If I had access any computer, Macintosh or Windows, that met the requirements, I'd buy the corresponding Jedi Academy version in order to play this. Unfortunately, I don't.
I guess I'm once again too late to say anything to affect the release (of the demo), but maybe I can still get my questions answered (and/or added to the FAQ).
Did you read the DF graphic novels by William C. Dietz? Lots of relevant data in there.
- You could extend the beginning of the level to include more areas described in the novel.
- IIRC, you should be able to see city lights/skyline from some parts SECBASE.
- Without a stun setting, I guess I'll have to either run past Meck Odom or punch him out to complete the secondary objective of saving him. Although I haven't seen any screenshots with the fist, either.
- There were also full-cast audio dramatizations of the novels, so you could theoretically use the voices in new cutscenes/scripted sequences or something.
Did you read "Sand Blasted" in the comic book Star Wars Tales #4? That included a depiction of the Dark Trooper assault on Talay. It also gives part of one fan's perspective on the idea of a Rebel base in the middle of a civilian city. At least, it said the base was big enough to have at least one Mon Cal Star Cruiser, and it probably encompassed the entire level seen in DF. Or maybe the cruiser was concealed elsewhere, in the mountains or somewhere beyond them?
Not that the city was necessarily surrounded by mountains on all sides.
Did someone already mention the Dark Trooper in SW Galaxies? I didn't actually see it, but I read a post about it on DF-21. I previously heard of Dark Troopers in Rebellion and Galactic Battlegrounds, but those games weren't even 3D.
Have you told InsideMacGames.com about the upcoming demo so they can put it on the MacGames DVD? They're extremely into third-party mods (especially those related to Bungie games, but they also covered The Dark Tide). Was the first demo announced at a lot of Star Wars and gaming sites?
The elevator on the roof of SECBASE should be locked from the outside. Otherwise, why not just climb up the shaft and go down the elevator to get the plans?
The secret areas in SECBASE should be stocked with weapons, just like in the original DF demo.
Most of the original DF levels could be made more realistic simply by adding locked doors and elevators representing the areas Kyle never visits.
Is the shield belt going to be in the full version, even on the highest difficulty? Do you have any theories about why they were never seen in the movies? I never played through the full ver of DF 3 and 4, so I don't know what role shields played there, but I think of it as one of those things that came from Doom, rather than from Star Wars.
I said "highest difficulty". D'know if you'll still call it Jedi Master.
What's with all the crates in those screenshots? Is that supposed to be a good thing? Any story logic behind it, or just adding scenery to make it the environments look busier/be more intricate? I guess it also gives you something to hide behind.
Will you be able to carry around health-restoring items and use them instantly, like Bacta Tanks in DF3? Maybe they should work gradually, like Force Heal? Or, if you have shields, maybe restoring health isn't all that necessary. It is in a few places, though, like after fighting the first Phase I DT and the first Kell Dragon.
Are there Revives and Shield Supercharges in Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy? If not, are you going to add them, or change them to something more realistic/balanced like Marathon/Half-Life's recharge/repair/medkit panels?
Will enemies use weapons other than what they used in DF, like Stormtroopers with the mortar gun or Grans with the blaster rifle? Will there be enemy snipers? Had the repeater been invented at the time of Secbase, or was that part of the Dark Trooper project? Are thermal detonators an Imperial weapon in the ESB era?
What's the word on multiplayer? I assume you'll have some sort of player-vs-player mode, as Jedi Academy did. Will it work on all the original LEC maps, or will you have new DF-themed ones, or both, or don't you know yet?
Bullet time would help Kyle win without making him too overpowered or his enemies too stupid, but it just seems like too great a leap from the original gameplay.
Is there any way to get projectiles to inherit the player's momentum? I think that might be part of why I miss so much. There were a lot of hitscan (instant bullet) weapons in the original Q3A, as well as Halo, UT, and the crappy Red Faction. But maybe it'll be all right if enemies just don't dance/strafe around like they do in DF3.
That menu of smilies above the main text box. DF-21 had that in their early days, and they replaced one of them with a Death Star. No, wait, I think it was a thermal detonator. Is it possible to do that here? Are they common to all LucasForums?
Originally posted by Document Oosha
If I had access any computer, Macintosh or Windows, that met the requirements, I'd buy the corresponding Jedi Academy version in order to play this. Unfortunately, I don't.
I guess I'm once again too late to say anything to affect the release (of the demo), but maybe I can still get my questions answered (and/or added to the FAQ).
We're currently testing the demo, and not really adding anything extra in. However, we're open to new ideas for the final release! And I'm here on behalf of the team to answer as many of your questions as I can. Any questions (and their corresponding answers) I deem appropriate will be added to the FAQ, once it's back.
Did you read the DF graphic novels by William C. Dietz? Lots of relevant data in there.
I haven't personally read the graphic novels, although I believe a few members from the team have done so.
- You could extend the beginning of the level to include more areas described in the novel.
We discussed this a while back, around the release of the first demo. We decided we wanted to stay as faithful to Dark Forces as possible, and not add massive chunks to levels. Of course, that doesn't mean we're making a 1:1 recreation of DF, however, we don't want to go over the top. The beginning "drop down" into Secbase is so memorable and famous, I personally think it would be criminal to start the game with anything else...
- IIRC, you should be able to see city lights/skyline from some parts SECBASE.
I'll have to check this out myself, Secbase is in a bit of a state at the moment, having just been ported over to JA, and nothing much having changed since the first demo.
- Without a stun setting, I guess I'll have to either run past Meck Odom or punch him out to complete the secondary objective of saving him. Although I haven't seen any screenshots with the fist, either.
Forgive my ignorance, but who is "Meck Odom"? Also, I don't recall a stun setting in the original Dark Forces. However, we do have the fists present in the mod - you didn't think we'd leave them out, did you?
- There were also full-cast audio dramatizations of the novels, so you could theoretically use the voices in new cutscenes/scripted sequences or something.
Really? I'll have to look into this, although I'm guessing these would a pain to track down...
Did you read "Sand Blasted" in the comic book Star Wars Tales #4? That included a depiction of the Dark Trooper assault on Talay. It also gives part of one fan's perspective on the idea of a Rebel base in the middle of a civilian city. At least, it said the base was big enough to have at least one Mon Cal Star Cruiser, and it probably encompassed the entire level seen in DF. Or maybe the cruiser was concealed elsewhere, in the mountains or somewhere beyond them? Not that the city was necessarily surrounded by mountains on all sides.
I have not read that comic. I don't think adding a Mon Cal Star Cruiser would be practical, or make much sense, personally...
Did someone already mention the Dark Trooper in SW Galaxies? I didn't actually see it, but I read a post about it on DF-21. I previously heard of Dark Troopers in Rebellion and Galactic Battlegrounds, but those games weren't even 3D.
I've heard about the Dark Trooper in Galaxies, although I understand it doesn't look very recognisable. It came up in another thread here not so long ago. I've got Galactic Battlegrounds, and I thought that DT in that was pretty crap...
Have you told InsideMacGames.com about the upcoming demo so they can put it on the MacGames DVD? They're extremely into third-party mods (especially those related to Bungie games, but they also covered The Dark Tide).
Our mod has never officially supported the Mac version of JO and JA. It was a fluke that the first demo worked at all, and from what I remember, it required some tweaking to get it working - and even then, it was not perfect. Unfortunately, none of the team are Mac users, we all love our PCs, and so the mod is designed for that platform. Once the second demo is released, I'm sure we'll hear feedback as to how it runs on a Mac. But until then, I don't want to go round telling Mac gaming sites about the demo, when it may not even work!
Was the first demo announced at a lot of Star Wars and gaming sites?
Yes, the first demo was widely publicised on Star Wars sites, and gaming sites. Many of the big file mirrors such as Fileplanet and 3Dgamers had the demo. We also appeared on a few cover discs of the well known PC gaming mags. My estimate is that around 50,000 (most likely a lot more) people downloaded the demo. Then, if you add in the people who played from cover discs, you'll realise it was very popular at the time!
The elevator on the roof of SECBASE should be locked from the outside. Otherwise, why not just climb up the shaft and go down the elevator to get the plans?
How would you even get back up the shaft to discover if it was locked? Pointless scripting...
The secret areas in SECBASE should be stocked with weapons, just like in the original DF demo.
Our demo(s) is faithful to the Dark Forces full game, not the demo. I believe the ammo and powerup placements are reasonably faithful to the original game, give or take....
Most of the original DF levels could be made more realistic simply by adding locked doors and elevators representing the areas Kyle never visits.
Yes, this is certainly going to happen on the levels we've yet to map. If you ever see our version of Talay, you'll see many locked doors etc.. that Kyle can't get to - also many doors are open which contain rooms full of powerups and so on. The downside to this, which we have discovered whilst beta testing, is that it's not always clear where you have to go. I was chatting to Dave (the project lead) about this yesterday, and we both got lost a few times in the level, as all the doors looked similar. We think we've found a way to get round this though, but I've yet to see the result...
Is the shield belt going to be in the full version, even on the highest difficulty?
If it's in DF, it's probably going to be in our mod ;) Shield belts will be there, fear not!
Do you have any theories about why they were never seen in the movies?
I guess personal shield units are a standard part of most FPS video games, and not when it comes to movies.
I never played through the full ver of DF 3 and 4, so I don't know what role shields played there, but I think of it as one of those things that came from Doom, rather than from Star Wars.
By DF3 and DF4, I assume you mean Jedi Outcast and Academy? If so, both these games have shields. As I said in my previous reply, it's a standard part of video games, not movies (in particular Star Wars).
I said "highest difficulty". D'know if you'll still call it Jedi Master.
I believe there are currently 4 difficulty settings present in the mod: Easy, Medium, Hard and Very Hard.
What's with all the crates in those screenshots? Is that supposed to be a good thing? Any story logic behind it, or just adding scenery to make it the environments look busier/be more intricate? I guess it also gives you something to hide behind.
Which screenshots, in particular, are you talking about? I don't think we have an excess of crates in our mod (or in the original DF for that matter) compared to the ridiculous number you'll find in DF2: Jedi Knight. Crates are a traditional part of the Star Wars gaming universe, and are a useful gameplay device to enable the player to reach high up, and far away places. You did play the original Dark Forces, right? There's no story logic to it, we're going for being faithful to the original DF, as opposed to realism. If you get too bogged down in realism, there wouldn't even be a Star Wars universe to begin with!
Will you be able to carry around health-restoring items and use them instantly, like Bacta Tanks in DF3? Maybe they should work gradually, like Force Heal? Or, if you have shields, maybe restoring health isn't all that necessary. It is in a few places, though, like after fighting the first Phase I DT and the first Kell Dragon.
I don't think we're having Bacta Tanks, just regular health packs like in the original game.
Are there Revives and Shield Supercharges in Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy? If not, are you going to add them, or change them to something more realistic/balanced like Marathon/Half-Life's recharge/repair/medkit panels?
I don't think either of those items are present in either JA or JO. As this is something for the full release, and not the demo, we have yet to really discuss it.
Will enemies use weapons other than what they used in DF, like Stormtroopers with the mortar gun or Grans with the blaster rifle?
This is a likely change.
Will there be enemy snipers?
Again, this hasn't been discussed yet, but I don't see why not.
Had the repeater been invented at the time of Secbase, or was that part of the Dark Trooper project? Are thermal detonators an Imperial weapon in the ESB era?
The Repeater will be introduced into the mod at the same point it comes in in the original game. Which level that is, I forget. And I've no idea about the thermal detonator, although I fail to see its relevance here... :confused:
What's the word on multiplayer? I assume you'll have some sort of player-vs-player mode, as Jedi Academy did. Will it work on all the original LEC maps, or will you have new DF-themed ones, or both, or don't you know yet?
Multiplayer is unlikely. Basically, once we've finished the full mod, we're going to be pretty much burned out ;) We've been going for 2 years, and are only just ready to release our second demo of 3 levels. Making a multiplayer element for the mod would be very time consuming, and not really part of our mandate. However, all our material is open source, so there's nothing to stop someone else making a MP part for the mod once we've released it.
Bullet time would help Kyle win without making him too overpowered or his enemies too stupid, but it just seems like too great a leap from the original gameplay.
Who said anything about bullet time? This is Dark Forces, not Max Payne ;)
Is there any way to get projectiles to inherit the player's momentum? I think that might be part of why I miss so much. There were a lot of hitscan (instant bullet) weapons in the original Q3A, as well as Halo, UT, and the crappy Red Faction. But maybe it'll be all right if enemies just don't dance/strafe around like they do in DF3.
This is a question I can't really answer. However, we are basically stuck with Jedi Academy's physics engine, which is an enhanced version of Quake 3's. So our mod isn't going to be much different physics-wise from either of those games.
That menu of smilies above the main text box. DF-21 had that in their early days, and they replaced one of them with a Death Star. No, wait, I think it was a thermal detonator. Is it possible to do that here? Are they common to all LucasForums?
Yes, all smilies are common to LucasForums as a whole. The ones above the text box are message icons though. If you want smilies, there's millions of the damn things on the left of the text box, including a few Death Star ones: :deathstar: :deathii: There are even more if you click "Get More" - 454 to be exact!
Phew, I think that just about does it ;)
(And I'm almost sure that if the DF MOD team doesn't make the mod multiplayer supported, someone will... I know that people would like to play SECBASE online :) It would be awesome, so... I can't see that noone would do it... (At least just take the map ;)))
Our plans are to finish the levels first as single player missions (SP for the demo, MP for the final release).
In parallel we will investigate siege mode (because of the way goals are completed, the map, etc.).
Only at the end we may decide to create special MP gaming versions.
About weapons, ships, history and much more things related to SW universe, you may consult the
Star Wars Technical Documentaries (
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/)
Meck Odom is Kyles best friend at the imperial academy, and he is in SECBASE in the book... but this isn't based on the book... its based on the game... (After all, the book came after the games did)
I don't see why you need to add some of the stuff from the books for this mod to keep it close to the original game. But after the mod is released maybe in a year you guys could release, Dark Forces: A Mod for Jedi Academy: Special Edition.";)
This is a mod based on a game, not the Dark Forces books.
I own the entire Dark Forces Book series on CD tho (the audio thing of it, its ok I guess, I have it for nostalgias sake)
Suprosa: Great, which actors did speak? Were they the original DF game voices? This may be interesting for us.
mmm Im about to go to the movies, but when I return I'll look up the stuff for you~ I dont think Katarn is the DF Katarn, sounds kinda like the JK one if I remember correctly
Actually, it sounds mostly like the MOTS Katarn if I remember exactly.