Ashes Afterglow TC - closing the vault

[Ihavequestions]

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So I'm seeing Doom mancubae everywhere, oftentimes stuck in their surroundings. Are they supposed to actually be there, or is it some monster replacement bug?

[Serathis]

I was curious if you were ever intending to monetize this? This is an amazing game and I can only see a few things that might need to change to avoid copyright strikes.

At the moment no plans to. It would require another vast overhaul of a lot of stuff. In future, any commercial episodes could be released on steam, say, with full original assets. However, so many people have worked on the original mods that I would feel very uncomfortable with releasing it as a commercial product.

What I may do is bundle them together as a standalone download that can be unpacked and run without any exterior downloads, and keep them as a shareware portion of the series.

If it can't be monetized then maybe it could be released on steam, itch.io and other platforms as a free game? I don't know if that would also have legal problems but it would help the game reach a wider audience at least.

It can be monetized if all assets are original or licensed. Like Hedon. Map geometry and music, voice acting is already done (save for that one missing). Sprites wouldn't be that hard. Maybe touch them up, increase resolution and the number of frames. Textures? You would need a LOT of textures, but again, if Hedon could manage. Sounds effects can be acquired from stock libraries. The biggest question would be compensation for everyone involved. And of course, if it's a paid product, then Vostyok would have to give support and bugfixing after release, potentially for months.

After finishing the game, two notes:
-No bossfights? There's one in the gap, but you can just skip it and one in the finale. I know bossfights in Doom are not the most complex, you just shoot it until it dies. But having one or two more would have been fun.
-Secret levels. Both of them are great on atmosphere. The first one gives you a weapon that you won't get ammo for for a while. The second one? Do you get anything special off of it, other than lotsa junk? A special weapon or upgrade would have been nice.

Finally: the alt-fire for the PIG didn't consume slugs for me.

[Anthemofgrimm]

I was having a lot of trouble hearing the voice acting in the game. Is there any chance to add subtitles for Ashguy speak? Also loved the story twists in the game, they were very well received.

[Scoria]

The second one? Do you get anything special off of it, other than lotsa junk? A special weapon or upgrade would have been nice.

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There's a non-irradiated Titan stim on the floor in front of the final terminal.

[NovaRain]

-Secret levels. Both of them are great on atmosphere. The first one gives you a weapon that you won't get ammo for for a while. The second one? Do you get anything special off of it, other than lotsa junk? A special weapon or upgrade would have been nice.

I thought the trip to Anomaly 210 gives you

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The Titan stim (like a portable invulnerability) and an extra ending if you released Smiley from the jail in Prosperity.

[Wally Hackenslacker]

Found the vent with the ceiling where you can noclip through https://imgur.com/a/U9ZMfXD

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It was actually in the nuclear power plant where you fight the Laughing Toms, in map 22, somewhere to the east side of the map, not in the stretch before the Badlands hub as I initially believed.

[bluehawk2008]

I registered an account here just to say I'm a big fan of the mod and the full release of Afterglow is amazing from start to finish. Perfect mix of the old school and newer design principles and really scratches that Stalker/Metro/Fallout/Mad Max itch I'm sure we all have.

My theory on the lore is:

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Since the female psychic mutant Vinaya looks like the pink mutants but has the abilities of the phantoms, and the phantoms leave a corporeal brain or pile of gibs behind when they die, and since there are newspapers with the headline "still no cure" like there was an epidemic or pandemic on the loose, and Athena tells us that there wasn't a proper world war that wiped out civilization --- my theory is that the phantoms and the pink muties are two branches of mutation with the same cause: a man-made virus that was being produced by the government and accidentally (or deliberately) released on US soil, and Vinaya is an example of a stable and successful mutation and the phantoms are an unstable example. The other dumber cannibals are in an earlier phase of their mutation or are just not as viable candidates (I'm thinking along the lines of the FEV virus in Fallout, which creates dozens of dumb super mutants for every genius). The "Blooming" that Athena is afraid of might be some kind of awakening of human psychic potential, possibly the purpose of the virus in the first place like gene therapy... or maybe it's related to those experimental seeds from the Botanical Gardens. There was a conscious and mobile Tree-Creature thing in one of the gardens there... I don't know. Other mutants in Ashes 2063/Afterglow seem to be caused by radiation in the traditional post-apocalyptic fashion, so I could be way off-base. I couldn't help but be reminded of the underground labs in Stalker, which are all government facilities established to research physic abilities in animals and humans, and ultimately culminating in the creation of a hive-mind which inadvertently created the zone as you experience it ingame by tinkering with the collective consciousness of all mankind (the noösphere) with disastrous results. In that franchise, the radiation is a red herring, because all the anomalies, artifacts and most if not all mutants are caused by the corrupted noösphere, like a very powerful telekinetic altering the fabric of space-time and not being able to put it back the way it was.

By the way, the Russian submarine was a really cool level. The use of old number station recordings for the voices was creepy as all hell. I can just imagine the stranded sailors listening to the radio for hours on end desperately listening for secret orders or something being broadcasted until they went nuts. It was also a nice touch to give it the hull number TK-210, a supposedly scrapped vessel never commissioned which we can imagine was given a secret purpose. Strange name for a Soviet sub though: "Philadelphia". Was that chosen as a joke, or were the reds trying to confuse any CIA analysts like poor Jack Ryan who might be intercepting communications?

[Captain J]

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- Yo, think i found another misaligned skybox. Is that stick thing supposed to be a skeleton of the building?

EDIT: Ow goddamn it brain. Forgot to put screenshots in the spoilers in case of people being spoiled

[Psychodelic]

One question, how do I find the secret maps?

[Wally Hackenslacker]

One question, how do I find the secret maps?

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• The first one you get to by going inside one of the sewage pipes near the abyss right after the boss fight in The Gap. That pipe will lead you to a place where the MC will say "I've been here before" leading to some ruins where you can find the secret exit.
• The second one you get by downloading a map from the terminal in the military installation in the map Disarray (the one right before the Badlands hub). If you got the map, then when you open your journal you should see a label named "Site A-210". Then when you finally finish the Badlands hub, hitting the exit switch will ask you if you want to go straight to Site Sigma (the next normal map) or to Site A-210 (the secret map).

[Ihavequestions]

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-Secret levels. Both of them are great on atmosphere. The first one gives you a weapon that you won't get ammo for for a while. The second one? Do you get anything special off of it, other than lotsa junk? A special weapon or upgrade would have been nice.

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I think there are more than two. The Junkyard is in fact also a map you can only reach via a secret exit, so for me this is secret map #3 already, and I'm not even through the whole episode yet.

[ZikShadow]

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I think you'll find out later that The Junkyard is not in fact a secret level. Yes, there's only 2 secret maps.

[Sawerd]

Maybe change the sound of fire for ar15. It sounds ok for semi auto shots, but full auto makes your ears bleed. Sounds too harsh, like slap on the shotgun magazine. Or I'm the only one so sensitive. But In F. Tactics it was not so noticeable due to the isometric gameplay and positioning of sounds.

[Plasmazippo]

(2063 question)
Am I doing something wrong with the new Tesla-Glide? I can't cross the big jump over the last broken bridge for crud, no matter how much room I give the motorbike to accelerate I fall about a meter short of the edge and Scav ends up kissing the rock wall. It was fine in 2063 v1.15, but in Enriched I've only managed to get past it using noclip.

[Vostyok]

(2063 question)
Am I doing something wrong with the new Tesla-Glide? I can't cross the big jump over the last broken bridge for crud, no matter how much room I give the motorbike to accelerate I fall about a meter short of the edge and Scav ends up kissing the rock wall. It was fine in 2063 v1.15, but in Enriched I've only managed to get past it using noclip.

This is the second time I have heard of this problem. I am wondering if it is to do with SV_aircontrol or some kind of player friction option. The vast majority of players have no problem clearing that gap - in all honestly, most people I have seen playing this section have to be careful they don't overshoot and hit the far cliff beyond the road. The motorcycle's physics are based on a_recoil but I might have to alter it to setvelocity. Something about friction control for certain players seems to be the issue.