Marvel Adventures Preview

Hello friends and fans, I’m sorry for the long silence, but hopefully what I bring with my return will go some way to assuaging any bad feelings about my absence.  I’m afraid that last year was nothing short of terrible, and we in the Grey household have been working hard to make sure that 2011 turns out to be a better one.  It was a long semester, but now I’m enjoying something approaching a summer vacation, and although my blog may have been dormant, I have not.  Since my last releases I’ve been working on a half dozen projects or so, and I’m still going to keep most of those secret for the moment.  A few of these are obviously the finished versions of mods I’ve already released, but there are several more that I just about can’t wait to reveal.  I’m hoping they will really send some waves through the community.

In fact, I was simply going to sit on all of these secrets until I was ready to release, but a post someone made on Tomato’s excellent discussion board (which is serving as an interim home for the Freedom Reborn crowd) provided me with simply too much temptation.  A community member started a thread asking if anyone was working on any Marvel mods, and another member very kindly mentioned that he hoped to see one like my little DC project, the DCUG.  Well, some time passed with no one really answering these guys, and I just couldn’t take it anymore.  So, I released some teaser shots of one of my projects, the one I’m working on at the moment.  I still don’t want to say too much, but it is going to be called Marvel Adventures, and those of you who have been following my blog, such as it is, may find some clues about this mod in one of my ‘From the Ether’ posts.

I will tell y’all that this mod will include several different campaigns with a wide variety of characters.  If you are the observant type, you probably already have a pretty good idea of some of the roster.  Let me reiterate something, though.  This project will most certainly not be of the skope of the DCUG.  I’m afraid I’m not up for another 3+ year project!  I hope that folks will find plenty here to enjoy, though.  But why talk you to death when I can show you some screenshots of your favorite characters in action?

 Check out the Marvel Adventures Album HERE!

Dream Team Part V

Turtles and Frogs and Ducks, oh my!  We’ve reached the top three, and these guys are all characters that I hope to see in Freedom Force sooner or later.  They’ve all been Playmate-ized as toys, and they were, in my opinion, some of the best. They certainly loom large in my childhood memories. As a matter of fact, our first subject owes his popularity almost entirely to his toy incarnation:

3) Ace Duck: Perhaps the number one favorite toy from the days of my Turtlemania, this fighter pilot turned mutant duck just looked too cool to pass up.  He shows up in the comics in a completely different form, but the grimacing, bomber jacket wearing fellow from the toy line will always be the real Ace Duck to me.  He’s another option for the winged air support that I’d like to give the Turtles, and I think he’d be great from a gameplay standpoint. He probably wouldn’t be too much good at fisticuffs, but with grenades, a pistol, and the ability to take to the skies, he’d certainly change things up.   Likelihood:  Good. A mostly completed skope exists, though it is in limbo at the moment.

2) Rat King: Definitely my top villain from both the cartoon and the toy line, this master of all rodentia has just always interested me.  Part of that probably has to do with the more sympathetic portrayal he received in the Archie comics, but I also loved his look as a kid.  As a matter of fact, I liked his figure so much that I couldn’t bear to have him be a villain.  In my games the Rat King would have a sudden, dramatic change of heart and join the Turtles against the evil Foot!  Don’t ask me why.  He’s just about a must for me, and he has the potential to figure heavily into dozens and dozens of possible missions.  He’d make a great villain, gameplay-wise.  A combination of mind control, grenades, and acid attacks would add some nice variety, and he has a perfectly plausible source of minions.  Likelihood:  Very Good. He should be a very easy skope and relatively easy skin.  The real challenge is how to put together his legion of rats.

1) The Punk Frogs: Genghis Frog, Attila the Frog, Napoleon Bonafrog, and Rasputin the Mad Frog showed up in only two episodes of the original cartoon, but they left a lasting impression on my young mind.  These amphibian counterparts to the Turtles seemed like a great idea to me then, and they still do today.  I’ve always been a Southern sympathizer, and these four green good-old-boys seemed alright by me.  In terms of gameplay, they would add some nice variety to the player’s roster, but they would also be great for a few fun missions drawn from their cartoon appearances.  They add four new weapons along with four new characters, a bow, an axe, a bullwhip, and a mace.  That has potential!  Likelihood:  Fair. While I think their skopes would be relatively complicated, the Frogs do have a bit of a following.  Here’s hoping it proves to be enough!

Well, I hope that has been interesting to some of you.  Now you know my top picks.  What are some of your favorite characters?  Who would you most like to play as/against in a Turtles game?  As always, feel free to leave comments!  This series is over…almost.  I’ve got one last bit of commentary planned for tomorrow.  I hope you’ll all join me again!

Dream Team Part IV

Hello again dear readers, and welcome to another installment of my TMNT character countdown!  We’re almost to the very top of the list, and these guys are the cream of the crop.  Starting us off today is one of the creepiest of Turtles villains, and the star of a not insignificant number of children’s nightmares.  He’s one of only a few characters on my list that were never part of the Playmates toyline, everyone’s favorite maurading killing machine:

6) Armaggon: This mutant shark is undoubtedly one of the most visually striking of all the Turtles’ villains.  He just looks so darn evil and scary!  He, of course, hails from the aforementioned “Future Shark Trilogy,” and I would love a chance to pit him against the Green Machine.  It would be a dream come true to get, not only Armaggon himself, but also his warmachine.  However, that would almost be overkill, as the ghastly gray one is a walking arsenal as is.  If you look at the image above, you’ll notice those weird lumps on either side of his face.  Yep, those are rocket launchers in his SKIN.  While this may seem almost Liefield-like, I thought it was pretty neat as a kid, and I have to say that he’d make one heck of a foe in FF.  Likelihood: Almost Impossible. This would be an extremely difficult skope, if it would be possible at all, and I doubt Armaggon is popular enough to elicit that kind of effort.

5) Wingnut and Screwloose: A deranged bat-like alien and his overgrown mosquito sidekick, these two anti-heroes would make for a really great addition to the Turtles’ allies, as well as providing a fun mission or two.  Wingnut was another of my favorite Turtles toys once upon a time, though at the time I didn’t get the joke of a paranoid mutant bat in a blue and gray outfit, complete with utility belt.  I have quite a good idea about how to build them into the game, and I think the addition of a flying character would give the players some nice options.  Given Wingnut’s…issues…he’d certainly have to have the “Mad” attribute, and these guys would definitely need “Charged Pair.”  I suppose I’d create Screwloose as a sidekick that always came along with Wingnut.  It would make them pretty unique, which is something I’m going for in my designs.  Likelihood: Very Slim. While I think Wingnut would be possible to skope, it would be pretty complicated, and Screwloose would be tough as well, though he could probably use parts of Gren’s Beetle.

4) Leatherhead: This mutated alligator is an enemy of the Turtles in the cartoon and an ally in the comics.  I’ve always loved him a s a villain, and the dynamic between him and the Punk Frogs is great fun.  How can you not like the idea of a back swamp trapper turned real life leatherhead?  As part of the Mutanimals he kind of gets lost in the shuffle.  As a good guy he’s just not as interesting as Mondo Gecko, Man Ray, or Wingnut, at least not to me.  He’s another one I’ve already given some thought to in terms of FF build.  What with an alligator’s physical power, and a variety of traps and weapons, I think he’d make a nice opponent, especially in some missions dealing with the Frogs.  Likelihood:  Fair. I don’t think he’d be too hard to skope, and Leatherhead is a pretty popular character.

Well, thanks for reading folks.  Come back tomorrow as we reach number one!

Dream Team Part III

Howdy folks, it is time for part three of my Ninja Turtles character countdown.  Now we’re getting into those toys and stories that really had an impact on me as a kid.  It’s telling of how deeply the Turtles are ingrained in the psyche of the children of the 80’s that many of us, without having seen, spoken about, or thought of a single one of the toys or comics from which these characters are drawn, immediately recognizes them a decade later.  We may not remember their names, but we certainly remember them.  And the first candidate today is one of the most memorable for me:

9) Mondo Gecko: One of the Mighty Mutanimals and one of my all time favorite toys when I was a kid, this mutant gecko is certainly a visually interesting character.  The idea of a skateboarding lizard was just about the height of awesome to my childhood self, and I have to say, it still makes me smile today.  However, Mondo provides some pretty unique challenges for Freedom Force.  I’ve got only the vaguest idea of how he’d work in game.  He’d obviously be extremely mobile because of the skateboard, but he was never exactly a whole lot of good in a fight, even in the comics.  Likelihood:  Very Slim. A skateboarding lizard may very well need a new mesh, which isn’t likely to happen.

8.) Future Turtles: A long time ago I read the Archie “Future Shark Trilogy,” and it had a pretty profound impact on me.  That story elevated the Turtles above the goofier side of the cartoon for me.  Suddenly they were characters that deserved compelling stories, characters who could have adventures that meant something.  Looking back on those issues now, they seem so much weaker than they once did, but the heart of this story is still gripping.  It was my first encounter with a dystopian future, and it was a story of loss, about coming to grips with growing old.  In a world of cartoons that never touched the concept of death or aging, these stories stood out.  After all, how can you not love a series that gives you Raphael punching Hitler?  As for the Future Turtles themselves, I’d only really want them to be able to adapt this story.  Differentiating all of them from their normal counterparts would be a bit of a pain, but it could also turn out with some good gameplay.  Likelihood: Very Slim. They’d be easy enough to skope, but I doubt they’re popular enough to catch an artist’s interest.

7) Ray Fillet: The Manray!  This marine biologist turned aquatic mutant powerhouse was one of my favorite toys as a kid, one of my favorite characters from the comics, and remains one of my all-around favorites.  I suppose it’s the coastal boy in me, but I just have a thing for aquatic heroes.  I still remember the first story about him in the Archie comics, and I was thrilled to discover that he was in the Mighty Mutanimals as well.  Anyway, I always thought Ray had a great look, and his super strength based powerset would provide a nice addition to the roster of heroes available.  Plus, with him onboard I’d be one step closer to bringing the Mutanimals to life.  Likelihood:  Slim. I don’t think he’d necessarily be hard to skope (though his “wings” might be trouble), but poor Ray is likely too obscure to bag an artist.

Alright, that’s it for this batch, but come back tomorrow for another step closer to the top three!  Also, please remember that I’d love to hear about your favorite characters and who you’d like to see in the mod.

Dream Team Part II

Here we go with numbers 12 through 10 of my countdown!  These TMNT characters are the ones whom I’d really like to see, but they couldn’t quite make the cut of the top contenders.  Up first, everyone’s favorite ronin bunny….

12) Usagi Yojimbo: The samuari rabbit…just how cool of a concept is that?  I’ve always loved Usagi, and though he technically doesn’t fit in with the TMNT’s world, in a setting like theirs it isn’t hard to find a way to plug him into a story.  My only real concern with Usagi would be the difficulty in differentiating him from Leonardo in his build.  How many ways can you represent a sword swing?  I’m thinking I would make him stronger and slower than Leo, but it is a question I’d have to consider carefully.  Still, he’s a neat character, and it would be fun to see him taking Shredder and co. on in FF.   I’d almost have to arrange a one-on-one fight between him and Leo.  Likelihood:  Fair. Usagi is very popular, but he’s going to require a pretty complex skope.

11) Merdude: Ahh, the inexplicably French merman of the TMNT set…he’s a very strange character, but as a kid he was one of my absolute favorite figures.  In reading through the Archie comics I’ve come to realize that Merdude is the Submariner to Ray Fillet’s Aquaman.  These characters are, in many ways, parodies of their mainstream aquatic counterparts.  Still, despite these oddities, I have to say that I still have a soft spot for this ocean dwelling mutant.  Likelihood: Almost Impossible.  He’d require a really tough skope, if it were possible at all, and he’d only really be usable in aquatic missions.  That adds a whole new set of headaches.

10) Metalhead: This robotic turtle would be a great change of pace in terms of villains.  I’ve already got the mission he’d premiere in dreamed up, and I think he’d make for some really interesting gameplay.  I’d probably make him actually metal material type, and then the Turtles’ weapons would be relatively ineffective against him.  Defeating him would require some creative thinking on the player’s part.  I remember him from both the show and the classic games…plus, I had his toy at one point in time.  I’d love a chance to unleash him on the players!  Likelihood: Fair. He’s another one who might be able to use the existing Turtle mesh, but some type of skope and skin are necessary.

Alright folks, I hope this is proving interesting to someone out there!  Tune in tomorrow for the next step on the countdown!

The Dream Team

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ninja Turtles lately.  I got a volume of the classic ‘toon for my birthday, so that probably has something to do with it.  Whatever the reason, my reflections have naturally drifted toward just how to do the Turtles and their world justice in Freedom Force.  I haven’t been able to get much work done lately because of several real real life things that have been keeping me quite busy.  As a result, I don’t have a release ready for this post, but I thought that some of you out there in the ether might be interested in the subject of my ruminations these last few days.

The Turtles’ cast has always been one of the strongest aspects of the original cartoon, the Archie comics, and almost all of the other incarnations of the franchise.  One of the things that has always disappointed me about the Turtles games that have come out over the years is the limited representation of that very asset.  There have been some notable exceptions, but even great games like Turtles in Time, which had a strong representation of Turtles villains, included only the four half-shelled heroes as playable characters.  Thus, one of the things that I most want to do in my mod is pack in as many of my favorite TMNT characters as I can manage, and the great thing about Freedom Force is that, even if you don’t get to play as, say, The Fly, during the campaign, you’ll be able to use him in the Rumble Room.

I’ve put quite a bit of thought into just which characters I’d most like to see make an appearance.  While I’ll obviously be limited by who I can get skinned/skoped/meshed, these are my top choices:

15) Dirtbag and Groundchuck: These two would make a great villainous pair and some interesting foes for the Turtles.  A mutant mole and bull provide a nice dichotomy in terms of powers, and they would lend themselves nicely to FF herofiles.  You’ve got one who would naturally be a tank with a solid variety of ranged attacks, and then you’ve got another who could take a more support role, burrowing from spot to spot for some close in attacks.  These guys aren’t characters that I’ve got a huge nostalgic connection to, but they are neat nonetheless.  I actually like the idea of Dirtbag as something of villain specifically for Splinter, rodent against rodent.  Likelihood: Slim. Both characters would require meshes or complicated skopes, and they are pretty obscure.

14) Wyrm and Scumbug:  Here we’ve got another, but much more disgusting, pair of possible villains for the Turtles.  These two characters would practically write their own mission.  They both showed up in the Archie comics, and their origins were suitably tragic as to stick in my memory.  The mutations of this garbageman and exterminator were not nearly as fortunate as those of the Turtles, and the resulting monstrosities battled each other, as well as everyone’s favorite green teens.  Wyrm and Scumbug could form the core of a pretty entertaining mission or two, and the nature of the characters lends itself to them showing up unlooked for later on.  Likelihood: Very slim. Whereas Dirtbag and Groundchuck have something of a following, these guys are pretty unloved.

13) Slash:  Another Turtle, but with a decidedly more violent outlook, Slash is a character with some neat potential.  Either a mutant snapping turtle or a turtle-like alien, either way Slash is a simple-minded killing machine.  He could certainly serve as yet another of the Shredder’s weapons against the Turtles, but the Archie series also illustrates the heroic side of the character, so perhaps he’d eventually make a nice addition to the player’s roster.  In terms of his build in the game, I imagine he’d be all damage and no defense.  Also, he’d simply have to have the “Berzerker” attribute.  It is the comics version that has stuck with me all these years.  He’s tragically heroic, and his final stand really endeared this psychotic amphibian to the young Mr. Grey.  Likelihood: Fair. Skoping him would be pretty easy since we’ve already got the other Turtles, and Slash is pretty well known.

Check back soon for the next batch of picks in the countdown!

DCUG Fixed!

Alright folks, the previous DCUG version was buggy, and the uploaded files were so big that it was tough to get an uncorrupted download.  I’ve finally gotten around to fixing that, and you’ll find a clean upload with smaller files below.  I’ve fixed lots of issues with the Mystery in Space and Batman campaigns.  They should both be working 100% now.  However, the JSA campaign remains unfinished.  I’ll return to it eventually, but not right now.  I’ve also updated just a few skins and meshes that I had been meaning to.  We’ve got a new Fire and Ice thanks to Billdamn, and we’ve also got Tomato’s excellent Two Face mesh, along with Styles great Mr. Freeze skope!  So, get ready to experience the DC Universe as you’ve never experienced it before!

Download the DCUG!

Whoops!  I forgot a keyframe file, you can find the patch for this omission here.

And another patch for a few minor issues.

Or, if you’ve downloaded the previous version, you can get this patch.

The Creature from Beyond the Ether!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet!  Howdy folks, I’ve been thinking lately about a project that I’d like to do, and I thought that some of you (perhaps any of you crazy enough to enjoy my “Ether” series) might like to hear what I’m thinking about.  While The Real Ghostbusters was never as popular as say, Transfromers or He-Man, it was a fantastic show nonetheless.  I know that lots us who are children of the 80’s remember this show very fondly.  It was one of those rare shows that could walk the line quite well between goofy-for-kids entertainment, and the occasionally more serious theme or story.  It wasn’t exactly Batman: The Animated Series, but it was pretty great.  Well, for quite some time I’ve wanted to do a Ghostbusters mod for Freedom Force.  I was actually involved, very early on, in an abortive attempt to do just that.  However, that was one of my two early failures, and it was around then that I realized that python scripting was beyond me.  Thankfully, M25’s EZScript has changed that greatly, and now there isn’t anything for which we’ve got art assets that I CAN’T create a playable story for.  While I’d love some skins for the Ghostbusters themselves in their distinctive animated look, I do have pretty much everything that I really need for such a project.

So, what would I do with The Real Ghostbusters?  Well, I was originally thinking about just throwing together a simple one or two mission mini-mod, but the more I thought about it, the more I remembered something that had been lost in the mists of time.  There was once a really neat, but utterly impossible Ghostbusters game for one of the old consoles, perhaps Nintendo.  In it, you drove around town in Ecto-1, busted ghosts, earned money, and bought equipment.  For years I wanted a new game like that.  The fantastic new Ghostbusters games actually let us don the proton packs and bust some ghosts, but that business side of it never really showed up.

While I can’t hope to compare to those great games in terms of raw gameplay, I thought that it might be great fun to finally take advantage of the freeroam components of Freedom Force and FFX.  I think that I could work it where the Ghostbusters were running around New York, capturing spirits, earning money, etc.  Then you could use your money (CP, prestige?) to upgrade your characters and buy certain perks.  I’m working on  rough idea for a story arc to go in among the random ghost busting, but the idea does appeal to me.  This would require a good bit of preparation and work, and probably some help from the content creators of the community (I would REALLY love to see an Ecto-1 and 2), so I can’t say that it would ever come to fruition.  However, The Real Ghostbusters are now one of the mod ideas that are on my list of projects!

The DCUG is….Updated!

Thanks to the good people at Freedom Reborn, I was able to identify a number of bugs with both the Batman and Mystery in Space campaigns, and I have put together a patch to take care of them.  In addition to that, I’ve also replaced the missing Fire and Ice meshes.  This patch fixes:

• Issues with the doctor standing and dying in the second Batman mission
• The base CS not playing properly before the second Batman mission
• The first Hawkman mission not advancing properly
• Lack of objectives in the Batman campaign
• Missing Fire and Ice meshes
• Proper portrait for the Atom
• Replaced missing Turret mesh
• Fixed a bunch of missing resource entries
• Some minor balance issues

You can get it here.

Playing Project Superpowers

What’s this!?  Could it be that some of that “In the Ether” talk was more than just empty fantasy?  Well, probably not, but I did manage to bang out this mini-mod thanks to the incredible skins and skopes of Sioux-City Dynamo!  This small-ish, three mission  adventure covers about half of the first volume of Project Superpowers, and it is all set for continuation, which it should certainly receive one of these days.  Much of the dialog is drawn straight from the pages of the books themselves, and many of these reinvisioned heroes show up in Freedom Force fully realized.  This is now my second mod that allows for leveling up and the like, although there isn’t much that can be done with that at the moment.  The conclusion of this first volume’s stories should see a bit more utilization of those features, whenever I get around to writing it.  There is certainly a lot of adventure awaiting you, however, as you get the chance to play as the Black Terror, the Green Lama, the Fighting Yank, the Death-Defying Devil, Samson, and the Scarab, as you begin the search for heroism in an unheroic age!

The truth is that this was meant to be one of a trio of small projects that I would release all at once, but testing and bug-correction on the other two have been slower than I’d hoped.  Thus, I thought I’d release this mini-mod since it was just hanging around gathering dust.  It hasn’t been tested as well as I’d like, so bugginess is a real possibility.  Please contact me here or on Freedom Reborn if you have any trouble.  So…one of these “In the Ether” things turned out to be more than it seemed…could there be more where this came from?  Perhaps….stay tuned!

Download the Project Superpowers mod!

And here’s a small update that fixes a few minor things.