Descentforum.DE

[Foil]

As promised, the Beta-Test version of the BreakOut mod is ready! A couple of servers are already up, so download it and jump in!

A couple of notes:

1. Don't be surprised by teleports. The first time you join a game, you will immediately see a HUD message saying, "Teleporting to an entry room in 5 seconds. 4... 3... 2... 1...", so don't be surprised when you suddenly teleport out of the jail. That's how it works when a new round starts, and when you first join.

2. You must keep an eye on your HUD. It looks something like this in the game:

Your team is shown in the top right of the HUD. The "RED (3/3)" means the Red team has 3 out of 3 players free (at full strength, none of their players are currently captured). On the other hand, the "BLUE (1/2)" means the Blue team has only 1 of 2 players free (one player is captured or dead/dying). So that blue guy better try to free his teammate.

3. Don't let the guys in your own jail out. It can happen, because switches don't distinguish by who hit them. Just remember, "go to the other side to let your guys out". If you're blue, your teammates are being held on the red side; if you're red, your teammates are being held on the blue side.

4. Don't let your teammates sit in jail. They can help your side win if you get 'em out.


A couple more notes, for the two levels (GlassHouse BreakOut and HalfPipe BreakOut) being packaged in the mod:
a. The jails are pretty easy to see, they're enclosed by forcefields.
b. The switches may be hard to locate at first, they are as follows:
- The switches in GlassHouse BreakOut are in the little "alcove" directly down the hall from the jail room (where the CTF flags usually are).
- The switches in HalfPipe BreakOut are in the little "bunker" rooms at each end.


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So without further ado, here is the download link:
BreakOut Beta Test
(Put the .d3m in your \netgames folder, and the .mn3 files in your \missions folder.)


Enjoy!

(Please, if you find any bugs or have any comments, let me know! That's why this is a Beta release - the final release will come later.)

(Also, if you don't like these two levels and are interested in building a better BreakOut level, let me know!)



P.S. Anyone may host servers for testing this.

[Do_Checkor]

OK First attempt:

Question for you: I played a 1on1 with THCyber (because nobody else joined). I had no deaths but looking at the points - a bit odd, isn't it?

But the concept seems to work frine for me so far - good job! Thanks alot for this! I am hosting a server on Descentforum.NET 1 now...

[Foil]

Hmmm, thanks, I'll have to check into that, looks like the points on that screen is broken.

Note: 1-on-1 in BreakOut just becomes something like Team Anarchy, because there is no chance for a jailed player to be freed. When it gets to something more like 2-on-2 or more is when it becomes interesting.

[Floyd]

how about guided missiles and holes in the wall?

[Foil]

If the level design allows it, players can absolutely shoot out from the jail room.

In fact, one BreakOut level by [RIP]Fusion called Kleptomania allows jailed players to do that.

It's completely up to the level designer.

[WillyP]

I'm working on a level that has grates on all four sides of the cells, thinking that the captured players could shoot out through the grates. It had occurred to me that a captured player could shoot the switch and release themselves, so I'll script the switch for direct contact.

[Foil]

Excellent! Thank you, WillyP!

BreakOut could definitely use some quality levels... my own ability in D3Edit doesn't go much farther than scripting a couple of forcefields.

[ptmc2112]

Could you script the switches so if someone DOES shoot it, that it displays a message that it requires direct contact for activation?

For those pilots that don't know it needs to be "touched" by the ship...

[Foil]

[Maulwurf]

hmmmm, there is no message in entropy neither, if you stand in a opponents-base without viruses.

[Do_Checkor]

BTW: The MOD auto download (in Vortex) works for a few days already - for everyone having trouble with getting the MOD to work...

[Foil]

FYI, the bugs that have been found/reported so far:

1. F7 menu does not report scores correctly
2. (x/y) count of free/jailed players is sometimes incorrect (I think this has to do with how often the server updates the client on ship positions)
3. The logic for determining if a player has previously joined the game is not always correct

I should be able to fix all three without much difficulty.

...Has anyone noticed any other issues?

[THCyBeR]

There's another thing: You can't see the team-membership of the players in the stats.

BreakOut_[VEX]_Server_1_1_Don._April._24_2008_2306.stats :

[THCyBeR]

Oh, and hey, no player scored??

[Do_Checkor]

players can't score in BreakOut - only teams can - at least that is what I'd expect.

[Foil]

Ah, thank you for pointing that out! It's a pretty simple fix.

Also, I'm planning to put an indicator in the F7 menu, so players can see who is free and who is jailed.

BTW, many, many thanks to RoadRunner for his work on the upcoming "Alcatraz"... that level is exactly what I was hoping for when I first started building the mod. It looks amazing so far.

[Foil]

Another bug to add to the list: Players can be injured from weapons fired just before the teleport/reset (i.e. they stay on fire from napalm, etc.). I'll probably just give players a short (3-second?) invulnerability to avoid this.