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LRR:CE - System Malfunction | WIP | UPDATED 05-13


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Lego Rock Raiders - System Malfunction

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Greetings and welcome to my (somewhat poorish) attempt at an overhaul of Lego Rock Raiders. 

 

System Malfunction aims to take Lego Rock Raiders and its great ideas as a base, but retell the story from the ground up. Telling the story of everything past the main intro. It will attempt to switch away from the sandbox and happy tones and strive to create a slightly more serious, challenging and balanced experience where winning the levels feels rewarding and resource management becomes a must.

 

The intention is to give the player a sense of progression and slightly more immersion, where through story telling, new units and buildings become available allowing for more creative combinations in play style, while encouraging resource and build management. 

 

I don't consider it a Rock Raiders 2. I'm not skilled nor creative enough for that. I consider this my own thing, something new, based on the original assets.

 

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(loading screen will be provided as stand-alone patch for the Community Edition, for use with the original game/mods)

 

This overhaul is based exclusively around Lego Rock Raiders: Community Edition - a modified version, created by Cyrem of Lego Rock Raiders with many new features coming soon. This mod will be supplied as multiple WAD patches for it so you can decide what your game is like in the end. This is why the assets you'll find here are higher in quality than what could be used by the base game. Note, that the max supported resolution I will target with my overhaul is 1920x1080 due to the scaling of assets. Any higher render some of them too small.

 

 

 

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(Not final. Rock types are not clear enough. left to right: Ground Dirt Soil Loose Rock Hard Rock   -   Lava water oreseam crystalseam solid rock)

 

As you may have noticed by now, I am moving away from the original art style of Lego Rock Raiders. This is only the case for some parts of the game. Many parts of this will be optional and modular. Don't want the taskbar? Don't load it. Don't want the new menu's and loading screens? Simple. Want to load them with the base game or other mods? Go for it!

 

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(Assets in the background will be animated when in game. Font not final due to insufficient testing)

 

 

Planned features:

 

- Defined unit roles, making water units be useful making you want to use the hover scout and making sure no unit is overpowered in any field

- Attempting to use game elements as a fun challenge, instead of annoying the player out of inconsistencies (looking at you, erosion)

- Adding more challenge from Rock Monsters and Slugs without making them a pain. Nerfing tools to get rid of them fast, but bringing down the annoyance of slugs.

- A (most likely) full voice over of the main campaign and "Moon Missions" that you can unload via patch. (Removes all voice overs)

- Building unlocking through story telling, attempting to let the existence of them make more sense

- New UI with animations for the loading of missions and the main menu

- New objectives, not just crystal gathering. Some ideas will be borrowed from Cyrem's topic

- New building - The Air Filter (hopefully it makes it in time - if not, I'll have to rewrite parts of my story layouts)

- Increasing difficulty of units, buildings and more. Making everything feel believable within lore while you'd still have to think twice about it.

- All new levels and custom maps with the aim to be less predictable on first play through.

- New biomes - Simulation biome already in the works

- New sound effects, based on the originals.

- Making ore useful, you'll have to think twice on what you spend it on to reach the mission objective!

- A new task-bar UI inspired by Starcraft and many RTS games alike (hopefully)

 

 

 

 

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(screenshot in the background behind the task-bar belongs to Packer and is from Cave Raiders, see credits)

 

This topic serves as a place where I will occasionally place updates, and request opinions about certain things. I'm open for any and all suggestions, feel free to make comments regarding anything you see!  I'm also always looking for help in certain aspects, from snippets to levels to models (especially those) - but they're not required!

 

 

Interested in the story?

Below here, I will start posting parts of the story once they become available.

 

Mission 1: Rock Bottom!

Spoiler

Greetings Rock Raider and welcome to the first mission in our mining simulator! Although I wish it was under better circumstances, that’s a luxury we don’t have.

 

Our ship was pulled into a gravity well and we’ve been pushed to another star system! There is major damage to all of our systems and we’re running low on power. The backup generators are currently powering the majority of the ship, but those will run out eventually as well, and when that happens, we’ll be in even greater trouble!

 

Time is running short, let’s get on with the mission.

 

Your goal for this simulation is to gather twenty energy crystals and one hundred pieces of ore. This should be a simple mission for someone of your caliber.

 

Note, that we have tried our best to generate geological data of the surfaces and the cave systems to simulate what it’s like down there, but due to damage to our scanners, we’re unable to guarantee it being accurate! We are unable to allocate more power to create a bigger simulation for you right now so the simulation will be a small one.

 

Still, it should give us some insight in how you’ll perform down there. Just know that we are hard at work in optimizing our systems to make sure we get the most out of our power. This is all we can do right now, until we’re ready to go to the planet and gather energy crystals.

 

There will be no hand holding here. We need to know how capable you are in a situation where it’s being called for. Especially considering the situation on the planet may be even more dire and dangerous than our initial scans have shown.

 

I have supplied you with what the R&D department calls the Tool Store. This will be your HQ for this simulation. Here your team will bring both the ore and crystals Our team can’t get a lock on the raiders without it, make sure you don’t lose it!

 

We’re all counting on you Rock Raider!

 

 

 

Goals and notes - Contains spoilers! 

 

Spoiler

·         Have 20 Energy Crystals

·         Have 100 Ore

·         Don’t lose the tool store (don’t teleport it up)

·         Optional: Mine everything!

·         Optional: Build at least three power paths

 

Mission notes:

·         Uses Simulation Biome

·         No lava or water, introduced later.

·         Supply player with tool store that can’t build any units or buildings, upgrade to level 1 may allow more raiders to teleport down. No level 2 upgrade.

·         Level should be fairly small

·         No landslides in this level. Only 23 crystals are in the level but it’s pretty easy. Ore placed manually, ~130 pieces of ore in the level at max.

 

 

Mission 2: Go with the flow

Spoiler

 Welcome back Rock Raider, are you ready for the next simulation?

 

We went through the analysis of your operation data, and thanks to you, we might have a chance to get out of here! We’re not yet there though. We want to run some additional tests first as more data comes in about the surface.

 

After some further optimizations, new geological data has come in which shows us that there’s some form of liquid down below! Unfortunately, your rock raiders can’t swim in it as it’s highly corrosive. You have to find a way around it, or use a vehicle. For this simulation we have provided you with a Rapid Rider. One of our sailors is already aboard.


Another thing our scanners indicated is that there is a limited supply of oxygen in the caverns below. This could potentially pose a problem, we need to breathe!

 

Lucky for us our R&D department found a way to make an automated air filtering building. It should be able to provide air for up to ten of our raiders at least.

 

There’s a catch though. For it to work, it needs to be powered. Thankfully, we came up with a great solution for that too.

 

The Power Station.

 

It should be able to generate enough power for your buildings down there and will allow for larger operations to be carried out in the future. One problem we’re having is that it strains our systems. Please limit yourself, as we can’t afford to teleport down more than one while our systems are still not fully functional!

 

Once you are able to breathe down there, resume mining operations and gather twenty-five Energy Crystals and three-hundred pieces of ore. We were able to increase the power budget to the simulator, so you will be dealing with a larger cave. A step up but one I’m sure you can accomplish!

 

Good luck, Rock Raider!

 

Goals and notes - Contains spoilers! 

Spoiler

Goals:

·         Have 25 Energy Crystals

·         Have 300 Ore

·         Don’t lose the tool store (don’t teleport it up)

·         Don’t run out of oxygen

·         Build power station

·         Build at least one Air Filter

·         Optional: Mine at least 90%!

·         Optional: Oxygen at least 90%

·         Optional: Don't teleport up or lose the rapid rider (not sure how you'd do it regardless. Docks isn't unlocked. If you manage to do it, bravo (?) although you'll not get the bonus.

 

Mission notes:

·         Uses simulation Biome

·         Water but no lava in this level.

·         Air Filter is most likely going to require ~1 crystal and 10 ore. No upgrades.

·         Supply player with tool store v2, upgrade to level 1 may allow more raiders to teleport down. Second one allows power station and more raiders.

·         Introduces Air Filter. Unsure if this makes it, hopefully it does.

·         Power station costs three energy crystals and twenty ore as an estimation. It unlocks the the Air Filter after a level 1 upgrade.

·         Oxygen depletes slow. But can creep up if you’re just sitting there.

·         This level introduces the power station. In my overhaul, buildings will be limited in how many you may build them. More info follows later.

·         Level should be fairly small, though a little bigger than the first.

·         Rapid rider used to travel to end of river and mine back to base, ore near the end, 2 seams and five ore under each block. Enough to reach the ore goal provided you don't overbuild.

·         No landslides in this level.

·         Only 38 crystals are in the level but it’s pretty easy.

·         Ore placed manually, ~390 pieces of ore in the level at max. (Use rapid rider to get the ore goal)

 

Currently planned balance fixes for units:

 

 

Small units

Spoiler

 


Hover Scout - I first wanted to remove it, but it'll become your only real scanner unit. This is the ONLY vehicle that can scan walls up to 7 or 8 tiles, the geological scanner is required for it. And scans 5 walls in any direction. Rock Raiders will only scan 2 tiles in any direction when upgraded.

 

Small Digger - Rock Raiders can drill through dirt and loose rock, loose rock takes a bit of time (3 seconds ish) which can feel long. The small digger is very cheap and drils them faster. No Hard rock though! Suffers from 10% penalty on rubble.

 

Small Transport Truck - Only transports two items, upgrade with 2 things allows 4 items to be carried. Speed is not that great. It's faster than a raider but also suffers from a 10% slow down on rubble.

 

Rapid Rider - Your ONLY way to travel over water now, aside of the water Cargo Carrier. You can walk into it with a crystal or ore to transport it across water back to base.

 

 Hematite Howitzer - A small Anti Monster Weapon. All hand held weapons deal very little damage, they're small after all, They'll only buy time, or in groups, do actual damage. It can take off ~15% of their health per shot. 1 crystal per 5 shots. As a bonus, it can cut through smaller walls, but it takes 2 to 3 shots. Hard Rock won't work.

 

Tunnel Scout - Can traverse lava but not water, which in my overhaul is corrosive. It's 25% slower on that than land. It can't carry anything but a raider and it's not cheap (you can't spam it)

 


 

Experimentals (big vehicles)

Spoiler

 

Loader Dozer - Same as original, removed upgrade of carrying and transporting resources. Speed is slightly faster and it's cheaper as rubble doesn't give ore anymore (surprise!). Rubble slows down raiders A LOT though, 20% of their speed, it's needed you clear it. Because it's decently cheap, it's a must in later missions.

 

Granite Grinder - Gets a massive boost in stats, but walks slow. Upgrade allows it to drill faster. I need to balance the speed though, it won't crawl. It also won't become a chrome crusher. But 2 drills for an upgrade means about 25 to 50% faster drilling at least.

 

Large Mobile Laser Cutter - The big Monster Killer. Takes off 50 to 100% of their health, used to mine walls over lava (can drive over it due to the higher chassis) The weapon Upgrade would allow that 100% damage monster killer gun (2 instead of 1).

 

Chrome Crusher - WAY too overpowered in the base game. It will now drill as fast as a granite grinder in my mod. and the second upgrade makes it just a little faster than an upgraded granite grinder. However! It drives so it's faster. It also has a laser that can shoot monsters with 50% health off. There's a small scanner on the model so I'll allow it to scan just four walls in any direction. It can't drive over lava, since it's lower than the Large Mobile Laser Cutter.

 

Cargo Carrier - Can transport units over water, that's all really. It's not expensive.

 

Tunnel Transport - Can transport units over lava, can't transport them over water for the same reason as the Tunnel Transport. Speed reduces to 30% or 40% when over lava. It's pretty expensive.

 

 

 

 

I don't have much more to add on to this topic for now. If you want to stay more up to date, want to help out with stuff or have other questions/concerns, don't hesitate adding me or pinging me on the RRU server on discord.

 

 

CREDITS GO HERE:

(in no particular order)

 

@Cyrem: Lego Rock Raiders: Community Edition, the backbone of the mod. He's given a lot of support and info and awesome ideas. A  true genius. Without them this wouldn't be possible!

@Slimy Slug: Many assets may end up being borrowed from his wip overhaul, such as animation fixes and more. The guy knows the game well. Looking forward to what he comes up with!

@miningmanna: Feedback and support and helps me speed up .wadp creation. Thanks! He's remaking LRR, check it out here!

@Cirevam: Creator of the Hematite Howitzer - Replacement for the Small Mobile Laser Cutter. Awesome design!

@Packer: Screenshot from Cave Raiders used in the taskbar concept art. Great stuff!

@rockboy: Did a few things. Yes, really! - I know! I'm surprised as well!

More people, no doubt, soon. (Think high-poly assets, new units etc)

 

PS: I was against the idea of posting this topic at first, especially considering that many overhauls have died in the past few years. This will most likely not be the case with this one as I seriously want this to be an actual thing, especially considering the effort I'm trying to put into it. If anything does happen, I'll end up posting whatever assets I have and give full right to anyone to do with them what they want - Although... that will be the case with the final build anyway.

Edited by rockboy
Edit 1: Updated new unit plans + descriptions and credited Cirevam for the smlc replacement. - Edit 2: Added mission 2's briefing and info. New post below, with major updates.
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Wow! I wasn't expecting another LRR overhaul! I saw the pictures going up and wondered what they were for... I really hope this goes to completion, and let RRU know if we can help.

 

For me, I can do quite a lot with level scripting - not so much level design as I struggle to get ideas, but if you have an idea I can usually make it a reality within the LRR engine. (How much the game likes that idea... well, that's a different story :P)

 

May I ask what you have completed so far? I'm struggling to distinguish concepts from in-game screenshots: did you actually manage to mod the menu to look like that? ?

 

I have some very minor comments I want to make on specific bulletpoints:

Adding more challenge from Rock Monsters and Slugs without making them a pain. Nerfing tools to get rid of them fast, but bringing down the annoyance of slugs.


You may find quite interesting things here when it comes to monsters and slugs: https://kb.rockraidersunited.com/Writing_NERP_Scripts
In addition, here are some more concrete ideas:


Of particular note with interest to monsters and klling:
- there seems to be a maximum of 3 raiders which can be shooting a monster at any given time, which can be problematic if HealthDecayRate is negative (so health goes up over time)
- curiously HealthDecayRate does not affect the HP of a frozen monster in response to the above
- Electric Fences are only ever a one-hit-kill or not, there's nothing in between
- mass manual lazer micromanagement is just not fun

 

New objectives, not just crystal gathering. Some ideas will be borrowed from Cyrem's topic


More ideas also available from the two links above! In some levels your objective could be to teleport down 40 Small Diggers :P Or to get 10 monsters on the level at once :P

Making ore useful, you'll have to think twice on what you spend it on to reach the mission objective!


You're probably well aware of this but:
- a) .ptl shenanigans can mean that no ore comes from rubble
- b) the Ore Refinery can be used to duplicate ore unless you do a significant amount of tweaking: but that tweaking then makes the Ore Refinery utterly useless (it would become cheaper to build with ore than studs); even if you add the Ore Refinery as a dependency for a building you can depower the Ore Refinery to make LRRs build with ore (unless you let the Ore Refinery be self-powered....)
- c) no building can cost more than ~30 materials: upon trying to build it the game may crash (eg 40 pieces of ore -> game crash, but 8 studs -> game fine, but 40 studs -> game crash)

 

Hover Scout - I first wanted to remove it, but it'll become your only real scanner unit. This is the ONLY vehicle that can scan walls up to 7 or 8 tiles, the geological scanner is required for it. And scans 5 walls in any direction. Rock Raiders will only scan 2 tiles in any direction when upgraded.


What, so the giant scanner on the Chrome Crusher can't scan as far as a pair of binoculars on the Hover Scout? :P See also this thread. The same increase in functionality can be done for any vehicle BTW.

 

Rapid Rider - Your ONLY way to travel over water now, aside of the water Cargo Carrier. You can walk into it with a crystal or ore to transport it across water back to base.


Three comments about this:
a) it is ludicrously and painfully micromanagement intensive to manually grab crystals and bring them back to base, and makes for extremely not fun gameplay (I have tried!)
b) large quantities of crystal, ore, or generally anything to do (which are stored in the RR engine as 'tasks') on an inaccessible island lag the pathfinding out and trigger Idleness Syndrome very early on - which ALSO isn't fun: for a perfect example of this, play vanilla Fire 'n' Water and keep a base on both sides of the river
c) point b) can be slightly remedified by use of NERPs scripts that creates crystals on the island the moment you get to them, preventing the crystal from being there the whole time & causing Idleness Syndrome (although you will need to make this clear in Chief's messages: or alternatively we can send messages mid-level!)

 

Tunnel Transport - Can transport units over lava, can't transport them over water for the same reason as the Tunnel Transport. Speed reduces to 30% or 40% when over lava. It's pretty expensive.


See this thread for how the Tunnel Transport is basically a useless piece of brick. As a short summary:

Pick your poison: game removes all raiders from the game, or game will deposit vehicles in the Tool Store, crashing the game.


As for how the Cargo Carrier works, well, it can't reach the Tool Store but is in the second category :P

 

 

I really hope you get this to a functional state! Let RRU know if we can help! :)

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Hey there @aidenpons !

 

First of all, thanks for the kind words! I appreciate this a lot. There have been too little Overhauls for this game, and many have been abandoned. Indeed, too little has come to completion. I hope I'll complete this as stated in the post, and I'll do my darn doodle best to to get it there ;) 

 

 Future mission scripting might pose a problem. I'm glad you bring this up, as I'm not great at it. Mostly anything else I can do though. If I need it, I'll definitely come here for help. I really appreciate the offer!

 

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

May I ask what you have completed so far? I'm struggling to distinguish concepts from in-game screenshots: did you actually manage to mod the menu to look like that? ?

Indeed I have managed to make my menu look like this. I've done quite a lot of testing over the past few months in fact. My early tests were done in the standard game, not the Community Edition (Which I have on hand now, and am working on getting it to work in, also. Animation exporting and redoing takes some time though, especially at the higher resolutions!

 

As for what I've completed, not terribly much, but I've made progress on many, many fronts. The menu animations are finished, the loading screen is finished, and I've done 2 mission briefings and goals. The first one is in the main post. I hid the goals and other info in another spoiler, as it does contain spoilers.

 

For a video of the main menu in action, see this:
 

It's low quality, it wasn't meant to be uploaded to youtube at first and is now a few weeks old.

 

The RRU Discord asked me a while back to make a guide on how to get the videos to work. I'll see if I can cook one up at some point later.

 

 

The same counts for the loading screen this isn't in game yet, but would only take me a few minutes of asset replacing and some value tinkering. I just have to load the background and move the bar. 

Cyrem asked me for the files for it, so I have a feeling it may be included with CE as an add on by default. If not, it'll come with the overhaul and will be supplied as a separate patch, just like many other elements, for cafeteria. 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the feedback by the way, there's a lot to go through and I really appreciate it! This is the exact reason why I decided to make the topic regardless (after pondering about it for a few weeks)

 

 

I digress, let's get through it..

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

Of particular note with interest to monsters and klling:
- there seems to be a maximum of 3 raiders which can be shooting a monster at any given time, which can be problematic if HealthDecayRate is negative (so health goes up over time)
- curiously HealthDecayRate does not affect the HP of a frozen monster in response to the above
- Electric Fences are only ever a one-hit-kill or not, there's nothing in between
- mass manual lazer micromanagement is just not fun

1. I'm well aware of this, yeah. With what I stated, I meant it exactly as it's there. They will be more challenging, but not a pain. In my books that means that I won't go about and spam them endlessly, although you will need to make sure you deal with them regardless! It's an interesting point to raise regardless. I won't completely make my raiders useless, I was thinking of only letting them take of 3 to 5% of the health of a monster, and maybe 10 to 15%+ of a slug given lasers will be having a hard time hitting them) - again, the key is for it to be challenging, but not unfair. I've done game development work in the past with teams, there's nothing more annoying than challenge feeling unfair.

 

2. Hmm, I didn't even know you could give it health over time. I wasn't planning on doing this though, again; this would feel unfair in my eyes, how would a monster regain health like that? The same counts for losing health. Monsters live there, it's unlikely they'll be unable to do so when you're in that same cavern.

 

3. That sucks, but I am planning to work around it. I know it's also invulnerable to lava and landslides. At first my idea was to give them a crystal spot, but that's hard coded and doesn't work. In my overhaul, if this ends up staying the case, they'll be removed. For this, the mining laser (named something else later) is going to step in. (Monster defending will be slightly different here, see the howitzer, LMLC and Chrome Crusher too.)

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:


More ideas also available from the two links above! In some levels your objective could be to teleport down 40 Small Diggers :P Or to get 10 monsters on the level at once :P

Nice! Those are ideas are cool for the moon missions (?)

More on mission design will follow later, I've got actual believable ideas in making them fun and varied. Most involve multiple goals.

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

You're probably well aware of this but:
- a) .ptl shenanigans can mean that no ore comes from rubble
- b) the Ore Refinery can be used to duplicate ore unless you do a significant amount of tweaking: but that tweaking then makes the Ore Refinery utterly useless (it would become cheaper to build with ore than studs); even if you add the Ore Refinery as a dependency for a building you can depower the Ore Refinery to make LRRs build with ore (unless you let the Ore Refinery be self-powered....)
- c) no building can cost more than ~30 materials: upon trying to build it the game may crash (eg 40 pieces of ore -> game crash, but 8 studs -> game fine, but 40 studs -> game crash)

1. Aware, and that's not a problem. I was actually planning on placing ore manually in my levels. See the experimental (big units) section. The loader dozer will be mandatory, or at least, you shoveling it. It will be a balancing act based on mission design and such. I'll be sure to not have gigantic caverns with rubble. That's just annoying :P

 

2. Aware, and that's actually one of the other mechanics I've laid out. In my mod, the ore refinery will:

 

At level 0 (no upgrades) give 1 stud for 3 ore
At level 1 (level one upgrade) Give 1 stud for 2 ore

At level 2 (level two upgrade) Give 1 stud for 1 ore

 

A stud is worth 3 ore.

 

I know this is duplication, but that's where mission objectives tie in. In later levels, it's mandatory to have, not having it can mean you don't finish the level, finish additional goals, or it will constrain your use of units, buildings or upgrades.

 

The most important thing to remember here is that since I place ore manually, there won't be an insane amount, and that upgrades to buildings are planned to cost 15 ore or 5 studs. It's important for the player to balance their units, their buildings and more in the end. 

 

3. This is true it seems, I just tested it. My game seems to handle up to 35, or 36 sometimes. Curious is that the thing can be placed. I hope this can be fixed in CE. I might hit Cyrem up about it.  Picture is from the community edition in case you wonder why it's 1080p. This is good to know, I'll make sure I'll factor this in.

4KzVmIF.jpg

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

What, so the giant scanner on the Chrome Crusher can't scan as far as a pair of binoculars on the Hover Scout? :P See also this thread. The same increase in functionality can be done for any vehicle BTW.

Indeed. In my mod, the hover scout will make use of some form of ultra sonics on the ground. I'll try to word it better in the briefing. I know it makes no sense from visual standpoint, obviously, but right now I'm entirely basing my thing around making units have defined roles. Nothing will be overpowered, or underpowered (At least, that's the goal)

 

The dishes on the various units are going to be some sort of proximity tools, which will (uselessly) over the team over at the LMS Explorer valuable data. 

 

That's an interesting threat by the way. I have indeed known you can switch functionality around to other units. I'm currently not planning anything insane though.

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

Three comments about this:
a) it is ludicrously and painfully micromanagement intensive to manually grab crystals and bring them back to base, and makes for extremely not fun gameplay (I have tried!)
b) large quantities of crystal, ore, or generally anything to do (which are stored in the RR engine as 'tasks') on an inaccessible island lag the pathfinding out and trigger Idleness Syndrome very early on - which ALSO isn't fun: for a perfect example of this, play vanilla Fire 'n' Water and keep a base on both sides of the river
c) point b) can be slightly remedified by use of NERPs scripts that creates crystals on the island the moment you get to them, preventing the crystal from being there the whole time & causing Idleness Syndrome (although you will need to make this clear in Chief's messages: or alternatively we can send messages mid-level!)

1. Same haha, it becomes very tedious. Just because it can do it, doesn't mean you have to though. I'm going to do my best to make sure you won't ever have to do this. It can however, be sometimes used to give you that extra crystal for that perfect base build (Yes that's a thing I'm also planning). 

 

2. I'm aware of this yeah. Crystal Caches, Ore Caches, or anything of the sort will not be things I'll implement. Both because it's unrealistic from a geological standpoint, and because of that very reason. I've had many discussions related to getting map designs right, to make sure the idleness syndrome won't be an issue. Don't worry. 

 

I've also taken steps to make base building more challenging, especially having multiple bases will be hard and sometimes even impossible. You can pull it off later. More info will follow as I work it out.

 

3. I didn't know NERPs could be this powerful! That's actually really neat. You seem to know a lot more than I do regarding them lol. But again, that won't be an issue I have to deal with, I think. At least for now.

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

See this thread for how the Tunnel Transport is basically a useless piece of brick. As a short summary:

I'm aware of the broken state. I've known about it for a while. That being said, I'm still planning to integrate it regardless. It is too vital for my current overhaul's concept of units to not have this. Especially considering the Cargo Carrier is going to fill the role of the transports over water abilities. 

 

I haven't had too many issues with it, not to the severity as reported by some, but indeed it may pose a problem. I'll evaluate later.

 

2 hours ago, aidenpons said:

I really hope you get this to a functional state! Let RRU know if we can help! :)

I sure will, I mainly require actual help with modelling and the level scripting in the end. Modelling isn't required by any means, but it's still something I'd be totally down for if anyone on RRU was up for it. 

 

All of that is down the line though, I first want to get the core elements operational. :P 

For now, I'm working on a few other projects before I kick this one in full gear (cafeteria patches of Baz's and Axel's mod, AI upscaling the assets for Cave Raiders) 

 

 

 

One again, thanks a ton for writing this wall of feedback up. Don't hesitate to send in more if you have it ;) 

 

 

~ Rockboy

 

PS: I didn't expect it to be such a long comment. Guess there was lots to say.

 

 

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I've yet to read everything in this thread yet, but right now I can say: awesome! I may give my full thoughts later. Also let me know if you want me to recolor the Hematite Howitzer for you. You can do it yourself with a hex editor, but it's far easier for me to do it in a modeling program. Also, I have the Air Filter... I could give it to you if you want.

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15 hours ago, Cirevam said:

I've yet to read everything in this thread yet, but right now I can say: awesome! I may give my full thoughts later.

Thanks! I'd appreciate that, I'm glad you like it from the first impressions side of things. :P 

 

15 hours ago, Cirevam said:

Also let me know if you want me to recolor the Hematite Howitzer for you. You can do it yourself with a hex editor, but it's far easier for me to do it in a modeling program.

Appreciated! I'm not quite sure yet what colors I'd prefer just yet, I think when I have the stats for all the units fully implemented, I can make a better judgement. Especially considering a lot of the visual side of things is going to change.

 

15 hours ago, Cirevam said:

Also, I have the Air Filter... I could give it to you if you want.

That'd be awesome, huge thanks for the offer. I definitely want a download of that as I think it'd make for a great addition to the overhaul

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  • 1 month later...
paperpanzer

Liking what I'm seeing so far! A grittier, more "we are stranded and trying to survive" atheistic I have liked to explore.

 

If you need any sounds I can help.  Here's my topic thread- 

 

 

I'm no scripting or 3D modeling expert, but I do appreciate excellent sound design.

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On 5/7/2019 at 8:56 AM, Failz_ said:

Would Love an update!

Alrighty then, an update it is!!

 

 

 

First and foremost, I want to apologize in advance if updates aren't as rapid or seemingly major as they should be. I'm (right now at least) working on most of the content in the overhaul by myself. In addition, Real Life is being is a little busy, so I can't work on the overhaul 24/7. Things are a little slow because of it, but it doesn't mean I won't be creating any new content. 

 

 

 

 

That being said, a lot has changed since my last post. Lemme make a list of the biggest new features: 

 

  • Added Splash Screen with basic information + linked my webdomain to this post. (The title may change, which is why. (see splash screen)
  • Added in an intro. Nothing too fancy. 
  • Worked on and finalized the Simulation Biome with help and advice from @Cyrem
  • Worked on and started implementing new fonts. The main menu font is currently too small for my liking. It'll be twice as big. These buggers have given me tons of trouble in the past few days. Big thanks to @miningmanna and @Cirevamfor helping me!
  • Started working on some concepts for the missions selections. The Moon Missions will contain a full map of the moon, where as the normal missions a map of the planet. (read below)
  • Started working on sound design elements in the caverns. See video below. 
  • Finished loading screen
  • Started working on implementing the additional building (The Air Filter). Note: I'm having major issues getting it to work. I don't think it'll be something I'm finishing short term.
  • The overhaul is now based on @Slimy Slug's Rock Raiders Reloaded. Thanks for allowing me to use yours as a base!

 

 

Let's work things down from top to bottom, starting with the new splash screen..

 

large.SplashScreen.png.f8de8b8c52dfcaf7ab33581713c2a3ba.png

 

This screen only shows up to 5 seconds. It's not enough for you to read it completely in the game, and can be skipped with a simple press of a button. Its information may change depending on the time of day, or how i feel if information needs to be added or changed. It's just a mockup, nothing more. 

 

One side note, is that the overhaul falls under Creative Commons (at least for the time being). Don't worry, I won't pull you to court, you're free to use the assets as long as you credit me. If you're interested in reading up on it, you can get the human friendly version of the entire document of it here

 

 

 

 

 

Let's skip to the point about the mission selection. The things prior speak for themselves. You can watch the video down below to see how they look. Just keep in mind, everything is placeholder, but it's also possible it'll stay.

 

The mission section will work quite differently from what you're used to in the base game. Gone is the planet sliced in half. I think it doesn't really make much sense in terms of the lore. That's just my 2 cents at least. 

 

The new (and in my opinion) better way of indicating levels is like this...Mission_Select.png

Moon_Mission_Select.png

PLEASE NOTE: While I didn't explicitly mark the images as "concept art", let it be clear that it is. I've not finalized the design of the mission indicators yet!

 

The way it'll work in theory is that when you haven't "discovered" a level, it won't show up. There are a few ideas I have, one of them is that it'll be a black image covering up the grid cells, maybe a cloud cover. Who knows (I don't)... The border around levels will change color depending on the biome. There is currently no indication of depth beneath the surface, but that is something I'm planning to do; among other things. I'm well aware that the game doesn't support transparency like this. My workaround here is to simply cut out the levels, background included. It'll work. (I hope). This also means I can exploit the current broken level linking system with "optional" missions. Maybe some that go back up a few, to rescue a raider, or to become an extension to a level.

 

This is all concept, not final. I'm definitely interested in feedback.

Oh, and huge shout out to @Cyrem for suggestions and ideas on the design department of this!

 

 

 

Let's move on the the cavern system sound design. Please note, these are recordings. I did my best to clean them up, but they may not be perfect yet. I may go record more sounds at some point. Who knows...Still reading and interested? Okay fine, guess you deserve it... Below is a video showcasing the new cavern sound effects (and a part of the simulation biome). Please note, this video was from an older build of the Overhaul, a few things look different! 

 

 

 

 

I really like how it turned out personally.

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, I went into this sentence, thinking there's more to talk about but.. that was pretty much it for now. Here is one more video showcasing all the elements working together on the latest build of the overhaul. Enjoy!~

 

 

 

 

I'll update the first post with new info when I'm closer to a release. As for now I think it'll have to do. Please be sure to follow this thread, all new content will be posted in new posts when it comes out. Also note, that I rather post semi big updates, than keep posting smaller insignificant things. Things are gonna slow down a lot as well, so just a heads up. Don't worry, I won't let this overhaul die ;) 

 

 

On 5/7/2019 at 9:33 AM, paperpanzer said:

Liking what I'm seeing so far! A grittier, more "we are stranded and trying to survive" atheistic I have liked to explore.

 

If you need any sounds I can help.  Here's my topic thread- 

 

 

I'm no scripting or 3D modeling expert, but I do appreciate excellent sound design.

You and me both! As for the awesome addon, I did see this, and I think this is a huge improvement over Axel's default sound work! In terms of System Malfunction, if you've read the thread, I hope you like what you hear. While I have some things covered, there may be some things I could use some advice on and help with; sound related. Feel free to add me on Discord if you're interested!

 

~Rockboy

 

 

PS: I'm so sorry for tagging people. Please let me know on Discord if you rather not have me do that in the future.

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Absolutely fantastic work. Wow.

 

I hope this and everything works as well as it possibly can! Good luck, Rock Raider! :chief:

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T-34_Warrior

This is looking really cool! I have no idea how you are doing this, I do understand this is a mod, so this is going to work together with cafetaria?
 

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On 5/14/2019 at 2:03 AM, aidenpons said:

Absolutely fantastic work. Wow.

 

I hope this and everything works as well as it possibly can! Good luck, Rock Raider! :chief:

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! I'm sure it'll all work out. :shades:

 

3 hours ago, T-34_Warrior said:

This is looking really cool!
 

Thanks for the compliment! 

 

3 hours ago, T-34_Warrior said:

I have no idea how you are doing this, I do understand this is a mod, so this is going to work together with cafetaria?

tenor.gif?itemid=9490827

 

All jokes aside, I've done development work on games in the past so I have a fair bit of understanding and experience. Thus it's all not as hard for me to design new content.

 

As for software, I mainly use Adobe software (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, etc) and for the sound and music I use Cubase 10 Pro, some VSTI's and for recordings like for the cavern effects or maybe vocals I use my recording equipment (Laptop, audio interface, mixers, microphones). The rest is all done with .CFG edits; or other files. My editor of choice for that is a combination of Ultra Edit Studio and Notepad. Model tweaking is done in Lightwave; if required. ;)

 

 

You are correct though, it's a mod for the game. It requires the community edition by Cyrem and my aim is to ship it as a bunch of patches for Cafeteria. Do note, that some of the included patches will have to be disabled. Such as the "resolution patch" as I'm planning on reworking nearly all things in the in-game the interface as well. Also, depending on how things go; if it all goes right, I plan to split up certain things in the overhaul, such as UI, Game-play balancing, and levels. Each patch replacing the following after; but we'll see. 

 

~Rockboy

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T-34_Warrior

That sounds very nice! You are kind of a generalist I see.
Thank you for your detailed explaination. This has brought a lot of insight of the project. :D
I'm really looking forward to what you are cooking and how it wil turn out.
I have 4 years experience with 3D modelling and animation (as a student). so if you need help with models or something I can help ;)
But by the looks of it, you are probably going to use most of the original models.

Cheers
T-34 Warrior

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/22/2019 at 12:29 PM, Failz_ said:

hate to be that guy... but... update? plz...

In my experience, asking for an update does not make the aforementioned update any quicker. :P

I know Frozen Snow is still working on it to at least some extent, and it is very most definitely not forgotten, but all things take time. Like this. (Whoops :P)

 

 

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