Fallout Tactics mod The Sum (1.8b)

Yep. Alpha would describe it better. I’m just learning version names as I do it. I even started naming my versions Demo V1, V2, V3 at the beginning of the project. When I added an ending, meaning a way to make a complete game, I started to name it 1.4 full version. Full version also stands for « stand alone », as you don’t need Fallout Tactics installed to run it.

Now, it reached 1.5.2 version. So it is the 5th major released + a minor correction release. I will update to 1.5.3 today with a link here. This is a very welcomed addition I think because I fixed many nasty bugs that were polluting the experience.

There is already a list or features intended for version 1.6 and next, but I am not working on it yet. I must say I work on that mod pretty much by myself now, sometimes fulltime. I hired two guys in the beginning of the project to make music and soundscapes. 3 or 4 other people joined the team at a moment or another, but it was never for very long.
 
I will change my next download to indicate « Alpha » accompagnied with 1.5.3 version. I think that will be more clear. And when all is done and ready for the great testing, I’ll release it as « beta ».
 
Hi Guys! I just uploaded the new version of my mod, The Sum on ModDB. Tell me what you think of it!

LOGO_NOUS_AURONS.png

THE SUM / NOUS AURONS


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1. A completely remade Worldmap with partially dried Great Lakes / Carte entièrement refaite avec les Grands Lacs partiellement asséchés



2. Near 500 full colour portraits and more than 100 recruits / Près de 500 portraits couleur et plus d'une centaine de personnages à contrôler


3. More than 40 main and side quests and a system that let you finish the game anywhere and when you want. / Plus de 40 quêtes principales et secondaires et un système vous permettant de terminer le jeu n'importe où et quand vous voulez


4. 25 cities and a hundred ghost towns to explore, plus 50 secret locations to find / 25 villes et une centaine de villes fantômes à explorer, plus 50 lieux secrets à trouver



5. Various silly and strange situations that can happen to you anywhere... / Diverses situations stupides et étranges qui peuvent vous arriver n'importe où...



6. 50 artworks squatered around the wastes and many more unique items / Un cinquantaine d’œuvres d'art à trouver et beaucoup d'objets uniques



7. Many electric systems that need repair / Plusieurs systèmes électriques qui doivent être réparés



8. Rope needed in some areas / Corde requise dans certains endroits cachés



9. A simple crafting system / Un système rudimentaire pour fabriquer des objets



10. Inhabitants that get mad if you are walking around with a visible weapon / Des habitants qui se fâchent quand les personnages portent des armes

 
This project looks better and better. I can't wait to see how it looks when completed.

Great job.
 
Oh I really appreciate that guys thanks.

As I am working now on perks given by quests in cities from Melindil’s scripting engine, I’m starting to realize what is going to be the particularity of this game when completed.

I think the intrication of 5 things I am considering a lot during work will make my game feel, by the end, like a story slowly unfolding itself or performed by the player and the game combined. I mean, in differenciation to games like Fallout 1, 2 and New vegas where all is based on on-the-spot choices. For example :

1. The famous non-speech tree made me start programming automatic awsers from main character based on stats. It’s not a system of choice at all, not a system of false choice like fallout 4 either. It is more like a role-play system based on optional traits, stats and skills that, for example, make the character refuse by him.herself to accept a new team member because he.she is social or prefer being alone.

2. The end of the game is presented as a story, a long series of things that happen to you character after and reflects on what happened during the game. As I am trying to cumulate information on the player’s behaviour, I realize I am focussing again on character story.

3. I want to make the NPCs feel alive and a way I try to achieve that is by inventing a bio to many of them, and make them (like minimally done in Tactics) move frome one town to another, cross player’s path more than once too, and sometimes speak by themselves. This will clearly get me closer to games like Baldur’s gate, wich excells in that sense. Again, it puts story forward.

4. I know many non-gamers, artists or art amateurs will play the game and I want it to be the easiest as possible to play. That makes choices handled by the game logic in that sense.

5. Giving perks from quests is again another way to put story forward, instead of game mechanics or builds. As about 25 perks will be available from quests, they will all give clues on what your character is becoming. If you became a « saboteur », « pirate », « anarchist », this will equip you with quite another story than being a « proprietarian », « patriot », « knight » for example. All these perks come with bonusses, but they supports the story.

Here it is. I can’t say honestly that I love it a lot. It is just the way I handled it from now with the cards I’ve been given by that engine. It even sounds contrary to logic to have an anarchistic game: 1: not based primarily on choice 2: with all characters sharing forms of hierarchies visibles by their level and number stats and skills.

This is why, overall, I want to permit the most choices as I possibly can, and I tend to make stats and numbers less THE way to be the best, more the way to build your story.

Feel free to put your toughts on that too, that’s why we ´re here for isn’t it?
 
Do you think you could add some variables like height weight etc...? Correlating with what strength or endurance the character has.
 
AbullSinCara said:
Do you think you could add some variables like height weight etc...? Correlating with what strength or endurance the character has.
Click to expand...

You mean concerning automatic dialogues? For that I will consider ST, EN and traits like Small frame and Bruiser, respectively lightweight and heavy character, maybe also perks like Brutish Hulk to determine if the character is intimidating enough for certain situations.
 
Where do I even begin? It's a whole new game, my friends and a fine one at that. Cannot wait for your next release, hopefully soon!
 
Dudu said:
Where do I even begin? It's a whole new game, my friends and a fine one at that. Cannot wait for your next release, hopefully soon!
Click to expand...

Amazing comment thank you very much! It is indeed the objective of this work, I'm happy to know I am getting there slowly :D I'm affraid there is still a lot to do before the definitive 1.6 beta version..., my modDB to-do list is huge, but I'll make some releases from time to time with new stuff I promise. Next one will be about the portraits, some debugging of course and a perk update (to pave the way to a big bunch of perks given by quests, situations and dialogues). I'm currently getting through the last 400 or so portraits, mostly using this site to get access to infinite faces : https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/.
 
Wow! More portraits and updates! Fabulous! I'd like to make a suggestion however. Before releasing your Beta version, may I suggest to make the maps more modder-friendly? Right now it is really hard to figure out for example where the introductory maps are. Mara's starting location is still unknown to me although I tried looking through quite a few maps. The same goes for the other starting characters. Cannot wait for your upcoming releases. All the best
 
Dudu said:
Wow! More portraits and updates! Fabulous! I'd like to make a suggestion however. Before releasing your Beta version, may I suggest to make the maps more modder-friendly? Right now it is really hard to figure out for example where the introductory maps are. Mara's starting location is still unknown to me although I tried looking through quite a few maps. The same goes for the other starting characters. Cannot wait for your upcoming releases. All the best
Click to expand...

Oh yes, message well-received and noted. I will create some kind of guide as you make me realize there is some demand for it... :)

I can say for now that the maps you seek are in the folder core/missions/debuts. All starting locations are there. You can also look into core/missions/communautes for all cities within the game. Finally, there is a folder called missions/uniques that is very important. It contains the main mission : "ARRIVEE_Introduction.mis" that is the very first one to load in every game. It then dispatch the main character either in one of the starting locations, or in a location of your choice determined with a trigger. I use this last option extensively to load a map of my choice to test it. In missions/uniques, you can also find alternative starting locations, like the burned down house the character named "Franche" find herself into if she leave her house and go back to it later.

Unfortunately, I am afraid my mod might be the worst modder-friendly on the list... honestly. Reasons are I created it one brick at the time, and made a lot of mistakes in the process :

1 : Mission names are very bad. I created them a very long time ago and kept them, even if they often don't make any sense anymore... I don't want to change them because I got used to them, and I don't want to create more bugs than I already have...

2 : Most coding words are in french. It was quite a dumb idea. Of course it makes things easier for me (each time I see french somewhere I know it's from me), but for other modders it must be hell.

3 : It is a mess! I added so many stuff that I don't see how someone could be familiar with all of it eventually. Regardless, there are some standards there, like the main char is always tagged "LeJoueur", the player's player is always 1 and named "Joueur", and other players are always 2 : animals, 3 : humans, 4 : ennemies , 5 : friends, 6 : neutral programmed stuff, 7 : thieves, 8 : "stay here" option icons, etc. etc.

4 : Triggers are even worst. I would suggest for a modder that want to use my stuff to analyse them, erease most or all of them and start anew. Global triggers are so bad in Tactics, as you need to copy/paste them into each map...
 
Okay! To give you a quick update, I will release a new alpha version (1.5.4) by the end of the month, with the following additions :

- Color portraits for all characters (for a total of 925)
- Description texts for all 100 recruits
- New Melindil 0.45a engine
- Perks that appear in certain conditions (when you join a faction, or if you eat human meat for example...)
- New deadly endings (if you finish the game too soon, or withought thinking it through, you might die instead)
- Random encounters reacting to factions reputation (if you attack the Patriots, for example, friendly encounters will change to hostile ones)

More details when the download is out!
 
I just added some preview here on a new Interface I just finished for The sum, a dark mode.

With it, it helps to feel more a world that no longer has electricity everywhere and where walking through a dead city at night can finally be quite a dumb idea ha.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/thesum/images/new-interface-dark-mode8#imagebox

I'm getting closer to version 1.5.5a as I'm writing this. Please signal any bug you face until that I'll be happy to solve them.
 
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