R e b e l l i o n - A Half-Life² single-player story

[Kyl']

Hello Everyone

Today I'm proud, happy and relieved to be finally able to anounce you that the Mod I've started to work on 2 years ago has been brought to its end !

Please, allow me to get into details.



Title : Rebellion
Type of game : Modification for the game Half-Life² --- Single player
Website : http://www.rebellion-source.net

Description :
With Rebellion, I've been willing to create a story with a very specific ambience in a single-player adventure.
I wanted the player to absorb the atmosphere emanating from the game, and for him to feel immediately carried away into another world.
It was very important to me to place the emphasis on the numerous dialogs of the game, as well as on the music and the setting of the action.
I invite you to watch the trailer which gives a good idea of the ambience that reigns in the game : http://www.rebellion-source.net/index.p ... me#trailer
Note : This trailer has been made with Work In Progress in June 2008

for more information about the creation of the game : http://www.rebellion-source.net/index.p ... me#project

The Story :
In Rebellion, you play as Mandella, colonel in the Confederation, a powerful military force.
At the beginning, you explore the mothership as you're asked by admiral Spade to attend your briefing.
You'll discover that you're part of the first attack wave sent to storm Tor29, a little colony lost in the Nephele system.
Accompanied by your best friend, major Threepwood, you'll face an oddly weak resistance. Why does the Confederation unleash its wrath on a colony that is clearly of no match ? What hides behind this conflict driven by doubtful justifications ? These obscure reasons are not to please you and Threepwood.
Will you carry on following blindly an authority fouled by power and arrogance ? Or will you break your former links and embrace a cause that seems fairer to you, however desperate it may be ?
Maybe these are favourable times for... Rebellion.

screenshots : http://www.rebellion-source.net/index.p ... me#screens

-------------------

That's for the presentation
Anyway, there are a few more things I'd like to say.

Rebellion is supposed to be a 45 minutes representation of what I'm capable of doing with story-creation tools.
What motivates and passionates me when building my levels, is creating content. I consider the map as the shell, and the story, the scenes and sequences as its content. A map can be as beautiful as one can be, without decent content, I believe it will always be an empty shell. A body missing a soul.

I've started to create this mod because I believed this was the key that would get me the job I've always dreamed of. Game Designer.
This job has always been for me the position of excellence for "imaginating things".

But that was not all, I also needed to bring these ideas to life.

As I started to get hands dirty with Hammer, I discovered what Level Design is all about (I even read a book "Level design for Games"). And actually, I realized that was really fun ! But not only that, it's the perfect continuity of Game Design. If you imagine stories, get ideas and write them down in a clear structure as a Game Designer, you, as a Level Designer base your job on the Game Designer's High Concept and Design Document.

With Rebellion, I've been able to Imagine my game as a Game Designer, create it as a Level Designer and live it as a player. And that's exactly what I find is so amazing about developing video games.
And that's exactly what I want to do in my life.

Now that Rebellion is done, I want to share it with you
But well, "done" doesn't really mean "finished" (I have the feeling a game is never "finished", that it can always be improved). That's why I'm really eager to get your feelings about the game. Did you like it ? Didn't you like it ? Which part exactly ? Any comments ? About the dialogs, the gameplay, the story, the action, the puzzles... I have my ears wide open.

Enough talking for now, here's the mod :

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DOWNLOAD

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Thanks in advance for your time.


Requirements :

• Half-Life² - Just the base game, Episode one and two are not required, but won't do bad if installed

Installation :

• Copy the "Rebellion" folder into your \Steam\steamapps\SourceMods\ folder
• Restart Steam
• Rebellion should appear in the "My Games" Tab

Version 1.3 :: 17/01/2009

Invasion has Begun

• Diversion assault is more realistic, soldiers will take cover.
• No delay when the office downstairs is cleared, Threepwood will directly recieve the order to open the gate once the last opponent is killed.
• Citizens at the end won't run too much anymore.

Point of No Return

• During the first conflict, when meeting Zero, the player can shoot the soldiers a little before the end of Zero's final talk, right before she says "... then fight !" without the mission to be a failure.
• Correctly aligned some textures.
• Fixed the falling shelf timing so that it kills at least one soldier.
• Fixed the helicopter damage that was reset after reloading a game.
• Fixed the color of the dynamic light in the sewers wich was becoming purple after reloading a game.
• The door Threepwood blasts should correctly fall on the ground.
• If Zero or Threepwood dies, the reload will come in faster.

The Vault

• The top of the AR2 weapon won't appear anymore.
• The doors of the lift will make a sound when closing or opening.
• Shadows of the lift have been disabled.

Version 1.2 12/10/2009
General

• Default difficulty is now set to "Medium" instead of "Easy".
• I've corrected some spelling mistakes in the subtitles.

Aboard the Mothership

• Some environment details have been added (sparkles & flicking lights).

Invasion has Begun

• Killing a Confederation soldier before the bomb is planted won't result in a Mission Failure, except for the soldier who actually plants the bomb.

Point of No Return

• I've worked on optimization (hints & func_occluder).
• Inside the Confederation Outpost, during Spade's communication, once Threepwood and Zero start moving, shooting at a Confederation Soldier will start the chase, instead of resulting in a Mission Failure.
• The chopper will do much more damage and be more aggressive toward the player, so you better hide in the holes before he shoots.
• During the last scene, when the player is surrounded by Confederation Soldiers, the officer will say something to help the player understand that shooting isn't the best thing to do.

Version 1.1
Invasion has Begun

• Threepwood and the soldiers will correctly move downstairs.
• The dropship won't get stuck in the air.
• The gate stays locked until the outside part of the base is cleared.
• Mission Objective are now visible on screen.

Point of No Return

• Autosave won't commit if the game is about to end
• During the chase, a message will tell the player he has to act and find a way out.

[stoopdapoop]

awesome

I'm about to try this out.

Also threepwood? Isn't that a hitch hiker's reference?

[JakeParlay]

wow, looks pretty cool

[Mess]

guybrush threepwood is from Monkey Island.

*Spoilers below*

I played this mod up to the bit where you're supposed to run away, and got stuck and deleted it.

[stoopdapoop]

Ok, that was great I really liked the chase and the overall presentation was good. Much of the dialog is funny as well. But there were some issues that seemed like they could have been fixed by having a few outside play testing sessions.

But some things that I noticed that could use some improvement.

.5. Just the maps were a little dry, buildings were clean, wasn't much texture variation through most of the game, but it didn't really subtract from the fun, just doesn't look so good in screenshots.

1. Alot of the lighting was very bland, not to dark not bright, but too even. Inside the mothership the lighting didn't really look like what'd you expect in an old run down ship.

2. Inside the ship there are many hallways, but it's hard to tell which one you're supposed to go down, The halls are cool, but there should be signs or bigger doors showing which way you're supposed to go, that way if you want to look around, you won't accidentally go the correct way and end the level before you get to look around.

3. At the start of the second chapter you can jump down the railing without taking any fall damage, kill all the rebels, and run into the elevator where they spawn and shoot them as they spawn in the elevator with you. That's how I played it the first time, and nothing happened so I retried and had to look for another way to beat the level (by waiting a little longer and going down the ramp)

4. After you open the gate to let the reinforcements come in you can run to where the combine tanks and pulse rifle ammo is and there is a very in your face invisible wall that should be addressed, or at least moved back.

5. Usually in the half life games, if you can open a door then it always has a handle, I thought that the door you're supposed to take downstairs was a decal, so I didn't bother trying to open it at first.

6. In some places I get odd framerate drops that I feel I shouldn't be getting, maybe some better hinting or occluding is in order.

7. It's very strange being a combine soldier, but seeing gordon freeman's hands on all the weapons.

8. It's strange seeing half life 2 characters represent characters in your story, at first I thought that maybe there was some connection the hl2 world, but as far as the characters are concerned it doesn't look like there is.

9. When

we get surrounded and are told to put down our weapons, I immediatly shot the first combine soldier I saw, and that made me fail, you should make it so that you either know that you're not supposed to shoot, or disable firing

and it felt a little unfair cause I was given no warning.

10. There are some typos and awkward sentences that could have been easily fixed by having someone who's first language is english proofread the script before you recorded it. Also "sesame open" made me chuckle.

11. When you're surrounded on both sides at the end of the chase I was uncertain about what to do, I was thinking that maybe someone would come and save us, or something would happen, or maybe someone would call out a path for us to follow. It only took a second of looking around, and I got the hint, but others might not. (looks like mess will agree with this one.)

Overall the experience was excellent, it was refreshing to hear so much voiced dialogue in a mod and once again the presentation was great.

very good/10

But a quick question, why didn't you guys migrate to the OB engine?

[Major Banter]

to deal with 9, all you need to do is whack in a bunch of reciprocal AI_relationships. then when you're surrounded, you turn them on, and you lower your weapon. its a more visual and subtle hint than stoopdapoos suggestion of weapon loss.

i just want to compliment you on the fantastic rebel tactics i saw in the trailer; i loved the way they all formed up! normally rebels are a pain in the arse, but that made them both cooler and more interesting! good job!

[Tablespoon]

My computer boots to Linux right now but I may load Windows just to try this out. Trailer looks fantastic.

When it said "Maybe these are favorable times for... Rebellion" I felt my eyes kind of tense up and chills race across my entire body. Dude, that was fucking sick. Well done!

[Daz]

I really enjoyed this! The visuals are relatively simple and there are some quite serious bugs but the combination of a great story, gameplay and scripting was enough for me to look past 90% of the issues with the episode.

*spoilers below*

Things I liked:

1) The intro level, great way to setup the story and the large "loading bay" area had suitable dramatic effect.

2) Well written dialogue. It was actually not cringe worthy to take in like so many other mods, there are a few odd language related mistakes that could have been caught with testing, but overall a very well done here. When Treepwood gets slapped at the end I actually laughed out loud!

3) Scripting overall, I especially liked the way your fellow combine troops advanced tactically and intelligently when you were assaulting Tor29 in the 1st mission, and the choreography in most story scenes was well done too, a tad wooden in areas but certainly acceptable.

Didn't Like:

1) Some serious bugs, for instance in the 1st mission I was stuck in the wall I couldn't exit the dropship pod, I had to noclip out of it. More testing was needed on the maps for sure.

2) The maps could have used some more visual loving, while they were all adequate in their looks, I can't really remember anything note worthy about them after the initial loading bay scene in the 1st map. Lighting was flat and dull in most areas.

3) Performance issues in a few of the maps. Like others have mentioned, I also got some horrific frame rates in the 1st mission while I was in the outside area, and there were a few areas in the city escape scenes that chugged my rig also.

From the way you ended this episode I am guessing you plan the make another one? I hope so

[Mr-Jigsaw]

I commend you for your work. Though, I have a few criticisms. When you go downstairs in the first mission, the rest of the team got stuck at the door and I cleared the room with just one other soldier. It took me a while to finally get everyone downstairs. Also, the voices could be a bit louder. But everything else went rather smoothly.

[Kyl']

Waw guys !

Thanks a lot for your feed-back !
It feels actually really exciting and rewarding to deliver something and see people coming back here to share some constructive criticism. And I thank you a hundred times for this ! I'm touched

Now, I'd like to give a few more thoughts about things that have been said here

2. Inside the ship there are many hallways, but it's hard to tell which one you're supposed to go down, The halls are cool, but there should be signs or bigger doors showing which way you're supposed to go, that way if you want to look around, you won't accidentally go the correct way and end the level before you get to look around.

You're right mate, the player doesn't know there will be a map load after one of the doors, and that you won't be able to come back.
In Half-Life²'s Level Design, one of the things that impressed me the most, is how they managed to transform a corridor (understand One entrance and One Exit) to give the player the feeling he's kind of free to go wherever he wants. He could go right or left and even if it's not the right way, he would eventually "see" something, which gives him the feeling it was worth it, or at least that he didn't go into a dead end and loose time. Actually, finding your way out in Half-Life² is "intuitive". And when you reach this point, then I believe you did a good job
That's what I tried to create in my levels. Aboard the Mothership, for example, when you leave your room, you can go either left or right, but you might be tempted to follow the soldier which will lead you to the good direction. If you decide to take the other direction, you'll "see" something before returning on your steps. As Threepwood arrives, he simply says "The old fella' is waiting for you back there", pointing the door behind him. But... nothing prevents you from going to the left have a little chat with the soldiers guarding the door : -)
But you're right. A map or some signs will be a plus (even for the detail level). At least something that tells the player "Hey mate, if you go there, you'll reach your objective and won't be able to come back"

3. At the start of the second chapter you can jump down the railing without taking any fall damage, kill all the rebels, and run into the elevator where they spawn and shoot them as they spawn in the elevator with you. That's how I played it the first time, and nothing happened so I retried and had to look for another way to beat the level (by waiting a little longer and going down the ramp)

Ah damn ! I thought Spade's briefing would be clear enough about the objective in that mission
But you're not the first one who says that. First, I thought it was because they didn't understand english so well But if it wasn't clear for you, then there's something I have to do about it.
I'm thinking of an "objective status" text that would show you the advancement of the objective. Something like "Kill the RPG's : 0/5", then "Kill the RPG's : 1/5" as you kill one, etc...

4. After you open the gate to let the reinforcements come in you can run to where the combine tanks and pulse rifle ammo is and there is a very in your face invisible wall that should be addressed, or at least moved back.

The ideal would have been to continue the map a little behind the jeeps, and close the way with a fence and block visibility. I understand this invisible wall is really strange. But if I had allowed to go past that point, you would have started to see "behind the scene" : -)

5. Usually in the half life games, if you can open a door then it always has a handle, I thought that the door you're supposed to take downstairs was a decal, so I didn't bother trying to open it at first.

When you go downstairs in the first mission, the rest of the team got stuck at the door and I cleared the room with just one other soldier. It took me a while to finally get everyone downstairs.

Mmh... that means Threepwood and the soldiers didn't go through that door to show you the way. And that bug really annoys me. The strange thing is that if you load the autosave I created right at this point, they're all debugged and start to get into position downstairs. Same happen if you open the door. I'm about to sort this out... I'm sorry you had this bug, I believe it uselessly hurts the experience. I'll also add a handle, thanks for noticing me.

7. It's very strange being a combine soldier, but seeing gordon freeman's hands on all the weapons.

Actually, there are no Combine soldiers in Rebellion. So I'm asking your imagination to suppose, for example, that Colonels in the Confederation have a black and orange suit (probably to make sure the ennemy knows who to snipe first)
More seriously, I've decided since the beginning I wouldn't go into modelling for this one.
That's why I said in my previous post I have the feeling there's always something that can be done or improved in a mod, and there's a moment you have to set the limits of what you're going to do, so you can focus on what seems the most important to you.
But that's probably one of the many little things that would make the game look better.

8. It's strange seeing half life 2 characters represent characters in your story, at first I thought that maybe there was some connection the hl2 world, but as far as the characters are concerned it doesn't look like there is.

Same thing as above, actually. "Take what exists (models, textures, animations...) and create your own story with that". My constant Message of the Day

9. When ... and it felt a little unfair cause I was given no warning.

11. When you're surrounded on both sides at the end of the chase I was uncertain about what to do, I was thinking that maybe someone would come and save us, or something would happen, or maybe someone would call out a path for us to follow. It only took a second of looking around, and I got the hint, but others might not. (looks like mess will agree with this one.)

Concerning the point 9, I'm really sorry you felt that way, Stoop' !
I don't really like restraining the liberties of the player, that's why I didn't create a cutscene or disable the possibility to kill the soldiers (actually, even with ai_relationships, you can still shoot Combines : -) You need to use a filter_damage_type in addition).
I could have used Mandella to say something like "Don't move !". You know, make it "intuitive" to hold your fire at that moment, without preventing the player from shooting if that's really what he wants : -)

Now here's a little thing I'd like to say about the Difficulty oriententation I took

Well, I might be an old school player, but I've always liked games where you have to scratch your head a little to keep going. You might have notice some of the easter eggs to old Lucas Arts Adventure Games
The feeling I love and that I tried to recreate in Rebellion is the feeling of pride and satisfaction you feel as you find the solution (if possible, along with a loud "Damn me ! How comes I didn't I thought about this earlier !" ). I believe that great games are games that make you "feel" something. Because if you feel, then some sort of intimacy has been created between you and the game. And that's what makes a game special !
So, I believe that games in which you just need to hit the blinking thing on the screen to acces the next step need to rely on something else to be interresting. Like a good, polished and funny gameplay.
You always give more importance to things you where psychologically or physically involved in.
But that's pretty edgy ! You need to make sure you don't fall on the dark side and create a frustrating effect. Which is certainly NOT what I want
The difficulty of this task consists in finding a good balance.

During the chase, when you need to find a way out, I tried to give a sign... just take a breath, open your eyes, and you should see it ...

Mess, I'm really sorry I couldn't give you the will to look harder for a solution, I'm sure you would have been proud of you after finding it

[...] I felt my eyes kind of tense up and chills race across my entire body. Dude, that was fucking sick. Well done!

That's what I'm talking about !

10. There are some typos and awkward sentences that could have been easily fixed by having someone who's first language is english proofread the script before you recorded it. Also "sesame open" made me chuckle.

here are a few odd language related mistakes that could have been caught with testing

Isn't it also giving its charm ? ... What do you mean "I'm trying to reverse the situation" ?

i just want to compliment you on the fantastic rebel tactics i saw in the trailer; i loved the way they all formed up! normally rebels are a pain in the arse, but that made them both cooler and more interesting! good job!

Ahah, thanks mate ! That's what takes place in the next mission. I just couldn't release it with this part... one day, maybe


... Waw !

Guys, again, thank you for your feedback. It really helps
It's during these moments that I feel happy to be part of this community.

A wise word for the end :
"This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of beeing read." -Winston Churchill

[stoopdapoop]

You're right mate, the player doesn't know there will be a map load after one of the doors, and that you won't be able to come back.
In Half-Life²'s Level Design, one of the things that impressed me the most, is how they managed to transform a corridor (understand One entrance and One Exit) to give the player the feeling he's kind of free to go wherever he wants. He could go right or left and even if it's not the right way, he would eventually "see" something, which gives him the feeling it was worth it, or at least that he didn't go into a dead end and loose time. Actually, finding your way out in Half-Life² is "intuitive". And when you reach this point, then I believe you did a good job
That's what I tried to create in my levels. Aboard the Mothership, for example, when you leave your room, you can go either left or right, but you might be tempted to follow the soldier which will lead you to the good direction. If you decide to take the other direction, you'll "see" something before returning on your steps. As Threepwood arrives, he simply says "The old fella' is waiting for you back there", pointing the door behind him. But... nothing prevents you from going to the left have a little chat with the soldiers guarding the door : -)
But you're right. A map or some signs will be a plus (even for the detail level). At least something that tells the player "Hey mate, if you go there, you'll reach your objective and won't be able to come back"

Yeah, it's a wonder of level design that I've been having trouble with as well. I ended up talking to everyone in the ship before completing the level, but I had to think about it for a second. The valve commentary for some of their games helps out a bit.

Ah damn ! I thought Spade's briefing would be clear enough about the objective in that mission
But you're not the first one who says that. First, I thought it was because they didn't understand english so well But if it wasn't clear for you, then there's something I have to do about it.
I'm thinking of an "objective status" text that would show you the advancement of the objective. Something like "Kill the RPG's : 0/5", then "Kill the RPG's : 1/5" as you kill one, etc...

HA! funny story about that... One of my sister's rather attractive friends walked into the room and decided to have a conversation with me right as the assault chapter begun, so after a few lines of dialog I paused and alt tabbed to talk to her. I guess I just happened to miss the most important lines of the mission

Actually, there are no Combine soldiers in Rebellion. So I'm asking your imagination to suppose, for example, that Colonels in the Confederation have a black and orange suit (probably to make sure the ennemy knows who to snipe first)
More seriously, I've decided since the beginning I wouldn't go into modeling for this one.
That's why I said in my previous post I have the feeling there's always something that can be done or improved in a mod, and there's a moment you have to set the limits of what you're going to do, so you can focus on what seems the most important to you.
But that's probably one of the many little things that would make the game look better.

OH! I thought that something like that might have been going on, considering that the force I'm on was called the "confederation" and not the combine, but I guess I'm too dumb to figure it out. But now it all makes sense.

[About the difficulty]

I totally see where you're coming from and that's a great point of view (and one I share with you), but my biggest concern was that there was no indication that we were supposed to actually figure it out. In my many years of playing games, I've found that if you have NPCs around and a seeming un-passable objective, you wait for something big to come by and clear the path. So I killed a few attacking soldiers and literally waited for like 10 seconds. Then I realized that something else was going on and started to survey my surroundings and found the solution. A similar solution to the one you mentioned for part nine would probably clear that up really well. "Mandella, you're going to have to figure how to get us out of this one" or something. The difficulty was good, but I didn't know that I had started a puzzle, that was my only concern.

Are you starting work on the sequel immediately? or are you taking a break first?

[Kyl']

Hi people

Yay ! Rebellion is now downloadable again !
I've just uploaded a new version with some corrections after the feedback I've received here
Thanks again for that !

** The following is full of SPOILERS, so I'll advice you to play the game before reading further **

Version 1.1
Invasion has Begun

• Threepwood and the soldiers will correctly move downstairs (I've added a little animation to open the door).
• The dropship won't get stuck in the air.
• The gate stays locked until the outside part of the base is cleared.
• Mission Objective are now visible on screen.

Point of No Return

• Autosave won't commit if the game is about to end.
• During the chase, a message will tell the player he has to act and find a way out.

A patch can be found HERE.

The Full game can be found HERE.

A few images to illustrates some of the changes

As long as there are ennemies, the button to open the gate is disabled :


Once the area is cleared, the button to open the gate is enabled :


Mission Objective status :


And that's a special one for Mess



In the next version, I'll be looking after :

• Subtitle mistakes.
• At the very end of the chase, Mandella will be saying something to indicate the player that shooting before talking might not be the best thing to do
• Do some clipping work to avoid the player to get stuck.
• Drinking a good and freesh beer. Oh yeah...

Cheers !

[Dnst]

I played the mod and there is only one negative thing. It's the models of zero threepwood and spade. They should be changed to other ones.

If you still improve the mod a little bit, it will be one of the best singleplayer mods for half-life 2.

[Mr-Jigsaw]

While the dialogue isn't bad, the timing could be better, like the part with the locked door. If Threepwood would have "given the code" without responding to (Alyx), it would have been better. By that time, I had figured out what was going to happen.

But now we come to the plot. I understand that you only have so much time and resources to produce this, but I feel that more backstory and motivation on each side's part is due.

Like when (Breen) orders the soldiers to kill the civilians. Why exactly does he give this order? Did they make fun of him back in high school? Are they all former nazis? Or were you just trying to make the (Combine evil)? I can understand if you were, but I feel they have no real reason to be evil. You haven't explained their motivations. It's not like one day (Breen) woke up and said, "I'm going to become a galactic dictator! Watch out civilians!" And then an army of faceless goons yells," We're here! We have no consciences, we'll do everything you say!" And when you come across (Alyx) being abused by the (Combine), he just aims his gun at them. For the player, its been about a minute since the (Combine) killed the civilians, and now Threepwood just charges into a situation he knows nothing about and turns on his former comrades. How does he know that (Alyx) hadn't just brutally murdered thirty (Combine) with a chainsaw? Ahhh, but she is a girl, a hot girl, so she must be innocent. In all, I'm not saying that the (Combine can't be evil, it's just that as of now it's too simplistic in its morality and without cause.

Oh yeah, and these are just little gripes of mine.

When you clear the stairwell of the outpost, another (Combine) orders Threepwood to open the door, to which he replies, "Sure, boss!" It just seems strange that the underling would be the one without a mask on, rather than the officer. And when the opens, a few of the (citizens) ran around a bit and the effect is unintended I'm sure because it just looks a bit silly. If you want the effect to be better, thin their numbers and have a couple leaning against the wall or sitting down or the two on the couch with one crying. And lastly, no one in their right mind would, in such close quarters, start a firefight in which you are so outnumbered. Surely, you would not survive.

[Kyl']

Hey Dnst
Thanks a lot for the nice comment, it goes straight to my heart
As for the models, you're probably right... or let's just forget about Alyx, Barney, Breen and the whole Half-Life² story for a while, and let me introduce you Zero, Threepwood and Spade
Anyway, I totally understand and agree with your point.
Now, if you have modelling skills and willing to show the community what you can do, I'm all ears

Hi Mr-Jigsaw

The Confederation becoming evil

Actually, I haven't been willing to write a whole background story, explaining the reason of the Tor29 colony attack by the Confederation. I kind of resume all this with this simple sentence said by Admiral Spade, during the briefing :
"And, you see, Colonel, for a reason we don't need to explain inside these walls, the Confederation has a few things to handle with these colonists."
So actually, everyone could assume its own reasons. For example, Tor29 is holding some very important ressources the Confederation might really want to take a hand on (this sounds familiar... ), or maybe that very Communication center registered some very personnal and compromising communications between Spade and who knows (probably Grisp's wife ! ).

But I understand I could have give some more explanations about it...

... or not.

Now, I see this as an open door for ideas to be included in the story when writing the sequel. As you're part of the resistance, you'll end up discovering the truth (probably an inconvenient one) behind Tor29's invasion.
So, if I don't explain all the reasons of the things that happen in this episode, this might be to create a plot in what is coming next...

About Threepwood pointing his gun toward a soldier

I agree with you, Mr-Jigsaw. It would have been better, for example, to make Threepwood point is finger toward the soldier at the first warning, an then making him grab the soldier and eventually raise his weapon at the second warning.
Thanks for noticing !

Actually, the main idea for this scene is : Threepwood and Mandella openly disagree with the Confederation, wich gives Admiral Spade an argument to lock them down, since they where openly showing their disagreement (especially Threepwood) in the previous mission.
And Zero was supposed to show up at that moment, and end up leading Threepwood and Mandella to the Rebel forces.
Now, given Zero's model (which is a civilian model), I had to set up a scene where she would look like a citizen.
She could wether be a real Tor29 citizen, and I then had to give her a reason to help Threepwood and Mandella. They could have saved her ? That sounds good ! It just also sounds too common : "save the hot girl, and she might eventually help you, and give you a kiss as a bonus".
And also, Threepwood and Mandella didn't liked the previous killing. So, to save Zero, they're about to kill the soldiers ? That's non-sense.

So, I looked for another idea.
Now, SHE could actually save Threepwood and Mandella
Also, I wanted an idea where Threepwood and Mandella would be forced to kill the soldiers, because they aren't been given any other choice if they don't want to end up in front of a firing squad.

That sounds like... A trap !
And that's why I made her as a Confederation Soldier who's disguised as a citizen to trap Mandella and Threepwood... and end up fooling everyone at the end of the scene

So, first you think you're gonna save the hot one, then you realize you (especially Threepwood) just jumped into a trap... and when you're about to think this is gonna be a hell of a fight to save your ass, there she opposes her superior to lend you a hand.
This version sounded more... interesting to me

About the order to Threepwood

Actually, the order given to Threepwood to open that gate is given by his only superior in the room : you.
Didn't you recognize my lovely voice ?

As for the citizens in the room. You're right.
As the doors open, they move in a wierd way. I could have added some choreographed_scene entities to make them hold their hands in the air, others might be crying and weapons could be lying in a pile on the ground, to show they surrendered... Good point Mr-Jigsaw, I'll do something about it Thanks !


Again, thank you for the feedback !
It really helps me move forward !

Take care

Oh, before I forget, here's the patch note with the last improvements I did, thanks to the community feedback !

Version 1.2 12/10/2009
General

• Default difficulty is now set to "Medium" instead of "Easy".
• I've corrected some spelling mistakes in the subtitles.

Aboard the Mothership

• Some environment details have been added (sparkles & flicking lights).

Invasion has Begun

• Killing a Confederation soldier before the bomb is planted won't result in a Mission Failure, except for the soldier who actually plants the bomb.

Point of No Return

• I've worked on optimization (hints & func_occluder).
• Inside the Confederation Outpost, during Spade's communication, once Threepwood and Zero start moving, shooting at a Confederation Soldier will start the chase, instead of resulting in a Mission Failure.
• The chopper will do much more damage and be more aggressive toward the player, so you better hide in the holes before he shoots.
• During the last scene, when the player is surrounded by Confederation Soldiers, the officer will say something to help the player understand that shooting isn't the best thing to do.

Cheers !