Vampire Slayer 2.0

[Hitman0586]

Hey everyone!

We are glad to introduce you our mod for Max Payne 2 called Vampire Slayer 2.0
Our team - V13K, LAZER, HITMAN, Andersen
The mod in developement since beginning of 2007
Vampire Slayer 2.0 TC (Total Conversion) featuring: magic, sword fighting, new storyline, new incredible animations, new levels (some with destructible environment), many new characters etc
The VS2 story is about resisting a small group of hunters to countless amount of dark forces which most part is vampires. There will be many story levels, short and long, many bosses. There will be new DMW levels as well
You will be able to play as a few characters:
Slayer with his 5 big different swords
Dark Wizard who uses magic
Steel Samurai - he has katana and sheath with blade
And other characters
All of them can use guns of course. By the way we have new very detailed and awesomely textured guns in VS2. Every weapon is nice animated, some of them has new reload animations
Also you will be able to play as Blade through the story of Blade 1 movie. Blade has his sword and a capoeira fighting style to kill vampires

Here is the links to Vampire Slayer 2.0 profile at L4Y and at ModDB
You can download the 1st VS2 trailer from here L4Y
The second VS2 trailer here L4Y, ModDB, Rapidshare, Youtube

Alright, we'd like to know what you think of our mod. Please post your comments here

The last one - a few screenshots of new Blade model on some levels from Blade movie

[Zom-B]

Wow, that looks really impressive! Nice work, i'll be sure to check it out next time I installed Max Payne 2.

[Theonewayman]

Yes good job guys, this mod certainly looks to be a winner.

[Maddieman]

Thats a really impressive Blade model.

[Phait]

So you're ripping off Blade? Great.

[andersenthemuss]

No.
Its more like a tribute to blade.
None of his games was any good, So we're making something great in his honor.

[Phait]

A tribute would be something similar to Blade, but not obviously, blatantly - Blade.

[Maddieman]

As I see it, they're doing a sort of Vampire slayer all-stars mod.

So there's some Blade levels, featuring Blade; and there are some original levels, featuring new characters (according to the first half of the post).

[andersenthemuss]

Well Phait i couldnt really care less what you think about this mod.
We're making something that we think is cool.

And a tribute to blade is a friggin tribute to blade. as simple as that

[NeoPain]

Good work! Keep on modding!_

[Hitman0586]

We are doing Blade, because we merged Blade TC with Vampire Slayer. Anybody remember that tc?
The story of VS2 will be tied with the story of Blade, but do not touch it. Blade will be living story of Blade movie, but in some ways, there will be a little links to the story of VS2. So the whole story will gather together from little pieces to a big picture. (Thats what we put on moddb)

[Hitman0586]

Maddieman
Could you please tell me how do you like our Vampire Slayer 2.0 TC?
Did you saw the trailers, pictures (I mean those from ModDB, L4Y)?
Please tell how do you like mod's features: magic, swords, animations, character models, levels, special effects... destructible environment? What do you think about gameplay in overall?
We would really like to know your opinion

[Maddieman]

Can't really comment on gameplay until I've played it - and you've only shown single moves, not combos. Otherwise everything looks pretty good - I particularly liked the special effects and level descrution (the shooting a hole through the floor was cool, even though it was staged). It's also nice to see someone finally figure out how to do wallrunning in mp2.

One thing, like the gunkata mod, most of the attacks seem to be animated well -- with lots of complicated movement like twisting and spinning around -- but at the same time, a lot of the moves look quite rigid (especially the endings). I guess it's like how even moccaped animation needs to be polished by animators. E.g. The new MK games have technically good animations, but they still feel a bit rigid when you play.

I'd say the key frames are posed well, but you need to polish up your timings, and exaggerate your delays and anticipations to get that 'fluid' feeling and a better sense of weight. Try not to freeze any one pose for longer than 3 frames -- pretty much every bone should be constantly moving, even when the character is at rest (for Max Payne one, I just use the TCB controller; but I'm not sure what the equivalent for Character studio is) .

More importantly, make sure your melee moves have intuitive controls -- it really makes the difference between an okay fighting game and a great one. The idea is that the controls are simple enough that the player doesn't have to think about button inputs to fight well. It's pretty simple too - the attack should usually move in the same direction as the button input.

For example, using a clock face as a reference, if you press forward + right, you should attack towards the player's right (between 12 and 2 O'clock); and vice versa for forward + left (10 and 12 O'clock). Forwards on its own is ideal for attacking straight on (11-1); and backwards for attacking behind you (anything between 8 and 4), or as a defensive/retreating move. Also, the player should move forwards slightly in that same direction as well (usually less than half a metre).

Sounds obvious, but I've played a lot of mods where they've got this mixed up -- even some commercial games. I guess sometimes animators make a bunch of cool looking moves, without thinking about how it'll work in-game - so they assign it to any button, and it doesn't work well. Anyway, if you want a masterclass on how to do intuitive controls, play Tekken or Soul Calibur. Alternatively, I guess Kung Fu 3/Katana are perhaps more relevant examples.

Where it gets complicated is when the character starts doing fancy twirls and stuff. You'll probably notice that all the primary attacks in Katana and kung fu are pretty simple - usually just a basic quick kick/strike to the left, or right. That's quite deliberate. We save the slow, fancy animations and camera effects for the special moves and combos.

If you're familar with fighting games, then you'll know the significance of frame advantage, and how you can use this to balance/polish the gameplay. Generally I give players a massive frame advantage over CPU characters -- typically because you're fighting several enemies at once. My rule of thumb is that the faster you can give control back to the player, the quicker they can input a new move, and therefore the more fluid and exciting the combat will be. It makes the combat faster and more visceral this way -- so much so, you can almost feel it.

The way you do this is by trimming off the beginnings and endings of attack animations. Max Payne interpolates the transitions between two animations (e.g. standing and special move), so don't bother exporting those frames.

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a big lecture on fighting game design, but I hope that gives you some new ideas to try out. Your mod definitely looks impressive already, but I would still recommend that you get as many people to playtest it as possible before the proper release.

[Hitman0586]

WOW Thanks for your big post Maddieman, it's looks like a real lecture

But I think that you didn't fully answer my question. I understand that you liked special effects, destructions and wallrunning. But what about our main features: magic and swords? Also, could you tell how do you like our characters, levels? What do think of them? You know, much more still coming and what is shown in the trailers is not everything that will be in the mod at the end of developement

Oh and here is what our co-leader/animator/character designer/modeller/SFX master LAZER has wrote:

Hi Maddie, it's me who made all of these anims
First of all I have to say that I have very big respect to you, because you are the one of the guys who started all this. You are the father of mp modding
Ok, let's follow your big post
Yeah wallmoves are something that we achieved, but they are still have some little bugs. They are completely not something like in MP1. They can only can be made in a little cutscene. And the player must be at the same position at the end of animation as he was at the start. That's why they are made with camera and look abit odd.

I see you based your opinion not on the trailers, but on EQ Gunkatas v3.0 mod instead. That's abit strange, because this mod was released a while ago, and anims are even older.
So I have to say the topics that you raised here is known very good to me. I figured out them myself during the development of the mods
But still there is something I want to say. Combos are impossible to do in MP2 at all. Well yeah there is a possibility with subanimations, but it will look very bad, because subanims do not support movement. So everything you see in trailers is pretty much all that we made, and that's possible in MP2.

Yes the "clock face system" is used in VS2. And I must say that the latest characters in EQG3 are using this system too
The reason I'm making the full pose-to-pose anims is to improve the quality of anims and exclude any bugs that can happen. Because in MP2 the starting pose of anim have to be the same as ending one. MP2 is somehow trying to repeat the first frames of animation at the end of it, and there are bugs happen That's why I dont like this interpolation between animations that MP2 has. Thus we compensate fluidness with power of the projectiles and animation look.

Well, that's all I wanted to say. Thanks for the constructive crytics, I was glad to answer you

[Maddieman]

But I think that you didn't fully answer my question. I understand that you liked special effects, destructions and wallrunning. But what about our main features: magic and swords? Also, could you tell how do you like our characters, levels? What do think of them? You know, much more still coming and what is shown in the trailers is not everything that will be in the mod at the end of developement

Well you sort answered your own question. I'd rather not comment critically on something that's not really finished yet. I mean, swords - yeah, they look good; magic - fireballs, etc, aren't really my thing, but it looks good too. The characters and levels look superb so far (except that white mannor presumably needs lighting). But IMO, what really matters in a mod like this is the gameplay. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but you did ask for my opinion.... :P

I see you based your opinion not on the trailers, but on EQ Gunkatas v3.0 mod instead.

Partly yes - the opinion was based on past experience of that mod (because it's the closest thing to this) + what I saw in the video. I mean, I haven't played it, so I have to put what I saw in the videos with what I already know. I could go frame by frame and point things out, but tbh I don't have the time. There's no doubt you're a good animator, LAZER, but there's something 'not quite right' about them -- it's difficult to put my finger on it from a tightly cut video. I think it might be what you're saying about mp2 and the beginning and end of animations.

Combos are impossible to do in MP2 at all. Well yeah there is a possibility with subanimations, but it will look very bad, because subanims do not support movement. So everything you see in trailers is pretty much all that we made, and that's possible in MP2.

Ah well, this is sort why I don't recommend MP2 for this kind of mod; but what you've got done so far is pretty impressive. But again, I'll stress - make sure the basic sword fighting works and is intuitive. What you don't want is the character randomly performing loads of cool looking moves when you press the buttons - it's got to make sense.

Even if you think you know this, just humour me - I think it's important.

Because in MP2 the starting pose of anim have to be the same as ending one. MP2 is somehow trying to repeat the first frames of animation at the end of it, and there are bugs happen

Hmm, do you know if that's 3dsmax or the MP2 engine that's doing that? I don't know much about character studio, but in max payne 1, the example 'run.max' animation was set to looping -- turning that off makes life a lot easier. Also, Ken got around this a different way -- he made the start and end frames identical in the animation, but he just didn't export those frames (he usually clipped the end of his animations by 5-10 frames).

[Sayantan]

Wow, a blade mod??

[Hitman0586]

Sayantan
Not just Blade! An antivampire TC with lots of characters, features and possibilities
Read my first post in this thread and watch the trailers. You may LOVE it

[Sayantan]

Originally Posted by Hitman0586

Sayantan
Read my first post in this thread and watch the trailers. You may LOVE it

Are you crazy?? I 'WOULD' LOVE it.

[Hitman0586]

Originally Posted by Sayantan

Are you crazy?? I 'WOULD' LOVE it.

Yes we are little crazy
But could you please tell what excactly do you like in our mod? Did you watched the trailers? What do you think?

[andersenthemuss]

His first post kinda says it all :P

Originally Posted by Sayantan

Wow, a blade mod??

[Cleric]

That looks really cool, some of those mage attacks are badass (especially the fire kicking in the 2nd trailer). I'll definitely check this one out.

[NeoPain]

That Steel Samuray reminds me Yoshimitsu from Tekken a bit._

[Hitman0586]

Hi everybody!
Today we are representing the new story level to you It's placed in the town on backstreets and rooftops under heavy rain. I worked on it just recently so it's only about 50% done
Here are some screenshots showing fight with vampires in this level







Please share your opinion about that level with us

[NeoPain]

Wow, not bad. I like it! Things to do are probably to place more objects in scene and it would be nice for some decals to be on the ground as trash or tire traces, imho. And as for me another thing to do in mod is to replace original MAX PAYNE 2 jacket texture with your own one, because that original seems to be too boring._

[Hitman0586]

Hey everyone!
Today we are showing you the new model of Slayer, made by LAZER. It's made in cool red-black anime style with new sword, sheath and bracelet. Enjoy

[Theonewayman]

Nice

[Hitman0586]

I forgot to put mapper WIktorus Pro into the credits, he worked on the Blade project from the begining and now he works on Vampire Slayer 2.0 too

[aka_piyo]

Cool! nice work
This mod makes me think "what the hell am I doin'? It's time to move on to MP2!"

[Hitman0586]

Presenting you our new level! It is from Blade movie, called Blood Party. The author is our mapper Panamius. How do you like this level guys?

[Jami3]

looks really good, and needless to say the Blade model is really good. All I would do is stylise the lighting more, make the dark areas darker and the spotlights brighter to emphasise the shadows. Looks great though, really looking forward to this mod now.

[theHunted]

Really nice work there with the new level. As of right now I cannot remember if that was possible in maxed but it would be nice to have one of the tube lights from that screenshot:

http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/...1m_2f973ab.jpg

flicker on and off unperiodically. Would add a lot of more discomfort to to this already scaring setting.

[Hitman0586]

Okay guys, here is a VS2 wallpaper showing more of The City level



This level is almost finished except the scripting and cutscenes

[Hitman0586]

Hey everyone! Today we present 2 videos of cutscene animations from level "The City" You can see Slayer and Dark Wizard performing cool long moves. Animations are made by LAZER Enjoy them at our ModDB profile here
And if you want to see these videos in full quality go here

[DissidentRage]

F*ckin' awesome work, guys. Any updates lately?

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

There was a mod for HL1 called vampire slayer. I was, for a time, the very best at it. Of course this was back when I played video games 4+ hours every day.

[MrUniq]

Increadible work...it's good to see people still having fun modding MP2. It's a great 3rd person game engine.

[Hitman0586]

Hey everybody! It's time for a massive update!
Today we present you the new features of Vampire Slayer 2.0

New updated look of Dark Wizard (face & hands skin by Maxben, the rest by LAZER)





New weapon M82 Barret sniper rifle



New level (by HITMAN) and action with the new enemies in it






As you can see in some pictures, we have implemented vampire ash in our mod. So now it looks more realistic when you kill a vampire. Ash made by LAZER and inspired by the Blade movie.
Stay tuned for the latest news of Vampire Slayer 2.0!

[Theonewayman]

So cool guys!!! Continue with the great work.

[Hitman0586]

Originally Posted by Theonewayman

So cool guys!!! Continue with the great work.

Thanks man! Appreciate it

[Sayantan]

Some amazing shit there guys. Keep working, it's going absolutely great.

Just tone down the brightness for the reflection map you're using for that crazy character of yours with metallic body gears.