Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Whos up for some Alpha 03?

Yes, much MUCH sooner than I expected, we have the 3rd version of the alpha.  This version has a LOT of new changes and cleanups, and is pretty much a "finalized" version of the AC timeline so pay attention.

New Changes -

Added Barracks

Added Airfield

Added Core Booster support (buildable at Airfield)

Added Artillery based Defense Structure

Added Flamethrower Infantry for EF

Added Sniper Squad for EF

Added Prototype GunCannon 

Added Mass Production GunCannon

Added Spray-Missle Launcher upgrade to Prototype Guncannon

Added new Bunker Structure

Changes -

Removed the old Space Port (or whatever it was called) and changed it to an Advance Ship Research Center.

All units and structures now have proper pictures and discriptions.

Removed "Choose your Timeline" from Forward base and set it so when you research which capitol ship design you want to use you choose your timeline at the same time.

Removed glitch that let you choose more than 1 timeline at a time.

All units and structures now have proper requirements to build (except artillery platform)

Fixed the Health and Costs of defensive structuers

Changed so you can Que up to 5 defensive structures to be built at a time (you still have to place each one after it's done being built before it go's to the next one but this still does speed things up a bit)

Changed the Defense Center to be the building that builds defensive structures.

Weakened the basic EF Tank so that you can no longer spam them early to rush the AI.


I am sure there are a few things I have forgotten to mention here but that covers most of what has changed.  I still need to add a few more upgrades/abilities to GP03, and put the game finishers into the AC timeline (Nuke Site and a special surprise) but it is definatly almost done.  Then I can go to work on the SEED and UC timelines.  

Now here is the basic idea of how it works if you are having trouble figuring out how to get to the more advanced units.  After the Advance Center has been built you can chose which of the 3 ships you want to build.  Pick the Pegasus/White Base class (otherwise your stuck using early game units and it will be much harder for you atm) to be researched.  After this is done you have the ability to drop a single Pegasus Class Mobile Base anywhere you can see every 5 minutes as long as you can afford it (25000 is a lot of cash).  You will have to land it and then you can build the different Gundams, which in turn give you the different mobile suits.  


Anyways here are the links for Rapidshare and Mediafire and as always I appreciate all comments as they are what help us make the game better. 

http://rapidshare.com/files/342173141/xenoforce_Alpha_03.rar

http://www.mediafire.com/?ttinydmydc4


Friday, January 22, 2010

Alpha 02 out in the wild!

So here is a new version of the Alpha.  After a lot of play testing we decided to work the EF a different way based on your feedback, and even though I was the one who originally wanted the EF's tech tree to be the way it is in the original alpha, I can admit when I am wrong and say that this new design does make the game feel better.  

Unfortunatly this new Alpha (0.2) also feels a bit unpolished.  So please bear with us on this and remember that it is a proof of concept not a finalized total conversion mod.  Some things may not seem obvious at first but once you get to understand the new system it does work much better.  

If your playing multiplayer a key thing to note is do all you can NOT to lose your White Base.  If you do, your game will become VERY defensive until you can get another one up and running.  

Also I suggest playing against the AI on steamroller as this seems to give the biggest challenge to a player.  

Here is the link to the mod on Rapidshare.  

http://rapidshare.com/files/339586288/xenoforce_Alpha_02.rar

We will post a mediafire link shortly.



Monday, January 18, 2010

A pass on the repair?

I was going to post an updated version of the Alpha, but after me and my team talked about it a bit we think that our time would be better spent heading towards the Alpha 2 instead of fixing something thats about to be changed anyways.  Sorry if anyone got their hopes up on this.


Also because some people were having trouble with rapidshare, I have also uploaded the mod to mediafire.  Here's the link.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zjtdizllmmm

Monday, January 11, 2010

Known Issues with the Alpha Test

First of all, the test has only been out for a single day and I have already gotten some good feedback, thanks everyone.  


I just wanted to post a few known issues that keep rising up that I plan on fixing right away.

1. The Anti-Air turret doesn't have a good range.  It also fires all of it's missles too quickly at a single target and takes too long to lock onto a target.  This is painfully obvious against GDI where their Firehawks will continually destroy a base with little chance of a defense.  This will be addressed in the next release.

2. The "Capitol Ships" (White Base, Argama, ArcAngel) can not hit air.  This was an oversight on my part and it will be fixed.

3. The "Capitol Ships" all have basically the same weapons.  This was done at the end to just get them into the Alpha Release.  The White Base's weapons are "Correct" as far as it go's, but the ArcAngel and Argama are no where near where they should be in terms of abilities and firepower.  This will be fixed in the 2nd Alpha (not to be confused with the next release).


I plan on releasing a fixed version of Alpha1 later this week that has the issues above fixed.  The 2nd Alpha is a ways off and will have the finished tech tree for the Earth Fed in it.  

On a personal note, I do want to thank Homura for all of his hard, original work on this mod.  I feel it needs to be said that we have had no contact with anyone from the original Xenoforce team about this, but if it wasn't for what they did this would not be possible.  We do this only because we loved what he did and want to try and make the Xenoforce mod continue to live.

As always I appreciate all feedback.  The more I get the better this mod can be!  Thanks everyone, and enjoy.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Alpha Test Released!

I don't have a good way to host the alpha at the moment, so for now we'll have to deal with Rapidshare.  If anyone has trouble with this form of download, let me know and I will figure out a different way to get them the Mod.  


Anyways, here it is!  Some things to note.  At the moment you are only suppost to be able to research either the ArcAngel or the Argama but if you tell the game to start one research then the other you can get both.  I am not sure if I am going to be able to stop this from happening in the final version but I will put code into the game that if you do decide to research both you won't be able to access some of the late-game units (of course this makes no difference in this release as there is nothing beyond the ArcAngel and Argama).  Some of the fire points and animations are also not in the game correctly, along with some of the discriptions not being in correctly.  BUT you should be able to figure everything out easy enough.

If you find any bugs/issues please feel free to email them to me at azuza001@hotmail.com


LINK: http://rapidshare.com/files/333423542/xenoforce.rar

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Earth Federation Alpha test is almost ready!


Wow, it seems like I have been working on this for a long time, but we're almost at an official alpha test!  The first 3rd of the Earth Federation's tech tree is now complete, and playable (though a lot of the stats still need to be worked out) and I think it's about time we put a version of the mod out there in the wild.

Some things are still not done.  None of the units have their new discriptions, which my make it a bit confusing to first time players as to what needs to be built for what.  I'm sure people will be able to figure it out though.

Here are a few teaser pics to show you where we are at.  I should have the full fledge alpha ready to release tommorow (Sunday, Jan 10, 2010), the only things I need to finish adding are the Arch Angel and Pegasus (which are the opening blocks to the next 2 tech trees) and we'll be ready to go!





A few things I did notice once having the system up and running was that even though this is only the first 3rd of the tech tree (half way through the EF's game Tech tree, you'll see what I mean when the next half is added in) it feels very much like a completed faction.  

Also, there are some things that are in the mod the way they are simply because I have not figured out a way to get them in the way I originally intended.  Spicificly the White Base, I didn't want it to be a ship that just "appears" when built but I'm having trouble with the "build up" animation.  We'll get there, and this is just a "Proof of Concept" version, no working AI, but it is fun and you should enjoy it.  I will be posting a link to the alpha tommorow, so keep your eyes open for it!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Quick Update

I know that my previous update today didn't have much info in it, so I thought I would throw a few things out.  I have gotten the upgrade system working now, with the RGX78 having the ability to research a beam weapon upgrade.  When it does this, not only does it's own weapon switch from the cannon to a stronger beam weapon but the RGM79's also switch over to beam weapons.  Also I changed the RGM79s to squads of 2 which seem to be working well against the current AI/Game, and I set it so that the RGM's can't crush objects (read infantry) just by running them over.  I found that by leaving the GMs to crush anything they run over that they would not only become very powerful vrs the game (Who loves infantry at most levels of the game) but that also it didn't play well to the lore.  The EF didn't run around in their Mobile suits just running people over, so yea.

Thats were we are at now.  By the end of the week I plan on having the first teir of the tech tree up and running for the EF, but the build times/costs/damage outputs/armor/health settings won't be correct.  That's going to be the tough part I think.

Happy New Years

Ah, it's finally over.  The holidays just suck sometimes don't they?  (Well, if you work in Retail they always do, but that's for a different blog)


So, back to work on the Mod, just posting to let you all know that it's still being worked on.