Howdy! This is meant to be a weekly letter from this humble developer to the Fistful of Frags community. I'd like to tell you about development progress, concerns and also I'd like to highlight interesting community created content or just any initiative that may help the mod.
Great start, now you can help us to test future updates.
It has been an intense week, lots of new players decided to try our mod. The concurrent player peak was around 3500, that's something nobody could ever imagine. However, numbers are relative and what really matters is how many of those players will stay in the end. I know the mod lacks content and has many rough edges, so I'm adding fixes and gameplay improvements that take into account the extensive 'playtesting' done during these days and some of your suggestions.
Speaking of which, if you want follow development more closely and become a betatester for future updates, please take a look at our new forum for beta 'branch'. Your help will be much appreciated.
This is not a port, sorry..
There's an idea floating around that is quite wrong. FoF for Steam isn't meant to be a straight port of our previous version for Source 2007 SDK. As is stated in the Steam Store page, this is a renewed version as the new combat combat mechanics, map design and weapon selection should prove.
Old concepts as notoriety progression linked to player weaponry was discarded due balancing issues. It also was a stick-carrot thing which encouraged players to do certain objectives not because they were fun but the opposite: they weren't fun at all so an extra motivation was needed.
What should you expect, in terms of game modes, maps and other features from older versions:
1. many of those old maps will be used as a base for newer deathmatch maps, in a similar manner than current 4 maps were ported or recreated from old material. It's priority to get some more maps working for current version. However many of those old maps weren't really made for deathmatch, so they aren't as appealing as they should.
2. Old notoriety system won't be ported, however weapon and perk selection may reuse a few old ideas to add higher customization options. This new feature will also be useful to adapt the system for different game modes, and even add some degree of customization for each server.
3. I haven't decided yet what objective oriented game mode/s will be used in the standalone version. It's safe to think that some of the old modes as loot capture may return. This is however not a priority for me now. Why? I love some of those old maps, my concern is those old modes are good time wasters but they become pretty repetitive after a while. I think there may be some better alternatives, even if that means not new content ready in short time.
Immediate plans.
Once upcoming update is released, I'd like to implement the Gang Standoff mode. This one will be a more serious, tactical enhanced mode meant to satisfy those who want teamwork. It's also meant to be competitive, but the way it's designed also makes it a bit more casual than Counter-Strike, for instance.
I also think this Gang Standoff is more fitting than anything we have done in the past. Wild West wasn't about 10vs10 man teams fighting over some symmetrical town, fort or whatever. I mean combat was smaller scale, less militaristic in the sense most multiplayer FPS's are. I want to surprise you, and I'm quite sure about the potential of this game mode. Most of your feedback till this moment is also very positive, so let's give it a try.
Interesting stuff
Very detailed weapon guide, check it out if you didn't!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=259687289
Crate locations in all official maps, by tmoney. No excuse to miss the good guns.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=259016568
Boarder jump game mode idea by Ham WizardDrink all the whiskey or prevent it to win the round. Sounds challenging?
Any other interesting stuff, let us know!