First Contact: Total Conversion Thread

Get ready for a long read, and please don't skip any part of it. If you are going to flame me, then read the whole post and try and see what I'm talking about. When I first introduced this mod people didn't read the document I attached and called this mod something that it wasn't.

First of all, I proposed this idea and then I was shot down by many of you for not having an original idea. I was also warned that I would be sued by Bungie Studios/Microsoft Corporation for even thinking starting such a modification. After months of anguish I have received permission from Bungie Studios to use references to characters, vehicles and other such things from the Halo Universe in a modification for the Source engine.

This modification is not a Halo 2 or Halo clone for the source engine. It is based purely on the books from Halo (mainly The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund).

When I first introduced the mod in late summer, I dubbed the setting to be 'Halo before Halo'. That was a major mistake on my part and I must have mislead you. When I said that, I ment that it deals with the UNSC and the Covenant before Captain Keyes and Cortana discover the first Halo.

The setting of the mod is when the Spartans are placed into active duty. It is after their first mission, which is a raid on an insurgent asteroid base in the Eridanus system. Humans come into contact with a race of aliens who call themselves the Covenant. The Covenant begin to destroy every human world they encounter with plasma bombardments form their ships (also known as 'glassing' the planets). The UNSC fight the Covenant in space and on the ground, but are systematically beaten back to Reach and Earth.

This is where my mod comes into play. You will play as some character (TBD) from Halo in a vigorous storyline to save Humanity from the Covenant threat.

If you wanted to, you could really call this a 'Prequel' to Halo, but I believe that would just cause more trouble.

I have a word document sitting infront of me that includes map details, weapons, plans and other stuff I have planned out in the mod. I am taking this very seriously. This document is not the same one that I released in the former First Contact post. This will not released to anyone but the mod team. I have friend of mine who is a very skilled web designer working on a layout.

Another thing I want to address is how I came off in my post a few months ago. I think I came off a bit rude when I replied and I ended up flaming you guys for not listening to me. I apologize for that small outburst, but it was a very exhausting summer for me.

Now, before I go, here's a little SWF teaser that I made:
Angelfire.com

It was made at 2:57AM Est, so there are a few grammatical mistakes that I was too lazy to correct.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Please leave positive feedback only. If you want to flame me or the mod, send it to me in PMs and I'll read them all.
If you want to work on the mod, please send me a PM with what you want to do and some work. And no, I'm not one of those mod leaders who just sits there and 'leads'. I am a 2D artist and a mapper.

Edited by: xJayx

It's not the most original idea but it if you could put it together well, I'm sure it could be fun.

Nice teaser.

ummm......

If you're going to seriously make this mod, and actually do it, not like, OMFG THIS WILL BE TEW PWNZOR CUZ HALO IS TEH PWNZOR AND HALOBOOK IS TEH PWNZOR!@!! But more like, "This will be a shitload of work that will be boring and ardous and difficult, in order to bring out a final product that I will enjoy playing, and that many people may or may not like."

If you still are not deflated, and aren't doing OMFG, then your pretty much set to go. Just get a coder. Fast. Like, see coder, knock out coder, strap to chair in basement, bring orange juice and cheetos downstairs (occasionally).

I would do it that way at least.....

Supercowbob wrote: Nice teaser.

ummm......

If you're going to seriously make this mod, and actually do it, not like, OMFG THIS WILL BE TEW PWNZOR CUZ HALO IS TEH PWNZOR AND HALOBOOK IS TEH PWNZOR!@!! But more like, "This will be a shitload of work that will be boring and ardous and difficult, in order to bring out a final product that I will enjoy playing, and that many people may or may not like."

If you still are not deflated, and aren't doing OMFG, then your pretty much set to go. Just get a coder. Fast. Like, see coder, knock out coder, strap to chair in basement, bring orange juice and cheetos downstairs (occasionally).

I would do it that way at least.....

In no way do I expect this to be easy. If movie sequels and game sequels have taught us anything it's that a name doesn't mean it will be an instant success.

Take the original Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park 3. I rest my case. Some may disagree, but it really depends on personal taste.

It takes hard work and dedication to get a semi-decent mod. I've got some skills I can contribute (mapping, 2d artist and some sound designing but not much).

My friend, who is going to design the site, said he could even devise a little thing for stat tracking for the mod. I don't think we'll need something that complicated, because we'll be doing singleplayer first. If our singeplayer becomes a hit, then possibly there will be a multiplayer update.

If the team does decide to do multiplayer in time, it will not be like Halo 2. It would be geared more towards Human vs Covenant.

That's all I'm willing to release right now.

Edited by: xJayx

Alright, cool.

Well, good luck getting a team together. And good luck making the mod. And good luck getting people to play it.
(the above comments were not being mean or satire, i actually mean good luck to you guys!)

In any case, I hope you succeed!

Supercowbob wrote:
If you still are not deflated, and aren't doing OMFG, then your pretty much set to go. Just get a coder. Fast. Like, see coder, knock out coder, strap to chair in basement, bring orange juice and cheetos downstairs (occasionally).

The fact that I'm a coder now scares me. Also, I prefer Mountain Dew or Orange Fanta.

declinsion wrote:

Supercowbob wrote:
If you still are not deflated, and aren't doing OMFG, then your pretty much set to go. Just get a coder. Fast. Like, see coder, knock out coder, strap to chair in basement, bring orange juice and cheetos downstairs (occasionally).

The fact that I'm a coder now scares me. Also, I prefer Mountain Dew or Orange Fanta.

You shall get Fresca in sippy cups and nothing else!

Back on topic...
Props to Frankie at Bungie for the go ahead!

There isn't much Mountain Dew or Orange Fanta in countries where it is legal to capture people and put them in a basement. *cough* antartica *cough*

Will there be same covenent and marine weapons, or same covenant weapons and different marine weapons?

Supercowbob wrote: There isn't much Mountain Dew or Orange Fanta in countries where it is legal to capture people and put them in a basement. *cough* antartica *cough*

Will there be same covenent and marine weapons, or same covenant weapons and different marine weapons?

Covenant weapons will most likely be the same because they didn't really change and if I get creative we'll have some new 'earlier' models of the weapons.

The Marine weapons will be geared towards weapons before they discovered Halo, so there will be several weapons that were described in the book (well, planning on it).

I'm still writing down my ideas in a notebook as we speak.

I suggest before really doing anything that you write a design document.

TKAzA wrote:
may the mod be with you

And I thought I was a nerd.

I'm writing the Development Document right now, then I'll copy it onto my computer when it's finished.

Well, I wish you all the best. I was actually at one point considering taking the Doom novelisations and knocking them into Doom 3 - but I've more than enough on my plate to deal with that sort of project.
Enjoy it, and good luck with the Design Documentation

I could do some weapon concept work if you need any help with that...( i was thinking an earlier version of the assault rifle) i just started modeling and not very good lol to tell you the truth but id really like to see this mod get off the ground it sounds really interesting

btw i recommend making this more like halo 1 than halo 2 cuz halo 1 > halo 2 lol ive put into account that well be playing as human characters and not some 9 foot tall dood in robot armor with super human strength so that means that weapons will slow you down depending on what guns you are carrying also a human isnt gonna be able to control an assault rifle firing at fully automatic like if youve noticed in the halo multiplayer they use quick short burts (highley ineffective for taking out convenant but w/e adds to the realism i guess lol)

also maybe you could include some prototype weapons that maybe were on Reach before it blew up and players might be able to use it i dunno (ie. anti shield gun like a guass rifle or some sort or a rail gun)

also gotta keep the warthog lol

Edited by (in order): Sp4rta, Sp4rta

Or he could make this more like First Contact than halo 1 or 2....... :p

i was just saying how halo 1 has a more arcadey feel to it than halo 2 i wasnt saying have the gameplay like either of them just that a quick paced action shooter approuch feels a lot better than a tactical counter-strike versus the aliens kinda thing well than that brings up another thing where since they obviously dont outgun the covenant and dont have shields so they cant just jump and and rambo those mutha f----s down they would have to use those blast shield thingys , cover ect i dunno after i think about it the second option sounds kinda nice lol

Edited by: Sp4rta

Sp4rta wrote: I could do some weapon concept work if you need any help with that...( i was thinking an earlier version of the assault rifle) i just started modeling and not very good lol to tell you the truth but id really like to see this mod get off the ground it sounds really interesting

btw i recommend making this more like halo 1 than halo 2 cuz halo 1 > halo 2 lol ive put into account that well be playing as human characters and not some 9 foot tall dood in robot armor with super human strength so that means that weapons will slow you down depending on what guns you are carrying also a human isnt gonna be able to control an assault rifle firing at fully automatic like if youve noticed in the halo multiplayer they use quick short burts (highley ineffective for taking out convenant but w/e adds to the realism i guess lol)

also maybe you could include some prototype weapons that maybe were on Reach before it blew up and players might be able to use it i dunno (ie. anti shield gun like a guass rifle or some sort or a rail gun)

also gotta keep the warthog lol

If you could show me some concept art you've done before, then I'll be glad to see if we can have you aboard. Just PM me a link to it or email me.

Thats quite the illegible run-on you've created for yourself there, Sp4rta.

POP QUIZ

What and where is sparta?

Supercowbob wrote: Thats quite the illegible run-on you've created for yourself there, Sp4rta.

POP QUIZ

What and where is sparta?

Sparta was an ancient Greek city (or city-state not too sure).

Located in Greece, obviously.

Edited by: xJayx

home of the spartans some of the most fierce/metrosexual warriors you've ever seen. Sorry about that long ass run-on lol was way too tired last night and the ideas just came spitting outta my head.

ancient greek stuff + greek food ftw!

xJayx wrote:

Supercowbob wrote: Thats quite the illegible run-on you've created for yourself there, Sp4rta.

POP QUIZ

What and where is sparta?

Sparta was an ancient Greek city (or city-state not too sure).

Located in Greece, obviously.

City State. It was also the single most extreme human society there have ever been on Earth. 100% Totalitarian, the children were raised communally in fields to toughen them up. They had little concept of the self, everything they did was for the glory of Sparta. Check out information on The Battle Of Thermopylae to find out just how hard these guys really were...

You all passed my anti-ignorance test!

Yay!

:p

wish i had a scanner so i could upload some concept art :/ i do most of it while im bored sitting in class lol history = boring.

Sp4rta wrote: wish i had a scanner so i could upload some concept art :/ i do most of it while im bored sitting in class lol history = boring.

Digital Camera?