Q & A Time

[teratos]

In IRC Whoever mentioned that we should add more content to our FAQ so now you once again have the opportunity to submit questions, which we will answer at a later date.

[whoever]

Q: Whats up with the graphics? They look so outdated and dull.

[word]

Zing!

[fleeky]

whoever please give us specific examples of what stuff looks dull ..

although if your talking about the level lighting than yes your right and its because gg sucks .. thats the short of it atleast..

[BlindOldMan]

Will the single player/trainer be as long as tribes vengeance single player is?

What are some of the differences between Base and Ren at this time?
Or How base is base?

Will the net code provide smooth playability or will it be like TV?

Where did the paypal donation link on the donation page go to? ; )

What packs are currently in the works?

What armors are currently in the works?

How many maps do you guess will be in the full release?

What kind of support do you think there will be for Modders?

Will there be integration with a TWL type ladder manager?

Will voice chat be a part of the package?

Will there be a clan manager built in?

Will there be a way to support devs that continue patching the game after release?

What banning options will be included with server admin?

How can we the users help to support the games growth?

Will rlh always love me the way I deserve?

Can I use smilies in chat?

[teratos]

Good questions, keep sending 'em. We'll be trying to answer them all in an update to the FAQ/News Release.

Something we get asked quite a bit (so I figure we should address again):
Will there be automatic map downloading?

[rlh]

Best thread in a long time. Keep posting Dev's.

rlh

[teratos]

Reading through emails I came across another of our top 3s:
Is Ascension Tribes? Will it be similar? If so, how similar? etc...

[Danderson]

Will Ascension cost anything?

What can I do to help, in any way?

If I wanted to join the team, what would I do?

What are the system requirements for Ascension?

Is Ascension like a remake of Tribes 1/2(/V?), a sequel (spiritual successor), or does it just take the base concepts and build on those?

Which Devs is it not safe to insult?

What will constitute cheating?

If Anna has 3 apples, and Johnny has 1 and Anna gives Johnny 1 apple, how awesome will Ascension be?

Are you gonna sticky this thread?

[whoever]

3 of those questions are already answered in the faq.

[Avisan]

Originally Posted by whoever

Q: Whats up with the graphics? They look so outdated and dull.

Honestly, I'd say the player models and textures look dull. The weapon models and effects look fantastic from what we've seen of the screenshots, but the models/textures for the armors need work.

I have a thread about this, but it's mostly just speculation and a semi-rant about how the armor proportions need to be improved. If any Ascension developers could add their input or explain to me what has happened with the armor models recently (in case I missed anything), I'd appreciate it.

The interiors do look outdated though. Individually, the textures are pretty good, it's just that the interiors carry no specific artistic theme. Maybe it's the result of multiple people working on the same things with different ideas in mind, but one of the most important things for a game is an art style. The problem is in hallways, the ceilings might be smooth and flat, the walls might be detailed, while the grating doesn't appear to have normals, etc.

Like I said though, the weapons look great. The environments look pretty good, too. The trick is matching the gritty, semi-realistic style of the terrain and weapons to the vehicle, armor, and interior textures. Consistency in the graphics is required for a game to look great, instead of just so-so.

[teratos]

Originally Posted by Avisan

Honestly, I'd say the player models and textures look dull. The weapon models and effects look fantastic from what we've seen of the screenshots, but the models/textures for the armors need work.

I have a thread about this, but it's mostly just speculation and a semi-rant about how the armor proportions need to be improved. If any Ascension developers could add their input or explain to me what has happened with the armor models recently (in case I missed anything), I'd appreciate it.

The interiors do look outdated though. Individually, the textures are pretty good, it's just that the interiors carry no specific artistic theme. Maybe it's the result of multiple people working on the same things with different ideas in mind, but one of the most important things for a game is an art style. The problem is in hallways, the ceilings might be smooth and flat, the walls might be detailed, while the grating doesn't appear to have normals, etc.

I'll try to clear a few things up, 'The Pope' armor seen in multiple screenshots was decided against using as the medium player armor. We're considering using it as the bot armor though.

For player armors, we are going with the more organic models seen here and in Fleeky's Blog.


The interiors come in several different flavors. Each faction in the game has a different architecture. Our level designers are experimenting with different designs and enjoy getting community feedback. Some screenshots and comments from the designers can be found in the level design category of blogs.

We haven't done too much with textures yet, but Rooster128 recently posted some textures for the AIN faction.

[fleeky]

without some examples all i can do is try to imagine what your talking about ..

but the jist of it is that there are parts of this engine that we are using that are very nice like the atlas terrain .. and then there are parts that are crap .. like texture handling .. bsp lighting, lighting in general .. basically the lighting in this game is only a shade better than tribes 2 in many cases .. it now has normal and bump mapping but thats where a lot of the high tech ends so we sometimes have an uphill battle in terms of trying to get the shiny out ..

so were werking on it !

http://ascension-game.com/index.php/...=&sort=i.added

i think that armor looks pretty good .. maybe not aaa title quality but still pretty nice .. if you know of any spare aaa quality modellers that feel like working on a free game for no money please throw them our way hehe

[Avisan]

Cool. Thanks for clearing things up for me guys. It's a shame the engine is so two-faced... I'll be interested to see what you're able to pull off as the game nears completion, overall things look great so far.

[Kabraxis]

The potential lack of a large enough community to have an "alive" game is what scares me most, so i am just curious as to the steps you guys are taking to ensure a community. I've brought up Steam a couple times in the past, have you looked into things like that? Advertising in magazines and online is probably too expensive for a non-profit project right?

One thing I wanna recommend is Google AdWords. You put an ad on there and it shows up on sites with things related to some key words you designate to go with your ad so you can make it show up in places with a good target audience. Just check it out, I don't think it's terribly expensive.