With the back-end stuff all taken care of, things can move a little quicker as I write the actual game. Those of you with the installed version have probably already got this installed, but for those of you who prefer zip files, here’s Release 9.

For those of you who haven’t downloaded any of it, here’s a little glimpse of how things are:

And about bloody time, eh? Default controls are WSAD to move, arrow keys to turn, QZOP to rotate the camera and right CTRL to fire, but you can redefine the controls to use keyboard, mouse or joystick. Controls aren’t saved yet, though that will change soon.

release8.zip (7.4MB)

Tenth Crusade (6MB installer, needs to check for updates and download on first run)

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last release, and that’s because of all that back-end nonsense I’ve been fiddling with. The most important new addition is a menu-based front-end, so that you can change resolutions, switch antialiasing on and off and choose fullscreen or windowed modes without having to download extra stuff.

You can also pick up the lone MIA who’s chilling out on the beach just north of the start location and return him to the ship you start at. Don’t know if he’ll thank you for it, though - he looks like he prefers the beach to me…

Download Release 7 (9.0MB zip)

The folks on the Retro Remakes forum got it first (and did some vital testing - cheers OogyBoogy and Ian!), but here it is just a day later. Now you too can fly a little 3D gunship around and drag some entirely unanimated soldiers along on a rope!

You can download the first zip here. If you don’t have a high-end graphics card and want to switch off the shadows and antialiasing, get this zip too and use the executable in there. (Yes, this means the next version will need an actual options screen!)

Remaking somebody else’s game is a strange exercise. Some people like to recreate the original game precisely. (Usually a waste of time if you ask me.) Some people like to recreate the gameplay precisely, but update the presentation - better sound and graphics, that sort of thing. That’s what I did with Target; 2006. But The Tenth Crusade isn’t going to do either of those things. Instead, I’m going to take the original graphics and sound (albeit from different versions) and use them to create something similar but different.

I’ve got two sets of design plans for the game. The first from when I started coding, back in 2006, and the second from last Thursday. In both of them, the first thing that got binned was the mission structure.

Back in the day (as they say) Desert Strike’s missions were a little unusual. Each of four levels was split up into a series of objectives such as destroy a bunch of radar dishes or kidnap an enemy general. Theoretically they could be completed in any order, but in practice it wasn’t so easy. In any case, there were only really two types of mission - pick someone up, or blow something up. And they all had to be completed for the mission to be declared a success.

I’m a fan of non-linear games. For me, a story’s a lot less interesting when you don’t really have anything to do with it. Deus Ex, for example, is one of the best games ever thanks to its non-linear elements, while the sequel is not, because nothing you do makes any difference at all. Deus Ex 2 gave you lots of choices, but no consequences.

War, like life, is a non-linear chain of events. In World War 2, the Allied commanders were far from certain that the Normandy landings would be a success. General Eisenhower, the man in charge, had a second speech prepared in case it all fell through and the Nazis won. And, no doubt, he had another set of plans for kicking Nazi arse from a different direction.

Playing Call of Duty 4 recently has been an exercise in frustration. While there are some very clever elements, and the game is generally enjoyable, it is nonetheless disheartening to find the entire game comes to a halt when, say, a particular NPC tank is destroyed. That wouldn’t happen in real life, would it? In real life, if you’re not dead you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back into it. Or if I accidentally wipe out a bunch of friendlies in a bombing raid - sure, there’ll be consequences later. But I shouldn’t get instantly ejected by my copilot.

Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to my plans for the missions in The Tenth Crusade. Non-linearity is, for me, very important. It should be near impossible to have the game end other than by the player dying. And even then, I don’t think the player should permanently die. I’m not sure about the idea of lives, but I’m rather taken with the idea that the player respawns with another helicopter and can go pick up the pilot of the helicopter he just crashed. I’m also considering ways in which a Cannon Fodder style ‘Boot Hill’ could be worked into the game.

Anyway. Enough meandering for the moment; I’ve got a new version of the game for you. Player One gets the cursor keys and the right CTRL key as fire, Player Two gets WSAD and the left CTRL key, and players three and four get joysticks (if you have any). F2-F4 select the number of players, if you want to split the screen.

Release 5 (3MB zip file)