FreeSpace Port ReCharged Dev log 14 - Mission Changes
- Iain 'Sessile_Nomad' Baker
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Welcome back, friends. In the previous dev log posts, we saw how I modified Vanilla FreeSpace One's core gameplay by making it faster, harder and more dynamic. But to truly bring it up to 21st-century standards, I would need to fix FS1's weak link - its mission design.
Compared to FreeSpace 2, the missions in Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War (to give FS1 its full title) were simple. Compared to the highly complex missions the community has created over the last quarter-century, they are very simplistic. This would need to change.
A good example of this is the late-game mission 'Evangelist.' In Vanilla FreeSpace One, this mission involves the player and a few AI wingmate bombers attempting to destroy a Shivan capital ship, the Demon Class destroyer, the SD Eva.
For the time it was created - 1998 - it was an impressive step forward. Few - if any - Space Combat Sims of the era enabled the player to destroy such large warships directly. It was effective, but simple, especially when compared to its equivalent mission in FreeSpace 2 - 'Slaying Ravana' - which was a rather more complex affair.
Audio Visual Upgrade
Below is an example of FreeSpace Port's first mission, 'Eve of Destruction'. This ably shows how FreeSpace Port (A port of the original game to the more advanced FreeSpace Open engine) radically improves the visuals of the original 1998 game, whilst keeping the gameplay and missions strictly vanilla.
(NB - this was entirely due to the rest of the community - credit where credit is due.)
FreeSpace Port Mission 01 Eve of Destruction
Video by Mralexs
With FreeSpace Port taking care of the audio and visuals, it was time for me to crack on with upgrading the missions.
Giving Missions the 'ReCharged Treatment'
First, I added the following enhancements to all missions as standard - what I call the ‘ReCharged set menu’:
Added Deployable Rally Points to almost all missions. (Except THAT recon mission.)
Changed ineffectual blob turrets to deadly Point Defence Cannons
Added missing missiles where needed (some enemies had empty missile banks)
Enabled support ship hull repair to 75%
Added escort fighter wings to bomber wings
Added the 'Browning Kinetic Cannon' as a selectable weapon to all missions
Added the enhanced warship cannons, VLS launchers, etc., to missions featuring warships
These improvements helped a great deal, but the underlying missions remained simplistic. To bring them up to modern standards, many would need to be rebuilt from the ground up...
Evolutionary Steps
Which I started to do. However, reinventing the wheel is a poor use of time. Instead, I checked whether anyone had done this already. It turned out that someone had. A community member had created multiplayer versions of the FS1 missions.
Since they were intended for coop multiplayer, they were far more challenging than their vanilla counterparts. Two things I particularly liked were the inclusion of many more warships, and transports being used as gunboats - gun trucks in space!
FreeSpace Port Multiplayer Co-op Eve of Destruction
Video by Shivan SpS
Some of these missions served as the basis of the FSPR versions, while others provided general inspiration. Another step in the right direction, but there was more to come.
Pacing
I wanted FSPR to have a great sense of 'pace', with definite peaks and troughs in the action. The pacing of the vanilla game didn’t offer this to the extent that I liked, although the expanded multiplayer missions helped somewhat. So, building upon this was next on the to-do list.
Some vanilla missions involve long periods of downtime that serve no purpose, and are frankly a bit boring. I fixed these with a combination of one or more of the following:
Shortening the physical length of these sections,
Adding things into these sections so something happens,
Adding dialogue, which helps with characterisation and deepens the lore.
This worked well, but there was still more to do. I felt some missions actually needed some downtime added to give the player a chance to catch their breath and to rearm and repair their ship.
The need for these 'breathers' was often related to vanilla FS’s use of ‘repeat waves’.
This means using wave after wave of identical - and identically armed - enemies.
Once a wave is destroyed, an identical wave will jump in after X amount of time. The delay between the waves was rarely sufficient for the player to rearm, meaning the player would have to face future waves without missiles.
I place this firmly into the 'Design Sins' category of game design, for several reasons.
It soon becomes tedious to fight such enemies,
It becomes exhausting if there are too many,
It becomes overwhelming if the interval between waves is too short.
My solution - remove repeat waves completely for most missions and replace each wave with unique wings of enemies, following a few simple rules:
Each wing should approach from a different direction
Each wing should jump in at a different distance
Each wing should consist of different types of fighters and bombers
Each wing should be armed with a different mix of weapons
NB - There were one or two missions where I didn’t feel confident doing this because the waves seemed tied too closely to the mission design, but a few missions out of 35(ish) is acceptable (albeit with gritted teeth)
This, combined with the faster-paced and more intense combat, worked well and created the pacing I was aiming for. One of the games I was playing for pleasure during FSPR’s development was ‘Butcher’, the game Phobia Game Studio and Transhuman Design created before their reverse horror game Carrion. (Hint - go play Carrion 😈)
Although FSPR and Butcher were completely different types of game, I couldn’t help but notice the similarity in pacing - careful planning and cautious gameplay interspersed with bursts of fast-paced and brutal high-risk-high-reward close combat. So, was FSPR influenced by Butcher? Yeah, probably 😈
Which Way is Up?
Another itch that needed scratching was that, despite being set in space (where there is no ‘up’ or ‘down’), most of the vanilla missions were orientated on a more or less 2D plane - the same plane the FRED editor shows.
I wanted to take full advantage of space’s 3D nature by introducing verticality where possible, both in terms of things happening above and below the main plane, and in orientation - i.e. some things pointing ‘up’, ‘down’ or 'sideways' relative to it.
I was concerned that this might be confusing for the player, so I asked the FreeSpace modding community what they thought about it. I was pleasantly surprised that they largely agreed with me, as the poll results below show.
This gave me the confidence to re-work the missions I had created to-date to include more verticality and a little less horizontality (Which I have just discovered is actually a real word and not something I had made up and been using for the last three years)
I admit I was only partially successful at this. Reworking the mostly 2D and horizontal vanilla missions would require extensive work, which I didn’t have the time or energy to do.
I might be able to create the illusion of 'non-horizontality' by having the player arrive at angles that differ from the mission’s horizontal plane, taking advantage of our natural tendency to assume a horizontal orientation. I’m curious to see if this approach works with players after release.
I had a freer hand with the newly created missions, of course, but I confess that even these missions ended up being more horizontal than they could have been, at least in their first incarnations. I guess old habits die hard.
That said, perhaps this is for the best. Making the missions too three-dimensional might make them confusing. I recall the Homeworld devs saying they were worried about this, and used several tricks to help orientate the player - such as aligning the sky box horizontally with the main plane of battle.
The End Result
A few missions were left mostly ‘as is’ save for the ‘set menu’ changes listed earlier. But some changed so radically that about the only thing that’s the same is the name and the overall objective.
To see the extent of the changes I have made to some of the missions, compare the vanilla FSPort mission ‘Eve of Destruction’ above to my rework of it below.
Causality: The Great War’s Eve of Destruction EVO
Video by Nomad's Reviews Plays (i.e, me :-) )
As you can see, the mission builds upon the Co-op version, but has significantly more events, restored content (from the Eve of Destruction REDUX mission), dialogue, lore-building and characterisation.
The sharp-eyed among you may have noticed the video title doesn't say ‘FreeSpace Port ReCharged’s Eve of Destruction’, instead saying 'Causality: The Great War’s Eve of Destruction'.
I’ll explain why…next time😁
Previous dev log posts
Iain is a 40+ author and gamer from England, who started his gaming journey on the Atari 2600 36(ish) years ago. His specialities include obscure cult classics, retro games, mods and fan remakes. He hates all sports games and is allergic to online multiplayer. Since he is British, his body is about 60% tea. He can be reached via email at nomadsreviews@gmail.com
Nomad’s Reviews now has a YouTube Channel - Nomad's Reviews Plays.