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MODDB Awards Interview - Red Alert: A Path Beyond

Every year MODDB hosts a competition to highlight the fantastic creations of their members in the “Mod of the Year” competition. To celebrate this event, CNCNZ conducted interviews with all 20 C&C mods that reached the top-100 in 2009. The first interview featured Chronojam from the popular Red Alert: A Path Beyond mod. Here is a sample…

QUOTE
Although it would be a little impractical to ask every single person, “what is the attraction for people who download the series”, there is no doubt there is a huge nostalgia kick for players from the original “Red Alert” but the game also offers something for jaded FPS players who are bored by other predictable games. Red Alert allows the player to use almost the entire arsenal from the Red Alert game.
“Cruise around in the Red Alert arsenal, patrolling for Soviet armor in a Longbow, or lurking under the surface as a submarine… it’s all there. That’s why I wanted to play when I first heard about it, and it got me really excited because there are so few games where infantry and vehicles can co-exist so well.

And we’re not talking just little personal transports, base-sieging Artillery is trading blows with V2 rockets that come screaming through the sky while tanks duke it out in the center, perhaps a clever Spy stealthily dispatching high-level enemy infantry while reporting their manoeuvres and stealing their units.”

This article was originally intended to be part of a series, released during the first week of “Mod of the Year” voting phase. Unfortunately Real-Life complications made this impossible. Keep an eye out for further articles in the following weeks from other mods that reached the top 100 “Mod of the Year” awards. APB was selected first for interview because he was the first to respond to questions asked. We will focus the next couple of interviews on Renegade-X, C&C Shockwave and Apoc Rising which reached the final stage of the awards, then return to interviews in chronological order of receipt.

Click here for the interview.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 8th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


Renegade X - February Update

A new month means another update from the Renegade X team. This is another mammoth sized update that covers such things as ModDB.com “Mod of the Year 2009″ news, Dr. Ignatio Mobius, the Volt Autorifle, the Aircraft Mod and more. Check out the full list of what inside this update below, as well as previews of Dr. Ignatio Mobius and the Volt Autorifle.

  1. ModDB.com “Mod of the Year 2009″ news
  2. Make Something Unreal Contest news
  3. New patch coming soon!
  4. Dr. Ignatio Mobius
  5. Volt Autorifle
  6. Nuclear Strike animation teaser
  7. New tutorials for Renegade X’s maps and mods tools
  8. MP Gaming server and sever-side mods
  9. Aircrafts Mod
  10. X-Mountain: Renegade X’s first fan map!
  11. Media Platoon is looking for recruits!
  12. Dev Night this coming Saturday and Sunday!

To finish the news post, I’ll show you the Nuclear Strike Teaser mentioned in the list above, simply because is so damn impressive.

You can get the full Renegade X February Update on ModDB or view the same update on the Renegade X Forums.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 8th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


MODDB - Mod the Year 2009 - Winners Announced

Winners of the MODDB “Mod of the Year 2009″ were recently announced.

Renegade-X, the Unreal Engine TC, received a nomination for best multiplayer’s mod in the editor’s choice. Twin projects from Bluehell Productions, Red Alert: A Path Beyond & Red Alert 2: Apocalypse Rising from the original Renegade engine, were giving honourable mentions in the players choice category of Best Indie Game. In the countdown to the Players Choice Mod of the Year, Zero Hour’s C&C Shockwave placed 9th in Mod of the year, and Renegade-X picked up a second award by placing 5th in this category as well.

As a reminder: any Indie game or Mod must place higher than it has in previous years and must have had a significant update in 2009 in order to qualify: otherwise an honourable mention is given. For those interested here are the winners:

QUOTE
Editors Choice

Players Choice

cncnzx.png Look out in the coming days for some exclusive interviews conducted with all twenty mods who made it to the top 100. They should begin to arrive before Kane’s Wrath 1.03 patch!

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 6th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


Command & Conquer: The Tiberium Archive Video

This 10 minute video is from EA Germany, it summarises the entire history of the Command & Conquer Tiberium universe starting with the original Command & Conquer and prepares you for the epic finale to come in Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight.

Please note, the voice over is German. Perhaps there is an English version to come later. We will have to make do with the German one for now.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 6th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


Command & Conquer Ultimate PC Contest

A new competition has been launched on the Command and Conquer 4 website. To go into the draw to win, you must become a fan through Facebook for Command and Conquer 4, or join the beta through Gamespot.

QUOTE
Commander, do you want to play Command & Conquer 4 on the ultimate bad-ass PC gaming rig? Yes, you do!

The fine folks at Idris (AHY-DRIS) Corporation want you to as well. In partnership with their elite technical partners, Idris Corporation has built a rare limited edition run of ultimate PC rigs to maximize your gameplay experience in C&C 4. And we’ve got our hands on one to giveaway!

To ensure this PC falls in to the “right hands”, we’ve been asked to require a “passcode activation” to enter this contest. You must enter the correct passcode to submit your entry.

For additional details, visit here.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 5th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


Kane May Not Die in C&C 4

Inc Gamers has an interview with Sam Bass coming up soon, however they’ve decided to give us a taste of what’s to come by revealing that…

Planet CnC - The Ultimate ResourceFebruary 5th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


Fragland C&C 4 Interview With Sam Bass

Fragland have posted a new interview with Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight Lead Designer Sam Bass. In this interview they discuss game play elements, the storyline, the persistent player progression system and more. Here’s a couple questions to get you started.

QUOTE
Will characters from the previous game make a reappearance, besides Kane?
Kane is our only returning character, but there are references to previous CNC characters woven throughout the campaign.

Why is GDI again producing bipedal units? In the previous C&C they were mostly scratched since they considered them to costly to produce.
From a fictional perspective, we’re tackling that in our unit profiles on the CNC website. The basic backstory is that administrations change, and with that change comes a new set of priorities and incentives, leading to the return of bipedal / walker units.

From a game design perspective, it’s a bit simpler. In CNC3, we were trying to get back to the feeling of Tiberian Dawn, with an emphasis on treaded and wheeled vehicles over more science-fiction oriented designs such as walkers.

With CNC4, we had a desire to explore more of the science-fiction side of the universe, allowing us to embrace Tiberian Sun-era units such as the Mammoth Mk. II (returning as the GDI Mastodon) and to examine where other forms of battlefield technology (such as hovercraft) would be in 2077.


Click here for the full interview.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 5th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


More C&C 4 Polynesia Screen Shots

Another 3 Command & Conquer 4 screen shots have been added to ever expanding gallery, around 2000+ images at the count. Anyway, these screen shots show more of Polynesia style maps, complete with it’s dark and moody lighting. They look good to me.

If you have missed any of the previously released Command & Conquer 4 screen shots, take a look inside our Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight gallery.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 4th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


C&C 4 Beta Uplink Series Part 7: Map Designs & Strategies

Command & Conquer 4 Beta Uplink Series Part 7 has been posted on the Official C&C Site. This is a regular series of articles that features insider tips on the multiplayer beta. Coverage of class-specific strategies, tier 3 units, map design, the upgrades system and much more. Part 7 takes a look at the map designs and how to take advantage of their layouts to bring your team victory. You can check out some map previews as well as a developer map Q&A.


QUOTE
Keeping C&C4’s new gameplay mechanics in mind, what needed to be considered when designing new maps?

With C&C4’s new gameplay mechanics, it was no longer valid to design maps for 1v1 and follow the formula of placing natural expansion point 1, contested expansion point 2, and so on. The maps had to be bigger, better, and had to allow players freedom to choose how they want to play. We had to take a fresh approach and, unlike any other C&C title we’ve done before, the maps had to be heavily scrutinized for balance since the constant push-n-pull effect of the game can be determined by the smallest difference on the maps themselves.

In designing these maps, we had to determine ways of creatively making choke points where Offense could push through, cliff-climbing passability where players could use specific units to bypass zones, key locations for the utility of the Support Class, create tighter zones for turrets for the benefit of the Defense class, etc. Each of these Classes were weighed and measured on each map, and, players can be confident that no matter which class they are, the maps themselves will not be a detriment to their play style.

In creation of these maps, we wanted players to experience the thrill of what could happen with 4 other teammates, but also wanted 1 person to be able to make a difference. If that 1 player sneaks into enemy territory and captures an Uplink Tower / Mutant Hovel, the tide of battle can turn if a coordinated team uses that opening to deploy their Crawler or creates a massive force of the Forgotten to flank the enemy from behind.

We brought in some of our top Kane’s Wrath and Red Alert 3 e-sport players to help balance test the game and maps. How influential were they in future map designs?

The external balance team was a great resource in determining the specific characteristics of each map and their strengths/weaknesses in varying gameplay. From there, we determined the rotations for both the PVE-Ladder (player vs. computer) and the PVP-Ladder (player vs. player) from the features they highlighted on each map.

They definitely made an impact on future map design, especially in terms of providing elements to circumscribe the impact of “the middle” of the map. Though many new players consider the middle of the map to be the most important part, looking at it in a holistic view (as many RTS veterans have figured out) will make up-and-coming players realize that the key locations are actually away from the middle. Originally, the center of the map was far away from several other Points of Interest, so it seemed obvious for many teams to focus on capturing it. Now, you are no longer a minute and a half away from every other Point of Interest, so focusing your forces away from the center allows you not only to flank the enemy, but capture Forward Spawn Zones and other TCN Hubs along the way.


Click here for part 7 of the Command & Conquer 4 Beta Uplink Series.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 4th, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments


Command & Conquer: The Motion Comic Teaser Trailer

Remember that sneak peek we posted just before the end of last year about something new for Command & Conquer in 2010 that has never been done before? Well here it is. This is the teaser trailer for Command & Conquer: The Motion Comic.

Episode 1 of Command & Conquer: The Motion Comic is coming soon. And extended look at this teaser trailer will be featured in the next episode of BattleCast Primetime this coming weekend.

CNCNZ.com News FeedFebruary 2nd, 2010Command and Conquer NewsRead More >No Comments