Urban Terror
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| Urban Terror | |
|---|---|
 Urban Terror logo |
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| Developer(s) | Silicon Ice Development/Frozen Sand, LLC |
| License | proprietary (mod and data), GNU GPL (engine) |
| Engine | id Tech 3 |
| Version | 4.1 (2007-12-22) |
| Platform(s) | Macintosh, PC (Linux/Windows) |
| Release date | August 5, 2000 (Beta 1.0) |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | OFLC: MA15+[citation needed] SELL: 16+[citation needed] ELSPA: 15+[citation needed] |
| Media | Digitally distributed |
Urban Terror, commonly abbreviated as UrT or UT is a total conversion mod of id Software's first-person shooter Quake III Arena by Silicon Ice Development (hereafter referred to as FrozenSand). It introduces many elements of the tactical shooter genre — team-driven gaming in more realistic environments.
The game itself is free, but FrozenSand retains the rights; unauthorised modification and selling is not allowed. Since Urban Terror 4.0, the mod can also be played as a stand-alone game without Quake III Arena using the ioUrbanTerror engine, which is a rebranding of the ioquake3 engine distributed under GNU General Public License. There are some[1] that believe the standalone version is in violation of one or both of the source code licenses that it is distributed under.
The mod was nominated to the 2007 Mod DB's Mod of the Year Award.[2]
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[edit] History
Originally in 1999 the mod started out as a planned mappack for Quake III Arena, in which real world environments should be featured. It expanded from this idea to a full total conversion featuring realistic weapons and gameplay similar to Action Quake 2. The international team named Silicon Ice Development formed itself in spring 2000 and was made of several developers with different backgrounds in the mod scene. Many were familiar with modifying Quake-Engine games, hence progress was made quickly. When its first version Beta 1 was released at the Quakecon August 2000, it was the realism mod with the most features and graphics completed. Beta 1 quickly became popular and many third party maps became available. The development team expanded and added several community mappers to its staff. End of 2000 the last Beta 1 series release 1.27 was finished.
The development team had grown in size to about 20-30 members and worked on the next version of the game Beta 2. The quality of the work done for this version had been a major jump from the previous versions. The visuals, effects and feature richness was on par and in some areas above similar commercial games at the time of Beta 2 release at June 2001. Due to this success several of the team members have started careers in the computer games industry. Beta 2.3 featured a mappack by community mappers again and was released at Quakecon 2001, one year after the original first beta. This version was one of the most played in the history of Urban Terror, only recently topped with the now freely available version 4 series. During the Beta 2 series the development team changed frequently in size, as members joined and left. Especially the leaving of both former lead coders and several other members, had slowed down development a lot. And it took long compared to the previous release timespans until the team stabilized and Beta 2 series was finished in January 2003 with version 2.6a.
Beta3 was supposed to be another major step in the game's development. A "Cold War" theme and mission-based gameplay were to be added. However not all ideas have found its way into the game, which came out at Quakecon 2003. The series ended with 3.7 released in summer 2004. During its development the team announced that it would port the game to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, which was available for free and could be modded from 2004 on. As the original Silicon Ice Development team had close ties with Splash Damage, both coming from the mod development scene, this announcement excited many in the community. However it became rather infamous, as the port never came, and the developers had informed the community relatively lately about their change in plans. During this time the team also renamed themselves to Frozen Sand, an allusion to their former name, and founded a company. This team, albeit being shrunk to a few members, had been stable in its formation since the end of Beta 2 series, and wanted to take Urban Terror to a commercial level. However as the game's content was made of some 40 members during the complete development time, all the content would have needed to be replaced. The team invested time into their own "all-new" version called UT:MX, which had vehicle physics and was based on the work done for the RTCW:ET port. The development on this project ceased however.
Finally with the availability of Quake3 as open-source engine Version 4 was released in spring 2007. Among many polishing done to the game and replacing any textures used from the original Quake III Arena game, community maps were added and this version was finally available for free as both stand-alone and Quake3 mod. The Frozen Sand team is still working on enhancing the game, the current version 4.1 was released end of 2007 and has become the most popular version in the game's long history.
[edit] Gameplay
Urban Terror is focused on blending realism with the fast-paced action of shooters such as Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament. The realism in the mod is introduced through a number of changes. The weapons available are from real-life, have recoil, are less accurate when fired while moving, and require reloading after a magazine has been expended. The number of weapons and other gear that can be carried is limited. Damage is also realistic, based on dividing the player target into discrete areas. In addition to the damage system, wounds require bandaging, and wounds sustained in the legs or feet slow the player down considerably until they are bandaged. A stamina system is also present, and is depleted by activities such as sprinting or jumping; crouching down allows the stamina bar to recover faster. Depending on the map being played, external environments are more realistic too and can include weather effects such as rain or snow.
Urban Terror' allows players to perform superhuman feats. Damage is a key example; while damage taken depends on the part of body which is hit, one can keep going after receiving numerous hits. Further breaking from reality, Urban Terror includes wall jumping and power sliding. Wall jumping allows players to literally jump off of walls and power sliding lets them move rapidly in a crouched position. Urban Terror also retains the movement speeds from Quake III Arena which allows players to move through the screen incredibly quickly. Urban Terror also features game types such as deathmatch and capture the flag, which are typical of First Person Shooters multiplayer modes.
[edit] Weapons and equipment
Players automatically spawn with a Ka-bar knife, pistol and a primary weapon as the bare minimum. A secondary weapon can also be chosen. Finally, grenades can also be carried. Both grenades and secondary weapons remove an item slot. If both are chosen, only one item slot remains. If only one is chosen, two item slots are available. If a player chooses to carry only the bare minimum, there are three item slots available. Weapons picked up after spawning do not affect the number of items that can be carried. Similarly, holding three items does not prevent one from picking up a secondary weapon or grenades from a dead player. Two pieces of equipment - the IMI Negev and the Kevlar vest - affect stamina drain negatively.
The weapon models are all right-handed. For effect the ejection port was modeled and animated on the left side of the weapons. There are no left-handed models in Urban Terror.
[edit] Game modes
Urban Terror features several game modes, though Team Survivor and Capture the Flag dominate. Available game modes are:
- Free for All (FFA, DM)
- Team Deathmatch (TDM)
- Team Survivor (TS)
- Capture the Flag (CTF)
- Capture and Hold (CAH, C&H)
- Follow the Leader (FTL)
- Bomb Mode (BM)
[edit] Anti-cheating technologies
Originally, the Urban Terror used the PunkBuster anti-cheating technology built in Quake III Arena. As PunkBuster does not support modified versions of Quake III Arena engine, the stand-alone version of Urban Terror 4.0 used BattlEye; however, the support was terminated on August 4, 2007. The development team is currently looking for other options on anti-cheating technology.
[edit] Community
[edit] Leagues
Several competitive gaming leagues for Urban Terror exist. Notable among them are the Stronger Than All league[1], Teamwarfare[2], and Clanbase[3]. These leagues have stricter rules than most public servers in order to emphasize fair play and a positive experience for those involved.
As of Sunday January 20th 2008, the Urban Terror Nations Cup had started, it was being hosted by Clanbase.com The following nations are currently competing: Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Korea, UK and USA.
[edit] Clans
Also within the game there are clans (Groups of people who have a same prefix in their player name E.G. kp10., db|,KMA,6th and -WAR-just to name a few). Clans are you used within the leagues as "teams" and ladders. Joining a clan If someone wishes to join a clan they can register their interest by talking to the respective people online, going to the website of the clan or just be good enough and receive an invite from one of the leaders of the clan. Being in a clan Being in a clan requires co-operation and commitment.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Forum post regarding contentious licensing. Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
- ^ 2007 Mod of the Year Awards: Top 100. Mod DB. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
[edit] References
- Urban Terror Beta 3.1 Manual and Documentation. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
