Battletech: In the Shadow of Giants - Mod Updates

[MrDorf]

So we've finished the initial R&D with mechs and the MoW engine, and decided that they are, in fact, very doable...so this mod is a full go from here on out.


Take a look at the results for yourself, please keep in mind that it's still in the tech demo phase, so the focus of this video is function, not art assets:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y22pGrvBu5g


A few things to note about the video....Virtually every shot save one is completely under AI control with, at most, some minimal movement or target orders given. One of my main concerns going into this was how the AI would deal with an entirely new structure of vehicle. Mechs needed to have only one crewman, a totally unique movement system, multiple "turrets", and upwards of a dozen weapons on a single unit for them to really work out in a way that would be satisfactory. As you can see, not only does the AI deal with these challenges in a "satisfactory" way, it exceeded our best hopes. The AI absolutely RUINS things with these mechs. They will simultaneously engage 2 or 3 targets at a time (or one target with multiple weapon glory), spot for each other for indirect fire, and pathfind well enough to not get stuck or tip over on a regular basis.

Please keep in mind that the animations are just placeholders, so they will be improved on over time. The walking system is fairly robust, as the mech knows what foot it's stepping with at all times and the ability to limp, fall, get up, and run are all worked into the system, and just lacking animations currently. Static turning is a bit of a sore spot, since there doesn't seem to be a way for the engine animation code to tell if a unit is turning left or right you'll notice a fairly odd looking generic turn animation for now.

There is a damage model in place. Not all of it is activated yet as some of it requires special animations (mainly the limps and falls), but the code is there. Not all damage effects are in place, but there are a few flying limbs in the video. There are no "kill shots" enabled for the mechs in this video as my main goal was to show how the AI engaged and moved.

Weapons are placeholders that reflect the basic type of weapon systems this particular mech will have when we finalize the code for them. The two exceptions being the LRMs and nose machine guns, which are behaving pretty much as intended save balancing adjustments. For those keeping score at home, this Madcat version fields:
2x ER Large Lasers (slightly edited 88mm stand-ins)
2x ER Medium Lasers (45mm stand-ins)
2x LRM15 racks (yes they are originally LRM20's, but the model reference we used had 15 launch tubes, deal with it).
1x Medium Pulse Laser (40mm zenite stand-in)
2x .50cal machine guns
--Every weapon listed here is represented in game, and all are direct controllable.


All that said, we'll be working on this mod in several "waves", with the ultimate goal of a handful of custom missions with a connecting storyline and supporting units to tell that story effectively. That plan, however, is dependent on just how insane this really turns out to be and how much help we have in the process. For now, we'll only reveal one wave at a time as to not get too ahead of ourselves.

First Wave: 2 mechs, 2 ground vehicles, 2 new infantry skins (models maybe?), 5 new infantry weapons, 1 map.

I normally don't talk much about things unless there's something new to show, but I'll do my best to post regular updates or answer any questions in this thread.


UPDATE #1: Work in progress animation sample #1
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3615&start=30#p49897

[pelitys]

No HQ?

edit: finished watching it now, it's FRIKKIN' EPIIIIIIIIIC!!!
Outstanding work so far

It seems the mechs are still invulnerable, though I did see one pushing out smoke from his shoulders and another lose an arm?

[MrDorf]

I don't think it's processed that detail level yet. The output was only 720x480 though. I'll go 720p with the next one for sure.

Edit: It's definitely not fully processed yet, the ending is crazy, but there's a lot of detail in the distance that you can't make out yet.

[Orrie]

Really great work you have worked out so far, I guess the final product will be awesome!

[Kohlrabi]

Unbelievable...
Wow!

[Orrie]

I wrote a news entry in the Men of War Community on Xfire.


http://www.xfire.com/clans/menofwarc/news/682199/

[MrDorf]

I wrote a news entry in the Men of War Community on Xfire.


http://www.xfire.com/clans/menofwarc/news/682199/

Very cool! Thanks

[Dilust]

Great! Impressive work.

[Myrrdin]

That's just totally and utterly WOW! and droolworthy. Work has been crazy so the tinkering I had planned hasn't amounted to much, but oh my god.

[MrDorf]

It seems the mechs are still invulnerable, though I did see one pushing out smoke from his shoulders and another lose an arm?

They die, but I haven't done the damage X and XX models (didn't want to waste my time if it wasn't going to pan out) so a lot of the really beat up stuff isn't in yet. I did disable the fatal criticals (engine, cockpit, and gyro hits) for the video though.

There's at least two points in the video where a mech loses an arm, though they fly off with such force that you have to look fast or you'll miss it (need to adjust that). In fact the second de-arming (disarming?) is actually due to an ammo explosion that destroys the right torso of the mech in the far right of the screen during the outro. One of the last missiles to hit it triggers a HUGE explosion up near the missile rack and the arm comes off as it should.