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Post news Report RSS Free travelling, improved quest system and custom UI

Nonlinear gameplay implies free traveling between levels. We developed a system that adds this feature to Crysis Wars (and added a custom quest system and UI for it, by the way). Check out the ingame videos!

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A feature that no game calling itself sequel to Outcast should be missing is the ability to travel between different regions freely (the game world Adelpha was connected through portals - the so called Daokas).

Is it possible to transform a merely linear First-Person-Shooter like Crysis Wars into an adventure game that supports this kind of free traveling?

See for yourself:


NOTE: The morph targets for the Cutter model weren't finished, so his lines aren't lipsynched. What do you think about his voice? Should it be changed - maybe YOU can do it better?

When introducing free traveling we also had to think about following issues:

  • Will the inventory/questlog of the player be kept when traveling to another level?
  • Will modifications performed to the current level be remembered when traveling elsewhere?

Our solution for both of them was the development of a persistence system (check the corresponding feature for more). We were pretty much relieved when it worked out the way we imagined, since it wasn't clear whether the Crysis Wars SDK would permit such sort of modification altogether.


This and the dialogue system (presented in an earlier news post) were features not clear to be doable with the SDK - so we decided to implement them first to make sure we chose the right engine for our project.

Again we were confirmed in our choice ... while it is still a long way to go until we’ve finished the programming work (not to mention asset creation) we are at least certain now that the remaining things we want to alter are definitely possible.

You also may have noticed that some custom UI elements for the questlog were added. Under the hood we further created a Lua-driven quest system that fits our needs better than the stock mission system of Crysis Wars.

And finally we added some screenshots of the new marketplace, city walls and the tweaked Cutter model with the incredible Backpack 3000:

Backpack closeup Questlog Cutter Closeup
Marketplace #1 City Walls Shopping ...


The next step in terms of programming will be the implementation of an improved 3rd person camera with support for proper aiming (in combat mode) and collision detection (everyone who tried Oasis surely noticed that navigating in buildings was pretty annoying).

More on that soon...


And finally some advertisement for vacant jobs:

We are always searching for motivated and talented people who want to help us release open Outcast some day and improve their portfolio along with getting experience working in a team with a professional claim at the same time. Currently we have a considerable shortage of 3D artists (modelers and the like) and besides we could need some tool programmers (C# knowledge required) and community managers (who can translate news postings and "spread the word").

Take a look at the official job announcement to learn how to apply and what the detailed requirements are.


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Spooboy
Spooboy

Wow! This looks amazing!

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razorb
razorb

yea great work guys! :) brings back memories of the original! keep it up :)

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KEEP_IT_UP!
KEEP_IT_UP!

yeah! keep it up! :D

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Daystranger
Daystranger

Great work.
I cant believe this is not commercial game with million budget.
Voices are fine for me.
And I love the "incident" moment.

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NGS616
NGS616

Good job, nice clean graphics. I really like the music.

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ocun
ocun

Amazing work guys, I was a big fan of the original game and everything about this unofficial sequel just feels spot on, from the excellent visuals to the humor in the conversations. It instantly brings back memories.

What are the plans for the final release? I imagine making a complete sequel is a bit much to take on as modders? What about legal issues? Ahh Appeal, our only Belgian studio that ever released a good game ;-)

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s87 Author
s87

Well, we know our goal is set pretty high. We will try to implement all the engine modifications till end of 2010 and create design documents for all regions along with some 3D and artwork studies.

The big advantage of modding Crysis Wars are the tools provided by CryTek and the CryEngine 2 of course ;)

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Nebcake
Nebcake

Hahahaha, guy got crushed by construction materials.

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Apst
Apst

This looks promising!

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Ghost_face
Ghost_face

awesome progress - keep it up guys !

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Daemoria
Daemoria

Just discovered this, and I have to say great work so far. I loved the original Outcast, and I'm glad to see people are willing to devote their free time to releasing a game based on it (for free to boot).

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formerlyknownasMrCP
formerlyknownasMrCP

That first video was pretty funny. Love the Mass Effect styled "wheel" you guys use for your dialogues.

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Logan1988
Logan1988

This looks amazing. Reminds me a little of monkey island mixed with kotor! Just awsome.

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xXMaNiAcXx
xXMaNiAcXx

The pic Marketplace #1 reminds me of Assassin's Creed :P
Awesome!

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Matt_Bak3r
Matt_Bak3r

Looks good, tracking this :D

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nic40on
nic40on

Incredible work guys!! The original Outcast was among the best games of all time and sadly almost no-one actually played it.I really hope you manage to actually finish this.A full hd remake of Outcast was always among my dreams and when i found about Open Outcast it was among the most pleasant surprises i had for years !! :)

You seriously should ask more people to help with the game.I only wish i had some modeling and c+ skills to help with the game.

The remembered dialog choices is simply a class work! :)

I do hope through the animation on Cutter improves as on the various characters too.He looks too robotic and the various characters feel like statues.Some random movements and animations could probably make wonders in the final game.For example have Cutter glance and move his head slightly when there are character nearby,flex his muscles or give a look around when in dialogs,after a bit of running having a tired animation and the list basically goes as far as you can go.

Also is there any work done with the swim animations ? Outcast had some incredible water effects i remember and i wish the same goes with Open Outcast!!

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