[Wolfenstein: Blade of Agony] v3.1 released (p204)

[Rachael]

It's a common issue, just very unlikely with the mod itself. Intel drivers do not play nice with programs on the operating system at all. It's actually a wonder the entire system doesn't crash when this happens, but somehow at least the desktop continues working when it does, so there is that.

GZDoom is not the only thing affected by this - anything that uses the APU somewhat heavily similar to the way GZDoom does is.

[Solid_Beard]

Not sure if this is the right page to share some mod ideas fo BOA, but I'm working on some sprite variations for the nazis just for fun and to see what can I pull off by adding hair with different cuts and colors based on how they commonly appeared in WW2 and in the games like RTCW.



Of course the credits goes to the artists who made the original sprites.

[doomjedi]

Are those full sets?

More variable hair is always nice, the originals were made that way out of need to effectively produce huge bulk of sprites.
But each enemy has tons of frames (I assume you're aware of how much), and moreso - those will need all the enemy brightmaps remade, and it's a HUGE work for Virg I'm not sure he"ll agree to. But first step is to make full sets and not just concept frames (that are fast and easy).

[Solid_Beard]

Are those full sets?

Yeah, for now I just did the hair.

But each enemy has tons of frames (I assume you're aware of how much

Well, I'm pretty aware of that. For now I've just worked on one frame of what direction the sprite is facing.

those will need all the enemy brightmaps remade

That... I didn't know about that. I only extracted the ones with no brightmaps, as far as my knowledge of modding goes.

it's a HUGE work for Virg I'm not sure he"ll agree to.

That's understandable considering how tedious this process can it be. I've considered the possibility to do it myself just in case you guys were interested to include them in BOA but you don't want to put much effort to replace a couple of enemies sprites for such little detail that most players wouldn't be interested to look at the details of the sprites. Though I figured out a way to implement the changes easily at each frame with a little effort, considering the 60% of the sprites and their frames are just the same for the soldiers and officers of each unit.

But first step is to make full sets and not just concept frames (that are fast and easy).

Coming right up in the next couple of days. A couple of more changes and they should look good.

[Tormentor667]

Achievement Ideas?
As some of you might have already noticed when following the GitHub development, we are currently working on an "Achievement System". A few things have alread been implemented but we are still brainstorming and therefore I thought it would make sense to ask the people out there what would be interesting to add. So, what ideas for proper achievements would you have? What would perfectly fit to Blade of Agony?

[Void Warrior]

For me, of course, such an idea looks a bit superfluous, if not an unnecessary addition to the game. But if you consider that it has additional tasks and secret missions, then it would not hurt to know that we have collected the necessary things to hit for them.

[Rachael]

Due to the potential of cross-community controversy boiling over here I am temporarily locking this topic. I can't imagine much would happen outside of the controversy itself at this point anyhow, and I want things to be worked out in the respective places where they started, not here. I'll open this again once that stuff has been sorted out, on the condition that some of the more blatantly egregious stuff (i.e. the homage characters and Randi's depiction in particular) is addressed.

[Tormentor667]

During the last days and weeks we, the development team behind "Blade of Agony", received a lot of emails, comments and news about the release of the project. While the overwhelming majority found the result and the execution of our work successful, there were also critical voices, among others, which we take just as seriously.

First of all, Blade of Agony is a fictional scenario based on the alternative narratives of the Wolfenstein game series by id software and Bethesda and the corresponding canon. It does not represent accurate history, our political stance or thinking of the development team. We reject any form of racial hatred, discrimination, (Neo-)Nazism, anti-Semitism or glorification of the Second World War.

We have invested a lot of time and work to communicate this message in our game, to deal sensitively with the content and to create a respectful game experience without discriminating against people or groups of people. Despite meticulous care, we have not succeeded perfectly in all points, which is why we have taken the current version of "Blade of Agony" offline until further notice.

We are currently working on a revised version in which we will correct these mistakes and respond to the players' comments and reasonable demands. Until then, we ask for your patience and understanding. Stay psyched!

[Captain J]

While i'm still respecting your team's hard work and shrugging over some issues that should've taken seriously and can be problematic to sensitive or genuine PTSD-diagnosed gaming communities, i do hope you took our criticism very thoughtfully and make it count. That's a good step of holding yourself accountable.

[Enjay]

First of all, Blade of Agony is a fictional scenario based on the alternative narratives of the Wolfenstein game series by id software and Bethesda and the corresponding canon. It does not represent accurate history, our political stance or thinking of the development team. We reject any form of racial hatred, discrimination, (Neo-)Nazism, anti-Semitism or glorification of the Second World War.

I am glad that you have made a statement on that. Personally, I don't really think it was in doubt, but that is pretty clear.

I also feel that it is a wise decision to take things down while you address the issues. Like many people, I feel that there are some valid criticisms in what people have said and I look forward to seeing how the team addresses them. It is easy to criticise and, yes, I think that perhaps the team was naive or misguided or perhaps just too close to the product to see the issues but then much bigger organisations, with much more backing and a team of lawyers can still can get these things very wrong. This is a top quality product. It is the result of years of work by some of our top contributors. It is a flagship of the Doom community. It is, however, right that issues like those that have been pointed out are addressed and I hope that the changes are done in a sensitive and sensible manner. A willingness to say "oops, you're right, we cocked up, we'll fix it" goes a long way in my book.

I also feel that the comments that some people made were put across in a reasonable and measured manner. Yes, there were some excessive and personal comments (and perhaps the DW staff weeded out a few more?) but I am glad that some people, at least, were able to put across their objections in a sensible way and, in doing so, they provided valid criticisms that the BoA team can work to address.

And just to address a specific personal element, one of the points that have been raised is that I am in the game as an Easter Egg "the guy named after Enjay is an emaciated prisoner shitting in a concentration camp outhouse". Note, because of real-life commitments, I haven't got very far through the game at all yet - and therefore I haven't seen this myself; so, I am judging a this particular book by it's cover. Personally, I am not insulted in any way by this and I can see the humour in the intent (being a named individual caught pooping in a game is kind of funny). Given that the scene is clearly wrapped up in the whole concentration camp element of the game, perhaps the implementation is questionable (like I said, I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know) but I take my inclusion as an Easter egg to be a (poopy) compliment, not an insult.

[Rachael]

And just to address a specific personal element, one of the points that have been raised is that I am in the game as an Easter Egg "the guy named after Enjay is an emaciated prisoner shitting in a concentration camp outhouse". Note, because of real-life commitments, I haven't got very far through the game at all yet - and therefore I haven't seen this myself; so, I am judging a this particular book by it's cover. Personally, I am not insulted in any way by this and I can see the humour in the intent (being a named individual caught pooping in a game is kind of funny). Given that the scene is clearly wrapped up in the whole concentration camp element of the game, perhaps the implementation is questionable (like I said, I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know) but I take my inclusion as an Easter egg to be a (poopy) compliment, not an insult.

I really appreciate you clearing that up Enjay, that sets my mind at ease.

[Zenon]

I enjoyed BoA immensely. The Nazis are on a level of despicable I've not seen in any Wolfenstein 3D or Doom based mod until now, especially in the third episode.
A lot of effort went into portraying the Nazis, no longer as mere cannon fodder, but as the truly heartless bastards they are.

I wasn't able to play a couple of the levels in Episode 3 without having to resort to console commands to make up for the fps issues that made the game somewhat below playable.
I've not played the final level yet (affected the most by the FPS issues), as I'm hoping for a simple FPS fix for the third episode. Will it be possible to get something like that before 3.1, just to run alongside 3.0?

Besides that, though, I can't wait for what Tormentor, and the rest of the BoA team brings to us next.

[PulseRifleFun]

I finished going through this series a week ago and found it to be an awesome and entertaining experience. As for the concentration camp level in Episode 3, I found it a bit jarring at first due to the grim atmosphere and references to real events. However the more I've thought about it-the more I have to say good job in putting that stuff in, all too often in Wolf games and TC levels-there seems to be an emphasis on nazis doing crazy and amazing stuff technologically, like the moonbase you see in the New Order. While it makes for interesting and entertaining adventures in BJ's shoes, I think it can take away from the real world ugliness all those swastikas on the walls actually represented in history. What I saw in Ep 3 is like a bucket of cold water thrown in the players face to give a stone cold reminder that the real life versions of the pixels you're slaying were really bad folks the world is better off without!

[NightFright]

I just hope the original setting of the new episode doesn't get watered down too much in the wake of the upcoming changes. Publishers of commercial products wouldn't have the balls to go even remotely as far as you guys did in BoA, which deserves recognition. You took the risk of not making it right for everyone in order to realize your personal vision. I understand that some aspects (like that transgender topic) can offend people, but changing other things like e.g. that boss death frame I consider exaggerated.

In the end you were walking on a thin red line with this, and it turned out to go sideways. I'll keep my fingers crossed that not too many concessions will have to be made which won't have any considerable impact regarding atmosphere or content. It's a magnificient project, quite possibly the most sophisticated user-made Wolfenstein mod ever, and its reputation shouldn't suffer from this.

[Scripten]

Perhaps an unequivocal statement by the mod leadership distancing the mod from the people attempting to claim some sort of majority over the "SJWs", "progressists", etc. would be useful in showing that the BoA team are committed to righting the valid issues presented to them. I have no interest in bringing the drama here, but with no statement from T667 or the team and the... concerning state of the ModDB and GitHub pages, it does make a lot of the prior effort resemble appeasement as opposed to an understanding of the problems.