Missions Depot > OFP - Reviewed Missions
(Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies
XCess:
Ahhh god I love you wipman. New config.bin, new beta test.
Click rety. Another CTD probably caused by changing my config. I'll have a look tomorrow after i do a fresh install, on that teeny 10gig that's just waitin for a use.
NOTE: I like your storyline. I totally and whole-heartedly disagree with both Seal and Macca's opinions to change it for a post-apocolyptic sceneriao. It just needs a bit of fine tuning to give the soldiers a reason not to leave etc
THobson:
My goodness!! I only put it on last night, went to bed, now first thing in the office I just checked to see if anyone might have got as far as looking at the overview and I geta all this!
Wonderful thank you. I am just about to start a working day and I have a busy evening tonight. But please keep the comments coming. I will respond to them all.
Thanks again. You have made my day.
One or two quick responses - I am terribly short of voice actors. In fact I don't have any just me and members of my family. We all enjoyed doing the voices - but we ceratinly are not skilled. We will keep trying.
THobson:
Right I have found a bit of time in the middle of the day.
First my reaction so far - great relief! I had feared that people would hate it because it was too dark (and I don't just mean the time of day) and because finding where you need to go in the dark is a pain and it is a long way. My concern now is that the rest of the mission will not live up expectations - well we will see.
With my last mission ‘Defensive Strike' I turned around comments from beta testers with no real structure. I liked what macguba did with his Un-Impossible mission and I plan to do the same here. I will take and digest all comments and ideas and then incorporate them into a new release some time in the future with a clear explanation of what has changed. If you have looked through the posts so far you will see that some of the suggestions are in conflict so it will take time to do this.
I will not to reply to all of you in general. You are each taking the time test my mission and so deserve a specific reply from me. This will have some consequences: 1. My replies could well be repetitive if several of you have made the same comment. 2. It may take a while before I can do you all justice. Please be patient and please know that I value all your comments.
One advantage of doing it this way is that you don't need to read each other's posts, nor will you get clues about what to do from others. I know some of you prefer it that way. For my part I have a suggestion. Once you get to the point approximately where SEAL84 is at the Mountain Lodge you will be completely on your own as to what you do and how you do it. There are many ways of moving forward in the mission from that point. If you each read other's posts you might: 1. Miss out on what is meant to be the real fun of this mission; and 2. All follow the same path. Less fun for you and less help for me.
Thanks again for the comments so far. Please keep them coming. I will reply to each one individually.
bedges:
flashpoint 1.96, no ecp, benchmark 5050
this has all the hallmarks of a cracker of a mission; i've been playing for less than a year, designing for only a couple of months, but i know quality when it shimmies onto the monitor.
scanning the posts above, i agree with a few of the points, but i'll try not to repeat them.
overview
this picture is very well composed (the hanging idea.... mmmmgenius) but could afford to be a bit bigger. the text is a little awkward and says little about the role the player will have. may i humbly suggest something along the lines of -
"Winter is almost upon us.
The war on Malden is seemingly over, but with their respective governments denying all knowledge of the war, those remaining on both sides have come to a grudging truce in order to survive. With the loss of support from their military superiors however, discipline has broken down. Civilians are now caught in the middle of a desparate struggle for food and fuel to see out the harsh Winter months.
As Alexi Forgotsurnameov, you must somehow save your family from starvation."
how that'll fit pagewise i'm not sure, but with a bigger image it may space out okay.
intro
music fits perfectly. you could afford to get closer in some shots, in particular the shot panning between the forces arranged in that wee valley - there's a LOT of ground to cover, filled with trees and bushes, and on either side, bush-sized tanks.
excellent use of character animation, as seen throughout in the cutscenes too - eg. where tatyana briefly turns to the bed and says "what d'you think they keep me here for?" - that is subtle and poignant. great work.
ditto the comment on shaky cam - i recently received a tip from sui suggesting settargetting the character's positional array instead of the character themself; that way as the character moves, the camera remains stationary on them.
the hanging - how on earth did you get them to swing so slowly?! superb.
briefing
i liked the fact that you had a voiceover reading the sections, a most pleasant surprise.
the voice acting - i would leave it, unless you're prepared to do all that work again with more actors, greater variety of voices and more empathy. it would indeed contribute more to the overall atmosphere, but as it stands it's fine.
repeating the intro text in the background notes is a reasonable idea to cater for those of us with short attention spans, just in case looking at the purdy camera shots distracted from the text in the intro. however, if you use "leftover" in the briefing, don't use "left over" in the intro. that, annoyingly enough, was the only flaw i saw in the text. i'll catch you out sometime :P
ha HA! in the background section, third paragraph "...each controlling a part of the island one led by..." - between 'island' and 'one' you could do with a semicolon, just to break the sentence a bit. but honestly, drat you folks who can spell, spoilin my fun... tsk ;)
one minor point about the map, and i'm not sure how this would look - you've indicated the ends of the island being controlled by the respective sides (using colour, thumbs up) so perhaps a coloured dotted line to demarkate? a semi-transparent elipse? would this give too much of an idea where to expect enemy troops?
mission
as an aside... while playing many missions i get the impression that the designer has placed an enemy squad simply because they know the player is likely to pass that way. i've done it myself. but i got the impression about ten minutes into this, that's not going to happen here. this is less of a mission, more of an experience.
but just to balance that compliment, i feel i must slap the back of your hand sir. taking a function of the game away from the player is a cardinal sin in my opinion. by all means use 'reality' to constrain the player (availability of weapons, fuel, medics, etc.) but when it comes to the way the software works, leave well enough alone. as a player i don't see any benefit of removing the accelerated time function, quite the contrary.
bedges says, furiously tapping the = button. which works, btw, so either disable it utterly, or reinstate it completely.
don't add nvgoggles at the start. you're on the right track with the navigation thing. start em nice n slow ;) that mission in flashpoint where the player had to navigate using the stars... beautiful. now if only i could speed up climbing that hill.... :P
vigny works; i've tested all (?) scenarios, including blowing tatyana up. perhaps slow down time as she gets shot, make it a wee bit more dramatic. loaded up the jeep with all the goodies i could find, and away i went to the mountain shack.
got shot the first time around for not stopping quickly enough...
cutscenes are all fine. the radio... it is something which a player might miss, even though it's right next to the weapon crate, and judging by the scale of this mission (and reading over your notes) it's just one of many sub-missions. however, you could develop the radio a little more to include reception of enemy transmissions too. perhaps that comes later on.....
along with 2, i've collected the first group of civilians to the east, and have returned to the shack to find all in order - phew - and that's where i've saved thus far. more anon.
overall comment so far...
atmospheric, detailed, thorough. i can see this being most enjoyable :)
THobson:
@Xcess
--- Quote ---Heard you talkin about ur idea on the forum somewhere else before. sounded like a nice concept then. I'll give it a try.
--- End quote ---
My only concern now is that people will have too high an expectation.
--- Quote ---Report on go. OFP ver 1.96 ECP; benchmark 2419
--- End quote ---
Thanks
--- Quote ---In a word: confusing.
--- End quote ---
It was meant to be intriguing. Yours and other comments have persuaded me. I will change it.
--- Quote ---In a word: wow!!!!
--- End quote ---
Thank you
--- Quote ---the camera angles could be improved slightly
--- End quote ---
I am new to this - do you have anything specific?
--- Quote ---theres a bit of jerkiness in some camera movements
--- End quote ---
Yes and sometimes it is worse than others. I am not sure I can pan more slowly. This is something that is irritating me.
--- Quote --- but the custom music (great choice) and narrative text bring you into the mission amazingly.
--- End quote ---
Thank you again
--- Quote ---Liked the briefing. Notes were just saying what had already been said in the intro, change it for a personal diary or something. Give the layer a feel for your characters day to day life.
--- End quote ---
Again this is something I will change thanks to your and others comments.
--- Quote ---Voice was a nice touch, although the tone of his voice was a bit too bright for the subject I think
--- End quote ---
I understand your point. I will try harder. I am not an actor though. Having done the sounds for just this one mission I now have much greater respect for real actors.
--- Quote --- Too much rain!!! ……Rain addon still there
--- End quote ---
The rain is deliberate, I put it in. It is meant to add atmosphere. Don't you like it?
--- Quote ---Your voice acting needs more empathy. The girl's just been raped but she doesn't seem to care, she sounds like an everday person going about her routines.. or maybe it is routine... Also "i just killed three soldiers in the other room hohum lala". Empathy! You need empathy!!!!
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You are absolutely right. See my comments above. We are trying (my 16 year old daughter and I) but this is new for us.
--- Quote --- I run through the wall
--- End quote ---
Through the wall? I hope it was through the window, anyway it is a standard OFP house I can't fix that!
Well you got some NVGs but you also got a bullet. That's some trade off!
--- Quote ---NVG from the start wud be nice methinks
--- End quote ---
I am sorry I can't give the player NVGs at the start. It would ruin the whole atmosphere I am trying to create. Wait till you see dawn with your bare eyes.
Thank you for the comments, I really appreciate them, and thank you for being the first other person to see my mission.
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