Will FAS League Play Turn into SSB

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is arguably one of the best selling fighting games ever made. The game's sales aren't the arguable part, but its status as a fighting game is. I know that the guys I've interviewed who play Brawl competitively would argue that it's just as much of a fighting game as Street Fighter or Soul Calibur. Do you think Brawl is a fighting game, and if so, do you think Brawl will ever be playable at EVO?

It’s a real fighting game. I didn’t always think that, but I changed my mind after spending more time playing both Melee and Brawl. We actually had Brawl on the main stage in 2008 (with items on!) and I thought it was one of the best tourneys that year, with some spectacular finishes and outstanding play. Most of the competitive Smash community prefers to play with items off, which is their call to make, but we try to play a kind of “no holds barred” style at EVO, until something is proven to be undeniably messed up. I can’t imagine how crummy Marvel Vs Capcom 2 would be today if we had started banning things the first time we thought something was “overpowered” or “too random.” (Source)

The current FAS League play seems to be similar to the SSBB league play, or at least heading in that direction. Banning weapons is never a good idea so early in the game's development, since players haven't figured out counters; when you ban the weapons, they never will know how to counter them, reducing the amount of skill involved in competitive play. DysPatch, the league admin, even admits the M79 is not a problem in with smaller player counts:

Sep 07 12:56:15 DysPatch - yeah i think the problem is, you only see how effectives explosives are when you have a full server
Sep 07 12:56:17 DysPatch - 1 on 1
Sep 07 12:56:26 DysPatch - if you have an m79 and the other person an AR
Sep 07 12:56:31 DysPatch - the person with the AR is going to win

So why the restrictions on a single weapon that the lead developer doesn't consider unbalanced with lower player counts? An over emphasis on league play and the leader developer catering to a small but vocal minority will not get FAS to the level of popularity that older versions of FA had.

FAS 1.0E Released

FAS 1.0e has been released!

1.0e includes many new features for FAS, including:

Increased Weapon Accuracies
Decreased Armor Absorption Values
Weapon Re-Balancing
New Server Options
Over 60 Resolved Bugs

Read more about it here, along with download links!

Firearms 1.0e Complete Change Log

The complete change log for FAS 1.0e

- Speed modifiers for heavy and medium armor.
- You can select spectate from the team menu after spawning now.
- Fixed bug where you would be shown in the wrong team colour when an enemy you hurt would commit suicide. This is now shown as an "assisted suicide" in the death notices.
- Teamkills no longer report an assister to avoid confusion with the assister being in the wrong team colour. You are silently rewarded assist points.
- Improved assault rifle accuracy (usually 2-3x more accurate) - tweaked to 1024 unit range
- Improved SMG accuracy (about 1.5-2x more accurate) - tweaked to 512 unit range
- Improved pistol accuracy (to about the same degree as SMGs), lowered damage to compensate
- LMGs now have 0.25x the bullet cone while deployed
- M60 damage lowered
- M1911 damage increased
- SR-25 recoil significantly increased
- Lowered M79 Cost
- Fixed inaccurate skill descriptions
- When healing yourself with the IFAK, it no longer reports the previous healing target
- Fixed tracer rounds on the Vollmer
- Armor damage mitigation modified to lower values. Light 0.4x, Medium 0.5x, Heavy 0.6x
- Different types of armor have different armor hit point values, rather than being 150 for all of them. Light has 100, heavy has 200, helmet has 100, limb armor has 75
- Added new damage sounds
- Run speed reduced to 210 from 230 (~9% slower)
- Sprint speed reduced to 325 from 340 (~4% slower)
- Changed strafe and backpedal speeds. Backwards: 0.6 from 0.8, Strafe: 0.7 from 0.8
- Removed delay between firemode toggle
- Added missing MenuOpen/MenuClose/MenuPulse HUD animations
- Resolved sniper weapon selection slot conflicts
- Delay between voice and radio messages
- Weapons start with full ammo on spawn (6 reserve mags rather than 4)
- Hopefully improved stability of Mortars
- Added a fas_version command
- Reworked the ammobox code a little bit to address the ammoboxes only giving ammo to the current weapon
- Made some tweaks to the lighting effects for the NVG's to help prevent model texture/material washout
- Addressed an area of potentially invalid memory in the round over HUD element which could cause a crash
- Reworked some VGUI panels (MOTD, team panel, loadout etc)
- Fixed hint panel showing a black box with no text in it
- Fixed case where holding down MOUSE2 would continue to play the idle animation when you aim down the sights (G36C)
- Holding down the attack, attack2 or reload key will no longer prevent a weapon from deploying
- Solved some visual glitches associated with bolt action (or pump action) weapons
- Disabled the ability to jump if your stamina is less than the amount of stamina drained for jump
- Slightly upped the stamina drain for jumping from 20 to 30
- Setting fas_endgametimer to -1 will remove the 0 rein timeout, waiting until all the players on the team are dead or a full cap is made
- Added fov_desired cvar which is used in Valve's official games which allows you to adjust your FOV between 75 and 90. Defaults to 90
- You can no longer climb a ladder while prone or ducked
- Burst fire queues bullets to fire, so 1 click = 3 bullets (with M16/FAMAS), rather than having to hold it down
- mp_switchteams is now fully operational and will flip the teams when a server admin issues the command
- Ability to restrict weapons per-server through a weapons blacklist
- Shotgun reload cancelling waits until you have released the mouse button
- View punches for recoil are now applied to spectators
- Firemode recoil modifiers are fully operational
- Marksman skill increases accuracy in 10% increments rather than 5% (5->10, 10->20, 15->30)
- Projectiles no longer spawn at the other side of a wall when you're facing next to one
- Reinforcements are drained on spawn rather than death
- Added 4-directional hit indicators, in addition to the red fade
- Ammo caches will replace partial magazines
- Fix for ragdoll spam on initial spawn which would lag out players
- Re-compressed textures which should help users running on low end machines
- SG550 and FAMAS have been re-animated
- Specular maps added to weapon view models
- Fixed channels and attenuation of some sounds, fixes some issues where you can't hear the gun you're being shot by
- Fixed potential crashes with quick bandaging
- Kill icon for suicide
- Fixed ERRORNAME appearing when destroying SD objectives
- Fixed bug with animations and reloading when going prone with internal magazine weapons (M3)
- Fixed the appearance of an IFAK floating next to a player when a player has been put in spectator
- Weapons can fire underwater
- Added cvar fas_switch_teams_on_rwin which flips the teams and rein count between rounds
- Gunnery II now improves holster/deploy times as the label describes
- Server name now appears on scoreboard
- Game should now end after a full cap results in a team going to 0 reins


New for mappers in 1.0e
- PointsForDestroy keyvalue on sd crates to give players points for destroying the objective

1.0e/1.1 Updated Changelog 3

The FAS 1.0e/1.1 Change Log has been updated. The following changes have been added since August 17th.

- Added 4-directional hit indicators, in addition to the red fade
- Ammo caches will replace partial magazines
- Fix for ragdoll spam on initial spawn which would lag out players
- Re-compressed textures which should help users running on low end machines
- SG550 and FAMAS have been re-animated
- Specular maps added to weapon view models
- Fixed channels and attenuation of some sounds, fixes some issues where you can't hear the gun you're being shot by
- Fixed potential crashes with quick bandaging
- Kill icon for suicide
- Fixed ERRORNAME appearing when destroying SD objectives
- Fixed bug with animations and reloading when going prone with internal magazine weapons (M3)
- Fixed the appearance of an IFAK floating next to a player when a player has been put in spectator
- Weapons can fire underwater
- Added cvar fas_switch_teams_on_rwin which flips the teams and rein count between rounds
- Gunnery II now improves holster/deploy times as the label describes

New for mappers in 1.0e
- PointsForDestroy keyvalue on sd crates to give players points for destroying the objective

Scripting

I have posted a thread in the FAS Support Forum about Scripting for FAS. Check it out if you are looking for some basic information about FAS Scripting.

Community Model Releases

FAS all ready has a handful of custom models for you to customize your game. Be sure to check out the Released Assets subforum for more info and to leave feedback.

Kool-Aid and Butterfingers for IFAK by AirborneDaddy

Oh Yeah! :D

Download


BR2FAMAS3 for FAMAS by ville

A fancy FAMAS to replace the standard FAMAS in FAS.

Download


FN SCAR-L MKII for M4A1 by BathroomSecurity

A more modern weapon to replace the long in the tooth M4A1.

Download


CF-05 Animations by Flakk

New and improved CF-05 animations, even the original animator thinks so.

Download

Community Map Releases

The FAS Community all ready has two new community made maps for FAS. Be sure to check out future releases, or discuss current releases in FAS's Released Maps Forum.

PS_Desesrtcrisis by Hitman

A classic FA staple remade for FAS, with new routes to the middle capture point.

Download



TC_University by Ecktic

A fast and frantic TC map that has an old school charm.

Download


Download TC_University

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.

If You Gotta Problem, Yo, I'll Solve It

FAS has a new forum for FAS related support, surprisingly called the FAS Support Forum. Here you can ask for help with any FAS related issues, from glitches to general tweaks to improve your overall experience.

Mantis Kills Bugs Dead

In Bob_Gneu's developer blog, he has linked the bug tracking tool used by the FAS Team and Testers to track, test and fix bugs. According to Bob_Gneu, "you can now oversee how we are working and what we are working on." Not only that, but you are able to contribute to the bug tracker, the only stipulation is that you can not register anonymously to avoid an environment similar to the input forum.

If not, you can still check it out and see a bit behind the scenes of FAS.

A River Ran Through It

PS_river fans rejoice, Smilie, is remaking your beloved map. Hopefully screenshots will be available soon.

Source

1.0e/1.1 Updated Changelog 2

The 1.0e/1.1 Change Log has been updated. The following changes have been added since August 13th.

- Projectiles no longer spawn at the other side of a wall when you're facing next to one
- Reinforcements are drained on spawn rather than death

1.0e/1.1 Change Log Updated

The 1.0e/1.1 Change Log has been updated. The following changes have been added since August 7th.

- Hopefully improved stability of Mortars
- Added a fas_version command
- Reworked the ammobox code a little bit to address the ammoboxes only giving ammo to the current weapon
- Made some tweaks to the lighting effects for the NVG's to help prevent model texture/material washout
- Addressed an area of potentially invalid memory in the round over HUD element which could cause a crash
- Reworked some VGUI panels (MOTD, team panel, loadout etc)
- Fixed hint panel showing a black box with no text in it
- Fixed case where holding down MOUSE2 would continue to play the idle animation when you aim down the sights (G36C)
- Holding down the attack, attack2 or reload key will no longer prevent a weapon from deploying
- Solved some visual glitches associated with bolt action (or pump action) weapons
- Disabled the ability to jump if your stamina is less than the amount of stamina drained for jump
- Slightly upped the stamina drain for jumping from 20 to 30
- Setting fas_endgametimer to -1 will remove the 0 rein timeout, waiting until all the players on the team are dead or a full cap is made
- Added fov_desired cvar which is used in Valve's official games which allows you to adjust your FOV between 75 and 90. Defaults to 90
- You can no longer climb a ladder while prone or ducked
- Burst fire queues bullets to fire, so 1 click = 3 bullets (with M16/FAMAS), rather than having to hold it down
- mp_switchteams is now fully operational and will flip the teams when a server admin issues the command
- Ability to restrict weapons per-server through a weapons blacklist
- Shotgun reload cancelling waits until you have released the mouse button
- View punches for recoil are now applied to spectators
- Firemode recoil modifiers are fully operational
- Marksman skill increases accuracy in 10% increments rather than 5% (5->10, 10->20, 15->30)

1.0e vs. 1.1

The FAS Team is considering releasing another patch,1.0e, which would include all the bug fixes and balance tweaks of 1.1, but none of the new weapons. However, this may push 1.1 back some if they have to devote their time to packaging up what they have now for release.

You can see the 1.0e/1.1 change log here.

Let the FAS Team know what you want in the FAS Forums, IRC, ModDB or Facebook.

Current 1.0e/1.1 Change Log

FAS 1.0e/1.1 looks to improve gameplay in a variety of ways. From tweaking armor and weapon values, to adjusting movement speeds, to possibly 8 new weapons, the next patch is looking great. Be sure to check this thread in the input forum for more updates.

Changes since 1.0d
- Speed modifiers for heavy and medium armor.
- You can select spectate from the team menu after spawning now.
- Fixed bug where you would be shown in the wrong team color when an enemy you hurt would commit suicide. This is now shown as an "assisted suicide" in the death notices.
- Teamkills no longer report an assister to avoid confusion with the assister being in the wrong team color. You are silently rewarded assist points.
- Improved assault rifle accuracy (usually 2-3x more accurate) - tweaked to 1024 unit range
- Improved SMG accuracy (about 1.5-2x more accurate) - tweaked to 512 unit range
- Improved pistol accuracy (to about the same degree as SMGs), lowered damage to compensate
- LMGs now have 0.25x the bullet cone while deployed
- M60 damage lowered
- SR-25 recoil increased
- Fixed inaccurate skill descriptions
- When healing yourself with the IFAK, it no longer reports the previous healing target
- Fixed tracer rounds on the Vollmer
- Armor damage mitigation modified to lower values. Light 0.4x, Medium 0.5x, Heavy 0.6x
- Different types of armor have different armor hit point values, rather than being 150 for all of them. Light has 100, heavy has 200, helmet has 100, limb armor has 75
- Added new damage sounds
- Run speed reduced to 210 from 230 (~9% slower)
- Sprint speed reduced to 325 from 340 (~4% slower)
- Changed strafe and backpedal speeds. Backwards: 0.6 from 0.8, Strafe: 0.7 from 0.8
- Removed delay between firemode toggle
- Added missing MenuOpen/MenuClose/MenuPulse HUD animations
- Resolved sniper weapon selection slot conflicts
- Delay between voice and radio messages
- Weapons start with full ammo on spawn (6 reserve mags rather than 4)

New weapons in 1.1
- Sterling
- Uzi
- Remington 870
- SKS
- KS23
- Raging Bull
- SVD
- FAL

FAS RELEASED

In case you didn't notice, FAS has been released.

You can download FAS here.

If you are going to set up a server, BE SURE TO GET THE PATCHES.

Halflife2.net FAS Review

Another FAS review is out, this time on Halflife2.net.

Again, the game is awesome.

PHL: FAS Review

Planet Half Life has put up their review of Firearms: Source 1.0.

The actual review talks a lot about what makes FAS a great game, but instead of chopping up their review, I'll summarize it in one sentence: FAS is awesome!

FAS Team and Tester Blogs

With the recent update to the FAS Forums, the developers and testers are able to make blog post. Such post replace the previous developers and tester forums, allowing the team and testers to show off new media, talk about the development or testing of FAS, as well as ask questions to the community, such as which weapons should be included with FAS 1.1.

Be sure to check them out here.

Videos, Videos Everywhere!

With FAS nearing release, more videos have been made by the FAS Team, Testers, and those who took part of the press preview event.

FAS Trailer, FAS Team



AK-47 on SD_Mine and TC_Iwojima



ModPlay FAS Press Preview Playthrough

Interviews, Interviews Everywhere!

The FAS Team has made the rounds to various game blogs and sites, doing interviews about the development of the mod as well as answering questions about it.

Podcast#17, Episode 92

GCP, Episode 95

PHL Interview

Cost of War

The following are the new credit cost of times, taken from FAS's livestream.

Equipment

Machete: 6
Bandages: 3
Night Vision Goggles: 3

Explosives

M79: 46
Claymore: 13
Frag Grenade: 6
Smoke Grenade: 6
Flashbang: 6

Pistols

OTS33: 17
Desert Eagle: 13
Glock 20: 10
92FS: 10
M1911: 8

Shotguns

M3S90: 27

SMGs

MC51B Vollmer: 44
CF-O5: 24
MP5A4: 24
MAC-11: 20

ARs

Sako 95: 42
FAMAS: 42
AK47: 40
G3A3: 40
SG550: 40
G36C: 36
M16A2: 36
M14: 36
M4A1: 33

MGs

M60 E3: 56
M249: 50

SRs

M82A1: 70
SR25: 60
M24: 56

Forums Notice

NOBODY PANIC!

The forums will be locked tomorrow (July 12th) at approximately 6pm EST so that we can upgrade the forum software. Because we will also be migrating to a new server, and must back up several GB worth of milthread and hot chicks photos, it may take up to 4 days for the forums to be back online.

See you on the other side, FA:Sers!

Taken from FAS Forums. If you still need your FAS fix, you can visit the FAS IRC or Ventrilo channel.

Movie Time

Cant wait for FAS? Here are four videos to tide you over until the 23rd.

AK47 Demonstration on PS_Crossfire




M249 and 1911 Demonstration on PS_Sand



M24 Demonstration on PS_Sand



M3 Demonstration on PS_Crossfire and SD_Dragovo



Vollmer Demonstration on PS_Snowstorm

FAS NEWS (3 JULY 2010)

FAS has an official release date, 23 July 2010! The game has changed considerably since it was first conceived July 2006. The game has moved away from Counter-Strike: Source Grid Cache File to a complete custom library of models and assets. Various FA features have been added in that weren't originally going to be included, such as prone and custom player models.


This is only the start of FAS, as the team says they will continue supporting FAS for years to come.

Those who would want to start a FAS server, the team will release the server builds in advanced.

Level Up!

DysPatch has revealed in this FA Forum post that the skill system and credit cost of FAS has been changed. The skill system will feature six unique skills, with three levels each, for a total of 18 skills. Players will be able to chose as many skills after they want for a set number of kills, for now. In the future, when more skills are added, there will be a cap to how many skills an individual can acquire. With so many skills though, it is unsure if there will still be the standard 10 kills per skill upgrade in previous versions.

DysPatch also provides an example of how this new skill system will work with the new Commander skill.

* Commander I
o 5% Faster Movement Speed for Nearby Teammates
* Commander II
o 5% Accuracy Boost for Nearby Teammates
o 10% Less Damage to Nearby Teammates
* Commander III
o Capture Objectives Twice as Fast

In addtion to the skill changes, FAS will move from the traditional 30 skill points to an even 100. This is for the anticipation of new weapons in the future, allowing for better balance. All current items in FAS will have their credit cost raised to reflect this new system, such as the cost of grenades being raised from two credits, to six credits.

Updates!

The FAS Map page has been updated, showing off the new, darker, visual style of tc_iwojima as well as the new map sd_Dragovo.

SD_Dragovo is made by a new team member, Wolf, who has previous experience with mapping in the source engine, as well as professional mapping as seen on his blog.

Wide Tracks of Land

Those with very large resolutions, such as 2560x1600, need not worry about FAS supporting your resolution. DysPatch confirms in this FA Input Forum thread that FAS does support larger resolutions.

FAS NEWS (29 APRIL 2010)

FAS has released a time line of every FA releases that you can find on their history page (or a more detailed view here). In it, they release the release window for FAS which is sometime in July, as well as a new map SV_Dragovo.

You can also check out FASR's FA Birthday Coverage:

FA Remembrance
FA 1.0 Team Thanks
FA 1.0 Maps
FA 1.0 Weapons

Steamy Goodness

Now that steam has made their new UI official, you may have noticed that not much is done for third party programs and mods, as shown here.


This feature, DysPatch said, is available to games only who use the Steam Cloud in some way, for now. Unless FAS can be integrated with Steam like previous mods, everyone will have to suffer from the simple display.

Lowlight

The highlight feature in the previous news update may not make it to the first release candidate. DysPatch said in this thread that the highlighting was unstable, and had to be cut. If this means for testing, or for the first RC, has yet be determined.

Audiophile

Tired of repeating weapon sounds in games? Vunsuntra has the answer! "Upon release, each weapon will have 3-5 random stereo gunshots the engine will choose from for the 1st person perspective. All the weapons will have a distant sound as well, for when your far away from the gunshot source."Also for RC 1.0, there will be ricochet sounds as well as well as surface impact sounds.

Ting ting ting ting ting!

In many FPS these days, there is some indicator whether you hit someone or not, be it a change in your cross hair, a noise, or some other visual clue. FAS will not be much different from these other games.

As DysPatch states in this thread, "we plan on having a nice helmet thud or flesh break if you hit someone in the head" and continues with, "I wouldn't mind a cross hair flash for hit recognition. Its been brewing in my mind for sometime." However, adds that it would be something for after the initial release of FA.

Not everyone though shares the same philosophy as DysPatch. Naoto points out that, "hit indicators are borderline cheating." Citing examples from play test, Naota recalls when damage was displayed on the HUD, saying "[it] was one of the most frustrating parts of the game until we went out of our way to remove the damage indicator from testing." These on screen indicators showed when you hit someone, allowing players to "fire their machine gun into the darkness/undergrowth/water/solid walls/prone players/window ledges far away and have the UI feedback tell them to keep shooting because they're hitting someone."

And as Naota said, "As awesome as it might be, bullets are not one of the five senses."

Can I Has Server?

DysPatch has stated that server binaries for FAS will be released a week prior to the FAS client.

Source

FAS Testing Debrief (25 APRIL 2010)

The April 25th testing continuned testing the stability of FAS on the orange box engine, as well as enusring that the push and territorial control gameplay worked. Thankfully, most of the issues have been sorted out, however, there are still issues when a team reaches zero reinforcements and someone captures all the points. Futhermore, there are still some issues with the rag-doll physics. Lastly, some balance changes will be looked at such as increasing each team's reinforcements, as well as increasing the effectiveness of armor. The following are known issues that will be fixed for the next build:

• Increase M24 Scope Accuracy
• Decrease M82 No-Scope Accuracy
• Decrease M79 Damage
• Increase M67 Frag Damage
• Increase Desert Eagle Recoil
• Increase Reinforcement Threshold
• Increase Armor Effectiveness
• Recompile Ragdolls
• Decrease Sako 95 Damage
• Increase SR25 Movement Penalty
• Fix Game rules on Map Full Capture
• Fix grenade throw animation

FAS Testing Debrief (18 APRIL 2010)

DysPatch will now post Testing Debriefings in the Beta Testing Journal. Testing Debriefings summarize the last testing session as well as list bug fixes and changes that will be made for the next round of testing.

The 18 April 2010 testing tested the stability of the game on Orange Box, which is progressing but not as stable as previous builds, with issues such as PS and TC points crashing the server. However, many bugs have been identified and will be fixed for the next round of testing, including:

• Fix Armor Credit Cost
• Decrease Wind Volume in Snowstorm
• Optimize Snowstorm
• Re-add Ammobox reload sound
• Give More Magazines on Spawn
• Decrease time between magazine pick at ammoboxes
• Fix sprint speed, and movement speeds in general
• Stabilize TC and PS capture points
• Add weapon distance firing sounds
• Ragdoll recompile (To fix seizures upon death)
• M24 Animations

FA RC 1.0 Weapons

These are the original 27 weapons released with Firearms 1.0. Of the 31 weapons in FAS (not counting the mortar), 19 are from the original Firearms, indicated by the italics.

Melee

Seal Knife 2000

Pistols

Colt Government 1911A1
Beretta 92F
Beretta 93R
IMI Desert Eagle
Colt Anaconda

Shotguns

Benelli M3 Super 90P
Kalashikov Saiga 12-K

Sub Machine Guns

HK MP5A5
HK MP5KA4
HK 51-B Vollmer
Ingram M11

Assault Rifles

AK47
FAMAS
HK G3A3
HK G36E
Colt M16A2
Colt M4
Steyr AUG

Sniper Rifles

HK PSG1
Barret M-82A1

Machineguns

M-60

Explosives

M79
Frag Grenade
Flashbang Grenade
Stielhand Grenade
M18A1 Claymore Mine

FA RC 1.0 Maps

These are the original 12 maps released with Firearms 1.0. FAS includes remakes of ps_sand and tp_mine (remade to sd_mine).

By Beserker

cti_artic
cti_rama
tp_zerk
ps_check

By LooseCannon

tp_boat

By David "Hitman" Reeves

tp_soviet

By CrowbarSniper

cti_mideast
ps_waterfall
tp_dish

By Tylak

ps_sand
tp_mine
tp_ware

Founding Fathers

Special thanks to the original FA team for inspiring 10 years of Firearms!

Project Leaders

Casper Milan Nielson (Syre)
Brian Fuller (Democritus)

Programmers

Mike Weldon (FalloutBoy)
James Twohey (Judicator)
Gary Weis (Weis)

Modelers

Ben Irwin (Ninja Monkey)
Christian Oelund (Gekko)
Ross Thelen (Toedip)
Mike Kopinski (TWIN48DCOE)
Ken Bentley (Real Man)
Jack Prince (Wonder Warthog)

Level Design

Eric Smith (Beserker)
Joel Gabel (Tiger)
Natalie Gabel
Paul Oakes (Oakesy)
Gary Lanza (Lanza)
Dominic Crompton (Users-Lag-Time)
Eugene Smozhevsky (-ED)

Graphics Artist

Tobias Dedenroth (Quakie)
Omni Trio (Omnir Trio)

Here is to 10 more years of "guns, and lots of them."

Happy Birthday Firearms

Happy Birthday Firearms - Monday, April 29, 2002

[Ten] years ago today, Firearms RC1 was released. It's kind of hard to believe, especially when you take into consideration the fact that it's been over [5 years] since we released the most recent version. I'd be the first person to admit that RC1 was hardly brilliant. In fact, when looking at it now, a lot of other team members along with myself are embarrassed with what we released. Graphically, it was pretty nasty. The code was buggy, with a lot of crashes, glitches and exploits. It still appealed to people though, and a buzzing community formed. Many of the original Firearms fans are still heavily involved with the mod, which is really nice to see.

During the year after RC1's release, there were several other releases of Firearms, I personally wasn't too heavily involved with them due to all my time being taken up by a job that I got thanks to Firearms. But with each new version that was released, the improvements were obvious. We were learning from our mistakes, and Firearms was getting better and better...

Lastly today, I'd like thank everyone who's ever made a contribution to Firearms. From Caspar who started it all, to Eric who made Firearms what it is today. There's also this page, which was once [upon] a time run by our lead programmer, Scott. That particular piece was written the very same day that Firearms was first released...Quite a transformation I think.

-Ben

[This post is Ben's two year birthday post, edited to be more relevant to FAS. You can view the original post by clicking the link at the top]

Highlight System Revealed

The highlighting system in FAS was revealed with little fanfare, leaving many questions unanswered. Luckily, DysPatch has answered many questions about its implementation in this FAS Forum post.

Q: Or is there an option to turn highlights off for specific things, such as objectives, crates and people with specific skills (medic/leader)?

A: Yes, you can turn these effects off in your multilayer options.

Q: Does the ammo box's color change depending on the damage? Like if its in mint condition, its bright green, but servery damaged its dark green (or yellow)?

A: Not currently.

Q: What happens when an objective is destroyed? Does the outline just disappear completely?

A: The highlight will stay there until it is respawned.

Q: Would CTI items also get this glow when they are included as well?

A: We haven't completed the CTI gameplay model since we do not have any CTI maps yet, but the CTI objects in the map will have the glow. We have other plans to indicate where the intelligence is when a player is carrying it.

Q: Is this a mapping entity added to the specific objects, or does the engine automatically apply the glow for these specific objects?

A: No it is not a mapping entity, it is automatically created.

Q: How would the leadership aura work with this?

A: In terms of leadership, we haven't decided what we are going to do with the highlights, but it will most likely show on the players affected by the aura. In terms of whether or not YOU are being supported by the aura, we will either have an icon or a shader for RC1. Our ultimate goal is to get a shader that adds a subtle effect to your screen, but we may not have time to implement that and may stick with just a leadership icon on the HUD.

Q: What effect does this have on the all ready existing player indicators, if at all?

A: We are keeping the overhead indicators because they still serve a purpose that the highlights do not (health indicator, rank indicator, and skill indicator). We most likely will not be adding highlights to individual players because the screen could get cluttered very easily.

FAS NEWS (2 APRIL 2010)

Following FAS's April Fool's news announcement, the team has released an actual news update. The team has showcased two of the grenades in FAS, the M67 Fragmentation Grenade and the M84 Stun Grenade. The fragmentation grenade is a FA staple and retains the cost in previous RCs at two credits for two grenades. The stun grenades cost slightly more than the frag grenades at three credits, but can blind enemies in a large area and grow more effective the more confined the space is.


FAS has also included objective highlighting. Similar to what is found in L4D and L4D2, the objective highlighting in FAS provides quick visual clues to players about where objectives are. In the pictures provided, you can see the red ammo crates with a red highlight, the blue ammo crates with a blue highlight, and a neutral object (the ammo box) with a green highlight.

FAS NEWS (1 APRIL 2010)

FAS's April Fool's joke was the removal of dedicated servers and the implementation of "FANet." FANet would provide players with various "features." Such included matchmaking which determined games, "Based on mystical properties of fate beyond the ken all but our most astute software engineers, FANet will place you in the game you are meant to play." As well as a revolutionary new system of communication, "text chat" and custom content, reassuring the community that, "[those] who wish to contribute custom maps, models, skins, or other third-party content will be pleased to learn that they can't, thereby saving them from the very real, very dire threat of Communism."

You can check out the robust feature list of FANet here.

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.

How Does I Map?

Since FAS is moving to the Orange Box engine, that means that anyone creating third party maps for FAS can not use HL:DM or any other Source engine games due to the engine change.

If you are looking for another game to use in the meantime, DysPatch recommends using the HL2:EP2, but be warned that the foliage included will not be a part of FAS.

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.

What the Orange Box Means To You

FAS is moving to the Orange Box engine, but what does it mean to you?

According to Naota in a post on the FAS Forums, these improvements include:

• Phong shader masks in texture alpha channels.
• Newer vertex lighting and prediction code.
• Orange Box graphics settings (real-time shadows on dynamic lights, user-controlled motion blur, and improved HDR among them)
• Steamworks compatibility (stats tracked on Steamfriends, persistent achievements, automatic updates, easy FAS downloads from the Steam store)

To see a complete list of these improves, you can check out Valve's Developer Community page.

FAS NEWS (3 MARCH 2010)

FAS's news post has made it official that FAS is moving over to the Orange Box engine. The reason for the change of engines is because of the problems in the older code, making the game very hard to debug and code. This change however does not effect FAS being released this year. As DysPatch states, "game balance down for what we would like to be released with RC1, so its as simple as moving the functioning clean code over, optimizing old code, and leaving behind the bugs." All of these improvements are made possible FA coding veteran, Mazor, who has done various work on the Half-Life version of FA and FA related projects.

FAS has also released new screen shots of ps_snowstorm. The map has undergone revisions since its last showcase. DysPatch has stated in his developer's journal he has been working on "finishing up the brushwork and the lighting on the map."


In addition to ps_snowstorm, there is a new render of the M18A1 Claymore Mine, modeled by Racer445


As well as the Gerber Gator Machete: modeled by Naota, textured by Dr. Hubbler, and animated by Thisismyname09.


Finally StealthSilver has updated and users who have Desura will be able download FAS though that distribution platform.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Looking though the source code in FAS's Map Page, you can see some cut maps that are either no longer included in FAS such as ps_forest and maps that may be included in later RCs, such as sd_durandal. Below are a list of the cut maps or maps that may be included in later RCs.

Durandal

A quiet Middle Eastern town is torn apart when a coalition task force moves into the northern outskirts to set up a forward operating base. Red Forces are positioned across a bridge leading to the highway, which serves as a strategic vantage point for all traffic coming into this part of the city.

Author: Hitman
Game Mode: Search and Destroy

Asylum

Red Force para-military units have infiltrated Blue lines and freed all the inmates at a local mental hospital. Some of the inmates are leaders of various militias allied to the Red forces, held there temporarily, while others are homicidal psychopaths. Blue Force units quickly respond, cordon off the area and take measures to storm the building. Inside, however, it's now the inmates that run the Asylum...

Author: Hitman
Game Mode: Team Control

Forest

As the battle wages on between both the Blue and Red forces, each side has taken heavy losses. In their never ending war, resources have been become scarce as their deadlocked troops fight to survive. Whoever crushes their opponent will gain a vast amount of natural resources to further their campaign and become the dominant force on the battlefield.

Author: Airwolf
Game Mode: Push

Juarez

A combined South American and Mexican invasion of America co-incides with violent illegial alien protests and revolt. The southwest United States is thrown into immediate disarray and chaos. Innocent citizens are slaughtered wholesale by roaming gangs, government offices taken over by illegalsb flying Mexican flags, or captured by the invading armies. News broadcasts trickle in to CNN from behind the lines, where the leaders of the revolt are demanding that 'Aztlan', or the states of New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California, rightfully belong to them. Within weeks, however, the Texas National Guard has gone on the offensive, smashing through to El Paso and linking up with the encircled Army units holding out in Fort Bliss. Now, their mission is to take the fight to the enemy by crossing the border into Ciudad Juarez.

Author: Hitman
Game Mode: Push

Novospassky

As Blue force freedom fighters bear down on the Russian capitol, the remaining Red Force loyalists hole up in the last remaining sections of the city still under their control. A brutal fight ensues over the Novospassky bridge as both teams try and steal the others' intelligence assets, in bloody attempts to gain the upper hand.

Author: Hitman
Game Mode: Capture the Item

Force

(NO DESCRIPTION)

Author: Inveramsy
Game Mode: Search and Destroy

River

(NO DESCRIPTION)

Author: velvety (ported by Shinobi)
Game Mode: Push

The Best and The Rest

Naota has made a great post on what makes FAS, FAS as well as what makes it unique from other games out now. In summarization, FAS stands out from the rest because of:

Guns... copious amounts of guns
A Genuinely Balanced Skill System
A Unique Loadout System
Reinforcement-based Victory Conditions
Reloading that makes logical sense
The Firearms Menkey
Ludicrous amounts of other interesting mechanics

To find out more, you can view Naota's post in the FAS Forums.

FAS Skills Revealed

As show in the FAS Manual

1. Marksmanship I
• 25% Accuracy Increase
• Recoil Reduction
2. Marksmanship II
• +25% Accuracy Increase
• Further Recoil Reduction
3. Field Medic I
• Diagnose teammates via HUD
• Bandage bleeding teammates
• Apply sulfur to self for +10 HP, once
• Apply sulfur to teammates for +20 HP, continuously
• Two free bandages upon respawn
4. Field Medic II
• Suture yourself for +25 HP, once
• Suture teammates wounds for +50 HP, continously
• Four free bandages upon respawn
5. Weapon Handling
• 25% Faster Reloads
• 25% Faster Magazine Merges
6. Battlefield Agility
• 9% Faster Movement
• Faster Stamina Regeneration
• Stamina Drain Decrease while Sprinting
• 50% Fall Damage Decrease
7. Leadership
• 9% Faster Movement for Nearby Teammates
• 10% Less Damage for Nearby Teammates
• 50% Accuracy Increase for Nearby Teammates
8. Stealth
• 75% Quieter Footsteps
• 200% Knife Damage
• Frags with silenced weapons are hidden from the enemy
9. Artillery Support I
• Place Artillery Markers
• Request Artillery Fire
10. Artillery Support II
• Assemble Mortars
• Fire Mortars & Select Markers using TAC Map

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."

FAS NEWS (9 JANUARY 2010)

FAS has released two wallpapers and an online manual for FAS to help new players become familiar with the game before it's release.

The first wallpaper is the new FAS logo designed by undertone with a release date show as "2010". The FAS team is still working on a few aspects of the mod to ensure that it is ready for the public which is why the release date is vague at "2010". Some coding issues still have to be worked out as well as more polish applied to the maps. However, all the art aspects of the mod are complete which has allowed the art team to go ahead and start working on content for after FAS's release.

As you can see, the new logo is more modern instead of the almost 10 year old stencil font that was previously used.

The second wallpaper is the same logo applied to an in game screen shot of FAS.

In addition to the wallpapers, there is now an online manual for FAS which is still being updated. The manual outlines the basic features of FAS, such as how to install the game, descriptions for each categories of weapons, list of skills and what benefits they provide, as well as a section for "pro tips and hits" which explain game play features in depth.

Some areas of the manual aren't finished, most notably the HUD section, but these will be updated soon.