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Urban Terror



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The 27 Days of Terror: Day 12 - Level Overview Casa

in Urban Terror - posted Saturday, 19 August 2006 by FrozenSand
Popular. Beautiful. Great. Overplayed! These are just a few of the adjectives that describe the level Casa created by Sweetnutz for Beta 2.3. From the word go, Casa became a staple in the Urban Terror Community, more so than any level previously, with maybe the exception of Sands by NRGizeR.



Casa has everything required to make a level popular. The layout is balanced and well thought out, has excellent flow and playability, as well as outstanding texturing and lighting. Originally the level was not designed for CTF or Bomb Mode game play, but was integrated during development to bring this popular level to even more gamers in the Urban Terror community.

The 27 Days of Terror: Day 11 - Quality Assurance Commentary

in Urban Terror - posted Thursday, 17 August 2006 by FrozenSand
It was prior to the release of Urban Terror Beta 2 we actually searched out and enrolled the services of community gamers to represent the masses as part of our Quality Assurance Team. While it was not without its share of problems, such as non-QA gamers getting the files, we stuck it out and made the best out of a bad situation.

Since those early QA days we have made many changes as to how we beta test with QA. Some QA gamers have been with us for a few years. While we don’t actively pursue gamers to join, we feel those we currently have, do make up a good cross-section of the Urban Terror Community. They take their testing position seriously. It’s not all fun and playing around, it does take a special kind of person to be an effective QA tester.

Prior to Beta 2, the development team [that numbered 12 people] were the testers, obviously NOT a true cross-section of the community and that oversight did lead to problems before the first popular version of Urban Terror, 1.27. Development and personnel changes prior to Beta 2 gave the game a very different feel to it, but that version was one of the cleanest releases to date. It was then followed up by a few releases, such as 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, which was another great release, thanks in part to the QA testers. Compared to previous development cycles, woekele feels there is, “not much different, except that it has taken much longer until the release and in my experience more European players have joined the QA-team.

When asked, many gamers feel they could do the job. A day does not go by we receive an e-mail, IRC private message or some sort of contact asking if we need any more help. While we love to see the enthusiasm and the desire to help better the game, it is just not possible to accept everyone who asks to join the testing pool. While we had a good base of testers, we did include more Euopean gamers this time around.

The 27 Days of Terror: Day 10 - Accessories

in Urban Terror - posted Wednesday, 16 August 2006 by FrozenSand
There is always something to improve upon when it comes to mod development. As many have seen Urban Terror saw some great visual improvements from the 1.0 release to 1.27 and onto Beta 2, up to and including the current 3.7 release. Change is inevitable, and while many gamers are not fond of change, especially when it comes to playability of the game, one thing remains constant, you cannot please everyone.



We took a great step up when Lt1 was introduced to the development team. Many level designers know him from his work on map objects, which can be seen at his web site. Others, might not directly deal with his work, but have seen examples of his objects in game in many Urban Terror levels.

Urban Terror Wants You!

in Urban Terror - posted Wednesday, 16 August 2006 by FrozenSand
No, this is not part of 'The 27 Days of Terror' but we do want you. Actually, we want your questions! As we have done in the past, the development team is ready to field any and all questions related to Urban Terror. While the next few weeks should answer most of the questions being posed to the development, there always seems to be a few that slip by what we are ready to provide in our updates.

So, with that said we want you to hit us with your best shot, well question. Please read through the thread and try not to ask a redundant question, such as, "Is the new release going to be stand alone?" That has been asked and we will answer it in due time. By providing you the opportunity we hopefully keep the line of communication open and hopefully answer a question that has been on your mind. For more information, check out, Days of Terror: Update in the Urban Terror Forums.

As for 'The 27 Days of Terror, we will continue on Wednesday with 'Day 10' and another look inside the current development of Urban Terror with the team.
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The 27 Days of Terror: Day 9 - In Game Action

in Urban Terror - posted Tuesday, 15 August 2006 by FrozenSand
The past week we have presented a number of images that represent the upcoming release of Urban Terror including the new models skin dubbed SWAT and Red Dragons. We also showed off the updated version of Riyadh, originally created by .EXE and modified by BladeKiller and RabidCow. You also got a preliminary look at the newly skinned HK G36 and Franchi SPAS-12 weapon models.

Today we bring some of these images together and give you an idea of what the in-game action will look like. Many gamers have commented on the images we have presented to date in the Urban Terror Forums. So I will take some of my own advice and STFU. Enjoy the images, and we will post more in the coming weeks.



The 27 Days of Terror: Day 8 - Level Overview Rommel

in Urban Terror - posted Monday, 14 August 2006 by FrozenSand
The level, Rommel was the brainchild of Bar-B-Q, who brought his level development talents over from Action Quake 2 [remember Actdam?]. Rommel was recreated from the final scene of the blockbuster movie, Saving Private Ryan. While the level is not an exact representation, there are facets that will have you saying, 'I remember seeing that in the movie,??? such as the phonograph, the Pernod Fils sign over the river and the partially bombed out church tower.



Rommel was release with Beta 2.3 in August, 2001. Upon its release, it was quickly one of the most popular levels being played, but it was not without its share of problems. The area known as 'the corner??? caused gamers to suffer major FPS lag due to the amount of polys on the screen being render during game play. Add to that smoke grenades, gamers, etc and the lag got to be unbearable at time, dropping that area to single digit frame rates. Early game play also had this as the only of two ways between opposing sides of the level. This led to many 0-0 draws and 1-0 scores for CTF matches.



Nonetheless, Rommel remained very popular among gamers. Over the years, there would be changes to the level, initially by Bar-B-Q and then by BladeKiller who would spend many, many hours working and testing in order to get this 'monkey off her back.??? New underground tunnels and additional areas were added that would allow for an improved playability, giving gamers more alternatives between the two sides of the level.



This upcoming release of Rommel has seen even more changes including the removal of brush created objects, such as the Tiger Tank and the bridge near the red flag. These were replaced by models created by Lt1 [Tiger Tank] and RabidCow . These changes alone drastically improved the FPS near 'the corner.??? There have also been some changes to scenery, the buildings and skybox. " I've retextured a lot of buildings with European textures and made some models for roofs...rearranged the tunnels at QA's request...I used func_walls to make it smaller for TS; like the original Rommel," said BladeKiller.



Rommel will continue to see success, especially for CTF. Gamers are drawn to the level, maybe it’s because 'coinbird is angry for coins??? or the scream as you attempt to fly from the upper level of the church tower. In the end it’s the overall layout and playability of the level that has Urban Terrorists returning for more!

The 27 Days of Terror: Day 7 - Community Support

in Urban Terror - posted Saturday, 12 August 2006 by FrozenSand
Nearly 6 years of continuous development, with periods of inactivity, Urban Terror continues introducing gamers to “where Quake meets reality.??? This was our slogan when the mod was released at Quakecon 2000, because this is how we approached the mod in an attempt give gamers a mod with the fast paced action of Quake III Arena combined with the realism based theme.

Community support over these last 6 years has been rather impressive. We have seen a diehard core group of gamers who have followed the development since the early days of 1.27. Planetquake was one of the first major game sites to provide coverage for the mod.

It was not long after initial development the team moved hosting of the Urban Terror web site to GameSpy’s Planetquake in order to take advantage of what they offered in terms of an established gaming site, daily news and free FTP services at FilePlanet. This combination would allow the mod better visibility, being seen by many more gamers than we could attract without the support of Planetquake.

We would also strike up a friendship with Roger at Planetquake3.net, who has been invaluable during the lifespan of the mod. Like Planetquake, he offered hosting for all Urban Terror files during releases as well as posting news and notes and doing interviews on his web site.

It was not long after 1.27 that more web sites started to offer support, game servers [remember the Vk-14 server?], news, information and files for Urban Terror. Early support was worldwide including Warhammer’s ISPGN in Canada to QuakeItalia in Italy, UrbanTerror.de in Germany, Action Grounds in the UK and Crossfire down under in Australia, lest we can’t forget the very opinionated DeadLlamas.net.

Organized game play was spotty at best early on. ISPGN attempted to organize some league based game play, but it would be some months later that league play would break onto the scene. Urban Terror leagues included action from the OGL, Stronger than All, CAL, TWL and Clanbase. Once Urban Terror clans got involved with their web site, the terror was spreading, providing further coverage and support for the game.

It would be the lead up and release of Urban Terror Beta 2.0 [June 2001] that represented one of the biggest releases to date and would spawn a series of patches over the next 15 months. Community support during this time flourished as many Urban Terror dedicated sites popped up providing news, opinions, files and an assortment of Urban Terror related items.

There were sites dedicated to level design, such as The 6th Floor, others created to host downloads and related files, including levels created by the community, statistic programs, desktop backgrounds, Urban Terror demos and movies, just to name a few. If it were Urban Terror related, guaranteed someone hosted a site.

Now it’s impossible to name all the supporters, but we have seen some great support over the years from a number of web sites. Ghozt at FSK405.com [and formerly kickassctf.com] has provided coverage, files and services, along with hosting our forums for some 3 years now. His service and support has been invaluable.

While the site is now defunct, Wolfseye, formerly of Act-of-War had a huge repository of files, levels and other goodies he offered to the community. He too did an amazing amount of work keeping Urban Terror alive for many years.

FROServers run by J0E and Preat have done an outstanding job recently completing a new web site update to include more Urban Terror related item. They also provide GTV coverage to Clanbase for clan coverage.

MidgetKiller held the reins of the Urban Terror Map Depot housing the largest number of Urban Terror levels for the mod before it was shut down last year. But fret not, as he closed down, Hybridesque took control and opened up Flipped Normals. This site is more dedicated to the level designer than allowing gamers to download community created levels, this site, like the Map Depot and The 6th Floor before it, the site is a necessity for community level designers.

Many nations also created their own national Urban Terror web site. Nations such as Portugal, Hungary, Italy, France, Poland, Brazil, Japan, Canada and others translated Urban Terror news into their native language.

Drawing attention to individual clan sites would be difficult, as we have seen many clans, great and not so great come and go over the years, both in Europe and the Americas. Without the clan gamers, Urban Terror would not be what it is today. We know there are some clans who have been around for nearly as long as we have been developing the mod. But, as with game sites, it is their dedication and enjoyment they get from the mod that has them coming back for more.

The support for Urban Terror over the span of 6 years is more than anyone on the development team could ask for. While I did not touch on all the individual people who supported Urban Terror, the development team, both past and present thank everyone who has done their part to support the mod they love to play and experience “where Quake meets reality.???
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Temporary Pause in Terror

in Urban Terror - posted Saturday, 12 August 2006 by FrozenSand
It's with much regret I post that we will not see an update for today, Friday, August 11, which would have been Day 7. My computer has crashed with a BSOD and I am not able to access any of the files or information I need to successfully update 'The 27 Days of Terror'. Fret not, I do have an older copy of the master on my work computer, so instead of filling up a day with bullpoopy or giving you a Week in Review, which I seriously thought about, I decided it would be best to wait until tomorrow to give you Day 7. I am not sure when or if I will be able to recover the data on my computer, hopefully I can resolve the issues in the next few days. But we do have more Urban Terror information and images to pass on to the community, this is but a hiccup. See you tomorrow for Day 7!

The 27 Days of Terror: Day 6 - Red Dragons Team

in Urban Terror - posted Thursday, 10 August 2006 by FrozenSand
]The models have undergone many changes since the 1.27 days; we have had a few different models created for use in Urban Terror, while the skins have improved over the years. BotKiller originally used the base Quake III Sarge model, since it was the "most realistic" looking model that could be used. Freakstorm created a few different skins that would replace the default Sarge skin, prior to new models being created. As development continued, we did create a new male model, which was skinned by Freakstorm who created two military style skins that hit a highpoint during 1.27. But those skins would be rather short lived as development moved forward to Beta 2. During this development cycle, “skins were changed in almost every 2.x release,?? says BladeKiller. “People hated the 2.3 skins; they were good skins but a bit too dark for most gamers to see easily. Unfortunately...Miles skins were hard to see and tell apart although beautifully made,?? said BladeKiller.?? BladeKiller came aboard because of our modeler, Earthquake and together they created some great pieces! BladeKiller has been honing her artistic skills and creating skins for a few years now and the model skins have seen a huge improvement over the original skins. You can see the changes as the different versions were released. For the upcoming release we have spent time working on skins that would be visible to teammates and opponents, as well skins that would not get lost in the details and colors of any given level. As we debuted Monday, in The 27 Days of Terror: Day 3 - SWAT Team, the SWAT player skins were the first of two new skins to be used in Urban Terror. The other skin that was created to offset the SWAT Team is known as the Red Dragons. The skins are orange in color, as the male models are wearing prison jumpers, while their female counterpart is decked out in orange motorcycle leather. This completes a theme around our new model skins as the SWAT Team pursues the Red Dragons through many different locations in an attempt to apprehend them. Catchy, eh? As development continues, a development team needs to be looking ahead on how to improve on current assets. Many of those assets in Urban Terror, such as the models had been unchanged for a few years. As for the skins, BladeKiller has been continuously working on improving the overall look and style of the player skins.

The 27 Days of Terror: Day 5 - G36 & SPAS-12

in Urban Terror - posted Wednesday, 09 August 2006 by FrozenSand
]The weapons have undergone considerable change since the early versions of Urban Terror. Originally, included with the mod were the HK G36, HK UMP45, SPAS-12, HK PSG1, Beretta 92FS and the knife. During early development most of the weapons were tested and tweaked by the development with very little input from the community. The result was somewhat unbalanced, with the SPAS-12 ungodly from all the way across the level, while the UMP45 reigned supreme as the weapon of choice during the 1.27 days.

Weapons would be drastically changed for the release of Beta 2. The development team would build on the current arsenal, adding the HK MP5K, Colt M4, HK G36 and the Remington SR-8 to Urban Terror. To go along with the new weapons, there were new challenges to implement the weapons in the game so there was no one dominate weapon. Although some would argue the SR-8 is dominate, having the ability to be a one shot, one kill weapon.



The final two weapons to be added to Urban Terror were the AK-103 and the LR-300 during Beta 2.6. Since that release, each new version has brought about changes in the amount of damage each weapon does. The development team never did release damage figures, which led the community to do their own testing.

For the upcoming release, the development team will be providing hard figures for each weapon. These weapons have undergone quite a bit of scrutiny from the Quality Assurance Team. Some of you might remember the server side pak file called ‘Gosu’ that modified weapon values. If there is one aspect of Urban Terror that has been tested again and again it’s the weapons.



Today we show off two newly skinned weapons for the upcoming release of Urban Terror. Neither the HK G36 nor the SPAS-12 models have been remodeled of modified. Each weapon has received a new skin. Since the sand colored G36 was not at big hit, its reverted back to a dull black courtesy of Bittar, while the SPAS-12 was skinned by Lt1.
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