Things have been slow on our side, and I apologize for the lack of updates. It is hard to work on the project when you don't have the graphics needed for a release (We're basically done with what we want to release for a Preview 1, but we need more graphics and less placeholders). However, we now have two modelers on our team - I forget if I named the first one, but their names are Volothos/Volo The Tengu, in college for 3D Animation (if I remember right), and Satsuki Myouriko/Fluffghost, a fresh out of college graduate in 3D Animation. Volo is handling our buildings (he's responsible for the new Kappa Barracks redesign - we have a newer version of it that needs to be uploaded), as well as handling some of the tanks. Satsuki is handling - or going to handle - the infantry models. She has yet to start, due to reasons outside of the mod, and she's learning how to make the models appropriately for the engine so they work. Ichor and I have seen their work, and we can attest that they are good at what they do, as well as beginners at their trade (But then again, this project is full of beginners all striving to make something enjoyable).
Like I said, most of the work we want done for a first preview is finished. Not all of it, but it's workable. We're in the process of testing concepts in multiplayer via CnCNet (And we'll figure out how the AI works so the AI can make proper use of the new additions and changes). And if you hadn't noticed, I recent;y uploaded a screenshot of a new unit in the game - the Transport Saucer! However, while doing all this, two "new" maps have been finished and added to the mod! Yes, more locales to dominate the AI or your friends, fun! Except they aren't new locales at all.
The first of the new maps is a remake of the Sanzu River map included in the previous releases. The development team agreed the map felt kind of blad, however we had bigger reasons for remaking it - for some reason, at odd intervals, the map would just freeze. No crash report, just a freeze. Music would continue to play but that was it. The new Sanzu River map, Higan Detour, is essentially the same thing, an 8-player map, just with a few new bells and whistles. First of these changes is that there is a new northern area to the map, which represents Higan. It's a small urbanized area atop a cliff with a waterfall leading into the Sanzu. At the back of Higan is Eiki Shiki, Yamaxanadu's Courthouse (Which may get a better graphic in the future - it current;y uses the Lincoln Memorial). The player deployment areas have been redesigned due to being a new map, but have been given a bit more eye-candy. Ore feels more natural on the map as well instead of giant swathes of it between bases. Tech buildings have been changed around - on each side of the map there is one Grilled Lamprey Stand, a Mercenary Structure. Near the bottom of the map is a Tengu Outpost, which contains the Hatate Variant of the Spy Plane. Near the top, by Eiki's Courthouse, is two Tech Oil Derricks Rice Refinement Outposts. Higan Detour comes with a Day and Night variant.
The other new map is called Scarlet Lake. It is, at its core, almost exactly the same as the map Frozen Lake, except the center of the map was changed around so that there is a small island with four bridges leading out to it on each side. At the center is the Scarlet Devil Mansion and Clocktower, but of more critical importance are the Divine Grains(?) that encircle the Mansion. Scarlet Lake comes with a Day and Night variant, and, unlike its predecessor, is a Six-Player map. A third map of Scarlet Lake is included called Scarlet Lake (Bloody Night), which, if the name didn't give it away, is a variant of Scarlet Lake that is red like blood. What else is on it? Who knows! This variant of the map is a Day map only, so you won't be able to get your sicknasty night stats on this map.
There are several more maps planned out which I haven't started yet (and might not for a while, mapping out Higan Detour was hard enough for a first map), such as Empire of Purity, Flawed/Flawless Nirvana, Kingdom of Demons, Paradox Space, Domain of the Broken, and a few others I haven't name dropped. See if you can guess what those are planned to be! I don't know how many maps the mod will have, considering making maps based off Gensokyo locations is troublesome due to how compacted everything is, but I am trying to come up with locations with unique location designs.
People probably believe the mod is dead, and it's not an unreasonable thought. We move slow, news updates are few and far between, and I'm probably not the best project leader. We aren't dead just yet though, I believe that there's still a flame still there, and the others feel the same way. I don't know when the next update will be, but you'll see it here first.
- DerxwnaKapsyla
PS: I did a thing in the news headline which'd be sad if left unnoticed. I am terrible at jokes
