Ninja Mapping

Shinobi has updated his developer blog with previews of two upcoming maps, sd_bomba and ps_caliber.

SD_bomba is a "small, tight outdoor map that might be a good server starter."


No information has been given yet about ps_caliber, other than it is planed for a 1.1 release.

Portfolio

Shinobi has updated his developer's blog with a video for his personal portfolio of work he has done on FAS. The video includes a run though of parts ps_derailed and ps_crossfire, as well as some of the modeling and texture work he has done.

Derailed Update

Shinobi has greatly updated ps_derailed in terms of gameplay and texture work. The map's progressive spawns - which make you spawn closer to the enemy depending on what flag you hold - have been updated with the most notable change is that they are farther away from the middle cap point.


In addition to the spawn changes, the number of upper level areas has doubled and the texture work has been refined to give the map or more uniform theme, making the map much more industrial looking than before.

Finally, HRD in the map has been reduced but still keeping the areas that need to be light, light.

You can find more screen shots in Shinobi's developer's blog.

Crossfire Updates

Shinobi has updated some aspects of ps_crossfire, detailed in his personal developer blog. The map before had some problems with the placement of some of the flags. One flag was hard to defend with "270 degrees of overwatches focused on it" and has been moved into a warehouse for safe keeping.

In addition, "the ghetto" flag will mostly likely be updated in this same fashion, making its defense easier.
Finally, beside the flag updates, Shinobi has also added "a sewer system under the park area, hopefully this will make it easier for blue to hold as well as make it easier for red to cap."

Forest Reborn

Shinobi has been working on creating a convincing outdoor scene using the source engine for FAS. Currently he has been working blending the terrain as well as creating convincing tree models. You can view Shinobi's FAS work, as well as his other project as his game design blog.

Ninja Post

Shinobi has updated his blog with screen shots of ps_derailed and ps_crossfire.

Crossfire had a lot of extensive play testing and some of the narrow pathways have been expanded into more open rooms to help with flow. For example, "turning a long stretch of hallway into a garage so that there can be some width and crossover to the main route."


Derailed had a similar problem with bottle necking in some areas. These areas have been competently redone from one route to four routes. In addition, the whole blue side of the map has been opened up and the cap points have been reduced from five to three.

Map Showcase - PS_sand

The classic choke point map returns to FAS with an actual theme instead of a linear corridor with no immersion. Undertone has posted some screen shots of the map in his developer journal, but Shinobi has posted some screen shots with the added detail that undertone's screen shots lack such as models and a 3D sky box.

Brother of Another Mother

Despite the unique heads, the heads will not be unique for each team according to Shinobi. Odds are, you'll end up killing your doppelganger more than once in FAS.

Also, if you didn't like any of the heads shown at all, there are two more that have yet to be revealed.

PS_River

PS_river, a FA classic, has been remade by FAS team leader, Shinobi. The map looks like the 2.6+ version with the additional pass behind the waterfall and possible alcove over looking the river capture point. This map will not be included as an official map with the release of FAS due to it's lack of polish that you see in other FAS maps. That isn't to say you will never play it, ps_river, along with a slew of other maps that aren't up to par will be released as a map pack sometime after the first release. Maybe with more time and fan out cry, the map will be included as an official map with future RCs.

Developer Notes

The process to make a mod is a long, tedious task. Much of it is a learning experience; most mod teams learn and relearn techniques, seeing what works and what doesn't, trying new things while abandoning others. FAS is no different. Talks in the FAS forum allude to a FAS post modem after the first release candidate.

Schmung said he wouldn't mind writing a forum post or two about the development of FAS which Shinobi agreed it would be a good idea.

Conversations with a Ninja

Grunt: Is Durandal cut for RC1? Hitman was somewhat vague in his dev blog post and the map is still on the maps page.

Shinobi: No

Grunt: Who is wangchung and what does he do?

Shinobi: Wangchung is a new texture artist.

Grunt: What is the hold up on the player models?

Shinobi: There isn't really a hold up, but it's a huge undertaking. We are doing everything from scratch. Many mods don't do that, they just model another character over an existing rig and use those animations.

Grunt: How complete are they? About 50%?

Shinobi: More that that, but it's hard to gauge. If you want a soundbite, I got the hitboxes and ragdolls done yesterday.

Grunt: Does Issa still contribute to FAS?

Shinobi: He has hard work, but he's still around even if you don't see him publicly.

Grunt: Do you see FAS being released before 2010?

Shinobi: Yeah, defiently. We have some art fallbacks if we fall too behind.

Paparazzi

Kill Stealer

As you can see from this cropped screenshot from the previous news update, FA:S currently has the kill assist feature introduced in TF2. When this screen shot was brought up in this thread in the General Discussion forum on FA:S (http://forums.firearms-source.com/showthread.php?t=7183) I ask, "The extent in what they play in the mod has not been addressed yet. The fact they are there, could mean little; prehapse it's just a pat on the back for people who deal almost all the damage, then someone else shoots the guy in the foot and gets the kill."

Shinobi replies with "out of all your speculations this one is the closest ."

So while they are incorporated as of now, what role they play has yet to be determined. If the skill system remains the same as in older versions of FA, it could pose a problem with people acquiring skills to fast. With skills every 10 kills, many people will have three to four skills early on; that is if kills and assist are grouped together as in TF2. However, based of Shinobi's reply, they could be a separate column, such as Kills/Assist/Deaths.