Housekeeping

[[NE]Fobby[GEN]]

We're just about ready to roll into our next phase of development, and so it's time to let you in on our housekeeping business.

New Forums!

The current Renegade X forums served us well (not really), but it's been needing some visual and technical upgrades. We will be migrating to a new phpBB3 forum this weekend. The new forums will require a password reset, so before you say that your old password doesn't work, please press the "Forgot Password?" button once the new forums are up. You will know the forum has changed when the layout looks different from the current one. And it'll actually be decent this time, we promise.

Beta Testing - Phase II

In March, we put out an application to our Phase II closed beta. For a long and tenuous application, we had an overwhelming response. We are happy to announce that roughly 75% of the applicants have been accepted and will be hearing from us on April 30th 2013. We will then give the testers some time to get cozy and familiarize themselves with the rules and tasks. The internal beta will start in May 2013.

Progress has been great. The game is running smoothly and most of the core features have been completed. A lot of polishing and bug-fixing is necessary, and we hope to be focusing on that in the next few months. Overall we are very excited to be starting our first rounds of major testing, and we'll be sure to show off some new footage in a little while.

Mesa

Mesa was a stock map for the original C&C Renegade, and it has now been remade. You can check out our full story on the map here: http://www.renegade-x.com/forums/showthread.php?51084-Beta-Preview&p=89869&viewfull=1#post89869

Below are some fresh new images:

Mesa is the first map that would feature the blue Tiberium that C&C Tiberian Sun made famous. Blue Tiberium is more valuable, but it is also explosive and therefore more dangerous to both infantry and vehicles.

Flak Cannon

6 months ago, we announced in our Game Design videocast that the GDI Tiberium-based weapons would be exchanged for new alternatives. This was a creative choice, and it was done because we believe that it is not in GDI's character to weaponize Tiberium. Tiberium and chemical weapons has been more associated with Nod in the C&C universe, so it was strange that GDI had more Tiberium weapons in C&C Renegade. As we've said in a previous update, Patch's Tiberium Flechette was exchanged for the new Tactical Rifle - the incendiary weapon featured in Black Dawn.

Moreover, because the same GDI character (Sydney) was used twice for two different character classes, we decided to exchange the 150 Sydney character with Angus McFarland from Black Dawn. This way we could avoid confusion in multiplayer with having two "Sydneys". Since her Tiberium Autorifle was removed from the game, we've created a new weapon: the Flak Cannon.

Not only did the Tiberium Autorifle not fit GDI, it was seldom used in multiplayer. The new Flak Cannon works much like the Unreal Tournament gun. It has two fire modes: the primary fire shoots flak shells that disperse with distance, and the secondary fire shoots a flak grenade. Since Nod's 150-credit weapon worked like an upgraded Flamethrower, we thought it would be befitting if GDI's 150-credit weapon worked like an upgrade of GDI's basic infantry as well. The primary fire resembles the shotgun while the secondary resembles the grenade launcher.

"The McFarland" will cost 150 credits, and it is most effective in close-quarter combat.

ChemSpray

The Nod Chemspray is the answer to the GDI flak cannon. It fires a deadly toxic gas that leaves a long-lasting poison effect on enemy infantry. The Chemical Warrior will also be given a Tiberium suit that will allow it to walk on Tiberium without harm. Check it out:

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That's all for today. Keep an eye out for more updates.

[alexrirak]

Looks nice, great to see progress!

[kenz3001]

awsome cant wait to play some renx

[nzdriver]

great update looking forward to some more footage

[ssjChris]

Awesome! Good news is that my finals should be done by then and all of my summer classes next semester are all online rather than lectures (takes me over an hour to commute to my uni). Would be shocked if I wasn't accepted in the beta, but regardless, but I'm very psyched not just for the beta, but that Renegade X is finally getting closer to it's release!

[ZeroHour60]

This looks amazing guys! Keep it up and hopefully see you on the battlefield!

[Majestatis]

glad to see some new activity

here's to hoping i get into the upcoming beta test

[Generalcamo]

Is that texture on the Chemical Sprayer final? That yellow on it doesn't look good to me. It looks like a Plastic Texture with a Metal-like model, which doesn't look good. Perhaps add a Normal Map to it or something to make it a little rougher?

[XD_ERROR_XD]

Is that texture on the Chemical Sprayer final? That yellow on it doesn't look good to me. It looks like a Plastic Texture with a Metal-like model, which doesn't look good. Perhaps add a Normal Map to it or something to make it a little rougher?

yeah, i kinda agree with that. it just doesn't feel right... also, that cartridge thingy is supposed to be transparent with the chemicals in it green, not just painted green with a label on it. it looks more like a toy then an actual weapon... i was wondering though, why didn't you keep the map all sunny and stuff, like in C&C Renegade?

new pictures of mesa look really good! i love the industrial feel on it. i was wondering though, why did you make the background so clouded and dark? it was all sunny and stuff in C&C Renegade.

[kenz3001]

im sure i t will look different in game, UDK materials can be tweaked endlessly

[[NE]Fobby[GEN]]

We've got plenty of sunny maps in the new multiplayer (Lakeside, Goldrush, Walls, Islands, the upcoming Hourglass). Besides Field, this is our only dark map. We wanted to give this map a more ominous feel, kind of like Tiberian Dawn and Tiberian Sun. You can read about the story and artstyle in the link given in the first thread.

As for the Chem, believe me when I say we tried every colour in the spectrum and although I get what you're saying, this was the only colour scheme that kind of "works". It's not perfect at all. Though as Kenz said, it does look better ingame.

[woandre]

Another nice update, sexy!

[nzdriver]

Mesa, Field what happened to city that's a dark map too

[Havoc89]

We only have a small hand full of environment artist, and maps can take a while to get done (properly with optimization, AI paths and what not). Usually with every beta test we find more bugs/issues with the maps and the artist who worked on them has to fix them up. So that does not leave much time for new maps to be made. Right now we have a very good number of maps that are close to completion, and we want to make sure that they are all polished before we bother with more maps.

[XD_ERROR_XD]

Fobby[GEN]]We've got plenty of sunny maps in the new multiplayer (Lakeside, Goldrush, Walls, Islands, the upcoming Hourglass). Besides Field, this is our only dark map. We wanted to give this map a more ominous feel, kind of like Tiberian Dawn and Tiberian Sun. You can read about the story and artstyle in the link given in the first thread.

As for the Chem, believe me when I say we tried every colour in the spectrum and although I get what you're saying, this was the only colour scheme that kind of "works". It's not perfect at all. Though as Kenz said, it does look better ingame.

oh, but i don't mind that mesa got all dark and stuff, it really fits with the industrial theme of the map

and let's hope that chem sprayer will look better in-game, and even if it's not, it's still a nice weapon

[KwisatzHaderach]

Thanks for the update!

I'm loving the new Mesa, it's overflowing with atmosphere and is a good replacement for the bland original map.

Concerning the ChemThrower: I actually don't mind the colours so much, it works for me. What I find alot more irritating is the layout of the weapon. What are the two barrels for? Especially the upper one, as the chemo-cartridge seems to diembogue into the lower barrel (which seems like an odd design desicion in the first place).

Then I think it would have been better to make the weapon a hip-firing one, like the minigun in the original game. Having iron sights and a recoil pad on a weapon that throws liquid seems to be out of place.

[XD_ERROR_XD]

Thanks for the update!

I'm loving the new Mesa, it's overflowing with atmosphere and is a good replacement for the bland original map.

Concerning the ChemThrower: I actually don't mind the colours so much, it works for me. What I find alot more irritating is the layout of the weapon. What are the two barrels for? Especially the upper one, as the chemo-cartridge seems to diembogue into the lower barrel (which seems like an odd design desicion in the first place).

Then I think it would have been better to make the weapon a hip-firing one, like the minigun in the original game. Having iron sights and a recoil pad on a weapon that throws liquid seems to be out of place.

yes, but if i'm right, the iron sights were implemented in the C&C renegade version as well. firing with such a weapon while looking through that scope would look hilarious though

[danuggster]

I have to agree with the consensus that the chem sprayer does look a little toyish. I think it may be mostly down to the brightness of the colours. Here is a side by side comparison of the new with the old:

2164051-gun03.jpg[/attachment]

This is an example of a gun which I believe looks possibly more plausible, however also looks a lot less robust and less gun-like than the version present in the original renegade. More like something designed to exterminate the weeds on your driveway instead of you.

Regarding the map, I think it looks great with a darker atmosphere. and since I loved the artwork of the "Tiberian sun" age I think it looks great.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Guest

[Generalcamo]

If you notice, the yellow on the Renegade weapon looks less "clean", which might help to alleviate the concerns. Perhaps put that noise in this model as well, and perhaps that will fix the toyish look it has now.

[fraggoth]

I don't really mind the "new" RenX Chemsprayer gun all that much.

If anything, the only gripe I have is with the green canisters. In Vanilla Renegade, it looked like it was filled with glowing, green tiberium. The new one looks like someone took some forest-green spray-paint to the canisters (that sounded really harsh, sorry!).

Also, if I remember correctly, the Vanilla-Ren chemgun had larger canisters in relation to the rest of the gun. Granted, this could all just be the lighting/positioning in the picture, so I might be totally off-base here.

Honestly, though, it looks pretty much fine. Not a high priority.

[Fr3EdOm]

Mesa II, beta applications accepted, weapon debut.

Indeed, I am grinning like a goddamned idiot right now.

My own two cents: this McFarland character should be completely tossed out for the Logan character from the single player m00_tutorial mission. Much more suitable and badass!