A modest proposal

[Dastard]

Now, since Alex stopped being able to actively support KF, there hasn't been a man-god of a driving force behind this mod (although I commend Uwasa's efforts in stepping up to the plate as an organizer of the team), however, I'm of the mind that we should really look into the potential future of Killing Floor as a community. As of now, there's 3 options. Well, 4, technically, but moving to a lower generation engine would be kind of stupid.

The first would be to focus on making more content for the UT2k4 mod as of right now. This would extend the life of KF in the short term, but the Unreal Engine 2 is a bit old hat right now, and it'll only get older as time goes on. The second, would be to primarily focus on preparatory work to get the interested community members to the level of making high quality content so as to make an easy entry into modding UT2k7. Now, I know I am, and I'm pretty sure we're all psyched about the editor possibilities of UE3, but this path requires much more dedication to truly achieve the end goal. However, if we get our foot in the door, and produce a pure gold product, we'd have a jump start at the next Make Something Unreal Competition, which is a desirable goal.

The third option would be to leave KF at it's current state, and everyone goes on their own path. A bit of a pessimistic way to go about things.

Now, just because we'd be dedicated to getting ready for the next gen wouldn't mean we couldn't work on KF2k4, it would just mean setting up our design document and plan around it; i. e. having the 3d artist (whoever it is) focus not only on simply making SMs for KF2k4, but also learning high detail modeling and normal map generation.

I personally think we ought to opt for a next gen focus. It seems better on a longer term, which I hope KF will carry into.

[ChickenRibsCombo]

I think it would be beneficial if an organized team were established first, in order to take over where Alex left off. Seeing as how KF doesn't need to be built from the ground up, take this opportunity to learn how everything works, the reasons behind why Alex did certain things, and familiarize yourselves with adding content to the current incarnation of the mod. Release an official map pack, perhaps new monsters and skins, perhaps some new weapons or a patch or two. 2K7 is going to be a monster in terms of modding, and any experience you gain now would help you out a great deal in the long run!

[zynthetic]

ppl are not going to stop playing 2k4 anytime soon, even after 2k7.
Besides the novelty what other reasons would there be for moving KF to Ueng3? A port would only cheapen the experience imo. Moving to a newer engine would only be justified by vast additions to the gameplay. Improved visuals shouldn't really be a factor in this decision.

[mrmedic]

Umm, I say still keep on working on KF. If the developers have worked this hard at it, and are still going. I think they oughta finish. It just wouldn't be right to stop work on it.

[uwasawaya]

Well, I agree with Zynth.. we'll lose valuable fan base by porting now, especially since we can't upkeep the old. We need to perfect this one as much as we can for now. Heck, I'm not sure I can RUN 2k7 comfortably yet...

But I agree, sooner or later, it'll have to change... while I don't think we need to start now, we definately can't avoid it if we want this to keep going.

EDIT: Oh, and by the title, I figured you want a hotkey for eating babies in the game or something...

[zombieButcher]

Well to be honest i voted the second option as i wont be buying 2007.
Whats so good about 2007?
Better GFX and a few new vechicles?
Face it theyre just milking UT now, im stikcing with 2004.

[Doomest]

We have to advertise KF more often. We have such a small community because hardly anyone knows

[Mortan Astral]

I agree with Doomest, we need a BeyondUnreal main page news update

[zombieButcher]

mortan said:

I agree with Doomest, we need a BeyondUnreal main page news update

And how do we do that.

[Mortan Astral]

The Team leader, In this case either Uwasawaya or Pixelscope should mail the news to the beyondunreal crew, good chance it will be posted on the main page, The best chance would be to mail "Hal" he seems to be in charge of the news on BU and it looks like he kind of likes the mod

Ofcourse I can mail him aswell but with me not being related to the Killing floor development team the chance I will be able to convince him is small

[zombieButcher]

*Looks at Uwas and Pix*

[Grim]

Just, continue to work on UT2004, I know people like Abyx, once he masters Static-Meshes down to a perfection (or at least, to him), he will look for a challenge and start go for higher things, player models even. Where as I, even though I'm not on the team, have been working on Player Models already, just as a personal thing to learn. Which look like crap, but I've only just started. So basically, we should just continue doing what we do, UT2007 will be adaptable, may take us, oh, I'd say a month or so to adapt to any MAJOR changes that may happen, then we just continue doing what we did before, and if they (we/who ever) have a project to work on while we wait, it gives them experience and etc for UT2007. Simple.

[mrmedic]

sc0rp1on1x said:

Well to be honest i voted the second option as i wont be buying 2007.
Whats so good about 2007?
Better GFX and a few new vechicles?
Face it theyre just milking UT now, im stikcing with 2004.

I have had this arguement before. To an ordinary gamer(Not a mapper) it may look like that. But to the mapper, there is lots of changes.
www.unrealtechnology.com/html/technology/ue30.shtml
So, do you think ut2007, is just ut2004...even though it has a much better physics system, a "Distributed Computing Normal Map Generation Tool" , PROPER distrortsion and refraction effects.

I agree, if you look on the ordinary gamers point of view, it looks like "All these tools will do is allow you to make your maps look better." , they do make your map look better, but it does alot more. I as a mapper cannot wait for Unreal Engine 3.

[Antigod]

I agree with what most people say here, the best idea is to keep working and finish KF2 using UT2k4 engine. UE07 is gonna be a machine killer, yes there will be many people who jump ship that have the hardware requirements, but trust me it will take years for it to fully take off, thats what happens with all new game engines.

I also agree that KF needs more recognition, I have posted a few threads myself on forums such as RAGE3d, but the most effective advertising IMO is word of mouth, which is something I primarily do a a regular basis. The Beyond Unreal idea is great, A team leader needs to get in touch and action this, however I think this should wait until 2.2 patch is out, yes 2.1 fixes most if not all bugs, but there are still some that could cause people not to play, the mod needs to be a little more user friendly for new players.

Antigod

[Abyx]

Well, as Grim said, sometime in the future once I know the program completely and such, I WILL move onto harder models and everything, being as it seems I'm one of the only people learning 3D art at the moment.

2007 isn't something I'm very interested in, and it appears that many of the people whom have held the mod's community together aren't very interested in either. Sure KF2.1 is a rather finished looking product, there's so much more which there is to be added, fixed, eveyrthing like that. In Killing Floor's current direction it seems to be going in, one day we might be able to package the thing and sell it in stores.

I don't think we wanna lose that quality by having people produce models, skins, sounds and maps for something that's supposed to be 'better', when it would completely lose it's flair and appealment.