[ Optional ambient background music to listen to while reading. ]
It's been a while since our last heart-to-heart, and I do not like silence. Silence gives off the wrong message.
If I were a player, I'd want to know what is going on with my server of interest, lest I assume the worst.
This is a candid look at where the server stands, and where we're heading next.
No official TL;DR will be provided anywhere.
If you are truly interested in Lancer, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read through this.
[ Part 1 of a comic slide for Lancer 3's scrapped announcement trailer. ]
I always felt like it's pointless to beat around the bush. It simply delays the inevitable, and hides the truth from people.
The truth is, the server is not doing well. I mean, I can't lie about it even if I wanted to. I made a GameTracker page for the server and you can see the history for yourself.
We had a phenomenal launch. We reached and maintained max slots for a considerable time. And then the next day we almost did it again. I've always been one for quality-over-quantity, but that felt good. I couldn't be happier, and it was a huge boost in motivation to keep pushing forward, not only for myself, but also for the rest of the team.
Unfortunately, that only lasted for a relatively short while. The past 2 weeks have been really depressing. And, in part, I kind of expected this. Going from an environment with all these familiar systems and mechanics in Lancer 2 to one where a vast majority of them were missing and had to be substituted with one's imagination in Lancer 3 is a major challenge. I hate to admit it, but Half-Life 2 Roleplay in this day and age struggles to move forward without an abundance of gameplay systems, unless you specifically market it to a group of 30-something-year-olds craving for that OpenAura nostalgia, a hulking part of which have generally moved on with their lives at this point.
[ A screenshot from Lancer 3's launch day. ]
Obviously, I was aware of this at the time. Despite that, part of why I launched Lancer 3 'prematurely' was because I hated the idea of the community stagnating. Of course, Lancer: Episodes was meant to cover that gap in the interim between Lancer 2 and Lancer 3, but as we are all well aware, that led to a dead-end. I'm not here to throw blame at anybody for the outcome of that project - what's done is done, and it's in the past. It's almost comedic, we followed Valve's footsteps with the episodic format, down to the part where it stops working. The only difference is they actually managed to get at least two episodes out the door.
In any case, LE's failure was indeed part of the reason 'Lancer Lite' was born. The other major part of it was because I desperately needed a way to give myself momentum again, so I figured this was a perfect way of accomplishing that. That, plus an instrument of testing the new framework out and ironing out all the backend quirks before they festered for too long was also a good thing to have at that point.
"So, the server is not doing well. Got it. Now what?"
The original plan following the launch of Lancer Lite as Lancer 3 was to stay on City 8 for a while on the current state of the gamemode while working towards the real, proper Lancer 3 along with City 8: 3. However, given the present situation of the server right now, I have come to the decision to alter this approach marginally, and instead split Lancer 3 into three distinct parts, which I will go through one by one and explain below:
Part One
[ Ground view of the City 8 citadel under construction. ]
Part 1 is what you are experiencing right now. Lancer Lite. 2006. Early Occupation, everyone is still setting themselves up. Very early version of City 8. The world will slowly evolve as I continue to add new features and port old ones, but the basic premise will remain the same. The core principles still stand; this is a blank slate for characters to shape as they see fit, and some people have already accomplished very fun things.
Over time, Part 1 will almost seamlessly phase into Part 2 as most ported features are able to fit into this environment. A minor downtime may occur during the transition, to ensure everything goes smoothly and to also give everyone a break.
Part Two
[ Footage of WIP Combine Heads-Up-Display & Socio-Status Automation update for Lancer 2. ]
Part 2 will act as a sort of "remaster" of Lancer 2, which I am currently in the process of slowly executing as you may have noticed in recent development updates. Think of taking an old game and bringing it up to modern standards. That is what Part 2 will be at its core. A Crowlite port of Lancer 2. The ultimate goal for Part 2 is to port all relevant features of Lancer 2 from Clockwork to Crowlite, including factions and roleplay systems. In addition, we will be ditching the current version of City 8 and moving back to Definitive Edition, which we used in the previous iteration of the community. More on that later. Part 2 will also come with a 'timeskip' in our timeline, taking us from 2006 to 2012.
[ Footage of WIP Civil Workers' Union Stock Manager terminal meant to replace the Warehouse's precinct stock containers on Lancer 2. ]
Of course, that does not mean everything will be the same. Lancer 2 was flawed in a number of ways; it wasn't only the archaic gamemode it ran on that was at fault. I personally plan to exercise caution when re-introducing our old factions into the game, and make the necessary changes to ensure their shortcomings are adequately addressed to ensure they act as a benefit to the server, rather than a detriment. That includes changes to the Civil Workers' Union, the Global Authority, the Ministry of Civil Protection, and many more.
[ Concept for a potential A.I. adversary the Combine would have to fight against in Part 2. ]
In addition to gameplay ports and faction improvements, I plan to restructure how we treat the lore of the world in Lancer and how it can have a real effect on the server, or vice-versa. So far the lore has for the most part been little more than an afterthought, while I instead focused on the world in-game, and neglected the possibilities that a fleshed out lore could offer. No more. I will avoid going into details in this post as I do not wish to spoil too much yet, but, when the time comes, I will be taking a dramatically different approach to lore and information secrecy to better enable people to flex their creative muscles and provide a platform where creativity and innovation can truly flourish.
We will switch to Part 2 when all necessary Lancer 2 gameplay mechanics have been ported, all faction systems are fleshed out, City 8: Definitive Edition is updated, and the lore is at a point that is deemed acceptable.
Part Three
[ Development screenshot of the Slum District in City 8: 3. ]
Part 3 of Lancer 3 will (hopefully) depict the original vision I had for the third iteration of the community. It is a large, ambitious vision, that may take a very long time to fully see through. It primarily involves a major overhaul to a number of different gameplay systems, as well as the creation of City 8: 3, our custom City 8 map built from the ground up based on the City 8 aesthetic with cherrypicked cyberpunk & sci-fi notes. Similar to Part 2, Part 3 will also feature a 'timeskip' in our timeline, taking us from 2012 to 2018.
I couldn't go into more detail even if I wanted to. At least, not without spoiling major plans, and without making this thread four times as long as it is now. Rest assured, more information will come out when the time is right. Those who've known me for a long time will remember that I am not one to rush things to completion. As Gabe Newell famously said, "Late is just for a little while. Suck is forever."
For better or for worse, the Part 2 to Part 3 transition line may end up being a little blurred, similar to the upcoming Part 1 to Part 2 transition. That's generally hard to avoid without secretly developing a plethora of features and just keeping them in some basement collecting dust, which I do not want to do.
[ Outdated sneak-peek footage of the new Terminal Restriction Zone in City 8: Definitive Edition. ]
It's been a running joke for a while now the fact that despite being called "Definitive Edition", I kept updating the map. Before Lancer 2 shut down, there was a 4th Major Map update planned for City 8: Definitive Edition, which was unfortunately never finished. As I work towards Part 2 of Lancer 3 and we return to Definitive Edition, I'd like to go back and finish whatever is left over and also make further changes and additions to the map based on your feedback to ensure the map meets all of our needs and expectations as a community.
[ Outdated sneak-peek footage of the latest sewer additions to City 8: Definitive Edition. ]
There were a number of changes that were made for the latest update to the map, ranging from a butchered Terminal Restriction Zone, to slightly expanded sewers, slightly expanded & modified subway, re-introduced City Administrator area, and a completely new Interim Global Authority office complex building inspired & modeled after Deus Ex's UNATCO headquarters. ...and many more which I cannot remember right now. As expected, a full changelog and a showcase video will come out in due time when the update is complete and the map is deemed ready for use again.
[ Outdated sneak-peek footage of the new Interim Global Authority office building modeled after Deus Ex's UNATCO headquarters. ]
This is where you come in. I'd like for you to reply to this thread with any ideas or suggestions you have, or just what you would like to see out of Definitive Edition in general in the next update. Your feedback is tremendously important in ensuring the map manages to keep its rich legacy and title of being the best edit of City 8 on the workshop.
[ A Transhuman Arm squad inside the East-Asian Exclusion Zone, a potential off-map area players may be able to visit in Part 2. ]
There are a ton of lore ideas that I have for Lancer, some of which are even reaching as far back as Lancer 1. That's at least 2021, if not earlier. Kind of surreal if you sit and think about it. Regardless, I've been having random streaks of inspiration here and there and have been trying real hard to mold something that is actually interesting to have in the background of the server in the form of a narrative that seamlessly weaves in and out of the main server to ensure everyone is entertained and actually actively contributes to the day-to-day passive rp rather than being an occasional action relief event.
Everything from a malfunctioning AI sabotaging the Combine, to an increasing Antlion threat (that involves everyone, not just CPs), to Japan's Ex-Imperial Government in exile, to rogue Proselyte regiments, to Earth slowly fucking falling into Xen from portal storms. I'm not going to go into specifics here, not because I do not want to (The upcoming radically different approach to lore and information secrecy would encourage me to anyways), but because none of this is finalized and I wouldn't want to promise something here only for us to later go "lol actually we changed our minds sorry!", which would be really shitty.
I also plan to bring back the world map and put a lot more focus on it to flesh out some details that would prove useful over the course of the server. It won't be as in-depth and detailed as it is on some other servers, but the goal is to give it an upgrade from how it looked like in Lancer 1 and Lancer 2.
This is where you come in. Woah, Déjà vu. Anyway- good world building does not come solely from the server runners; it comes from the community as well. We already have a lore submissions subforum here. If you have any ideas that you think are cool and could be used in Part 1, Part 2, or even Part 3, I highly encourage you to voice them and write about them. It doesn't matter if it's just a world map entry, or a general lore document, or even an event suggestion (which has its own dedicated subforum). Ideas are always welcome.
[ Development screenshot of mine M4 of the Ultor Corporation Colony on Mars, created by the author of City 17 Build 210. ]
Throughout the last couple of years, I often had a wave of burnout come smashing through and hijacking all of my momentum while working on the Half-Life 2 RP server. It's not uncommon. Thereby, since I momentarily lost immediate interest in HL2RP, my attention was hijacked by other side-projects. Usually when I'm demotivated or burnt out, I tend to just hyperfixate on a video game or two for a while. Minecraft, Space Engineers, My Summer Car, whatever. However, these past couple of burnout episodes I've had the idea of instead working on a different schema for Lancer; something that interests me. That way, anything I make could end up being recycled for the HL2RP schema, or, if I get far enough, could be a potential new server, even if temporary.
One of these projects was Red Faction 1 Roleplay. I imagine a majority of you won't be familiar with that game, and I don't blame you for it. It was originally a PlayStation 2 game released right in between of Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2, in 2001. It was fun, but not fun enough to stand the test of time the way Half-Life 1 did. Some of you may be familiar with Red Faction: Guerilla or Red Faction: Armageddon, however, which are newer titles to the franchise, but are not relevant to all this.
[ Semi-Final Red Faction 1 Roleplay Main Menu. ]
In any case, Red Faction 1 is one of my favorite games. Most of that love for it probably comes from my childhood nostalgia, but I digress; it's something that interested me, so I worked on it for a little while with the help of my friend redcatjack who took on the task of actually developing the map for this schema for Lancer. An entire design document was also drafted up with how each faction would work, what players would do day-to-day, how they'd interact with one another, etc. It is a difficult and ambitious side-project that may or may not see the light of day some day. In the case it doesn't, many of its features could likely be recycled for HL2RP. But, that is not the only side-project idea that piqued my interest...
[ Main Menu of a Work-In-Progress Black Mesa Roleplay schema for Crowlite. ]
Another idea that I've had lingering around in my mind for a long time now has been Black Mesa Roleplay. I'm sure most of you understand the premise of this a lot better than the previous example. It was a potentially fun side-project, one of which I had many ideas for to try and make it more viable long-term, considering the lacking long-term retention rate that this type of schema has had over the years.
[ Work-In-Progress computer system for BMRP. ]
I mainly worked on the planning part of everything and a few gameplay features, but apart from that, it faded back into the back of my mind as HL2RP started gaining more traction and getting a larger focus from everybody. Nonetheless, all the documents created for it, the WIP custom map, and the unfinished schema features still exist, ready either to be repurposed or finalized one day.
The reason I am mentioning all this is to explain why sometimes there are long periods where nothing is heard from me on my end. I get burned out for one reason or another, and tinker with a side-project for a little bit.
As I mention at the top of the post, I hate silence. I hate it both from the perspective of a humble player, as well as the perspective of the project lead. Silence leads to speculation and misconception, which can act as lighter fuel for demotivation and eventual fallout. It's not good, and it's a slippery slope.
I often have an internal argument with myself trying to decide how much I should talk about. I always wanted to sort of just show things all at once when they are done and give everyone a big happy surprise. Hell, it feels wrong even making this thread and talking about some of this stuff. But the way I want to do these things would mean a lot of silence, which has proven to be bad.
In any case, I hope this was an insightful read that calmed some minds. Thank you for taking the time to actually read the whole thing. I will try to do better in communicating and making sure I keep you guys up to date on what is happening from now on. Lancer wouldn't be where it is today without you.
