I'm sorry that I haven't released any new versions of Contingency for the past 2 1/2 months, but I've been on a hiatus as of late. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to be on a hiatus for a while longer, as I believe that I'll be busy in real-life starting within the next week or 2.
Right now, I'm at the point where I would really appreciate any outside help in this project. While I probably won't be adding any new weapons or structures before the official release, I still have to finish working on .pie models and special effects before I can release the full version 1.0 of this mod. (I've decided to drop compatability with version 3.2 of Warzone 2100 as a goal for version 1.0 of Contingency, though I'm considering making it a version 2.0 goal for Contingency due to the presence of all sorts of new functions in version 3.2.)
Before I can release version 0.8, I'll need to work on phasing out NullBot with NullBotSW since I made some changes to some structures and researches that caused NullBot to no longer be compatable with Contingency (since it'll now most likely crash). Right now, I'm working on creating a Laser personality for NullBotSW, though I may also need to update NullBotSW's other personalities so that they can work with the new structures and researches.
Other things that need work before version 1.0 can be released:
- New graphical effects for many of the weapons that were added in Contingency (which started off with stats that were copy-pasted from existing weapons' stats before they were modified to what they are now).
- New .pie models for the new Cyborg weapons. (I'd eventually like for my Cyborgs to not have weapons that seem to float in midair.
)
- New .pie models for the Falcon, Warhawk, Eagle, Phoenix, Gladius, Longsword, Claymore, Excalibur, Wyrmling, and Salamander bodies. (Up until now, the .pie models that were being used were just placeholders, though the general palette ideas are already in place.)
-- For the Birds of Prey line of bodies, I'm picturing them being mostly pink in color, sleek, and incorporating some sort of cockpit design, like with these vehicles:
-- For the swords line, I'm picturing something blue (with possibly some green outlines), bulky, and box-like, like with these vehicles:
-- Finally, for the Wyrmling and Salamander, I'm picturing them as red with yellow outlines, like with the Wyvern and Dragon, with a likewise sharp and angular shape, like with these vehicles:
Keep in mind that, for performance reasons, I'm trying to limit how many polygons each of the .pie models would have, so that the game won't have to render so many polygons at a time. For example, the Dragon body, which has the most polygons out of any unit, has a total of only 28 vertices and 48 triangular polygons total, and most light bodies have no more than 14 vertices and 24 triangular polygons total. Also, while I won't impose any maximum limits to how detailed the bump-mapping may be, keep in mind that I may shrink the graphics' size so that they would take up less processing power to render.
In short, I'm not necessarily looking for high-resolution graphics for this mod (although I could use them in a future version of Contingency that would also incorporate other high-resolution graphics, such as from the Art Revolution Project
).
aubergine wrote:Per and Berg got the old XanaxPrime mech mod working in 3.x series:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=10997#p121993
Would be cool to have them in Contingency as mid-late game cyborg option.
Indeed, though I'd probably want to reduce their size so that they wouldn't dwarf heavy tanks.
Unfortunately, since my earlier attempts at making various Super Cyborg templates require researching a Super Cyborg body in order to be able to produce them from Cyborg Factories ended in disappointment, and since I doubt that players would want to have to go through the tedium of researching each individual Cyborg or mecha that's unlocked after researching their components, even if the research was completed instantaneously (especially since players already have to do this for structures), I doubt that I'd be able to add mecha to Contingency in a way that would be balanced. Besides, although I'd like to treat these mecha as oversized Cyborgs when it comes to damage calculation (for example, taking 100% damage from anti-personnel weapons), I doubt that Cyborg Transports would be able to handle carrying larger mecha in their cargo bays. The proper gameplay mechanics just don't seem to exist as of right now.