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Post by Rah'Majashan on Oct 29, 2007 6:01:08 GMT
Across the unknown seas whose depths are filled with creatures sailors whisper in hushed tales on stormy nights, lies a mysterious land. Some may call this the New World, but it has as much history and culture as any continent on earth. Here great Empires rose and fell. Great cities grew and collapsed. And great warriors fought and died for glory and honor. This is the land of the Inca and the Aztec Empires, but they are only a small part of the people that made up this vast and complex world. |
Welcome to the first ever Inca:Total War newsletter. Here we will try to update everyone on the on going progress of the ITW Mod. These updates will be for both our team members and those interested in learning more about the Mod itself. So, sit back, relax and enjoy. NEWS * * * * After a long hot summer, well for us in the Northern Hemisphere, we have at least one member of our team who lives in the Southern Hemisphere, so he has no excuse, we are back in the swing of things. In case you have not noticed, the ITW team has been moving rather slow of late, if not at all. That is because real life reared its ugly head and set its sites on destroying ITW. I know the gods of modding were laughing as they put a tree through one of our members roof, broke the hard drive of another, and sent yet another off on an extended adventure to another country. But we are a strong and dedicated group.
Determined to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get back into the game we re-organized ourselves and are back on track.
After much discussion we have decided to re-evaluate our goals. The major effect of this decision is to not wait until are complete with all the aspects of the mod, but rather release one to two mini-mods that will lead up to the major release. These min-mods are simply parts of the larger modification and will allow us to code bit by bit and give us an opportunity test various parts more easily.
The first of these mini-mods is currently under construction and an announcement will be shortly coming. |
* * * * The good news is, our modeler, meliritos, has completed 192 original models based on references he and our researchers found after many hours of research. The resource references for these models are difficult to come by, so the fact that we were able to find enough to create so many unique units is a testament to our researchers.
The bad news is, we don’t have any experienced skinners. For the moment we are going to simply load the models in without complete skins and play them in game. This way we can test our models, begin unit balancing, make sure the animations work properly, and see what changes, if any, need to be made. So, bare with us if we chose not to post too many battle screen shots. Or if we do post screen shots of naked models, understand our situation and give only constructive feedback. |
Needless to say, WANTED: SKINNERSUPDATES * * * * SSJVegtaTrunks and Jacobdebroedere have come up with a great system of traits and gaming mechanics. We are lucky that both have stuck with us over the past year and have continued to work behind the scenes while the rest of us have been trying to figure out which direction to take the mod in. |
* * * * Vuk Brankovic has offered to balance out units! Unfortunately he no longer has the time to skin at the moment. But the little time he does have he has generously offered to do the unit balancing. Now we just have to get all the units coded into the game in order for him to begin. Hopefully this will begin with the next week and we’ll have some good news regarding this in the next Newsletter. |
* * * * Rah'Majashan is slowly getting back up to speed and back into the mapping game now that he has purchased a new computer. There isn’t much more to be done on the map in order for it to be fully complete. With the decision to begin creating a mini-mod, he will have to edit the existing map to fit the needs of this new direction. |
* * * * Not much 2D art has been accomplished in the past few months nor have many buildings been made. This is expected to change as we begin working on the mini-mod in earnest. With the decision to make a mini-mod we now have very specific goals and needs. |
* * * * Well, that’s our first Newsletter. Perhaps a slow start, but hey, I’ve never done one of these before. They can only get better from here. Until Next Time Mod Well!
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Post by Filibusteria on Oct 29, 2007 12:58:25 GMT
cool. And cool sig, too. Rah, you have the 2D gift
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Post by Rah'Majashan on Oct 29, 2007 22:37:33 GMT
Hmm, I'm thinking 'Dark Continent' may seem like it denotes Africa. As much as I hate to use it, perhaps I should use 'New World'? Any thoughs?
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Post by Filibusteria on Oct 29, 2007 22:43:00 GMT
Or the Gold Continent?
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Post by Vuk on Oct 30, 2007 1:29:32 GMT
Inca News from the Golden Past
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Post by meliritiatl on Oct 30, 2007 5:26:10 GMT
just do it "meliritos world" its better this way...ah just kidding, new world is fine
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Post by Rah'Majashan on Oct 30, 2007 17:08:06 GMT
I'll make some changes to the baner tonight and try to further edit the article. Then, once everyone here approves, I'll post it into a new thread on the TWC. I also invision eventually having Interviews including as well as the Modders Blog I've been doing. If anyone else feels like writing an article for the news letter, let me know.
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Post by Balom Warrior on Oct 30, 2007 18:52:26 GMT
Hey mel, have you started the spanish models?
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Post by meliritiatl on Oct 31, 2007 4:34:45 GMT
the spanish? haha thats a joke right? man listen, im only going to model some meso buildings to finish the "flower wars" pre-release. If we succeed and we release the "flower wars" then ill model the spaniards. But im not going to spend more time modelling units that may never be in a mod. My time is very precious, like anybody elses. So until i see sth really substantial i am sorry but i cant model anything new conserning units.
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Post by jacobdebroedere on Oct 31, 2007 11:38:18 GMT
I think there are other mods around(like Citadel total war) who already have Spanish models. Maybe we could ask to borrow some of theirs?
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Post by Rah'Majashan on Oct 31, 2007 14:42:41 GMT
Lets just forget about the Spanish for the moment gang. The Spanish don't arrive until the very end of the full mod. Which we all agree is not what our current goal is. We have to complete at least two mini-mods before we even begin discussing the Spanish.
Fair enough?
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Post by meliritiatl on Nov 1, 2007 4:19:29 GMT
Yes. If all goes well and we finish the "flower wars" mini mod, i will immediately model the spanish. I will know by then that we all mean business. So in the INCA TW mod we can have spanish if you like, its like one full month modelling for me, no problem. But not unless we finish the "flower wars" mini mod
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Post by Rah'Majashan on Nov 1, 2007 5:23:43 GMT
Mel, in all honesty, I see at least one more mini-mod before we complete the complete make over. Perhaps like Inca expansion or something. That will include just the area around Cusco. Once we have the two main factions coded and two playable games out, then we can focus on ficing any bugs we find and finish the rest. This will be the time when the Spanish will come in. So, they are about three editions away from being necessary. But if you get bored and need to model, by all means....
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Post by meliritiatl on Nov 1, 2007 11:28:38 GMT
i like your approach Rah. Lets go for it. I hope people will follow, and not get bored. As for me, i told you i will stay around at least until till i see my cuachiqueh kick some Inca ass By the way you may have noticed that the cuachiqueh is the only one without a banner on his back. The cuachiqueh originally had banners on their backs, but in many cases they were deployed to abush the enemy hiding in forests and high grass. In these cases i suppose they didnt wear their backbanners, so this quachiquech will have the ability to hide in woods and long grass, as the description says. Please remember that when you code him ingame
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Post by Rah'Majashan on Nov 1, 2007 23:47:54 GMT
OK boyos here's Rama getting on his soap box.
I just read the latest Eagle Standard and was annoyed to see The Doctor write that there isn't much going on over in the Rome:Total War section and that it has besically become a place where new comers go to post questions. Admittedly, we have not been posting lately and most of the mods that were in production when we began ours have been released. But none of those were complete make overs and none had to research a completely unknown area of history and create 192 new units and who knows how many new buildings and a completely new map from scratch, containing 123 provinces each of which had to be laboriously researched for names, with a whole new climate which needs new models. Its no wonder our mod is taking a long time.
In an atmosphere where many people are simply building upon what has already been done and simply editing all the vanilla documents, people expect quick turn around. I believe it took The Fourth Age two years to get their mod out. That is the only one to compare to and we have been going for a little over a year and a half and have half the capable members that they had. I think we've done a damn good job.
Most of what we do is behind the scenes, but people need to see concrete movement to keep interest. I want the Eagle Standard to take interest. Now we don't need some one elses interest to justify what we are doing. But we are doing a heck of a lot more than most and getting absolutely no credit for it just yet.
We have a goal now and I intend to see it through even if it means i have to do all the work myself. I don't want to do that, I want to be part of a team. I've enjoyed working with all the participating members of this mod, you know who you are, and I think we can get something out there that we are all proud of just if we stay in the race. I also want at least one of us to be interviewed by the Eagle Standard, with all the research Mel and Fili have done and the great trait system SSJ has come up with there is plenty to say.
To do this we not only need to be more active in the TWC, but we need to be more creative and persistant in how we present ourselves over there. I have grand ideas for the Newsletter and Mel has been doing a great job with the History. But I believe we can do more. I will gladly update the newsletter each week. But I alone can not come up with content. Please, send me any rants you may post, any creative ideas you may have, any historical information for our Historian to post. Lets make the world of the Aztec and Inca, and yes Fili the Mapuche too, come alive for the folk over there in the TWC!.
But that's only one part. We also need to put up a release post and follow through shortly afterwards with screen shots and promotional material. We can't have a release and then do nothing. So, before we do anything to say what we are planning we need to see some movement on the mod. I say that once the units are coded in and we can get on the mini-map Rah'Majashan will create and play a game that's when we start our promotional blitz.
Until then we need someone to work on designing our posters and how we will promote this mini-mod. Lets all rally together and give the folk at TWC something to look forward to. Something the Eagle Standard can be so surprised about they fall over themselves to get an interview with a member of our team.
What say you all!!!!!
Pant pant pant
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