We
sat down for a chat with "LPlasma" from
the Desert Crisis Development Team and talked
about Desert Crisis, a mod for Half-Life.
What
is your responsibility on the Desert Crisis
development team?
I'm
the head of the team, and I also model the
characters, animate the characters and view
weapons, make textures, map and a few other things
here and there.
Can
you tell us a little about this mod?
Desert
Crisis is a mod set in the near future, so there
is a mix of modern weaponry (such as Desert Eagles
and MP5's) and futuristic weapons (such as laser
sniper rifles and plasma cannons). Desert Crisis
features a modular objective system which gives
the mappers _TOTAL_ freedom. They can link
objectives as well, so you could, for example,
shoot the VIP and take his briefcase. It is
totally up to the mapper, they can even specify if
they want rounds or not. The objective system also
works with Half-Life's trigger system, so events
can be triggered by the objectives. For example,
you could capture the flag, and buildings could
explode, it is totally up to the mapper.
The
mod also features a character selection system
similar to old-school paper RPGs. You choose your
body-type, weapons, and perks (such as extra
adrenaline, night-vision and so on). This way, your
character is a reflection of your playing style.
Also, not only can you customize how your
character is equipped, but how he LOOKS as well.
DC features a unique character customization
system wherein you can pick skin color,
accessories (hats, hair, glasses, etc.). There are
literally THOUSANDS of possible combinations. This
mod will be one of the first games where u can
recognize someone by how they look, not just the
name at the bottom of the screen.
Desert
Crisis is a pulse-pounding over-the-top war
simulation. The focus is on having a great time,
using some of the coolest weapons to do it. We are
not striving to be realistic, as we believe this
simply limits what we can do with the
modification.
What
are some objectives when playing this mod?
Some
examples are 'sequential capture points', where
you have to capture a series of points in order
while one team defends, another one is a 'push
map' where two teams fight over a series of points
trying to 'push' to the other team's side, another
one is one team must bomb a truck then break into
a museum and extract a weapon, this even includes
a 'pre-raid' the night before to attempt to
disable security. That's just a few of the many
objectives you will see.
What
are the primary weapons?
Which weapon do you feel is the best
weapon?
There
is the mp5/10, the m3 super 90t, the hk 33ka2, the
mp5k akimbo (single is a sidearm choice),
Remington 1100 akimbo (single is a sidearm
choice), the EM Sniper Rifle, the plasma cannon,
the vulcan chain gun, the flame thrower, the rail
gun (not q2/3 style, but more of an 'eraser
style' one), the m79 grenade launcher, and the
pulse rifle. Those are just the primary weapons
though. My personal favorite is the shotgun, there
really is nothing like anti-grav jumping right in
front of someone and blowing their entire upper
torso off with a shotgun. :D Quite fun. Though
it's a personal preference, all the guns can hold
their own rather equally.
What
tools did you use to create such beautiful
detailed levels?
Worldcraft
for the maps, Photoshop for the textures.
Where
did you get your influence from for this mod?
I
don't think I could really name any one place, so
I'll just say action and sci-fi
movies/books/things in general.
How
is the anti-camper code going to be implemented?
A
point is placed with a radius and a time limit in
it. If someone is within that radius for that
amount of time, their head turns into a chicken,
they squak (sp?) like mad, and they lose all their
weapons. If they are STILL there for twice that
time limit (AFK people mostly) they will quite
simply just explode into pieces. No one likes
waiting for AFK people, ESPECIALLY if the map has
rounds (which really isn't often).
What
type of new player animations are you working on?
A
complete and utter buttload. Tons of weapon
animations, pain animations, special moves, etc.
Explain
a little more about the detachable limbs feature.
If
someone is killed they can lose their left arm,
right arm, head, entire upper torso or legs. Quite
simple, effective and fun.
Have
you modified the Half-Life code to get better
graphics?
Only
by allowing more sub-model configurations to allow
our head alone to have over 80,000 possible
combinations instead of the normal 255 limit.
Have
you been able
to modify
the net code so that more than 32
people can play on one server?
No
we haven't , and I'm not even sure if that's
possible.
Last,
but not least, can you tell us when this mod will
be out and about what percent complete it is?
It'll
be out when you scrub a muffin and turn a monkey
upside down and drag it all around. AKA No
comment. Judge for yourself. :D
Thanks
for your time. We're looking forward to
playing.
You
can check out the official Desert Crisis website here.
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