KF Is there life in the old girl yet? Total Conversion feedback please.

[PrometheusTitan]

Hello everyone,

For some time now I have been working on a total conversion mod for Killing Floor, The Invictus Files: Ridgewood.

I will get onto the details of the conversion a bit further down, but right now I want to talk struggles. Please note whatever you see here, doesn't necessarily reflect the final product.

It was always an intention of mine to create this mod for Killing Floor 2, however KF2's modding capability at this moment is not up to scratch for what I need. Therefore I began working on a prototype of Ridgewood for KF1. KF1 is an amazing platform to build on, so easily modded, but unfortunately with every passing month, it becomes more and more outdated.

The overall dream is and was always to create my very own standalone game, but let's face reality, I'm a one man army that does not have those kind of resources, so as much as I want my own game, the next best thing is a mod. I love KF1, have done since its release in 2009. I always thought it could be pushed to its limits a bit more though, so that's what I have done with Ridgewood.

But the bottom line I need to know, are my struggles in vain. Is there still a market for a total conversion of Killing Floor? Would anyone care, would anyone play it? These things I need to know before I make a decision about the future of my work.

Let me show and tell you about the Total Conversion.

To start I have rebuilt Killing Floors foundations, Hence the Total Conversion. To get the results I wanted, I had to change some of the core code of Killing Floor, Ridgewood can't be an expansion of Killing Floor, Ridgewood is its own game, built on the KF engine.

Ridgewood is primarily a single player experience, with an optional 3 Multiplayer game modes.

The story:

Abandoned and derelict, Ridgewood has sat untouched for some 20 years after an unknown incident lead to a total evacuation of the area.

Some report it was a nuclear meltdown at the power plant, a second Chernobyl. Others say some of the locals became unstable and began ravaging the area and everyone in it, and when law enforcement failed to contain the incident, everyone fled. The official story is that the economy just ran dry and the town was a total loss. Regardless of the version of events, the truth seemingly remains an obscurity.

Take control of a character cloaked in their own mystery in a bid to discover the truth about not only Ridgewood, but their own unexplained origins in this enthralling survival horror story.

Game mechanics:

The game is set in a forested location in total darkness, with only a few set areas of safe lighting. Your best friend is the torch in your hand. The story is told by navigating yourself around the levels, which are separated into chapters, playing out the events before you. I have implemented a new system where you pick up files, keys and other items which contribute to the story. You will see below in the screen shots how these work. The game also contains complex puzzles that the player will need to work out in order to progress.

Spoiler!

The game uses custom models, textures, animations and sounds to distinguish itself from Killing Floor, as well as using some core KF items too. Before I locked in Ridgewood, I did have the idea to create a real story mode for Killing Floor, but I decided against this as Tripwire had made their own version, and I did not want to be stepping on anyone's toes.

Overall, as the conversion uses the KF engine, It still relies heavily on what is already there. However I have altered many things to support my own technical needs. Again the conversion is standalone, so comes with its own custom menus and HUD design.

The multiplayer aspect is the grey area. As Ridgewood is its own standalone game, the Multiplayer experience becomes muddied. The 3 game modes have been completed and are in the concept level phase. However the Solo side of things takes priority here. And due to how the game will work in terms of servers, Multiplayer is still a question mark for me right now.

But for transparency, the 3 game modes are:

Survival: Survive as long as you can against endless waves of creatures.
Exodus: Escape the area and survive.
Journey: Survive 10 waves of ever worsening creatures whilst learning the locations secrets.

I will stop there, and leave you with some more screenshots. I think I have covered the bulk of the story here. I will answer any questions I can, but overall I need you to answer me the important questions. Is it worth giving more of my time to complete this project, or should I just be happy with what I have achieved so far, and move onto greener pastures.

If Ridgewood was released, it would not be a Workshop release. The project is too vast for that. It would be a direct download only, do you think that could be problematic?

Thank you for reading everyone, and remember the screenshots I have provided you are an attempt to show you the bare bones of what the conversion is, without giving too much of it away. This really is just looking for feedback.

More images in the post below:

 

[PrometheusTitan]

Spoiler!

 

[sarge-dfsc]

My 2 cents, for whatever it is worth..

I have been a fiend for "action" games with an actual story (as opposed to the standard 'aliens have invaded the Earth and you are it's last hope') since the days of Unreal. Yes, it had aliens and yes, you are the "lone survivor" but it still had a story to it, which you learned as you went along collecting logs from corpses. So, would I be interested in Ridgewood? Yeah.

But we have to face facts and the reality is a lot of players (if not the vast majority), especially first person/action fans, are more interested in going straight to the action and how much stuff they can make go boom/kill streaks, not really caring about the story aspect which your project seem to cover. Story oriented games are a niche, just like hardcore flight/military simulation. There just isn't a lot of people doing it, anymore.

Should you invest more time and effort in it? I can't answer that question, it's your baby.

 

[PrometheusTitan]

My 2 cents, for whatever it is worth...

Hi sarge, I really appreciate that feedback, it is what I feared if i'm honest. Yes my project is definitely a strategical game as opposed to outright run and gun action. The multiplayer aspect of the game covers that run and gun want and need, but as the multiplayer is secondary to the single player story, I can foresee it been overlooked.

It's sad in a lot of ways. KF was a thriving community years ago, even with the dramatic shift in gameplay dynamic, I feel in it's hay day, the community may have welcomed the reinvented game. But now, even with KF2, the community seems to have dwindled to a point where there is no one here to care.

I have put a lot of time into the project, over a year to be exact, but I just don't see the pay off in the end. I think had I been a few years earlier, things may have been different. But KF2 is struggling, let alone supporting KF1.

I will leave it a few extra days, see if anyone else wants to add their 2 cents, but I have a pretty good idea where the project needs to go.

If I had the resources, I would make the game my own and run it through steam. But as it's classed as a mod (despite the entire overhaul) it is locked down to Killing Floor and Tripwire hold the cards there. Maybe one day I will try and go from scratch, today just isn't that day.

Again, thank you for your valuable feedback. It is really appreciated.

 

[sarge-dfsc]

Well, whatever you decide, don't feel discouraged in any way if things don't pan out. Like you said, a few years ago it probably would get more traction but like I also said, the gaming community as a whole has changed, for better or worse, and some game just don't hold the same market share they used to.

I have thousands of hours on a number of hardcore flight simulations, particularly the Jane's Combat Simulations of the mid/late 90's. It faded and then returned in 2011, this time marketed for another audience group. Another prime example is Rainbow Six. In its glory days, it was a hardcore shooter. Now, with R6: Siege, its another Counter-Strike.

Keep an eye on the market and the community, who knows what TW might come up with in KF2 that might trigger an interest in it.

 

[Satanismydaddy666]

I'm very interested in this, and usual group would definitely have an interest as well. If you need any help with anything at all, I can help to the best of my ability.

 

[PrometheusTitan]

I'm very interested in this, and usual group would definitely have an interest as well. If you need any help with anything at all, I can help to the best of my ability.

Hi there, sorry for taking such a long time to respond, I thought this topic had dropped into the abyss. Thank you for your offer to help, it is really appreciated. I will keep it in mind moving forward. Which right now I have decided to continue development on the Total Conversion. I hope to have the first chapter out in the next few months.

Thanks again for the interest, it restores my drive to get this thing finished.

 

[Rhenna]

Wow. I wish I would have returned from the far-side of Neptune sooner to post a more timely addition to this thread. (Neptune is over-rated, by the way.)

Should you continue with development? All I can say is that, hopefully, one does something like this simply because you want to. You enjoy it. You learn from it. It provides a certain satisfaction.

I still do levels for UT and UT2K4. Not to upload or distribute; I spend the time simply because it pleases me to do so. Now, I won't even try and compare that to what you've undertaken, but as long as creating Ridgewood seems challenging, as opposed to frustrating, you're on the right path. My recommendation is *not* to think of this, nor discuss it, as though the project's demise is almost a foregone conclusion. (Is it?)

A few thoughts and questions...

The third-person screenshots; are these cinematics, or can one alternate between first and third-person game-play? (500 bonus-points if it's the latter.)

Is Ridgewood supposed to be primarily a fast-paced, "twitch" game that also happens to have a back-story? Or, is it primarily a slower, more methodical story-driven mystery/exploration game that has periodic "it hit the fan" moments mixed in? Any friendly/neutral NPCs? Will I care about them? For that matter, will I know about, and will I care about, the protagonist? "No, no and no." is a perfectly valid response. I just had to ask. If it can be either type of game, depending on which game-mode one chooses, you will obviously be able to appeal to a wider audience. And, you might be able to do an incremental roll-out of the game. "Survival" fuels the development of "Exodus." Both of those fuel the completion of "Journey."

The "Survival" game mode seems like a subset of "Exodus." I'm not sure I want to play Survival all that much if there isn't some reward. Some happy ending. I guess community bragging rights are some incentive, if that is what you had in mind. "I off'ed 900 critters before getting bagged!" I dunno, maybe that's a guy-thing. I wouldn't play Alien Isolation if I knew going in that, despite whatever I did, I could never survive.

"Journey" could be very intriguing if it has replay value. I'm certain you've considered this, but if one knows that, having secured the key to the basement from the corpse of the old man in the wrecked sedan, I now need to retrieve the diary from the loft in the barn. And, I know this because that is how it was the first four times I played. Now, there is no question that a great many successful games work exactly this way. What might set the Ridgewood "Journey" game mode apart is a certain randomness of circumstances and events, and a certain degree of non-linear game-play possibilities. I'd say that if it is linear, it would need to provide a pretty substantial number of hours of game-play. "It would have been great if it wasn't so short!" is not what a developer wants read in a review. (Hmmm... It also sounds like one of those, "That's what she said" jokes.) With regard to possibilities, it's also very possible I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about.

Seriously, given your description of The Invictus Files: Ridgewood, and looking over the screenshots, I'm quite enthusiastic about this project. In my UnrealEd-fueled opinion, you most definitely have skills. Not the least among them is the delicate magic of employing light. I wouldn't sweat the age or sophistication of the technology you're working with, if it allows you to do what you require. Unreal engine 2.X still can bring it, and you would have a wider potential audience in terms of end-user hardware.