Looking for Testers: Development Snapshot - Mercenary Campaign

[surfer 42]

Thought about the execution scene once more:

Watchout, story spoiler:

Standing there and watching the other guys get should wouldn't feel right imo. I would suggest that somebody starts running, yelling "EVERYBODY RUN AWAY!" and then all start to run it, getting shot in the end.

Also had another idea just about this: If you introduce a second character during the boat ride, this one could get away from the execution, allowing for some interesting side-stories.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thought about the execution scene once more:

Watchout, story spoiler:

Standing there and watching the other guys get should wouldn't feel right imo. I would suggest that somebody starts running, yelling "EVERYBODY RUN AWAY!" and then all start to run it, getting shot in the end.

Also had another idea just about this: If you introduce a second character during the boat ride, this one could get away from the execution, allowing for some interesting side-stories.

I agree, at least one guy should try to run and get killed. Another sidecharacter could be too much at the moment. The buddy and partner Dražen was planned to take that role. I hope I can develop the characters so far that the player actually builds up some connection to his buddy. That could offer some really tough decision making in the later part of the campaign. We'll see, maybe one of the refugees actually escapes and appears later in the game. Oh, and you could also try to run...

... at any time which will either cause death or the first already implemented ending mission.

[cobra4v320 27]

On the checkpoint mission. When the truck pulls up I check the inventory and it has c4 but it doesnt let me question or arrest the driver. I also shot him in the face on one occassion and the mission at the point never continues (sometimes I cant control myself). Also during insertion the helicopter never lands, I had to go into the debug console and the land get out command. The usual AI driving skills crashing into the gate.

Also does the campaign end? I think I finished all the missions, perhaps a black screen with text to be continued... screen until its complete?

Edited April 20, 2014 by cobra4v320

[IndeedPete 1038]

On the checkpoint mission. When the truck pulls up I check the inventory and it has c4 but it doesnt let me question or arrest the driver. I also shot him in the face on one occassion and the mission at the point never continues (sometimes I cant control myself). Also during insertion the helicopter never lands, I had to go into the debug console and the land get out command. The usual AI driving skills crashing into the gate.

Also does the campaign end? I think I finished all the missions, perhaps a black screen with text to be continued... screen until its complete?

Yes, directly arresting him is not possible at the moment. However, there is one line in your work contract stating: "[...] In one of the prior stated cases or in a case of defence the CONTRACTOR may request support at the nearest CLIENT base." So, here's what you can do and how it influences the mission in the current state of development:

1. Radio for AAF support (Radio 0-8-1): Will cause a patrol to move out. If the current car has weapons and ammo in its cargo the patrol will say good job and take the guy with them. If you just "prank call", the commander will be pissed and won't help you when the insurgents show up.

2. Just let the armed guy pass: He will cause some trouble at the AAF base and once again the commander will be pissed and deny help later. (But if you don't like the Greenbags, go for it. ;))

3. Take his weapon and ammunition and let him pass: Nothing will happen as he can't cause trouble anymore but you have a new gun and a demo charge. Might come in handy in future missions.

At the moment shooting a civie is a game breaker but I'm aware of it and will implement this way too. Maybe let the player hide the corpse and car or something.

Yes, sadly the heli insertion seems to be bugged. I have absolutely no idea why though as the setup and code are EXACTLY the same as in the first mission where it's working just fine. Likely the AI again or I've made a mistake somewhere else. Will be fixed.

AI crashing into the gate didn't happen in earlier versions but I've experienced it recently. Not sure if I've added something to the checkpoint that breaks their pathfinding or if it's related to an update. (I'm running DevBranch.) Maybe I'll play around with positioning and waypoints to tweak it a little.

If you did all missions "by the book" you will just end up in the hub with no further missions. Of course there will be more in the final version.

However, you can still flee from the AO in any contract mission causing the first end to show up. If you want to go the fast way you can also enter into the debug console:

["MOut_Renegade", true, 0] call IP_fnc_endMission;

Again, your feedback is greatly appreciated and I will work on sorting out the problems and developing way more content for the final release.

[IndeedPete 1038]

I'm currently trying to make my overview / loading pictures a little more fancy. I'm quite satisfied with the results so far but sadly the filter I've applied works on light. So, in dark pictures you won't see any difference after editing. Does somebody know a cool filter for dark pictures in GIMP? Or has other ideas?

[cobra4v320 27]

Those pictures look good as they are. What kind of filter were you thinking of?

[IndeedPete 1038]

I'm happy with the ones I've posted, my issue are darker raw images from night / evening missions where teh sun is gone. This one below for example was edited with the same filter as the others but it doesn't work as the only lightsource is the guns flashlight (which is cool). Maybe I should find out how to lighten up pictures first. This is just a WIP picture anyway.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hm, I think I found a way to make at least the upper example look way cooler.

[Ramblol12 10]

If you can I'd recommend Adobe Lightroom for retouching screenshots. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, lightning, etc. to your willing. That could be an alternative to using Gimp.

I use Lightroom a lot for screenshot editing especially to make them look realistic and Arma III official screenshot alike.

Adobe Lightroom isn't free however and is mostly used by semi- to professional photographers...

You can check out some examples at my Steam Artwork-page, as all of the pictures are edited:

steamcommunity.com/id/IGPRamblol/images/

I would recommend it to make splendid screenshots make more splendid :D

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thanks, they're looking great! But I won't use commercial software for a few screenshots. So far, I'm good with GIMP. I really don't like graphic design / editing images. I'm happy when I find the function for moving or turning stuff. oO

[cobra4v320 27]

Went into the missionFlow.fsm and removed the move command and replace it with a normal addwaypoint. The helicopter now lands everytime at the checkpoint.

_wp = _grp addWaypoint [_posLZ, 0];
_wp setWaypointType "TR UNLOAD";

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hm, usually I have my issues with the Transport Unload WP as it seems to act weird with human group leaders. Also the Biki says it won't work when a player is in charge instead of an AI. My fix was just to put the LZ a few metres away from the checkpoint, that seems to work. Don't know why though. But I'll try your solution, thanks!

[kremator 1064]

Hey IP,

Had a quick blast on the campaign so far and it looks good! A very promising start.

Have you thought about using the strategic map stuff for more immersion? To date I've not seen many mission makers use these as effectively as possible.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thanks, have some digital marshmallow-cream-cookies! I'm aware of the strategic map but as it is the hub is on Stratis while the missions take place on Altis. Since the whole strategic map relies on positions I'm not sure how to handle it yet. But I thought of making up my own map interface to integrate into the shop system. However, this has low priority at the moment. Right now, I'm focussing on getting the issues sorted our that were posted in this thread and create new content. Also I'm working on my main systems (shop and conversation system) to expand them further and integrate more functionality. Lastly, I'm considering project names and overview / campaign images. Oh, and there's still this little ugly thing called real life with study, work and talking to people face-to-face. :D

Edited April 22, 2014 by IndeedPete

[Rydygier 1302]

Barely started so far and already looks great and very, very promising to me. All, I like. Open structure (I'm choosing, what to do). Mercenary theme (my favorite). RPG elements, immersing/convincing plot, interesting character(s), motivation to continue. Attention to detail and some great ideas. I'm long time waiting for something with old good Jagged Alliance spirit in Armaverse and this have a potential to be something more. Make it deep, long and wide and it will be great and far better, than official campaign (in fact it may become all and more, what I hoped for the official campaign...).

[IndeedPete 1038]

Wow, great feedback Rydygier! Have a whole cheesecake on me! Really appreciated even if you put a lot of pressure on me. ;)

Anyway, I have some plans to develop the story further but I'm not sure yet where it is all going in the end. However, choices and certain characters like your buddy Dražen or the sadistic merc commander McMillian as well as Nikos, that crooky bastard will have a greater role in the later part. I don't want to reveal what I'm going for but let's lay, McMillian's past (there's already a hint on it in one of the conversations) will eventually get to him and by extension also to you, if you don't pack your bags too early. As you might noticed you can basically run away in the first mission and by that having a chance to end the campaign that early. I want the player to decide what drives him; getting away as soon as possible, paying off the debts and then try to leave in peace or take the chance and go for the big cash. (Or die trying.) Or maybe just curiosity. We'll see, I'm thinking of something. The first part of the campaign will be rather small contract missions, so the player finds a way into the game and gets some decent equipment before the plot moves on with more story-driven missions. At some point McMillian will want to lead you into a mission - you'll have to decide whether to follow him or leave him.

At this point the backround story is not even complete. For now, the US or what's left of it has to deal with a way too strong CSAT in the pacific / on the north American west-coast. And Europe has been crippled by economic crises and riots / civil wars but the core states of the European Union re-united as federation (European Federation) just a few years back.

As CSAT controlled Turkey borders with the European federal state of Greece, the small former Greek island of Altis is torn apart between the big boys. A large part of the civil population always wanted independency and after an "incident" between CSAT troops and EUROFORCE units two years ago, the conflict escalated. Though EUROFORCE troops were able to hold off the CSAT attack, Altian right-wing ultranationalists took their chances and gained power by driving the weakened Euopean forces off the island. In the current state at the beginning of the campaign, the AAF can't maintain stability throughout the whole country. Pro-European as well as anti-European insurgents, opportunists, warlords and of course the big parties AAF, CSAT and European Federation are fighting to get full control over the island - by politics, economics and military force. And then there's the private sector consisting of companies, sleazy businessmen and private contractors having their very own goals in this conflict. I heard there are several state-of-the-art research facilities on the island. I wonder what's going on there...

It's all still WIP and I'm looking for some more details to make it seem more logical.

[Rydygier 1302]

The first part of the campaign will be rather small contract missions.

As for me even whole campaign may keep that pattern. :) And the story may be conducted "by the way" (so there are all the time secondary missions and also some story-driven, and campaign keeps open structure all the time - player on his own chooses, when to push the story forward, when to focus on the side contracts to prepare better, no "corridors", no forced linearity - perfection of freedom).

I'll let myself to add some own thoughts, maybe would be helpful anyhow, if you are developing the plot...

Great and local politics is good as the background, the context, but IMHO all best and most interesting stories keep in the center a single person, his personal pains, joys, journeys, transformations, choices, conflicts and dilemmas. Best stories aren't about wars nor politics (usually boring, if focuses on that), aren't presented from the wide perspective, but are about a person thrown into the whirl of events, about how this person see and handle of these events, not about the events. What that person tries to achieve, what considers important from his narrow and subjective perspective. This way best stories makes you truly identify with main character allowing to experience the plot "from inside" instead fo watching "from above/behind", "yawning from the side", take you from the bored audience onto the stage.

Just, like you started and that's why this start is so good introduction, because from the beginning player start actually care about the fate of main character, his thougths; it is not indifferent, what happens to him. In other words player is immersed into life and situation of this character, starts to identify with him, and through his eyes, along with him, is learning, what the hell is going on. Slowly, without the haste, without artificial throwing at player whole background, whole truth at once. Step by step, gradually revealing, what is yet unknown about him and the situation, not necessarilly all (good thing to leave some space for imagination). First-person narration (somehow natural in FPP game) often helps to achieve such goal easier, but it is only an option. And also we have outlined few non-flat, potentially interesting secondary characters - great. Great, also because all this is somehow convincing.

Personally I'm considering as perfect example of exactly such story (great things in the background, small, personal issues of some mercenary individuals in the very center, from the personal point of view of one of them) the Black Company novel by Glen Cook. It is fantasy, but it's irrelevant. I would recommend that book, if you like such things. For me it is absolute standard, how that kind of stories should be told.

[lexx 1331]

I am not so sure about the beginning with that

human trafficing and stuff. Really? I just got kidnapped and a few minutes later they give me a gun and tell me that I work for them now and I am like "yeah, that's fine"? Sounds highly unbelievable to me.

Other than that it doesn't look bad so far

[IndeedPete 1038]

@Rydygier: I agree, global as well as local politics will just play a minor role in the story but I need them to initiate another (potential) flashpoint at some point. The core element will be the story of Raif Salih, the Sudanese refugee with an average military backround who lost everything in a senseless war with his neighbour country. He sees no future for him in his homeland, has no family (anymore) and just tries to start all over again - in the relatively stable and mostly independent Europe.

This has also a downside as it limits mission making possibilities to infantry and light vehicles only. It would just be ridiculous if a poor, African refugee with no college or other sort of higher education climbs into a million bucks fighter jet. And I'm not sure whether adding another player character would be good for the campaign.

@Lexx: Yes, it's all going too fast in its current state. I need to make it slower and more comprehensible. But I will keep the idea of being forced into fighting. And besides, resistance is always possible, though in this state not every consequence is implemented yet. Anyway, have a nice feedback-peanutbutter cookie!

[Rydygier 1302]

This has also a downside as it limits mission making possibilities to infantry and light vehicles only. It would just be ridiculous if a poor, African refugee with no college or other sort of higher education climbs into a million bucks fighter jet.

I wouldn't name it a downside. A story of consistent internal logic is primary thing, while is very hard to create such believeable and consistent story, that will justify using all possible content. In such case usually immersion is dying due to feeling, I'm in the some sandbox of spoiled child, not inside some interesting story. :) Also giving to the player all fancy stuff just like that spoils the fun. If the best and most rare thing to obtain in-game is eg. a basic sniper rifle, or even shitty SMG, then such finding would be very appreciated and desired and obtaining it will become a great moment of deep satisfaction. If you easily can use all sort of elite military equipment, then in fact nothing is worthy of efforts, and satisfaction is no more, there is only box full of toys. Besides - ability to flying a jet is an elite skill, as you said, some Sudanese refugee, even ex-soldier of their army, with such skill will be as believeable, as brutal invasion of pinky UFOs.

Another player character is matter of taste. Personally I would avoid that. The more playable characters, the harder to immerse into the story.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Rydygier

[zapat 55]

Lexx:

That's what I thougth first. But then I tried. :)

Start shooting in the camp?

I can get one or two mercs, and I am done...

Kill Drozen when we are alone? And then whats next?

In a hostile island without proper equipment and papers and a boat...

Where to go then?

After all it is better to earn some money play their game and get off when properly armored.

And voila, youre inside the mission, following the maker's intent. This is some good beginning, I like that a lot. Keep up the good work!

[IndeedPete 1038]

[...] as believeable, as brutal invasion of pinky UFOs.

Well, with the CSAT units looking like they're from Mars I say it's not completely unlikely. I think they're secretly funded by Marsians, that would also explain their rapid rise to power. :D

@zapat: Dražen is invicible at the moment. Would be kind of a game breaker when he dies on debarking a helicopter. (Happened to my AI colleagues too often to be funny.) But the commander on the other hand... ;)

[lexx 1331]

@zapat, but

It's just not how reality works. I have no reason to trust them. They have no reason to trust me. They give me weapons on the first day. I don't even have any reason to stay calm in such a situation. Sure they are pointing guns at me, but if you just find out that you are being kidnapped, would you stay calm and follow the guy - who now apparently is your slavemaster - into his car and drive with him to his base just like that? They could expect you to try to run away. They could expect you to shoot them in the back or to betray them in the next best moment. Even african child soldiers need some "special care" first before they are taken into the next best combat.

Here is my proposal for a better beginning: Let the player become a victim of human trafficing, but let the kidnappers be some other groups who just set up a small base on Altis. Then because of whatever they get into a conflict with the local resistance, who then shoots them all to pieces. They free you and other guys who had been captured. Then something-something happens which results in you being unable to leave the island and which results in you now being forced to fight for the guys.

Yeah, still has holes, but seems a lot more feasible to me.

[cobra4v320 27]

I am not so sure about the beginning with that

human trafficing and stuff. Really? I just got kidnapped and a few minutes later they give me a gun and tell me that I work for them now and I am like "yeah, that's fine"? Sounds highly unbelievable to me.

Other than that it doesn't look bad so far

I agree why not turn it into a competition. Remember the pool stick scene from Batman? We only have room for one of you among our ranks. Perhaps the guys on the boat want to become mercs and not human trafficking.

[IndeedPete 1038]

@Lexx: That would be a too slow start in my opinion. It would require too many additional characters and the part with "something-something happens" is the really difficult one. It would be the same problem: How to get from human trafficking to mercenary work? ;)

@cobra: I've never seen that Batman, I assume it's a new one.^^ Anyway, I don't really like a competition scenario. That's as unlikely as it is now. Then again, most movie plots are highly unlikely, otherwise no one would watch them.

For now, I'll stick with the original storyline but will definitely work on the introduction to it. I just have to create this "Matrix" effect. First time you see the movie you're fascinated and it makes you think. Watch it one more time and you see how much bullshit it actually is. :D

What really surprises me is that people are actually discussing different story scenarios to make this work. Haven't seen this in other threads besides the official campaign ones. Very much appreciated, guys!

---------- Post added at 11:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:50 PM ----------

Oh, and I've finished the first version of the 4th contract mission. Let's just say we finally find the poor kidnapped girl, but we better not talk about her condition and the circumstances of her "keeping".