I only read about half this thread, and I'd like to offer one perspective on the approach of doing an Avara 2:

I would strongly advise whoever is attempting to design a new Avara to stick with gameplay and physics first. Avara itself was not a technical marvel, the beauty of the game was found in stark simplicity. It gained a cult following despite simple low-poly models because the gameplay was extraordinary.

The original models give you a clear framework for building a basic 3d model, and you can easily study the way HECTORs move in order to animate for walking, jumping, crouching, etc. Missle flight pathing, lock-on mechanics, variable plasma damage...these are a bit more difficult.

Let's say you make a map using the same sort of basic low-poly graphics that Avara had. Let's say you have 6 player support for network games, and can reasonably import most classic maps. Let's even say you get the physics and the basic gameplay mechanics working as well as the original.

Guess what? By that point you've given the Avara fanbase, past and present, what it has wanted for over a decade...an Avara project that will run on modern systems and has potential for future development. Hell, you could probably get an active community of testers just from the old veterans that still check this forum....and they would ADORE it, even if it were exactly like the old game.

At that stage, call it an alpha. That is when you go back and update graphics, add in new features, tweak it to support more players, and add all the bells & whistles (including the bulk of items found only in single player, like UFOs). That's when you can focus on trying to capture a new audience with more polys, textures, new hulls or weapons, and 128 player support (but please, retain options to keep the classic stripped down simplified version). Especially on the eye candy, making it look better is easy. I mean just look at the original and imagine how much better you could make it look just by adding textures.

And if it has legs to become viable as a release to a wider market? Great, you'll have nobody who will give it a more ringing endorsement than I would....but you start with baby steps. Recreate the simple genius of the original, and then expand upon it. Too many of these projects have languished and died because the creators tried to do too much.

Good luck, and I will keep checking back to look for progress.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

This post has been edited by Dark Vengeance : 22 January 2009 - 07:54 PM

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Avara 2