CMC for Open Clonk?

Many players keep asking: "Where is the version of Codename: Modern Combat for Open Clonk?"
Easy answer: There is none... yet.

There were first steps in the year 2016 with initial development and concepts but with no success - it proved really, really difficult to establish a first base of content as all gameplay mechanics from Clonk Rage had to be modified, scrapped or altered completely to even remain playable and - most importantly - fun.

So: We try again. Clonk is a great series and personally, we'd love to contribute to it's survival in the vast sea of video games today.
For that to happen, we'd like to scan the community for new members - mainly guys into the programming part of Open Clonk, and also, those who'd still be interested in playing CMC in Open Clonk.

Wait, what is CMC?

Codename: Modern Combat (in short: CMC) is a expansion pack for Clonk Rage, based on the popular Hazard expansion.
It features arena-style shooter gameplay with a heavy focus on teamwork and tactics.
CMC is one of the oldest Clonk Rage modifications that has been arround since 2010 and is still maintained to this day.

What do you have so far? What do you need?

Apart from lots of concepts, initial UI graphics and other graphics and sound material, a 3D graphics guy, some betatesters and a all purpose - but not programming - project manager? Not much, really.
As mentioned, we'd need to confirm who'd be interested in a Open Clonk project like this and if we'd find programmers to create a first little playable pack which mainly focuses in proving one thing:
The gameplay of CMC working in Open Clonk and - again, most importantly - beeing fun.

After that had been achieved, everything else whould follow.
Of course, OC CMC already has to be different because of the wide array of differences between Open Clonk and Clonk Rage, but the important part isn't to port all features without any changes or to make them simply fit in Open Clonk, but to create gameplay that features similiar varity and depth to it like the version of Clonk Rage offers.

In short: You like...

* Arena-style gameplay for Open Clonk?
* Modern shooters with a clonk-ish twist to it?
* Easy to understand, but hard to master gameplay mechanics?
* Gameplay building arround teamwork and depth in tactics?

Look no further and please feel free to contact us, CMC is probably right up your alley!

Play the current version on Clonk Rage

The project sounds interesting and you'd like to test out the concepts in a real match?
You can take aim on classic Clonk Rage and play the latest version of Codename: Modern Combat right now and see the gameplay mechanics, maps and balancing in action!

> CCAN Download Page ( / )

Additional links

> CCF Project Page ()
> Clonk Spot Forum ()
> Clonk Wiki Article ()

General Design Examples

CMC is a shooter. 'Hey, maybe a bit more specific?' Well, gladly:
The project borrows heavily from current FPS games like Battlefield© - from how weapons work and fire, to how characters move and take damage and how the maps are designed.
'2D-ify' the current shooter genre into a clonk game and give it its own flavor, if you will - developing CMC for Clonk Rage for over 7 years also teached us many of the nuances of 2D shooting gameplay.
For developers who may be interested, here are some examples on how our take on that looks like (sorry, wall of text incoming, take cover - also, no specific order of importance on those examples, its just to give you a first impression):

Weapons

Open Clonk already features basic weapon gameplay, though it lacks the depth required for fun and intense firefights - examples on what whould be needed to change that:

Selection times (DE: Anwahlzeit):
When a Clonk selects an item or weapon in his inventory, he needs a certain amount of time to pull it out - the clonks hands could be animated to reach into hammerspace so other players can see and react to it.
The player can still switch rapidly through his inventory, but selecting a new item will always trigger its selection time first.

This will fix item abuse by switching inventory and more importantly add a much needed layer of depth to general item handling:
Heavy weapons take longer to be selected, so I as a player must decide between taking the risk of beeing shot while pulling out my machine gun or instead using my pistol which can be selected swiftly.
This simple system can add risk/reward decisions to all items and weapons and gives developers a new balancing value to work with.
This is a good example of a system that doesnt even need shooter-focused mechanics to add to the gameplay - all kinds of arena-based game mechanics benefit from this.

Weapon sway (DE: Waffenbewegung):
In Open Clonk, you aim by simply clicking in any direction with [Left Mouse]. So much better than Clonk Rage with its old 'aiming stance' by pressing [Double Stop] - but that old clumsy system also added useful things:
The importance of stances and positioning as well as blind spots that a clonk cant aim at in certain conditions. A OC-Clonk lacks all of these functions, which makes positioning irrelevant for shooting other than having a clear sight.
Weapon sway fixes this by making your clonk's weapon inaccurate when he sways the gun arround too much or/and the clonk himself is beeing unsteady. In short:

* The more stationary a clonk is, the more accurate he fires.
* Depending on the action the clonk is in, he may or may not be able to fire in certain directions.
* The weapon adds it's own value of weapon sway increase - heavy weapons sway hard when using while moving while light weapons are much less effected
* Firing your weapon will add a certain amount of weapon sway with every shot - tap fire instead of rapid fire will therefore be more accurate

That opens up a whole array of strategy for the player, just by choosing between moving or beeing still and standing or laying down:
What weapon to use while running? Stay in cover and lay down to have near-perfect aim or move to the objective but risk inaccurate aim? If a enemy jumps over that ledge, I know that he cant fire straight downwards, so fire from directly below and he cant fire back.
Positioning becomes key and the map itself suddenly has much more to offer and think about.

Clonk Movement and Behaviour

The OC-Clonk is really versatile: We can control his jump midair, he can aim freely while moving, walljump, climb and no clumsy controls either, great stuff.
Still, for shooting, more possibilities are needed to let the player express himself and react more freely:
The clonk does not feature a dedicated 'aiming mode' to trade mobility for more accuracy (the famous 'aiming down sights' in modern shooters), you cant crouch or go prone to change your exposure to enemy fire and a clonk who dies is simply dead forever.

Going prone (DE: Kriechen) adds many strategies to clonks in Clonk Rage CMC:
You can crawl through small tunnels. You can take cover even if there is nothing there to hide behind. You gain perfect accuracy with weapons as lying on the ground is the perfect firing position. You can crawl over a ledge to directly change to climbing said ledge.
And it also gives you things to worry about to create - yet again - risk-reward decisions for the player: You are painfully slow. Enemy melee attacks are boosted, so dont let anyone come near you. You need a while to go into prone position and also to stand up, making you a sitting duck for a few moments.

Beeing able to reanimate (DE: Reanimation) a clonk who just died a few seconds ago by some magical defibrillators or a syringe is a fun game mechanic: You basically give a player the ability to save his fallen ally - you cant make teamwork more obvious than this. Everybody wins - you feel great for helping and your patient gets a free second try - even the enemy is happy as soon as he killed your medic and stole his equipment to help his own team.
A player who has to wait for a respawn gives possibilities to design more interesting game modes that dont rely on a fixed amount of respawns per team or player but a objective to fulfill, and the waiting player isnt even necessarily bored while sitting arround as nearby allied medics could bring you instantly back into action at any moment - at the same time, you get a little break from a really actionheavy fight and communicate a bit with your team.
Again, a simple feature adds an array of possibilities.

Hold or click [Right Mouse Button] to make your clonk aim (DE: Zielen) at your mouse cursor using the iron sights of your weapon - think of it like a focused fire instead of Rambo hip firing.
Your weapon sway will reduce but you cant jump and only walk.
This feature doesnt really comply to Open Clonk standards but all the more to shooter mechanics - this can be seen as a replacement of the old Clonk Rage 'aiming mode', but instantly and easily accessable from just one mouse button alone, no button hammering required.
Having a bunch of clonks running arround and jump-shooting at you is now way less intimidating and dangerous then having the same clonks standing on the ground aiming at you.
But at the same time, standing arround almost feels like begging to be attacked.
This, clonk stances, weapon sway and selection times alone are a stark contrast to Open Clonks general shooting experience - you can still just move quickly to avoid beeing hit and just fire at your enemy upon sighting, but the player will notice the nuances and try to use them to get the edge on their opposing team - that creates the kind of complex frantic gameplay we are looking for while still beeing easy to get into. Clonk Rage lacked the easy introduction with its overcomplicated controls, which Open Clonk easily fixes.

Game Look and Feel

Most shooters are gritty and completely serious. We cant fool anyone, that doesnt work with Clonk - and it doesnt have to:
Guns can still look like real counterparts but have a more blocky design to compliment Open Clonks standard design. We dont call that a M16 or RPG, its a assault rilfe or rocket launcher, simple.
Clonks still look quirky, but they wear serious gear like camouflage suits and protective armor.
CMC should still feel like its part of the clonk universe where they build wooden cabins and wind mills, its just that one country on clonk planet developed modern day weaponary that just happens to look like real guns.
We found the sweet spot when the player has a colorful game but not the wrong idea of a kids pea shooter.

A little progress update:

A deployment screen (DE: Einstiegsmenü) has been added, giving class selection information as well as a full map overview including all spawnpoints (DE: Einstiegspunkt) to choose from.
The final look and features are yet to be determined but it already looks pretty cool, so here you go:



The new UI  is replacing themed HUD elements found in Open Clonk with a clean, neutral UI that blends in well with any setting.
The goal is a shooter-like interface that fits perfectly into Open Clonk, have a look on a small glimpse of what we have so far:



Development is kicking into gear, so if you find a modern shooter for Open Clonk interesting, like what you see here so far and want to help, don't hastitate to give us a short message and we'll be sure to get back to you :D