Fuel Rod Reality

Uploaded another version. The biggest difference is that the FRG is there and finished. Somehow some bugs have arisen since previous versions. When you are holding the pistol, the flamethrower ammo bar sits below the player name in the HUD. And when you die the HUD switches to the pistol and AR ammo graphics simultaneously. I'll try to get these ironed out by the next update. Also, maps still need to be done. I could use some good mappers. Once those bugs are squished and a few maps are done I might be able to push this thing up to beta.

Sometime in the future you might expect some things like improved contrails for the SPNKr and flamethrower and Masterchief in place of the Marine. Those are probably a while off though so don't hold your breath.

Icons Anyone?

A new project has and come and gone in the blink of an eye. That would be because it was unannounced while I was working on it and wasn't even sure if it'd be on the site. But I just finished getting them up. Check out the new icons for the popular scenarios RED, EVIL and Rubicon in their 128-bit goodness under the new Project Icons.

Enjoy you 'thonner diehards you.

A Blip on the Motion Sensor

Hello all,

For the past 2 weeks or so I was inspired for whatever reason to do a little more work. I have most likely finished the Fuel Rod Gun in all its green exploding, contrail leaving glory. More work on the Plasma Pistol is underway, but alas, I have done just about everything I can in terms of graphics. What the project really needs now is a dedicated Lua scripter to make the weapons really come to life. Solra has been helping me but he's had a busy schedule and the work I ask of him is not easy. I think I'll wait a little longer to say what he's been working on because I'm not entirely sure we can pull it off. If we do though, it'll be sweet. You may even get to see your old purple friend, and I don't mean Barney. 8|

On another note, nforcer has just finished switching webhosts and there have been a few complications. Movable Type was down for a while but he's done a nice job getting it up and running again, which is why I'm able to make this post in the first place.

And on one final note, if you haven't in the past few months, check out Aleph One. It is really starting to take shape. The metaserver is developing nicely and is functional (though slightly buggy) and there is now in-game chat. One could even mistake this for a modern game!
Really, if you haven't been there in awhile, check it out. It's nice.

Hard to say how much more work will get done on Halathon, but if I get some scripting done, you'll know about it.

Sorry Again

I haven't been working on Halathon for the past month or so. I guess it's just a painful cycle because this isn't the first time it's happened. I get really into it and then the ambition slowly dies. Then something happens that kicks it back up again. The release of the trilogy set sort of kickstarted the project again, but once I finished the HUD, I was out of fun parts to work on again :(
So here I am avoiding the monotonous parts of the project like the plague. Don't worry though, I'm sure something awesome will happen in another 4 months that'll inspire me again :P

HUD complete!...ish

Yes, all elements in the HUD have been accounted for...except the shotgun. Still trying to think of a way to make it work well. Might have it use 2 or 4 round magazines instead of 1.

I was reading a forum a week or so ago and someone noted that the fuel rod gun experience was somewhat deminished. The reason it was so weak (and not anywhere near the massive blasts you remember receiving from hunters) was because in Halathon there is no overheating. It would be way too powerful. So in order to remedy this I sort of borrowed the idea behind Halo 2's FRG. You will have a very limited supply of ammo (7 rounds to be exact), but the shots will be devestating. The explosion effect for it is still not done yet so don't let the blast radius confuse you...it is big. Other small fixes and tweaks have been made as well.

One other thing. I finally got to borrow a friend's Windows machine and mess around with Halathon on it. There were a ton of script discrepencies between the two platforms, but I managed to flatten all of them out. The Windows version of Halathon has been tested and proven to run correctly on atleast two Windows machines thus far :P This means it is up for download alongside its mac counterpart and should even work between the two in multiplayer games. Remember, if you're playing a map besides the halo weapons test map that you include the Halathon Lua script upon gathering a multiplayer game. This will ensure all the features work properly for everybody.

Update

Nothing real major but a few noteworthy updates. I put up the Windows version again so people can test it out. I've gotten reports that it's been working for people, just email me with any problems and I'll look into them.
One other thing. Lua should work in single player on the weapons test map only. The script is still included seperately if you want to use it in a netgame.

Also, HUD weapons are not done yet so don't worry if they don't all show up.

Things That Are Not: A Guide to Aleph One Engine Limitations and How They Affect Halathon

Explains why we don't have certain features like beatdown for all weapons and why it cannot be with the current Aleph One limitations. Keep reading for more.