Submitted by Erik on
Salute!
The last two days have been quite special for those of us who origin from or reside in The Netherlands. On the evening of the 4th we commemorated all victims of war (worldwide) since the start of WW2. And yesterday, on the 5th of May, we celebrated the ending of WW2. This might mean more to some of you than to others. But either way WW2 continues to be an event of great importance in the history of mankind which, in our opinion, is not to be forgotten.
Now, time to inform you on whats been going on with regard to developing version two of the most awesome game ever.
Website
Lets start with the bad news.. Luke & Zander, who were kind enough to volunteer for building a new Call of Combat website, have informed us that they will not have enough time to finish it. We are grateful for the work that they have put in, and its a real pitty that they are unable to finish it. Of course, this is one of the calculated risks when you work with volunteers. We are currently in contact with a potential new candidate. And we'll make sure that this time the job gets finished. We've got some great ideas for certain features and a new design, cant wait to turn them into reality :)
Art
The art department is making very nice progress. The 3D artists are currently working on a massive bunch of trees, with variations for each season (spring, summer, fall, winter). In the mean time our technical artist Wessel is working on a set of shaders to make everything look nice and pretty. Here's a small preview of some of the work that has been done:
How exactly will we be able to see any soldiers with trees like this / such density you might ask yourself. Good question! This is currently still being debated internally. Opacity and soldier/cover outlines are important contenders in this matter. If you have any ideas, we would love to hear them as always!
Tech
Florian and Brett are spitting out code rapidly. A basic cover system has recently been implemented. And we're testing out a new (much faster!) hotkey system. This will be some great food for testing for you guys once the alpha/beta is up. A fully functional basic prototype is coming closer and closer. Basically this means that we'll have a working game which includes all basic features. Features such as running, going prone, getting into cover, pahtfinding, shooting, throwing grenades, getting stunned, dieng, etc. etc. To make a long story short: in a few months we'll have a playable Alpha. Which will probably look like crap (as an Alpha is supposed to), but can be played and most important of all: tested! To free it from bugs and other nasty insects...
Soldiers, you may expect more updates soon.
Cheers,
Erik
Ps. Thank you for all your input on the tactics & supplies blog post!