Vietnam warfare mod

A

Andokool12

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Hai watsup, this is my first post on these forums, and I have a very AWESOME mod idea that i would like to tackle with some help with certain jobs I can't possibly do on my own. A mod set during the vietnam war. The plans for certain aspects of the game are a tough thing to tackle and will be a very proud moment to look back on. Here's the plan:

A mod set during the vietnam war. The fact that it's going to be singleplayer or multiplayer I haven't decided yet, but it will probably be mutliplayer. So I'm going to reffer to this mod as if it were a MP mod.
THere will be two teams, the good guys, and the bad guys. You should know who those people were during the vietnam war... The teams will have their own vehicles at their disposal, such as land vehicles and helicopters (I haven't decided on jets yet, depending on map sizes, physics, etc.)

The toughest part of this mod will no doubt be perfecting the helicopter. I was thinking of taking the airboat and heavily modifying it's code, sound effects, model, etc.

The weapons will be modified versions of cs source and POSSIBLY hl2dm weapons.

One last thing, I am thinking of including ranks. The ranks would be a last minute thing that are determined by how many kills you have gotten. So some base code would need to be developed that tracks your stats locally (locally as in on your pc, not over a master server). The problem with that is that hackers could possibly hack the code and alter their ranks if the stats tracker is local.

Okay, well that was a quick summary of the project. Now I need your help doing this. My part of the mod development would be as a map designer and lead director, but be happy to suggest your own stuff, etc.

The help I need:

Programmers to alter the code for the airboat to make it a helicopter, make some land vehicles (possibly by altering the jeep), and anything else that may be needed.

Modellers, who can remodel the modified airboat so it resembles a helicopter used in the vietnam war (research will be needed), model other vehicles and any other stuff like player models.

Experienced skinners. To obviously skin what is needed.

Map designers, I'm not gonna be the only one making the maps. (I hope, it doesn't matter that much if there is noone else who can possibly map, just means more crunch time for me.)

Sound engineers, for music and getting some sound samples for weapons and vehicles.
Possibly some voice actors for the communication menus.

Someone who can possibly code a local stats tracker.

Any other help will be appreciated.

Message to programmers:
There is more than just modifying the airboat physics. I am also planning on making helicopters turn by mouse movements. IF you've ever flown a chopper in BF2, you know what i mean. Oh yeah and is it possible to make more than one seat in vehicles? The helo's would be helpful if more than one person could ride in them lol.
 
omg wow, ever played counter-strike?

Notice how it's been going since the 90's?

That's because people played on the terrorist side, and everyone wasn't teamkilling eachother on the counter-terrorist team.

Something called autobalance my friend, it's so everyone isn't shooting air and the game keeps going.

It's common sense, find it.
 
Andokool12 said:
omg wow, ever played counter-strike?

Notice how it's been going since the 90's?

That's because people played on the terrorist side, and everyone wasn't teamkilling eachother on the counter-terrorist team.

Something called autobalance my friend, it's so everyone isn't shooting air and the game keeps going.
Click to expand...

As your target market, I would like to point out that counter-terrorism units do not often kill one another if they lack an enemy.
 
DUDE! STOP POSTING! YOU ARE THE DUMBEST PERSON I HAVE EVER MET!

This topic is about the mods development, not you stupid question:
"If there are good guys and bad guys, won't everyone want to go on the good guy side?"

Now stop posting unless u have something to say about this mods development other than your questioning about how people have the mind to go to the bad guy team.
 
Andokool12 said:
DUDE! STOP POSTING! YOU ARE THE DUMBEST PERSON I HAVE EVER MET!

This topic is about the mods development, not you stupid question:
"If there are good guys and bad guys, won't everyone want to go on the good guy side?"

Now stop posting unless u have something to say about this mods development other than your questioning about how people have the mind to go to the bad guy team.
Click to expand...

So, do you have any experience modding for Source?
 
I have intermediate experience with the map editor, this is my first big project relating to mods, thats why I would like to be on a team developing this mod (which is often the case with big mods... A team working on it, not just one dude.)
 
Andokool12 said:
I have a very AWESOME mod idea
Click to expand...
Andokool12 said:
The plans for certain aspects of the game are a tough thing to tackle
Click to expand...
Andokool12 said:
A mod set during the vietnam war.
Click to expand...
Andokool12 said:
The fact that it's going to be singleplayer or multiplayer I haven't decided yet
Click to expand...

So...you have an awesome, completely undeveloped idea that probably about 4 million other people have thought up?

Andokool12 said:
THere will be two teams, the good guys, and the bad guys. You should know who those people were during the vietnam war...
Click to expand...

I'm kind of concerned that you don't understand the war enough to know who were the bad guys and who were the 'good guys'.

Andokool12 said:
The toughest part of this mod will no doubt be perfecting the helicopter.
Click to expand...

I'll disagree and say that the toughest part of this mod will be getting anyone interested ever.

Andokool12 said:
One last thing, I am thinking of including ranks. The ranks would be a last minute thing that are determined by how many kills you have gotten. So some base code would need to be developed that tracks your stats locally (locally as in on your pc, not over a master server). The problem with that is that hackers could possibly hack the code and alter their ranks if the stats tracker is local.
Click to expand...

They would almost certainly be VERY easy to crack if you stored them locally.

Andokool12 said:
Okay, well that was a quick summary of the project.
Click to expand...

Wait. So... It's a probable multiplayer mod circling the Vietnam war. Are there classes? What kind of gameplay modes are we talking about? How many players per team? What kind of locations?

Why are you making this mod? Why Vietnam? What separates this project from, say, Battlefield Vietnam, or any of the other mods/games that surround this war.

Also who are you, what experience do you have, etc. Why does anyone want to join up on this?
 
Alright. SO I'm going to start with your last questions:

Classes, yes, there are classes. Research on the war would have to be done to further determine what kind of classes would be appropriate. At the moment think basic, balanced kits/classes, such as heavy weapons, medic, etc.

So far the only mode I have thought would be apporpriate would be a conquest/flag capturing map, somehwat like the bf franchise.

players per team would be up to 32, so far.

Locations in jungle areas.

I am in a rush, ill have to explain the rest later, sorry.
 
Andokool12 said:
Alright. SO I'm going to start with your last questions:

Classes, yes, there are classes. Research on the war would have to be done to further determine what kind of classes would be appropriate. At the moment think basic, balanced kits/classes, such as heavy weapons, medic, etc.

So far the only mode I have thought would be apporpriate would be a conquest/flag capturing map, somehwat like the bf franchise.

players per team would be up to 32, so far.

Locations in jungle areas.

I am in a rush, ill have to explain the rest later, sorry.
Click to expand...

There are classes, guys. It's alright.

Shit, narrow escape.
 
Just to let you know, the Vietnam scenario is generally steered clear of because it's pretty damn difficult to do forest settings in Source and make them look good and still play well for multiplayer. It can be done, but you need to be incredibly awesome at mapping (and environment art) to make it happen.

There was a game called Vietcong that was very awesome but never caught on, and Tour of Duty was a Half-Life single-player mod which also never took off. Vietcong has some great ideas in it (a lot of which you can see in all the modern-day warfare games of today), it never seems to get the credit it deserves, though.

When you look at mods or maps that attempt forest scenarios, you'll see how few manage to get it working well. I mentioned Tour of Duty, but I don't remember that mod having any predominantly forest maps, you have to look to FireArms, Hostile Intent and Day of Defeat for the best mainstream examples and they are all on the Half-Life engine. The general principles for doing this in Source are the same, though, so they are worth checking out for ideas.

Vehicles; generally a bad idea. Scripted vehicles, such as the scripted helicopter/APC transports that were used in Global Warfare (heavily underappreciated mod for Half-Life) could work, but free-form vehicles is a BIG ask in Source and requires significant modification of the existing code. Empires and Off-Limits are two mods that have succeeded in doing this for Source (Eternal Silence has also done this for spacecraft). You should note that Empires originally planned user-controlled aircraft and subsequently axed them because they were too damn difficult to get working in Source.
 
Hmmm, okay then. I'm not giving up yet though. I was fully aware of how tough it would be to do a helicopter in source, hence my excageration on how much of an accomplishment it would be to complete that aspect of the game. So, wait, that might actually work. A scripted movement for helicopter's wouldn't be half bad. Like, a model of a helicopter that has different setas you can get into, and someone gets in a seat in the cockpit, and then press a button. This button triggers a scripted movement from point A to point B. Once everybody gets out of the heli, it then resets at point A. Different heli's would go to different areas. It should also be possible for teams to be able to shoot down enemy helicopters. Once the heli gets a certain amount of damage done to it, everybody inside is killed and the heli then triggers an animation of itself exploding, then resets at point A.

As for the map making aspect, I was planning on it not necessarily taking place in thick wooded areas. I was thinking of little villages, hills, trees here and there, and rivers.
By the way, I am no pro map maker, as I stated before, I have intermediate skill with the source sdk hammer editor.
 
Just play Heart of Evil: Source. That just has zombies and stuff too.
 
Yeah. Don't use all capitals as it looks as if you're shouting and please use the phrase "going to" insted of "gunna".
In other news, lots of people have thought of the vietnam mod idea, so try and think of something original, Like an A-Team mod when they were in nam.
 
i'd say get up your models and stuff first.. as i know of myself that with only an idea, there isn't yet a mod.. one's you completed your models for instance you can say look this is my progress... and you'll go on cause you know your going somewhere :)

good luck and my tip is: first make the models then think out the story(detailed), Think your mod in big steps for making your characters and other models.
 
K thx for the advice Tyron.

Btw I'm joining some mod studios as a map designer to get some experience being on a team as well.

I am also aware there was a vietnam warfare styled mod already in development a while ago. It is now dead. I never don't follow through on a project I have a passion to do just because I realised someone else did it before me. I'm not that generic.
 
Well, if you're committed to the idea, and aware of the (quite sizable) obstacles of creating this mod, then best of luck to you.
 
This thread makes me laugh incredibly hard.

Oh god I love you hl2.net
 
Tyron said:
i'd say get up your models and stuff first.. as i know of myself that with only an idea, there isn't yet a mod.. one's you completed your models for instance you can say look this is my progress... and you'll go on cause you know your going somewhere :)

good luck and my tip is: first make the models then think out the story(detailed), Think your mod in big steps for making your characters and other models.
Click to expand...
Worst. advice. ever.

The best way to begin would be to begin prototyping your gameplay with the existing Half-Life 2 models. Models don't make a game function (unless you're using model-based level geometry, but this is the Source engine, so you're not), they make it more intuitive, immersive and attractive. You need to get the beginnings of your game working properly and start pinning down ideas like exactly how many weapons there will be, what your in-game goals are, etc. Right now you haven't even decided if it's single-player or multiplayer...

Think about games as rules and fiction. In its most basic form, a game only needs the rules in place in order to function. A game of chess can be played with scraps of paper on a drawn-out board, similarly a mod can be played with placeholder art until you have the code working. The design describes the rules and the code and level scripting and geometry enforce these rules to give the game structure. The level textures and custom models are there to describe the fictional setting and refer to some of the rules, but -strictly speaking- the game would function just the same without them (how popular it would be is a different matter).

Anyway, concentrate on getting the rules in place and then map on the fictional element. If you focus on the non-essentials you may get a team together quickly but you will soon run out of things for them to do, then they'll get bored and leave and you still won't have a working concept to show people.

More info on how to go about this here
 
Tyron said:
i'd say get up your models and stuff first.. as i know of myself that with only an idea, there isn't yet a mod.. one's you completed your models for instance you can say look this is my progress... and you'll go on cause you know your going somewhere :)

good luck and my tip is: first make the models then think out the story(detailed), Think your mod in big steps for making your characters and other models.
Click to expand...
Worse advice

Crispy said:
Worst. advice. ever.

The best way to begin would be to begin prototyping your gameplay with the existing Half-Life 2 models. Models don't make a game function (unless you're using model-based level geometry, but this is the Source engine, so you're not), they make it more intuitive, immersive and attractive. You need to get the beginnings of your game working properly and start pinning down ideas like exactly how many weapons there will be, what your in-game goals are, etc. Right now you haven't even decided if it's single-player or multiplayer...

[...]
Click to expand...
also worse advice :D

i got the advice !
Don`t listen to anyone. Even me. That`s right. People will tell you what to do, this is wrong, do this. It`s your mod. **** them. You`re doing it your way.. how`s their way working out for them?
Click to expand...

ref: http://www.garry.tv/?p=544
 
Crispy's advice isnt bad, although it sounds more like the way to do it on a multiplayer mod.
Singleplayers, if based on halflife2, dont need that much prototyping on gameplay, they just need a f***load of content.
They stilll need prototyping, testing game concepts, getting stuff to work in test maps etc... but it isnt as nessecary as getting good prototyped gameplay in a multiplayer. if you and crispy get what im saying....

-dodo
 
Dodo said:
Crispy's advice isnt bad, although it sounds more like the way to do it on a multiplayer mod.
Singleplayers, if based on halflife2, dont need that much prototyping on gameplay, they just need a f***load of content.
They stilll need prototyping, testing game concepts, getting stuff to work in test maps etc... but it isnt as nessecary as getting good prototyped gameplay in a multiplayer. if you and crispy get what im saying....

-dodo
Click to expand...
I get what you're saying, but it totally depends how much you're going to change. If you're just making a single-player first-person shooter then most of your work will be on map scripting and artwork. Personally I still think I'd do the scripting first and then move onto overseeing the art side so the artists understand how things are going to be used in-game, but that's a personal preference.

If you intend to do any fancy stuff like multiple-choice conversation systems, any features that link into a new imagining of the HUD, anything that dramatically changes the basic HL2 setup, then it's better to get the code working first. Plus coders are possibly the hardest person to find and recruit, and they don't need fancy artwork to convince them.
 
Yeah, but one flaw in doing the scripting first is that say if you wanted the soldiers to take cover, you would have to animate that movement first.
 
barrab said:
Yeah, but one flaw in doing the scripting first is that say if you wanted the soldiers to take cover, you would have to animate that movement first.
Click to expand...
Yeah but don't most Source mods use the Valve biped for animations?
 
It depends how big the mod is, so Zombie panic has it's own animations.
 
Custom animations, sure, but does it have a custom biped rig or does it use the default one in Source?

Speaking personally, I think for a first release it'd be better to spend your time getting features in and using the default rig with either default or edited default animations for your custom models than finding good animators (one of the hardest team members to get hold of) to do new character rigs and/or animations. From what I hear from people learning animation, character animation is by far the hardest area of animation.

Source already has all you'd need for a basic FPS shooter. The only custom animations would be the chopper (really easy) and the weapons. There are a hell of a lot more weapon animators out there than animators who can do characters.
 
^^^

also when you're given such great animations/blends to begin with why reinvent the wheel? making a full set of character animations that blend right etc took valve like 2 years, it's gonna take a mod team even longer.
 
(The plans were to make it a multiplayer mod)

Btw I joined a team working on yet another paintball mod for Cs: Source. Just wanted to get the experience of being on a team and doing my part in the mods development rather than just sit at my computer fantasizing about how kool my new idea for a map will be :p.

My job is a next to impossible task of making an INDOOR paintball map about the size of THREE cs_office maps... Hm, it's very hard to do that without the textures looking repetetive. So what I did was made a smaller version that's about the size of a hockey arena, it's got a nice big skylight in teh middle, etc.

Btw, back to the vietenam mod topic, seriously, as I explained before I am no more than a map designer, i cannot do anything more than re-texture models when it comes to making models.
 
Aw, I came in hoping a 'Nam mod was released.

Sigh... none of the HL games have any good 'nam mods.
 
Andokool12 said:
Btw I joined a team working on yet another paintball mod for Cs: Source. Just wanted to get the experience of being on a team and doing my part in the mods development rather than just sit at my computer fantasizing about how kool my new idea for a map will be :p
Click to expand...
Good call. Your idea can only get more refined in the meantime.
 
Andokool12 said:
Hai watsup, this is my first post on these forums, and I have a very AWESOME mod idea that i would like to tackle with some help with certain jobs I can't possibly do on my own. A mod set during the vietnam war. The plans for certain aspects of the game are a tough thing to tackle and will be a very proud moment to look back on. Here's the plan:

A mod set during the vietnam war. The fact that it's going to be singleplayer or multiplayer I haven't decided yet
Click to expand...

This is where I stopped reading. You clearly have no idea what you would be taking on if this ever were to happen.
 
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