Update 296 Released!
System
Join Date: 2013-01-29 Member: 182599Members, Super Administrators, Reinforced - Diamond
Join Date: 2013-01-29 Member: 182599Members, Super Administrators, Reinforced - Diamond
Update 296 Released!
Wake up Marine! Time to get into action and learn your objectives. Trevor and many team and community members have been hard at work on our tutorial system and it’s time to release it into the wild. This new tutorial offers a better way of progression through the basics of NS2 for both marines and aliens and also helps new players understand the many complexities that the game offers. We couldn’t be more excited to see how this turns out and we’ve even hidden some fun Easter eggs throughout both tutorials, see if you can find them all 
There is still more to come and next week we look at our continued efforts to spice things up a bit, so stay tuned 
UPDATE INFO
Tweaks / Improvements
- Replaced the old tutorial with two brand new tutorials.
- One for each team
- Each takes place at a different map
- Designed to be interactive and less linear
- New script/story
- New UI
- New animations
- Two sets of Voiceovers (A/B test)
- Include two new secret achievements
- New Hive Status UI added which displays the following details:
- Type of each Hive
- Health point of the each Hives
- Location of each Hive
- Number of eggs located at each Hive
- Displays which Hive is occupied by the commander
- Only shows Locations that contain a TechPoint
- Shows if Eggs and Hive are taking damage
- Can be toggled via the HUD detail setting
- Moved Team Resources UI screen position for Aliens to accommodate new Hive UI
- Moved Personal Upgrades UI screen position to accommodate new Hive UI
- Removed Biomass UI fade in/out animation. It now instantly shows and disappears
- Steam Personas will no longer be changed by the game without player intent
- Added contextual on-click events to new player checklist in the Main Menu
- Normal achievements can’t be received at a listen server any longer
- Fixed black-screen on load issue for Windows 7 and some Linux clients could encounter when running a listen server, which was caused by incorrectly sized UDP packets.
- Fixed net_log debugging command not being applied to Listen Servers.
- Fixed script error that occured when killing a Command Station
Map fixes from Loki and Zavaro. Thanks guys!
- Biodome
- Fixed OcclusionGeometry in Atmospheric which was mistakenly added as CommanderInvisible
- Derelict
- Fixed stuck spot in Turbine
- Docking
- Fixed layers to contain appropriate geometry, assets, and lights
- Fixed leftover geo from previous builds including extra faces and vertices
- Fixed pathing mesh in Courtyard
- Eclipse
- Fixed CollisionGeometry in Generator Monitors vent to prevent people from accidentally falling through
- Kodiak
- Marine Start holo table is now flush with the floor
- Fixed some holes in the Biodomes
- Refinery
- Fixed pathing mesh in Chasm to stop AI from getting stuck
Comments
Also, the new tutorials are wonderful. Even if you are a veteran, you should try them out for fun just to see how good they are. I also really like the new hive status UI.
it's 6am... Rant is fixing now
Rookies will also definitively enjoy ONOS/EXO.
Great Job!
Only one thing is missing: translations
Will be available with Build 297.
(already working on the french one)
- I don't know about you guys, but my accuracy drops with default crosshairs.
- I can't drop my welder (nor eject from my exo). @Nordic I blame you.
- Request order was in previous tutorial but left out of this one?
- Letting rookies play exos in the tutorial will just lead to further disappointment in normal games.
- I'd rephrase primary task to defend the CC. Your primary task is to kill all hives. You can't let the CC die, but defending it does nothing and we really shouldn't encourage turtles.
- I think we should let them flash an onos by themselves first then drop them an onos egg to finish off the game with allies.
- I think we should include a section about gorges building faster than drifters.
- Maybe add a warning that HP values are adjusted lower in the tutorial?
I assume the tutorials are still WIP? They are better than the previous version but is still kind of light on content.
Even if they can directly rebuy a new one, with a message that point to the fact that in real game they will need a "long" time before buying a new one.
And thus that they should wait to be heal or go back to hive.
I noticed now that the lerk / gorge tutorial is also gone
Pretty accurate. I see no change to rage about.
2. I agree that it would have been a good lesson to teach the fragility of Onos/Exos. The Base Assault in the alien tutorial kind of conveys this... although I guess rookies don't look at their health like I do, and if they do, they might not understand that they're being kept alive by the tutorial there.
3. The alien tutorial gorge tunnel is called "[My name]'s tunnel". Just mentioning it in case that's a bug.
4. I figured out how to get Terminal Velocity Facepalm and Darwin Award (2 of the new achievements). Not sure if I should tell everyone, though
There is an A/B test. Some people will get Beige, some people will get my boring British self. We're testing some assumptions based of the differences in the VOs.
Good work ! now it's a real tutorial
As long as there is a sarcastic tone, I think we're good...
My question is: how easy would it be to open source + crowd source the scripting process here? Even if the default tutorial scheme remains more or less what it is right now, having access to an in-game database of developer approved "advanced tutorials" scripted by the community and sorted by category would be really useful for new and old players alike. There are so many layers that could be included: lifeform and weapon practice, advanced movement techniques, gamesense practice, lane blocking, etc. Bot AI would be the limiting factor for a lot of this in the short term, but I don't see why it's not possible in the long(er) term.
I'm just not sure how complicated that would be to manage. It could involve users merely writing out the event chain and dialogue for developers to implement (with the best ideas being included and the worst ones getting scrapped). That would work if the developers gave us a template to stick to. Or it could involve users doing the mod-work directly and the developers simply implementing the best work. That would work if we had a framework to stick to.
Just food for thought. I noticed that one of the Trello cards contained an idea for a fancy, in-game wiki accessible from the menu. This would be a similarly useful expansion.
I think this could be a great idea, not sure what it would take from the backend to work, but still could be great!
I also had some rubberbanding while moving in the vent from C12 to Topo during the alien tutorial, which was odd.
Rubberbanding seems to be caused by bots? Next maybe add a commander tutorial.
For example explain that flametrowers deplete energy of aliens since allot of people still don't know this.
Isnt this type of thing already explained by the hint videos at the first moment you buy a flamethrower ?
You're supposed to die with the first Onos? Woops.
Things like this should give new players an idea why they get wrecked as skulk so often.
Nice work.
As an addition some sort of group engagements might be missing.
And some hints about the primary role are of each class.
Skulk: Scout, resbiter
Gorge: Support
Lerk: Area denie, scout, support
Fade: Primary Marinehunter
Onos: Tank
Funnily enough there IS a walljump... well tutorial is too much, but let's say hint... in there. But you gotta find it first.
HAHA after 2000 hours i cant really recall something like that :')
A very fragile tank though... He's more of a hit and run crowd controller and chaos generator, his looks are too deceiving for newbies in any case
Compared to an skulk its very tanky.