Freespace

[Mularac]

oh.. ok, I probably wasn't paying attention and I also must admit that I never played the first one... but I'm curious, did you ever manage to see the Lucifer's shields flashing? how was that effect?

EDIT: Oh I remember now, the Psamtik was a Hatshepsut class ship, right?

[Arparso]

Yes, the Psamtik was a Hatshepsut-class destroyer and I'm not even sure, if the Lucifer even had a visual shield effect... don't know, it's been a loooong time since my last playthrough of FS1.

/edit:
Btw, here's the rest of the icons:

Terran:



Shivan:



/edit2:
Added missing Shivan and Terran vessels (Hades, Colossus, SB Nahema, Demon, Ravana, Sathanas)

[Mularac]

they're incredibly awesome!

but... I'm seeing a distinct lack of the Collosus there... and I think that the shivans don't have their Ravanna yet.... (which one is it on the far right of the shivans? the Lucifer?)

[Arparso]

Yeah, the Shivans are missing a bomber, two destroyers (Demon and Ravana) and a Juggernaut (Sathanas), while the Terrans lack their Colosssus and the Hades-class destroyer... right now I don't have those ingame, so I didn't make an icon yet.

... and there's no non-combat vessel like freighters and stuff at the moment.

[nips]

Are you still working on this? please tell me you are Q.Q

[Arparso]

I am. I've just been slowed down by other stuff. Trying to get something playable out the door before Christmas, though ;)

[nips]

Sweet! Got any eyecandy for us?

[Arparso]

Only what's on the moddb page:
Freespace: Evolution

... which reminds me of updating that thing ... ahh, the work :P ;)

[nips]

Yea I know about that.

I was asking if you had new stuff to post there

[DreamorCZ]

How is it going with the release, Arparso? Is there anything we can help you with to finish it in time?

[Arparso]

Not really... Christmas is pretty much out of reach, but I'm optimistic about a 2010 release, at least

Gotta debug some annoying bugs in the Skirmisher as well.

[Arparso]

So much for optimism... another bunch of nagging issues (damn you, Shivans!), another delay. Aiming for January 2011 now

Anyway, took a few minutes to produce a small trailer for your enjoyment, so I could at least release SOMETHING before the end of the year:

Freespace: Evolution mod trailer 2010

[jstubbles]

Looking really fantastic there, Arparso. The progress you've been making is insane.

[Arparso]

With a "slight" delay now comes the first public release of "Freespace: Evolution". Spin up your warp drives and get ready to roast some Shivan scum!

Finally it's here, version 1.0. What you'll get in this first playable release:

• 11 small to medium sized capital ships from the Freespace universe
• 21 fighters and 13 bombers
• 4 rather simple missions to get in touch with the mod
• authentic Freespace music, sounds and graphics effects

It's also perfectly compatible to the Nexus Skirmisher, so you can create your own skirmish battles for it (but don't forget to set "freespace" as mission type!).

Download Freespace: Evolution 1.0
(installer, ca. 190MB compressed, 545MB extracted)





Please keep in mind, that this is still very much a work-in-progress. Especially balancing and fighter or bomber handling need to be worked on more. There is also a whole lot of iconic Freespace ships missing, like the big destroyers obviously, but also civilian transports and such still need to be added to open the doors for some interesting mission design in the later stages.

In the meantime, Freespace: Evolution is now on Twitter. To receive all the latest updates, make sure to follow the tweet! The site on moddb will also be regularly updated, of course, although that'll be reserved for bigger news worthy of their own article.

Follow Freespace Evolution on

Have fun

[Madycrazy]

Hi

here is my feedback to your first 4 Missions and of cause, i know that you dont create those for complex strategy or storyline, just to show the gameplay.

In Mission 1 i got some Audio-Problems until the bigger Ships arrive, after that everything works fine.
The first time, i played it like Nexus Style (Fighters defensive, only attacked the Bombers) but that wasnt a good idea, the Cain-Class blows my Ship to hell.   
After that Experience i played as i played it in Freespace (Offensive Fighter Tactic) Was a good Feeling. 

Ahh, btw. only for Mission Scripting in the Future, if you loose your Ship in Mission 1, you get a bigger one but i cant catch up the Cain with this big Ship, it was to slow. (Tryed it of cause 15 Min)

Mission 2: This isnt on of my favorites. Allways loose my Capital Ship, but can Destroy also the Enemy with the rest of the Fighter and Bomber Squadrons.

Mission 3: I noticed that in 8 of 10 Tests one of my Ships looses its Engine and i cant do something against it, Maybe they got more Engine Slots or a secondary Engine ? (Dont know how it was in Freespace, should play it again when i have the time for that    )

All Missions :
-

• I think the Fight-Distance of the bigger Ships should be increased, i had allways the Problem that they are moving around each other. (But i think that is a Nexus Hardcode Problem or?)
• The Fighters doing a good job.
• Bombers could be stronger against the Equipment of the Ships, i didnt notice any effect by selecting single Weapon- or Engine Equipments.
• Is there Any Effect by increasing the Energy for Weapons ? I didnt notice any Changes.

Closing this Feedback for now, you did a great Job. Mission One comes with the Original Freespace atmosphere.
Maybe less Text and More Audio-Comments by the Pilots, i mean the sector-analyses and so one, the infight Audio is perfect.  (I think you will find some help for this, including me .... if you need    )

Dont know how deep the game is changeable by Modding, a whole Story would be cool.... oh ok, i should realy end up now. 

Madycrazy

Sorry for my horrible English.

Der Domain nach könnte man das hier auch auf Deutsch verfassen, aber ich wollte den von dir eingeschlagenen universellen (Englishen) Umgangston nicht ändern.

[Arparso]

Whew, thanks for all the feedback!
(and yeah: this is a German domain, I'm a German citizen and we could perfectly talk German all day... but this wouldn't really be polite to everybody else around here who happens to not speak German all that well... )

In Mission 1 i got some Audio-Problems until the bigger Ships arrive, after that everything works fine.

What kind of audio problems, if I may ask?

Ahh, btw. only for Mission Scripting in the Future, if you loose your Ship in Mission 1, you get a bigger one but i cant catch up the Cain with this big Ship, it was to slow. (Tryed it of cause 15 Min)

Yeah, that's an oversight in the mission script. Will be fixed in the next release.

I think the Fight-Distance of the bigger Ships should be increased, i had allways the Problem that they are moving around each other. (But i think that is a Nexus Hardcode Problem or?)

Not necessarily - weapon ranges could be increased at least somewhat. This wouldn't work with the current setup, though... all these incredibly slow-moving "blobs" already look pretty stupid when being fired from distances of 4 to 5km, because it just creates these long lines of blobs. Increasing the weapon range would look even worse and would also be more stressful to the hardware:

longer firing range
= more blobs simultaneously flying around
= more particles
= worse performance and possibly even visual glitches

I'd need to adjust the speed of the projectiles and their firing rate, which would move their appearance further away from the Freespace 2 originals. I'd also need to reduce the damage on every weapon or else the fight would be over way before both ships could get closer to each other.

Bombers could be stronger against the Equipment of the Ships, i didnt notice any effect by selecting single Weapon- or Engine Equipments.

Bombers were added late to the mod, so don't yet work all that well. Their bombs are actually quite devastating - both to the ships hull and the devices onboard. They can be shot down by flaks and aaaf beams, though... and because not very well optimized firing mechanics and visual appearance they're even pretty hard to see. You might spot a few blue shockwaves, though, when some bombs actually manage to hit their target.

Is there Any Effect by increasing the Energy for Weapons ? I didnt notice any Changes.

No, there is not. Every shipclass produces enough energy to keep all weapons firing at their maximum firing rate... weapon energy consumption has so far only been tweaked to produce (sort of) the same firing rates as you'd see in Freespace. This'll be worked on for future versions.

Because of this, you could stick beam cannons in every turret on a Fenris and still not run into any energy shortages.

Sorry for my horrible English.

What are you talking about? Your English is good.

[GeoModder]

Played this mod now. Marvelous work there, Arparso.

Since I'm a newcomer to Freespace ships, I haven't figured out yet what the best thing to do is with bombers (use the primary or secondary weapon) or even their best use in general.
Btw, is it intended that small craft can be transfered to the capital ships, so that they so to speak 'dock' with this warp effect? I too think a slower rate of fire for some weapons combined with faster travel times would benefit the mod on the visual side. The beams look okay to me.

Oh, and that's quite a dramatic background you made for the duel mission. The atmospheric effect around the asteroid is simply brilliant. And where did you find the background for that fiery grab around Earth? 

[The_Small_Time_Modder]

Dang aparso that rocks!

I could really use a modified version of that Orion destroyer for a new race im thinking of making. But with reddish coloring instead of that mysterious purple coloring. that model would be perfect for my race's battleship

[Blazar]

I will finally begin with this mod. It is the combination of the two greatest Space games ever.
(Homeworld is also one of my favorites).
Arparso ,Thank you in Advance for making this Mod.