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  • WAZZAL II: The Final Dawn - final Version 6 released!

    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    So it only took almost 10 years, but...

    Wazzal II: The Final Dawn version 6 is released!

    Download from Github



    36 years after the events of Wazzal, and four years after Notrium...

    After the sun was destroyed by a supernova and most of humankind mysteriously abducted by a shadowy Alien race, a handful of brave space pilots established a new colony in the depths of space. Wasting no time, this motley collection of adventurers, traders and buccaneers set off to explore their new corner of the galaxy. Soon the United Confederacy of Planets was formed, heralding a new dawn for humankind free from Alien interference.

    After many years of peace, the Alien threat has re-emerged to finish what they started! The Confederacy is in ultimate peril as massive Alien fleets begin their relentless drive towards the capital New Dawn, leaving nothing alive. Humankind's last hope lays on the shoulders of the most famous of the human pilots: the enigmatic "Captain", survivor of the doomed Sol System and the terrible planet of Notrium....

    Mod features

    1) Two gameplay modes: starship combat and exploration aboard the Wolf IV, and on foot as the legendary "Captain" from Notrium and Wazzal!
    2) Eight completely unique star systems, and fourteen planets and space stations to explore (including lava, ocean, ice, desert and jungle worlds, low gravity moons, gas giants and Alien planets!)
    3) Over 100 items to use in both space and on planets, including electrobinoculars, night vision goggles, stealth armor and high explosives
    4) More than 40 weapons, including sniper rifles, particle cannons, rocket propelled grenades and Alien technology
    5) Six controllable vehicles, including tanks (armed with cannons and flamethrowers), armored boats (armed with machine guns), fighters (armed with airstrikes and lasers), machine gun emplacements, flamethrower pillboxes and even Confederacy Destroyers!
    6) 11 United Confederacy Ranks (Ensign to Admiral of the Fleet) with valuable rewards for completing ingame missions
    7) Fly the flag of the United Confederacy of Planets, abandon your duties to raid and plunder as a ruthless pirate, or even join the dreaded Alien Horde!
    9) Make a fortune trading slaves, drugs and weapon parts on the Galactic Stock Exchange, hunting for dangerous local creatures, farming rare plants, mining for ore or even fishing!


    For those of you who have played Wazzal II before and want to see what's new, I would recommend visiting the New desert planet of Garreempir in the Ntedro System, Armada in New Dawn, and most importantly, try to achieve 2000PP to unlock the supernova-destroyed remnants of the former Solar System, and eventually enter the Alien Homeworld: the "Zoo" system! There's also new missions for most planets, many of which will help to unlock a huge number of extra items and weapons since the last release!

    I'd love to hear your thoughts on the mod, especially if you have some suggestions or have found some bugs. Realistically this will be the final major release for Wazzal II. It's been quite a ride, and I hope some of you enjoy the mod as much as I have enjoyed working in it on and off over the last 10 years!


    Installation instructions

    The Github repository contains all the files required to install Wazzal II: The Final Dawn mod for Notrium. To install, download as either ".zip" or ".tar.gz" using "Downloads > Source code", and unzip inside main Notrium directory!


    News

    22/02/16: Final Version 6 RELEASED!
    Download from Github!

    20/12/15: Code uploaded to Github!
    Download it from here!
    11/2/09: Build 5 RELEASED!
    Download it from Page 63!
    20/1/09: Build 4 RELEASED!
    Download it from the attachment on Page 60!
    5/1/09: Build 4 coming soon!
    More information/screenshots coming soon!
    10/3/05: Build 3 released!
    Download it from the link on Page 36!
    26/1/05: Build II released!
    Download it from the link on Page 23!
    13/1/05: Even more screenshots!
    New shots showing the interior of the Wolf. Check out page 16!
    2/12/04: v0.1b released!
    Download it from the link on Page 7!
    20/11/04: More screenshots!
    Check out the new screenies I've released on page4!
    13/11/04: Alien Ship Graphics released!
    Here's the first drafts of the alien ships. They're just made in GIMP, so no 3d rendering yet but I think they look pretty impressive already. (see Page 2 for more information)
    6/11/04: Early Screenshots released!
    (see below for more information)
    1/10/04: Commenced work on Wazzal II!
    I've started work on Wazzal II (see above for more information)

    Edited 8 years ago
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    Anyone for some early screenshots?
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    Grim Reaper 19 years ago
    I'd like to see some.
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    Doogsy 19 years ago
    I'm always up for screenshots, I think they are alot better than posting the actuall beta's of the mod, as they don't give away too much. I've seen some of the ship designs ForceUser made. They look pretty cool.
    It will be interesting to see this project done in Notrium, now that the Notrium has increased it's modding potential.
    I'd like to ask though, will the entire thing be set in space like Wazzal, or will it be a mixture of planetry and space scenes?
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    Anonymous1157 19 years ago
    I have a couple tips for you:

    Once you go to a planet, there should be a plot-object ship set on the top layer and another plot-object elevator shaft. When you want to leave, you use a key near the shaft and you go to the main star map.

    On levels where your ship crash-lands or you get booted to the planet in an Escape Pod, you should start on a meteor crater. A fairly large one. Also, there should be a transporter at a boss room wich can only be open with a keycard from the Boss. You definitely start with a low-end pistol when you reach the ground.

    The star map should have other ships on it smart enough to shoot lazers at other ships without supposedly colliding (see 1.2 AI stupidity tests). You should be able to move freely and the other ships should stop at certain planets, and force fiels on other planets should tear it apart.

    That's it! (Wow. when I have a good topic, I write a lot.)
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    I'm always up for screenshots, I think they are alot better than posting the actuall beta's of the mod, as they don't give away too much. I've seen some of the ship designs ForceUser made. They look pretty cool.
    It will be interesting to see this project done in Notrium, now that the Notrium has increased it's modding potential.
    I'd like to ask though, will the entire thing be set in space like Wazzal, or will it be a mixture of planetry and space scenes?
    yes, Forceuser's images are truly professional. There's no way I could attempt this mod without his help.
    No, in this mod you'll be able to visit planets, asteroids, spacestations and satalites as well as flying in space.

    Once you go to a planet, there should be a plot-object ship set on the top layer and another plot-object elevator shaft. When you want to leave, you use a key near the shaft and you go to the main star map.
    Great idea!!

    On levels where your ship crash-lands or you get booted to the planet in an Escape Pod, you should start on a meteor crater. A fairly large one. Also, there should be a transporter at a boss room wich can only be open with a keycard from the Boss. You definitely start with a low-end pistol when you reach the ground.
    Yep, you'll start with really basic weapons which can be upgraded throughout the game. All the weapons from Notrium'll be there, plus quite a few extra.

    The star map should have other ships on it smart enough to shoot lazers at other ships without supposedly colliding (see 1.2 AI stupidity tests). You should be able to move freely and the other ships should stop at certain planets, and force fiels on other planets should tear it apart.
    Actually, forcefields are a good idea; I hadn't thought of that before. I don't know whether its possible to stop the ships from colliding with eachother, but I'll try.

    That's it! (Wow. when I have a good topic, I write a lot.)
    Thanks guys, and keep writing; it helps me alot!!
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    ville 19 years ago
    So this is your secret mod! It sounds really cool.

    Are you going for a Smugglers style of gameplay? I know you're an active with that game, it might be a nice idea to bring in some elements from there.

    So you're going to have a starmap where the player flies a ship, and a separate view for the combat scenes? What about hyperspace travel? Such a mod could draw inspiration from my all time favourite, Star Control II.
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    Grim Reaper 19 years ago
    I was going to suggest hyperspace...
    Doesn't matter who suggests it, as long as it'll be there
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    So this is your secret mod! It sounds really cool.

    Are you going for a Smugglers style of gameplay? I know you're an active with that game, it might be a nice idea to bring in some elements from there.
    Thanks!! Yep, this is my secret mod. I've only just decided to make it of Wazzal... I was actually planning on making it a Smugglers mod!! (btw Ville, how did you know I was active with Smugglers? Just from what I've said here in these forums, or have you visited the smugglers forums? I'm an active member there too. )
    I'm going to ask Niels Bauer (the designer of Smugglers) if I could have permission to use some elements of the game in this mod, because I agree, it would be good to merge the games.

    I haven't decided on how combat and hyperspace will work yet, but atm I've got the combat and flying in the same map; so no seperate view as yet. I think hyperspace will be done with jumpgates (an idea taken from Smugglers), becuase I can't think how I'll do it otherwise.
    Screenshots on the way, guys!
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago


    Here's some real early shots; comments would be appreciated, I know they're really basic but they're just there to give you a little example on where I'm going with the mod.
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    Doogsy 19 years ago
    They are looking good. Im looking forward to this project.
    PS. The fuel cell looks great
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    Eric 19 years ago
    Looking good. How fast is the space combat going to be? Meaning how fast do you and the ships travel?
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    ville 19 years ago
    "ZeXLR8er!!" said:
    Thanks!! Yep, this is my secret mod. I've only just decided to make it of Wazzal... I was actually planning on making it a Smugglers mod!! (btw Ville, how did you know I was active with Smugglers? Just from what I've said here in these forums, or have you visited the smugglers forums? I'm an active member there too. )
    I'm going to ask Niels Bauer (the designer of Smugglers) if I could have permission to use some elements of the game in this mod, because I agree, it would be good to merge the games.

    I must have been to the Smugglers forum at one time. I often visit independent game studios' forums to see how they handle them. I was actually surprised by how little Niels actually says in the forums.

    "ZeXLR8er!!" said:
    I haven't decided on how combat and hyperspace will work yet, but atm I've got the combat and flying in the same map; so no seperate view as yet. I think hyperspace will be done with jumpgates (an idea taken from Smugglers), becuase I can't think how I'll do it otherwise.
    Screenshots on the way, guys!

    The screenshots look a lot like good old Wazzal, very spiffy. Too bad we don't have gravity here, and the cool bouncing asteroids are missing too. I should have implemented a physics engine.

    Will you have missions?
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    Grim Reaper 19 years ago
    Cooooooolllll.......
    *drools*
    When is the ETMC (Estimated Time of Mod Completion)?
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    Click 19 years ago
    "ZeXLR8er!!" said:


    Here's some real early shots; comments would be appreciated, I know they're really basic but they're just there to give you a little example on where I'm going with the mod.

    Really nice...makes we wanna start playing Wazzal again...
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    Anonymous1157 19 years ago
    What a way to send people to videogame heaven!

    "Halleluiah" starts playing

    And what a way to recycle items! The american way!

    Opera starts playing, DJ says "Wrong song, stupid!"
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    Marevix 19 years ago
    Are those alien ships supposed to be that gigantic?
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    No, they are just big to help me tell which is which while I'm modding. The small ones shoot lasers; the big'uns shoot missiles.
    I must have been to the Smugglers forum at one time. I often visit independent game studios' forums to see how they handle them. I was actually surprised by how little Niels actually says in the forums.
    Yes, you're right. Niels has very little to say in the forums; he only posts about once every several days. I've got more posts than him in his own forum!!

    I'm definetly going to have missions, actually I'm thinking of basing the game very heavily on them. Of course you'll be free to do what you want also, but they'll earn you alot of fame (an idea from smugglers) and money. Yep, they'll be money!!

    No idea as yet for the ETMC, but I'm thinking a few months at least. But I'm going to be releasing the first beta, version b0.1 hopefully within a fortnight, so you'll get to try it out.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    OK, here's an idea I just thought of:

    I'm thinking of actually allowing the player to leave to ship control view and enter the ship itself. Inside the ship would be all sorts of machines and gadgets, for instance: a health pool for healing the player once they've been hurt on a planet, and an energy pool to recharge their energy.
    Inside a certain section of the ship would be the ship's armoury and weapon storage, so the player could choose what weapons to take down to a planet, depending on whether it was at war or peace. If the planet was at war they would bring in heavy weaponry, such as missile launchers, automatic rifles, flamethrowers etc, but if the planet was at peace a pistol and knife would surfice.
    The player would even be able to take viecles up into the ship and store them in the cargo hold. So, for example you find/take over a really good tank and don't want to leave it on the planet, you could keep it in your ship and unload it on any other planet.

    So, what do you think? Any comments or ideas on this? Who would want it?
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    And (please respond to the last post as well), is anyone interested in seeing the first plans for the Alien ship graphics? They're just made in GIMP, so no 3d yet, but they still look pretty impresive.
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    Doogsy 19 years ago
    I like the idea of selecting what to bring down to the planet. Kind of like Unreal 2. Except a healing 'pool' may seem a bit silly on a ship. Just a wall unit or something would be fine.
    don't mind either way if you show the ship or not, I like surprises.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    Yes, well, maybe not a 'pool', but something that heals you gradually while you stand in it. Any ideas on what?
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    Doogsy 19 years ago
    maybe something like a small room, Like a meter square or something (The size of a small shower). only when you step inside it glows or something and heals you.
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    Casanova 19 years ago
    How about a medical table? When the player right clicks it, he will lay on it and get healed gradually. Or maybe use one of those liquid filled healing pods, you know, like in the movies.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    Thanks guys, I'll end up using one of those three ideas. I'll probably actually use all of them, but each healing machine will work differently.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    Drumroll please....

    OK, here's the first drafts of the alien ships. They're just made in GIMP, so no 3d rendering yet (that's Forceuser's job ), but i think they look pretty impressive already:


    Alien Heavy Transport

    These ships are slow moving, virtually unarmed transports for carrying troops and supplies to terrestrial (planet) battlefields. Many missions will involve tracking down and destroying transports, but be beware, although they have only one low-powered weapon, they are usually defended by an escort of deadly fighters.

    Alien Light Fighter

    The Alien Light Fighter is the fastest and most manouverable of the alien ships. What it lacks in shields and high-powered weapons it makes up for in agility and speed. Light Fighters often gang up to defeat an enemy.

    Alien Heavy Fighter

    Heavy Fighters are advanced versions of light fighters, with several major differences. Although they are slower and less manouverable than the light fighter, heavy fighters boast a high powered weapon, and each carry several lethal Alien missiles. Often used as escorts for fleets of transports.

    Alien Armoured Destroyer

    The Armoured Destroyer is the supreme striking power behind the Alien invasion. They boast huge shields, several front-mounted weapons, as well numerous turrent-mounted weapons, letting the Destroyer even fire on enemies that are behind it. A small number of Alien Destroyers have been fitted out with fighter bays at the expense of other weapons, allowing them to off-load dozens of armed fighters into battle. Destroyers are far slower than fighters, but even so, they are the deadliest ship in the galaxy, able to destroy any enemy they encounter.


    Please tell me what you think, Ville especially, since the Alien race was your creation in the first place.
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    Doogsy 19 years ago
    yea, they are pretty cool shipos. I especially like the heavy fighter. Also, what are the size variations of the ships. Like you said, if the destroyer can launch fighters, it would have to be very big, and the fighters relatively small.
    Only one small critisism. The transport and the other ships are not consistent in their 'design'. The transport is blue, sooth and shiny whereas the others are black and somewhat sharp and pointy. But its no biggy.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    yea, they are pretty cool shipos. I especially like the heavy fighter. Also, what are the size variations of the ships. Like you said, if the destroyer can launch fighters, it would have to be very big, and the fighters relatively small.
    Only one small critisism. The transport and the other ships are not consistent in their 'design'. The transport is blue, sooth and shiny whereas the others are black and somewhat sharp and pointy. But its no biggy.
    Thanks!
    The size variation will be a bit out, because huge creatures make the game lag terribly. But I'd say the destroyer will be about 4 times as big as the Wolf IV.
    Yes, know the Transport is quite different, but its because it comes from Wazzal (they're the ships that took the humans away to the Zoo System), and it would be weird to have them not appear at all in Wazzal II.

    BTW, I've got a new signature. Comments?
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    Crazy 19 years ago
    so... you mean you need those in 3d ?!
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    Nonono, I've got Forceuser working on those ships already, but it's just that he's on vaccation atm so they won't be ready for a week or two.
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    Crazy 19 years ago
    about that in-ship screen or whatever, has anyone ever played sundog? its a great example for that. but its kinda hard to get working, you can get the game files needed in the underdogs, tho.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    Ah, thanks Crazy, I'll check it out.
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    ville 19 years ago
    Well it does make sense that the player could choose what he comes to the planet with, after all it wouldn't be a biggie for a spacefaring captain to acquire portable weapons of mass destruction. People like big guns, I would most likely add huge weapon platforms (tanks, mechs), and have a million easy enemies for the player. Too bad the game slows down a bit if you have too many enemies.

    If your planets are small, there will be a gameplay issue if you allow the player to heal fully on the ship. Waiting for the player to heal is boring, and the player would most likely run back to his ship all the time for boring healing. I suggest some sort of a cost for healing, money perhaps?

    An interesting bit would be to not have a health bar, but the player would have parts of his body broken when the enemies hit him. You could do it with the slot system, the player would have a hand slot and feet slot. The player could then replace his feet with robotic feet, thus healing him. But that's just an idea, and not probably easy to implement.

    Forceuser has done a great job with all the other ships, I'm sure he can make the alien ships look of the same style.
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    Quanrian 19 years ago
    So far the mod looks great. My first suggestion is to use the particle system for the Planets. Basically just shrink down the graphic for the planet and use it as the particle that shows on the radar. This way you can very clearly distinguish where planets are.

    You also want to be careful when you've got two different art styles going. Me and Ville had some hiccups with that. Basically you want everything to look like it fits, and not stand out like a sore thumb. So if you make any ships in 2d, make sure they at least look like they're three dimensional otherwise they're going to be an eyesore.

    You can detail your 2d graphics by texturizing them and basically making them not look 100 % perfect. The main problem with 2d over 3d is if later you want to do them at a different angle you have to redraw them in 3d you don't you just rotate the model. I'm only bringing this up because I could clearly see the difference between your ships and his, and I'm sure others will be able to as well.

    When you add a new feature in the game, like the healing in the ship, make sure you consider if it will really be worthwhile. I see alot of overly complicated ideas that are just far too over the top. In my humble opinion the best ideas are usually pretty simple. So be careful when complicating things and consider if the actual player is going to appreciate the amount of time you spent putting in something overly complicated, that while technically may be impressive, gameplay wise is drudgery.

    Overall this project looks extremely promising. You've got some very solid ideas and the fact you're a good way through it convinces me more that you might finish it I'll defintely try and keep tabs on this mod. Good luck to you both Zex and Forceuser.
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    ZeXLR8er 19 years ago
    "Quanrian" said:
    So far the mod looks great. My first suggestion is to use the particle system for the Planets. Basically just shrink down the graphic for the planet and use it as the particle that shows on the radar. This way you can very clearly distinguish where planets are.

    You also want to be careful when you've got two different art styles going. Me and Ville had some hiccups with that. Basically you want everything to look like it fits, and not stand out like a sore thumb. So if you make any ships in 2d, make sure they at least look like they're three dimensional otherwise they're going to be an eyesore.
    Great idea for the particle system, I'll use it for the planets right away.
    About the two styles, do you people rcon I should abandon the original transport graphic, and design a new one? It's just the I wanted to have a bit of continuity between Wazzal II and Wazzal I.

    "Quanrian" said:
    When you add a new feature in the game, like the healing in the ship, make sure you consider if it will really be worthwhile. I see alot of overly complicated ideas that are just far too over the top. In my humble opinion the best ideas are usually pretty simple. So be careful when complicating things and consider if the actual player is going to appreciate the amount of time you spent putting in something overly complicated, that while technically may be impressive, gameplay wise is drudgery.
    I agree, and I'm gonig to try to keep it as simple as possible.

    "Quanrian" said:
    Overall this project looks extremely promising. You've got some very solid ideas and the fact you're a good way through it convinces me more that you might finish it I'll defintely try and keep tabs on this mod. Good luck to you both Zex and Forceuser.
    Thanks Quanrian!

    "Ville" said:
    Well it does make sense that the player could choose what he comes to the planet with, after all it wouldn't be a biggie for a spacefaring captain to acquire portable weapons of mass destruction. People like big guns, I would most likely add huge weapon platforms (tanks, mechs), and have a million easy enemies for the player. Too bad the game slows down a bit if you have too many enemies.
    Yes, I'm thinking of immensly powerfull tanks and gunning platforms, that alow you to mow down dozens of enemy at a time. They will of course be balanced, and to upkeep a tank you would need to find fuel for it, whic could be stolen or bought from a planet.
    "Ville" said:
    If your planets are small, there will be a gameplay issue if you allow the player to heal fully on the ship. Waiting for the player to heal is boring, and the player would most likely run back to his ship all the time for boring healing. I suggest some sort of a cost for healing, money perhaps?
    Hmmm, that's a very good point. What if to use the 'healing' machine you needed to load it up with 'medacine', that you stole or bought from a planet? That would balance it out, and solve the other problem. The 'medacine' could be used when you are down on a planet, but you get far more health from it if you load it into the healing' machine in your ship. Some certain planets could even have hospitals wuith in-build 'healing machines'?


    "Ville" said:
    An interesting bit would be to not have a health bar, but the player would have parts of his body broken when the enemies hit him. You could do it with the slot system, the player would have a hand slot and feet slot. The player could then replace his feet with robotic feet, thus healing him. But that's just an idea, and not probably easy to implement.
    Wow, very interesting. I will seriously keep that in mind, as I haven't yet started work on the 'human' part of the game. It would be a very interesting twist, and would make it quite unique compared to other mods.
    #
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