I wanted to show some of my progress on the mod I've been working on for CoH2.
Mod Summary
The mod is NOT A REALISM/HISTORICAL MOD nor is it BLITZKREIG COH 2. Instead, I focus on bringing a really new perspective about the game and create an atmosphere/ambience that makes a player feel more like a captain commanding a company rather than a lieutenant controlling a platoon or a sergeant controlling a squad. Something I noticed with a lot of mods out there in Coh1 and Coh2 is that they start to steer gameplay and feeling towards a platoon/squad level. Even the base games are more of a platoon level even though the game is called "company" of heroes. I achieve this goal by making the game more geared towards rewarding strategy rather than tactics with core changes in mechanics and features that are extremely unique to my mod. More info can be found on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1192
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =853862464
I have uploaded my mod onto the steam workshop for people I've added as friends on Steam. I would love to have my internet family of WW2 gamers give me an opinion of the game!
Here are some "game reviews" I've gotten from some testers:
"Describing it in short, its like I don't play CoH but a new game instead that I bought today" -Warhawks
"It definitely doesn't feel like CoH. It's like a beast of its own. And I'm liking this beast >:)" -Ivelios
I'm not making it public yet because there are still a LOT of changes to be done and made. More about my progress on the Steam Workshop page.
Some screenshots to show what's going on (not all from the same game):
I wanted to give the "Captains" view of a company rather than a Lieutenant moving his own platoon which other company of heroes games is more of an approximation of in terms of scale. So I looked at tactical situation maps and used that as my artistic inspiration for the mod.
- Inspiration for gameplay mechanics.
- More inspirational maps.
So now if you look at how the current in game minimap looks...
- Minimap display, early game setting the stage.
- map1.png (260.84 KiB) Viewed 13748 times
Here I have a game set up on a Blitzkrieg classic map, "La Fiere". This is the beginning of the game when the German Heer lays the frontlines in preparation to face the incoming US horde.
As units move into position, you'll notice that they move in full true "squads" with some historical maneuvers and weapon loadouts.
- A grenadier squad moving in staggered column formation on the La Fiere road.
More units called in and positioned at the scale of a true company rather than platoon.
A Panzer IV platoon is called in to sit on the sides, ready to lead a breakthrough on the Allied flanks.
- It's not a spam, it's a Panzer IV platoon. Move in tactical battlegroups for strategic plays, not silly micro-driven vehicle ballet.
Airborne rain from the sky in this mod (instead of dropping down like some Halo Master Chief insertion of a few OP men).
- Airdrop paratroopers in full platoon sizes rather than single squads.
How does this affect gameplay? I'll give a better breakdown on mechanics in a replay video maybe and explain why this "SPAM" isn't really a spam at all.
Action shot of an American squad being pinned down by a Panzer. Notice how the squad comprises of different kinds of men, in this case the platoon leader is comprised of a Lieutenant, a Staff Sergeant, a medic, a "radioman" (ugh no model for a radioman...), a autorifleman, and 4 garand riflemen.
- The American lead platoon (squad) getting pinned by a Panzer IV.
Later gamplay of the ever evolving map.
- Late game puncturing the Allied lines.
- map2.png (261.29 KiB) Viewed 13748 times
I'll try to add a replay up soon, maybe as a YouTube video so a download isn't required to watch some of the game in action.
Open places for help:
Unit & Faction Design
I don't mean actually creating units but rather designing them and how they fit with the entire faction. This requires a really strong understanding in the fundamental gameplay aspects I want in the game (which are always changing as well). It also requires a bit of historical knowledge to give the game a bit of thematic coherence. Do you know Soviet Army organization structure? Do you know relative weapon performances of Soviet weapons and vehicles? I need most help designing the Soviets faction from the ground up.
Descriptive Writers
Accurate and interesting descriptions and text is extremely important to make a game really polished as well as guide new players. This takes a lot of knowledge in the game fundamentals as well as some historical knowledge/research to add the extra flavor for thematic coherence. Eventually this may turn into art and graphics designing for unit portraits/game logos/etc.
Testers
Probably the hardest job is being a tester because this game is REALLY new. Ask Illa, a long time BK player, and his general opinion of the game. He would probably say it's shit. There is a huge knowledge curve to the game because it really doesn't flow or behave like vCoH or BK. But, once you learn a lot about the game I think you'll find that it can really be quite epic and rewarding. After you've learned the game, I need the tester to break the game. Break it until something can TRULY be deemed OP or a core fundamental problem. On top of this, there is the expectation that you will be testing an unfinished product, prone to change drastically and frequently. Staying flexible, adaptable, and patient with the game is immensely important in testing. But, you will be so appreciated in taking the time to play what is currently a piece of crap.
FAQ:
Can you change the models to make them look historical?
No. SEGA doesn't want people making their own models probably to protect their own pay-to-play assets. Skins on the other hand (which is what you REALLY want) is fair game. BUT, all skins are on the user side to manage, not the modders. Aesthetics are driven by which skins you've decided to add onto your units. So, you can put any skins you want! Here are some suggestions for that "realism flair":
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... earchtext=
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... earchtext=
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... earchtext=
And plenty more on the workshop to search to your heart's content!
Can you make inf look historical?
No. And you can say a big fuck you to SEGA for that.
(This isn't a question just a comment I get a lot) CoH2 just looks like shit.
I know. I found out that a lot of the artwork was budgeted really cheap by the corporate sponsors for this game. So, in general the game looks like Mario Bros WW2 edition. But, I've taken a closer look with an eye for design on what exactly made the game look so bad. Here's a quick analysis:
1. Supersized, slow, excessive, lobbing projectiles. When projectiles look like this:
- 88mm "Bullet Bill" PzGr 40
- bulletbill.png (1.83 KiB) Viewed 13748 times
It's going to look like a cartoon. So what I've done in the mod is removed the projectile art and sped the projectiles up. Because chances are, when a piece of explosive filled metal flies at a million miles per hour at a tank, you're not going to see it.
2. The game is super zoomed in making for a poor "battle view" experience after we've all been spoiled on BK. This is something that makes vCoH1 look like shit as well, we are just spoiled. What's the solution? Thank the BK dev team for providing it already!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... blitzkrieg
3. Rainbows. Fucking. Everywhere.
Thank the BK dev team again! They built a mod that turns off team colors which tones down the color and brings the art of the game to a more realistic state.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... blitzkrieg
Another tip is to turn off unit occlusion. That's the thing that makes your units light up like an LED light whenever they are behind something. Makes me want to puke. It's a WW2 game, not a Christmas tree.
4. Lazers and shit. This goes back to projectiles, but for some reason every gun in CoH2 has tracer rounds. And a LOT of them. So the game looks like Star Wars instead of Saving Private Ryan. What I've done is turned off tracers except for MGs for that historical flair. I've even gone so far as to calculated the historical tracer rounds per ammo set for the guns so that the tracers will shoot out at approximately the rate they would historically (may still need adjustments. It's also off an RNG system so it isn't perfect).
