31 replies to this topic

[Bittah Commander]

While information about information about Westwood's original intentions with the Sequel might be a bit too sensitive for EX-Westwood staff to release (because of copyright issues), releasing information about their original intentions with Tiberian Sun shouldn't be (for as far as I know).

For as far as I know Westwood was actually pushed to release Tiberian Sun when it was really only half-way finished (though I really never would have guessed, because Tiberian Sun is really already an amazing game the way it is now).

So could any EX-Westwood staff member shine some light on the features, buildings, units and possibly even some parts of the story that were scrapped from TS because there wasn't enough time to implement it?


Some things that were intended to be included with Tiberian Sun (for as far as I know) that I can think of right now is everything from Firestorm (except from probably CABAL going berserk and everything that came along with it), the Fiestorm Defense was supposed to work just like the shield generator thingy does in Supreme Commander, GDI was supposed to be able to call in mutant reinforcements, GDI was supposed to either call in reinforcements with the Dropship Bay (so it'd sorta act like a cheap war factory) or use the Dropship loadout to select units that are delivered at the Dropship bay with a Dropship at the beginning of certain missions and that lighting was supposed to affect the performance of units and base defenses (they'd aim better when there'd be enough light or something).

So... Is there any EX-Westwood staff member that would like to share?

[Hiromoon]

To quote a mod

"Klarin" said:

Most of the posts in this thread split off into the Lounge. Please keep Ask Petroglyph threads relevant to... well, asking Petroglyph.

Klarin

[Bittah Commander]

Klarin posted that when the discussion on my topic wasn't really about asking Petroglyph anything anymore, while my first post was and that why the topic was split and my first post remained "Ask Petroglyph" forum

[Hiromoon]

Ah, okay then.

[SMIFFGIG]

I would certainly be interested to hear some feedback too

There where many things planned for TS (from conceptual to even partially making it on the release CD of TS) but never for some reason found there way in game

Like the Threat Evaluation Node (aka Threat Rating Node)... which was tied in with the 'Tactical Nuke' (i remember reading the threat rating node could predict super weapon targetting locations... but the tactical nuke would generate multiple targets)

Airstrike superweapon ? (there is unused GDI EVA voice in the .mix files which says "Airstrike Ready", or the meteor and ion storm superweapons ?

GDI Mutant Commandos or the crate goody which gave infinite power for x amount of time for the Brotherhood (who where much more power reliant if am not mistaken)

The scavenger unit (my god this unit would have been so great) that could piece together leftover vehicle parts to create super units (stealth tank debris + titan debris = Stealth Titan)

Dynamic lighting (tied in to light posts and light towers) which would render units 50% less accurate and/or less firepower in night time/dark areas.

Dynamic Lighting

Quote

One of the biggest technical innovations involves the use of dynamic lighting, but it is being used as less of an ornamental element and more as a strategic element. "We are really playing up nighttime and light as important elements," says Yeo. "At night, everyone’s sight range is half, and there are spotlights that can track units near your base." In all honesty, the screenshots released thus far do not even begin to illustrate the true richness of the real-time dynamic lighting. GDI watch towers have spotlights that constantly circle the base and light up the deep blue terrain, sometimes picking up a Nod tank and starting to fire at it. Additionally, when the squeal of an air-raid siren is heard and red sirens roar, the entire base actually basks in a pulsating deep-red light. Especially in the arctic missions at night, lighting will be one of the most innovative strategic elements.

Source = http://www.gameslice...l/ts/sun6.shtml
However it played no real part in the game, infact the TS maps hardly even made significant use of lighting even as eye candy!

The Zoom feature which allowed you to zoom in but not zoom out beyond the regular view distance ?

Or even the simple exclusions..... like why did you guys change all the cool looking high res sidebar icons into the much less impressive icons that are seen in the release version of TS

Im sorry for the mass of questions but im having to stop myself here (I could go on). Dont get the wrong impression, TS is one of my favourite games of all time and the last true C&C game IMO... but if many of these features (alot of which seemed to be already partially complete) it could have been even better

Edited by SMIFFGIG, 09 March 2007 - 06:46 PM.

[Caine]

what i didn't like about westwood were the faked screens !

i would love to see the game with the fake screens they have released.

[SMIFFGIG]

bump!
I really hope Adam Isgreen replies  

[Ishmael]

Wow.  I have to rack my brain to remember all that stuff.  Some things I can remember off the top of my head...

Yes, there was a loadout screen where you could choose units to take into battle.  This was also planned for C&C3, which we had working in the WW prototype, but that wasn't the direction taken by EA.  The drop pods, added in Firestorm, were supposed to be in TS (and customizable before a match) for GDI.

Lighting was supposed to make a huge difference for day/night play, and units in the light were susceptible to turrets at further range than normal, plus the spotted unit(s) were going to get shot range reductions for being in the light.

Hunter / Seeker was originally supposed to show you a small menu of types of things to hunt down rather than being "random" as it turned out.

Terrain differences were there, but we didn't have time to get them all balanced, so we opted not to make them all different and risk messing up the balance, since designers didn't build maps with terrain modifying unit speeds in mind.

Airstrike line sounds like one left over from C&C that was still in the files.

Icons -- no idea why they were changed.

There's a few answers for you.

[Bittah Commander]

Thanks for the reply, Ishmael Those features would've been really interesting to have in Tiberian Sun, maybe somewhere in the future a mod will be made for an RTS (like C&C3, but unfortunately the way it seems right now there's a big chance it's modding capabilities will be severely limited) that'll turn it into Tiberian Sun including all the features Westwood had intended for it (and hopefully I'll among the modders working on this mod).

Edit: Predator made a post about the modablility of C&C3 and it appears it was a false alarm (according to Predator it'll be at least as modable as C&C Generals).

Edited by Bittah Commander, 20 March 2007 - 10:31 AM.

[HissingNewt]

That would have changed the RTS genre very much. Are you trying to have those in UaW?

[Gray__Fox]

Ish that sounds kool. I remember lots of that stuff being said and was sad to hear it got cut. The 1st, and lighting ones sound(ed) awesome... I hope you can stick it in UaW somehow now with your much more advanced stuff to work with it should be easier!
If you can rack up some other ideas there's no reason you shaln't try to put it in UaW *nudge, nudge* or at least tell us here

[HissingNewt]

I would definitely be interested in the day/night cycle.

[Luga]

Man I hope in UaW we are able to have bases with cool lights effects etc

[Bittah Commander]

A day and night cycle can be achieved in TS by using map triggers (even though it's merely a visual effect and doesn't change the behavior of your units).

[Rico]

I would LOVE to see UAW have the DS style of feature in it (not the exact same thing but the basic idea)

[Thunder]

After all the things I've heard (and that's probably not half of it) TS would have been one killer of a game if it had been finished properly and released when it was supposed to be by Westwood, without any pressuring from EA. It's a shame it was pushed out too early.

[CommandoSR]

Ishmael-PG, on Mar 19 2007, 11:12 PM, said:

Airstrike line sounds like one left over from C&C that was still in the files.

Icons -- no idea why they were changed.

The "Airstrike ready" is not the one from original C&C. It is spoken by Jessica Straus and not Kia Huntzinger.

I believe the reason why the icons changed is because of clarity. I think they were changed during the process where also infantry were scaled bigger and given higher contrast and black outlines to make them stand out more.

[RaiDK]

Hmm, Earth 2150 and 2160 have a day/night cycle that pretty much works exactly like that.

[CrashKing]

This thread is worth bumping, instead of creating a new topic;
A few questions to an ex Westwood staff member:

- What did you plan to happen with the forgotten ?

- What did you plan to happen with tiberium and tiberium life forms?

- What were you planning on with the technologies ?

Really hope for an answer, Thanks in advance.

Edited by Crash-King, 14 May 2007 - 02:19 PM.

[Ishmael]

The caveat with this response (as with all "future" C&C stuff) is that this was just the way that some of us wanted to take it -- it wasn't set in stone and hadn't reached development, so again, this is all "what if" and has no bearing on current C&C fiction.

Also, these responses are more in-line for what C&C3 would have contained originally, not TS.

Crash-King, on May 14 2007, 10:44 AM, said:

- What did you plan to happen with the forgotten ?

The Scrin didn't account for what effect Tiberium would have on some humans (i.e. the forgotten).  They thought it would kill all humans off, but unfortunately, some that were exposed survived and actually began to be able to harness Tiberium's energies themselves.  They turned out to be humankind's most powerful weapon against the Scrin, since they could control Tiberium in a way the Scrin could not, making them a huge threat.  The forgotten were going to become a full faction in the expansion for the game.

Quote

- What did you plan to happen with tiberium and tiberium life forms?

Tiberium had taken over parts of the planet that GDI did not build and run their atmosphere processors near (data from the Tacitus allowed the creation of these processors, which reversed Tiberium's growth).  Some areas were more affected by Tiberium than others (Tiberium grew better in moist / warmer climates), and those heavily affected had undergone complete metamorphosis of terrain, flora, and fauna.  Species of all forms of life either died off, adapted, or mutated into things that could survive in those areas.  Even GDI and Nod would not enter some of the (to use the C&C3 vocab) "red" zones, where Tiberium had completely taken over, as constant ion storms and all kinds of new animal and plant life was very hostile to intruders.  Those areas were written off as lost causes.