Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: [WIP] The Red Skulls - A Free-Roam Campaign (I'm a cowboy!)
  • Subject: [WIP] The Red Skulls - A Free-Roam Campaign (I'm a cowboy!)
Subject: [WIP] The Red Skulls - A Free-Roam Campaign (I'm a cowboy!)

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Hello all you Halo old-schoolers! I am from ModHalo.net (I go by "The Cereal Killer" there), where we still love our Halo Custom Edition very much. What I will be telling you about is a solo-player map I am creating for that very game, for now it is simply called The Red Skulls.

So what does "The Red Skulls" mean? Well I have a story about that. The short version is that they are a wealthy private military organization that buys designs/patents for vehicles, armor, and training methods; they build and maintain quite a large army and implement said army against various enemies of the government, and collect bounties and spoils of war to pay for their efforts. I will repost the entire story I wrote below, if you wish to better understand this campaign, but it is quite long and I would not expect you to read it all (you're so lazy!).

Posted by: The Cereal Killer, on MH.net
The Red Skull story takes place in an alternate timeline in Halo.

Spartan II supersoldiers are an idea which the Red Skulls purchased from Dr. Halsey of the UNSC. Money does have its benefits, as it turns out. The program was perfected by the Red Skull research and development division. Participating children had a much higher survival rate, but the genetic alteration procedures were more painful than ever before. As a result, the overseers of the project decided that the best candidates would be infants, as they would not likely remember this horrible ordeal later in life, and emotional scarring would be reduced. Mjolnir armor, bought by the Red Skulls at the same time as the Spartan II design, was bestowed upon a Spartan when the initiate turned 19. This was the age at which it was determined the genetic enhancements would have taken full effect. They trained with their suit for 2 more years before, at the age of 21, being hand-picked by an officer to join that officer's team, at the Spartan Graduation ceremony. As is apparent, they were not designed to be expendable. Spartan IIs are not informed of their genetic enhancements during their 21 years of training, however. It was thought at the program's initiation that better results would be achieved if Spartans believed that all they did was under their own, naturally-given power. It was the duty of every commanding officer to inform his Spartans of this. Because of this, Spartans are often confused when they meet their normal-sized squadmates for the first time, being towering hulks in comparison.

Stunned by the success of their new supersoldiers, the owners of the RS organization began to contemplate purchasing other patented training methods and armor designs from the UNSC scientists that created them. After careful examination, ODST ballistic armor was selected as the preferred combat apparel to equip Red Skull standard troopers. Spartan IIs, coupled with Red Skull soldiers wearing ODST armor (renamed LAAPs: Lightly-Armored Assault Personnel), formed such a devastating combination in combat that other military organizations began to attempt their own supersoldier programs, such as the Cyberdyne program of the Hollywood Knight organization. The UNSC, too, began work on another supersoldier project, directed by Dr. Halsey, dubbed the Spartan III project. This project favored lighter armor in favor of mobility and flexibility, and incorporated less genetic alterations to reach a 100% survival rate of participants. Paired with marines who had even less armor, the new project only saw mild success, and on many occasions Red Skull squads were dispatched to rescue UNSC soldiers and supersoldiers. Spartan IIs see Spartan IIIs the same way they see marines. In fact, most Spartan IIs prefer fighting alongside their LAAP companions rather than Spartan IIIs, if ever given the choice in joint operations with the UNSC. Spartan II Brigadier General Franklin Marcello had this to say on Spartan IIIs in the UNSC: "They take risks that they can't handle and put their squads in danger, because the name 'Spartan' gives them a feeling of invincibility, when in fact they are not worthy to be called such. They are nothing like us; they would like to think that they are our brethren, but they are not"

You are a new Spartan II, fresh out of training. Your squad is already deployed in a canyon, and they eagerly await your arrival. Your commanding officer has seen fit to put you in charge of this outpost, as no major conflict is expected to develop here, and you need the experience. After all, a bunch of idiot untrained separatists can't possibly be a major threat... right?


Congratulations if you made it through that wall'o'text!

So what makes this campaign different? A couple things do, and I have outlined them below:

Overall Gameplay Description:
Your pause menu is the control panel for your entire experience in Red Skulls. You choose missions, purchase air support, travel to destinations, and configure various settings. All of these are outlined below.

- Missions: there are three mission categories from which to choose a mission... Research and Development, Tactical Assault, and Main Story. Each of these categories presents you with a specific reward. R&D missions have the possibility to award you vehicles; Tactical missions have the possibility to award you weapons; Main story missions unlock new locations as you progress.

- Travel: as you progress in the main storyline, you will come across instances where you need to move your base of operations to a different location. Don't fret if you didn't complete all missions in the area you are currently in, as locations which you unlock are saved in your travel menu. By selecting an unlocked location, you summon immediate extraction to the desired area, and are able to resume the completion of any missions left untouched in that area.

- Air support: support points are awarded to you on a once-per-minute salary. This salary starts at 1 point, however, completing missions will increase the salary, slowly but surely. Selecting the air support menu from the RS control panel in your pause menu will allow you to spend these points on various (what else?) air support types and bonuses. After purchasing a support craft, it waits for your signal to deploy to the area (I started out using the flashlight button as this signal, however I may set up something a bit less ghetto). Some of the types are listed in the next section.

- Customization: the customization menu allows for the setup of certain options and features. This includes the default automatic support used (orbital laser or orbital rocket strike, both listed in the next section), as well as the behavior of support which you purchase and summon. You also may choose whether or not to automatically travel to new locations when they are unlocked by beginning a certain mission, and other such small preferences.

Some of the air support types available are listed here:

Heavy Gunship (fighterbomber/longsword) - This gunship circles high above and rains death down on your enemies in the form of rapid-fire missiles. My personal favorite :D

Light Gunship (pelican, but different than the normal H1 version) - This gunship steadily patrols the area, hovers lower to the ground than the heavy gunship (ironic, huh?) and moves faster as well (not-so ironic). It is equipped with a front-facing Gatling gun.

APC (LAV25, custom vehicle [I didn't make it]) - It's pretty simple, have an APC airdropped at your base and it's yours permanently.

Personal Command Vessel (Draco, custom vehicle [Again, I didn't make it]) - This behemoth docks above your base and becomes your very own private fortress. Also provides base defense via undermounted machine guns.

Orbital laser (automatically used, non-purchasable) - A highly concentrated energy blast fired from an orbiting RS frigate.

Orbital rocket strike (automatically used, non-purchasable) - The orbiting frigate unleashes a barrage of rockets on a small area.

So that is just to name a few of the supports/bonuses you can buy. Needless to say, this project is requiring quite a bit of scripting from me.

Well that's it for now, hope you enjoyed what you just read and hope you enjoy the next beta when it comes out!

[Edited on 08.05.2011 12:35 PM PDT]

  • 01.01.2011 11:53 PM PDT
Subject: [WiP/beta] Halo Custom Edition: The Red Skulls (a free-roam campaign)

This is actually the stupidest thing ever posted on B.net:

Posted by: the omega man117
Why does everyone hate Halo 2? Maybe its because its the worst game ever next to mario.

Awesome work and dedication!

A lot of people WILL enjoy this.

In before hot topic!

  • 01.01.2011 11:58 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Thank you! The scripting in this is so tedious when you first start to do it, but I finally got past that stage about 6 months ago and am enjoying it. I made a prequel to this, if you are interested, when I first started scripting (it only had 4 missions in total though, and no fancy features).

  • 01.02.2011 12:12 AM PDT

I am intrigued. I always thought a more story-based custom campaign would be more interesting than LOL GUNS AND FLYING STUFF EVERYWHERE

ill definitely give it a go if/when it gets released

  • 01.02.2011 7:53 AM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Haha, yeah I've seen more than my fair share of that type of thing. I mean, it would even be more understandable if it were a mod for a game, but this is Custom Edition, where you're supposed to create, so it's even more disappointing when I spot one.

But I am glad you're interested! Have you tried the beta?

  • 01.02.2011 12:03 PM PDT

Amazing preview, I realy can't wait to get my hands on this [7/10]

  • 01.02.2011 12:30 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Thanks a lot! Which preview are you referring to, the vid or map? Both perhaps?

Let's see, I've been working on this (on and off) since... August I think? It has changed directions about 3-4 times since then XD. But I know now the direction I want it to head in, and I'm sticking to it.

[Edited on 01.02.2011 4:05 PM PST]

  • 01.02.2011 4:01 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Noble Heroic Member

"A life lived for others is the only life worth living" - Albert Einstein

"I have your RCON right here." - Iggwilv

"Always my pleasure to be lazy." - InvasionImminent

Looks promising! Honestly, you didn't have much to compete with until Lumoria came out. I'm loving the Air Support. Anyways, glad to see people are getting into making single player maps more. Keep up the good work!

  • 01.02.2011 6:16 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Oh yes, Lumoria took me by surprise, I had not heard a peep about anything like that being made! I can't do any voice acting, so I hope the gameplay itself shines through!

Here are a couple pics, added to the top as well:
The personal command vessel, docked.

I forgot to talk about this little beauty, the orbital laser. It cannot be purchased, but it is used frequently throughout the game, whenever command thinks you could use a little more help ;D
The orbital laser being fired in a cutscene and the result. (Note: the second pic is from a really early build, I do not use sv_say anymore lol, but I do use that effect.)

I also didn't mention (but you probably figured it out by now) that infinity is the starting point for the whole thing.

[Edited on 01.02.2011 8:28 PM PST]

  • 01.02.2011 8:27 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Noble Heroic Member

"A life lived for others is the only life worth living" - Albert Einstein

"I have your RCON right here." - Iggwilv

"Always my pleasure to be lazy." - InvasionImminent

It's looking REALLY fun. If you keep it up you'll definitely be competing with Lumoria.

Honestly, I am completely shocked at how there's two people talking about making good custom single player maps. I mean, the best before this was the Area 53 map. I'm really excited/looking forward to see this finished

[Edited on 01.03.2011 8:05 PM PST]

  • 01.03.2011 8:04 PM PDT

You should get a team to help you polish it.

I haven't got Halo pc yet but when i do, i'll be sure to test it out.

  • 01.04.2011 8:22 AM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Thanks for the tip, I am part of AMT (a modding team, lol). There's about 5 of us, and we talk on xfire. Anyway, they (two guys in particular) are helping me with visuals and such, but I am putting everything together and getting scripting out of the way first. I am aware that the ship in particular looks bad up close.

Also, this is for Custom Edition, so be sure to get that after you get PC :P

  • 01.04.2011 9:09 AM PDT
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  • Noble Legendary Member

Halo 1&2 PC forum's resident OC ReMixer. Like rockified and metalized video game music? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Yeah. That's right. I don't have a 50 in H3. I never got Onyx in Reach. If a game sucks too much, I won't even bother trying for such trivial "accolades". Besides, I've done way more things that take far more skill and talent than anything that can be done in a video game.

Posted by: Lazer55
I can't do any voice acting

What if you had voice acting samples that could be used for the radio transmissions? Would you know how to implement them?

  • 01.04.2011 1:33 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Bungie.net member Since 2001

"A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him"
"You are the last of your kind: bred for combat, built for war. You're the master of any weapon, pilot of any vehicle, and fear no enemy"

Interesting.

  • 01.04.2011 1:48 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Posted by: DusK
Posted by: Lazer55
I can't do any voice acting

What if you had voice acting samples that could be used for the radio transmissions? Would you know how to implement them?

Yes I am quite experienced in HEK/scripting.

The main reason I can't do voice acting is (kind of dumb) I would feel weird with my family hearing me do it, lol. But secondary reasons are that tool is finicky with sounds, and I am already pretty far along to turn around and add in radio transmissions.

[Edited on 01.04.2011 2:06 PM PST]

  • 01.04.2011 2:04 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Noble Legendary Member

Halo 1&2 PC forum's resident OC ReMixer. Like rockified and metalized video game music? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Yeah. That's right. I don't have a 50 in H3. I never got Onyx in Reach. If a game sucks too much, I won't even bother trying for such trivial "accolades". Besides, I've done way more things that take far more skill and talent than anything that can be done in a video game.

Posted by: Lazer55
The main reason I can't do voice acting is (kind of dumb) I would feel weird with my family hearing me do it, lol. But secondary reasons are that tool is finicky with sounds, and I am already pretty far along to turn around and add in radio transmissions.

I know how that goes. Try recording scream tracks for a metal song while everyone's home. I've had to do that on several occasions. xD

  • 01.04.2011 3:09 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Haha! I can imagine that would be worse.

  • 01.04.2011 6:29 PM PDT

Yeah, I don't play much Reach nowadays...waiting until a real Halo game comes out so I can pick that up instead

This was soo awesome! Thread saved and thumbs up!

Any idea on when the full game will be finished?

  • 01.04.2011 6:37 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Well I keep getting more and more ideas about stuff to put in it ;D

Shouldn't take any longer than a few more weeks though.

  • 01.05.2011 7:07 AM PDT
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  • Exalted Legendary Member
  • gamertag: Btcc22
  • user homepage:


Posted by: DusK
Try recording scream tracks for a metal song while everyone's home.


Hilarious mental imagery. Thanks! =D

RAAAARRROOOOWWAARRRRRRROOOARRR-OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH! Record them in the bathroom for extra points.

[Edited on 01.06.2011 7:13 PM PST]

  • 01.06.2011 7:12 PM PDT
  •  | 
  • Noble Legendary Member

Halo 1&2 PC forum's resident OC ReMixer. Like rockified and metalized video game music? Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Yeah. That's right. I don't have a 50 in H3. I never got Onyx in Reach. If a game sucks too much, I won't even bother trying for such trivial "accolades". Besides, I've done way more things that take far more skill and talent than anything that can be done in a video game.


Posted by: Btcc22

Posted by: DusK
Try recording scream tracks for a metal song while everyone's home.


Hilarious mental imagery. Thanks! =D

RAAAARRROOOOWWAARRRRRRROOOARRR-OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH! Record them in the bathroom for extra points.

Too much echo bleed in there. XD

  • 01.06.2011 11:04 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

Alright, so a few updates, I'm increasing the detail on the PoA shaders because the original looks pretty bad up close (no offense Bungie :P ). I think I've finally settled on the bipeds to use as the rebels, and which ones to use as the UNSC (yes they're in this to, at some points).

  • 01.09.2011 9:34 PM PDT

If you don't like how I drive, then stay off the sidewalk!

- ʟ₳ẔӬЯ

One large update to the gameplay of this campaign, I will be updating the OP to reflect this change when I have more time...

The mission selection, air support purchasing, traveling between locations, and also new options to customize your air support as well as its behavior are all being added to the pause menu. That is to say, you press escape and the normal menu comes up. The save and load buttons have been merged, and a new button has been added in place of the load button called "RS control panel" or something similar, I haven't fully decided. Anyway it opens a new menu which has those sections (missions, travel, support, options) and each of those brings up their own menus.

I hope you're still looking forward to this! Comments on the change?

  • 03.03.2011 10:44 PM PDT

Daodan Latency at 65%

Looking awesome cereal.

  • 03.04.2011 6:22 AM PDT

LOLOLOLOL IMA BUNGEE BETA TESTOR LOLOLOLOL.

Great job with this! I'm happy to see the community dedication and support for this game still high!

  • 03.04.2011 6:31 PM PDT