Plan of Attack

[MrKenny]

My name is Kenny, and I got involved with the team in Fall 2004, as a freshman on my first day of work study. Next I got an internship, and they have had me doing all sorts of odd work including level design, textures, sound, marketing, testing, and now blogging! This blog will be a fun space devoted to my screenshots, witty banter, emotional 'Plan of Attack' war monologues, etc. If you would like to ask me questions, make comments, etc. feel free!

[MrKenny]

It's unbelieveable to see the kind of progress we have made from our prototype 'Plan of Attack' build in Half Life 1 to the pimped Half Life 2 version. See for yourself in this before and after collection I put together - special thanks to Mikey who kept the old screenshots!


You can see, there's a lot that carried over from our old build of light. Our new build has been fun because with Half Life 2, we can make some really cool, complicated looking stuff. Ideally we want to create our own content in as many areas as possible, while maintaining the level of detail and realism established in Half Life 2. In addition to photo-realistic textures, some sections of our map are inspired by real world locations! Here are some that inspired my additions to the map - and their implementation in light.


Of course there's the age old dilemma of realism vs. game play. Mappers Mike and Mikey have been making subtle changes in the locations to make the game fun and balanced for both teams. Still, the locations look similar to their real-world counterparts - and I hope to make it look more so with some new textures!

So overall, the future looks bright for Plan of Attack, and I can't wait for the beta release! Just how bright does it look? See below!

[MrKenny]

Ah the nostalgia! Looking at these old builds and thinking about the art of map making, I remember the days of my first map using the Hammer Editor: Kennytech Sewer Company! It's a perfect example of good map making karma for new Plan of Attack mapmakers - not because it's a good map, but because it shows that you'll save yourself a lot of work if you have a plan of attack (har har) before adding too much detail to your map.

We tested the map a few times in Half Life 1 and in general, people felt lost. Obviously, new maps take some getting used to - you need to find where the objectives and bases are, get familiar with sniper locations, etc. Your maps also have to be timed perfectly - both teams need to be able to get to each objective in the same amount of time. It's also smart to avoid shortcuts in the middle of the map. It plays better for strategy if players realize they have to think before moving - they can't just go between objectives in a matter of seconds or the game will turn into a deathmatch.

The sewers fell victim to deathmatch gameplay because it was blocked out as a central hub and paths outward from it. Some additional paths allowed players to avoid the center, but in general, players would end up fighting in the big central room of my map because the main paths led to it.

I think the best way to avoid this dilemma is to make maps that are open. Let players see where they're going, and give them a few seconds to see available paths so they can decide where they want to go. I'm thinking about 20 seconds to get to an objective is fair. The sewers was a very centralized map, so players didn't have much time to think where they were going when they saw branches and hallways going in different directions - this added to confusion.

The players who found their way to my detailed objective points, on the other hand, loved the map because each objective played differently. There was a lot of detail, water, and shadows that mixed well for gameplay, and made it fun to attack or defend the objectives. My objectives were a storage room (lots of boxes/cover), giant pump station (large/open), and lower sewer area(single plane of elevation, attacking from water and standing on pipes). Plus my team bases each had a somewhat complex 'approach' which made attacking more interesing.

In conclusion: sure you may have great, detailed objectives and bases, but save yourself some trouble - block out your map first and get the timing right, while giving players extra time to think while they're moving. The game is called Plan of Attack because you are supposed to think and form a strategy - not fall victim to deathmatch due to poor map path design.

And for your viewing pleasure, Kennytech Sewer Company!

[MrKenny]

It was the beginning of the round. Mikey picked Cafe Sully. He suddenly lost concern for himself, and forgot to look at a menacing fate. He became not a man but a member. He felt that something of which he was a part - a regiment, an army, a cause, or a country - was in a crisis. He was welded into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire. That desire... was to throw a grenade. And this pretty sweet screenshot is not just Cafe Sully - if you look carefully, we've got Mikey's grenade blowing the glass out of the second floor of the cafe while he jumps out to avoid the blast! Mikey is the man at explosives let me tell ya. And I ripped off most of that quote from the Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. In any case here's the screenshot:


For my blog, I want to post some of my favorite screenshots. Here's another one with me and Mikey in the sewer:


The first round is called the 'pistol round' at the office because you have no money and no objective, you can see everyone on the map, and you can only afford the pistol in your hand. As a result, the sewer access and other odd camping spots become popular places to wait for your prey.

One person who's really entertaining to watch is Jared. He's one of my friends, lives kind of diagonally from me in the dorm, and he has tested some of his friends' Counter Strike maps in the early days. With Plan of Attack, he's been very helpful by providing feedback, trying to jump on things, getting on rooftops, and sending props flying through odd places. Here he is, stabbing at our new props to see what happens:


It's common for the teams to move as a group in Plan of Attack as well. They see which objective they're attacking, and choose the most effective Plan of Attack - and usually there is strength in numbers. Here's a great teamwork screenshot showing the teamwork of our coalition players at the last test:


And I'll end by saying a little something about the Red Badge of Courage. It's not a bad book, sounds like Stephen Crane was about 24 when he wrote it! Anyway, Plan of Attack isn't the type of game to make you disillusioned about war (although it does have the common desire/teamwork feel Stephen Crane was talking about) but if you like war monologues, the Red Badge of Courage has a load of that, minus action. We make up for it with lots of action in Plan of Attack haha

[MrKenny]

Lately I've been working on an additional project to go along with the mod, called Plan of Attack: Target Practice. I'm making it using Game Maker, and it's an arcade style action game with a Plan of Attack theme. It's unfinished, but I have a working score system and minigame for the rifleman/soldier. I'll be finishing minigames for each of the other classes, along with unlockable content and a surprise minigame. I think it will be a lot of fun when it's finished, and simple as it is, the guys at the office seem to find it addicting!

Here's a photo collection I put together, including a few screenshots and graphics from Target Practice:


You might notice, I found a good spot to use my golden/wooden floor texture in the high score page! It was my first texture using an alpha channel along with the normal map, and as you can see, it did add specularity to the wood!

Plan of Attack: Target Practice will be released as a stand-alone game sometime soon!

[MrKenny]

Unless I'm mistaken, everybody loves screenshots!

Here's one of my personal favorites: the gold flooring texture in the apartment area of our map. I was just learning how to use alpha channels to create specularity, you can see what came as a result!


It was removed from the game because well, it's a gold floor. Who has one of those. But I did put it in Target Practice! You can kind of see it in the high score room in the picture on my previous post. The heavy weapons game for Target Practice is coming along nicely by the way.

Speaking of coming a long way, I dug up this old screenshot from our Half Life 1 build - for a few tests we had a hazardous environment suit team against an old guy scientist team... then this!


Daffy could hide in the shadows really well though, that was a lot of fun.

The RPG seems to be really popular in the forums - so in addition to an RPG based coloring book page, I decided to post this!


Yup that's a rocket flying into the window of Cafe Sully! The RPG adds a twist to the gameplay that isn't seen in a lot of modern combat games, and it's so much fun!

And finally, here's a typical screenshot of N-Tech getting attacked. Judging by the placement of bodies, it looks like the Coalition team caught the Americans by surprise while they were over by Cafe Sully - the Americans took the sewer access tunnel through to the office and several of them got shot down in the rush to the objective hold area!


I'm loving all of the interest on the forums - and I think you'll all be in for a treat on the 15th!

[MrKenny]

Our website was officially launched on April 1st (April Fool's Day!) on two major websites. I would imagine most people saw the coverage our mod got, and that's how they found Plan of Attack! But for those of us who heard about the game by some other means, I decided to post screenshots of our articles from the two sites who covered us first:

Half Life 2.net


Planet Half Life


On a dev. note, I've been doing a lot of touch up work lately, on sounds and textures. I'm particularly proud of the sniper rifle shot sound I mixed together! The powerful sniper rifle echoes for at least 4 or 5 seconds after you fire it - pretty sweet.

As for textures, there's a delicate balance between original texture, bump map, and specularity - but I want the game to look as cool as possible, so anyone with real picky criticism, start posting on the forums! In particular, well I pretty much made the vast majority of the textures - Mikey has done virtually all of the decals - plus the texture work inside Cafe Sully and the concrete road work. My work includes the N-Tech blue rug, cieling, walls, American base floor, walls, and cieling, brick on the antique shop, metal stall textures and tiles in the bathroom, brickwork near the Coalition base, apartment walls and wood flooring, and the diner tile.

[MrKenny]

We want players to feel at home when they're playing Plan of Attack - so Andrew and Mikey have been hard at work modeling and texturing props, like comfy furniture for Cafe Sully! Already, American and Coalition forces alike have found time to sprawl out and relax - check out these screenshots!





You might notice that my roommate, Tom, got himself stuck between a tree and a barrier in that last screenshot - on purpose! With our team of observant testers, we've been able to document and exterminate bugs at a very fast pace. Jared has viciously attacked all of our props, Tom has crawled into all the small spaces - we've been doing a lot of extra testing lately to make sure we have a polished beta on the 15th!

Today I even wrote my first Half Life code - created some radio commands, and placed them in game along with our nice new help messaging system. Not only can you read what's going on now - you can hear it too! The recording sessions are a lot of fun too because modeling guy Andrew, who's doing the voices for our game, has a really funny sense of humor. One of my favorite quotes: "that's the last time you knife me pagoda!" We'll see if it ends up in game haha

[MrKenny]

What is Target Practice?

I mentioned it a few posts up, but with all the work on the mod it got somewhat delayed - now it's in practically a finished state though, made some sweet minigames involving knifing people, dodging bullets, anticipating the enemy, search and destroy with a sniper scope. It's a mixed bag and i think you'll like it.

Finishing touches: tell the player when they got a new high score, add some unlockable content perhaps, add a loading screen.

I always enjoyed making arcade style games - they certainly waste your time better than solitaire!

[MrKenny]

I remember back in the day, I was never much of a computer person. My friends would ask me if I had played Quake 2, Red Alert, StarCraft, and so on and my response was usually, "I think my brother has that but I've never played it!"

Modding on the other hand, I've been into that since who knows when. That's probably the main thing that got me interested in the PC - tools were readily available for people who wanted to make their own levels for popular games! Worms 2 had a really simple level editor. One of my friends got me interested in RPG Maker 2000. Unreal Ed was great though, I felt like I could make levels as complicated as the ones the developers made! In fact, I played with Unreal Ed and made my own levels for maybe two years before I decided to actually play the game itself haha

Today the opportunities are great for people who are interested in developing games - the tools are out there, computers are widely available - and most of these tools come free with whatever game they are designed to work with! So anyone who wants to design games, I recommend that you start early. Hammer might seem intimidating but I think it's one of the most intuitive and standard tools I've come across. For beginners, just learn how to make rooms and connect them. Add lights, add player starts, a few props, and have a good time! As you get more advanced, you'll learn how to use different types of glass, water, fog, and other features that really pimp out your level!

Another thing I think I should mention - although it's becoming more mainstream to have game design classes and majors at college, there really isn't a time or place you need to wait for before you learn how to design games. Use the down time you have while you're young to pick up a few skills, and make fun levels. Young mappers have some of the most creative ideas!

Plan of Attack could use a few more maps, so to anybody out there who's interested in designing games: here's your chance to learn tools, and get your creations out there for people to play! Think you're a novice? Just read a few more tutorials! I've found that with a little extra effort, you can make something like a 3D skybox, and then what do you know, your map looks that much more professional. Sure it will be intimidating if it's your first time trying a new feature, but that's how you learn, and become a better mapper! Best of luck to anyone interested in mapping for Plan of Attack - makes me wish I had more opportunities like this when I was starting to make maps!

[MrKenny]

I've been having a lot of fun now that Plan of Attack has gone public! The only problem is that I don't have the self control to say "OK I'll just play one round and that's it"

Here are some screenshots I took from various Plan of Attack internet games, maybe you'll see your name on there!

2 screenshots of good teamwork in action:



2 screenshots of dead soldiers:



2 screenshots of cool battle stances:



1 screenshot of the penculator arcade game:


I hope you're all enjoying Plan of Attack! It's a fun beta, and it's only going to get better from here!

[MrKenny]

One of my friends from back home just came to visit me at college, and while he was here, he decided to pimp my computer! Until now, I had always used default Windows blue as my background, and just decorated the screen with icons for practically everything on my computer. My friend found a very cool wallpaper online and set that for me - the dilemma was that I didn't want to get rid of my icons... and yet the new wallpaper was too cool to toss either. Solution? A few minutes in Photoshop with the wallpaper available on Mikey's developer blog, and my new wallpaper that my friend gave me.

The result:

What can I say, all the brush texture work for Plan of Attack pays off!

I highly recommend doing something similar to this if you're torn between choosing one of the Plan of Attack wallpapers available on our forums (I recommend Mikey's if you want the logo on concrete grey, or Wickerman's in the PoA coloring book thread of general discussion for an entertaining, cartoony spin on PoA) you can take any wallpaper you currently have set, and modify it with a good program like Photoshop within a few minutes.

EDIT
It seems that a lot of you like my wallpaper! I've posted it in a few spots on the forums, but to make it easier to find, I'll post it here as well!
http://www.rpi.edu/~johnsk7/poa_dev_mrkennys_wallpaper.jpg

[MrKenny]

Exciting times for the PoA community, our game has hit 100,000 downloads!

And as a bonus, the mini-game I was developing (Plan of Attack: Target Practice) has been released on FileCloud, completely free. It's simple, but addictive! The unlockable content is relatively easy to get, but I hope you continue to play to get high scores! It may in fact replace solitaire as your time waster of choice, and might help pass the hours if you're downloading a new build of Plan of Attack!

Enjoy - the download link is here:
http://delpra.filecloud.com/files/file.php?user_file_id=23359

[MrKenny]

Many of you have been playing Plan of Attack for quite a while now! You've seen many websites online talking about the game, and you've given us some great feedback on how to make it better. Let's see how it measures up against reviews of the book, Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward:

[MrKenny]

On a more serious note, Plan of Attack is too much fun to work on. I got a job up at school here as a conference coordinator so I could get a free dorm room for the summer and continue working on the game! The job is kind of time consuming, 8:30 to 5, but usually there's down time, and I've been able to work on Plan of Attack! Plus, at 5 when I get off of work... I work on Plan of Attack!

We have some ambitious plans for the game, and I think a lot of people are going to be happy with the next couple of releases. To go along with that, I'm trying to figure out an effective way to get Plan of Attack shirts out to the community! I have some ideas for designs, Mike has some ideas, Mikey's drawing of a scout has already gotten some demand as a shirt design - and some of our community members are already submitting their great ideas and designs. An interesting one that has come up in the forums is to have your name, or even more hardcore, your Steam ID on the back of the shirt! I'm all for it!

Keep playing Plan of Attack - you'll be seeing some major additions and changes that will blow you away like an RPG shot to the face