I would like to point out a few things that are critical to the mod's further development. this post will be about:
.the percent bar
.release date
.popularity
The percent bar
I have decided to completely remove the percent bar from the mod's progress.
This is done because the meter was just way off and only caused confusion to a great ammount of people.
Chances are it will be added someday, but witha great reset. I want to recalculate in detail how much % is what.
The over and over modelling and finetuning of certain models made me post new updates but not update the percent bar.
I can't give a rough percent of what the mod is at right now.
Release date
For some of you this might ain't be a surprise, others are.
I am affraid that the current situation of work that's completed and that's need to be done is still too much to complete this project before April 14th 2012.
I really hate to announce this, and trust me I really don't like the way it's going now.
But understand this,
At the time I announced the Release date, I got a clean schedule that should have worked out.
3 months to finish the exterior, 3/4 months to finish the interior and the rest for scripting and beta testing.
The exterior got completed in time, but certain events in my personal life gave me very little time to work on the interior. this period continues untill the end of januari. Untill then progres does not go fast.
I really work as hard as I can and put most of my free time into it to get it finished. but sometimes things aren't just going the way you plan it.
I'll keep the release date on April 14th 2012, and do my best do achieve it. but don't be surprised if it will be delayed. After all, the release date still wasn't announced as definite.
Populatrity
One another setback is the slowly decreasing popularity of this mod, and the fastly increasing one of my competitor.
Many of you all probably have seen the cryengine 3 video featuring the interior of the ship.
I agree, it looks fantastic, better yet it looks incredible. and so do think many other people.
Nothing wrong with that ofcourse, they create a awesome project aswell. but that does mean that everyone who sees that footage will laugh at this project and turn their backs to it.
Something I always hoped was that this project would ever reach the larger crowds.
5 years of hard work It's still only known by the "few" who watch this project.
My competitor works on it for 2 years. got noticed by a few official websites, and his project gained more popularity in 4 days to what this project took 5 years to even attempt.
Again, I am NOT blaming them for anything. I just want to let you all know that it's not going to work in this mod's adventage.
Ofcourse the Cryengine opposite of the LS3D engine has a lot to do with it. Dynamic shadows, Dynamic lighting, reflections, post effects, other special effects, interactivity. ect. ect.
Then why am I not creating this mod for the Cryengine then? you might ask.
Well, obviously it's too late for that, Their models are in much higher quality than mine.
But besides that, I said I would make this mod for mafia, so that means I will create it for mafia. period.
Ofcourse after the release I will port it to other games, but by the time I will be able to, Some would probably already have done that with the Crysis one, or mine is just simply not interesting enough.
That's about what I wanted to announce, not very cheerful, but neccesairy to know.
Always remember this, setbacks or not, I will keep this project my main priority, and unless I die I Will finish what I start.
I would appreciate your understanding.
If you got an opinion about this, feel free to share it. just remember to post something constructive.
Comments like "I got a gut feeling this never will be finished" have I read more than this mod exists out of polygons. so anything like that will be deleted.
Don't be discouraged by a new competitor that uses some shiny new engine, because of that he will always have more work then you to achieve that kind of quality that he shown in his video, by working on a engine like LS3D you have the advantage that low poly, low shaders engines gives less work on the art side more work on the gameplay side, gameplay will be what makes or breaks your mod not graphics. Now continue the great work.
Yeah, don't worry too much, CryEngine is a buggy one, much like Source, it'll take them years to complete it, but chances are it's going to be cancelled anyways.
Rapsis how can you be so dumb? Cryengine 3 isn't "buggy". Its one of the best engines out there. Source also was one of the best engines in its time.
I support both projects. And I hope not one of them will get canceled.
You both are doing a great job.
Well a lot of the popularity for that video was because it made everyone Nostalgic for the old Titanic: Adventure out of Time game, which I believe would be awesome remade in Cryengine. Sure you're not doing that, but nonetheless the cryengine's beauty does everything perfectly. Especially that problem you had with the breakaway technique.
My thoughts is, what are you trying to prove? That you can make titanic in Mafia or that you are trying to make a definitive experience for the titanic? The former will be great but the limitations itself from that engine prevent the capabilities of the experience.
I'm not saying stop doing this, but I am saying your options are still open, without you being branded as a person of failure or a person who has given up.
I doubt Crysis 3 will run for my PC.. so i'm sticking with this. :)
I understand your slight frustration about the issue. Even I saw the video, because it was recommended on Youtube (automatically). It's like you can't escape it.
Free from bias, I must say it is a beautiful video with bad framerates. Their version of the Titanic is running, but it will need a lot of teleporting (to engine room and midsections, etc.) to travel through the ship. I also cannot imagine it being turned into a FPS of some kind, because of the quality they chose.
You will see your work pay out for you, on the long run. CE3 is not as easy to develop with as it seems. It is easy to map and make it look good, though. In my oppinion you are far closer to a game than they are, and since you will probably release earlier the popularity of that project may actually draw some people to your version of the Titanic and your mod.
I think you achieved a lot and have nothing to be sorry about. What you learned through this development will look impressive on your CV and nobody can take the experience from you. Any case, you can be proud of what you achieved. You'll be happy. We'll be happy :)
i too did see that video of your competitor, and one minute i was even surprised. thought it was your Mafia mod, but then i did understood it was a new Cry3 engine game, or mod. immediately i had to think of you, that this was just sh*t for you to see.
all in all, i know EXACTY what you are talking about, i make sp-mods for about 10 years now and have released quit a few of them by now. so i know as no other how the process is of making, and, actually releasing them. ofcourse, when modders put ALL there time and ALL there effort (for no money at all!!) in a project, then ofcourse we want it to be noticed and played by as many people as possible. the huge problem with mods is the game that we make it with, or the engine at least, and how old it is. and simply said, each year that that game gets older, the people that follow or notice you get smaller, in huge amount.
i am making my 5th HL2 (ep2) sp-mod, and it doesn't get 1/10 of the attention that my first Hl2 sp-mod did get, even when this one is much better as that one, when i may say so myself.
so, i know exactly what you mean. still know, your mod will be played, not by as much people as newer game engine projects are played, but still. and your mod has a very HIGH quality (from what i have seen till now) so it will be noticed for sure. its just the consequence of using older games for making a mod. its **** but true.
do finish it, to many times people get discouraged and stop, and then all work and effort is lost, for nothing. so, just keep carrying on. and when i was you i just wouldn't follow or even watch that other Cry3 Titanic project, that only hurts. not because its better, but because its a better engine, and newer, and therefore more popular.
keep up the greet work, i will keep tracking for sure!!
leon
i dont care about that mod this mod is the way to go fo me and to be honest i didnt even know theres a crysis mod like this it sounds like a copy of yours but im going to tell you something that mod looks like its dead and i like this mod better after all crysis didnt intrest me so keep the good work up mate you should be proud with whats your doing.
Thanks a lot for the feedback guys! It really means a lot to me.
I now see the more of the bright side of it thanks to you all.
This week I'll try to write a letter to 2K-czech, asking if I could perhaps have their SDK tools of M1. This will release the game engine's full potential. including lightmaps and such. and perhaps dynamic animated objects.
Not sure if I can get it. but I can always ask.
If I can get it, it will make things go much faster.
I can skip the tremendous timeconsuming job to convert the models in zmodeler for example.
Just like the people who made a few mods for the RPG game "Pirates of the caribbean"
the developers were struggling trying to break the source code of the game. they failed, untill someone just asked UbiSoft to have the code from them. UbiSoft gave it to them with no problem. who could have guessed that?
I don't see why the cryis Titanic mod would take away potential gamers, it looks like the mod is pretty much dead anyways. Plus you've had close to 400 visitors today only! 93000 total! Well keep up the good work, it's looking good!
The crysis mod is good but theyre just taking an idea you set into motion 5 years ago. Just remember dont get discouraged and keep on truckin and the results will be tremendous. Great job so far and good luck with the SDK. I know that Zmodeller is hell to convert especially to Mafia anyway good luck, and hope to see more progress soon. :)
always just ask, it wouldn't surprise me when 2K-czech would give you the SDK tools, because M1 is already so old now that there are no commercial issues anymore i assume.
always ask, (in my country the Netherlands we have a saying;)
nee heb je, ja kan je krijgen =
no you have, yes you can get!
leon
Ik probeerde al een fatsoenlijke vertaling te vinden voor dit spreekwoord :P
Ive also had my heart set on modding mafia because its so old and I can't believe I never thought to ask for the SDK airhead LOL Im sure you will get it as spy maps said 2K Czech really can't get much value from the original game. And what is so cool about the SDK is like you said you can do things no one even imagined with LS3D your mod will blindside the Crysis one and you'll start to see some major popularity because of the beauty of the mod and how it looks so good on Mafia and like I said I would much rather play this mod than the Crysis one because my rig can't handle it anyways good luck with the SDK :)
Well there may be only a few people watching this mod but at least we few do it pretty ardently.
Not only is Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven my favorite game so far, but I also have an ardent interest in history - and when I first came across this approaching opportunity to observe the most famous ship of all time in the frames of my very favorite game of all time, it was (and still is) impossible to get out of my head.
So it goes pretty much without saying that I check this page just about every day to see if any updates have been done.
I think Akella gave the source code away, because they weren't using the engine any more at all. If you got source access to M1 engine you could probably engineer something like M2's engine from it. That's why I don't think 2K will consider your wish; they protect their goods.
I wonder why Mafia never underwent such treatment as San Andreas. With realtime reflections and improved lighting and effects the engine has a lot more edge. If M1 could receive similar visual upgrades it would certainly make the visuals more interesting.
While I like a great looking game, especially in mods I am looking for other qualities, too. I'm mostly looking forward to the scenario and accuracy of timeframe (it fits so good with the Mafia timeline/style).