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Topic: Outsplitters

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lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:37 am
quote : #1
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Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
The game Outtrigger for the Sega Dreamcast centers its game design around coins that players drop which can be picked up for additional points. In the multi-platform first person shooter, TimeSplitters 2, there is a game mode called “Thief”. When you kill an enemy, they drop a coin. TimeSplitters 2 also features a map editor, but the maps cannot be played over the network. Not only this, but the coins are somewhat small, and look more like enlarged pennies. Recently I purchased the third entry in the series, TimeSplitters Future Perfect for my Playstation 2. Upon trying out Thief mode, I found the coins to look much better. They are bright gold, larger, and have gold dust shimmering off of them.

I went into the map editor and started playing around. After spending some time with the software I came to the conclusion that my idea could actually work. The idea was to replicate Outtrigger using TimeSplitters Future Perfect.

I have managed to create a working replica of the Outtrigger map “Water Sanctuary”. It is about 70% accurate. The Egyptian theme was available in the map editor, so I was able to match the visual feel of the original Outtrigger map. I did have to make some concessions. The map editor doesn’t allow for terrain, and forces you to work with cookie cutter pieces, assembling them like a jigsaw puzzle. There are only so many different tiles to work with. Eventually it got to the point where, some parts of the Outtrigger map were impossible to emulate. So I had to keep it as close as possible, and still retain a functional map.

TimeSplitters was developed by Free Radical, ex Rare staff who worked on GoldenEye for the N64. Your characters in TimeSplitters cannot jump, which is a major problem because Outtrigger’s movement focuses on platform jumping. So this greatly influenced the outcome of the map.

So far in Water Sanctuary I have been able to add almost all of the item pickups, including the damage power up, health, ammo, and armor. Since you cannot give players a default weapon set to start the game, I had to adjust this as well. Players will be given a high rate of fire pistol to start. On the map there are rocket launchers and grenades similar to Jay’s. Instead of the proton torpedo there is a heat seeking rocket launcher. Both this weapon, and the sniper rifle are each in 1 location, and have a limited amount of ammo.

Because the game lets you set the item re-spawn time, I was able to match the exact times from Outtrigger. So the armor and power ups all re-spawn with the same frequency.

The map editor doesn’t let you use things like water or grass. So I had to fake it by setting the lighting to certain colors in areas to make it half-way reflect the original maps.

I have Water Sanctuary practically done. I just have some tweaks to do with the lighting. The map editor is fairly straight forward, and anybody can make a map with this thing. It only took me about a single day to do this map, but it did take a lot of clever thinking to emulate the original Outtrigger map with the tools provided by Future Perfect’s map editor.

My goal is to do around 5 maps. So far these are the ones on my list.

WATER SANCTUARY
WHITE BASE
BUILDING
DARK BUILDING
OBSERVATORY

I have looked over all of the other maps in Outtrigger and have come to the conclusion that they are impossible to replicate using the map editor.

Please note I wouldn’t even be making this post, or doing this project if the final result didn’t actually resemble Outtrigger. It defiantly has a bit of a spark to it once you start playing through the map. You can see the sky, it has an Egyptian theme, players drop coins when they die, you can use lob grenades, a rocket launcher, and I have the armor pickups in the exact identical positions. It still feels like TimeSplitters, but if you have played Outtrigger you will recognize the map and the item placements. It is pretty remarkable that from a days work I have a network ready outtrigger-esque environment that can be experienced online.

This will only be released for the Playstation 2. The good thing is, TimeSplitters Future Perfect is a cross-region compatible game. So PAL and North American users can play against each other. Also, the distribution of these assets is easy. All you need to do is have me on your buddy list, and you can see all of the maps I have contributed to the database and download them from Future Perfect’s online mode. For you people who are out of the loop on the PS2, TimeSplitters Future Perfect is LAN compatible. So the game is online forever.

Water Sanctuary was probably the hardest map to do. The others I should be able to complete pretty quickly. White Base and Observatory are simple, and Building / Dark Building are clones of each other.

I don’t have to release these all at once, so in the next 2 days or so I can release Water Sanctuary as I am working on the other maps. They will all be named “2” to designate that they are alternate versions. I can even include a description as well, so anyone who downloads the maps knows where they came from.

Note: The image used in the thumbnail shot for this news article is from Outtrigger, not the new Tribute map from TimeSplitters. I will have some screenshots up of the tribute map soon.


Last edited by lordnikon on Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:38 pm; edited 2 times in total
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grubensau
rank 40
Posted:
Mon Mar 27, 2006 7:28 am
quote : #2
profile : pm
Posts: 975
Did I missed something?? - is xmas in march? Razz
Im defnitly getting the game next week - cant wait 2 see this with my own eyes.
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Dreamcast â„¢
rank 39
Posted:
Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:50 am
quote : #3
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Posts: 923
Type: NTSC-U/C
This is why I always leave a 10% chance of being wrong. Very Happy (I thought that this had something to do with F355 (since it was on PS2/DC and is now offline.))

This is actually very ironic that all this talk of Timesplitter FP should come up because I just got the game about a week ago for $10 sealed at Target and I just finished hard mode the other day.

You're a better man than I for figuring out that map editor. Laughing I couldn't put a second floor on there for the life of me. It's a really good game, though (oh, and is there only one car available for the map editor, or can you unlock more?).

Unfortunately, I got the game for XB. Sad I'll have to pick it up for the PS2 because I'd be interested in checking these maps out. Some of the sci-fi guns do look like OT guns.
 
lordnikon
rank 87
Posted:
Mon Mar 27, 2006 12:20 pm
quote : #4
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Posts: 5902
Type: NTSC-U/C
It was tough setting up the weapons. I wish I could use a machine gun, but they fire too many bullets, and kill people too quickly. The pistol I chose was a futuristic pistol, the LX-18. It has 40 rounds at the start, and if you hammer down on the fire button you can be firing at a very steady pace. Almost like a submachine gun. This best emulates the damage rate from OT.

On top of this, due to the small map size, using the machine gun was putting bullet marks EVERYWHERE. Because of the close quarters map size, and players quickly respawning with a fresh gun full of ammo, the machine gun was putting so many bullet marks up that the framerate started to hitch a bit.

The maps come with a set weapon set, but if people wish they can change the weapons. I would recommend sticking with the set weapons to mirror outtrigger in the best way possible. I will be also listing a group of solid bot skins that best emulate outtrigger. I'm probobly going to be selecting the futuristic riot gear types of skins since they look sort of like the basic characters in Outtrigger. I'll just be making a page about this map pack and putting recommendations up. People are free to use these maps however they wish. I personally will be playing them with a strict Outtrigger mentality though hehe Smile

The one major difference between TimeSplitters' Thief mode and Outtrigger is that you don't get points for killing people. You only receive points for picking up the coins. So the Outtrigger formula is "half" there in a way. Since in Outtrigger you would get points for killing someone AND for picking up coins. The gameplay possibilites are still there though. You can cut some one off before they get a coin, and pick up both theirs and the coin they were going after. So the 2 for 1 aspect is alive and well.

I thought about porting it over to other platforms, but it would be too much extra effort and I don't know how many people would take advantage of it. I was thinking about the GameCube, but in order for people to get the maps for cube, they would need a transfer cable with a compatible memory card. So for now these maps are just going to be developed on the Playstation 2 release of timesplitters future perfect. For those who are out of the loop, we do cover this console here as well. So it fits the OC community as a whole perfectly.
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Darksaviour69
rank 1
Posted:
Fri Sep 15, 2006 7:36 am
quote : #5
profile : pm
Posts: 4
you never posted the pics of the map Wink
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