Monday 18th December - 30 days to go!

That's right, the countdown for the public release of Conflict: Online 0.6 starts today (well, it could've started 5 years ago, but lets not get too carried away). For those who haven't been following the progress of CO (therefore, most of you) - Here's a brief description of Conflict: Online and the comparisons between the current demo (0.5), which has been out for around 9 months, and the new demo (0.6) - coming out January 14th, 2006.

Conflict: Online has been my team's project for over a year now. We started around August last year, to be exact (that statement kind of contradicts itself, doesn't it?). It's another stereotypical top-down online game, except for some reason everyone I've met has enjoyed this one in particular. It's based on games such as America's Army, Soldat, Unreal Tournament, and Counter-Strike. But of course, it's top-down. The current demo is available in my games page - and if you think that demo is good, just wait for what we have in store for you when Jan 14th comes about.

New Features in Version 0.6

* Mid this year I started completely rewriting CO. As a result, the game is much better both performance and visual-wise. The graphics have been almost completely revamped, we've taken out the irrelevant graphics (such as insane motion-blur for being shot with a pistol), and added in graphics that are a little more "humble" towards the game's performance and visual quality.

* Though we have unfortunately gone against our viewers' pleas… The new demo won't be online. Instead - we have some basic AI you can play around with. Besides the fact we had some personal and technical issues within the team that held back the possibility of online in 0.6, we felt that with all the new features coming out, it would spoil it slightly to have implemented the online-lag we all know about, decreasing the attention on the engine itself that we want feedback on from the BETA Testers.

* 6 Gametypes available so far - Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Warrior, Give & Take. "Bully", and a possibility of some more, will become available in later versions.

* A completely functional and eye-spoiling menu-structure, It was either that or an unfinished JakeX-creation, which was better yet more… unfinished. Eheh.

* An FPS Test (formally known as CO Optimizer) that calculates FPS during intense-graphical-gameplay and steady gameplay, and provides some recommendations on what you should change in your settings to improve performance (or, if your performance is great, what you could increase in your settings).

* 2 of the 3 training missions - Basic Training and Medic Training. You won't get your badge updated on your account, but you can try out the missions anyway!

* Seeing as GM6.1 still possesses an awful vulnerability, we have not even implemented basic account-statistic-updating (so that if you've registered an account on the CO Website, you could login and do some stuff with it), as people could easily find passwords and crap for our SQL Databases =D

* Revamped and Redesigned weapons. Machine Gun, MiniGun, Flamethrower, Pistol, Shotgun, Musket Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Frag Grenade, Incendiary Grenade, Flash Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Plasma Cannon, Medikit, Proximity Mine… And 3 Turret Types - Machine Gun, Mortar, and Shrapnel Cannon.

* At least 9MB of Pure SIZE!!

For more information, visit the CO Website, or the GMC WIP Topic.

And to finish off my blog, 10 awesome screenies for the new demo, and an official apology for my over-excitement about my own creation. Sorry.