I apologize ahead if promoting a game is against the rules, I didn't see anything about it so here goes.
We're a tiny little indie company making a game called 'Metal Drift' - it's a team-based online futuristic arena combat hovertank game. I haven't played BZ, although I do remember it back in the 90's around the time I was working at Dynamix on Tribes 2. People tell us our game reminds them of BZ all the time, so I thought I'd let you guys know about it.
We were "featured" on rockpapershotgun a couple weeks ago, here's the link with some videos:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/05/20/drift-to-experience-metal-drift/
The game page is here if you want to check out some screenshots: http://www.metaldrift.com
If you are interested in joining the beta on Steam, sign up here:
http://www.blackjacketstudios.com/forum/
Thanks!
-Brian
Nice. Kind of reminds me of Battlezone 1 dm gameplay.
I still wonder if I am the only one who relates BZ(2) to Action Real-Time Strategy, and not generic hover tank shooter...
I see no RTS in that game...
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There is strategy, as there is strategy in any sports game, but yeah, it's not structured like an RTS.
The art of that game is really impressive.
One of the great things about BZ2 is the team-based gameplay. DM's are fun for awhile but they eventually get old -- the same cannot be said for an objective-based 'strat' game which involves gathering a team and suppressing the enemies resources while building your own as well as protecting your base and attacking the enemy's.
If you want to go the DM aspect of it give the user something more substantial to do other than just blow each other up. The more team elements and objective elements you have the better.
On the physics side of it I have some suggestions. Give the game more of a vertical aspect as well, and by this I mean give the user the ability to go up ramps onto higher levels and to use jump thrusters to access certain parts of the map and to use for dogfighting maneuvers. This is one of the most fun parts of BZ2's human vs human combat aspect.
Metal Drift has no deathmatch. It is team based, the gametype is sort of like mechanized soccer. You take the ball to the other team's goal to score. It's a simple gametype, but it's enough to focus the players and spin off strategies like coordinating defense, playing zones, etc.
The upgrades for the tanks also allow the player to take on various roles - stealth, repair, extra speed, armor, hyperspace, etc.
We have several maps that have a second level that you can drive up with bridges over the bottom level. Usually the ball spawns on the bottom level and the team has to move the ball to the upper level to score. We also have boost tunnels around the outside of the level to provide alternate routes into the other team's base.
I can see where you would get the impression that it's a mindless deathmatch from the short video. We'll have to try and do a better job on the next one.
Ah cool, interesting to know. Let me know if you need any beta testers. :-)
Sports has tactics, not strategy. :P
Looks interesting to try though if you have any demo's or anything available soon.
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Reminds me of the "wipeout" series for playstation. made by psycognis or something i think. THAT was a very cool game before BZ2 was around!
QuoteI haven't played BZ
:-o
Rectify this status, with a high priority! were still here playing and modding it because no game devs have equalled or bettered it yet!
it actually kinda reminds me of the hovertank game that came with the windows 95 cd. much better graphics though :wink: ahh, those were the days
hell yeah. 1990-1999 were always the best games!
Quote from: TheJamsh on June 13, 2009, 02:57:53 AM
Reminds me of the "wipeout" series for playstation. made by psycognis or something i think. THAT was a very cool game before BZ2 was around!
Hmm... Psygnosis? I didn't like many of their games... though the F1 ones were pretty good.
thats the one... i only played that game of theirs i think.
wipeout had me for a while, hell i think i may even have it somewhere... but it was a good play. wish id stuck at BZ2 instead though!
Quote from: AHadley on June 13, 2009, 10:51:02 AM
Hmm... Psygnosis? I didn't like many of their games... though the F1 ones were pretty good.
Wipeout, Colony Wars, and G-Police were all excellent games.
Hi BlackJacket,
Good to know you used to be at Dynamix. Were you based down at Eugene HQ, or somewhere else? I live in the Portland area. Did you also work on the Stellar 7 series tank game (PC version) some 2 decades ago, or was that before your time? I also played the C64 version (by Damon, circa 1983). That was how I came about here, to Pandemic Battlezone(s), by playing earlier vehicle FPSes (including Atari BZ, of course). I shall take a look at Metal Drift soon.
You worked at dynamix? You worked on tribes 2, did you work on Starsiege? (Just regular starsiege) Best game ever, second only to bz2. (barely XD)
I does actually look like a cool game. Art style is cool.
Hey guys, yeah I worked at Dynamix on Tribes 2, not Starseige though. There was an overlap in the dev teams so I got to work with some of the Starseige guys. All great people. My business partner, Weston worked on the original Tribes before moving on to LucasArts in the 90's.
I moved to Eugene because Tribes was my favorite game at the time and I had the opportunity to be on the team. Stellar 7 was way before me, but I played it growing up and was part of the reason that I was excited to work at Dynamix - along with all the other great games they made that I played growing up. I later met Damon - he's got his own studio now - http://www.madottergames.com. Nice guy.
Thanks for the kind words, we've got some interesting design choices, and the game runs on rigs that are 4-5 years old, so you should check it out if you are interested.
Sign up for our forums and you can get a beta key for Steam to play the game!
http://www.blackjacketstudios.com/forum
Quote from: BlackJacket on June 14, 2009, 03:08:23 AM
Hey guys, yeah I worked at Dynamix on Tribes 2, not Starseige though. There was an overlap in the dev teams so I got to work with some of the Starseige guys. All great people. My business partner, Weston worked on the original Tribes before moving on to LucasArts in the 90's.
I moved to Eugene because Tribes was my favorite game at the time and I had the opportunity to be on the team. Stellar 7 was way before me, but I played it growing up and was part of the reason that I was excited to work at Dynamix - along with all the other great games they made that I played growing up. I later met Damon - he's got his own studio now - http://www.madottergames.com. Nice guy.
Thanks for the kind words, we've got some interesting design choices, and the game runs on rigs that are 4-5 years old, so you should check it out if you are interested.
Sign up for our forums and you can get a beta key for Steam to play the game!
http://www.blackjacketstudios.com/forum
Sweet, sweet, and sweet.
Gonna assume if you can run battlezone 2 you have a good chance of running this then. (but i can run far cry 2 on medium settings so i have nothing to worry about)
Final question, have you played Battlezone 2? Being that this is a Battlezone 2 forum.
Do you know how open the game will be to modding? The ability for players to add new content can really extend the lifetime of the game's community.
Quote from: anomaly on June 14, 2009, 07:19:37 PM
Do you know how open the game will be to modding? The ability for players to add new content can really extend the lifetime of the game's community.
Yeah, we are running a souped up version of the Tribes2 engine, so modding is a possibility in the future.
Quote from: BlackJacket on June 14, 2009, 11:20:28 PM
Yeah, we are running a souped up version of the Tribes2 engine, so modding is a possibility in the future.
Might I suggest, at least in the future as a patch, a system to ensure modded games mesh correctly online? My favoritism architecture is an addon folder system combined with a local files cache. So you join a server and it sends all the 'client' and 'shared' files in the compressed cached form to the user (keeping the 'server' files for itself). I like this because it is basically an extension of the way we mod BZ2, tying in preventative measures for 'bad asset' errors. (This is a complicated system I think, so it would NOT be anything in the release of a game not designed with this as a critical component in the first place, like Gmod.)
I might sign up for that Steam beta key... If I find I have to time to seriously test the game out for you. Actually my brother has a lot more time for games and he has a similar type of game already (heavily outdated, more DM, less fun looking) and seems to like it. He may be interested.
Quote from: Nielk1 on June 14, 2009, 11:51:01 PM
Might I suggest, at least in the future as a patch, a system to ensure modded games mesh correctly online? My favoritism architecture is an addon folder system combined with a local files cache. So you join a server and it sends all the 'client' and 'shared' files in the compressed cached form to the user (keeping the 'server' files for itself). I like this because it is basically an extension of the way we mod BZ2, tying in preventative measures for 'bad asset' errors. (This is a complicated system I think, so it would NOT be anything in the release of a game not designed with this as a critical component in the first place, like Gmod.)
I might sign up for that Steam beta key... If I find I have to time to seriously test the game out for you. Actually my brother has a lot more time for games and he has a similar type of game already (heavily outdated, more DM, less fun looking) and seems to like it. He may be interested.
We're actually looking for people to come in and fill out the servers and stress test the game more than heavy feedback, so don't feel obligated to sit down and "work" on it. Just go in and have fun. If you have time to leave some 'general impressions' feedback, then all the better!