Hello all.

Update:
This is developement thread so the current news is always at the end of the thread.

Hope you dont mind me posting this here. It covers the Banzai Boot Camp 2 map and various training details. I'll be using the same thread through out the developement of the mission. Im posting it here to give Banzai members and site readers a chance to comment and recommend changes or post ideas.

Avengers working on the terrain and things are going well.

Here work in progress height map of the terrain. The training areas are currently being worked on so the terrain is suitable for the training being provided.




If anybodys interesting in seeing the current ideas, Avenger posted a Zip at mechstorm with screenshots named after the areas he is working on.

http://www.mechstorm.net/mechwar/Banzai/BZ_Screens.zip

I'll keep you guys informed of the progress, since various mechstorm members are working on this it is a slower process than if I did it all my self. However I believe the results will be better for it.

Giskard

Will be following this with interest, Slarti.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeett! That Long Tom range is MASSIVE!

Hello all.

The map should prove to be very useful for clans who want to do a few one on ones or other clan related stuff as well as for its intended purpose.

Avengers great at making terrains these days, we all know he was a good mission maker but his terrains are a hell of a lot better than mine ever where.

Giskard

Late reply, but map looks great. Thanx for effort. Will folow with great interest.

We are getting a little closer to getting the terrain right, Just a few more areas and some minor tweaking then we can begin on the texture and buildings so if you guys have any last requests let me know. I did add in a zero range perpendicular to the Long Tom range and a few raised areas for elevated targets. Last to areas that need working on are the CTF range and the Jump Jet Range so any ideas or suggestions that you may want to see incorporated here let me know.

Its summer again so we are slowing down.

Avengers been working the on terrain during his spare time but he's busy working most of the time so its taking a little longer. The primary problem is avoiding the issues the old Boot camp had, eg trying to squeeze everything on to an unsuitable terrain.

This time around the jumpslug range rocks, the sniper range is ideal, the brawler pit is a stadium and the long term range comes complete with the kitchin sink

So things are looking very good and ive not touch the map yet, its entirely down to Avengers map making skills.

PS the textures he has been experiementing with have been very good too.

Giskard

Thanx for your efforts! I'll try and use it to attract some new players to the game...

Thats the key to this little project.

How do new players catch up with established players online ?

I think this will turn out to be part of the solution.
Server admins will probably have to supply the rest.

Giskard

Take a peek at Avengers latest terrain for Bootcamp 2.




Colour Key:

The brown areas are shooter areas the players use for the static ranges and they mark the paths from the base.

The white areas are Banzais Boot Camp. Where you spawn.

The round thing on the right is the arena for brawler practice.
Above it is a CTF range.
Below it is the new long tom range.

The one down the left side with all those craters (there not craters btw) is the jump slug range.
Above and below that are the static shooting range for weapon testing and the sniper range.
All these 3 are likely to be live fire ranges where the player can be destroyed.

Each training area will have an objective assigned to it to mark whether its operational, inactive or shut down because all the bots are destroyed. You will be able track what ranges are in use easily.

More info on the rest, Starfire has agreed to reskin some of the buildings for us too. So mechstorms got 2 of its best guys dealing with 2/3s of the detail. I'll be doing the final third. This is going to be sooo dam cool your going wonder how mercs ever got along without it.

PS if TB has any special logos or graphics they want to see appearing in the reskinned base let me know because we will need them eventually.

Giskard

*drools*

Ive been on the actual terrain because Avengers making sure it meets my scripting needs and I have to say, ive not seen a custom terrain as good as this one. Not even my own terrains beat it. Avengers done a great job here.

Im sure you will agree the delay was worth it when you see it.

Giskard

Guys...this is a Beauty!!!.. Hats off to y'all for your efforts.

Dood, that is SWEET!

When I was with the Heavy Guards, we used Banzai Bootcamp as a training map... This FAR surpasses the old map, and looks to be the BEST training map for Multiplay.

Great job!

Yep, looking good Gisk. I've always liked Avenger's terrains, too.

This one is going to be sooooo dam cool, Cards own "Cooler than you" comment will definately apply.


Anyway.

Voice actors for the SP version.

The exact roles will probably be instructors but im letting Avenger make the base so I will not have the lines until I know exactly where everything will be in the final version.

The following roles will exist for certain.

Banzia Boot Camp CO:
This is reserved for Wildcard or the current Sempia if they want to do.
This bot will be near the admin office and will not move around, but will perform various bot actions on the spot. I know Banzai members will shoot this bot so im going to give them a small surprise when they do.

This role is the commander of Banzai Boot Camp informing the Trainees what Banzai is all about. You guys know what Banzai is about so the exact speach will be entirely upto you. Use it to inform players, advertise banzai, what ever you want. Please note that Banzai logos will be everywhere in the mission and the website address will be on them somewhere near the commanders mech and in other places too. So the player just needs to read the signs to get the site address.

Instructors:

I do not know if we will have enough signs to include info about guides and such found here on Banzai so the instructors will probably just be bots informing the player what range they are on and giving them a short welcome speach.

We will need the following instructors for this.

Jump Jet Range Instructor
Avengers made a typical Avenger style base for this, very cool indeed, will show you later.

Long Tom Range Instructor (This is for DBH if he wants it, otherwise i'll give to who ever signs up for it).

CTF Range Instructor.
Bots dont chase as well as players so this range will be about using available cover to capture the flag with some limited bot involvement. Live fire range.

Sniper Range Instructor
Live fire range. You will be shooting mostly at smaller faster mechs but there will be some big ones sniping back at you.

Jump slug range Instructor.
Live fire range. This range is great, wait till you see it

Static Gunnery range Instructor.
Used for testing mech configs. Not a live fire range.

Brawler Range Instructor.
Live fire range, same idea as seen in Banzai Boot Camp 1. Remember the White Diashi ?

Let me know if your interested in helping out in any of these areas. Your experience in those areas is not so important but if you are an expert then im more likely to let you write your own script so to speak. Post an example below of what youd say below and try and keep it shortish.

Its usually best to stick to a greeting and give the most important tip you can think of. Though we can have more than 1 version played randomly. So if you have several tips post them all.

Giskard

"Don't step on the Wombats!"

That needs to played everytime.

As always, I'll be more than happy to provide whatever recordings you need of whatever you'd like to have said, Gisk. Just let me know the script (or an outline if you'd like me to write the details) and the format you need for the recording, and I'll go with it from there. If a 'Drill Sergeant' type of thing is what you have in mind, I think I can do a decent job with that.

As far as the US Army chants you mentioned in the Lobby thread... they are technically called 'cadences', and there are two types, running and marching cadences (the primary difference obviously being the pace of the song). I can remember quite a few of them, but right off the top of my head I can't remember a single one that's PG-13 compliant.

I'll see if I can clean some of them up a little bit without completely losing the meaning, and I'll post them here.

Jump Slug - is that like the firing range with the MKIIs, Gladiators and Highlanders in the old one?

Kids.

'Jump Slug' was the Vengeance-era derogatory nickname for the Mad Cat Mk. 2, back when it was pretty much the only jumping Assault-class 'Mech in the game, and was protected by buggy jump code (that made it appear to be half a 'Mech-height higher than it actually was in the flight path) to boot.

Thank you.

Remind me to show you mercy the next time I'm beating your poor 'mech senseless.

A thought on the cadences... if anyone could find a recording of the US Army Bayonet Drills, that'd be perfect for a Brawler Range.

"WHAT MAKES THE GRASS GROW!!??"
"BLOOD MAKES THE GRASS GROW, DRILL SERGEANT!!"

I could not remember any that were PG13 compliant either.

Sadly, none of the ones that come to mind are anywhere near PG-13. Count me in as one of the instructor voices, if possible.

ps- can do a good D.I. rant if ya need...

If you need a british voice let me know. I'd need a script though cos I suck at everything aside brawling and even then, I fear I'm somewhat unique.

Wildcard: Thanks mate

cadences: Im actually after some authentic cadences that have been recorded already but its the one thing i doubt i'll find. I was going to use them as abmient sounds in the base area for SP.

As for the speech: Its entirely upto you.

The Drill Serg would work great.

As for the message, its up to you but there are a few things you might want to know first.

You will be presented by a Bot that will if you allow it bear your name.
Near that bot will be signs and TB logos. The signs will carry the TB website address.

So should you want to tell people to come here to get more help you need only tell them to read the signs. How you tell them and how you refer to this site can be as clear as you like, you could say go to the site on the signs or tell them the training center can be found by following the signs. So there are a lot of ways to tell the player where to get help whilst staying within the role you create for your self here.

Or you could play the role of a true Drill Serg and give them a good old dressing down

Its entirely choice but the theme is training so it would be good if the commander was helpful in that area somehow

Audio formats: Any wave or MP3 format will do, but no effects. If we need them we can add them later. Starfires dad actually edits sounds for a living which is extremely handly since starfire has access to his emense knowledge on the topic

Giskard

To everybody else.

When I start scripting the mission, I'll have a better idea of locations and requirements and can write the lines what accurately reflect the area, buildings and signs around the bot that represents you. At which time I'll let you guys decide if you want to do a paticular role or not or if you have better lines than I come up with.

Some of you have done voices overs before and know what to expect. Im glad your up for doing it again:)

This time we can have some fun with the audio whilst providing some helpful tips.

In the mean time, Avengers putting the finishing touches to the missions base but he is a perfection and I do not know how long this will be. It may be day or week or month. As soon as he is finished i'll take a look and post what we need from each instructor.

Giskard

Fear not Gisk! I happen to have a dozen or so cadences recorded around here somewhere. a few of em have foot marching though (well, they all have it but some less audible) I also have a handful more of Marine Corps Cadences if you're not being picky.
As for voice recording. I'll be happy to fill in any role that hasn't been taken, but a script is required. ^_^;
Now. Lemme dig around for those Cadences.

Well, even though I'm not an official member of TB, I'd be happy to lend my voice.

Qualifications:

3 years, U.S. Army Military Police;

U.S. Air Force Training Instructor (Read: Drill Sargeant) School;

Father of three daughters!


You want me to read for you, just let me know. I can be reached at dhg_gundancer@yahoo.com.

Found one text version on a website that I thought y'all might like. I have something similar to it But it cuts off on "but they won..." rather than "But they won't let me go." (near the end of course) It's roughly a minute long.
Here ya go.

THEY SAY THAT IN THE ARMY

They say that in the Army the coffee's mighty fine
It looks like muddy water and tastes like turpentine

Chorus:
Oh Lord, I wanna go
But they won't let me go
Oh Lord, I wanna go hoo-hoo-hoooome EH!

They say that in the Army. . .

. . .the chow is mighty fine
a chicken jumped off the table and started marking time

. . .the biscuits are mighty fine
one rolled off the table
and killed a friend of mine

. . .the training's might fine
last night there were ten of us,
now there's only nine

. . .the pay is mighty fine
they give you a hundred dollars
and take back ninety-nine

I'm also digging around the net s'more to find more Army cadences for you. Turns out they're only 1/3rd of my cadences. <_<

Edit: Found a site with some good stuff. I recomend a listen toBin Laden Bomb Song (Day-o) (1.92MB) (which is in the humor section, not cadence)
http://www.pro-american.com/Free_Music/free_music.html

Can't forget the good phrases, too:

"What is your major MALFUNCTION, Numbnuts?"

"Pilot, you're about as right as a soup sandwhich!"

"Oh, that's good... You're as squared off as a doughnut, you know that Cadet?"

"Did your parents have the same last name BEFORE they were married, Pilot?"

Etc, etc...

Leeran: Great, im waiting for the mission from avenger who gave me an eta of tomorrow night. At which time i'll start getting organised and see what i need. Keep those files handy, i will be asking for them at some point.

Everybody:

BTW all roles are Drill Sergs or rather instructors. So any PG rated insults that are rather amusing that a Drill Serg would throw at cadets would be great for the SP version of the mission. So if you can think of some get recording them and pm for ftp details on where to upload them.

If you still have the ftp details from last time use those, its the same details ill be giving out again.

Only this time i'll be creating a bootcamp folder to store the files in at some point.

Gundancer: love yours already mate

Giskard

Oww...
Very cool giskard...
If need any help pm me.

Hello all.

Avenger has now given me the mission files so I can start scripting.

So voice actor recruitment starts now.

I have created a folder called Banzaibootcamp2 on the betatesters ftp so you cans can upload the files there if you do not have a way to send them to me your selves. PM me for the FTP details and if need help using ftp. PM me links to your recorders if you do have a place to upload them too.

If you need help start by downloading smartftp.

http://www.smartftp.com/

Its just one ftp program out of many, any will do if you have a preference.

Training area Instructors.

See the post above for a list of instructors we need.

This is what I thought we would do for the SP version.

Each Instructor takes the role of a Sergant in charge of 1 training area. Each Instructor will issue tips and PG rated insults to the trainees. A combination of both will be played at random intervals in each training area. 1 person should do all the lines for 1 instructor. So the voice is consistant. We need 6 people to do all instructior parts. Wildcard will be the CO and the 7th voice and Leeran has some of the base sounds we need.

Each instructor will have 4 one liners to say, perhaps more on training ranges that need more tips.

All insults should be typical army insults aimed at trainees.

Eg an insult for sniper range "Call that good shot, my granny shoots better than you".
EG an tip for the Jumpslug range "Mechwarrior, Shoot at the feet as the mech drops back down".

The first is a good example of a PG insult for banzaibootcamp2.
The last one is the sort of line new players may find helpful and is a good example of the kind of tip we are after here.

Nows the time to choose you the roll you want to play. Check the post above and start posting any tips or lines you think will benefit the mission or help new players.

I must stress that these lines are the icing on the cake when it comes to Banzaifying the mission so it feels like a TB or BI product.

If the audio does achieve what I hope it will achieve it will not only help noobs but make noobs feel like that are at a typical Banzai practice session and TBers know what goes on in those sometimes lol.

The MP version will be worked on first, so you will see betas of that before I need these audio files for the SP version. This should help you a lot. Because of this, we have until the MP version nears completion to finalise the lines and get the recordings in.

Which is plenty of time.

Giskard

Some preview shots of the mission I recieved from Avenger.

The first pic is the Base area, at its center is an idea Avenger had to use some of the space for a Jump jet practice range. I personally love what he did here.



Below is the jumpslug range, the brown area next to the repair base is the trench you shoot from. The trench is needed because this is a live fire range. As you can see from the terrain, i have a lot of places I can hide JJ equiped bots so the player will not always know where the next shot is coming from. This range could be very dangerous for that reason.



Everything above is Avengers work, my own work is about to start.

Giskard

Just a thought. If you want to make it more realistic, in Single player you would need more voices. Have other trainees, more lines for the SGT's yelling at the others.
Maybe even a speaker near the center of the map with messages like. "Whoever left the two ton cheesecake outside Bunker number 1. Please remover it"
"Team Banzai would like to remind you that all mech's left unmanned outside mechbay's will be towed. Thankyou."

Drunken Idiot??

Leeran: ROTFL

Thats a good idea for the background sounds in the SP version.

Very amusing too.

If anybody wants to record some go right a head I'll use the best ones

PS the Brawler pit and Jump slug range are now operational.

Giskard

Sweet...
Hmm... might do some recording tommorrow...
the FTP stuff is the same from last time right?

Yup it is Blue.

Look for the Banziabootcamp folder this time.

Everybody else PM me for the details or post a link to the records you do.

Giskard

Ok, I've done a few for that, they even sound vaguely like a PA system once I turned the echo on (let me know if you'd like them with the echo off) . I got.....

"Would the driver of Cauldron Born registration N607AOP please report to reception, you have left your lights on and you're parked in the Sempai's slot. I repeat, would the owner of Cauldron Born N607AOP please report to reception."

"When you have finished your training session, please make your way to the exits as clearly marked. Also, please take a few moments to peruse our gift shop. You can purchase Banzai mugs, Banzai art, Banzai Beer steins, hell, Banzai anything, Banzai frisbees, banzai whatever you like. You can even purchase the Banzai Thong. Thank you."

"We would like to remind all users of the bootcamp that legging the sempai is not prohibited. I repeat, legging the sempai is not prohibited, thank you."

"Team Banzai would like to remind everybody that the Wombats are wild and feral and should only be handled by a trained handler. Thank you."

And Fury will probably kill me for this but I couldn't resist. A slight variation on the lost child at the supermarket.

"Would the owner of the sake fuelled redhead currently damaging reception please come and claim her before she decides to drive her Thor home ? Thank you"

I'll set about remembering how to upload them in a minute and I may take a look at some stuff for the brawler pit if that's ok with you guys.

Now those are classic!

Good ones Seig!!!!!11

Just a thought, before I start corrupting innocent newbies and turning them into mini versions of Sliv / new recruits for the Timberliners, what's the policy on talking about legging ? Is it a "legging is bad, do not leg, the world will end if you machine gun that annoying guy's Daishi's leg off" or is it "legs are a valid target, especially if Gwyd's about, target them if they're weak, some people may be annoyed by this so be warned" ?

:Edit:, just had an idea for a bot for you, how about a Gnosis bot that runs around the sniper range in a 4 ERL Ryo with jj's and hides behind all the other bots, occasionally sallying forth to nail you. Give it the best accuracy and evasion script and it'll be a fantastic countersniping training tool. It may also stop Gnosis going 10 - 0

I vote legging is good!
They are tasty targets.

ROTFL

Good to see the sense of humour around here has not changed

About Sound effects on voice overs:

Please dont add any sound effects your self to your voice overs. With so many people doing the recordings, result would be a mess and with no consistancy between one voice over and another. This is why we need to add the effects at mechstorm. There we can add the same speaker effect to all base sounds and give it a uniformed sound.

Legging:

Well the sniper range will allow you to practice legging

Jumpslug range:
I took advantage of Avengers firing position dugouts, the bots appear and disappear as you change firing positions. Cool stuff and not so much like formation jumping anymore

Brawler pit:
I added 2 waves here, a red wave and a yellow wave. Plus an option for the server admin to destroy all brawler bots at startup to allow the brawler put to be used for 1 on 1 matches by clan members.

The difficulty of the bots can also be chosen by the server admin

Its a single config file the admin just needs to edit.

Giskard

Boo! Dio said it the other night, you guys already dive through everyone to get a shot at me. The last thing I need is you guys learning to aim.

bah. Gnosis, this is your chance for immortality. Ungrateful wretch !!

:Edit: So any DI stuff involving legging is basically a "legging exists, do it if you want, don't expect everyone to like it" kind of thing.