Whatever happened to GeoMod?

BlueDestiny

For those who are deprived of playing Red Faction back in the day, it was (as far as I know) the first game ever to include completely destructible rock terrain. I mean completely, you could dig tunnels and make pits and caverns if you had enough explosives and time. Multiplayer with GeoMod was just awesome. People would make hideyholes up cliffsides, winding tunnel networks underground, and sometimes just blow a big pit into the floor and make everyone go a different path. Flash forward to Red Faction 2, and the only stuff you can blow up are small concrete panels, with some shitty generic plot and weapons. Nowadays, it seems like this technology just died out with RF2. My question is, Why? Why don't any modern games (exception: that one third-person shooter with wacky grenades) have this, when it could obviously be refined for today's computers? Case in point: While Crysis is an awesome game all around, especially with the non-invincible trees, I was kind of disappointed when I realized anything sturdier than concrete is indestructible.

Einhander

Geomod in Red Faction was the absolute shit. Digging tunnels with rockets was fun as hell, and leaving giant holes in walls in multiplayer was awesome.

RF2 really disappointed me in that regard. There was very little that you could blow up or destroy in comparison, even though the devs harped on and on about how much they improved the Geo Mod engine to make it faster and more stable.

Surprisingly, it took quite a bit of destruction before the PS2 would hit it's terminal limit and just stopped rendering damage to the environment. If that kind of gameplay was capable on the PS2, I spasm in delight at the thought of what the 360 or PS3 (or even a high end PC) could do with a next gen version of the Geo Mod engine.

That, and the Red Faction Universe was actually pretty cool I think. RF2 might have strayed here and there, but the storyline was cool, the twist in the middle was a cool setup for the boss fights later on, and the atmosphere was convincing to me, with the futuristic cityscapes and tram systems and whatnot.

I'd really like to see a next gen Geo mod game, and if it was Red Faction 3 that would be even better. It's multiplayer is almost as good as the TimeSplitters games in my opinion.

edit: Also, I just remember that RF2 had Lance Henrikson as Molov. Fucking awesome job he did in that role.

randombattle

Isn't there some game being made for the 360 that is all about using magic or something to change the ground like geomod. Got guns and stuff too... I forgot what it was called but I think it might of been from the RF developers.

nameless

I don't know what happened to GeoMod (except I've heard it made level design like 5 bazillion times harder than it already is), but Red Faction 1 multi was as fun as this man says. As good as GoldenEye in terms of "fucking around" factor. Man, did you ever have matches in GoldenEye where you told your friends to wait while you built an unassailable bunker with remote mines and then set the whole thing off in a hilarious conflagration when you said "Okay, now!" Red Faction was the same way--I'd just sit with my friend, we'd call truce, each dig an absurd bunker, and then came the "OK, Go!" moment and we'd both try to waste each other with the railgun. Good times.

Avenrosh

nameless wrote: »

I don't know what happened to GeoMod (except I've heard it made level design like 5 bazillion times harder than it already is), but Red Faction 1 multi was as fun as this man says. As good as GoldenEye in terms of "fucking around" factor. Man, did you ever have matches in GoldenEye where you told your friends to wait while you built an unassailable bunker with remote mines and then set the whole thing off in a hilarious conflagration when you said "Okay, now!" Red Faction was the same way--I'd just sit with my friend, we'd call truce, each dig an absurd bunker, and then came the "OK, Go!" moment and we'd both try to waste each other with the railgun. Good times.

Amen.

Red Faction 2 is what happened to GeoMod... But as far as other people making deformable terrain in an FPS, no idea. Isn't there an upcoming release that does have some deformable terrain, and uses physics pretty heavily?

Recoil42

randombattle wrote: »

Isn't there some game being made for the 360 that is all about using magic or something to change the ground like geomod. Got guns and stuff too... I forgot what it was called but I think it might of been from the RF developers.

Nah, it's being done by Lucasarts. Volition is probably busy with Saints' Row 2. Forget what it's called, though.


edit: Found it. Fracture:

http://www.lucasarts.com/games/fracture/

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/4776.html



It's by Day 1 Studios, the same team that did Mechassault. Published by Lucasarts.

bruin

Fracture is the game you guys are thinking of

It's being developed by Day 1 Studios, who did both Mechassault games

BigPointyTeeth

I always did enjoy Red Faction's multiplayer, although I sucked at it. Most matches against my friend would start out as a fight, then turn to hide and seek after I realized I wasn't gonna win, so I'd start digging tunnels and making him hunt me down. Usually I'd did myself a tunnel underneath the house frame thing in one of the maps.

But as far as other games, Battlefield: Bad Company is supposed to have quite a bit of destruction. I couldn't find any info on whether or not the ground itself is desctructible, but damn near everything else is.

Spoit

BigPointyTeeth wrote: »

I always did enjoy Red Faction's multiplayer, although I sucked at it. Most matches against my friend would start out as a fight, then turn to hide and seek after I realized I wasn't gonna win, so I'd start digging tunnels and making him hunt me down. Usually I'd did myself a tunnel underneath the house frame thing in one of the maps.

But as far as other games, Battlefield: Bad Company is supposed to have quite a bit of destruction. I couldn't find any info on whether or not the ground itself is desctructible, but damn near everything else is.

I think it's just buildings, and mostly along pre-programed break points, but I'm not sure

Zxerol

Interesting tidbit: GeoMod was originally going to be used for Descent 4, before the game was canceled and the tech utilized for Red Faction.

Descent with fully destructible terrain. And it was deep-sixed. There is no justice in the world.

Unknown

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squirly

Red Faction was incredibly awesome, no words by me or anyone else in this thread can describe just how awesome blowing up any terrain was -- and I can't really remember any problems with it at all. Also, MP was awesome too, aside from the massive amounts of modding.

I want to play RF so, so much now. RF2 sucked though 4player multiplayer on XBox with railguns only made me so paranoid.

Lork

When I was watching the E3 demo for Crysis and they were showing off how the editor could dynamically deform the terrain from inside the game, I was intensely disappointed that none of the press guys in the background said "Ok, but can you do that with a rocket launcher"?

Both Cryengines have so much potential, but the people who make them have no idea what to do with them. Were there any games that licensed the first one? You'd think people would be climbing over each other to get at the engine that powered Far Cry.

Also, if Ken Silverman could do it 4 years ago, you can do it now, game industry! (this becomes 10 times as cool when you find the red blaster)