17 replies to this topic

[Tweevle]

First I've got to say this looks awesome. I was literally thinking how good something like this would be a few days before I read the announcement, so thank you for unwittingly realising my idea. :3

Anyway, one of the reasons I thought this style of gameplay would be good to implement was, as well as obviously being tremendous fun to play, it'd also allow a much better experience of playing as the Combine than other mods have been able to produce so far. Presumably playing the rebel side will be pretty similar to the general HL2 experience (only cooperative), but playing the Overwatch side I think offers a chance to implement a completely different mood to the one we're familiar with, and generally make you feel like you are the Universal Union. I've played several mods that put you on the Combine side, and none of them really seemed to capture that feel; you generally seemed like Gordon Freeman dressed up in an Overwatch uniform, sometimes with special weapons. The Overwatch Mod will obviously be quite different to these as you control lots of Combine units rather than one guy, which will definitely help prevent this familiar feeling, but it'd also be nice to keep things as Combine-like as possible when playing, and keep to the quite detailed canon that Valve created for them.

One of the things that I think will really help in this aspect is the use of Combine terminology. I haven't really seen any of this in other Combine-playing mods, where they all tend to either speak normally/cornily or use generic military terminology, as well as use specifically Resistance slang (thumpers, manhacks etc.), when in fact the Combine have a well developed way of speaking and some very specific terms for different things. For me, not including any of this rather ruins the feel of becoming the Combine, goes against the Half-Life 2 canon, and generally makes it feel less like a polished game that meshes with the storyline. So yeah, if possible, I'd like to see as much of the terminology used by the Combine as possible, whether that be for the UI or announcements or whatever. This would make it seem more in-keeping with the HL2 canon, as well as keeping it even more distinct from the Resistance side as well as similar factions in other RTS games.

The Combine use language that is often euphemistic and based in medical terminology. Some things haven't yet been given a designation (e.g. Striders) so you may have to invent an appropriate term for them, and some, such as Advisors, seem to be referred to the same by both factions. I also have to stress that the use of the word "Combine" appears to be more of an abrasive slang term rather than their official name, so if possible the Overwatch shouldn't make reference to that name, instead substituting "Universal Union" in its place. Several mods have them referring to themselves as Combine, and it annoys me.

Regardless, here's the terms that I've been able to gather from various in-game sources (mostly sound files or the sentences.txt file within scripts). Ones in bold are pretty much for definite, whereas ones in italic are inferred.

_{Anticitizen 1 : Gordon Freeman
Airwatch : Scanner Network / Hunter Choppers / Gunships
Biotic : Antlion (Could also possibly also refer to other Xen creatures)
Bodypack : Armour
Boomer : Gunship (?)
Bouncer : Enemy Grenade (Zombines use this for their own grenades, but they're malfunctioning, so it's not that surprising.)
Cauterize : Cut Off / Kill
Containment Field : Shield
Control Section : Citadel
Dislocate : Remove
Displace : Retreat
Deserviced / Duty Vacated : Dead (Usually used for friendlies)
Exogen : Hostile Creature/Object (Usually used to refer to Antlions, but also occasionally to other hazards such as reprogrammed Sentry Turrets and Rollermines.)
Expunge : Kill
Extractor : Friendly Grenade
Flare : Grenade (In general)
Ghost 2 : Gordon Freeman
Interpose : Cover
Lock : Stand Ground
Hard-Point : Mounted Gun Emplacement / Bunker
Hurricane : Key Resistance Figure (Not Gordon. Used to define status of "outbreak")
Necrotic : Zombie
Noncitizen : Rebel
Outbreak : Human Revolt (When said three times in short succession, means that the speaker is overwhelmed.)
Parasite / Parasitic: Headcrab
Phantom : Gordon Freeman
Political Conscript : Stalker (?)
Priority 1 Objective / Primary Target : Gordon Freeman
Priority 2 Escapee: Other Key Resistance Figure
Probe : Investigate
Prosecute : Assault
Protection Team: Metrocop Squad
Restrictor : Thumper
Ripcord : Retreat
Scalpel : Overwatch Sniper
Signature Imprint : Data Packet (Presumably)
Stabilization Team: Overwatch Soldier Squad
Sterilize : Kill
Sterilizer : Sentry Turret
Storm System : Canal
Tag : Kill
Target 1 : Gordon Freeman
Transport : Teleporter
Universal Union : Combine
Unrest Structure : Resistance Station
Vance Prime : Eli Vance (Presumably)
Vance Sub-Prime : Alyx Vance
Viscon : Enemy Sighted
Verdict : Pistol Bullet
Virome : Antlion
Viscerator : Manhack
Workforce Intake Hub : Trainstation
10-99 : Overrun
10-108 : Friendly Dead / Death
404 : Riot}

Apologies for the essay about a very nitpicky subject, but I really think it'd help to completely polish what looks to be a great game, and make it seem more "official". Feel free to discuss whether implementing this would be a good idea or not, or dispute the terms I've gathered.

tl;dr: Use Combine language in the Overwatch side.

[Kil]

Ha, very nice. I too have a perfectionist attitude towards replication, the attention to detail of all the little things such as this always stick out and can be a prickle in the mind when they are absent in the product.

Good work compiling such a list!

[Tweevle]

Thanks! I think about this stuff way too much.

[AndY]

Hi Tweevle,

I feel the exact same way you do and think this is a great idea. We hadn't gotten around to making a detailed list like you have, so I really appreciate the effort you've put in!

We won't be able to make the corrections/additions for this first release, but we have a development stage coming up that deals with localization (and text strings in general), so I'll get one of our QA guys to create an issue for it on our tracker and add it to that batch.

In the meantime, I'd love to see what the other members of our community have to say about it. Comment away!

[PixilatedPunk]

This was a well thought out and detailed post and is much appreciated by the team. Keep up the good work sir!

[dsi1]

It would be great if these could be used to make the OW HUD seem more authentic, of course people don't want to, and shouldn't need to, study a dictionary to play properly ;p

(My list was made before EP1 came out though)
 Terminology and Squads.txt   1.95K   281 downloads

[elite879]

Tweevle this list is perfect. I'm sure the overwatch team would make great work of it.

[Tucker]

Holy crap.
This is awesome. Nice work. I didn't know ANY of this.

[Pingu]

Cool. The list has a lot more words than I knew about. I guess there is even more words in the real combine dictionary

[The Diddler]

This is some good stuff, I really hope that the Overwatch mod will be dipping heavily into the Combine sound files from HL2.
Also, another important one is "Trans-Human Arm of the Combine Overwatch" (This is how Dr. Breen referred to soldiers in Nova Prosepkt, so Combine must be an accepted term, as is "Our Benefactors".)
Oh and, I think "Outbreak" is shouted by the final surviving member of a squad before he is killed.

More research is needed! Canon is important!

[Auxor]

The Combine Overwatch itself in HL2 is actually the woman with the clinical sounding voice that oversees the soldiers, so I hope that maybe the Combine player gets given their orders through text on the screen, but also through maybe a sound clip, for example the voice says in Episode 2 "All autonomous units subsume" which means all Combine troops must gather together. Also, it'd be cool if the Rebels could hear the Overwatch woman speak occasionally or to signify that something is happening that has a major impact on the resistance, in a sort of Left 4 Dead motif kind of way. For example, if a Gunship was spawned by the Overwatch player, the rebels could hear a faint 'Airwatch being deployed' from distant Combine soldiers' helmets.

[Tweevle]

Thanks guys! I'm glad it'll be of use. If anyone wants to do more research on it, "sentences.txt", contained within the scripts folder in the source engine GCF has all the phrases spoken by the soldiers and metrocops, which is where I got most of it from. I like the idea that the mod might bring this more to the attention of people who didn't notice it while playing the regular game.

dsi1, on 10 July 2010 - 12:03 AM, said:

It would be great if these could be used to make the OW HUD seem more authentic, of course people don't want to, and shouldn't need to, study a dictionary to play properly ;p

Yes, it'd have to be balanced between making it sound authentic and interesting, and not being so difficult to understand that it'd affect gameplay. I suppose if there's a picture as well as text it'd be fairly easy to link the Combine terms to their normal counterparts, and people would probably get used to it pretty quickly.

The Diddler, on 11 July 2010 - 12:53 AM, said:

This is some good stuff, I really hope that the Overwatch mod will be dipping heavily into the Combine sound files from HL2.
Also, another important one is "Trans-Human Arm of the Combine Overwatch" (This is how Dr. Breen referred to soldiers in Nova Prosepkt, so Combine must be an accepted term, as is "Our Benefactors".)

That line has bothered me somewhat, as it's quite contradictory, considering he says later "Only the Universal Union, which small minds call the Combine, can carry us there." I think an explanation is that he uses it as a slang term when talking privately because even he doesn't like them all that much, especially as he refers to total extinction in the next sentence. But who knows?

The Diddler, on 11 July 2010 - 12:53 AM, said:

Oh and, I think "Outbreak" is shouted by the final surviving member of a squad before he is killed.

Yep, that's what I meant by when Outbreak is said three times in short succession it means that the speaker is overwhelmed. They also sometimes ask for "skyshield" or "winder dispatch"; I'm not sure what those are.

Anyway, I think an interesting challenge would be to come up with terms for stuff that haven't yet been given a designation. For instance, I like the word "vaccine" for the headcrab cannisters, as on extremely broad terms they do something similar, and it sounds apt.

[dsi1]

I think the difference between "Universal Union" and "Combine" are essentially the same as the difference between "United States of America" and "United States" or "America". That being said, I think "Universal Union" is more apt for something official like Overwatch (the AI/PA System)

[The Diddler]

Tweevle, on 09 July 2010 - 02:59 PM, said:

Regardless, here's the terms that I've been able to gather from various in-game sources (mostly sound files or the sentences.txt file within scripts). Ones in bold are pretty much for definite, whereas ones in italic are inferred.

_{Anticitizen 1 : Gordon Freeman
Airwatch : Scanner Network / Hunter Choppers / Gunships
Biotic : Antlion (Could also possibly also refer to other Xen creatures)
Bodypack : Armour
Boomer : Gunship (?)
Bouncer : Enemy Grenade (Zombines use this for their own grenades, but they're malfunctioning, so it's not that surprising.)
Cauterize : Cut Off / Kill
Containment Field : Shield
Control Section : Citadel
Dislocate : Remove
Displace : Retreat
Deserviced / Duty Vacated : Dead (Usually used for friendlies)
Exogen : Hostile Creature/Object (Usually used to refer to Antlions, but also occasionally to other hazards such as reprogrammed Sentry Turrets and Rollermines.)
Expunge : Kill
Extractor : Friendly Grenade
Flare : Grenade (In general)
Ghost 2 : Gordon Freeman
Interpose : Cover
Lock : Stand Ground
Hard-Point : Mounted Gun Emplacement / Bunker
Hurricane : Key Resistance Figure (Not Gordon. Used to define status of "outbreak")
Necrotic : Zombie
Noncitizen : Rebel
Outbreak : Human Revolt (When said three times in short succession, means that the speaker is overwhelmed.)
Parasite / Parasitic: Headcrab
Phantom : Gordon Freeman
Political Conscript : Stalker (?)
Priority 1 Objective / Primary Target : Gordon Freeman
Priority 2 Escapee: Other Key Resistance Figure
Probe : Investigate
Prosecute : Assault
Protection Team: Metrocop Squad
Restrictor : Thumper
Ripcord : Retreat
Scalpel : Overwatch Sniper
Signature Imprint : Data Packet (Presumably)
Stabilization Team: Overwatch Soldier Squad
Sterilize : Kill
Sterilizer : Sentry Turret
Storm System : Canal
Tag : Kill
Target 1 : Gordon Freeman
Transport : Teleporter
Universal Union : Combine
Unrest Structure : Resistance Station
Vance Prime : Eli Vance (Presumably)
Vance Sub-Prime : Alyx Vance
Viscon : Enemy Sighted
Verdict : Pistol Bullet
Virome : Antlion
Viscerator : Manhack
Workforce Intake Hub : Trainstation
10-99 : Overrun
10-108 : Friendly Dead / Death
404 : Riot}

http://forums.blackm...hread.php?t=830

I appreciate the effort, but unless you are "Pettifogg" from Black Mesa Source community, I don't appreciate the lying.
If otherwise, I apologize for the accusation, but I would like an explanation as to why this appears to be plagiarism.

[Tweevle]

The Diddler, on 03 August 2010 - 01:43 AM, said:

http://forums.blackm...hread.php?t=830

I appreciate the effort, but unless you are "Pettifogg" from Black Mesa Source community, I don't appreciate the lying.
If otherwise, I apologize for the accusation, but I would like an explanation as to why this appears to be plagiarism.

Sorry for the incredibly late reply, but yes, I am one and the same.

[C.D.G.]

if players will be the combine then it has to be setup like this

if you click overwatch at the beginning of the round youll get a list of classes (in menu form like it looked like when you had to pick overwatch or rebel)

Overwatch Commander
Super Soldier
Shotgun Soldier
Submachinegun Soldier
Metrocop Soldier

you get to pick one and when the overwatch commander spawns the type of soldier and you picked that same type of soldier you spawn in the spot where the bot is soppused to spawn.
then the overwatch commander can give you commands on the top right of your screen or something

I think overwatch being a player is way better because then it would be exactly balanced because they are both real people

Then to make it combinish, make the sight of the combine look inside of their helmet so there is like a screen on the helmet and you can zoom through the eyesight and see people from far away and all that cool stuff

[C.D.G.]

by the way, the metrocops dont say anything special, because they are humans in a suit. they speak normal english

only the soldiers speak those words because they are robot and human mixed so you know.

[WAXT]

C.D.G., on 20 November 2010 - 10:23 AM, said:

if players will be the combine then it has to be setup like this

if you click overwatch at the beginning of the round youll get a list of classes (in menu form like it looked like when you had to pick overwatch or rebel)

Overwatch Commander
Super Soldier
Shotgun Soldier
Submachinegun Soldier
Metrocop Soldier

you get to pick one and when the overwatch commander spawns the type of soldier and you picked that same type of soldier you spawn in the spot where the bot is soppused to spawn.
then the overwatch commander can give you commands on the top right of your screen or something

I think overwatch being a player is way better because then it would be exactly balanced because they are both real people

Then to make it combinish, make the sight of the combine look inside of their helmet so there is like a screen on the helmet and you can zoom through the eyesight and see people from far away and all that cool stuff

No comment. Really, i'm tired of trying to explain this over and over...