Well, this will be the last blog update from within the team before 1.7 is publicly released. We can now let you know that the release will be in days, not weeks. We had intended to have the release out today, however our quality standards being what they are we have been testing in public, clanmatch and offline bugtesting to ensure nothing nasty or gameplay affecting slips through. As a result of issues with one of the new maps (oh, didn't we mention that we might have another unannounced map?) we will take a few days more to sign off on the patch.

However, OBJ-Blink, by Antilop, IS finished, bugfree, looks great and plays even better. Those players who have been with the mod for a while will probably know Blink as being just about the best 3rd party map that there has been for TOC and Antilop's constant improvement work has seen the map reach much deserved official status.

Code wise and gameplay wise it's stable, so no chance of anything nasty appearing there. We have been working very hard in the closing weeks of the patch to get that oldschool TO movement feeling better and help from our beta team has really helped to get that (big thanks to Erik and Jame in particular for their sterling work in recent weeks).

We have also included 2 new playermodels, for terrorists we have included the street terrorist and on SF is Ganjaman's incredible Heavy model, showing off what has to be the most impressive playermodel skin I've ever seen in a UT2004 mod. We have included new taunt animations which you can bind with voice commands for tactical use or to just plain show off.

To finish up on the media front, I always think that TO:C never gets the attention it deserves from video media, so here's a quick clip taken during a recent internal testing session. It shows off the improved effects, uber detail playershadows and improved playermodel lighting that have come with 1.7 as well as some stunningly bad aiming, this clip isn't to show that we are the greatest players in the world, just that the game looks cool in action.

Download Movie !
Movie Mirror !

We will let you know as close as we can to release day, right now we are closing things down in all areas for release but we're not quite ready to pack it up and let you have it. I'm really looking forward to release and can't wait to see it on the servers.

As announced on both the forums, as well as the www.to-crossfire.net site, with the new 1.7 patch for TO:Crossfire comes a new map. The name has been chosen by the community. First by random names, after that, by a poll. The work-in-progress name of OBJ-This will thus be replaced by OBJ-Deluge.


Once There Was a Dream...
The map officially started as a 'boredom' project. Just a thing, a feeling, an idea that was at the back of my mind constantly. To get it out I started mapping. Being inspired by the FarCry game a little, I wanted to create something warm, moody and above all dreamy.

A very rough early version was posted on the development forums, due to an IRC discussion with some of my fellow developers. Enthusiastic reactions fuelled my motivation to make something of the map. OBJ-This.to2 was born. Now my initial thought was to create a sandy canyon with loads of water. Mainly dominated by terrain and less by buildings. Since this is not such an interesting layout option, mainly due to nade-spamming and the optimisation of the map, I decided otherwise. Create a dreamy Arabic-looking little town.

And Then the Dream Continued Even When I Was Awake...
Still recognise certain areas? I admit, it changed dramatically. But that is the beauty of being a level designer; dream, think, map. As you can see, the shadow and dreamy lights are the most attractive features of the map. I didn't want to create a complex map that looks good only because of the details. I wanted to create a map where you can dream about, but above all, play, with joy. The Arabic theme lends itself beautifully to flat rooftops and simple box-like architecture. Ideal for the game that the map is being developed for.

After these shots, I placed the map on our internal distribution network. This means that everyone can download the map and play with it. Now this is where true teamwork comes in. Various people responded to the map, giving hints, tips, ideas and best of all, inspiration.

Teamwork Truly is a Wonder...
As I can't work with a 3D modelling program, I create everything with BSP. We also often use this method: make a final BSP-version and slowly replace everything by mesh. Why? Because of optimisation (rather a better running map then a slow, laggy one) but most of all, because of the details we are able to give with meshes.

Perfect_Storm kicked in here as he gave a good deal of his time to modelling the needed meshes for the map. As he worked, he also put some quick screen shots on the forums. This way the team can judge and think-through the whole process.

  (read more for extra images!!!)