Duck and Cover

I think we can all agree that Fountain of Dreams is crap, pretty much. . . but what could we use to make a new version of Wasteland, or at least a mod?

There's Half-Life, of course, but while I like that it's not quite the same thing. I've been looking at Morrowind too, since you can input 3DStudioMax files and make your own skins, items, weapons, etc....and the world is flexible enough to allow for Wasteland type events.

NWN looks a bit too inflexible for my tastes. What do you all think?

You need to also look at the target group. I've never played Wasteland, mainly because I just never found it.

We need to look at what computers this target group has; what they can run. What sort of problems they are willing to put up with. Right now, lets look at people like us. We're the ones who are interested in it, right? PR would have a little work to figure out what sort of computers other interested parties have, though.

The Morrowind engine is very nice. It's got alot of nice effects, but it requires a semi-high end system. Not so much on the processor side, but the 32 bit 3D card is running in semi-high for those people who don't have the cash to update on a regular basis.
Half-Life's dynamics are too poor to be considered for anything, in my opinion. Once it's looked at, it's a very ridged engine. It doesn't give great smooth gameplay, or extreemly awsome effects. It was given alot of support, and that makes it a good engine to mod for beginners.

Now, if we look at this more from a new version, rather than mod- There is an imediate choice that pops into view. Quake2 has it's engine open via GPL, and so we can do whatever we want with the engine so long as we release the source- Or have it availible upon request. It would take time to refine, but could be released stand-alone with low system requirements.
Crystal Space suffering from the same ridgedness, and a very poor 3D moel system, is another option. It too is free, covering the same license.

Thats all I can think to say, right now.

8O sweet.
{wanders off to learn a programming language}

Yeah, I looked at Quake 2 also....

*sighs*

I wonder if there are any isometric engines under the GPL. Or hell, even to mod with. Somehow I've always wondered how far you could push the JA2 editor.

Elara, do you have FOT? If you do, I'll send you what I have so far created. It does have all of the necessary elements of Wasteland.

FOT has . . . issues. And no, I traded my copy for Empire Earth to a friend of mine who's STILL bitching.

My sig says it all, really . . .

Hmmm, issues? You mean beyond the fact that it wasn't Fallout3? Taking it for it what it is and what it can be if modded correctly is something entirely different. But that is beside the point.

FOT has the capabilities to make a very accurate rendition of the Wasteland universe. It is in fact more true to the Wasteland form than the original Fallouts. It has the similar squad feeling and the only thing not possible is swimming and the puzzle thing at the temple. But the graphics are obviously much improved and the engine offers capabilities which were never possible in the original.

When you talk about using Half-Life or Quake to mod, I think you are losing the RPG feel entirely. Yecchhhh. :scrambleup:

So you may want to trade back for FOT when I get around to releasing the Quartz map sometime very soon.

So now the aquatic issues of FOT have a'risen above the levy of unconsciousness and are flooding all the trailer parks in the 2 year game developement flood plain.

No swimming? No skill enhancement by using skills, too, right?

Will have to deal with yet another of life's disappointments!

But no matter, the focus is simulating squad level combat in a post apoca' setting. Would a modded FOT pass mustard with the Jag 2 devotees? Or are we comparing apples to oranges? Does "duck and cover" matter, or is it still a Feargus Flashdance with [(cool!)(TM)] blazing duo miniguns akimbo?

4too

4too mentioned

No skill enhancement by using skills, too, right?

Well, I think you can model something that is adequate but the engine's Elara suggested don't have that either.

Considering that FOT has PA graphics already pre-made, it goes a long way towards actually making a Wasteland recreation instead of just saying - "wouldn't it be cool if....". And as for pleasing the Jag2 devotees, how about just pleasing the Wasteland devotees?

Jimmyjay86 wrote: And as for pleasing the Jag2 devotees, how about just pleasing the Wasteland devotees?

I second that, as this is of course a Wasteland forum(FoT is relevant, as it is practically in the same world as WL is). Jag2 for one,has worse graphics. And I really think that nothing in the market is able to do what FoT Tools can do, even with its limitations. Spray and the FOTTE are making up for most of the limitations in the graphics department anyway.

Elara I think you should play Max-V and Endocore's missions in that friend's computer(the one you exchanged FoT with) to see what it is capable of. I trust JJ86 can do a very good job with it.

"".... how about just pleasing the Wasteland devotees?""


Well said.



I guess, I could'a related about how my party discovered the river, and how I discovered the "learning by doing" skill system, after they managed
to survive with 1 or 2 hit points left, and a leveling up in Swimming. Remember, later, doing practice laps in the pool? Will miss it, and shouldn't let it color my judgement of a Wasteland derivitive. Any new
work will depend on, and should exploit, the engine in use. Can't make silk purses from a pig, but maybe billfolds, pairs of gloves, and a whole lot of sausage and lard.

4too

It sounds like a great idea. I wonder how much you could modify the siege engine...

... or something close to it.

Wasteland Zero was created to extend the timeline of wasteland. They built an engine that is extremely remniscent of the original.

http://www.quanthai.com/~wland0/

Remember that most 'remakes' turn out to be absolutely boring, if only because they don't feel the same as the originals. Sometimes less is more.

Is the game similar in style to Wasteland? Do you have any screenshots? It looks they stopped after making the Beta 3 years ago.

There are two other remakes that have been discussed recently.. I'll post the websites when I get to where I have the e-mails archived.

A remake and a Multi-player work.
Both of these appear to be going for a wasteland-style look instead of updated look/gameplay.

Seems like they could easily pick a more updated engine. Even a Dink Smallwood type graphics would be better than going back to the original's. Of course I know nothing about the mechanics of building a game from scratch which is I prefer to play with the FOT editor

Off Topic:

Wasn't dink smallwood's engine bugged? I remember it kept crashing in the test levels.

Hi folks!

I'm the one currently working on the single player remake of Wasteland. The project was started using VB and DirectX7 but just a few days ago I've decided to start over using Java. So you can download some kind of technology Demo from www.revival.at.tt but what you can see there is discontinued.

I intend to create a game engine which looks more or less similar to the original one. But just for the purpose of learning how to create such games. When the engine is done and bug-free, I'll surely work on a new GUI.
For the graphics, I'm a programmer, not an artist. If skilled people decide to contribute good artwork to the project, then it really could become a great game.

But I suggest you visit www.revival.at.tt regularly to keep up-to-date about the project, even if the page needs some updating in the future.

martin gutenbrunner wrote:Hi folks!

I'm the one currently working on the single player remake of Wasteland. The project was started using VB and DirectX7 but just a few days ago I've decided to start over using Java. So you can download some kind of technology Demo from www.revival.at.tt but what you can see there is discontinued.

I intend to create a game engine which looks more or less similar to the original one. But just for the purpose of learning how to create such games. When the engine is done and bug-free, I'll surely work on a new GUI.
For the graphics, I'm a programmer, not an artist. If skilled people decide to contribute good artwork to the project, then it really could become a great game.

But I suggest you visit www.revival.at.tt regularly to keep up-to-date about the project, even if the page needs some updating in the future.

Wakey wakey!