create a new freedom force with a freeware game engine like ogre 3d?

[abenavides]

Nah, it's one of my hobbies , like playing guitar.
It would be a lot more work if I had to coordinate or lead a team of programmers (which is what I do at work )

Learning about making a 3d game has been great.

[bearded]

Nah, it's one of my hobbies , like playing guitar.
It would be a lot more work if I had to coordinate or lead a team of programmers (which is what I do at work )

Learning about making a 3d game has been great.

on the other hand, i'm putting all my free time into mine. learning c# and java and boo by examples and tutorials. it is hard work, but very rewarding.

[abenavides]

Quickie Dev Diary update today !
Brief, but maybe some interesting tidbits.
http://alexff.com/

[Podmark]

Thanks for the update Alex. I'm very curious on how this might differ from Freedom Force.

I will say that I'm very happy you've separated resistances from Traits. One thing I loved about Freedom Force was how you could use it to pretty accurately depict almost any hero. But the limited number of Attributes really hindered that, especially before FFX. In an earlier Diary you stated you'd be limiting characters to 10 traits, while that sounds like plenty (especially with Resistances separated) I'm curious why you capped it at all. Is there a programming reason?

[abenavides]

Hi Podmark,
Good questions.
Yes, it was capped just because it's easier to program that way.
However, the big design change I mentioned in my last Diary would affect this very radically.

[Cyber Burn]

Playing catch up here. I'd love to see some more of the original characters possible.

[abenavides]

Here's a couple of preview pics (more characters stlill being created and even these aren't finalized yet)

[Podmark]

Looking good.
Have you switched to a cool down power use?

[Outcast]

It's nice to see some of the original characters for super squad(the game/project). 
I recognize a few of them and know that Tommyboy created them. But are all these characters his creation? Or are there some which you yourself created?

[abenavides]

The way powers work is being overhauled right now. Cool down is a real possibility but I haven't finalized.

Re: the pics above - all original characters.
3 by Tommyman, 3 by myself, and 3 by Lightning man , all used with permission

[abenavides]

By the way , it wasn't planned for them to be evenly distributed among the creators that way. it just happened and I didn't realize it till I counted them just now.

[Outcast]

Re: the pics above - all original characters.
3 by Tommyman, 3 by myself, and 3 by Lightning man , all used with permission

Nice...i wonder which 3 are yours and which 3 are by Lightning man.

The way powers work is being overhauled right now. Cool down is a real possibility but I haven't finalized.

What's this cool down power feature? Is this the waiting time for energy levels to recharge after a power has been used?

[abenavides]

Cool down is a feature of some games where a power is used and cannot be used again until some time has passed. You still need to spend energy to use it, but you may have to wait until it "cools down".  Not saying this all be in ss, but I'm looking at all options.

T help you guess which characters are which - tommy did skin 6 of the 9, including the 3 characters created by Lightningman. I have done the skins for the 3 characters I created.

[Outcast]

T help you guess which characters are which - tommy did skin 6 of the 9, including the 3 characters created by Lightningman. I have done the skins for the 3 characters I created.

Haha. I think i know which 3 are yours Abenavides. Hyperwave (red suit and yellow triangle emblem guy), The Atomic Superman (on his left), and the Blue girl with the yellow utility belt. Right?

[abenavides]

Yep!

[Outcast]

Tommyboy's bumpmapping and your clue helped a lot Alex.

[abenavides]

Yes, I havent finished my skins yet, so still need to take advantage of special graphics features. I work on them to take a break from coding. I can think of a bunch more characters that will be added eventually.

[BentonGrey]

Alex, I'm eagerly following y'all's project.  This is great news and info, thanks for sharing.  As for power usage, this is, of course, y'all's project, but if you're interested in opinions, let me say that I really dislike cooldown models for power usage.  I'm think an energy system is way WAY better.  Feel free to disregard my thoughts, though

[John Jr.]

I'm impressed with how much progress you done, guys. It looks like an impressive game.
The original characters are looking good too, I'm already curious about their back stories.

[spydermann93]

Alex, I'm eagerly following y'all's project.  This is great news and info, thanks for sharing.  As for power usage, this is, of course, y'all's project, but if you're interested in opinions, let me say that I really dislike cooldown models for power usage.  I'm think an energy system is way WAY better.  Feel free to disregard my thoughts, though

I don't know how much coding and scripting this would require, as I'm a total n00b at this, and this is just a mere suggestion, but could it be possible to make an option in the "Game Options" menu that lets the player use either system, or both?

[Podmark]

As for power usage, this is, of course, y'all's project, but if you're interested in opinions, let me say that I really dislike cooldown models for power usage.  I'm think an energy system is way WAY better.  Feel free to disregard my thoughts, though

but could it be possible to make an option in the "Game Options" menu that lets the player use either system, or both?

I second these opinions, but as Benton said it's your game make the decision you like best.

[abenavides]

I had a work colleague who, whenever anyone asked him if something was possible to add, "sure. anything is possible given enough time and money."

So , option for both systems - possible. Likely? probably not as I prefer picking one so I can finish this someday .
That being said - purely energy-based is simpler to develop (and is kinda already implemented). I would get around to finalizing this when real playtesting starts and I start seeing how unbalanced all the powers are

(Tommy recently destroyed an enemy squad with one character by just growing a character to giant size and going invisible. So there's plenty to do in that area )

Thanks for the feedback, it's always helpful.

[lugaru]

This is gonna sound crazy but... balancing powers should be our last concern. I think part of the problems  had was that they tried to rebalance things to be fair in multiplayer, killing a lot of range, transfered inertia on thrown objects and other features.

I wanna be able to make Superman and Aunt May, and not be surprised when the guy in blue wins.

[abenavides]

Know what you mean and it is my last concern, as I'll be looking at it last when all the code is done

However, it doesn't mean that all chars are created equal - it just means I wouldn't want 1 specific power or way to play overpowered - if I give Aunt May a specific power (say invisibility) she can now beat Superman every time. This would be due to the power being very cheap or not costing enough energy or recharging too fast - it could be a million things. A complex area but the goal will always be for it to be fun.

[Cyber Burn]

Thanks for posting pics Alex, I look forward to following this along.

[abenavides]

A little too busy to write a Dev Diary, but a quick update:
- Finished v0.3.2 , which delivered 34 items (25 new features, 9 bug fixes)
- Working on v0.3.3 which is planning to also deliver 34 items (24 new, 10 bug fixes)

Major revision to a number of areas are underway:
- Camera control has been totally reworked to be more natural and eliminate some bugs
- Movement for non-player characters also totally reworked to be more realistic and AI-efficient
- Support for glowing items in skins
- Editor allows player to set his hero's height anywhere from 4 to 10 feet.
- Our patented Sync-Melee ™ has been reworked to use 3ds Max contact frames (something Panda doesn't normally support). This makes the melee fights (ground and flying) look even better.
- Tommy has worked out improved mesh creation techniques which make it possible for all meshes (of all sizes) to share a standard set of anims (100s already in the shared library!)
- Tommy has also just worked out how to get diffuse, normal (bump), glow, and reflection (gloss) maps working in 2 textures instead of 4, greatly optimizing memory.

[Podmark]

Exciting stuff. Thanks for the update.

[Cyber Burn]

Tommy has worked out improved mesh creation techniques which make it possible for all meshes (of all sizes) to share a standard set of anims (100s already in the shared library!)

That is awesome.

[Panther_Gunn]

- Editor allows player to set his hero's height anywhere from 4 to 10 feet.

This is awesomely cool.  I'm assuming that command then scales the mesh to the appropriate height and proportions.  Are there plans to have it work with meshes that are already larger than those values, with the appropriate height labels, or is it felt that most characters beyond those sizes are going to have custom meshes anyway? (godzilla, transformers, galactus, cthulhu, etc)

[Outcast]

Wow. If you've added 25 new features and 24 more. You guys are making lots of progress. Congrats. So far the interface is looking nice too.