The story of my failed Jedi Academy mod, "The Matrix Unplugged"
47 replies, posted
Everyone loves wildly overambitious mods that fail miserably right? In 2003, when I was 14, me and this guy Cazor (who would later achieve internet stardom over a picture of him humping a cardboard cutout of C-3PO) tried to make a total conversion for the unfortunately-titled Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. We had vim and verve and some modding talent, but Jedi Academy was not remotely friendly to aspiring modders. At the peak of its popularity I think there were about 3 people who could code for it. It was also impossible, or as near as makes no difference, to compile animations for it.
But try we did, and ended up creating a bunch of stuff which I'm not going to talk about it because I can't FIND ANY PICTURES OF IT, except for these 3 (three) pictures of a SWAT guy:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/idVz6.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/h1ZFQ.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/I0Pty.jpg[/IMG]
God damn ephemeral internet. I was able to dredge up this interview, though, which is embarrassing as hell (I am 14 and a huge dork.)
[quote]Map-Review.com has arranged an interview with cazor and Thrawn42689 of the impressive The Matrix: Unplugged mod. This is an intense multiplayer mod for Jedi academy based on the Matrix trilogy. Read on for details about the TMU team and mod features!
wedge: Okay! We've got a bunch of questions for you, let's take care of first things first. Can you two introduce yourselves to our readers?
Thrawn42689: I'm Thrawn42689. I do models and maps for The Matrix Unplugged. I share leadership with Cazor, and I, to some extent, founded the mod.
Cazor: I'm Cazor. I lead TMU, which pretty much means I map and get everyone on the team and try to keep the peace. Other than that I like airsoft guns, paintballing, and other things.
Thrawn42689: Oooh, I like pizza.
Cazor: Yeah, me too!
wedge: Okay, guys... How did this mod originally come about? How did you follow through on the initial idea?
Thrawn42689: A long time ago, I made some gun models. They sucked.
wedge: [laughs]
Thrawn42689: Then Cazor began his excellent Chateau project, so I went to him with the proposition. He agreed. Then, he just went around and started nabbing incredibly talented people for the project. It was amazing. Soon, we had a great team working on the mod.
Cazor: Yeah, and I didn?t get all the people. Just everyone except JEDI_Salvation. :)
Thrawn42689: As we produced more content, we were able to hire more people, such as Graves, who made the Solid Snake model for JO among other things.
Thrawn42689: Cazor's friend made us a website, and our friend Gammasts hosted it, along with our forums. Then, we just kept working and working, until we got where we are today.
wedge: Sounds great! Speaking of the team, you've been able to assemble a very talented team in a very short amount of time. Great job on that! What are your thoughts on the TMU team?
Cazor: Most of them are pretty nice, I think we have a lot more of a personal friendship than most other mods. When we IM each other it's not always, "hey, did you get the model done yet?" right away. We ask each other how their day went and so on. And pretty much everyone on the team works really hard, especially Salvation and Graves...who have made everything you see in-game so far.
Thrawn42689: Player models, anyway.
wedge: Are you looking to supplement the current project team in any areas?
Thrawn42689: We could use some more active player modelers.
Cazor: Yeah, coding and modeling/animating.
Thrawn42689: A lot of them just disappear. :)
Cazor: Sadly.
Thrawn42689: And yes, animators are something we're really looking for right now.
wedge: That's something we see too much in big projects, of which there are quite a few out there...Attack of the Clones TC, Dark Forces TC...What's it like making a mod based on a non-Star Wars set of movies?
Cazor: It's probably a lot tougher, since we have to change everything about the weaponry (guns don?t fire blasters, they fire bullets--which I just got working in JA, so it?s not a matter anymore :D ) But other than that I don?t think it's much different. Wheeled vehicles might be hard, but I?m sure we can get them to work.
Thrawn42689: Agreed.
wedge: That's great! So...we've all seen the movies of kung-fu moves you've implemented into the game, or saber combat moves you've adapted...can you elaborate on the combat system you're modding?
Thrawn42689: The fact is, most of those kung-fu moves are already implemented in the game. I did a bit of editing on the animations.cfg file to get it to do what we wanted. Hopefully soon, we'll have someone to animate new moves for us. Basically, we want to keep it do-able, so it will consist mainly of front, back, side attacks, and katas. The katas will hopefully conform to how many enemies you have around you, similar to the iknowkungfu cheat in JA single-player. We may implement multiple kung-fu styles in later versions of TMU, as well. Right now, we're just aiming for one.
wedge: Awesome. Looks like you guys are striking a balance between ambition and practicality. Beyond the pure kung-fu...you've mentioned that players will be able to pick certain Matrix-style "special abilities," such as the Twins' phase-shift, Neo's "superman thing," or dodging bullets. What other abilities are planned?
Cazor: Other than those, we will have agent style dodging, wall-running, kung fu-ability (certain levels of kung fu will be able to beat other people of a lower level), gun handling (more accuracy/faster reload times) stuff like that. We're not really sure on all of them, but once the SDK is out we can get an idea of what we can and cant do.
Thrawn42689: We're going to implement new player classes into Siege mode, such as "Agent," "Ghost," "Vampire," etc., that will utilize these special abilities. There will also be a "The One" gametype, similar to Jedi Outcast's "Jedi Master" gametype, in which all the players will try to kill Neo, and the one to kill him will become The One in the next round and, of course, gain his powers. This will be used for the Burly Brawl and Chateau duels, for example.
wedge: Sounds very cool. Can you give us any information on the planned release setup for the mod? Will you release a version then add new content to it in later versions, or work up to a final version and just release that?
Thrawn42689: Once we have something releasable, with the main elements working, we'll release that as version one. We'll add updates later as new content is created. As far as I can tell, it's the only way to do a big mod like this without it dying. It worked well with the Urban Terror Mod for Q3.
wedge: Are you planning any sorts of new gametypes? Siege maps?
Thrawn42689: New gametypes, basically. We're going to have the "One" gametype, as well as a renamed Siege gametype. We'll have all the old gametypes, and probably a "Capture the Keymaker" gametype as well, in which players vie for control of an NPC.
wedge: Any single-player stuff planned?
Cazor: If we have time in the future, maybe. We would need to find someone who is good with cutscenes, also, which might be tough since not many people do that (from what I have seen, anyways).
Thrawn42689: Single-player is a very difficult and time-consuming thing to do, though. It's possible, but not probable.
wedge: How big do you see this mod getting? You're planning gameplay modifications, a total conversion of most aspects of JA, new models, maps, etc. Are you still thinking of new items to add, or do you have a target endpoint?
Cazor: I?m guessing it should only take a few releases after the first one to be done. Only time consuming thing we have to do is coding.
Thrawn42689: It depends on how long we can keep it going.
Cazor: Oh, and this isn?t a TC, just for everyone's information. It's a multiplayer mod and will probably stay that way.
Thrawn42689: We don't want to make the mistake of making huge plans that we can't achieve. We want to get guns, levels, kung-fu, and slow-mo in. Probably vehicles too. From there, we'll move on to more elaborate things.
wedge: Okay, so we've covered a lot of TMU features...now it's time for the list of playable characters, weapons, and vehicles!
Cazor: [Laughs] Doesn?t really exist yet, especially for the weapons and vehicles, but we have an outline of what to expect. For the vehicles, it?s gonna be some of the 4 wheeled vehicles you saw in the freeway scene of Reloaded, the Nebuchadnezzar, the APU, and the Sentinel as of now. Helicopter and Trinity's motorcycle are also going to be in.
Thrawn42689: APU, by the way, is the acronym for Armored Personnel Unit (the mechs used in Matrix Revolutions). Now I'll move on to the weapons list. For pistols, we'll have The DE, Beretta 92FS, USP .45, and Glock 18 (with semi-auto and full-auto firing modes). We'll have small machineguns, including the Micro Uzi and Skorpion machine pistol. All of the weapons I've named, excluding the DE, will probably be available for Akimbo (two gunned) mode. Larger machineguns will include the M16, M4, and UMP45. We'll also have a SPAS 12 shotgun. More weapons will be added in later releases.
wedge: Sweet :)
Cazor: Oh, and the BFG! (Electric gun thing) :)
Thrawn42689: Yes, that too.
wedge: That brings up an interesting question...most of these weapons are "in-the-Matrix" weapons. The EMP gun you just mentioned is a "real-world" device. Will that gun (and possibly variations on it) be exclusive to "real-world" maps?
Thrawn42689: Probably, unless you use cheat codes. Think of it...you could fly the Nebuchadnezzar down the freeway.
wedge: Or bust out some "The One" moves outside the Matrix... :)
Thrawn42689: That too.
Cazor: [Laughs] Or, if it?s a simulation like a sparring program of the battle of Zion, you could have a semi driving down the platforms versus the Nebuchadnezzar versus an APU! :)
Thrawn42689: Drive a brand-new Cadillac sedan around Zion, shooting at Sentinels through the windows.
Cazor: Anything you want to do... cause hey... it?s the Matrix.
wedge: Good answer. :)
Thrawn42689: [Laughs]
wedge: What do you think of the JA community reaction so far?
Cazor: We've got some nice comments from pretty much anywhere we post media from the mod. We're just now starting to get people ask us if they could join the mod (it?s pretty much been the other way around since the beginning).
Thrawn42689: For the most part, I'm flattered. Sometimes answering the same questions over and over again can be annoying, especially when the answers seem obvious. I don't know how many times I've been asked if Neo will be in the mod.
wedge: [Laughs]
Cazor: Yeah, or if we can release the models early... That?s a nice one to ruin your hour.
Thrawn42689: But yeah, I'm basically glad we're getting the publicity.
wedge: Besides the Matrix films, are you getting inspiration from anywhere else? Any particular JO/JA maps or mods you idolize?
Thrawn42689: Urban Terror is for Q3, but I love it. It's just so much fun to blow off someone's head with the SR8 bolt-action sniper rifle. :-D
Cazor: Hrm... Well, I am thinking about doing military-based sparring program maps as a break from the total-Matrix-ness. Might prove to be a good idea. Some of the sparring program maps might also not have to do with the matrix directly, but I?m sure they use something like that in the movies when we aren?t looking.
Thrawn42689: [Laughs] Too true. I wonder what happens if you accidentally get killed in a sparring program.
wedge: [Laughs]
Cazor: Hey...it's the Matrix.
wedge: Okee-doke, I'm about ready to wrap this up...Anything else you'd like to tell us about TMU?
Thrawn42689: Basically, we want to make it what Enter the Matrix should have been. Shiny Entertainment should be ashamed. :-D
Cazor: Yup.
Thrawn42689: I'd like to thank the community for all the support they've given us, especially the good folks at [url]www.massassi.net[/url]. Without Massassi, I'd be nowhere.
Cazor: Yeah, me too. Some of the people there got me to start mapping.
wedge: Last question... Did Revolutions measure up to the beginning of the saga? :)
Thrawn42689: I'd say not quite, but it's better than Reloaded. It has more of a heart to it than the first two.
Cazor: Yeah, it was a tough thing to end and I think they did it in one of the better ways.
Thrawn42689: And most importantly, all three movies make darn good mod material!
wedge: Of course. :)
Cazor: Yeah, mmm...APU's...
wedge: Well, thanks a lot, guys, for taking the time to do this...there's some very interesting material here!
Cazor: No problem.
Thrawn42689: Our pleasure. Fantastic talking to you, Wedge.
Cazor: Yeah, nice questions. Glad to get some stuff finally taken care of.
Thrawn42689: Agreed.
wedge: Great! I look forward to seeing more from you guys, this is one of the few mods that's constantly cranking stuff out.[/quote]
iirc they replaced "lol" with "[laughs]" to make it sound like a pro ass interview.
Anyway, the mod died with a whimper as it became increasingly obvious most of our plans weren't remotely feasible and we didn't have a coder to implement the stuff that was. We just sort of cranked out art assets for a while, hoping something would happen. It was very wrenching.
It's not all bad, though! We learned a lot about modding, and what it takes to make a big project succeed. We got to deal with a guy who went completely batshit insane because we said he wasn't good enough to join the team, and tried to sabotage our mod for about a year before he got tired and started a griefing clan instead. I wonder what happened to that guy.
Cazor went to film school. Graves, the guy who made the SWAT trooper above (and who was a senior in high school at the time of the mod), went on to become a modeller for Neversoft, and made a bunch of characters for the Guitar Hero games, including that guy from Metallica.
And I became a moderator on the Garry's Mod forums. :suicide:
[editline]28th March 2011[/editline]
Wait, I found our old site on the Wayback machine! It reminded me that at one point we realized Jedi Academy was worthless for modding and tried jumping ship to the newly-released Quake 3 source code, only to realize that we would have to remake most of the fighting mechanics we had been relying on in Jedi Academy, and that wasn't gonna happen
[img]http://gyazo.com/9c542209c06015836a6f2d167b3ecbc9.png[/img]
Guns! I made a pretty terrible Desert Eagle model that some guy made look good with a skin.
[img]http://gyazo.com/4b55bde217dd6fe7c5bcc47e439511ee.png[/img]
[editline]28th March 2011[/editline]
And possibly the only map screenshots that still exist on the internet:
[img]http://gyazo.com/754fba82975d110bfbafdec690adbb01.png[/img]
Cool, I remember that on Matrix map for JK:JA with the secret bar.
Interesting read.
So wait, YOU made that great Matrix mod for Quake 3?
so when are you gonna release this
I think I remember seeing this a few years back.
Valve games, right?
Galaticoctagon is successor to Matrix Unplugged.
Is Neo in the game?
Insert a reference to that, a movie poster or whatnot, somewhere in TFTG
Hah, I made a text adventure a long time ago with the exact same name, "The Matrix: Unplugged". Granted, it was in finnish, but what an odd coincidence.
[QUOTE=TH89]Thrawn42689: Oooh, I like pizza.[/QUOTE]
:downs:
Then again, you were 14
I remember seeing this mod when I used to play JA.
I wish I had as much attention span for learning modeling and coding as everyone else.
Looks really good considering how unsupportive for modding the game is
I remember following this quite avidly when I played academy. Out of interest, did any of the code for this end up getting used elsewhere? I remember another mod, open jedi project I think, seemed to have similar bullet dodging.
[sp]JESUS CHRIST WHY DO I STILL REMEMBER THIS[/SP]
Holy fuck, I remember this.
Remember thinking it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread.
Please note that I'm not this "Thrawn42689" character.
Oh, wow. I remember this from waaay back. I was following it for a while when it was still planned for JK3 and they put up some news updates from time to time on Filefront.
[QUOTE=Askaris;28855179]I remember following this quite avidly when I played academy. Out of interest, did any of the code for this end up getting used elsewhere? I remember another mod, open jedi project I think, seemed to have similar bullet dodging.
[sp]JESUS CHRIST WHY DO I STILL REMEMBER THIS[/SP][/QUOTE]
I don't think there WAS any code. We had a coder but I can't remember him ever making significant changes. The bullet-dodging was already in the game, all the force users did it if you shot at them with blasters.
[editline]28th March 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Srgt. Shotup;28856566]Oh, wow. I remember this from waaay back. I was following it for a while when it was still planned for JK3 and they put up some news updates from time to time on Filefront.[/QUOTE]
We didn't post on filefront, maybe you're thinking of a diffeent mod?
Whoops, my bad. I was thinking of Matrix Reloaded before. I do remember seeing your team's website, however.
I thought the Neo and Morpheus models were released for JK3 as regular player models. Or was that a different mod?
Different mod.
what was the link to your old web site?
Thrawn42689
Th_______89
TH89
woah
Holy shit
[QUOTE=xpod1;28863018]Thrawn42689
Th_______89
TH89
woah[/QUOTE]
my mind has just been blown!
So [i]that's[/i] what TH89 stands for
Holy shit, so much nostalgia.
I used to play JA all the time but I never got to see the mods for it since I wasted two years of my life playing in Lugormod servers.
[QUOTE=TH89;28852995] who would later achieve internet stardom over a picture of him humping a cardboard cutout of C-3PO[/QUOTE]
What
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