About page

[fromhell]

I can't write good about pages no matter how hard I try. As you can see, the current about page that has been on the site for 2 years is outdated and brief, coming all the way from the first 0.1.0 release in 2005.

Since you're all OA fans, please describe OA in 6 paragraphs maximum of non-opinionated biased goodness that would conviince players to play the game and developers to contribute to the game. I fear this crappy about page may have been the voodoo doll of the project. Make absolutely no references to any games (enough uses of Quake III Arena and we'll be headed into that unauthorized trademark usage territory)

[Gerbil]

how many is enough references? Im thinking like once in the first paragraph, and maybe once or twice throughout the rest.
i was just thinking introducing it as a q3 clone as well as many of the basics in the first paragraph, then in the rest describe the actual gameplay. Maybe have a page describing mods? Maybe have a paragraph describing clans? If you want 6 paragraphs, we first need a 6 reasons to seperate things up into those paragraphs.

1: intro

2: weapons

3: movement(ie strafejumping and rocket jumping)

4: maps/models

5: clans

6: mods

7: conclusion!(is it nessisary?)

I have no problem writing this, i do have some ideas. It'll just be like writing an essay for school!! .... jk, but before I start, I would like to know your aim with this. Do you want oa to sound very noob friendly, or good for the hardcore gamer. Like if i describe oa as a game so deep to have a popular mod entirely based on jumping and movment, that may discourage more casual gamers.

EDIT: oh lol, i just read 6 paragraphs max, so i will probably clump stuff together, like weapons and movement to make one massive paragraph(my guess is that those would be the two biggest seperatly lol)

[HITMAN]

I'll see what I can do as well - being that I've done a few about pages myself in the past. Where would you like us to send our work?

[fromhell]

This thread

[kick52]

The intro should be something like:

OpenArena is an open source (GPL license) game based on Quake 3 Arena, using the open source Quake 3 engine, ioQuake3.

Probably not correct about the last bit, but you get what I mean..
More detailed intro perhaps:

OpenArena incorporates fast, action-packed original Quake gameplay along with fresh maps(hopefully), and a weird art direction (hehehe.) ..more here.

[Gerbil]

here is a few paragraphs, they will likely be revised and edited further. If you want to scrap one(maybe the mod one), thats fine.



Open arena is a free game, based on the Quake III engine. It is a first person shooter with an exceptional online multiplayer. It offers fast, action-packed gameplay. It is an excellent example of an “easy to learn, hard to master” game. It has a broad skill range for plenty of room for improvement, that extends far out then that of simple shooting. Players need to learn how to move effectively, time shots, and use each of the 10 unique weapons correctly to fit the most appropriate situation. There is 4 game modes, 32 maps, and 14 player models each with multiple skins. Plus there is working bots to keep you occupied! With a friendly community(cough w1zrd cough) and many active servers from around the world, it makes OpenArena fine free online game.
OpenArena is an open-source content package for Quake III Arena licensed under the GPL, effectively creating a free stand-alone game. You do not need Quake III Arena to play this game.
(and yes, i did copy/paste that last bit from the original 'about' page)

Open arena does support a variety of Quake III mods.

There are many advanced techniques that are at your disposal in OpenArena. Rocket jumping, shooting a rocket at the ground, possible combined with a jump, can be used to gain speed and/or distance(vertically or horizontally). Plasma climbing, shooting multiple plasmas at a specific angle combined with a jump, can be used to climb up walls for a short time(useful for getting into those windows which are just out of jumping reach). There is strafe jumping, repeated jumping at a diagonal, combined with proper mouse placement means a drastic increase in speed. In capture the flag(CTF) you can use the knockback of your weapons to propel teammates quickly through the map. With the console (press the tilde ~ key) and enough knowledge of it, you can fully customize your playing style and configuration. From simply changing the head model, to changing the peripheral vision and sensitivity.




I also want to put the promo oa0.7.1 video in somewhere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIf0kKR-IFg

and mention that oa is planning on adding another gamemode
http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=831.0

[Gerbil]

The intro should be something like:

OpenArena is an open source (GPL license) game based on Quake 3 Arena, using the open source Quake 3 engine, ioQuake3.

OpenArena incorporates fast, action-packed

i like that last part, i want too steal it >: )
I think i will just put it in the begining of the first paragraph
and sry double post :/

[dmn_clown]

The intro should be something like:

OpenArena is an open source (GPL license) game based on Quake 3 Arena, using the open source Quake 3 engine, ioQuake3.

Probably not correct about the last bit, but you get what I mean..
More detailed intro perhaps:

OpenArena incorporates fast, action-packed original Quake gameplay along with fresh maps(hopefully), and a weird art direction (hehehe.) ..more here.

RMS doesn't want you saying open source but then again if you follow his logic to conclusion gcc and emacs can't be recommended for use as they suggest the use and installation of non-free software due to their inclusion of MS Windows specific code, so who really cares what he thinks?

[kick52]

The intro should be something like:

OpenArena is an open source (GPL license) game based on Quake 3 Arena, using the open source Quake 3 engine, ioQuake3.

OpenArena incorporates fast, action-packed

i like that last part, i want too steal it >: )
I think i will just put it in the begining of the first paragraph
and sry double post :/

That's fine.

[w1zrd]

With a friendly community(cough w1zrd cough)

?

[kick52]

"Concepts would be loose, so don't expect ... any direct remakes of any map/weapon/model."
LOL, we properly FUCKED this with the 10 Quake 1 maps. hahaha

[dmn_clown]

Grammar fixes:

Open arena is a free software game, based on the IoQuake III engine. It is a first person shooter with exceptional online multiplayer action. It offers fast, action-packed gameplay. It is an excellent example of an “easy to learn, hard to master” game. It has a broad skill range for plenty of room for improvement, that extends far out then that of simple shooting. Players need to learn how to move effectively, time shots, and use each of the 10 unique weapons correctly to fit the most appropriate situation. There are 4 game modes, 32 maps, 14 player models with multiple skins for each, and working bots to keep you occupied! OpenArena is a free online game with many active servers from around the world. You do not need Quake III Arena to play this game.


Open arena does support Quake 3:  Arena mods, such as Urban Terror(UrT), Bid for Power(bfp), Reactance Insta-Unlagged(RIU/rctf), Super Hero Arena(SHA), Defrag, cpma, Western Quake 3, etc.  Custom maps and player models are available for download from external sources.

There are many advanced techniques that are at your disposal in OpenArena:

• Rocket jumping, shooting a rocket at the ground, possible combined with a jump, can be used to gain speed and/or distance(vertically or horizontally)
• Plasma climbing, shooting multiple plasmas at a specific angle combined with a jump, can be used to climb up walls for a short time(useful for getting into those windows which are just out of jumping reach).
• Strafe jumping, repeated jumping at a diagonal, combined with proper mouse placement means a drastic increase in speed.
• In capture the flag(CTF) you can use the knockback of your weapons to propel teammates quickly through the map
• With the console (press the tilde ~ key) and enough knowledge of it, you can fully customize your playing style and configuration. From simply changing the head model, to changing the peripheral vision and sensitivity.

[w1zrd]

Just be careful stating what mod works with OA.

For instance, SHA has tons of bugs creating problems for players when they download .pk3 files.
CPMA is supported and works but 99% of the require maps are missing textures and it's hardcoded as a requirement with ~150mb maps.
Urban Terrror is stand alone now and Bid For Power does not work in Open Arena.

Also, the console key is not the same for all keyboards, it depends on the persons language settings.

Lastly, the mentioning of strafejumping/plasmaclimbing/rocketjumping e.t.c would be a bad decision to include since the OA team from the start made clear that OA will never be a 'flat-colored fov200d 633fps-exploited "professional" trickjumping cheatfest".

I like the text, hopefully that will heighten the interest for OA when read..

[kick52]

UrT never worked for me, but I have the stand alone version anyway.

BTW, you may want to include some embeds of pictures and YouTube videos in there so people can get what it is like.

[dmn_clown]

Just be careful stating what mod works with OA.

If the mod authors provided complete qvms the mod should work in the usual way, if they did something insanely stupid (from a portability standpoint) and compiled dll's/so's/dylibs its hit and miss.  Rocket Arena comes to mind here as it will work on x86 linux but not x86_64 and certainly not native on any other OS.

[Gerbil]

Just be careful stating what mod works with OA.

For instance, SHA has tons of bugs creating problems for players when they download .pk3 files.
CPMA is supported and works but 99% of the require maps are missing textures and it's hardcoded as a requirement with ~150mb maps.
Urban Terrror is stand alone now and Bid For Power does not work in Open Arena.

Also, the console key is not the same for all keyboards, it depends on the persons language settings.

Lastly, the mentioning of strafejumping/plasmaclimbing/rocketjumping e.t.c would be a bad decision to include since the OA team from the start made clear that OA will never be a 'flat-colored fov200d 633fps-exploited "professional" trickjumping cheatfest".

I like the text, hopefully that will heighten the interest for OA when read..

All the mods I listed were ones that did at one point have functioning servers on openarena. Yes, rud did have a functioning BFP server, and an urban terror(he used an old version) as well as Super Hero arena.
feel free to edit it though, to fit the criteria better

[kit89]

Open arena does support Quake 3:

You may not want to say OA supports Q3 mods, from what I can remember working mods are just a bonus.

However stating that OA can run a variety of Q3 mods but not officially supporting them should be fine.

[Gerbil]

ok
i will edit that post right now

With a friendly community(cough w1zrd cough)

?

I have heard NUMEROUS positive things said about you. You are a very kind/helpful person and are a very important towards the openarena community. Thats why I put that there

[Gerbil]

a repost of the original
(much thanks to dmn_clown for grammer fixes and proper re-wording)


Open arena is a free software game, based on the IoQuake III engine. It is a first person shooter with exceptional online multiplayer action. It offers fast, action-packed gameplay. It is an excellent example of an “easy to learn, hard to master” game. It has a broad skill range for plenty of room for improvement, that extends far out then that of simple shooting. Players need to learn how to move effectively, time shots, and use each of the 10 unique weapons correctly to fit the most appropriate situation. There are 4 game modes, 32 maps, 14 player models with multiple skins for each, and working bots to keep you occupied! OpenArena is a free online game with many active servers from around the world. You do not need Quake III Arena to play this game.

Open arena does support a variety of Quake 3: Arena mods. It also has custom maps and player models are available for download from external sources.

There are many advanced techniques that are at your disposal in OpenArena:

• Rocket jumping, shooting a rocket at the ground, possible combined with a jump, can be used to gain speed and/or distance(vertically or horizontally)
• Plasma climbing, shooting multiple plasmas at a specific angle combined with a jump, can be used to climb up walls for a short time(useful for getting into those windows which are just out of jumping reach).
• Strafe jumping, repeated jumping at a diagonal, combined with proper mouse placement means a drastic increase in speed.
• In capture the flag(CTF) you can use the knockback of your weapons to propel teammates quickly through the map
• With the console (press the tilde ~ key) and enough knowledge of it, you can fully customize your playing style and configuration. From simply changing the head model, to changing the peripheral vision and sensitivity.

An open arena trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIf0kKR-IFg

Also, It is being planned to include more gamemodes(such as elimination) more information here:
http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=831.0

[kick52]

a repost of the original
(much thanks to dmn_clown for grammer fixes and proper re-wording)


OpenArena is a free software (<- ? If we can't say open source, how about freeware) game, based on the IoQuake III engine. It is a first person shooter with exceptional online multiplayer action offering fast, fun, and action-packed gameplay. It is an excellent example of an “easy to learn, hard to master” game, with a broad skill range for plenty of room for improvement, that extends far out then that of simple shooting. Players need to learn how to move effectively, time shots, and use each of the 10 unique weapons correctly to fit the most appropriate situation. There are 4 game modes, 32 maps, 14 player models with multiple skins for each, and working bots to keep you occupied! OpenArena is a free online game with many active servers from around the world. You do not need Quake III Arena to play this game.

OpenArena does support a variety of Quake 3: Arena mods. It also has custom maps and player models are available for download from external sources.

There are many advanced techniques that are at your disposal in OpenArena:

• Rocket jumping, shooting a rocket at the ground, possible combined with a jump, can be used to gain speed and/or distance(vertically or horizontally)
• Plasma climbing, shooting multiple plasmas at a specific angle combined with a jump, can be used to climb up walls for a short time(useful for getting into those windows which are just out of jumping reach).
• Strafe jumping, repeated jumping at a diagonal, combined with proper mouse placement means a drastic increase in speed.
• In capture the flag(CTF) you can use the knockback of your weapons to propel teammates quickly through the map
• With the console (press the tilde ~ key) and enough knowledge of it, you can fully customize your playing style and configuration. From simply changing the head model, to changing the peripheral vision and sensitivity.

An OpenArena trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIf0kKR-IFg

Also, It is being planned to include more gamemodes(such as elimination) more information here:
http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=831.0

Changes in bold. It may also be suitable to put OpenArena and Quake 3: Arena in italics.

[w1zrd]

OpenArena does support a variety of Quake 3: Arena mods. It also has custom maps and player models are available for download from external sources.

How about something like:
OpenArena supports a wide varierty of Quake 3 modifications including the popular DeFRaG, RCTF and CorkScrew.
Additionally it is compatible with most customized maps and player models from external sources

[fromhell]

i'd rather not mention mod support since most mods are q3 sdk based and therefore are licensed under a restrictive clause that you can only play them for q3, so playing q3 mods is at the users own risk.

id software never marketed q3 with the physics facts btw.

[Gerbil]

i'd rather not mention mod support since most mods are q3 sdk based and therefore are licensed under a restrictive clause that you can only play them for q3, so playing q3 mods is at the users own risk.

id software never marketed q3 with the physics facts btw.

Its a good thing oa isnt made by ID then
as for the first part, how about mentioning the downloadable models and maps? Many of them were intentionally made for q3...

[dmn_clown]

a repost of the original



OpenArena is a free software game, based on the IoQuake III engine. A first person shooter, OpenArena has exceptional online multiplayer action offering fast, fun, and action-packed gameplay. OpenArena is an excellent example of an “easy to learn, hard to master” game, with a broad skill range for plenty of room for improvement, that extends further than simple shooting. Players need to learn how to move effectively, time shots, and use each of the 10 unique weapons correctly to fit the most appropriate situation. There are 4 game modes, 32 maps, 14 player models with multiple skins for each, and working bots to keep you occupied! OpenArena is a free online game with many active servers from around the world. You do not need Quake III Arena to play this game.

OpenArena does support a variety of Quake 3: Arena mods. It also has custom maps and player models are available for download from external sources.

There are many advanced techniques that are at your disposal in OpenArena:

• Rocket jumping, shooting a rocket at the ground, possible combined with a jump, can be used to gain speed and/or distance(vertically or horizontally)
• Plasma climbing, shooting multiple plasmas at a specific angle combined with a jump, can be used to climb up walls for a short time(useful for getting into those windows which are just out of jumping reach).
• Strafe jumping, repeated jumping at a diagonal, combined with proper mouse placement means a drastic increase in speed.
• In capture the flag(CTF) you can use the knockback of your weapons to propel teammates quickly through the map
• With the console (press the tilde ~ key) and enough knowledge of it, you can fully customize your playing style and configuration. From simply changing the head model, to changing the peripheral vision and sensitivity.

An OpenArena trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIf0kKR-IFg

Also, It is being planned to include more gamemodes(such as elimination, double domination, and last man standing) more information here:
http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=831.0




Changes in bold. It may also be suitable to put OpenArena and Quake 3: Arena in italics.

Freeware generally means free as in beer, not FOSS.  (more changes in bold)

[kick52]

Hmm, I really can't see why we can't say "open source"
The source is open.. so therefore we have open source.. right?