Hi All,
Thank you for taking the time to post your questions, we are pleased to see so many responses in such a short space of time!
The shear volume does however creates its own problem, so for now we will try to answer around a forum page worth of questions per day (starting from the top).
So, on to the questions!
Quote from: webley13 on Feb 10, 2010, 10:25:02 AMwill there be a class building aspect - i.e. defining your loadouts instead of picking them up old school?
will the ranking system unlock more than just skins?
AVP was designed to operate as you have seen in the demo – with weapon pick ups placed around the environment for the Predator and Marine. One of the many reasons we did this, was because we felt this allowed us to go further with the balance of the weapons, rather than allowing anyone and everyone to spawn with the smartgun (for example) as a class based system would allow, and consequentially requiring us to tone down the damage. The ranking system will only unlock skins, but is also there to provide you with bragging rights as your rank is displayed at all times.
Quote from: webley13 on Feb 10, 2010, 10:25:02 AMwill controls be any different on the pc version than they are now in the demo (i.e. preds jumping indicator)
The default controls in the main PC version will be the same as they currently are, and the mechanics are also the same as seen in the Demo, with regards to focus mode. There is of course the option to re-map your key bindings should you prefer an alternate method of control, and it might even be worth sharing key bindings amongst the community if its felt that there is a better "sweet spot"!
Quote from: webley13 on Feb 10, 2010, 10:25:02 AMwill the dedicated server allow for admins to disable weapons and or classes?
Quote from: Ghost Rider LSOV on Feb 10, 2010, 10:31:17 AMOne of the newest concerns for the PC(I think) is the matchmaking only ranked games.
If people request for dedicated ranked games, can there be a change through a patch?
The Dedicated server final feature set has yet to be determined, rest assured that they are being worked on.
Quote from: webley13 on Feb 10, 2010, 10:25:02 AMwill it be possible to disable motion blur and head bobbing and swaying so its not so hard on the eyes if you play for hours on end?
An option has been added on PC to disable motion blur due to community feedback regarding this feature. There is currently no option to disable the "head bob", and currently there are no plans to allow this to happen. As a side note, Rebellion would like to encourage people to look after themselves, and take regular breaks when playing any Computer game. Please take your health seriously
.
Quote from: webley13 on Feb 10, 2010, 10:25:02 AMwill multiplayer scores show death counts, people like to go by K:D ratios to measure their success against those who just mindlessly "E" their way to the top of the score board
The main multiplayer leaderboards (which are accessible from the main front end) show stats for players, such as their K/D Ratio.
Quote from: webley13 on Feb 10, 2010, 10:25:02 AMand by the way - brilliant job with the 3d engine - avp2 had a clunky 3d engine and avp1 was good but just outdated
Thank you very much
. We would like to point out that contrary to rumour, the Asura engine is not a derivative of ID Tech 4 (or any other engine, ID or otherwise).
Quote from: DeStefano on Feb 10, 2010, 10:36:11 AMIs the game in Gold status?
With the game set to be launched in 5 days, you can assume that it has gone gold
.
Quote from: DeStefano on Feb 10, 2010, 10:36:11 AMIs there any difference between Aliens skins? You see a Pretorian is bigger than regular Drone.So maybe they are not just skins,maybe different models or ??
All Alien skins in MP are physically the same size, although there is some variation in the dimensions of the head.
Quote from: Elude on Feb 10, 2010, 10:49:07 AMHow much larger will the maps of the full game be in comparison to the demo level? 18 players is quite a size for a tiny map like seen in the demo.
The Refinery map seen in the demo, is of course in the main game as well. It did however, have tweaked weapon placements in order to allow players easier access to them, as well as being more optimal for 8 player matches. It is infact, a 12 player map and in the main game has a different weapon layout. To give a size comparison, our 18 player maps are larger than Refinery, and our 8 player maps are smaller than Refinery.
Quote from: HutzDani on Feb 10, 2010, 10:51:35 AMWill we be able to disable the auto-aim function in the final release ?
We assume this means what is being described on the internet as the "melee auto-aim". Internally, we refer to this as the "melee impact distance". To answer your question – no, this cannot be disabled as we feel it is an integral part of the experience. Other games do melee by having a damage volume extend in front of the attacker at the time of the "strike" and anything within that volume gets "hit". We wanted a more visceral, "in your face" style to the melee which once we had our prototypes up and running we found to be prohibitively difficult, bordering on the visually ludicrous without such a system.
For example, because of the speed that our characters move at (even a marine – sprinting) you would end up running along behind someone waving your arms at them ineffectually. Visually, it looked like the ultimate Hunter was a bit of an idiot, not being able to predict where his prey was moving to in the world, and striking there. Nor did a large damage volume give the visual impact we were aiming to achieve (imagine seeing Predator/Alien/Marine falling over dead from a swipe that didn't connect – indeed would more than likely never visually connect, because objects in 1st person, always seem closer than they are
). Ultimately we settled on our solution, as well as deciding that the melee combat should be more about executing the right move at the right time/in the right situation. We believe and hope that with time, initial doubts will be overcome.
Quote from: HutzDani on Feb 10, 2010, 10:51:35 AMWill we be able to have a toggle wall walk option like AVP/AVP2 instead of Auto/ Button press ?
We do not currently have this feature in the main game or demo (as has been observed). You are able to detach yourself from the wall (i.e. drop to floor) by pressing the transition button, whether you are using "auto transition" or not. There are currently no plans to have the old system as an option to select.
Quote from: HutzDani on Feb 10, 2010, 10:51:35 AMWill the special MP maps that are included in some pre-orders become DLC at a later date ?
Whilst we believe this is the case, ultimately it is up to SEGA to decide – please feel free to ask them, they enjoy interacting with their customers!
Quote from: HutzDani on Feb 10, 2010, 10:51:35 AMThe issues with the LAMEthrower as i like to call it, will they be adressed ?
The flamethrower was always intended to be more powerful when opponents were travelling in a straight line towards the marine – however after seeing it go live in the demo we have since realised it is not currently working as desired and so are looking at potential fixes.
Quote from: nyce on Feb 10, 2010, 10:54:50 AMDoes Rebellion plan to release Mod-tools for PC, so we can make fresh content or mods?
This is a constantly evaluated business decision, and as such we cannot give you any more information beyond what we have already provided at this time.
Quote from: Shadestep80 on Feb 10, 2010, 03:12:07 PMMany of our customers would like to know whether the game includes German subtitles?
This question is not from the first page we know! SEGA and Rebellion recognise that there are German speakers throughout the world who do not live in the country called Germany, and we would obviously like them to be able to enjoy our game in their native language regardless of where they live. We have not sought a USK rating, and the game will not be on sale in Germany – but there should be a German language translation available on any copy of the game bought in the European region, on any platform.
For those individuals who had questions regarding what they perceive as balance issues (for any species) we would like to re-iterate that nothing will be changed until there has been an acceptable settling in period for the game. Please keep in mind that the balance for each species exists across all game modes, and we would prefer to evaluate the reaction to the game as a whole, rather than just to the Demo, on one map and one mode. As such, at this time we will not be responding to those questions – but there will be a point where we will.
Finally, as a "Brucey bonus" (sorry, quite an English joke and an old one at that) I have a potential work around for a bug that has been identified, and some information on the player movement statistics for you. This information will also be added to the PC Readme.
First off, the bug. As detailed here;
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1136309http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1136882http://www.avpgalaxy.net/forum/index.php?topic=28597.msg626888#msg626888And in a few other threads around the internet, there are people who are not having the appropriate species being highlighted in the various vision modes the predator has on the PC version of the Demo. We believe this is specific to having
forced Anti Aliasing on within the driver settings.It would be very useful if you could both check if this setting is enabled, and what the effect of disabling it are (if it is enabled) - we believe it should fix the problem.
Secondly, the player movement statistics. I mentioned above that our players can move fast. The movement speeds are as follows.
Alien - moves at 14m/s. can sprint up to 28.47m/s. In single player it can sprint for 3 seconds with a one second cool down between each use of sprint. In multi-player it moves at the same speed, however the duration of the sprint is 4 seconds, but the cool down between uses is the same (1 second).
Marine - moves at 8.5m/s and can sprint up to 14m/s. In single player he can do this for 3.2 seconds and in Multi-player he can do this for 4.2 seconds, both modes require a 1 second cool down between sprints.
Predator - moves at 10m/s and sprint up to 18m/s. In single player he can do this for 1.4 seconds, and in multi-player he can do this for 2.4 seconds, both modes have a 1.5 second cool down.
Stay frosty
Cheers,
Eric