Beta Time

The FAS Alpha Tester's Journal has been renamed FAS Beta Tester's Journal. As PFS states, "this is more or less the first version that would/could be released."

Player testers now are working on making sure there are no "exploits, bugs, [or anything] that could detract from gameplay."

The forum still has moderated post: FAS team members have to view post before they can be posted. While this prevents leaks, it does not make it easier for testers to post game play experiences.

Do not expect more use out of this forum.

Annual Alpha Tester Journal Updates

mg23, a recent addition to the FAS alpha testers, had posted a lengthy post in the FAS alpha tester's journal. mg23 is an FA veteran, playing since 2.4 and participating in many leagues in the infamous clan, [S^D] as well as playing a Firearms League (FAL) match in FA2's remake of ps_river. As such, he has came into testing FAS with many expectations: fast game play, benefit to the player who can aim, and benefit to the player who knows how the game is played.

With all this experience with various versions of Firearms, mg23 concludes that, "FA:S is a more polished and more fun game that is lead by a dedicated team of developers who are looking to make this game as it should be." The old maps remade to FAS are enjoyable, says mg23, but the newer maps are not overshadowed by the nostalgia of older maps, able to hold their own.

Weapons were a major concern for mg23 as well. "I'm a sniper at heart, but I've been a staunch advocate of rushing until reinforcements are depleted," said mg23. He believes that the weapons should all be useful for pushing forward and capturing objectives. If you enjoyed this type of game play as well, mg23 reports that this style of game play is prevent and any worries about weapon balance has been laid to rest. While he enjoys the M4 and Sako for their variety of use, he has been impressed greatly by the M24. "The M24 is... incredible. For the first time I feel like picking up a bolt action rifle in a Firearms game," he said. In addition, there is no scope sway in FAS - unlike later editions of Firearms on HL - making them able to take on ARs that are good at long range.

In summary, "FA:S is what Firearms should be: it's fast, great-looking, and a blast to play. It's also nearing completion, so it's something tenable for you folks. Those worried that league play is not getting its fair shake need not be worried. It's my belief that FA:S will have a lot to offer competitively, and I look forward to seeing how this fully develops."

FAS NEWS (20 JULY 2009)

FAS's newest media update features the long awaited M60E, textured by Wangchung and StealthSilver. This 17 credit machine gun is powerful and accurate with its bipod and ideal for providing fire support for your team.


Also showcased is the G36c. The G36C modeled by SiD, has been retextured by Dr.Hubbler. The G36, a steal at 11 credits, is great at close quarters due to its automatic fire and can hold it's ground at range thanks to its aimpoint and single shot capability.


Finally, as mentioned by wasited menkey in his Alpha Tester's Journal post, FAS announces "awards." Described by DsyPatch, awards are "earn[ed] in the game can be achieved every time you join a server or new map." These are not achievements that are with the Steamworks system Valve has and they are not saved after you complete them.


What is interesting about the awards is that they have a CTI award (capture the flag variant game mode) but no SD award, despite having no official CTI maps and a few SD maps. PFS though, states this is for future - possibly unannounced - maps.

Menkey Spills the Bananas

Waisted menkey has posted in the Alpha Testers Journal with many screen shots of testing the latest internal build of FAS. Most notable in the screen shots are of the scope mechanics for weapons with low powered scopes such as the MP5 and G36. Using the scopes on these weapons brings up the scope, but still allows you to to see the area around you as well. Scopes for dedicated sniper rifles, such as the M82 and SR25 are the full screen scope that most players of FPS are use to.


Also shown in one screen shot is a mini map in the HUD. The mini map displays the map topography, as well as near by team mates, your cone of view, medics (or possibly hospice flags), capture points and possibly mortar targets. Mortar targets however could have a map of their own for interaction, or the mini map could expand similar to DoD:S to allow players to interact with it.

In addition, this screen shot also shows the mortar's ammo count bar above your weapons ammo count. It is unable to be determined if this only appears for your mortar, is displayed if if you target the mortar and if you need the Artillery skill to see the ammo count.



Finally, there appears to be some type of medal system in FAS. What it is exactly has yet to be explained at all. Possibly achievements, possibly an in game system that awards players skills for other things besides killing.


In addition, there are screen shots of the blue model place holder. Also there are a few players wielding deadly bananas which are place holders for the new high quality world models.

New and Improved

The Alpha Testers have a new build of FAS and the initial remarks by some testers are "amazed" and "optimized" and "improved". Dekier, a developer returning from a sabbatical commented "mappers and modelers have definitely stepped the graphics up since I left and the eye candy has increased ten-fold." Drhubbler also mentioned the addition of a new weapon addition that has yet to be mentioned.

Testing Testers

U4 has posted a thread in the FAS Alpha Testing forum about why there has been a lack of Alpha Tester feedback the past couple of weeks. He cites that the FAS Alpha Testing team is reorganizing their testing and that "The reason for our re-tooling is more-or-less because we've generally already broken and fixed all the obvious stuff in the code." The next round of testing will focus on non standard game play bugs that wouldn't come up in normal play testing. BDH, long time community member is currently in charge of this reorganization.

Candidate for MENSA

PFS has posted an updated in the Alpha Tester's Forum. FAS has been progressing at a steady pace, but the amount of new content and feature changes appears to be tapering off (possibly indicating a release is possible before 2009). The many of the Counter-Strike: Source place holders are being phased out for new original content by the FAS team and contributors.

Weapons have also been undergoing balancing and as PFQ describes it: "The overpowered things have been toned down. The laser guns have more recoil or wider accuracy cones. Things are just more enjoyable. At this point, there really is no clear cut "whore" weapons."

FAS described by PFS has a feel of 2.5 with all the improvements and balance of later RCs added in; many play styles are possible in FAS from assaulting, sniping and being a sneaky bastard.

PFS also touches on the new HUD updates that Hitman talked about in his last developer's journal post. PFS states that "Hitman informed us there may be something about the HUD added in the next build (possibly) that I suggested, that to my knowledge, has never before been seen in ANY mod, be it HL1 or HL2". What this actually entails is any one's guess.

Lastly PFS mentions in passing about new player models; more specifically the red player model which U4 will unveil some time in the future.

Rollin' Like A Wagon Wheel

U4 writes in the FAS Alpha Tester's Forum, "Things have been progressing rather nicely in the bowels of the FAS development team. Some of the testers might be getting a little tired with our current build, though...we've been testing build 0129 since May 24th. In the year and a half or so since I've been testing, we haven't gone this long without an update."

FAS Build 0129 has been tested for over 40 days! In that time, the FAS Team has been working hard and U4 ensures that FAS Build 0130 is going to be huge. Not only are bug fixed and stability issues resolved, but a lot of content will be added as well. Schmung and racer445 made a G3 which U4 says is amazing. Furthermore, more weapons are being replaced with improved models/skins/animations.

Models and bug fixes aren't the only addition to 0130. Maps have had more bug fixes, lighting and tweaks, as well as new features which U4 doesn't get into detail about. Also, new weapons are being introduced (though they may be cut later on). U4 isn't able to say a lot about them, but did say, "I can tell you that we're going to be one of the first games to implement a few of them. "

U4 also mentions the addition of something which he has edited out along with a lot of other information. Going by what FAS has and needs, it is hard to pin down what it is exactly. Possibly a new player model, as the team and testers have commented many times in much needed player models and animations. Additionally, if you replace [Thing that looks good] with player model, the flow of the paragraph is retained, as U4 continues to talk about replacing models after the semi-colon.

Paradise Found

Inveramsay is working on a tropic map for FAS. Little is known about it and it is still an early work in progress. The map is quite tropical, with a lot of water, palm trees, and ferns. The layout is unknown, but Inveramsay says it would most likely become a territorial control map, as it would be capped to easily as a push map.

You can see more screen shots here.

Will the Force Be With Us?

Inveramsay is remaking sd_force.

Source

To that note, it may not be released with the initial RC.

Source

Lock and Load

The FAS Alpha Tester's Journal on the FAS Forums has a lot of information about the upcoming release of FAS that isn't posted anywhere else. Some of the most insightful comments about the game comes from U4.

I asked how the old weapons compare to the old favorites. U4 responded "The weapons of le olde FA that we've included in FA:S, in my opinion, have been drastically improved, while still maintaining the "feel" they had. The source engine opened doors for us that were previously welded shut inasfar as balance goes."

He uses the FAMAS as an example, the notorious popular AR of old versions of FA. U4 says that the FAMAS of FAS fills like the FAMAS of the older FA, but "it's hard to pull off a 25-round burst with a face full of buckshot."

U4 also added, "One thing we've noticed in testing is that each map has it's own set of weapons that get used the most...but all it takes is one person to push through and hold out for a little bit, and the whole server ends up having to change up their configs to best suit the new contested territory. It's kind of hard to explain, so I'll just let you await with bated breath."

While this is open to interpretation, it seems that maps could work like this:

Areas of the map are suited for some weapons more than others. Some areas would favor long range weapons, other explosives, other CQC weapons. Players who can keep an area will undoubtedly have other players to switch to that preferred weapon style to counter the player in that area.

For example, one player is sniping a larger open area and other players without long range weapons can't do much against him. So they get different weapons and take them out and hold the area. The next area they get to is very CQC friendly, and their long range weapons aren't as powerful, so switching to CQC weapons would be prudent. In this way, all weapons have a use in many maps.

Of course that is just speculation.

When asked about when the amount of weapons start producing redundancies, U4 said, "I think redundancies aren't really an issue with the amount of flexibility we have...although we can only have so many 5.56 assault rifles with a 30 round magazine and a ROF between 600 and 750 rounds per minute."

U4 also says that they are reaching the limit of weapons that would fit into the "feel" of FAS. He explains this by stating, "I even had to start making weapon tweaking recommendations based off of stuff like weapon weight, barrel length, and even chamber pressures of particular weapons based off of the rounds it would be firing in it's native region."

Alpha Tester Forum Explained

Maggie said on the FA:S Alpha Tester Forum, "All posts in this forum will be MODERATED. That means that your post WILL NOT APPEAR until it has been read and APPROVED by the moderator assigned to this forum (in this case, our PR rep theUltra4sshole)."

She continues with, "PLEASE ALLOW 24 HOURS BEFORE ASSUMING THAT YOUR POST HAS BEEN UNAPPROVED. U4 can't be online all the time."

All post in the Alpha Tester Forum need to be approved by U4 before they actually show up for others to read and respond to. If you posted recently and your post hasn't shown up, that is why.

The Iron Curtain Starts to Fall

U4, FA:S newly appointed PR rep has opened a new forum within the FA:S Forums: The Alpha Tester's Journal . In the AT Forum, only testers are allowed to make threads, but anyone can reply.

U4 explains that this forum is to allow the Alpha Testers to talk about the game: how weapons behave, their likes/dislikes, skills they use ext. This is not to say they can talk about everything to their hearts content; U4 will screen each testers' post to ensure that it doesn't reveal to much. U4 states, "If you're wondering what "too much" might be, don't worry yourself about it." He goes on to explain that in the testing process, features are tweaked and/or cut. U4 doesn't believe it would be fair to reveal an incomplete feature or mechanic of FA:S, only for it to be cut or radically altered from its original state upon release.