Obsidian Edge 2 Officially Announced

[Suli]

Today we will officially announce Obsidian Edge II: Theatre of War. It is another chosen Crysis modification which will work with a pre-SDK and receives support from Crytek. Below you can find a description of the project itself:

"If it felt any more real, you'd bleed"

Obsidian Edge II: "Theatre of War" (working title) is the groundbreaking sequel to Obsidian Edge being created for Crytek's up coming first person shooter Crysis. With intense realism as well as new game features never before seen in a first person shooter - it will forever change the way you think a first person shooter should be played.

Get ready for edge-of-your-seat action - You will be required to lead assaults on enemy held positions, seek out and eliminate hostiles, perform coordinated missions, and fight for your own survival. In each case you will need to outfit your squad with the proper weapons and equipment, carefully plan your actions with your team, and then execute your plan in order to achieve the objective.

The world of Obsidian Edge is extremely unforgiving. Be ready to test your nerves, tactics and skill against opponents who are just as determined to eliminate you as you are to eliminate them. As your skills sharpen, so do theirs. As your strategy changes, so does theirs. As your teammates rush in, so do theirs. As you put them in your crosshairs, they do the same to you.

Are you ready for Obsidian Edge?

================================================================

The Obsidian Edge II (OE2) Mod will include many of the features first demonstrated in OE1, with additional features to intensify the gaming experience in quality, size and scope. OE2 is the next logical evolution of realistic tactical gaming, with features including:

Features Common to all Gameplay Modes

* Multiple classes of soldiers, each with unique weapons and abilities.

* Weapons, kit selections and ammo load-outs are balanced and realistic.

* A customizable weapons system will be implemented.

* Bullet damage spin - when hit by a bullet, your aim is realistically affected by the impact.

* Injuries affect player abilities.

* Realistic Walk speeds and run speeds.

* Realistic damage models and lasting effects.

* Multiple unique vehicle types for a new game experience and more intense tactical battles.

* Easy start up for new & casual players - get in the action fast!

Multiplayer Gameplay

* Maps will range from massive with vehicle support to small with no vehicles.

* Several multiplayer game types including: Team Elimination, Protect the VIP, Team Demolition, Team Domination, and Free For All.

* Player lives can be limited from one to infinite server-side.

* Full Mapcycle control and other server options facilitates unattended dedicated servers.

* Buddy / Jerk system for finding your buddys on-line and avoiding those you don't want to play with. (Tentative)

* Integrated squad voice communications. (Tentative)

Cooperative Gameplay

* Cooperative multiplayer gameplay modes will be available on most of the multiplayer maps. Play against the AI with your friends.

Other Key Features

* Integrated Map Download Feature - Additional maps can be downloaded and automatically installed without leaving the game itself.

* Integrated Server Control Screen - All commands can be routed to either the local machine (non-dedicated server) or to remote (dedicated) servers.

===================================================

We have already added some outstanding folks to the team that produced Obsidian Edge 1, but we are still seeking highly skilled individuals to work with us in the following roles:

* Level designers

* Character modeling

* Static / Environmental modeling

* Texture artists

* Animators

We are a mature group looking for mature individuals that work well in a team setting, and have experience in the role that they are applying for. Be prepared to share examples of your work, as well as the amount of time you are willing/able to commit. Signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with Crytek is required for these positions.

Visit us at http://www.ObsidianEdge.net and if you are interested in working with us, email oe_soroc@comcast.net to discuss the opportunities further.

Keep your eyes open for more detailed information on the unique gameplay features that will drive forward your gaming experience.

Suli

Edited April 11, 2006 by Suli

[Suli]

Now that we can come out and say it.

Thanks Zjj for the OK.

We.....I promise I'll keep it clean this time round.

If any one has any questions or interest in joining feel free to ask questions here, we cant say everything, but we will say what we can.

[Sup]

Congrats.

I do want to ask; largely due to what was probably an issue with Farcry, there was one thing I really didn't like in OE1.

The way recoil was handled in combination with the way damage was dealt felt to me more like it was hurting the player than being realistic.

If you've that outlined already, how're you guys hoping to handle that in OE2?

(Also, I may be able to do a little character work for you guys, if you have concept artist(s).)

[Suli]

Just to get this clear.

You did not like the way the recoil crept the view upward, in combination with the Damage Spin effect when you got hit. When you say combination do you mean at the same time, or just both effects in the same game?

It would be nice if you could describe the way it erked you more, I would like to hear.

(Did it make you nausious, frustrate you, or just not seem quite right?)

Contact Soroc if you are interested, I for one am horrible (atm) with bodies, but do nice heads. Then again i am a coder.

Edited April 11, 2006 by Suli

[Sup]

Just to get this clear.

You did not like the way the recoil crept the view upward, in combination with the Damage Spin effect when you got hit.  When you say combination do you mean at the same time, or just both effects in the same game?

It would be nice if you could describe the way it erked you more, I would like to hear.

(Did it make you nausious, frustrate you, or just not seem quite right?)

Contact Soroc if you are interested, I for one am horrible (atm) with bodies, but do nice  heads.  Then again i am a coder.

←

Nah, not the damage spin. I personally didn't like the recoil + amount of hits it took to kill someone. It seemed to lead to circlestrafing fights 80% of the time.

[Rocky]

Congrats, a very ambitious and intruiging project!

[Suli]

"Nah, not the damage spin. I personally didn't like the recoil + amount of hits it took to kill someone. It seemed to lead to circlestrafing fights 80% of the time."

ah yes I agree, I never likes straf wars. There was a point that we has tested having the player strafe at a reduced (very reduced) speed which eliminated this issue completely. But I got the most negative reaction from testers i had ever seen. So it was removed. (I loved, and still do)

Im not sure how the hit damage ended in the end, as I did not have time to play.

Thanks Rocky.

[ruggbutt]

The problem with the strafing was that when you slowed it down, there was jerkiness. I played around with all kinds of numbers and found the same thing. Now that you'll have an SDK you'll most likely work around that Suli.

As for the damage issue, we modeled it after the Interceptor armor that Reaper and his boys were using over in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ceramic plates can take hits. Sup, you ever see the vid clip of the medic who got centerpunched with a Dragunov? 7.62x54R is comparable to 30.06. He got up and ran for cover.

[Suli]

"The problem with the strafing was that when you slowed it down, there was jerkiness."

Not that test, I was refering to an earlier one (much earlier), that had to have new attributes included in player class.

But I am going to see what we can come up with, I am not fond of strafe wars, I think it creates a break in the style of gameplay.

[Sup]

The problem with the strafing was that when you slowed it down, there was jerkiness.  I played around with all kinds of numbers and found the same thing.  Now that you'll have an SDK you'll most likely work around that Suli. 

As for the damage issue, we modeled it after the Interceptor armor that Reaper and his boys were using over in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Ceramic plates can take hits.  Sup, you ever see the vid clip of the medic who got centerpunched with a Dragunov?  7.62x54R is comparable to 30.06.  He got up and ran for cover.

←

That's where gameplay vs. realism balance comes in. It depends on the pace you want for your mod and the style you want for your combat.

What you chose simply didn't appeal to me. It's not really a big deal.

[ruggbutt]

I was just making a statement about how and why we chose the damage model we did. I would imagine that the same real life parameters for grenade damage radius, body armor and other items will reflect in the damage model. One shot kills in other games where body armor was on the player models were a sticking point for me, and for the rest of the guys on the mod team.

[Sup]

I was just making a statement about how and why we chose the damage model we did.  I would imagine that the same real life parameters for grenade damage radius, body armor and other items will reflect in the damage model.  One shot kills in other games where body armor was on the player models were a sticking point for me, and for the rest of the guys on the mod team.

←

Without some kind of stumble/stagger I personally feel realistic armor has a negative impact on gameplay, is all.

[pz3]

yay its official =)

my tease is over time for a new sig

[Suli]

Just wanted to keep folks up to date on new stuff about OE2 and the Polishing Weevils Mod Team. Currently we are not releasing more info about the mod it self. But as far as the Polishing Weevils go we have expanded and have the great oppurtunity to work with some top notch modders.

So that people watching the mods progress can get to know the mod team a little better we have put up a "meet the team" page over at www.obsidianedge.net . As time goes on we will fill out more info (the bio portion) on the team members.

So with out further ado, Meet the Polishing Weevils Here

[Soroc]

Wow...I wish I'd caught that discussion back in April about one shot kills, or alternatives.

I always thought that games with one-shot kills came from the fact that it is really hard to be realistic with getting shot in a game. Basically, you only have a few options:

• Player is dead (ala GR1 / RvS)
  
• Player is damaged in some lasting way (think GR1 legshot)
  
• Player reacts physically in some fashion (like OE1 bulletspin)
  
• Player is completely unaffected while health/armor counts go down (think BF2 and FarCry...yes keep shooting while being repeatedly shot in the face!)
  
• Other variants / combinations of the above
  

I never liked the idea that you could keep pouring lead into someone while being shot...seemingly unaffected, so we introduced bullet spin into OE1. Also, I liked the idea of a permanent consequence of being shot (like GR1 had) but we ran out of time on OE1.

I kinda like the idea of a "stagger" effect. That also could be done with the bullet spin, having an impulse cause a stagger and a turn based on where you are shot. We plan to have lasting damage in OE2, as well as medics that cannot completely heal you to 100%. Just some thoughts.

[Sup]

See, I don't know why you need to go the 'realistic' route at all.

The primarily one-shot kill format is used so often because it works. It only vaguely parallels the real world, but the key element is that it forces real world strategies. Anything else and you're increasing the chance of your close range combat breaking down into strafing matches.

[Suli]

Well, this is the thought process. We want OE to be a tac sim shooter with unique feel.

After spending a large amount of time researching other games we felt that our mix of realism will give that impression with out afecting gamepay.

Core concepts we decided apon that heavily affected our descision.

We want actions to have concequenses.

We want to increase the level of player anxiety leading up to and during player conflicts. (Pucker factor)

We wanted to reinforce the feeling of being "alone" (greater pucker factor) when a player is not with the team. (take advantage of vanerability).

After a lot of discussion and player testing that is the mix we felt achieved the goals. We did not feel that we fully achieved the desired affect so in OE2 we will be adding to the mix.

This is only a small portion of the thought process though.

One thing that we will work on fixing is the strafe wars that where inherate to the FC set up. Strafe wars detracted from the tension and broke down the affect we where working towards. In OE2 we plan on resolving this issue.

Yes Soroc this is the Gr.Net thread. We should point it out to Cuz and Bamboo for updates.

[Sup]

Yeah, good luck.

[Suli]

Yes, thank you.

[CuZ]

Hi all,

We just completed our first interview for Obsidian Edge 2 with a Crysis community website.

Link here

http://www.crysis-online.com/Articles/crys...ian-edge-2.html

More details will follow over the comming months on www.obsidianedge.net

CuZ

Edited July 27, 2006 by CuZ

[CuZ]

Hi all, some news from the OE2 team.

Following the re-launch of our website www.obsidianedge.net we are delighted to bring you the first of our monthly media releases: OE2 October Update which is also mirrored on Crytek’s Crymod The release primarily focuses on where Obsidian Edge came from and how we are going about the new release. Also it features the first of our finished models, including an M67 Fragmentation Grenade, an M84 Stun Grenade, an Mk.23 Mod 0 sidearm and the centre piece for this release, the Leopard 2A6 Battle Tank, which absolutely took my breath away.

Just in case you missed them you can also click here for our Q&A sessions with

Crysis Online & Evolution Gaming

Any and all feedback always welcome, either here or on our forums.

www.obsidianedge.net

Obsidian Edge 2 is one of two modifications selected by Crytek to receive access to the Crysis Pre-SDK and receive support from Crytek during development.

[Sup]

I'm genuinely dissapointed. Seems like a whole lot of texture space for a really small amount of constructive detail; mostly just random noise.

Also, I can't really see any effect from the spec maps. Seems strange; specular is probably the most important detail on those grenades and that mk23.

Anyway, if texturing shapes up you guys could definitely be in business.

[Lightspeed]

SUP is always critical, I think the images are great and will look excellent ingame.

Going back a few threads, glad to hear you're looking at the strafing issue.

For mine, one of the few things that bugged me about OE as you know was the number of bullets req'd to kill a player. The 4 or 5 shots to the body cold end up creating the 'strafing effect' when player v player.

If you guys can sort that, brilliant.

How long for OE2 now, roughly?

And FaryCry 2? Same date for release?

[CuZ]

@Sup: Thanks for the comments, I'm sure the models team will find your constructive critique useful

How long for OE2 now, roughly?

We are still looking to trail Crysis by around 2 months.

And FaryCry 2? Same date for release?

Think, you mean Crysis? If not, FC2 hasnt "officialy" been announced yet...

FOr Crysis, the last date I saw from an EA site was Q1/2007 but some sites are reporting a Q4 06 release.

Due to our NDA we cant discuss any dates that Crytek have given us... Sorry.

Re the strafing, when I first joined the team, I was amazed by the attention to detail that had already gone into every aspect of the game, including our new player damage model. While that is still a Work in Progress, I cant guarantee if strafing will be catered for, but the model will be innovative, unique and as realistic as there has been seen in an FPS.

We should be able to release details in a couple of months time (we already have something special set up for next months article...)

BTW, If your visit the Content Gallery on our site you can rate and comment on the images, and once Crtyek make the the modelling constraints for Crysis public, we will also be adding details of the model construction.

Edited October 10, 2006 by CuZ

[Sup]

including our new player damage model. While that is still a Work in Progress, I cant guarantee if strafing will be catered for, but ithe model will be innovative, unique and as realistic as there has been seen in an FPS.

I look forward to you guys releasing details on it. While flawed (as Lightspeed said) OE1's additions to farcry's damage system were definitely impressive.