An old classic game: Covert Action!

[Hy0gA]

plot : chief inform us that they get information some parties planning on deadly attack on VIP for trade show. we didnt know where the enemy will target at. players will discover that the enemy will try to get VIP train schedule. but plot only ends when the enemy get those data only, not proceed with actuall kill the VIP.

participants :
Agent A (Mastermind)
Mahmoud Hammid (Planner) Iraqi SP/Prague
Leon Konrad (Paymaster) Stassi/Washington
Nikolai Molotov (Board shark) KGB/ Prague
Grigori Chaill (Hacker) Marxist/Prague
Fred Hansen (Courier) Stassi/Helsinki
Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) Iraqi SP/Belgrade

crime chronologies :
jan 01. Mahmoud Hammid (Planner) Iraqi SP/Prague sent message to Leon Konrad (Paymaster) Stassi/Washington
"To further our plans we must access a data file containing VIP travel itinerary. Please help finance these arrangements."

jan 01. Mahmoud Hammid (Planner) Iraqi SP/Prague sent message to Nikolai Molotov (Board shark) KGB/Prague
"You are instructed to acquire current passwords for the AARPA computer network. A Courier will arrive shortly to pick up this information."

jan 02. Mahmoud Hammid (Planner) Iraqi SP/Prague sent message to Grigori Chaill (Hacker) Marxist/Prague
"You must access data files containing VIP travel itinerary on the AARPA computer network. Appropriate passwords will be delivered to you."

jan 02. Leon Konrad (Paymaster) Stassi/Washington sent message to Fred Hansen (Courier) Stassi/Helsinki
"Your services are required to perform a financial delivery. bring a black leather briefcase."

jan 03. Leon Konrad (Paymaster) Stassi/Washington withdrew money.
Leon Konrad (Paymaster) now has the payoff

jan 03. Leon Konrad (Paymaster) Stassi/Washington met with Fred Hansen (Courier) Stassi/Helsinki
"These funds are to be delivered to our special operative on this project."
Fred Hansen (Courier) now has the payoff

jan 04. Leon Konrad went into hiding. Mission completed.

jan 04. Nikolai Molotov (Board shark) KGB/Prague stole passwords.
Nikolai Molotov (Board shark) now has the passwords.

Jan 05. Nikolai Molotov (Board shark) KGB/ Prague met with Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) Iraqi SP/Belgrade
"I borrowed these password disks from the AARPA computer network."
Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) now has the passwords.

jan 05. Mahmoud Hammid went into hiding. Mission completed.

jan 05. Grigori Chaill (Hacker) Marxist/Prague met with Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) Iraqi SP/Belgrade
"These password disks should allow unrestriced access to the AARPA computer network."
Grigori Cahill (Hacker) now has the passwords.

jan 06. Nikolai Molotov went into hiding. Mission completed.

jan 06. Grigori Cahill (Hacker) Marxists/Prague hacked data.
Grigori Cahill (Hacker) now has the data disk

jan 07. Grigori Chaill (Hacker) Marxist/Prague met with Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) Iraqi SP/Belgrade
"Those passwords worked like a charm. I downloaded the VIP travel itinerary data onto these disks."
Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) now has the data disk.

Jan 08. Agent A (Mastermind) met with Mahmoud Rashid (Messenger) Iraqi SP/Belgrade
"Mastermind here is the data you requested."
Agent A (Mastermind) Now has the data disk

Jan 08. Agent A went into hiding. Mission Completed.

jan 08. Mahmoud Rashid went into hiding. mission completed.

jan 08. Grigori Cahill (Hacker) marxists/prague met with Fred Hansen (Courier) Stassi/Helsinki
"These funds should compensate you for your trouble."
Grigori Cahill (Hacker) now has the payoff

jan 09. Grigori Cahill went into hiding. Mission completed.

Jan 09. Fred Hansen went into hiding. Mission Completed.

Key Item : Data Disk, Pay off, Passwords
special score : met with mastermind?
hidden double agent : 2.

 

[teoleo]

more random more good

 

[teoleo]

idea:

combat turn-based?

 

[fbouthil]

Thanks for the crime chronologies, Hy0gA! I have transformed them into the format that I use to read them. It only provides more possible coded messages for now, but it will be useful when I put all activities together. When I did a few crime chronologies, I realized that there is a dependencies between the different crimes. I have not decided on the details yet, but I see that the crime (that I call plot) are used to realize the mastermind's agenda. Here is an example:

Plot 1: Kidnap a nuclear physicist
Plot 2: Steal some plutonium
Plot 3: Build a nuclear bomb
Plot 4: Plant the bomb

Before you can see plot 3, the mastermind must have successfully accomplished plot 1 and 2. Plot 4 will follow a successful execution of plot 3.

Side note: I don't think I ever missed 2 consecutive plots or needed more than 3 plots to catch the mastermind, so I never realized that before I started sleeping through cases to get the crime chronology! I guess I must not be the only one to do that because one of the plots has a bug in it and will never succeed! At a certain meeting, the nuclear bomb is not transfered, so you always succeed in preventing that plot!

@teoleo: I don't think turn-based combat would match this kind of game. After all, you are supposed to try to stay hidden and evade combat most of the time. On the other hand, I love turn-based combat games like X-com. I guess if I decide to make another game it will be some kind of turn-based multi-level combat like x-com, but without the psionics which really prevented real combat, IMHO.

 

[Hy0gA]

Plot 1: Kidnap a nuclear physicist
Plot 2: Steal some plutonium
Plot 3: Build a nuclear bomb
Plot 4: Plant the bomb

Oh wow, i never realized that. since... not only me I guess, every players would load the game once a participants gone into hiding and try to get perfect score (all item confiscated, all participants turned if possible, mastermind arrested, etc).

IMHO; to make consecutive and related plots surely will add some nice touch. But rarely triggered.... unless its only me being perfectionist to have possible maximum score; I even save at the beginning, go to hotel, sleep through all case, see the plots, write all down the order, load the game then play. That way i wont arrest a participants that triggers other participants gone into hiding). its cheating. but legal (no codes, no hexa altered, only save and load).

Oh yeah one thing : Covert action emphasize 4 elements (combat, driving, crypto, electronic). But we can successfuly close the case only by combat. get a clue, go to building, break in, get evidence, try to get incriminating evidence (if not, go out, get in again till you get it). arrest the participant, and go to next location.... repeat action.

Its getting repetitive that makes me think, if we would like to make a remake, make all others element equally important. Or else, driving - crypto - electronic are only additional topping.
why would I bother to follow a criminal to get other location, while I can get it from accessing the computer when breaking building?
Why would I bother to translate crypted message when I arrest the participants he would do the job?
and why I would I bother to hack the phone to get clues while I can get it from breaking building?

Its the downside to me, but maybe not to everyone, but if this also crossed your mind, you might be thinking what I'm thinking right now, "How to make other elements equally important?"

Uh... got to go back to work.
I'll Post some more of crime chronologies, and I'll try to make some graphic faces while I had some time.

~Hy0gA~

 

[fbouthil]

Oh wow, i never realized that. since... not only me I guess, every players would load the game once a participants gone into hiding and try to get perfect score (all item confiscated, all participants turned if possible, mastermind arrested, etc).

What?!? Cheater! I must admit I have reloaded a few times when I did particularly bad, i.e. when I get shot down a couple of times in a row, but never because an agent went into hiding. And sleeping through the case just to reload and make the arrests in the perfect order, well, what is the point? You lose all the fun out of finding things out all by yourself!

You should try doing a mission without reloading. You might not get the perfect score, but I actually enjoy it much more. You rarely get the mastermind on the first mission, but you get a serious rush when you do! You can actually say that it is because you played well, not because you cheated, that you got a good score. Of course, if you are having more fun cheating your way through, well, it is a free country!

As for making every activity equally important, I won't pretend I am able to do that, but I have a few ideas on how to prevent using only combat. The main idea is to have a set of options that, when turned on, will increase the difficulty factor used to multiply the score.

Hum. Should I include the number of times the game was reloaded into the calculation of the final score? Well, I guess anyone who really wants to cheat will find a way to do it, so probably not. Note that it would be cool since it is way harder when you do not reload than when you do.

My website is almost done (at least a first version of it), so you will be able to read my ideas soon.

 

[fbouthil]

Here is my new website:
Covert Action Remake for Windows

It explains every ideas I have for every part of the game. If you disagree with anything or have new suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know.

For faces, I decided to go with 100x100 pixels jpg files of faces taken from actual photos. That way, every one can be part of the game! Simply send me pictures in the appropriate format.

 

[Captain Carnage]

This is looking better all the time.

I saw a poll on the Firaxis site that asked which game people would like to see a remake. Covert Action has 1% of the votes, so I don't see why they would remake it.

That poll has been there for a few years, and Covert Action has been at 1% the whole time. I'm surprised it hasn't gone up.

I can possibly give you some photos for criminals. What about graphics for the map when flying around the world? Or photos of city features?



Some of my ideas, feel free to disregard them:

• In games like Civilization and Pirates, they have an encyclopedia with lots of information about the concepts of the game, rules and other info. I find this feature very useful, and if there could be something similar in Covert Action Remake, it would provide a lot of information about nations of the world, political organisations, weapons and such. If you want something like this, I will try to help

• Instead of solving a crime in one region ( like South America or Europe/Middle East) maybe you could have crimes occuring all over the world.

 

[fbouthil]

I can possibly give you some photos for criminals. What about graphics for the map when flying around the world? Or photos of city features?

Cool! Criminal photos are 100x100 pixels in jpg format. I have not decide on the format for the map when flying around the world, so anything you can come up with will be appreciated. As for city features in the driving activity, I used 64x64 pixels in jpg format, but if there is a street south and/or east, then the bottom and/or right 10 pixels are drawn over when I paint the streets. The only exception I have so far is the airport: it is 2x2 blocks, so 128x128 pixels, but I could easily do other exceptions. The craziest idea of that type that I had was to have a river cross the map with only a few bridges!

You can send it to my e-mail mentioned in the website or simply attach it in here in a reply.

In games like Civilization and Pirates, they have an encyclopedia with lots of information about the concepts of the game, rules and other info. I find this feature very useful, and if there could be something similar in Covert Action Remake, it would provide a lot of information about nations of the world, political organisations, weapons and such. If you want something like this, I will try to help

Wow! I never thought Covert Action was complex enough to have an encyclopedia! My vision about this was simply to use my website to explain how the game is played. If you are able to provide enough information like this, I will surely include it! Great idea!

Instead of solving a crime in one region ( like South America or Europe/Middle East) maybe you could have crimes occuring all over the world.

Already had that idea, it is mentioned in the "Traveling" section of my website. While the crimes will occur anywhere in the world, I think I will make sure the participants of the plot are not too far away from each other. Still, it would be weird for the mastermind of the Haitian Junta to be located in Moscow! On the other hand, if the plot is to assassinate someone near Moscow, it might be reasonable for him to go there for a time... I am not sure how I will handle this.

 

[teoleo]

Plot 1: Kidnap a nuclear physicist
Plot 2: Steal some plutonium
Plot 3: Build a nuclear bomb
Plot 4: Plant the bomb

in the original game if Max stop the phase 2 the game restart with the phase 2.
I suggest to restart with another plot and later retry with the phase 2 of the plot of the bomb... ( my english is bad..... )

Another idea:

if max take a payment for the crime, but not the criminal, the organiser, if they have time, take another payment in the same mission.....

 

[teoleo]

When the next release?

 

[fbouthil]

Plot 1: Kidnap a nuclear physicist
Plot 2: Steal some plutonium
Plot 3: Build a nuclear bomb
Plot 4: Plant the bomb

in the original game if Max stop the phase 2 the game restart with the phase 2.
I suggest to restart with another plot and later retry with the phase 2 of the plot of the bomb... ( my english is bad..... )

Another idea:

if max take a payment for the crime, but not the criminal, the organiser, if they have time, take another payment in the same mission.....

I will make a note about making sure the same plot is not tried twice in a row. As for the second idea, I must admit I don't understand what mean. When you confiscated an object (money, blueprint, etc) in the DOS version, the criminals would redo the steps to acquire the object. Is that what you would like? Make sure I keep that part about trying to re-acquire the confiscated objects?

As for the next release, I have been working on the website in the past week, so I have nothing new to give you. I have just started working on combat. Since I only work on this about 3 evenings per week, I don't think I will have anything interesting to deliver before a few weeks. I started using graphics from "The Sims 2" for the furniture, but it is a long job to adjust them in Photoshop because we cannot have an exact top-down view in that game. I expect practice combat to require more time making graphics than in coding the program.

 

[teoleo]

----1. Make the suspects move inside the house, maybe with bodyguards needing more than one hit to shot down-----

The bodyguards only if the suspects is alerted...

The number of guards not infinity......

 

[fbouthil]

When the next release?

Guess what?

Yes! You guessed it! The next release is now!

I now have a partially working combat activity in my remake!

The most important things missing are the grenades, jumping, an inventory system and disguises. I realized I was spending more time playing with what I had done so far rather than adding things, so I thought I should post a new version. The mouse lets you walk, shoot or stand/crouch, but you are better using the keyboard for the latter (5 on the keypad or space). Here is a complete list of what is working and what is not: Combat Activity

I would like feedback from those who will try it. Is it too easy or hard to shoot guards? Is it too easy or hard for guards to shoot you? How many guards do you think should be in the house depending on the alert level? Are there enough inside doors or too many rooms with only one door? Are you walking and crawling too slowly or too fast?

@Captain Carnage: I am still waiting for those photos/graphics you said you might send me. Of course, it might have been an empty promess... or maybe you were waiting to see if I was serious enough before taking time for this.

@Hy0gA: I hope you will continue posting crime chronologies because that will really help me once the combat activity will be fully working and I start working on putting it all together. Oh, heu, and thanks a lot for those you have posted.

 

[teoleo]

the men are too small.

 

[teoleo]

still alive?

 

[fbouthil]

Yes, this project is still alive. I just don't work on it as much because it is summer and I started playing Oblivion. Low feedback is not motivating me to work very fast either. But don't worry, I continue working on this, just not as much as I used to. I will need to finish Oblivion before I concentrate on this.

 

[teoleo]

....... waiting

 

[teoleo]

several person are waiting this remake!!!

 

[Maniacal]

Wow, my two posts make no sense to me anymore O_o