Adventure Game Studio

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Developer's note:
Crusader: No Hope is a futuristic adventure game based on the classic game series Crusader released by Origin Systems, Inc. in 1995 and 1996. The original Crusader games were action based; however, this is an adventure game, the emphasis is on story. It is recommended to know the original games to understand this game.


Progress: Click here (http://cyberionsystems.com/echosector/forum/index.php?topic=54.0)


The story so far:
It is the nature of civilization to progress from chaos, to a strongly controlled social order, to a social order founded upon individual liberty and maintained by the consent of the governed. There are those who charge that the cycle then proceeds once more to chaos, but it is more accurate to say that chaos is always the result of the breakdown of the social order at any stage of this evolutionary process. It is the chasm which social evolution constantly skirts.
In understanding the rise of the World Economic Consortium; and the revolutionary Resistance which now challenges WEC global dominance, it is necessary to remember that all human progress is incremental. It is impossible for a civilization to go from anarchy to utopia in a single step. When the reformer of today asks himself, “Why did people ever surrender their liberties to the WEC?” he is avoiding an answer that is painfully simple - there was a time when the WEC was far preferable to any other available options.

In 2147, the democratic world was living in bliss. Business was steady and flowing. Peace was among the inhabitants. It seemed the world was perfect at that time. However, literally beneath everyone, a cavalcade of fundamentalists calling themselves the WEC (World Economic Consortium) believed strict policy and government-controlled media and property would be the best option. Gabriel Gauthier was 24 years old when he formed the World Economic Consortium.

Gabriel David Gauthier was born in 2123 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He lived with 7 brothers and sisters and 5 mothers. At the age of 10, he became very interested with Joseph Stalin and his governmental principles. He left school at 17, and ran away from home. He survived by robbing banks for over 6 years. In November 2146, he was handing out posters in the city streets of New York promoting the fall of the current democratic government. He was arrested December 1. While in prison, he made several friends who also had the same ideas as him. On December 24, he, with his cellmates, escaped the prison and fled to Mexico. On January 1, he officially began the revolution named the World Economic Consortium.

The WEC was filled with radical rebels, bloodthirsty and ready to die for their cause. By 2149, nearly 40,000,000 people around the world became outcasts and left their homes and began living underground in support of the WEC. Because of a large population of 10,000,000,000 people, hardly anyone noticed, nor cared. On New Year's Eve 2149, every WEC division around the world began mobilization of their forces on their home countries' border.
At exactly 12:00, January 1st, 2150 CST, the WEC began their march.  It didn't take long for the democratic ways of the old government to fall and the imperialistic ways of the WEC to take uncompromising control.


The year is 2150. You play Greg, a young genius who is stationed underground to work on classified projects. One day, he wakes up in complete and utter silence. He then realizes the facility has been taken over by... something. It's up to him to found out what's going on and to get himself out alive.


Screenshots:
(http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/3639/barracksrender6xt2cb.jpg)(http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/7044/hall13kl7wl.jpg)
(http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/4076/barrackspostercloseup1ek9jy.jpg)(http://img333.imageshack.us/img333/5120/menu8qw.jpg)


Work in Progress images:
(http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/8084/xarakt7mx.jpg)
(http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/3720/porta2pw.jpg)



Characters:
Greg
(http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1340/greg8dt.gif)
Your character. He is a young genius who has been employed by the government to help work on top secret projects.

Jorg Gruber
Jorg Gruber was born in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2130. His family then moved to the United States in 2132. He never really appreciated technology until he witnessed a space shuttle takeoff live in person. After that, all he ever talked about was space and spaceshuttles. After graduating college, he was employeed to work at ZURO-6 Research Facility.

Dimitri Ivaluev
(http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6919/sci1ani7py.gif)
Dimitri Ivaluev was born in 2101 in Moscow, Russia. At an early age, he had an interest for the universe and science. In school, he was one of the top kids in his class, he excelled at everything. After graduating high school, he enrolled at Moscow State University, he majored in Science and Technology. At the end of his last year, he graduated #1 in his class and was immediately approached by the Russian government. He accepted. He worked for the government for three years before discovering his projects were used to terminate Russian rebels. He defected from the country and moved to the United States. In 2131, he was transferred to ZURO-6 Research Facility in Austin, Texas. He continues to work there to this day.


Locations:
10 futuristic rooms of the Underground Research Facility (map included)

(http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/4430/map1wn.jpg)


Credits

Project Lead - Design - Intro Movie
Nikolay "Cyberion" Ivliev

Scripting
Alex 'Scorpiorus' Prince
Nikolay "Cyberion" Ivliev
Oliver 'Yomo' Nelson

Dialogue - Story - Narrator
Keenan "Goku" Weaver

Background Artist
Nikolay "Cyberion" Ivliev

Portrait Artists
Manos Lagouvardos
Mike Russo

Concept and Sketching Artists
Mike Russo
Orlando Ramirez

Music
Straylight Studios
Intro Theme from WarCraft 3

Special Thanks to
Tony Zurovec
Jason Ely
Mark Vittek

The game is based upon CRUSADER:No Regret/No Remorse developed by Origin Systems, Inc.
Crusader: No Regret/No Remorse is a registered trademark of EA/Origin Systems Inc.
All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

Wow, looks quite professional. Maybe the story isn't of the favorite theme of mine, but it just looks so well done, I'm waiting for this. With excitement  :).

I find it interesting that you named the thread "Ho Hope"...

It does sound like fun. The plot sounds like quite a thriller. However, that means there has to be some great twist in the end.

I was really excited when I read about Dimitri, the oldest staffer. I hope you've developed the characters well. I'd love to see an older, more fragile guy (kinda like the old cleaner in the movie, The Score http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227445/ ).

Btw, you can make the map screen look a bit better if you add some gauges or meters to the empty area at the bottom.

Nice graphics, nice story, I think it will be a good game. Keep it up!

Well, there, ZF & crew--it looks like you've got a winner on your hands :)  Keep it up and good luck :)

~~Bernie

At first I thought it was a story about Christmas/Santa Claus ...

Then I thought it might have hookers in it ...

Then I realized it was a typo in the title!!

The graphics look pretty darn nice and the game sounds interesting!  I didn't play the Origin games, but I'll check this out anyway!

Good luck.

Woohoo! I really liked Crusader: No Regret. Definetly going to play this game when its done.

No pity. No mercy. No regret.

Great job. Looks awesome. I was never very at crusader, hopefully i will complete your game and have my revenge. I like the crusader games.

Being a fan of the original series, I could not hope but wonder why you chose to break away from using a word beginning with R in the title.  No Regret and No Remorse contributed quite alot to the overall feel of the two games, perhaps you could come up with something like No Return or No Restraint?  I'm looking forward to some actual gameplay screenshots, keep up the good work.

According to Mobygames, the third game in the series wa splanned to be called "Crusader: No Mercy", though it was never made. So I don'tthink it really matters whether or not it has an R word.

Added Characters' descriptions.

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sun 17/07/2005 17:46:33
At first I thought it was a story about Christmas/Santa Claus ...

Then I thought it might have hookers in it ...

Then I realized it was a typo in the title!!

Darth, I'm literally rolling over the floor laughing!! :D:D  ;D
(for new visitors of the thread, the title was once "Crusader: Ho Hope")

ok, it looks like  a good game. Are the graphics original, or are they taken from the first, the non-adventure game?

Quote from: BerserkerTails on Wed 20/07/2005 07:16:37
According to Mobygames, the third game in the series wa splanned to be called "Crusader: No Mercy", though it was never made. So I don'tthink it really matters whether or not it has an R word.

Aah, but it didn't get made... and now we know why.
Should have called it No Repentance! Errr, ok, that's no good.

How about No Lament? That has a certain ring. Not very grammatically correct though.

Game looks good.
Where exactly in Austin is this facility? I'd like to check it out :)

Hey Prog!

Nice to meet some Crusader fans, always great to find one. I wrote the script and did the story and stuff like that, but I didn't choose the title. I'd love to have an R subtitle as well, but No Hope describes exactly what the game is. Also... Yes, there is a big twist at the end.Ã,  :)

I'm making a Crusader fan site too, the url is www.echosector.com, it's not up yet, but I hope for it to be up by September 22nd, the 10th anniversary of No Remorse's release. It's gonna be good. I plan to interview all the Crusader development team I've found so far (Tony Zurovec, Mark Vittek, Warren Spector, Jason Ely, Michael Morlan, Steve Hemphill, and the guy that made the keyboard riff for the No Remorse/No Regret theme song) I'd like all the help I can get, check my profile for my contact information.

Oh by the way, here's a collection of my Crusader stuff:

http://www.pcgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3514&start=0

"ok, it looks likeÃ,  a good game. Are the graphics original, or are they taken from the first, the non-adventure game? "

The graphics are completely original, but we're trying to maintain that old Crusader feel. We're also using the music from the games.

"Where exactly in Austin is this facility? I'd like to check it out "

You're in it right now.Ã,  ;)

Crusader is awesome, i loved the bit between missions with trading (i think? )etc a lot, perhaps more so than the main bulk of the game :D

good days.. :D

Yeah, the Rebel Base (Echo Sector) in No Remorse was always the best, I just loved the interaction between the characters.

Wizard was always my favorite, Weasel is right behind him too!

"Come come come come, hello hello hello... Weasel's the name, selling weapons is my game!"

keep up the good work guys. Waiting in anticipation.

QuoteThe story so far:
The year is 2150. You play Greg, a young genius who is stationed underground to work on classified projects. One day, he wakes up in complete and utter silence. He then realizes the facility has been taken over by... something. It's up to him to found out what's going on and to get himself out alive.

Hmm... sounds awfully lot like Half-Life, doesn't it? ;)

Great screens by the way! Keep it up!

hahah, the game has nothing to do with a half-life... the only similarity is that you play as a scientist.

Quote from: fovmester on Thu 21/07/2005 04:58:22

QuoteThe story so far:
The year is 2150. You play Greg, a young genius who is stationed underground to work on classified projects. One day, he wakes up in complete and utter silence. He then realizes the facility has been taken over by... something. It's up to him to found out what's going on and to get himself out alive.

Hmm... sounds awfully lot like Half-Life, doesn't it? ;)

Great screens by the way! Keep it up!

Sounds a lot like any scifi movie ever made. But so does every other scifi-related media that comes out.

updated with the full intorduction story.

As both a Mormon and an archaeologist I balk at some of the information in the story so far,Ã, particularly the idea that civilization progresses from chaos to a strongly controlled social order.Ã,  It would be more accurate, but far less dramatic to think of civilization as continuum of complexity rather than as a linear construction of chaos to order.

Not this:

Chaos------------>Order -------------->Chaos?

but this:

Simple Organization <-----------------> Complex organization

The polygamy in Salt Lake City is funny to me and certainly seems to add something exotic to the character, but just so everyone knows there aren't any Mormons with more than one wife anymore.

That being said this game seems really well developed and rendered.Ã,  I'm looking forward to release.

Yeah, I was kinda shmooed with that chaos to order line as well. It's kind of a bold statement to start a story off with. The opening line is supposed to attract and that mostly made you argue.

It's a back story. It doesn't have to be factually accurate, just interesting. In this case a bold statement achieves the goal.

The chaos->order->chaos timeline is intended to explain the handing of power to the WEC.
Simple->complex organisation is, as you say, less dramatic. It also ignores the reality of many previous world civilizations which have crumbled and disappeared, possibly chaotically.

As for the polygamy, who's to say that in the 22nd century, polygamy isn't again endorsed?

just a small update guys, to let you know that we are still alive and working on the project.

I've updated the first post with WIP images for your pleasure. Probably that's the last image content i'm going to post, otherwise it will spoil the fun :P

Also, Scorpiorus, with whom we were working on a Terminator:2031 project (which is now put on hold cause of Crusader) finaly back from his vacation and joining the team again as an Advanced and Puzzle Coder/Scripter.

this game looks awesome. cant wait. ;D

To let you all know, the original game this fan game lampoons (Crusader: No Remorse) turns 10 years old on September 22nd. It's a definite celebration day for me.

a short update.

I've updated the first post with the information about our very own feature in AGS' history - vector animation of the characters. Here is an excerpt for you:

Vector Engine

Currently we are working on the implementation of the vector engine to the game. The main feature of it is that it uses polygons and skeleton animation to draw the characters, thus making the animation itself very smooth. You could have seen such feature in a game called Out of This World (a.k.a. Another World). Vector Engine will be coded as a seperate module and will go public after the release of the game.


P.S. Also we are planning to add the support for 3D models (characters). But this is gonna be the next step after we are done with 2D polygons. Scorpiorus is working hard right now to add such support. So guys, stay tuned for teh future updates!

Cyb

Quite a challenge to accomplish.

here is a small update on a progress with Vector Engine. Right now we hit the version 0.6
We estimate it to be finished within next 2 weeks, so stay tuned folks!

Here is an update text i posted on the main page:

Currently we added support for the full character animation, skeletal animation, polygon support. Right now the Editor's coding is progressing pretty well. Almost all features were implemented - make vertices, link vertices and create 3 point polygons, animate the character, save animation, load animation, create frames, smooth interpolation between frames.
Right now the following features are being coded in: sprite support (textured polygons), additional tools for character/object creation, grid and snapping to grid, move multiple points, support for additional frames of animation and few more.

That sounds cool... I've always been a fan of out of this world... I've been wanting to be able to make a game like it for some time.

As for Crusader, I've never played it. Not a big fan of that type of game. Howeve, this looks cool. The graphics, etc... You should have kept the name as "Ho Hope," though, because there seems to be a ho in it. Why exactly does that man's p3n1s come out of his belly, and double-you tee eff does that have to do with the game? It looks like a serious game until you get to that strange but somewhat intriguing pic...

heheheh... ya this one is somewhat intriguing :D Although i won't tell where you may find this pic :D Do not want to spoil the fun :D Also we are incorporating the Easter Eggs into the game ;)

well it was a long time, since i posted here.

Not sure if anyone wondered what happened to the project, but i'll explain anyway. The team had tough times, real life issues that made us to put our project on hold. Due to some unpleasant things, we had to change some artwork, cause our main artist left. After resolving all life problems, i decided to go on with backgrounds myself. As i'm a 3D modeler, i made them all in 3D. We changed game's view to the isometric style.
Also due to a very long development process, we decided to use Vector Engine in out next title in order to reduce production time, by that time it should be ready and fully operational. So far we want to concentrate our work on "No Hope" and finish it. The ETA is about 2 months. So won't be that long till the final release :D.


So what's new? Well i updated the first post with new screenshots, concept art, also added a link to the progress table of the game. Check it out.

I'll publish some additional information, screenshots or some other info every week, if i'm able to. I'll keep you posted.

A small update for you guys. Talking portrait of Greg (main character):

(http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1340/greg8dt.gif)

edit by darth - combined posts, please don't double post.

Fany, but its like as if third chapter conected to old ones only by world story. How about old game characterS?

Wow this does seem like a very professional game. I love it when someone puts so much work into it like you're doing.

I can't wait to play it!!!

wow, this game is still going, awesome!