[WIP] Russell, a new companion by Someguy

[Guest deleted2159825]

 

I used one of those mods that lets you kill kids (I'm not sure thats meant to be the main purpose of it, but there you go)

Anyway, I chopped it up to add raider kiddies to the spawn lists, makes the game feel a bit more 'grey' in terms of morality.

It really makes you question if you're comfortable with attacking raiders for a little while, maybe adding a baby or two to the main base camps would add a bit of extra flavour.

Now, if they can be added to some kind of area which is only inhabited by scared women and the babies, it'd make the player even more concerned about the choices they could potentially make regarding clearing out the camps... (I know, I'm a horrible person already, not need to tell me)

I've tried to aim for the idea of maximum reality in my game, unfortunately I've seen and heard of enough instances of kids being used as soldiers to know this is fairly common practice in some areas of the world. That's why I love this game, you can make it so horribly deep and dark if you want to.

 

EDIT:

Sorry for taking your thread off track someguy, but I personally get the feeling that your mods feed off the horrible greyness in term of morality that the world seems to suffer from, seemed like I could mention it here.

No need to apologize, you're on the right track. I'm not sure if I'll jump right into killable children (as part of the dilemma is choosing which population to save, leaving the other to be sacrificed), but the player should be aware that innocents will be slain, no matter which path he/she takes.

 

Ultimately the encounter in Caruthers Canyon boils down to choosing between two factions (Silverwood and the Sand Wolves), neither of which can be readily classified as "good" or "evil". The choice will have ramifications for the setting, the player, and most importantly - Russell (he has tribal roots, which influences his perspective on the issue).

 

I'll be interested to read which faction players side with after I release the mod. :smile:

Edited April 20, 2013 by someguy2000

[Guest deleted2159825]

Weekly Update:
- Implemented and polished navmesh in the new worldspace (a tremendous time suck)
- Added randomized wildlife spawns in the worldspace
- Finalized custom ai packages for miners, settlers, tribals, etc.
- Wrote and implemeneted dialogue for Mayor Brandon and Glanton. More on the way.
- Designed and implemented the Sand Wolves chieftain, Barking Tree
- Added a variety of custom 2d art (posters, etc.)
- Added several re-textured armor sets for the tribals
- Created a slightly modified version of the Vexillarius helmet for Barking Tree (just got rid of the goggles)
- Populated the tribal village with scouts, warriors, tribals (child-bearing females), children, and even a few babies

As for the title character:
- Continued work on Russell's dialogue, adding a plethora of unique barks and dialogue
- Tweaked Russell's script to mimic vanilla companions; he will have a "loyalty" variable that is altered through dialogue choices and player actions (e.g.,

killing Caesar

).
- Continued developing his backstory in relation to the main quest. I'm really excited by how it's playing out. :smile:
- Added more combat barks, as I want to avoid undue repetition and annoyance. Hearing Boone snarl, "Can't run from me!" tends to get old.

Goals for this week:
- Finalize the main quest
- Begin wrapping up Russell's dialogue (heh)
- Continue VO for Russell (been doing it in increments - about 1/3 is complete)
- Lay the groundwork for dungeon evolution in certain cells and overworld locations
- Evolution may include the addition of sidequests in the new worldspace
- I've toyed with the idea of adding an ending slideshow (if only to get the practice for Zulu), but that's iffy. Any thoughts? Just to be clear, the "ending" would focus on certain characters and factions, but Russell would remain as a companion.

Stats so far:
- There is one quest, "Hunter, Hunted", which should offer 2-3 hours of gameplay
- 800+ lines of dialogue, with more on the way. The bulk of it is attributed to Russell, who has 100+ barks just for locations.
- Roughly two dozen NPC's are in place
- At least four functional merchants are present in Silverwood, including a fully-voiced ghoul physician, Doc Hennessey (copied the ready-made ghoul doc from FO3, who was in the game files)
- Several unique weapons and armor sets are available
- 10+ new dungeons, most of which will undergo evolution following the conclusion of the main quest

That's about it for now. Like a lot of my projects, this began as a passing idea ("Add a bounty hunting companion") that has bloomed into a really exciting questline and companion. Russell has a lot of dialogue, but the fact that I'm voicing him, coupled with the recent lip-syncing workaround, makes the VO process smooth, and dare I say, enjoyable.

Thanks for all your support in spite of my constant diversions and distractions. Zulu awaits!

 

Oh, and for any AlChestBreach fans, here's a peak at my latest work (more to come):

 

 

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2839/ballsposter.jpg

 

 

Edited April 22, 2013 by someguy2000

[Stormbringer13]

First off, Whooooo! A great update.

 

Second, if there are decisions with serious ramifications made during the course of "Hunter, Hunted", then I think there should be an ending slide. Plus the practice couldn't hurt.

 

Finally, I'm just curious as to what exactly you mean by barks. Short lines of spontaneous dialog, sometimes triggered by location?

[Drumber]

Ridiculously excited for this, looks awesome!

[Guest deleted2159825]

First off, Whooooo! A great update.

 

Second, if there are decisions with serious ramifications made during the course of "Hunter, Hunted", then I think there should be an ending slide. Plus the practice couldn't hurt.

 

Finally, I'm just curious as to what exactly you mean by barks. Short lines of spontaneous dialog, sometimes triggered by location?

 

Thanks!

 

Yeah, I've spent some time scrutinizing the slideshows from Honest Hearts, and it seems feasible enough. The only thing that concerns me is the texture swap, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I still have a good bit of work remaining on the climax.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what "barks" are - random or scripted bits of dialogue executed by way of SayTo, not in a time-stopping conversation.

[Guest deleted2159825]

Mini-update:

After a late, late night of scripting experiments that featured no shortage of shouted profanity, I finally managed to execute a stable, randomized order of battle in a specific encounter for Russell. It involves the defense of Silverwood, with a hasty run-up to the climax in a manner akin to High Noon and/or The Alamo. Most importantly, I successfully scripted multiple waves of attackers from random points of origin, and with varied NPC composition. I cannot overstate the benefits this offers for replay value, and I'm excited to add this scripting method to Firebase Zulu.

Other tidbits:
- Titus Vulcanus' cohort makes use of fire-based weaponry (Molotov cocktails, Shiskebabs and Flamers, primarily), which tends to dramatically intensify the engagement at Silverwood. Some of the weaponry may skirt the fringes of lore-friendliness (Incinerators wielded by Centurions), but considering the White Legs' use of similar items, I'm not too worried, as it reflects the methods and individual style of a regional commander (who is a veritable pyromaniac). If you have any reservations or questions on the issue, please post a comment.
- I'm experimenting with random slave sappers who turn into de facto suicide bombers (in a firefight, they tend to surprise you, as they don't register as hostile). The issue in my mind is whether or not the Legion would deign to utilize slaves in their tactics, so I'm not entirely committed to the feature. However, you can expect them at Zulu.
- There will be a handful of smallish sidequests to prepare the town's defenses and recruit volunteers. This is when the High Noon parallel comes into play. It is also another taste of the content in FBZ.
- I am also considering a time limit for defensive preparations, as the player would be forced to prioritize and rush their actions, e.g., "Do I recruit miners or attempt to build turrets? Do I try to raise morale or acquire better weapons?
- Any thoughts? Time limits can be dickish, so It will take considerable testing to hammer out. I just want to prevent the player from maximizing their position, while emphasizing urgency and suspense.

FYI, the defense of Silverwood is not mandatory; in fact, it is one of two choices at a critical juncture in the main quest. I'm eager to see the choices players make, as well as the reasoning behind their decisions.

Thanks for the kind words and support. VA on the NVB update is rolling in, though I can't issue a release date just yet. I'm hoping for mid-May.

Edited April 24, 2013 by someguy2000

[Brigand231]

You bring up a good point... "slaves" in general could also mean women. In legion eyes that would likely never be acceptable. If talking literal lore, a female player doesn't get the arena option with Benny. Limiting it to male slaves would obviate that specific issue, though. Would it be a capital crime for a slave to pick up a weapon? It might be hard from a "legal" perspective to determine which slaves are following orders or arming for rebellion.

 

As for "time" that could be harsh on people with lower end systems who might not make it as far as quickly due to low frame rates. It would be simple though, to allocate a time unit variable to specific actions and after enough of them have been accumulated scripts could fire or whatever. It might even be easier than actually running a real timer and certainly less script intensive to script a passive "listen" than an active count if scripting works as I believe it does.

[Guest deleted2159825]

You bring up a good point... "slaves" in general could also mean women. In legion eyes that would likely never be acceptable. If talking literal lore, a female player doesn't get the arena option with Benny. Limiting it to male slaves would obviate that specific issue, though. Would it be a capital crime for a slave to pick up a weapon? It might be hard from a "legal" perspective to determine which slaves are following orders or arming for rebellion.

Yeah, they're all male slaves, and the general concept is that the Legion has outfitted them with explosive collars that can be remotely detonated (and have a fail-deadly switch - this makes it fun to kill a slave amidst a throng of Legionaries). The slaves have been told either, "Do this or we'll crucify your family", or "Do this and we'll promote your son to the Legion." Even then, I'm not sold on it. The other option is straight out of Zulu - the slave believes he/she will be emancipated after delivering a message, only to discover Legionaries embedded explosive materials inside of them. Then again... does the Legion have the technology to do that?

They can't even perform surgery on Caesar's head

, much less surgically implant c4 into living slaves. Dammit.

 

 

As for "time" that could be harsh on people with lower end systems who might not make it as far as quickly due to low frame rates. It would be simple though, to allocate a time unit variable to specific actions and after enough of them have been accumulated scripts could fire or whatever. It might even be easier than actually running a real timer and certainly less script intensive to script a passive "listen" than an active count if scripting works as I believe it does.

That could work - set a cap on preparatory actions, and after a certain number has been reached, time has "elapsed". Simple - I like it, especially after my scripting shenanigans last night. I was getting ready to write in a gory, painful death for an uncooperative NPC at one point, as I was switching AI packages around and he was being an obdurate, unresponsive bastard. You know you've been modding too log when you attribute bugs and errors to fictitious personalities within the GECK. :smile:

 

I'm away from my pc right now, but I keep thinking about the potential applications for the randomized scripting for Zulu:

- Every attack in the actual "siege" (which actually follows a few highly-scripted engagements) will be a randomly chosen "wave". I'm aiming for at least 15-20 unique waves, each with different spawning patterns and NPC's

- Each "wave" will spawn from one or more of the spawn points around the firebase. I'm hoping to put at least ten spawn points in place to enhance the sense of uncertainty, as the firebase will be surrounded.

- The attacking NPC's will feed into master variables that determine the kill ratio (and thus, help regulate the order of battle).

- The interval between waves will be randomized, but probably a minimum of one hour, a maximum of ten.

 

Sorry to ramble, but it's finally starting to come together - an unpredicatable, sustained engagement that ebbs and flows depending on player's actions. The only downside is disappearing corpses, but even the vanilla game does that on lower settings, right? s***, this might actually work. :smile:

 

EDIT: Still gotta learn how to script in the mortar attacks. Ugh.

Edited April 24, 2013 by someguy2000

[Brigand231]

Sorry to ramble, but it's finally starting to come together - an unpredicatable, sustained engagement that ebbs and flows depending on player's actions. The only downside is disappearing corpses, but even the vanilla game does that on lower settings, right? s***, this might actually work. :smile:

It's your thread, hijack and ramble away. :) As it is, it was actually kinda cool seeing the wheels turn and that little bit click into place there. You could put a similar time counter/token system on the battle and after so many waves fire off a clean up body event or pause to allow some looting and forcing a conversation with a specific NPC, when in proximity of them to up the counter and trigger another wave.

[Guest deleted2159825]

It's your thread, hijack and ramble away. :smile: As it is, it was actually kinda cool seeing the wheels turn and that little bit click into place there. You could put a similar time counter/token system on the battle and after so many waves fire off a clean up body event or pause to allow some looting and forcing a conversation with a specific NPC, when in proximity of them to up the counter and trigger another wave.

The wheels grind slowly, but they do turn. :wacko:

 

If it's anything like what I just scripted, the attacking NPC's will be cleaned up about 10 seconds after death, except for the last wave, who will either be disabled/marked for delete in quest scripts, or be cleaned up after an hour (in a siege, the player needs opportunities to scavenge). We'll see, though - some of that could change, but the important thing is that it works. :)