Get the inside scoop on the Dead 6 -- GDI's elite force of fighting machines, including everyone's favorite commando, Havoc. Read all about their special combat talents and why they are referred to as "Dead." Click here to read more.
There is also a new movie out. "Using C4 on a NOD Light Tank" Click Here to get it.
Look to the right of the site. We got a new poll up and running on every page. Please vote, and tell your friends! Hehe.
News for Thursday, November 29th, 2001
New Interview, and end of beta sign-ups! 4:00 P.M. - Alien13UFO
Sign ups are over:
We want to thank everyone who signed up. We had over 26,000 signups over the day we took signups! Those who made it into the beta will be recieving emails in the next couple of days so watch your email box!
And there is also a new interview at Loaded Inc. Heres a bit:
How do you think Renegade will appeal to a hardcore C&C fan that may not be a big fan of FPS games?
It should feel like they're down on the battlefield. Imagine getting to drive those vehicles you ordered around the map or entering the Hand of Nod in order to plant explosives, very powerful reinforcement of familiar images.
There is a bit of a learning curve getting used to the controls but we are supplying a tutorial, help with the beginning missions and other means to improve game play for the novice FPS player (auto-aim, for one example).
I will have a new poll up tomorrow, as well. See ya!
News for Wednesday, November 28th, 2001
Still have 12 hours to sign up for the Beta! 3:00 P.M. - Alien13UFO
That's right, from now until 12:01 PST tonight C&C fans and actions gamers from all around the world have the opportunity to signup to be part of the Renegade beta test. This is a once in lifetime chance to help out Westwood and test their killer new action game and supply feedback to the development team to help make the game even better. So what are you waiting for! Sign-up now!
First, CnCWorld has recently posted their report of Cabal's visit to Westwood Studios and Westwood Studios Pacific. During Cabal's visit to the U.S. he had the chance to meet with Athena Massey (Lt. Eva) from RA2 and Yuri's Revenge, snap photos with Kane, and watch C&C Renegade in action.
Lucky guy!
Here is a snippet from the article:
....we started going along a bigger corridor past Chris Longpre (producer of Emperor) to meet Ted Morris (VirtualTed) and his fish :) He was busy talking to somebody so we didn't stay long - just enough to say hi. Then I knew what was next, since in an interview in 1999 between Rade Stojsavljevic and DailyDimentia he said that Kane (Joe Kucan) was next to the Online guy (Ted). So, we stopped and said hi. Just like Athena Massey said he is a gentle, funny person who wouldn't hurt a fly. I talked to him for a while before having a once in a lifetime photo opportunity with him. "Wait" he said... "I'll get my hat"... He then proceeded to get his funny hat from the office and put it on.. "nope.. will look better on you" So, he took it off, put it on my head and said we could take the photo... lol.... thanks Joe. He said that there was no filming that day, but that we could look around the blue screen room anyway. So, off we went.
Click Here to read more and view some cool pictures.
Next, The latest installment in Westwood's Renegade Backstory section is live. Click here to read about the mysterious green element Tiberium and the daring folks who work with it.
And...the second part of the Renegade Designer Diaries, Lead 3D Engineer Jani Penttinen discusses some of the opportunities and advantages afforded the development team by using a proprietary 3D engine for the game. Here's a snippet:
"...Renegade is being developed to appeal to both Command & Conquer fans as well as the action shooter crowd, and the system specs for these two camps can vary widely. So the game's got to look great and take advantage of the latest graphics cards from a variety of manufacturers as well as the most powerful processors from people like Intel and AMD. At the same time, it needs to offer a great game play experience for the users with lower end hardware. This kind of scalability is best achieved when the engine is tied as close to the game as possible."
For the complete story, click here to visit IGN.com's PC section!
Mutants are no longer a part of C&C mode. We found problems related to the affiliation changing that created real issues implementing them.
Not sure when the light tank movie comes out, the Renegade team is in this weekend but the marketing and PR groups are out for Thanksgiving. I assume it will be next week.
Tank tracks do move when a tank is in motion and the suspension will go up and down as the vehicle moves over objects, we have a real physics engine that worries about wheel radius, traction, gravity and a ton of other things.
Viseroids are part of single player, we decided it would be a real hose on a player to get changed into a viseroid rather than die in MP, people would probably just suicide immediately, especially since a viseroid is suppose to be mindless and attack anyone close by. The GDI have the tiberium weapons and it is a real disadvantage to be a viseroid, Nod would no longer be balanced.
Air strikes are normally called in by destroying sam sites. We have redone the way bombs drop a bunch of times, should be better, in fact there is an A10 strike on a bunch of tanks in level 1.
All weapons are bought fully loaded, I believe the laser chain gun or "Chain Driven Obelisk Module" has around 400 charges, 100 per battery. You can refill all ammo, health and shield at any purchase terminal for 0 cost. All vehicles are locked for a brief time (currently about 12 sec., may be increased) so that the purchaser can have time to enter, after that time anyone can enter. There is a server setting for "Driver is Gunner" which means that the driver always drives and shoots when this is set.
That movie you saw posted is not from the intro it is from the install. We are doing something very special as an install for everyone, we wanted to take the C&C fan back to the fantastic install of the orginal game. That movie is just a piece of the full install, it is very sweet.
The list of specific weapons to characters is pretty long. Everyone has a pistol.
Special Forces:
Minigunner - Standard Sniper Rifle (GDI & Nod)
Heavy Weapons - Adv. Rocket Launcher (GDI), Chain Obelisk Module (Nod)
Specialists - Tiberium Flechette (GDI), Obelisk Module (Nod)
Engineer - Advanced Repair Module, remote, timed and proximity C4
Boss:
Minigunner - Ramjet Rifle (GDI & Nod)
Heavy Weapons - Personal Ion Cannon (GDI), Mass Driver (Nod)
Specialists - Volt Rifle (GDI & Nod)
No Engineer
The vehicles in the Weapons Factory do have an animations, can't remember what it looks like from the inside, been too busy to stop and look, will do so today. Air strikes would be nice but we opted not to include them, many design issues.
Stealth tank make very little noise. They work off different triggers: proximity (slight shimmer than grows as you get closer), fire (decloak) or are hit (close to decloak).
Usually if you are close enough to see the shimmer you are about to go under the treads
I feel fortunate in that what we got from the Closed Beta was mostly a reaffirmation of what we wanted to add. We were planning on EVA announcements regarding your base, radio commands, more diverse maps (we are putting a city map in the next beta), some balance issues. The biggest thing I would say was a concern was the learning curve and because of that we have added a MP practice mode. Allows a single person to experience C&C mode without the pressure of being on line. All the rules apply and there are AI units protecting the enemy base. The mode automatically places you in as a GDI or Nod (randomly). This also allows you to get used to the map. We will probably supply 2 maps in this mode.
The PCT is a purchase terminal that can be found in all buildings (multiple ones are present in each building). They reflect the status of the building they are in (health and power) and also if you walk up to a PCT and press the use key (default is "E") you will be given the purchase menu. At this menu you can upgrade your character, buy a beacon or vehicle and also get your ammo, heatlh and shield brought back up to full.
We are still thinking about Kane in MP. It was the number one request from the Beta test and I just might do it.
There are no MCVs in the game, all bases are prebuilt.
The MCT is different from the PCT. It is the heart of a building and basically its weakpoint. A couple C4 in MP and it will be dead. Course you can also repair a building faster if you direct your efforts to the MCT.
prices vary per character but the Specialist run 500 - 700 a piece (both GDI an Nod).
We could put Kane as a Boss Specialist class, move Mendoza over to Heavy Weapons boss and Drop Raveshaw (it is kinda cool to see this little tiny man with a huge gun but I'm not wedded to him).
Mobius occupies the Boss Specialist slot on GDI.
But I ramble, no decision as yet on Kane.
Practice mode will be done by the next beta, don't know yet whether we will include it, we are looking at it currently
We have had the rules for a long time, I certainly hope we haven't missed anything, it would a bit late to try and shoehorn anything different in now.
My biggest concern is making sure that C&C players (nonFPS) can get in and enjoy the game as well as anyone else.
I see lots of ideas on the forums for things we have considered. I would have liked to put many of the ideas in the game but we always need to consider our design goal. Our decisions about what is in the game are based on simplicity, fun and performance concerns.
the Boss level characters cost anywhere from 900 to 1100 depending on class. This is true for both GDI and Nod.
This week's update, from Dan Cermack, is here. Check it out!
Yes we are in today, thought I would take the time to answer questions. Some notes:
MP characters - divided up into classes and ranks. The ranks are Grunts, officers, Special Forces and Bosses. The classes are Minigunner, Heavy Weapons, Specialists and Engineers. Grunts are free, advanced characters require the infantry producing building to be functional. If the powerplant goes down all units cost 2x original price.
Each non-engineer character has a specific weapon, a pistol (unlimited ammo) and 1 timed C4. The only way to get the weapon is to get the character.
There are 2 engineers, a grunt and a special forces unit. The grunt has a repair module, a pistol and 1 remote and 2 timed C4. The special forces engineer has 2 remote, 3 timed and 9 or so proximity mines. Their repair module is also more powerful than the grunt engineer.
The beacons are available to everyone (for a price), they can be used anywhere but placement in the correct spot (beacon zones are present in the Barracks and Hand of Nod)will end a game (if the server side setting that allows beacon victory is on).
Keep in mind that Dan is answering people's questions in the post, so go there to ask your questions. I will update later with all of his answers.
News for Thursday, November 22th, 2001
Happy Thanksgiving and an interview! 10:05 A.M. - Alien13UFO
Happy thanksgiving everyone! Ok, now that we got that out of the way, MGON.com's (Media & Games Online Network) Steve Polak put on his stealth suit to get some behind the scenes intel in the first of a two part interview with the Renegade dev team. In part one, he speaks with senior producer Sean Decker about what's in store for action gamers when Renegade ships in February. Here's an excerpt:
MGON: How will base infiltration figure into the action? What sorts of goals will the player have in doing this?
One of the things we've continued to emphasize is that this is a Command & Conquer game, so you can count on several of the missions to include base infiltration. The gameplay will follow the RTS game; so when you enter a Nod base, your commanding officer might order you to take out the Hand of Nod to prevent reinforcements, or have you destroy a Nod Power Plant to interrupt production. Your actions in completing these goals will often result in some sort of bonus for you, whether it's reinforcements, a vehicle, a health or an armor bonus.
For the full interview, click here.
News for Tuesday, November 20th, 2001
New preview and new interview. 2:35 A.M. - Alien13UFO
Gamespot has a new preview with pics, and videos, for Renegade up at their site. Go here to check it out.
Also, HomeLAN has conducted an interview with Dan Cermack. Click here to check that one out. Heres a bit of the interview:
HomeLAN - What sorts of drivable vehicles will be featured in Renegade?
Dan Cermak - There are 11 different types of vehicles in Renegade, and at some point during the game, Havoc will be able to access them. The Nod vehicles include the Attack Buggy, the Light Tank, the Flame Tank and the Stealth Tank. GDI vehicles include the Hummer, the Medium Tank and the Mammoth Tank. In multiplayer, the list of vehicles will grow to include the Nod APC (Armored Personnel Carrier), the GDI APC, the Nod Mobile Artillery unit and the GDI Mobile Artillery unit.
Congrats go out to new Renegade Fansite of the Week, Havocide. The guys over at Havocide know your favorite commando almost as well as we do.
Being Renegade Fansite of the Week means you get special treatment. Havocide not only gets a spiffy mention from us, they also get their own exclusive goodie -- a movie of Renegade in action! It's the second in a series of movies we'll be releasing, so come back every Friday to see which Fansite has the next installment!
The open beta test will give gamers a chance to see Renegade's exclusive multiplay "C&C Mode," where two teams of players, GDI and Nod, fight to destroy each other's base. The beta test will include four different multiplay maps, and players will be able to play as any of the 28 characters, use all of the 23 weapons, and drive all of the 11 vehicles in the game.
"We're really excited to give gamers a chance to see 'C&C Mode,'" said Dan Cermak, executive producer of Renegade. "We've been working really hard on the multiplay side of Renegade, and we've got some incredibly fast and fun gameplay to show everyone."
The beta test will be held in three phases, each lasting for a week. Five hundred testers will be selected to participate in each phase of the test, for a total of 1,500 participants over the three weeks. The beta test servers will be on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with only short breaks between phases.
Signups for the open beta test will begin on the official Renegade website at 12:01 a.m., Wednesday, November 28, and last for 24 hours. Westwood will use a lottery system to select the 1,500 testers from the applicants who meet the minimum system requirements. Westwood will notify the chosen testers within three days of the end of the signup period.
Click here to visit the Renegade beta test page for more information.OOOOOOOOO I'm so exited!
Meatball ,from the Renegade Forums, just posted this bit of info about the Best Buy pre-order spcecial. Heres what he had to say:
If you pre-purchased Renegade through one of the $10 small boxes at Best Buy in the US:
We found a small bug that was preventing consumers from registering as a Renegade Insider for the 3 free Havoc skins. Apparently, the website was rejecting some of the serial numbers. It should be fixed now if you enter the coded serial number that came on the printed sheets in the box. You can register now or when the game launches - it doesn't matter yet since the unique skins aren't yet available.
Thanks,
Meatball
News for Tuesday, November 13th, 2001
CTF Dropped and Renegade Unplugged! 7:30 A.M. - Alien13UFO
Unfortunately, Capture the Flag mode was dropped from Renegade. They said they are to busy perfecting C&C Mode to add it, but it might come in a mod, gold pack, or patch. Also, IGNPC recently visited Westwood Studios and played Renegade. They have a huge article and lots of pics up on their site. Go here to check it out!
thought I would take the time to address some comments I saw in a chat 3 members of the Beta had. The chat was on CnCRenegade link is: CnCRenegade Chat
There were some excellent comments and questions.
1. The interiors of the buildings: The buildings are different from the Single Player buildings (about 50% in external size). Inside we also only have 1 level in MP, we had multiple and found they were ignored because the battles take place outside. The Single Player buildings have up to 6 or 7 levels and are much more detailed. We are minimizing the poly counts in MP to keep the speed up and allow as many players with as low a spec as possible.
2. The Nuke: The beta version was not working. It has a special animation, with clouds (red tinted) forming and the EVA notification as well as a flash, the explosion and ash floating after the detonation.
3. EVA messaging: The next beta will have EVA messaging in place, annoucement about the buildings under attack, nuke strike emminent, etc.
4. The AGT: It was underpowered in the beta, this will be balanced up.
5. Kane: Thinking about putting him in MP. Not sure yet.
6. Mobius as the best Unit: We basically set it up as ranks and classes. So therefore Havoc is the Boss of the Minigunner class and has a super sniper rifle while Mobius is the Boss of the Specialist Class and has the volt rifle. It was done to match class to rank.
7. Starting money: We found that starting with any amount of money really changes the dynamic of the game. We will allow the server to set different values for starting money.
8. Somebody else firing your vehicle's weapons: We have a server side option to set the driver as gunner. This means that anyone jumping in a vehicle is a passenger only. We just didn't have it on in this beta. We will try various settings in the next beta. We also lock a vehicle so only the buyer can get in it for the first 12 seconds, sounds like this time needs to be extended.
9. Driving a Harvester: The idea of allowing the harvester to be driven has been debated quite a bit here but the problems come up regarding docking properly and AI having to be restarted if someone jumps in. The simpliest answer is to leave it as AI (and in a lot of cases I opted for simplicity because the game has so many more elements to it that I am concerned about the learning curve).
10. Pooling money: Also considered this but saw so many problems (especially the way games are played on line right now) with the trust issues and the learning curve that we opted for simplicity again.
11. Building units: Same deal regarding learning curve. We had guys in the Beta who were die hard FPS fans saying that it took a while to figure out the rules, esp. relating to buildings etc. Keeping it simple keeps it fun and addictive and easier for the novice to pick up.
12. Comments on Vehicles: Sounds like we balanced them the way we wanted. The MRLS and Nod Artillery are very powerful but require support to be really effective, the mammoths are tough but even in the Beta games you can deal with them with teamwork and fire (flame troopers and Flame tanks).
13. Graphics: These will improve, the lighting and texturing were not final. I may be able to put hi-res textures on the vehicles as well but the goal is to keep the memory foot print down for performance reasons.
Thanks to KingZeus, Gobalopper and Kaymaster for the insightful comments.
Look forward to seeing you on the battlefield again.
That's right campers! Beginning today, Westwood will publish a series of eight articles on the rich Renegade universe, detailing the history of the main characters and the two warring factions of the game: the humanistic GDI and the terrorists of the Brotherhood of Nod.
Each Thursday in November and December, visit the official Renegade site to read up on the various factions and characters of Renegade, full of previously unrevealed information. Accompanying each story will be new screenshots.
"Renegade has such a compelling story, and we haven't had a chance to tell it yet," said Dan Cermak, executive producer of Renegade. "We've really expanded on the Command & Conquer fiction, adding new characters, political intrigue, and story elements, and we're excited that everyone will now get to see what Renegade is really about."
The first article on the history of the GDI is available now. Click here to begin your Renegade education!
Next...
Those nuts at IGN.com are all over Renegade like stink on a...uh...well, commando! We recently partnered up with this true-blue gamer crew to bring you, the ever-faithful Renegaders, a brand new series of Designer Diaries straight from the Renegade development team. We're kicking things off with an article from Beau Anderson, an artist whose worked on a lot of character modeling and texturing, even Havoc. You can read about it at IGN.com and be sure to check back here DAILY to get the ongoing scoop on Renegade.
Oh, we almost forgot - they also posted up 39 NEW screens from the multiplayer beta last weekend!
Congrats go out to new Renegade Fansite of the Week, Renegade Planet. It's a German site, but they made a news post for all English visitors. Because everyone deserves a shot at the title.
Being Renegade Fansite of the Week means you get special treatment. Renegade Planet not only gets a spiffy mention from us, they also get their own exclusive goodie -- a movie of Renegade in action! It's the second in a series of movies we'll be releasing, so come back every Friday to see which Fansite has the next installment!
Continuing our series, here's an image and short description of one of the vehicles, weapons or characters that our free-wheelin' commando Havoc comes in contact with out on the battlefield. This week we're highlighting the GDI Mobile Rocket Launch System (or MRLS). Check back here often for updates to the series.
GDI's version of mobile devastation, this long-range attacker fires lethal 227mm rockets and is capable of systematically dismantling virtually any enemy unit, armored or not. However, with no short-range fighting ability, this somewhat unwieldy vehicle needs close-quarters backup for effective protection. If caught in a knife fight, the MRLS can be quickly overrun by enemy forces. Nevertheless, with adequate support and range to let loose its salvo of death, only a Mammoth Tank can equal the prolonged barrage deliverable by this critical platform in the fight against Nod.
News for Saturday, November 3rd, 2001
New Screens, plus some answers 3:28 P.M. - Alien13UFO
First of all, there are more new screenshots from the renegade beta test. Go here to see them. I got loads of screens to upload now. Second, as I said before, I would post Dan's answers from the forum. I would have posted them earlier, but I thought he would answer more. Anyway, here they are:
Q: I live in California and I am interested in becoming a computer game designer or executive producer of a game, or something like that. I am just starting to learn a little programming and starting to make my own games. What would you recommend for someone like me? Did you go to college? Where did you go and what did you study in? Do you have any other advice for me?
A: About getting into the business. I have a College degree but I have it in the medical field. I got into the industry over 16 years ago, taught myself assembly language on the old Atari/C64 and wrote two games that were published by SSI. Because of my management experience I was hired by SSI as manager of test and external development. Did everything from Producer to VP of Development (I produced Dragonstrike and Eye of the Beholder for Westwood). My recommendation is to get into computer science if you want to program, also do some engineering (very useful now). If you want to produce, you need management classes, some computer science, writing and business. If you want to design you need computer science, writing and an understanding of art. It is a bit of a daunting task to get in the buisness right now. I have one guy who has a Masters that worked in test before getting a design job.
Q: When will the open beta test be, and how will you do it? Will it be like E&B where you mail out CDs?
A: The next beta will be in late November/early December (not firm yet) and will be must larger, 100s of people will be playing. We haven't decided on specifics of how it will be set up and made available, we will let everyone know as soon as we do.
Q: Will there be pistols in Renegade?
A: In both Single and Multi-play every character has a pistol with unlimited ammo.
Q: How powerful is the Portable Ion Cannon? will it take out vehicles in one shot, or will it be a little weaker than that?
A: The portable Ion Cannon can take out small vehicles (Nod Buggy) with one shot and does a good amount of damage to all other vehicles, also is very effective against buildings. Problem is requires you to hold down the fire button for a long time. If someone charges you with a pistol or rifle it can be difficult to escape.
Q: will each side have exlusive weapons like nod is the only one with flamethrowers,chemical sprayers,obelisk modules and gdi with personel ion cannon and so on?
A: Each side in C&C mode has exclusive weapons. The Flamethrower, Chemsprayer and the obelisk modules (standard and chain) are Nod weapons and the Tiberium Autorifle, Personal Ion Cannon, grenade launcher and Mass driver (currently a rail gun but undergoing a change) are all GDI exclusive.
Q:another thing is will gdi be able to call in a-10 air strike cause that will make the sam sites usefull since there is nothing else to shoot down since orcas are not in it.
A: There are no air units in C&C mode. We found that the current system and balance is optimal (we looked at the ideas you mentioned).
Longer than I thought it would be, oh well.
News for Saturday, November 3rd, 2001
Renegade Extreme new fansite of the week, plus Dan's weekly update!
12:18 P.M. - Alien13UFO
First and foremost, Renegade Extreme is the new fansite of the week. Congratulations to them! They get a special, never before seen, exclusive video from Renegade! Go there and download it!
Second, Dan's weekly update is a little different than normal. He is going to be answering some Questions this week, so head here and ask your questions. I will update you on answers as they come.
The first closed beta test for Renegade has begun! Games will be going on for the next few days and you should see online reports starting to turn up in the next day or two! Excitement is running high as webmasters are getting their first true taste of the gaming goodness that is C&C mode!
Keep your ears open and you should be hearing things soon!
Have a nice day- Con1scrip
Two months ago we brought you a Havoc Sim skin, and now he has a playmate! The Kane Sim Skin is now available for download. Will Havoc and Kane finally get along, or will the Renegade commando and evil dictator make poor housemates? The choice is yours.
You can download the Kane skin here. If you didn't download the Havoc skin before, click here to get it now.
After that, be sure to check out The Sims homepage for even more downloads and information about this groundbreaking game.
