Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from all of us at the Project Reality team. We'd like to say a HUGE thanks to all of you for your support of Project Reality over the last year.
What's up for Project Reality in 2007
Mod teams have a hard time sticking to solid plans. It's a pretty volatile environment in terms of team consistency, so anything posted here about ideas we've tossed around for Project Reality should really be considered only as probable directions for the mod and not commitments for stuff coming in the next release
Black Sand Studios
Project Reality will continue to be a part of the Black Sand Studios projects. We're looking forward to an enjoyable year collaborating with this international group of incredibly talented modders.
Release Cycles
We are going to try and get the mod onto a 45 to 60 day release cycle. We're hoping to see v0.5 release in January and then v0.6 in March. Release dates are tough even for professional teams working on games like Duke Fortress 2, but we want to swing into a fairly steady rhythm of iterative releases.
British Armed Forces
With v0.5 we'll be pretty far into the British arsenal with the Land Rover, Saxon and Merlin complete. The Apache Attack Helicopter, Warrior APC, Challenger Tank and Harrier Jet will be in major releases following v0.5. Once we've got a mostly complete Brit arsenal we'll call the mod v1.0. So there may be a v0.6 and a v0.7 on the road to a complete Brit arsenal.
Other Conventional Armies
Our major focus is on the British weaponry at this time, but we will be adding to the MEC, PLA and US armies. Highest priority for each of these factions is to get their main battle rifles completed. We'll also seek to add some of the distinctive vehicles that make each army modelled unique, but specific plans are a bit sketchy at this time. There may be other countries / forces modelled in PR in 2007 as well
Insurgency Factions
We should be introducing a "militia" faction which will be more evolved and militaristic than the "civilian uprising" Insurgents currently modelled in PR.
We also plan to polish up the current Insurgents stuff .. things like a real Molotov model and more realistic looking IED, etc.
Alternative Game Modes
With the introduction of AAS v2 in PR v0.5, and some minor tweaks to that game mode in later releases, we're about done with development on basic "conquest" style game modes for Project Reality.
Our focus will shift to more Xtract mode content and optomisations for that mode. We need to develop more map content optimized for Xtract missions and take advantage of the game mode capabilities we already have.
In addition we will (finally) introduce our highly flexible Objective mode that we've been calling "Scenario". And focus on developing content for that game mode as well. Scenario mode is a game mode that allows for a mix of defend and destroy missions against a variety of targets as well as mixing in objectives to secure areas of a map.
We'll optimize and stabilize those game modes and ensure that we're developing mapping content that really takes advantage of the game mode capabilities.
We'll retain "vConquest" for those servers that like to run it and for single player compatibility.
We'll possibly experiment with some very free form approaches to game modes and/or may retrofit some very free form capabilities into our current game modes.
Spawning Mechanics
With v0.5 we'll introduce the first steps in overhauling the spawning mechanism in BF2. It will likely take 2 release cycles to transition over to our new spawning mechanisms. Suffice to say that these spawning mechanisms are going to rely much more heavily on players than on mappers and coders.
More Complex, More Challenging: Good Leaders Required
Without a doubt Project Reality will get more depth and complexity for Commanders and Squad Leaders in the coming year. We want to get those roles to the point where Squad Leaders and Commanders have a significant impact on game play. And to where players recognize specific Squad Leaders and Commanders and join (or run from) those "officers".
Realism AND Teamwork
Project Reality is based on the BF2 platform. There are some great things about that platform and some challenges when attempting to do a realism mod on top of BF2. But there are lots of capabilities to model a high level of team work dependency into PR and we'll continue to do that in the coming year.
Truthfully speaking about the most realistic thing we can model into Project Reality is the dependency on your buddies to be successful and stay alive. Don't expect Project Reality to become an Infantry simulator. We want a good balance between realism, teamwork and fun.
Alternative Battlefield Ranking
We're going to do some more stuff around the ranking & stats system. We will NOT be introducing any sort of "whore points for weapon unlocks" concept. However we will evaluate how we can integrate more of the ABR capabilities into the game world and the realitymod.com website.
We might try stuff like requiring "certifications" to be able to operate certain vehicles, needing to have a basic rank requirement to gain access to limited kits or needing a certain proficiency as a Rifleman to gain access to the Sniper kits.
It's not a huge priority for us, but as the mod player base grows and we induct new players, we'd really like to avoid scenarios where a first time spawner into a Project reality server drives off in a tank and gets it destroyed 30 seconds later.
Dynamic Battlefield
We're working on some concepts that really take the mod into different directions than just about any other FPS on the market. Combining elements from some different game genres outside of typical FPS concepts, we're hoping to enable some capabilities that will make for virtually unlimited possibilities in how maps are played. We're hoping to develop some systems were maps are very dynamic and will be much more than a static layout of flags and objectives.
Focus on Vehicle Combat Dynamics
We feel pretty decent about the Infantry combat dynamics in Project Reality. There's still lots of room for improvement and we'll continue to work on the Infantry.. it's the "bread and butter" of any FPS. But through the coming months we'll be focusing on improving vehicle combat dynamics much more so than in the past.
Continued Innovation
A big part about modding is about trying some whacky stuff. The Kit Limiting system in v0.4 is a great example of some innovation that dramatically alters the way the game is played. We've got a lot more innovative stuff in the works that should really fundamentally change how Project Reality is played. And when these changes all stack up, should take the game quite far from the BF2 origins.
More Maps!
At the end of the day map content is what makes the mod enjoyable. I am hoping we can release 3 to 5 high quality maps every 45 to 60 days.
Promotion and Awareness
The size of the player base of BF2 mods is very small. Project Reality is fortunate to have an incredibly fantastic player community. We're hoping to grow the size of the player community in the coming year through a more concerted effort around promoting the mod and continuing to add features that keep things interesting enough to retain existing players.
Alternative Platforms
In the coming year we're going to investigate the possibility of moving Project Reality to an alternative platform than the BF2 engine. Right now ET:QW is the most probable platform. That dictates a different scope of mod project than BF2 and we're tossing around some design ideas for that platform (but still nothing is finalised). However we're continuing full steam ahead on BF2 for the foreseeable future.
Thanks for your continued support of Project Reality and Happy New Year!
