time, it was mentioned that we are running low on medical supplies. I kinda doubt that, I took like 20 medikits from the last mission.

Yeah, I thought about this, too. I'll change it this way that the needed medical equipment for Tomek is empty (whatever that might be ).


Thank you!

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

« Last post by Clayman on 25 Jan 2024, 01:28:36 »

Did you play the preparation mission that comes before Petrovka Strike?

No, only the actual mission. So I guess I started out with either the stuff from my last take or the default loadout. I don't know how Arma works when reverting from an older version to a new one and if this might cause some other issues.


Meanwhile I have played the first few missions. As I had thoroughly tested these in the previous version, and I believe not that much was changed, I'll keep this short for now. But I have to mention that I totally love the opening scene. It's so well orchestrated, the text sets the mood for the journey to come and that piano tune is plain beautiful.

Speaking of the intros, I really like the color shift in the overview pictures. Great detail.
Overall there have been some pretty nice shots for the overview pics.


I had some trouble with the UAZ in Death came upon me. Thought it was because I was in an ongoing firefight with the enemy. But it seem you already fixed that, so everything should be fine. No other probelms spotted.


In Awakening I couldn't find any loot in any of the vehicles. I guess that's something good. 
I did notice two smaller things, though. First the black Skoda isn't locked, unlike all other vehicles I came across. And, probably I had mentioned this before, there are several patrols in the industrial area, while in the town center it felt quite empty. I feel like it should be the other way around, as it's more likely to find people violating the curfew in the residential areas. Other than that, the mission felt pretty solid.


Starting to inflame again seems to be quite polished and foolproof (Clayman-proof?^^) by now. Only did one run, but so far I found nothing to give me an unfair advantage. I can't remember some random patrol greeting me as I was walking through the streets. Nice little detail. Also the drunk soldier lying on the floor in the back room of the bar was kinda funny with all those beer cans around him. Probably would have been better for him to stick with vodka like his comrades.

One of the guys in the back of the bar (towards the main street) kept glitching through the wall. It felt a bit unfair, if I could have moved through walls, it would have been easier for me to take down the major.

During the second part of the mission, while liberating the camp, a BTR showed up as reinforcement. But when I finally managed to pick up a RPG, the BTR was gone, never to be seen again.


During the briefing to Setting-up time, it was mentioned that we are running low on medical supplies. I kinda doubt that, I took like 20 medikits from the last mission. They can't have used them all in only one night... 


Tomorrow I'm gonna continue from here with the updated version.

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

« Last post by Undeceived on 24 Jan 2024, 23:44:14 »

SHOWSTOPPER FIXED

Yeah, there was a showstopper in that mission (the "Setup" mission before Petrovka Strike). I'm quite angry, because an AI didn't move no matter what I'd command it to do. Eventually I found out that the reason was a first aid kit, that I had placed somewhere.

Anyway, I fixed it and the first post is updated. You should have no problem with the campaign flow when updating it.

Have to stop now until tomorrow evening, I hope everything else works now.

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

« Last post by Undeceived on 24 Jan 2024, 22:30:38 »

Did you play the preparation mission that comes before Petrovka Strike?

As it seems there is a showstopper. Don't ask me how that happened, I have no idea why exactly now, after 5 years, the mission decides to break...

Actually, no. I like watching beautifully crafted cutscenes. But that's probably just me.
Now that I have watched the intro again, I have to admit that it is quite lengthy. But too long? I don't know.

Nah, it's not only the intro sequence, but there are so many cutscenes that it feels too much (from my point of view).

Yes, I played the mission twice.

That's enough for me. No, moving from one village to the other should not happen at all.