Starwars: The New Era

Disclaimer
This mod is not affiliated with either LucasArts, Lucasfilms or ILM. Star Wars: The New Era is a free HL² modification made by Invision Games
Introduction
Star Wars: The New Era is a HL² Source mod being created by the fans for the fans of George Lucas' blockbuster series of films. Originated by two community members of Ravensoft / Lucasarts' Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy PC game and highly popular total conversion mod for it; Movie Battles 2, the team has since grown to having a highly skilled group of Star Wars fans from different parts of the world, including the U.S, Denmark, Poland, Australia and various parts of the U.K.
Development
The project was started back in 2006 by Lindsey and Darth Hunter, both level designers of Star Wars: Movie Battles 2 (abbreviated as MB2); a mod for Ravensoft's Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. At the time the two envisioned a replica of the gameplay offered by MB2 and the Jedi Knight series; only in a newer engine (both Jedi Academy and its predecessor Jedi Outcast were both built upon the aging Quake 3 Arena engine). The Source engine by Valve software was chosen as it is constantly being updated by the developer as new games release, not to mention the mod support and community is one of the largest in the game industry.
The two leaders quickly started gathering additional team members to assist with development. Other Jedi Academy modders like DT and Toshi were invited onboard and were responsible for many of the mod’s base assets like player models and animations. The first roadmap drawn up by Darth Hunter planned for a five pronged release plan. Team deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Lightsaber Duel, Team Assault, and a single player campaign were the proposed modes of the mod, with one mode per release. Initially it was proposed that the mod jump right into the Objective based team assault mode as it was the mode that closely emulated MB2. However lack of content and experience with the engine prompted the team to start with “easier” modes such as Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.
For quite a while development progressed smoothly, several player models were constructed along with several maps with their own libraries of art content. Coding wise a custom HUD (Heads up Display) was designed along with a time period command server owners could set that would set the player models to their respective eras (only Republic Clone troopers and CIS Battledroids in the Galactic Republic era and Rebel troops and Imperial Stormtroopers in the Galactic Civil War era). One of the first problems coders encountered was the laser bolt system. Source uses an instant hit weapon system since most weapons in the engine use bullets. This meant we had to go for a projectile system, which unfortunately doesn’t have the lag prediction that Source uses on instant hit weapons to great effect. Adding to the problem was a slight lag from triggering the weapon to fire to when it actually released the projectile. This with the lag led to players having a hard time hitting targets. It was eventually decided that the weapon system would returned to the instant hit weapons with projectile effects of the bolts for visual appearances. The bolts would disappear as soon as a target was hit, adding to the illusion that the bolts were not zero time when in fact they are. It is unknown how this will be received by the public when the mod releases.
Beta testing of the mod has been largely possible thanks to a gaming clan known as Guns 4 Back 2 School (http://www.g4b2s.com/) who have provided the test servers and some of the beta testers themselves. Testing of the mod revealed over time that the proposed gameplay would have a negative effect on the mod being successful. Players just had nothing to do, and team deathmatch popularity over time has declined has more objective team based genres have emerged. Therefore a new roadmap was proposed that would move up the objective based Team Assault in the timetable and pack it in with Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. All modes will be class based with weapons predetermined instead of players picking them up via dispensers scattered about levels by mappers. In addition two of the three modes (Deathmatch and Assault) will be Last Man Standing, akin to Counter Strike.
Source Engine Version
The mod has undergone several Source engine revision changes. While initially on the Half Life 2 MP version of the engine, the mod was ported to the HL2 Episode 1 revision, then to the Orangebox engine. The changes allowed for the mod to make use of the new features such as improved vertex lighting and particle effects system.
Public Involvement
The most significant event to date in the development of this mod was at the 17th Fedcon in Bonn Germany in 2008. Through a prior arrangement worked out with the Shuttle PC company we were loaned 14 complete XPC systems to run the game on. Attendees at the event were able to play an early alpha of the mod in a LAN match. Darth Hunter and jeantyu were responsible for setting up and updating all the equipment prior the event's start through to it's conclusion.
The other public appearance of the mod so far in it's development cycle was at the Kultima Festival in Paris in 2007. A special build of the mod was set up with closer spawn points since there were only two computers at the event. The showing drew many interested spectators, including costumed Star Wars fans. Jeantyu was the organizer of the booth during the show.
Locations
Both the old and prequel trilogies will play a prominent role in the mod with locations such as the Deathstar, Tantive IV blockade runner, Jabba’s Palace and Naboo with highly accurate layout representation and atmospheric feel. All our materials for the project from player models to map textures and objects have been painstakingly created from many of the highly detailed behind the scenes books and reference material being offered both commercially and from other fans. The team is striving to replicate the many locations, characters and weaponry from the films so that they are as close to their film counterparts as possible.
The maps currently in development are:
*Deathstar
*Tantive IV
*Naboo Theed Hangar
*Naboo Theed Palace
*Jabba the Hutt's palace
*Felucia
*Hoth
*Mos Eisley
Characters
Most characters in the mod will be represented as grunt troops similar to Star Wars: Battlefront. Completed player models that will be in the first release include:
*Rebellion
**Rebel Fleet trooper
**Endor Rebel trooper
*Galactic Empire
**Stormtrooper
**Scout trooper
*Republic
**Phase 1 Clone trooper
**Phase 2 Clone trooper
*Confederacy of Independent Systems
**B1 battledroid
**Super battledroid
Features
Features to be included in later releases:
*An original musical score.
*Utilization of the force fully interactive with the Source physics engine.
**force push
**force pull
**force grip
**force lightning
*Realistic & screen accurate Star Wars weaponry from both trilogies:
**Rebellion
***DH17 Blaster Pistol
***A280 Blaster Rifle
***DLT20A Repeater Blaster
***E17D Sniper Rifle
***HH15 Rocket Launcher
**Galactic Empire
***SE14-R Blaster Pistol
***E11 Blaster Rifle
***T21 Repeater Blaster
***DC15X Sniper Rifle
***Minimag PTL Rocket Launcher
**Republic
***DC17 Blaster Pistol
***DC15A Repeater Blaster
***DC15X Sniper Rifle
***PLX Rocket Launcher
**Confederacy of Independent Systems
***SE14 Blaster Pistol
***E-5 Blaster Rifle
***E-5U Repeater Blaster
***E-5S Sniper Rifle
***E-5R Rocket Launcher

Game Modes
The mod will expand upon many successful gameplay modes from games like Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy and super charge them with the power of the Source engine. Among the modes planned, the mod will include:

*Team Deathmatch
**Two teams battle it out in locations from the movies and books. The mode will be class based with a Last Man Standing feature similar to Counter Strike.
*Capture the Flag
**Very similar to Team Deathmatch, however the teams now try to get the most number of flag captures. Class based but no Last Man Standing mechanic.
*Lightsaber Duel
**Depending on the complexity of the coding, this mode may or may not be possible. Will be like Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy dueling modes where 1v1 and 2v1 duels take place on smaller maps.
*Objective/Team Assault
**Planned to be the main focus of the mod, this mode will feature class based Last Man Standing with objectives for each team to attack/defend. Objectives range from escorting a V.I.P player acting as famous Star Wars characters like R2D2 or Princess Leia to a safe exit point while the opposing team attempts to assassinate them to more general objectives like destroying an object/building.
*Single Player
**Currently in conceptual stages and possible concurrent develpment with the multiplayer portion of the mod down the road. Story might be a mix of FPS with adventure game collecting/problem solving.

Team Members
*Leaders
**Darth Hunter
**Lindsey
*Coders
**Emiel Regis
**Keeper
**Wildebeest
**bigFoot
**elessar_aragorn
**sheu
**deathcapt
**Conqueror
**Subaru
*Modelers
**DT
**Toshi
**Retro-Cow
**borgking
**Hoodz
**Pahricida
**Beast
**Alminie
**Quakis
**iostream999
**danglejangles
**GoodOlBen
**macaroane
**sevristh1138
**SideEffect
**thechicken
*Level Designers
**Aigik
**pene
**jeantyu
**Dizzi
**Fazzer
**Plasma
**Kosire
**MaceCrusherMadunusus
**Immenor
**DarthCento
*Texture Artists
**o0paradox0o
*Music Composers
**DeltaRomeo
*Sound Artists
**samgwise
*Misc
**Zaswed
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See Also

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