Waking up after a long, long time of inactivity news - The Battles of the Clone Wars mod for Star Wars Battlefront II

Long time, no see. After a long period of inactivity we are once again back on our path! Huge aspects of development have changed in the last weeks and new features have been thought out. WIth this article you will familiarize with the dev team and get to know all the major updates of the last week and, last but not least, get a sneaky peek into the features upcoming in the next patch that will be released in the first days of November 2018! Now let's take a look at the dev team members!

i2Bros

He was the original creator of the mod, the first one the program and edit the mod. Even though some says he gave a huge impulse to the community with TCW mod making and had a nice place in the ModDB SWBF2 Community, he flies low and stays humble. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and an admirer of the works of Dave Filoni. He is not gonna compile files first hands anymore, but he will play a role in managing and helping his dev team. His role in the dev team is: Lead Designer & PR Manager.

Stealion

Very talented and humble, he was basically the reason mod didn't die. He is eager to work with this dev team and can't wait to show you fans of the mod what he can do. He knows the engine better than anyone else in the team and has already proven some of his potential to us and soon he will prove to you, too, guys. He doesn't want to show off much and he calls himself the "under the radar guy". His role in the dev team is: Lead Programmer & Lead Animator.

_Fan

He is the 2D Artist of the mod. His signature animal is Han Solo. He has been following the development of the mod since its beginning, was also a alpha tester at some point and now he will give his contribution as Co-Developer. He is very dedicated and very talented and he can't wait to give it all in the development! His reliability is beyond what one can ask and he already had a nice impact to the mod in the past. His role in the dev team is: 2D Artist & Co-Developer.

John Pineda

He is our Lead Alpha Tester and a very funny and nice dude. He makes lovely impressions of Yoda, and he already became a sticker in our community. He will take care of all the wanna-be tester and make sure their priority is check and check again that the mod is fun (and smooth) as hell! His role in the dev team is: Lead Alpha Tester.

Those are the active members at the moment. Of course more people may join in and there is still time to get to know them! We have to mention of course also our brave and talented Alpha Testers:

• iBisho
• Wolffe
• LukeLovesCandy
• evill1

Now that you know the people behind the mod, let's take a look at the upcoming features and all the things you need to know about mod development and mod community!

Upcoming features

Even though we can't spoil much, we still want you to know roughly what's coming in the next versions of the mod. Whenever you want to check the features of the latest versions, released or not, you can check this link: Moddb.com

One of the most anticipated additions of Alpha 1.5 was Season 1-3 mode and consequently Phase 1 armour Clones. Even if you won't see more than a preview in the alpha, you will still get a feel of the final product. You will still be able to check great new models and I can guarantee that this on his own it's very nice and sweet. Sadly, gameplay won't change much at the moment. But in future, new unique legions, units and heroes will be available in this mod. For now, plain white clones are the only playable "legion".

Thanks to an intense and meticulous job by Stealion our team, mod files will receive better organization and in turns will occupy less memory. Hence we will be able to put more features than before without making the mod weight like a triple A game. It will also be possible to add new vehicles, new maps, new voice lines and sound effects!

Last but not least AI Hero support will be added! We are taking customization into consideration and a new unedited mode as well. In the Q&A on Discord yesterday (more infos below), we gave some hints on other smaller features and answered very nice questions by fans and discord members. So don't miss that next time!

New channels of communication & Community management

One of the things I worried the most for this time was to make sure communication between community was more efficient, professional, engaging and fun! That's why we opened multiple channels of communication and I will give you a preview of all of them.

A New Discord Server

After the disastrous end of the previous discord, Stealion and I decided to give some time into setting up a new, fresh and optimely organized Discord Server!

Server is active pretty much 24/24 h, there is always someone posting and we pretty much cover all the time zones. We have a channel basically for everything: fanarts, voice channels, youtubers sections ask-a-developer and more! There is also an alpha testers zone with a channel called "recruitment", where you can apply to become an alpha tester. Don't miss that out!

To make the server as smooth as possible Stealion and I were very strict on server roles. A clear hierarchy is there to prevent any abuse or any misuse of the servers. Now I'll explain you each and every one of them:

• Developers and Co-Developers: those are the members of the dev team and they can open new channels and new categories. They can be contacted not only via pm but also through the "ask-a-developer" channel.
• Lead Tester & Alpha Testers: they have a category and channels entirely dedicated to them. Their delicate job is to test the mod before hand to check bugs and make sure releases are as clean as possible. They can't open new channels, but they can mute and ban members. The Lead Tester in particular has more permissions than a standard member, but not enough to rule as a tyrant in the server.
• YouTubers: they have no privilege above the standard members, but they are generally given alphas soon after testers and before public to promote the mod. Criteria to become youtubers are not strict, but we will prevent people from abusing the system to get the mod before the others without giving a real support to the mod itself. That's why you can have this role only if you link your YouTube channel in the self-advertisement section. You will have to own an active YT channel with more than 400 subscribers and at least 5 videos uploaded.
• Members: regular users. They have access to all the channels, except Alpha Testers and Youtubers channels. They can contact developers through ask-a-developer or in the weekend trough "weekend-q-and-a" channel.

The main Categories of channels are:

• Public Channels
• TBCW ( The Battles of the Clone Wars ) Staff
• Voice Channels
• Tester Zone
• Youtuber Zone

Now that you have a complete picture of the whole thing, dive into the server and let the fun begin!

Youtube Channel

This is where all the multimedia files, including trailers and developer updates. They will always be available for you guys to check and there will be a lot of sneaky peeks and stuff to see. Subscribe now and turn on notifications! Right now there is still no video uploaded, but we will soon put some content in it so always check it up!

LINK: Youtube.com

Forum Section

Immediately available to all of you guys by clicking the "forum" section above the page or clicking here Moddb.com , the forums are the best place to find help for bugs, glitches and crashes. There's a developer section, called Patch Notes, Updates & Newsletter where developer updates and patch notes are published and a Community section, where fanarts, discussions about the mod and his balance or about features and bugs reports are posted. A Technical Support section is there to help people with troubles concerning installation and mid-game crashes. A FAQ subsection is open for you guys to check. Always try to check that before writing a new thread. Posts written in the summary section of the mod page will now have lower priority than the forums, so always post a thread if you need!

So this was it for the day! Don't forget to check the mod gallery and see you for the next updates and articles!

i2Bros.