Welcome to the second melee update. Last time we have shown you what to expect of the new melee design with a couple of videos for better imagination of how it will work. This time we will be going though each of the subsystems one by one. Each subsystem will get its own update and the updates specific to melee will be made every couple of weeks with each of the updates done by a different development team member.

Short history of the Simple Melee system

ESF Beta 1.0:
-First introduction of Simple Melee
-Lock on required to swoop with only forward swoop possible
-Head-ons won by lower ping players
-Blow back length and speed enough to cover half of the map
-Chance for unlimited areal combos

ESF Beta 1.1:
-Head-ons won by player with more KI remaining

ESF Beta 1.2.X:
-Lock on removed in favor of the double tap swooping system
-Blow back speed and distance decreased drastically
-2 hit limit for areal combos implemented to cope with easier chaining of hits
-Head-ons changed to both players hitting each other and being blown apart

With that small history of the simple melee system behind us let me present the changes made for ESF:Final. The changes can easily be summed up into a few short paragraphs.

Damage and Blow back

In the past damage and blow back dealt from a melee hit was consistent no matter how the hit was done. In ESF: Final the blow back and damage dealt with simple melee will depend on 2 things. The first is speed, meaning that the faster you go the more damage blow back is done. The second is power, which can be considered the power level difference between the two players. Whether a player is stronger or weaker than an opponent will affect how much damage and blow back are dealt. Of course limits have been set as to how much damage may be dealt to players.

Continuous melee hits

The two hit limit has been reverted back to the infinite hits for simple melee.. To balance the system out each new hit you do will cause a bigger knock back to the opponent so it gets harder with each hit. Getting the second hit is relatively easy, but with the third one it'll become harder as knock back speed and distance increases with each hit.

Collisions

With the incorporation of head-ons in ESF Beta 1.2 players that simultaneously attack each other with the same attack would be knocked back from each other. The system was further updated to include improved visuals.



Bonus points

With the addition of special moves a system was added to allow players to earn bonus points and then use them to "buy" special attacks. Bonus points are earned by performing actions in the game, such as simple melee hits. The system is designed so that more advanced actions are given a greater reward. For example, a simple melee hit will give you 1 point; the second hit will give you an additional 2 points, third hit 4 points, fourth 8 points and so on. Of course this only counts for continuous hits. If the target recovers from his blow back your point multiplier also gets reset.

The developers of Lethal Stigma, Agent Red Productions, are now accepting private beta applications for the modification. If you are at all interested in testing Lethal Stigma before it is released to the rest of the public, have a look! Also, an official website for Lethal Stigma has been launched.



That's right, private beta signups for Lethal Stigma are now open! We will only be accepting up to 30 testers at this time, so if you're at all interested in testing the modification, make an account on this website, login, and click the link below: Lethalstigma.com

Please read all of the terms before submitting your application and take the process seriously. Don't worry, everything can be found on that page.

You can see that a new website has been launched for Lethal Stigma. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be tricking out this website to make it the best it can be. I plan to make everything as user-friendly as possible and the registration process totally streamlined to ensure the Lethal Stigma community thrives as development on the modification continues. So please, register and have a look around when you get the chance. While this website is certainly still a work-in-progress, that doesn't mean you aren't allowed to have a peek at what I'm up to.

I greatly look forward to reading all of your applications. We expect a lot of volume in the coming days, so best of luck! More details regarding the experience and upgrade systems will be announced later this week, too, so stay tuned.

Visit our website @ Lethalstigma.com
Join the official Lethal Stigma Steam group @ Steamcommunity.com

Hello again folks! It has a been a little while since our last update but we are still working hard to bring new life to this mod. We have some new pictures to show you today highlighting the prison, island, and concept art. First let's start with the prison update.



Now onto the inner Island. Neahc and Pfannkuchen_gesicht have updated the Island and added new content.



Last but not least we had a new member join us in the past week or two, Talros. He has been working hard with new concept art and blowing us away.


And now again, Ads...
The Prison Island Team is searching to fill two positions this week.
A Texture Artist to skin the weapons and an Animator to animate them.
Contact us here on ModDB or our Forums if you are interested.

Be sure to check out our Website and Forums for special updates.

That's it for today folks! Have a nice day and see you next time.

I've been stuck for a long time on the intro to the mod. You might recall that there were some images posted a few months back of dubious quality that I've since removed. That was work from the intro sequence to the mod. I spent quite a while planning and building this large sequence that was to serve as a tutorial and intro to the game. It grew to two maps by itself. But none of it was working. I was trying to pack too much story into the game, and it wasn't any fun.

So I instead spent last month letting the intro simmer in the back of my mind while I focused on detailing the canals map that you see below. It's the first map in the water treatment plant portion of the mod that spans 2 individual maps. What's funny is that as the details (collapsed roof, wires, lights, windows, etc.) are being added they keep suggesting new details, puzzles, level elements, back-stories, etc. so the available tweaks and changes I could make to any particular area never seems to diminish.

In fact, after detailing, the map in the video is within probably 50 brushes of being too full to compile (I forget the error I was getting. Something like MAX_BRUSH_FACES.) I had to delete some stuff to even compile it for the video! And please check out the demo if you haven't yet!

Download Overheid Demo from ModDB

Overheid - Water Treatment - Water Tanks fight video


Overheid - Water Treatment - Drain video


Overheid - Water Treatment - Main Road video

Beta 4, the long awaited latest build, is upon us all! Be sure to read all of this update but then hurry so you can be among the first in one of our dozens of servers pre-installed with GoldenEye: Source Beta 4 epic-ness!

- Goldeneye Source Beta 4 - Full Client
- Goldeneye Source Beta 4 - Server Files

The people who wish to create a server alone needs to download this server package. You don't need to download the hotfix as that's included in this package! It fixes a bug where players drop weapons on round restart. This was causing oddities to occur.



GoldenEye: Source is a total conversion modification of Half-Life 2. It is a fan made recreation, released for free, with only one goal in mind; to bring the memories and experiences from the original GoldenEye64 back to life using Source Technology. We want you to look at this mod and remember the first best multiplayer first-person shooter ever made.

Hey watchers and everyone else reading this, we're nearing one month of development now, the mod is almost ready... but... read on for more!

First of all, the new preview image, a variety of ModDB related images you can see around our ModDB page were created by Wills from Jailbreak:Source on which he did a great job, sadly the CSS didn't work out so well, but despite his busy schedule he's going take a stab at fixing that up. For now the top navigation bar of ModDB is ... kind of hard to read, please bear with it, it will hopefully be taken care of soon!

So next on to the other news, the mod has neared a potential alpha release, but with the (coming) release of PVKII on Steamworks and the first release of Kingdoms Collide next week the alpha release may be skipped, meaning the mod will release as an open beta with more custom content than the alpha, this all depends on how things go, assuming there will be more content, one of the things I'm looking forward to is a new gravity gun model.

Wills who I mentioned above said he'd take a stab at making one for GraviNULL. Making something like that is no small task I bet and he's a busy busy man, so whether this will make it in with the first release remains to be seen, but knowing him it will be awesome if he does it!

A few interesting point of progress have been made which I'm going to list below the following new gameplay video, since everyone knows watching video's is more important than reading text!


GraviNULL Closed Alpha: Gameplay video 2

So what has changed since the last newspost?
Well check out this shoc... wait I'm using that line way too much! Anyway just check the list if you're interested!

• Added viewpunch when getting shocked by mines, messes up your aim in a nasty way.
  Added new gravity gun "absorbing" system:
  
  - Green = Grapple/Grab mode, you can grapple and "absorb" mines in this mode.
  - Red = Normal punt mode, activated inititally when having a mine absorbed
  - Blue = Seeking mode, lower damage but seeks targets increasing hit chance.
  
  
• Fixed grapple beam remaining active when grappling through solid objects
  
  Changed grabbing/"absorbing" to be done with left mouse button, this gives the player more control when to grapple mines or when to grab them, also allowed me to increase range and add cone checking to make it alot easier to grab mines.

The most major change is of course the gravity gun absorbing system, this means you will no longer have laggy mines lagging behind you making the gravity gun act a lot more like something similar to a rocket launcher instead of the good old hl2 gravity gun.

The grabbing and the different modes have altered effects and the crosshair changes according to the active mode, reminding you which mode is active without needing to take your eyes of the crosshair.

So a release is still gonna let you waiting, but the extra time will be used to polish up that release alot more! That was all for today, if you like what you're seeing and aren't watching the mod already click the "Track now!" button to be informed as soon as new media or news is uploaded and/or authorized.

Hello Folks! We're back again with an update on our recent progress. So lets get straight to business . Let me first show you the new prison parts! Remember those pics are WiP and the maps are not finished yet. Not fully detailed and not fully done brushwork wise. The old stuff first.

Here is the actual Cellblock A7 by damagefilter:


Now, Cellblock F5 by Pan Zwieracz:

Unfortunately we can't show you D8 this time, Modifier is still working on it. You'll see it on the next update.
Now here's our Island. It has new Color Correction and a lot of new plant models. We changed the light setting to make it look like it was just raining. I think we managed to get the feeling very good.
Here comes the Island by neahc:


And now, here's our awesome particle made waterfall. The particles were made by pfannkuchen_gesicht. He did some great work on it.

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Last but not least, our new weapon WiPs.

The Beretta:

The RPG Launcher:

The Rival Species team are pleased to announce the release of the first publicly available, playable, version of Exterminatus - Rival Species 2.

Exterminatus is a warhammer 40,000 themed modification for the Source engine featuring:

Team mission based game play

Two teams, Marines and Tyranids

Eight playable classes

Five maps set in the 41st millenium

Visit the Exterminatus website http://40ksource.com for details and downloads of the new public beta.

Over the years one of the most heavily debated topics within the development team has been the melee system. This system alone has required hours upon hours of discussion, design, redesign, re-redesign, re-re-redesign, re-re-re-redesign... you get the picture. Let's just say it's the reason that beer is now available on team meeting's menu. All of that aside, I am happy to announce that we have finally found a winner!

There were a few realizations made during the last round of the design process that have had a huge impact on the new system.

1. Players really enjoy simple melee
2. Melee is more about out maneuvering opponents than just mashing buttons
3. There needs to be a way to do complex moves in a simple way
4. ESF's mascot Phil the three headed emu will hurt us if the system fails

As a result, new moves have been implemented that retain the feel of simple melee, but offer players a way to string attacks together to form combinations.

Simple Melee: Mouse button 1
This light damage attack is similar to its beta counterpart with the exception that the knockback distance has been modified to allow average players to perform multiple melee hits more easily.



Combo Melee: Mouse button 2
A more damaging charged based melee attack that delivers several blows to an opponent. Holding a direction will send the opponent flying in that direction after the combo finishes. This is very handy for planning out the attack in the chain or for knocking opponents into objects that are to the left or right of the player.





Quick Throw: Mouse button 1+2
This attack is based on the beta throw, but with a twist. The ability for opponents to resist being thrown has been removed. Getting caught by this attack may result in your attacker repeating "who's your daddy?" over and over.



Grab and Smash: Mouse button 1+2 with turbo on
This vicious attack will remind players of that one time they had to stay the night in jail. It allows one player to grab another during swoop and drag them around. What the attacking player does from there is up to them. A couple suggestions are:

1. Forcefully fly the opponent around the map while giving them a scenic tour
2. Kindly smash their head into the ground and/or adjacent walls

...But, you said something about doing complex moves in a simple way?

In order to allow for the greatest flexibility and ease of use a framework was created where players earn bonus points through different actions, such as damaging an opponent, and spend those points on special moves.

Bonus System: Bonus button (C by default)
Bonus points may be applied to blocking, beams, and melee. Within each area there are three levels of bonuses; the higher the tier, the higher the cost and the more devastating the bonus. But that's really a discussion for another day. All you need to know for now is that once a melee bonus has been activated it's only active for a limited amount of time. It is crucial to setup your bonus attack using simple melee, combo melee, and throwing.

SSJ3 Goku - tier 3 melee bonus

Greetings!

Today we unveil the first gameplay footage from 2.3, due for release in December. The footage features first-person Gestir action, the new class joining the Viking team.



In the footage you also see a quick preview of te_sandstorm. te_sandstorm is a three-territory map based loosely on the old pvk_desertruin and being worked on by myself and Jahhur. More information and media will be available on that in the future!

In case you missed last week's post, be sure to check out the Full 2.3 Change Log!

Stay tuned for more media and information on 2.3 as we ready ourselves for release.

Well hello there!

Today, we have great news for everyone! Pirates, Vikings and Knights II beta 2.3 is currently in content lock and undergoing final testing and preparations for our first Steam release!

We have put together a full change log of what you can expect in 2.3. A few of the larger items in the change log include:

- New Class - Gestir
- Added Win system to use Medals now, Gold for winner and Silver for second placed team.
- Added over 100 achievements
- New Objective Score System
- Added kill assists
- Blocking direction is now chosen automatically according to the attack direction of the opponent closest to the blocker
- When attacking a blocker with a fully charged attack the blocker may be stunned and some damage will be delivered to him
- Reduced perfect parry effect
- Many balance changes
- New team and class selection menus
- Added a new GUI for the end of a Round that will display the top mvps for the winning team, or if its a draw, the top 3 from all teams
- Personal Score Breakdown now displayed on scoreboard
- Many map and game mode changes
- Many bug and exploit fixes
- and Much more!

For a full list of the changes in 2.3, check out our Full Change Log!

Now, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, we are currently undergoing our final testing and preparations for getting 2.3 on Steam. As it stands right now, we expect to have 2.3 released by the end of this year, assuming nothing major gets in the way!

More information on our release date will be available throughout the month. Until then, here are a few screen shots to check out!

I know it's been a good two weeks since we've had an update. I wanted to make sure we showed some good progress on what some of our team members are working on. Also, I'd like to apologise for the web site being down. Don't worry because we've got it all fixed thanks to Sky and we'll be making sure it doesn't happen again.

So onward with what everyone is interested in. First I'm going to show you guys the Buu model that Enix has been working on. He did an excellent job with the detail. Enix is a team player and he always comes to the table with excellent creative. Take a look at the screenshot below to see for yourself


The newest addition to our team Vassago has been hard at work with the new Buu Insides Map. I have to say that he is doing an amazing job and it's great to have professional experience on the team. He's no slouch when it comes to detail. Unfortunately we only have a wire frame of the map at it's current stage. We'll update you soon when he gets the finished product in our hands. Until next time folks!

Today is the 1st of October and it certainly is a good day. Eric Murphy has lately been putting in some extra time to pester the developers into helping him out with a special plan.

Well, we have one heck of a treat for you today! The plan was being put together, but we then made a last minute change to the 1st of the month update. Through Eric's nagging, he managed to get a hold of some sneak peak screen shots from a brand new map. I can't tell it what it is, but I'm sure you can figure it out.




Stick around for the October 15th RTTF posted on the forums for more news and information on the plan.