Part 2 - Full Development Announcement news - The Worry of Newport mod for Crysis

So here we are, a month or so after Part 1's remake launched. What can I say? Reaction has been hugely positive and acclaim filled, with attention received bringing me tons of neat reviews and new team members. Part 1's remake was a success and rebooted interest and development in this mod alike.

We all know why I'm here, and that's to talk about Part 2 -- something I'm sure many of you are anxious to read about after such a long delay. So, where do I begin? Development has been going on consistently for a month now, contrary to current belief. A detailed look at the team members and their roles will be just below. So we're a month into it, and around 10% of the mod is done. But that's not discouraging news-- a major scene, a flashback, and two cutscenes and a ton of misc pieces are done. This shows you how big Part 2 is going to be.

So you must be wondering after that paragraph long summary what the details are, what I have in store for you, and where the project is headed. Luckily, I've come prepared: Lets start with the team.

The Team

• Worry of Newport - Part 2 is being developed by six people. I am the lead modder, and am responsible for everything to do with level and gameplay design, writing and atmosphere design, direction and many other sub roles that are usually associated with a project director.

• Moving on, KillerTruffle is my voice actor and voices "the protagonist". Part 2 will see his lines more polished and with better volume passes, as well as having him narrate all the readable text logs through the game world. His stellar performance in Part 1 is going to be overshadowed by Part 2's.

• James Dean is my lead composer, whose compositions include sincerely creepy and intense Dead Space-esque music. He is going to be making music for gameplay sequences, scares, some intros, and a mixture of other elements.

• Jarod DCamp is my secondary composer who will be working on strictly actual music. The title theme, outro theme, some ambient audio, etc. His music is incredibly polished and mournful, and I'm lucky to have such two talented musicians on board for the project.

• Rana, or anaRchy, is my lead graphics artist. She will be drawing and designing quite a few things in Part 2. Pictures, portraits, the page texture's and layers, loading screens, concept art, and more. Her style is tremendously polished and unique and grim and is made in extremely short turnaround times, something essential for this project.

• Last but not least, Jason is my lead cutscene designer. He is the famed modder for Crysis space horror, his latest being the spectacular ISNCHYC. He is designing many, many scenes. Outros and intros to scenes, interludes, and also "dynamic" trackview sequences such as storms, waves, explosions, ambient movement like doors or shutters blowing in the wind, etc.

So in closing, Part 2 is in tremendously good hands and yes, there actually is a development team. I do a lot, but I don't do it all. We are all actively communicating and modding, working towards the release date and making one of the most team oriented and polished horror mods ever to show up for Crysis.

General Overview

And now, we get to talk about Part 2. The biggest problems with sequels is how they dwarf the original, making it useless, and making development be all about "not doing what we did before." And I can say that isn't the case here. The main focus for the conclusion to Worry of Newport is to expand upon the qualities of the first, not changing them, while also introducing entirely new content. Polish, immersion, atmosphere and depth are the biggest focuses as always. Worry of Newport will be a consistent experience, not a two faced one, and is designed to be played from beginning to end seamlessly besides for the separate levels and installs.

But this does not mean Part 2 will be an identical twin. It is, after all, a narrative and it must present to you entirely new content expected from a back-half of a story while also answering questions from the first. And it will do all this and more, giving a rock solid conclusion and backstory to Newport as well.

Part 2 will feature a much more polished and immersive narrative, and will also tie up loose ends about the protagonist and Edgar Gray alike. Flashback sequences have been improved, the player will visit locations such as Newport Colony, the deep South American jungles, the deserts of Mesopotamia as well as the deep winter forests of Prussia as well as a surprise location.

These new locations are complimented by broader sections of Newport Island itself being explorable and playable. A rather robust swamp sequence, mountainy and windy terrain, the Colony itself at long last, and more are introduced. Part 2 will see you creeping through graves, crawling through tunnels, exploring ruined churches, surviving in the colony, running for your life, and more. The calm, dream-like safetyness of Part 1 is all but gone. Whereas Part 1 was a mystery, Part 2 is deadset on scaring you as well as immersing you once again in the writing.

In closing to this general announcement, Part 2 is going to land at about two hours long, Part 1 was 45 minutes long. All in all it will feature 9 gameplay sequences, 4 flashbacks, 7 cutscenes. More content was planned, but fat was cut to make the release. Both parts combined, they make for a four hour horror mod with tremendous production values.

Newport Engine 3

While not officially an engine, it is a code word for Worry of Newport's extremely refined and focused development style, strategy, methods and optimizations. Much like how Newport Engine 2 was the unofficial moniker of the hundreds of things and elements improved upon in the Part 1 Remake. It is still, of course, deadset Cryengine 2. That out of the way, Newport Engine 3 is currently in use for Part 2, supporting over eight completely individual time of day's (graphics modes, basically) each around a particular environment. On top of this, SSAO and an entirely new water model to the ocean has been introduced, adding a huge amount of polish to the visuals.

NE3 will also refine woes from NE2. Object pop-in will be removed entirely and dynamic lighting will be introduced through use of simplelights and flowgraph. View distance has improved tremendously over the original, and Depth of Field masking has been replaced by a more prestine version mixed with sharpening techniques. NE3 will also feature the optimization techniques and brilliant performance like the original while achieving limitlessly improved and polished graphics.

NE3 is also, in closing, refined to withstand heavy trackview and physics sequences as well as ambient destruction or dynamic environments through heavy optimization and flowgraph polish.

So what does this all mean in summary? Part 2 is going to look a lot better. It is going to feature a polished lighting and design philosophy to it. New custom shaders have been introduced into the project as well. Object pop-in is gone, the environments are infinitely more varied and detailed, it has cutscenes and trackview sequences... and more.

In Closing...

We are aiming high with Part 2. I am set on Worry of Newport being a polished, immersive, enjoyable and authentic experience unlike anything currently released this year. It is as close to a playable horror story as you will get, with its roots in books and literature, rather than horror gaming. It is going to be a monumental task to finish by June 1st, but we are all up for it. Part 2 is shooting for the top, in promises to bring *true* horror fans what they have been asking for for years.

Media, trailers, gameplay footage, .pdf's and more will be uploaded over the course of the coming weeks in regards to part 2.