Mana Media Mayhem!

[-smash-]

The Return to Mana team has a bite-sized media update for everyone to see. They were invited to a German TV show “Giga Games” and there they previewed some of Return to Mana's RPG-style gameplay. In their preview they showed off some newly implemented monsters as well as a new desert environment which has not been unveiled before their TV debut. Screenshots from the demo are below…[br]

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[br]Soon, a video of the televised event will be available online at the Return to Mana website with English subtitles. Keep an eye out for that![br]Return to Mana is a Half-Life 2 total conversion modification using RPG gameplay elements - Magic spells start here! Be sure to visit the Return to Mana website for more information and media. Also, signup at their forums and give them a shoutout and a congratulations for the awesome opportunity that was handed to them.

 

[Aprime]

They seriously need to stop sharpening their screenshots so much.

 

[tovlakas]

Ya, it would be way better to have crappy blurry jagged-edged shots instead. Oh wait.

 

[mr.crowley]

mushroom trees?

i hate games with giant mushrooms everywhere

 

[Betelgeuze]

cool cool cool

Very original!

 

[simon]

I think it looks really great, good mapping, nice textures/props
Very colorfull, unlike most mods

 

[Garfield_]

Looks great to see something like this in Source =)

Haha those animals look very funny

 

[605Scorpion]

Wah, wah, cry me a river. So they didn't spend all their time on rendering and texturing a static prop. At least this mods advancing. How many times do we have to see a M16 with 50,316 polys and 2056x2056 textures? Oh, throw some rust on for good measure. This mod actually has entire levels set up, and it sounds like they're at least semi-playable. I wish more mods were like this.

 

[Crispy]

It seems media mayhem has reached pandemic levels :O

I'm still excited by R2M and have been for some time now. Keep up the excellent work guys!

 

[Aprime]

Ya, it would be way better to have crappy blurry jagged-edged shots instead. Oh wait.

Thing is, they're exaggerating, and sharpening increases the whole "jagged-edge" thing (and there doesn't seem to be any).

 

[nutcrackr]

Could be fun

 

[Lucid]

Purty.

 

[Mutley]

Are those images photoshopped? If they arn't take it as a compliment! They look stunning.

 

[Kadayi]

Lush

 

[Captain M4d]

There has never been a time when I wasn't impressed with this mod.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Looking good, i wasn't sure how far this mod was going to come, but progress seems to be coming along, keep it up guys.

 

[NeoNight]

Still looking good can't wait for this one. Hope they get more help if needed. Especially in the animation department since good animation should complement good visuals IMO.

 

[Dodo]

well, it looks like secret of mana.. soo good job guys!

-dodo

 

[99.vikram]

It looks vivid, moreso than any game I have seen recently. Can't wait for this!

 

[sam_justice]

you're going to have to wait about 4 years,
the team are doing this at their own pace since they all work for the industry themselves.
I spoke to the leader a few weeks back and he thinks around 4-5 years before we see a public release

 

[-smash-]

Thing is, they're exaggerating, and sharpening increases the whole "jagged-edge" thing (and there doesn't seem to be any).

The images were probably resized from around 1280x1024 after sharpening.

 

[COALslaw]

This is the kind of crap I like to see. Hats off for originality

 

[Majestic XII]

This is the kind of crap I like to see. Hats off for originality

A remake of a old game doesnt count as originality, sorry.

 

[Crispy]

RPG mod on an FPS engine does count as fairly original, though. And subject to previous experiences in trying to remake Secret of Mana, they have stated clearly that they are not remaking an existing game.

Over the past few days we at the Return to Mana team have heard some rumors that RTM is a copy of Secret of Mana, a game for the SNES. This is brought about by some google searches that link to our site.

Before the RTM project started, the core RTM team was working on a project called Secret of Mana Alive. SOM alive was a project to see if a fantasy mod could be made on the HL2 engine, our results surprised us. As development continued, another mod seeking to remake Chrono Cross was ordered to halt development. This caused us to reevaluate our project.

A remake of a game was too risky to do, the danger of a Cease and Desist order loomed so we decided we would take what we learned about modding from our old project and make our own game. RTM was born.

Return to Mana takes place in a completely original world and is not a remake or a sequel of any current game. You might see a few nods to previous games but the story, art, world, and game play is ours.

To those who came to see a remake of Secret of Mana, we are sorry for that ship sailed over a year ago. But we hope you will take a look around at RTM for what it is, a new and free RPG for your gaming pleasure. So stay awhile and have a look around, we hope you like what you see.

For there is trouble stirring in the East and the time for a Return to Mana approaches.

Dylan "mobius" Biery
Black Sheep game development

 

[Majestic XII]

RPG mod on an FPS engine does count as fairly original, though. And subject to previous experiences in trying to remake Secret of Mana, they have stated clearly that they are not remaking an existing game.

Using an engine for a genre that wasnt used in the first game that used the engine in question doesnt make it unique. Inventing new genres and game mechanics does. The engine is just a tool to display what you want on the screen.

 

[Mess]

Decal shadows on those trees?

 

[Dodo]

Decal shadows on those trees?

i noticed it to. decals, or very very complex collision models + super duper small lightmapsize... must be decals.

-dodo

 

[CREMATOR666]

They could make the trees prop_dynamic and make them cast dynamic shadows, like the physic props.

 

[99.vikram]

They could make the trees prop_dynamic and make them cast dynamic shadows, like the physic props.

Grav-gun the trees!!!

 

[Aprime]

The images were probably resized from around 1280x1024 after sharpening.

Nah, they just overused the filter/brush (usually it's the filter for screenshots)
as they always did... Except for one or two 'shots on their website if I recall.
To me it seems like they're doing it to cover the low-quality (polygon-wise, of course) models.

I personally was only impressed when they unleashed the first screenshots onto us, afterwards it just went downhill in my opinion.

 

[Crispy]

Using an engine for a genre that wasnt used in the first game that used the engine in question doesnt make it unique. Inventing new genres and game mechanics does. The engine is just a tool to display what you want on the screen.

I'd beg to differ. Because it's not explicitly designed for an RPG, the Source engine will put different demands on the development team which could result in a unique vision of an RPG. Think about when RPGs moved from a top-down view to isometric and then full 3D. I'd wager a fair bit of money that some of the early isometric/3D RPGs were built for engines used other than for RPGs. Take Deus Ex, for example. I'd say Deus Ex is fairly unique. It's not a mod, but as mods get more advanced we've already seen that they can compete with commercially dveeloped games in the marketplace. So there's nothing to stop a mod coming out that is as similarly unique as Deus Ex.

 

[Majestic XII]

I'd beg to differ. Because it's not explicitly designed for an RPG, the Source engine will put different demands on the development team which could result in a unique vision of an RPG. Think about when RPGs moved from a top-down view to isometric and then full 3D. I'd wager a fair bit of money that some of the early isometric/3D RPGs were built for engines used other than for RPGs. Take Deus Ex, for example. I'd say Deus Ex is fairly unique. It's not a mod, but as mods get more advanced we've already seen that they can compete with commercially dveeloped games in the marketplace. So there's nothing to stop a mod coming out that is as similarly unique as Deus Ex.

I think we interpret the word "unique" differently. Using a fly-simulator engine for an ant RTS game just because the engine wasnt designed for it shouldnt be considered unique or new, it should be considered as a stupid technical decision.

If you want to make a unique game, you should focus on the gameplay mechanics rather than how to twist the technical side of things. Sure, its pretty funky to use an engine for something completely different (One of my mods based on the Source engine was a pseudo 3D sidescroller), but it doesnt make it unique just because of that. Its the game design that makes it unique.

They made Deus Ex the way it is because of the game design, not because of the engine.

 

[[RTM]Mobius]

I would like to think that we are unqiue in trying to get a free flowing 3 player coop combat system off the ground, and to make it fun. We strive to be origional with our look and feel of the world and since we cant do all that a retail game can do resource wise, we try to remain creative.

And to the people who thing that we use filters and such to hide, underdeveloped or low poly content, wait till we get the video translated and see RTM gameplay first hand.

On the side of what we had to do with the engine, well we had to do alot. The big thing being water, HL2 has amazing water effects, but its all static. the water just sits there, no waves, no motion. Water is an imortant element in our game. We need it to move realistically, and that goes beyond an animated texture on a model. When you see how the water moves in the video, hopefully you will understand.


Also RTM remains the number one source for Pie

 

[Crispy]

Also RTM remains the number one source for Pie

In the same way that Zombie Master remains the number one source for Pi?

 

[Dieblein]

We are doing a full story, challenging and tactical rpg that you can play with 3 people at the same time.
How original is that? Do you know any game in the past 10 years that made that possible? I bet you dont!

No Hack n Slays please

All the trees shadows are dynamic and realtime moving/ fadet out at a certain distance to save performance. It seems like we are quite often the first to try out certain features of the engine and strangely people are most bothered trying to proove we are faking the images rather than to believe that people from the game industry could maybe do alittle more than others (sorry to say so)

And to all people that have time talking about the size and filter of the screenshots
Screenshot original size 1280x800 (my laptop)
Photoshop resize 1024x640 and filter, sharpen, thats it. Next time I will let the sharpen away