duplex
12-29-2008, 08:35 AM
Face of Mankind – Changes and New Features
Part 4
This is Part 4 of our "Changes and New Features" update series. Again, 3 screenshots are attached showing the inventory and cone of fire in action. Enjoy!
World Overview – Face of Mankind Star Map (new)
A Star map is presented after game login with all available worlds to enter/login. The map refreshes itself regularly and shows ping and online players per world. Worlds can be clicked to see their description and login.
We will not show a screenshot of this map, because we don’t want to reveal the initial 6 worlds yet.
Vortex Gates
Direct world to world travelling has been removed, also Vortex Tickets, but there are still Vortex Gates. If you enter a Vortex Gate, you will leave the world and get back to the world overview screen. From there you can choose your next destination.
World Entry Nodes
The amount of world entry nodes is no longer limited to 3. There can be much more per world. Also, you will enter a world at a random node. We have organized the spots of these entries in a way to reduce world hotspots and use all world locations evenly; some areas were visited very rarely before. Commonly used terminals will be located within a close vicinity of such entry nodes.
Inventory + Minimap
The Inventory window has been changed to a new character bar on the right of the screen, right under the minimap (which is slightly bigger now, but fixed in size). The window is automatically sized to the height of your screen resolution. Both windows can be stuck to the screen for display in non-window mode or not.
The inventory window shows all sorts of character info (name, rank, faction logo and department name), a few stats (number of clones, credits, XP, penalty points) and all your inventory items.
http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1230564732 (http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76&d=1230564732)
Friend List
The friend list is simpler and easier to manage. Character heads have been removed.
You can add everyone to your friend list, but he/she will only become a real friend if he/she added you as well. Unaccepted friends are greyed out and cannot be talked to privately.
Combat
The realtime combat is one of FoM’s most critical gameplay elements. It’s open, fast-paced and depends on player skill and/or equipment only. We found it important to introduce more tactical elements, though.
There is a new cone of fire system. The random weapon deviation depends on movement speed, rotation speed, character stance and the weapon accuracy itself.
Weapons can have low, normal and high accuracy. “High accuracy” weapons usually have a lower fire rate, but longer range. “Low accuracy” weapons are cheaper to produce, have a higher fire rate and usually a shorter range.
Stance is now very important for precise shots. The minimum weapon deviation (for a most accurate shot) is only possible if your character is in the crouching stance.
The cone of fire is visualized as before by making the crosshair more translucent the higher the weapon deviation becomes. It also becomes red when the deviation is very high.
http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=77&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1230564781 (http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=77&d=1230564781)
http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=78&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1230564832 (http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=78&d=1230564832)
Boosters, Body Enhancements
We have implemented an interesting system to allow for body enhancement, without skill levels or stats, but depending on player skill and tactics instead.
You can affect your character with a maximum of 3 “things” at the same time. There are 3 enhancement slots available. Having an implant active, loading a biocell or administering a medikit or using a drug are all using one slot at a time. Since these are 4 different actions, you couldn’t do them all at once. In addition to the items you know, a range of boosters will be introduced, providing all sorts of effects on your body. Booster can have a body enhancement effect, but also a negative side effect, such as the slower healing rate caused by drugs.
Here’s the tricky part. The combination of body enhancements can cause an additional enhancement or even a negative side effect. You will have to discover all this by yourself and find the best combos for your character per situation.
That's it for this update. Next week we will release part 5 of the series, which will be the last update revealing our plans for missions, objectives and XP. :eek:
-duplex
You can discuss this update here: http://forum.fomportal.com/showthread.php?t=1410
Part 4
This is Part 4 of our "Changes and New Features" update series. Again, 3 screenshots are attached showing the inventory and cone of fire in action. Enjoy!
World Overview – Face of Mankind Star Map (new)
A Star map is presented after game login with all available worlds to enter/login. The map refreshes itself regularly and shows ping and online players per world. Worlds can be clicked to see their description and login.
We will not show a screenshot of this map, because we don’t want to reveal the initial 6 worlds yet.
Vortex Gates
Direct world to world travelling has been removed, also Vortex Tickets, but there are still Vortex Gates. If you enter a Vortex Gate, you will leave the world and get back to the world overview screen. From there you can choose your next destination.
World Entry Nodes
The amount of world entry nodes is no longer limited to 3. There can be much more per world. Also, you will enter a world at a random node. We have organized the spots of these entries in a way to reduce world hotspots and use all world locations evenly; some areas were visited very rarely before. Commonly used terminals will be located within a close vicinity of such entry nodes.
Inventory + Minimap
The Inventory window has been changed to a new character bar on the right of the screen, right under the minimap (which is slightly bigger now, but fixed in size). The window is automatically sized to the height of your screen resolution. Both windows can be stuck to the screen for display in non-window mode or not.
The inventory window shows all sorts of character info (name, rank, faction logo and department name), a few stats (number of clones, credits, XP, penalty points) and all your inventory items.
http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1230564732 (http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76&d=1230564732)
Friend List
The friend list is simpler and easier to manage. Character heads have been removed.
You can add everyone to your friend list, but he/she will only become a real friend if he/she added you as well. Unaccepted friends are greyed out and cannot be talked to privately.
Combat
The realtime combat is one of FoM’s most critical gameplay elements. It’s open, fast-paced and depends on player skill and/or equipment only. We found it important to introduce more tactical elements, though.
There is a new cone of fire system. The random weapon deviation depends on movement speed, rotation speed, character stance and the weapon accuracy itself.
Weapons can have low, normal and high accuracy. “High accuracy” weapons usually have a lower fire rate, but longer range. “Low accuracy” weapons are cheaper to produce, have a higher fire rate and usually a shorter range.
Stance is now very important for precise shots. The minimum weapon deviation (for a most accurate shot) is only possible if your character is in the crouching stance.
The cone of fire is visualized as before by making the crosshair more translucent the higher the weapon deviation becomes. It also becomes red when the deviation is very high.
http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=77&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1230564781 (http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=77&d=1230564781)
http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=78&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1230564832 (http://forum.fomportal.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=78&d=1230564832)
Boosters, Body Enhancements
We have implemented an interesting system to allow for body enhancement, without skill levels or stats, but depending on player skill and tactics instead.
You can affect your character with a maximum of 3 “things” at the same time. There are 3 enhancement slots available. Having an implant active, loading a biocell or administering a medikit or using a drug are all using one slot at a time. Since these are 4 different actions, you couldn’t do them all at once. In addition to the items you know, a range of boosters will be introduced, providing all sorts of effects on your body. Booster can have a body enhancement effect, but also a negative side effect, such as the slower healing rate caused by drugs.
Here’s the tricky part. The combination of body enhancements can cause an additional enhancement or even a negative side effect. You will have to discover all this by yourself and find the best combos for your character per situation.
That's it for this update. Next week we will release part 5 of the series, which will be the last update revealing our plans for missions, objectives and XP. :eek:
-duplex
You can discuss this update here: http://forum.fomportal.com/showthread.php?t=1410