Festung Europa (Darkest Hour 2) V1: No one likes Tripwire Edition
132 replies, posted
Fetus Europe RO2 clone???
The update post from Bob I shamefully dishonored:
[QUOTE=bobsynergy;41632016][B]MY COCK IS ROCK HARD!!!![/B]
[B]It's the Maschinengewehr 42 update!!!! (and the Stielhandgranate M 24 and other stuff but w/e)[/B]
[QUOTE]Hello everyone, it is time for another Festung Europa Media Release! This time we put the spotlight on two vital pieces of equipment for the German infantry squad – the MG 42 and the M 24 Stielhandgranate. Without further ado, let’s just jump right into it:
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[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_MG42_2.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE]As the designation suggests, the MG 42 was introduced as a general purpose machine gun in 1942 in the German Wehrmacht. While being optimized for war production and cheaper and faster to produce compared to the MG 34, the MG 42 wasn’t a stopgap solution and about 415.000 where produced until the end of the war. In fact it would become one of the more iconic and by its enemies most dreaded weapons of the Second World War. It’s exceptionally high firing rate of about 25 rounds per second was unique for its time and defined the weapon’s characteristic sound which turned out to be genuinely frightening to the Allied soldiers encountering the weapon on both the Western and Eastern Front.
[/QUOTE]
[img_thumb]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_MG42_5.jpg[/img_thumb] [img_thumb]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_MG42_6.jpg[/img_thumb]
[QUOTE]In Festung Europa the machine gun in general is the cornerstone of the German infantry squad as it historically was. It is the main source of firepower and enjoys the direct or indirect support of all squad members. Just as it was back then, it will be the responsibility of the Squad Leader to direct the MG 42′s fire and use the rest of the squad for close protection, assault and flanking maneuvers and ammunition resupply. Extreme ammunition consumption and forced breaks from firing for barrel changes are tactical drawbacks of the MG 42 that Commonwealth players must learn to exploit in order to survive any engagement with one.[/QUOTE]
[img_thumb]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_MG42_1.jpg[/img_thumb] [img_thumb]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_MG42_7.jpg[/img_thumb]
[QUOTE]After the war the design was further developed and adopted as the MG 3 into Germany’s post-war armed forces, the Bundeswehr. Other nations adopted modified versions of it throughout the Cold War, while the American M60 multi purpose machine gun was heavily influenced by the weapon. Thus the MG 42 design served through most of World War 2 until today, making it one of the longest active serving weapon designs in the world. Only now the Bundeswehr is starting to replace the MG 3 with a new general purpose machine gun based on Heckler & Koch’s HK 121, designated the MG 5.[/QUOTE]
[B]Stielhandgranate M 24[/B]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_Model24.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE]The Model 24 Stielhandgranate was the standard hand thrown grenade of the German soldier during World War 2. The wooden handle gave the user a significant increase in range compared to the standard egg-shaped/pineapple design, allowing the grenade to play vital roles both in defensive and offensive situations. The grenade made improvising in the field easy, by tying 6 unscrewed explosive heads around one intact detonator/handle, one would get a Geballte Ladung to use as an impromptu demolition device or to combat tanks at close range. The basic Stielhandgranate was designed for offensive action, however by applying a fragmentation sleeve or Splitterring, the grenade had increased defensive capabilities. About 75 Million Stielhandgranaten where produced during World War 2.[/QUOTE]
[img_thumb]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_Model39.jpg[/img_thumb]
[QUOTE]The Nebelgranate 39 is the smoke variant of the standard hand grenade.[/QUOTE]
[B]What else is going on?[/B]
[QUOTE]Besides producing the much needed weapons and equipment for the game, there is a lot of programming, historical research, mapping, creating of 3d and 2d assets going on behind the scenes. While we are keeping busy working on the game, we don’t want to burden you guys with imperfect products or by talking about game features that have yet to survive intensive testing. Having said that, there is much more stuff lined up in the pipeline we want to show off to you guys as soon as possible, and we will!
In the meantime, here’s another concept art by our resident artist Jan for you to enjoy:[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/FE_Concept_July13.jpg[/img]
[I]Panzergrenadiere im Angriff, by Jan Klimecký.[/I]
[QUOTE]Like with the production of movies, we use concept art like this to give the team a feel for an idea before we translate things it into working features, programming, levels or 3d assets. We will continue to publicise this kind of concept art with you this kind of concept art to share the flavour of the game with you shaping up as it happens. However, Jan thought it wasn’t enough to provide art for the team and decided to help on another front of the ongoing effort to bring you Festung Europa. You will hear more on that soon enough…
One good way to let us know what you think is to participate in the polls, let us know what your opinion is and why! In the wake of this media release we will initiate the following poll on this webpage:
“Which one of these Darkest Hour Maps would you like to see make a comeback in Festung Europa?”
Please take your time and participate![/QUOTE]
Everyone get ready for Berlin to come back as that's whats obviously going to be voted for.[/QUOTE]
I like the attention to detail. The bullets cut blades of grass in the last piece.
[img]https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1231623_625049437539739_1070041326_n.png[/img]
suuuuuuuuck it bob
Fight me man
[B]Back from the Armoury[/B]
[quote]Maintenance in the field is a regular occurrence with any army at war – sights need to be adjusted, barrels exchanged, and battle damage repaired. Similarly, we constantly re-evaluate our products to make sure they adhere to both yours and our own high quality standards. Following some in-depth, detailed and constructive criticism by the community of the initially released Lee-Enfield No.4, we decided not to just give the ole No.4 an overhaul, but to completely redo it from scratch! What happened next, nobody could have foreseen, as our 3D artist Günther “r0tzbua” Feldbaumer, who was tasked with rebuilding the weapon was called up as a national reserve to combat extreme flooding in Central Europe during the summer:[/quote]
[quote]Anyway, Gunny did make it back safe & sound – much to the joy of samthegreat – and finished up the job on the No.4! Therefore Jackboot Games proudly re-introduces the....[/quote]
[B]Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk I*[/B]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Enfield_No4_01.png[/img]
[quote]Being the main battle rifle for the Commonwealth forces in the Normandy Campaign, we already had introduced the Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk I* as one of the most important and iconic weapons to be featured in Festung Europa. Ultimatley however we felt we could and should do better! Detailed community criticism did play a vital role in this decision. Have a look at the completley new model with the Mk II Spike Bayonet attached.[/quote]
[t]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Enfield_No4_02.png[/t][t]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Enfield_No4_04.png[/t]
[t]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Enfield_No4_03_B.png[/t]
[B]Scharfschützengewehr K98[/B]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Karabiner98k_03.png[/img]
[quote]We took the opportunity and sent one of the most reliable K98s in the arsenal back to the armoury to be fitted with a telescopic sight, turning it into a sniper rifle much coveted by marksmen around the world. Here we have a Scharfschützengewehr K98 fitted with a Zeiss Zielsechs 6x telescopic sight. This weapon will be available in the game for certain classes only. While in the shop, following a heated discussion the Waffenmeister decided to give the K98 a good and proper overhaul and bring it up to company standards. See the results below![/quote]
[t]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Karabiner98k_02.png[/t] [t]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Karabiner98k_01.png[/t]
[quote]While the armoury has been busy, Crytek has released version 3.5 of its powerful CRYENGINE. Among many other features, the update includes Physically Based Rendering (which essentially lets us emulate surfaces more realistically) and procedural weather effects amongst other features. Expect us to exploit the CRYENGINE to the best of our abilities!
Secondly, the art department is undergoing a major restructure in order to streamline asset production and ensure AAA quality throughout. The whole pipeline will begin with concept art to help us establish the mood and feel of each environment – something that we strongly believe will allow us to develop an emotional level of immersion. This leads us to asset modelling where the artists will stay very close to the concepts to match the tone of each environment, with particularly close attention being paid to historical references. While the level assets are being built, our Level Artists will work with the leads to layout each map. Finally, our Finishing Artists will go in and polish up the map with nice lighting and atmospherics- again staying very close to the original concept and the references. Expect a dedicated Level Creation blog in the not-so-distant future highlighting each phase of construction!
Let us conclude this Media Release with a close-up of the K98′s Seitengewehr 1884/98 bayonet. Remember – bayonets will be detachable in the game!
As always, you can help the Jackboots by Liking, Linking, Retweeting, Sharing our messages and Talking about Festung Europa on the forum![/quote]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Karabiner98k_05.png[/img]
[quote]We are recruiting – take a look at our Jobs Section and contact us!
[url]www.jackbootgames.com/jobs[/url][/quote]
Bwoah shit, that's some nice detail.
[quote]Hello everyone, it’s time for a Dev Diary!
This time we want to give you guys a look behind the scenes and kick off a new series of developer diaries with the story of one Jackboot dev, who accidently turned level designer! Here at Jackboot Games no talent goes wasted, most members of the team wear several hats and contribute in every field they can. When our resident artist Jan “Regular John” Klimecky, decided to play around a little with the CryENGINE SDK, he quickly discovered that his artistic skills translated very well into the world of level design. This is his dev diary Mapping Normandy No.1:
Hello, I am Jan from the Czech Republic, 27 years old and Concept Artist who turned Level Designer for Jackboot Games. I always enjoyed playing maps that are based on real locations (for example DH-stavelot is my favorite) and as we want to have high level of realism of weapons, vehicles and sounds, I want to keep the same level of realism for the game’s maps. So at some point I started messing around with the CryEngine SDK – and let me just say that I was really impressed by how easy to learn and generally user friendly the CryEngine and its Editor are – and soon found out, that I could really get things done with it![/quote]
Concept Art:
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Juliet_Concept1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Juliet_Concept2.jpg[/img]
[quote]Concept images are the first thing that is made before we start modeling the actual map. It all starts with team discussion using what we call a “moodboard”, after we agree on a certain feeling that we want, we start creating quick concepts. All of our maps so far are exact copies of real locations in 1:1 scale. To achieve this, we use everything we can find: satellite images, terrain heightmaps and aerial reconnaissance photos. With all that data, we can be as detailed as never before and include trenches, roadblocks, MG nests or hedgerow gaps in the same locations as they were during the battle. For the reference we also use WW2 era photos, old postcards of the area and tons of books which are usually the most important pieces to our “puzzle”.[/quote]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/heightmap.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/heightmapeditor.jpg[/img]
[quote]On the left image (black and white) you can see how a heightmap looks like, which when imported into the CryEngine forms the terrain accordingly. On the right image the modified terrain is covered with a texture made from aerial pictures, in this case Google Earth.[/quote]
[img]http://www.festungeuropagame.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/placeholder_texture.jpg[/img]
[quote]This image taken in CryEngine shows modeled terrain with custom made placeholder texture – the map is in 1:1 scale. Now I know where I have to place buildings, roads, defence works etc. I can place solids as temporary objects and test how it would feel to play on that map. Of course, we can be only as accurate as our materials that we have, so there are still some locations that aren’t covered with photographs – we have to use our creative intuition to imagine what might have been for those places.
A lot of research goes into creating signature landmarks, like the famous Canada House.
Picking the right maps for the game
When I’m picking the right map, I always look for battles that:
1. Have an interesting historical background – the famous battles and the names attached to them are what define our memories of this conflict up to this day and thus will define what Festung Europa will ultimatly feel and look like.
2. Have interesting and diverse terrain that won’t be boring for players – since we focus on combined arms, we want to have interesting environment. For example: hilly terrain with some orchards, rivers and ditches where you can take some cover.
3. Have decent historic documentation for the historically based maps – I want to be as accurate as possible so we also need battles that are covered in detail by books, aerial photos and so on.
4. Have good potential for re-playability – I want maps that will be fun even after 10th round, so there are usually more ways of attack etc.
Thanks for reading this far!
~Jan[/quote]
[quote]
Let us emphasise what was said in this diary: With the capability of the CryENGINE to render large open environments and the accessibility of the Level Editor, we are able to create 1:1 maps of the historical locations. Bocages, roads, individual houses, defence works – all will be in place where they were at the time of battle in the fateful summer of 1944. If you are facing difficult terrain, a line of hedgerows is giving you particular trouble or the defending force is favoured by an open field of fire – chances are these obstacles and challenges are exactly what the Allied and German soldiers had to face. Now it will be our job to give you the necessary tools of war and communication, and your job will be to put them to good use and reach the objective! The only real limitations here from a level design perspective are the wealth or lack of sources and reference materials, which has not been a problem so far. We also use other sources and techniques, that have not been disclosed in this diary, to create the most realistic and historical World War 2 Normandy experience we can.
If you wish to contribute your knowledge or share some additional information or images to help us create a more authentic experience, then head over to our forums and join in on the discussion!
This concludes our Mapping Normandy dev diary, the first in a series bringing you closer to Festung Europa’s level creation – hope you enjoyed it![/quote]
Awesome, hopefully the Juno beach map is from around the area of Bernieres-sur-mer, maybe I'll be able to recognise some places.
Britain? No America? Darn.
bumpity bump
2 months ago, Shurek posted
"As I mentioned in another thread, we are still alive. While promoting the artwork is really fun and gets everyone pumped, it doesn't actually give you a true picture of our progress or what we are trying to accomplish with the game. The next time you see something from us,[B] it will be focused on our game features and mechanics, and it will all be in-game.[/B] It might take awhile longer for that, so hang in there The last thing we want to show is some broken ass gameplay. How's that for an update?"
so hopefully we can expect gameplay footage in a month or so :v:
Bump.
FE is now on UE4...
[quote]Greetings everyone. It’s been more than a blue moon since we’ve had the opportunity to bring you an official update on our progress with Festung Europa, so without further delay, let’s cut right to the chase and clear some things up.
We’re here. We’re alive. The design of the game has not changed or been compromised in the least. The focus of the game has been, and will continue to be, the same – a hard hitting, realistic combined arms first person experience following the Allied forces from D-Day to the closure of the Falaise Gap and the ultimate defeat of the German 7th Armee.
Despite the rumors and whispers in the wind, Festung Europa still exists and is still very much in active development. In fact, we have probably been more active these past several months, than in the previous years combined. Most of this is due to the fact that we quietly made the decision at the end of this past summer to head back to our “roots” and slide production on FE over to Unreal Engine 4. Rather than go into the litany of reasons of why the decision was made, the fact that we’ve been able to implement some important features, and eliminate some significant obstacles to progress, within only weeks of picking up the engine proves to us that we are on the right track and moving in the right direction. We are now able to conceptualize, prototype, and test what we want to implement in FE in a faster and smarter way; all the while without losing an ounce of the impressive graphical fidelity we intended to bring to you with our previous engine choice.
So, where do we go from here?
For starters, in the short term, watch this space in the coming weeks (not months), for video blogs highlighting some of the things we are working on right now. We’ll also be revamping the media section of our Festung Europa website to feature our assets and environments as they will appear using the power of Unreal Engine 4.
In the New Year, we will be looking for YOUR help in moving Festung Europa quickly into a playable state. As soon as it is possible from a practical standpoint, we will begin Twitch streaming our internal test sessions to the public on a semi-regular basis so that you can witness firsthand what we are currently working on, and you’ll be able to interact with our developers directly to give your feedback in real time.
Also, by popular demand, we will be rolling out a crowd-sourced funding campaign in an effort to assist us with the serious financial challenges we face in creating the game. To date, almost all development costs have been shouldered by members of the development team – not to mention completely on the basis of hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of free time. In order to keep the game on schedule AND be able to provide you with the game we all want, out of absolute necessity, our little business needs to transition beyond the very limited pool of funds that it currently relies upon to a more regular and adequately sized source of income. More details to come in the next couple of months on what form this campaign will take, and how you can play a role in making it successful. In the meantime, stay tuned, and watch this space for more news and information.
Thank you again for your support and patience.[/quote]
