I've been busy lately. My goals for the team have included implementing a certain feature, which requires both art and code to work properly and thus some collaboration with the rest of the team. It will be unveiled soon enough, but I can't say for now what it is (I assume, just to be on the safe side here). I'm still working on it, but it's far enough along that we can begin showing it off. Except updates soon.
Speaking of updates, there's a big one in the works. Probably even bigger than what I'm about to do in my bathroom after eating entirely too much Mexican food for dinner tonight, but that's beside the point. The reason it's taking so long is because of the work involved, as it's showing off new features and not just more maps and weapon renders.
And how about those weapons? I've been busy with weapon balancing lately. The FAMAS, M249, and SR25 have all received some code modifications to balance them out better, although the DLLs with those updates haven't been pushed to the testers yet.
I also spent an interesting game session on cti_novospassky the other day defending our team's intelligence from Naota and co. (Disclaimer: Novospassky is not an official map.) Naota and the other Red Team infidels thought they could just take the intel and run away with it, as usual. This is because most of the team is typically above ground sniping on the balcony and not paying attention. But me? I know how Naota operates.
They obviously didn't count on Hitman and Vunsunuta. The first few times they ran into the basement and apparently weren't expecting any resistance. I racked up a few easy kills with the M4A1 and Medic skill combo, with a heavy armor vest and a helmet. After this went on a few engagements, and I was still at relatively high health points, they began using teamwork and stealth. Naota popped through a vent while someone else was in there with him and they tried to double-team me - I was upstairs on the catwalk, inside a locker room, with good oversight of the entire basement area.
At one point, someone grabbed the intel during a rather intense firefight and escaped, and I ended up dying. Not one to let the communist bastards win, I respawned and ran straight for its location, and myself and another blue teammate spent the better part of 45 seconds sitting on top of its location on the lower exterior of the bridge, exposed to gunfire from several sides, and beating off three aggressive attacks to pick up the item. We eventually defended it long enough for it to auto-reset back to its origin (and thus, safety).
I ran back into the basement, whereupon my computer rebooted itself due to a video card problem.
I'm having a lot of fun with Firearms: Source, in case you can't tell. It's getting better and better with each release, and we've refined the gameplay and balancing a lot in the last year or so. I'm hopeful that the public will find a generally balanced game, not just in terms of weapons, but in terms of playstyles; open-area sectors won't be overrun by snipers and devoid of any other kind of combat; you'll see machineguns and assault rifles getting use, too. And spam generally seems minimal, although the M79 and mortars are still highly useful. I've taken great pains to ensure the AR class is (and continues to be, with each new iteration) balanced amongst itself. Each weapon fills a role and has a purpose. You won't find too many - if any - "skill weapons" that are overpriced for their capabilities.
I'll leave you with one cool feature Christian and I just put in the game last night, which is the tracer rounds on our machineguns. Tracers have been in the game for a while, but now you'll actually see the tracer rounds on the first-person viewmodel progressing into the receiver as you fire it. Special thanks goes to Christian Oelund for doing the artwork that made that feature possible.
Originally Posted by Grunt
