Greetings RWR community! You can call me Fate.

I discovered this game a short while ago and when I saw the gameplay videos, I knew I had to try this. Man, what a great timewaster this game is. Onwards to my experience!

Pre-game
I was greeted with a config screen that displayed crucial graphical settings: Resolution, vsync and fullscreen/windowed toggle. I really like it, it brings out the elementary and important settings out front.

In the game itself, I had some fps issues (my laptop is very crappy, which is partly why this game was very appealing to me) but it could quickly be rectified with additional visual options. I got confused with the "line" options, but quickly learned about it's importance and effect.
Suggestion: Expand the line choice to govern the external border lines of buildings/walls as well, because at lower graphics when shadows aren't visible, it is very difficult to distinguish on buildings where the roof ends and fall starts (this applies mostly to buildings that have roofs at multiple heights).

Controls that can be rebound are always welcome.

In-game
Note: I was playing mostly single-player due to my current location that does not have internet connection suitable for gaming.
Damn, this game has a lot of depth. I liked to run around with teammates, even if they were AI-controlled. Somehow the running and weapon-holding animations were very captivating and real, despite the characters being tiny, mostly featureless (and perhaps even cel-shaded?) humans.

I should say that I died, a lot. But every death made me more skillful, I learned to crouch and lay prone in crucial moments where I would otherwise had lost my character's life. The fact that a few bullets is all that is needed to take someone down, makes this game very skill-based, but not unfair. I imagine in 1v1 situations a mexican standoff can easily occur.

It is easy to kill and be killed, but death can be prevented quite easily due to the topdown nature of the game. At first I was skeptical about the fact that you could see everyone, even behind walls and such, but I quickly learned that having realistic field of view might actually be a hindrance to the gameplay. It is still relatively easy to be ganked if you are not aware of your surroundings. Eventually I my eyes got used to spotting my gray enemies from behind walls.

Criticism:What boggles my mind is, that although there is a pseudo-leveling system with points and ranks, I am unsure why can a rank be chosen, it eliminates the purpose.

That would pretty much conclude my gameplay experience overview, but this post is not yet over.

Suggestions/notes
Weapons:
Having a wider variety of weapons would be a great addition to an already-large weapon collection. I hope to see armories/barracks/stashes/wreckages where one could find temporary weapons.

Vehicles:
Please do not introduce aerial combat into this game in form of planes/helicopters. I really hope this game remains a primarily running and possibly driving-based game. I'd love to see large maps where convoys of transport trucks carrying soldiers bring reinforcements to a central city laden with battles.

Performance:
I really hope to see improvements on making this game more available to players who are unlucky enough to have a shitty computer such as mine. Although it runs decently, a somewhat smoother fps would be a welcome addition.


If you read all this, thank you very much!

Regards
- Fate

I think you wrote too many unnecessary things. This is not a diary, buddy.

About the suggestions:

The player can create his own weapons. It is very easy. For example, I made ​​a realistic set for the game, even once thought to offer it for the official release, but changed my mind.

Resource usage and optimization is cool in the game. It looks like you have very, very bad computer, my regret.

About the diary, I apologise, I tend to get carried away when I see something cool. RWR should take this as a compliment :p

About weapons, I was thinking more along the line of actual new weapons, not remodeling. I meant more with different stats and the like.

And about the optimisation, I'm afraid once the game gets more advanced and buildings become more detailed (which I think might happen somewhere along the line), I will not be able to play the game.

I don't think that the developers decide to grind game graphics. This is the style of the game, its distinguishing feature. Rather, they will be engaged in the expansion of the gameplay, which is very much lacking now.

And for weps again, i mean full addition too, not remodeling. It has his own stats and visual, together with already existing weapons.

Hi Fate, and thanks for the feedback, both the praise and criticism!

Yeah, the game is still a bit unoptimized when it comes to rendering and handling physics, there's still plenty of room for improvement and there are potential options to lower the quality of some things. However, I don't think you will be able to pull off a 600-soldier game very well with an old laptop, but 150-200 should be doable. Around 20 soldiers per base (map1 = 280, map3 = 160) seems to be the level the AI has been balanced to handle fairly well, 600 just becomes a bloody crowded mess, but it's there for curiosity.

The suggestion about adding those simpler contour/border lines for roof tops sounds like a valid one. I'm mostly playing with the post processing effects enabled myself, so I get to see the little rim light/ambient occlusion/outline -kind of effect highlighting edges which actually helps gameplay too.

The initial rank option is there for two reasons. First, the game is still in beta, so it's easy to just pick the rank if you need to test or try out something specific related to squad leading. The second reason is that you get to choose the progression span for the match using that, I'm under impression not all players (hardcore vs casual) want to go through the whole "being a private"-story and they just want to get directly to having a squad and doing their stuff. In online games, the server can set a maximum initial rank so that everyone has to start from the same level, if that's what's wanted.

Controllable planes are out of the question for RWR, the maps are simply too small for them. An airstrike in the lines of mortar strikes could happen, but I still fail to see why would you use one over the other in a game like RWR. Helicopters could be an option but to be honest they are far away and not really on the todo-list yet even. Different types of land vehicles with special abilities and boats, that's where we are headed.

Thank your for the reply pasik! I appreciate getting direct replies from developers.

I will take the liberty to ask a few more questions and perhaps send a few more suggestions:

Q: Are specialized mapmaking tools somewhere on the to-do list, not just using of a 3d modeling program? (I realize that currently it's possible to create maps without 3d modeling, but new assets do require such expertise)
Q: Will there be scripted events on maps? Such as destructible bridges/buildings that may be an objective (attack/defense type of gameplay)
Q: Will there be additional factions with "legit names" and possibly, uniforms/armors for soldiers? (I like the system!) (got an answer to this one)

Suggestion: A way to rotates your view, possibly with mouse scrolling (I got this idea from playing Age of Mythology)


I'm very excited to see how this game ends up.
- Fate

Hello Fate,

I will try to answer some of your questions in the above post although pasik should be through shortly to confirm them.

a) As far as I know, map making tools beyong inkscape are far on the objectives list (post 1.00 release). Coming from a guy who made his first map with NO inkscape experience or mapping experience what so ever within a few short hours, the current method of map making is actually very basic and simple. Give it a shot, it's not as complicated as it may seem.

b)No idea

c) Your suggestion of a rotatable field of view has been brought up numerous times in the past and so far has been met with lack of interest/priority. http://www.modulaatio.com/runningwithrifles/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=544&p=3325&hilit=rotate#p3325


Hope this helps.

ComJak

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ComJak's house... stay out of it

I forget which keys exactly but different F1-4 keys will enable or disable certain options. I think one is post-processing but I'm not sure.


I agree. There are already 'lines' at the base of buildings where the roof obscures the view, but there should be a way to make them more visible (similar to the isoline darkness) since they can be a bit hard to spot. Enemies may also be a bit hard to spot behind objects but maybe that's intentional.


Soldiers and weapons are actually voxels, but the view is so far from them that it's really hard to notice unless you're at the bottom of a hill and there are people at the top of the hill closer to the camera. I think there are outlines post-processed around them to make them 'stand out' more from the background, making them easier to see.


Each player has 1 hit point, and depending on the weapon and the distance you're shot from there's a chance that a bullet will do 1 hit point of damage (which is enough to kill someone) otherwise no damage is dealt even on a hit. In the multiplayer matches I've seen, 1v1 tends to lead to people trying to out flank each other constantly or to trick them into the open and such. Relying on squadmates is great, since two players with control of squad mates can try to send their squad mates to flank while they cover fire, or to flank themselves while the squad covers etc. Much more interesting than actual 1v1 situations.


Some players want to jump right into the action with a full compliment of squaddies, while others want to rise up through the ranks or fight on their own. During gameplay you can use page up and down to determine how large you want your squad, up to a maximum depending on your rank, if you want to go solo with a high rank. Killing higher ranked soldiers as a lower rank also gives you more rank points (does being high ranked and getting killed by low ranked soldiers make you lose more rank points?)

In multiplayer there will be server options to have rank caps or set ranks, eventually.


More weapons are being added every couple updates, going at the pace development is now at least. I believe Pasik has said he wants two, three, or maybe even more different kinds of weapons per category. For example, the AKM and G36 are both assault rifles but they behave differently. Same with the M240 and PKM, despite both being MMG's.


Fixed and rotor wing aircraft have both been suggested, and each time they have been... shot down so to speak . If they were to be implemented I would suggest making them AI only and have them more as support (for example, instead of calling mortar strikes, perhaps calling a UH-1Y, AH-6, or KA-52 (or any other similar light chopper, though the Kamov might be a bit excessive =p ) for a minigun run (inaccurate but deadly if people stay in the open or aren't prone (harder for pilots and crew to spot) or parachuting in expendable supply crates. being able to stay in a spawn pool or something and then have everybody respawn in a transport chopper or parachute would be neat too, but... again, it might be pushing it =p

On to other people's replies: I don't believe posting a 'diary' should be out of line. There are suggestions to go with the experience which is perfectly reasonable for this part of the forum. Otherwise it might be better for Discussion.

Also... looks like Pasik already replied and covered some of these things, but I already typed it all out. This is what I get for not reading the whole topic before replying. Whatever, I'll keep it all in.



Mortars could become more of a lasting 'area denial' sort of thing to keep entrenched enemies out of a heavily defensible position. It doesn't have to be one strike all at once, it could have multiple volleys or just occasional rounds. An airstrike could be more of an immediate effect with a larger area (I.E. you select which direction to strike from and it strikes in a line) but would only be that single run. You could even make it harder by making it so players either have to use an infared strobe or a laser designator of some kind to mark the target as the run happens to make it a bit more risky.

Scripted events have been mentioned but I don't know if there was a clear answer. My guess would be: eventually.

I would like to see factions a-la A New Zero. They have generic names (in A New Zero it's birds) and are associated with a color, but not with any specific real-world nation. Currently there soldier names are based off real world world names but that has no bearing on the weapons they use or their uniforms. If it was based on uniforms everybody would look too similar because of modern camouflage =p

I think there was another topic about a rotatable camera and it looks like that's not happening.

_________________
Ozymandias, King of kings, God of Caves, Wizard.

Thank you for your very thorough reply, even if most my questions were already answered, a different angle or wording can be very constructive.


Those are just hotkeys for already-present visual settings in the options menu

That's actually what I meant with that suggestion, a choice to make those lines thicker/brighter)

Yeah, I learned about the voxels models soon after I made my post, but didn't really edit it out. I like the voxel models because they are a lot easier to modify and edit than the traditional polygon models. (I have tried to make models for Ace of Spades)

Whoa, to be honest, I was not all that into to squad commanding myself (prefer to be a loner) so I completely missed that aspect to the game. I can see how it can be very entertaining. It makes me think of Frozen Synapse right here.


I don't think it does, but I think it'd be a feature worth trying.


Just for the sake of commenting - I hope P90 will be added, it's my absolute favourite SMG.



I'm very happy to hear that.


About the "heavy support", I think like OzyThesage said, one type could be a long-lasting (relatively speaking) area denial, like an artillery support (Think of the artillery support from Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory) that lands a single round every few seconds. It wouldn't do much damage aside from the initial mortar round, but the randomised hit area could keep the area clean for a while.

The second, actual air support could be a strafing run (Think of the strafing run "skill" from Company of Heroes, I think it was on the Allies' side). That'd be a plane or a helicopter coming and firing a straight volley of bullets, basically to wreck all infantry. Why I think it should be bullets instead of a bombing run, is just for the sake of variety.


Edit: I think this forum might need [spoiler][/spoiler] tags to make wall-of-text posts easier to scroll by

I agree with the strafing run of CoH (in RWR it would be something like a "soft" A10 strafing run) which I already suggested to pasik. I like this idea.