Dark Reign 3 - An RTS for the Future - Based on the Past...

[Captain_Kill]

Ah, but you see, it wasn't the graphics or even in some cases the gameplay that attracted me to Dark Reign!

Infact, I don't count DR as perfect and it HAS got alot of flaws. I was atracted to Dark Reign by the whole story and just the 'style'.

It has a gaming universe deeper than most games, the level of detail is staggering. The manual alone countains a HUGE storyline and in game there is a VERY cool data dictionary which stores the history of not only the units, but also the major characters, factions and the people as a whole. By reading deeper you can find out so much it's incredible. It sucks you in because it's so 'real'. Just as Star Wars sucked people in with its immersive universe, Dark Reign got me hooked the same way.

It's not JUST an RTS. It's a whole universe. You can make ANY type of game from Dark Reign. RPG? No problem! FPS? Easy as anything! Sequels/Prequels/Expanded Universes? No problem either. THAT is good game design. Putting in MASSIVE amounts of detail. The detail doesn't HAVE to be in the graphics, it can be deeper down, a kind of 'soul' for a game. It makes you THINK.

Anyhow... That's me rambling. (It's all my opinion of course) Basically I can't explain why I like Dark Reign so much. It's just got 'something' that NOTHING else has, at least for me. TA was cool though and it is kinda fun in multiplayer. Apart from that, people would rather play TA than DR when they come over. The funny thing is, I do like TA alot and I do see it's advantages. But DR always wins me over... Go figure

TECH DEMO UPDATE: I got an RTS camera! YAY! It's got a freelook mode, and a 'locked' mode where you can select stuff, use the menus etc... WHAHOO!

PS. Dark Reign was 3D too in a way. It was the first RTS to have true 3D Line of Sight, 3D physics etc. before TA! BUT of course it was DISPLAYED using 2D It's the opposite of Generals. Generals has a 2D heart but 3D graphics...

[AssiDragon]

TA was the first (and ever since the only) game which utilizes a total 3D core, with everything done in 3D... that makes pretty much everything possible. I'm not talking of the technology here, DR might have been the first there, I admit. However, this "everything in 3D" concept made it feel like a real battle - it had a feeling very close to my heart. ^_^

DR universe... hmm reminds me of C&C in this aspect ever played Renegade? Though I must admit I don't know much about the DR universe. I just played the DR1, tried DR2 and while the games were good, I was too much into TA all along to seriously think of stopping playing wiht that *innocent look* I didn't know of DR too much

[tommo]

Such a Huge Project.
If you want to have it done. What you need is more than help, you need real "army"....
Maybe you can achieve it step by step.Don't make your destination so far away. You will surely find it unreachable someday.
Good luck.

[HM]

I'd like to be able to say I'd made the tech behind that screen shot But don't worry! I intend to do whatever it takes to get it into Irrlicht. This is easily THE best terrain algorithm I've come across.

I kid you not, the renderer loads MASSIVE 64MB Total Annihilation maps with ease and then smothers it with trees and manages to this with barely any fog and the best draw distance I've come across It's written in OpenGL but I don't see why it can't be ported over.

It's hard to explain how large the maps are! Seriously, you HAVE to try that 'Spring' demo. It'll knock you out Oh, did I also mention the fact that this same engine can simulate units involving THOUSANDS of units and up to 8 players? With no lag, great FX and on even larger maps? Yeah, that's right, people say it's impossible... If they can do it, so can I, just takes some time

Assi:
That must have sucked I may look at FMOD. I've looked at it before but Audiere is DEFINATELY simpler... could be me though

What engine and demo are you talking about here and where can I download them?