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Day of Defeat: Source is the newest version of Day of Defeat, the World War II online shooter that was originally developed as a free mod for Half-Life. Built on the Source engine and distributed through Steam, Day of Defeat: Source offers team-based game play with scenarios inspired by historical World War II battles. It was the first Source game to incorporate high dynamic range rendering (HDR), predating the official HDR technical demo, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.
Release Day of Defeat: Source was released over developer Valve Corporation's Steam service at 22:00 GMT on September 26 2005, and was subsequently released in stores on September 28 as a part of the package. Day of Defeat: Source was released in retail as a Stand-Alone Product for $19.99 USD. Unlike Half-Life 2, the game's release on Steam went smoothly, with large IRC parties and live radio shows organised by fans adding to the sense of anticipation. Indeed, the release went so well that players soon found every server full, and only poorly-configured and laggy listen servers with free slots. Content When the game was released there were only four maps available, dod_anzio, dod_flash, dod_avalanche and dod_donner, all of which had been recreated based on maps in the previous iteration of Day of Defeat. An entirely new map, dod_argentan, was added on 30 November, 2005 *, and quickly proved popular amongst players. On January 26, 2006, a remake of dod_kalt was released *, garnering praise from many players and bringing the total number of official maps to six. Valve's PR Manager Doug Lombardi stated in Computer Gaming World: "Day of Defeat: Source is an ongoing project that will receive constant updates through steam depending on community feedback. We're bringing players into the process: this way they feel a tighter affinity for the product". Day of Defeats development team is indeed more active in the community than Valve's other teams (although members do tend to move between products), mostly on the official ''Day of Defeat'' forums and outside forums. Future development With the Source engine's modularity and the Steam platform's distribution technology, Day of Defeat offers many technologies that had not yet been seen in games upon its release. Day of Defeat: Source was the first game implemented with their new High Dynamic Range lighting (Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, and Half-Life 2: Episode One have since implemented it). Other technologies added post-release include effects Valve are to add to the game to make it look closer to a World War II era film. The effects include motion blur, depth of field, film grain and color correction. Some of this technology is meant to convey period cinema, while others were meant to simulate how the human eye works (High Dynamic Range is an example of this). Go to the bit-tech website for more information. Gameplay Upon entering a server, the player chooses a team to play for - either the Allies of World War II or the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces). After this, they choose a class; available classes being: Rifleman, Assault, Support, Sniper, Machine Gunner or Rocket. Some servers will limit the available number of player slots for each class, usually to prevent overuse of sniper rifles or machine guns. The player may choose to select "random" and let the computer choose a class randomly from amongst the remaining classes with open spots. Once a class is chosen the player spawns at a predesignated point on the map, and must battle for control of the objectives. If the player dies, in order to respawn they must wait for "reinforcements" to arrive, which usually takes up to fifteen seconds. Any friendly players who are killed during this time join the original player and respawn together as the next wave of troops. Players are also allowed to switch sides or classes before they respawn. Players may change sides when they are alive as well, but doing so increments a player's "deaths" counter. Compared to many first person shooters, Day of Defeat: Source allows players only a small amount of health; meaning that being hit by even one bullet can be catastrophic. Being shot in the head with any gun at all warrants instant death. As such, players must make use of cover and tactics to achieve victory over the enemy. Players must work together and use a combination of stealth and force to advance through a map to attempt to achieve a winning outcome. For example, if three troops are pinned down by a machine gun, a rocket infantry should come up and attempt to knock the MG out of its hole. A few weapons in the game must be used a certain way to have any effectiveness at all. Machine guns must be deployed to maintain accurate fire, rockets must be shouldered to be fired, sniper rifles must be "scoped" to retain accuracy, and grenades must be primed before release. "Cooking" a grenade for longer than 5 seconds will cause it to explode in a player's hand, killing said player and anyone else near them, including their allies if the server has enabled the friendly fire setting. Game modes There are currently two gameplay modes in Day of Defeat: Source. These are "territorial control" and "detonation". Territorial control The objective in a territorial control Day of Defeat: Source match is to hold every strategic point on the map, denoted by flags at each location. Strategic points are captured by having a certain number of teammates surround them for a certain amount of time without enemy players entering the area. If an enemy enters the area, the capture process stops and resets. Once the capture is complete, the flag will change to display the colours of the capturing team. The location is then held, but the enemy team may take it back through the same process. As a flag is held, over time, the team holding that flag has points added to thier overall score. Capturing all of the points, or capturing other designated objectives which may not specifically be flags, constitutes a capture of the map, or "full capture", which consequently restarts the round and gives a substantially large amount of points to the winning team. Detonation The objective in a detonation Day of Defeat: Source match is to detonate two explosive devices at every opposing checkpoint. In some maps, you must do this whilst defending your own points, while in others you must either attack or defend, but not both. The latter form has a round timer which adds time for each objective destroyed. Classes and weapons Official maps There are currently eight official maps available with Day of Defeat: Source. In addition many custom maps are being created by the Day of Defeat community and are being released at the official forums. Any official new maps will be distributed via Valve's Steam online distribution system. When the game was released there were only four maps available, Anzio, Flashville, Operation Avalanche and Donner, all of which had been recreated based on maps in the previous iteration of Day of Defeat. An entirely new map, Argentan, was added on 30 November, 2005 *, followed by a remake of Kalt on January 26, 2006. Colmar and Jagd, both examples of the new 'Detonation' gameplay mode, were released on June 28, 2006. Anzio - dod_anzio Date: 7th August, 1944 Location: Anzio, Italy. Map Type: Territorial Control The Americans have prepared a simple, fast beach assault to capture the city of Anzio, with plans to outflank the enemy at Rome. Little did they know the Germans were already there, waiting. A conversion of an original Day of Defeat map, Anzio is based on Operation Shingle and the Battle of Anzio. The map runs through the bombed out city of Anzio, with brutal close quarters combat and ranged skirmishes. The U.S. forces start on the beach, where they must advance into the city to attempt to capture all five strategic locations. The German forces must also capture the same five points, and push the Americans out of the city. With multiple ways to each objective, including the sewers, Anzio is a map in which the tactically minded will dominate and strategy is essential. Argentan - dod_argentan Date: 18th August, 1944 Location: Argentan, Normandy, France Map Type: Territorial Control Allied soldiers under General Patton are attempting to capture the town of Argentan and close the Falaise pocket to cut off the remainder of the German forces trying to escape the Cotentin Peninsula after the failure of the Wehrmacht counterattack. German infantry have been sent to the rear to hold off the Allies so the remainder of the Wehrmacht can escape to the east. A whole new map designed specifically for Day of Defeat: Source, Argentan attempts to simulate an American assault on the town of Argentan. The map has two main routes, with smaller paths through buildings. One route is more suited to close quarters combat while the other is perfect for ranged combat and snipers. This map can become a brutal battlefield, taking heavy losses on both sides. However, the five points differ in difficulty. For instance, The last American point can prove relatively simple to capture due to the easy terrain, while the last German point, which is on high ground, can prove to be exceedingly complex. Operation Avalanche - dod_avalanche Date: 18th August, 1943 Location: Salerno, Italy Map Type: Territorial Control A couple of days after establishing a beachhead at Salerno, the American and British advance towards the hills was stopped by a vicious German counterattack on September 13th. Intense street fighting ensued, with some towns changing hands several times a day. This map is based on Operation Avalanche. The map is often referred to as the "Dust of Day of Defeat" in reference to the popularity of the map de_dust in Counter-Strike. Also know as "Ava" for short, this map is played 24/7 on many servers. The Americans start at the bottom of a hill in an Italian town, with the Germans at the top. This immediately puts the Germans at an advantage, allowing them to rain fire down from the high ground to the advancing Americans. The objective is to capture the five strategic points, but each point is its own problem. On either side, the terrain is difficult to progress over, and enemy points can be extremely hard to defend. With rifles and machineguns ripping up the ground outside, close quarters battles rage inside the buildings. The threat of enemy snipers is almost always present. Colmar - dod_colmar
Donner - dod_donner
Flashville - dod_flash
Jagd - dod_jagd Date: 5th September, 1944 Location: Jagd, Italy Map type: Detonation (time limit) German forces are attempting a counter-attack on the Allied controlled town of Jagd. To facilitate this assault they must find and disable Allied armour on the ground, including an anti-aircraft emplacement, a Sherman tank and an Allied truck. Jagd shares a similar layout to Day of Defeats original Jagd, however the gameplay is significantly different from the original. Along with Colmar, Jagd is the first of the Day of Defeat: Source maps which introduce the Detonation gameplay style. Unlike Colmar, the map is an Attack/Defend style map, with the Axis on the attack and the Allies on defence. The Axis forces must destroy three Allied targets, the Anti-air gun, Half-track and M4 Sherman tank. Each target requires 2 bomb detonations in order to be destroyed. The map is timed, if the Axis fail to destroy the targets within a set time limit, then they lose the map. With the destruction of each objective, the time limit is increased, thereby motivating the Allies to try and dominate early as well as motivate the Axis to hurry and get on the board. Also, "jagd" is the German word for "hunt". It is quite a suitable name for an Axis attack map. Kalt - dod_kalt Date: 13th December, 1944 Location: Kalt, Northern France Map Type: Territorial Control The half-frozen town of Kalt became the setting for some of the most brutal fighting of the Battle of the Bulge with firefights raging in the streets, houses, and sewers as both factions attempt to consolidate their positions. Kalt is built around control of a bridge roughly in the center. It also has a number of new models, including an M4 Sherman and an Allied AA half-track, it also brings new textures and effects for the snow theme. It should also be noted that "kalt" is German for "cold". New features and changes from Day of Defeat v1.3 Day of Defeat: Source makes minor detail changes to the gameplay dynamics of Day of Defeat. The majority of the changes are said to be aimed towards promoting teamplay. Class specialisation While Day of Defeats classes were relatively flexible, Day of Defeat: Source limits them to ensure that each has a clear set of advantages and disadvantages. This is achieved through modifications to weapons, a class' weapon loadout, and varying degrees of 'cone fire' for different classes. The clearest example of class specialisation is the rifle class. In the original Day of Defeat, riflemen were equipped with a pistol and could attack players with the butt of their weapon. This gave them several fallbacks should they find themselves in close range combat or other dangerous situations. In Day of Defeat: Source, riflemen do not have sidearms, and instead of a melee attack, they can now bring up the rifle's iron sights. In addition, in place of standard fragmentation grenades, rifle players are equipped with two rifle grenades. These grenades are capable of being fired over a much larger distance than standard fragmentation grenades and are able to strike at enemy sniper and MG positions with relative ease. Their disadvantage is that they are not easily primed or especially useful in close combat situations where a fragmentation grenade would be. This in turn specialises the class solely to medium to long range situations and players learn to avoid close quarters combat. Similar changes have been made to other classes, and the result is that a player will usually have to consider carefully where he or she moves, in order that they are not countered by a more suitably-equipped player. Class specialisation also reduces the potential for one player to dominate in the game, and encourages teamwork amongst players. Real-time physics Real-time physics are a by-product of Day of Defeat moving to Valve's Source engine. Like all other Source engine games, these are powered by a heavily modified version of the Havok Physics engine. Advanced physics simulation makes the environment more interactive, giving the player the ability to utilize logic to create situations favorable to their situation. The movement of furniture indoors to block off a door, or pushing a table into a position and using it as makeshift prop for a machine gun are examples of players utilizing the physics to their advantage. Notably, players' helmets provide realistic protection against enemy fire, and a correctly placed shot is even capable of removing a player's helmet without killing him. More cosmetic changes include fully simulated debris and ragdoll animations for dead players. Dynamic audio simulation Day of Defeat: Source introduces a dynamic audio system that was limited to NPCs in Half-Life 2. Day of Defeat: Source is the first Source game to fully utilize the dynamic audio system in online multiplayer games. In Day of Defeat: Source, each sound is attributed with distance and occlusion variables, which are processed and then fed back to the player. Sounds far from the player lack higher frequencies and thus sound more like they naturally would, for example, abrupt pops for gunshots. Doppler effects, occlusions, and directional sound are also present features. Trajectory randomization In addition to recoil, which modifies the perceived projection of the bullet trajectory, a system for randomizing the bullet trajectory outside of a physically controllable system is present. This system relies on calculating a random angle within 2 discrete values creating an angled trajectory from the physically perceived angle. The maximum values that can be calculated, if graphically represented, create a cone, dubbed the "Cone of Fire". It was initially believed that Day of Defeat: Source featured larger maximum angles than its predecessor. Following experiments by ex-Valve employee Tim 'Waldo' Holt, where weapons were fired in controlled in-game environments, it was found that this was only true of submachine gun and pistol weapons. The results of the experiments were posted on the official forums. Online Play Day of Defeat: Source is an online multiplayer game, so server content often varies, including custom maps or administration modifications, the Mani admin plugin being one of the most popular. As with most online games, Day of Defeat: Source has a large clan interest. Expert clans compete in leagues with other clans, and often own one or more servers. Many other servers are public, therefore accessible by all and normally run by the company that provides the server. Leagues In Day of Defeat: Source, there are special leagues for matches. The most well known is CAL, or Cyberathlete Amateur League. CAL holds matches and tournaments for clan vs. clan in most major games. There are different levels for CAL participants, starting at CAL-O, or CAL-Open, and are divided into divisions. CAL is the amateur division of CPL, or Cyberathlete Professional League. Other leagues include OGL, the Online Gaming League, Twl (TeamWarfare League), ClanBase, ESL and Victory in Europe. Enemy Down is also a ladder combined with leagues which are seen as a good starting place for new and well established clans alike although is based in Europe. Trivia C:Program FilesValveSteamSteamAppsUSERNAMEday of defeat sourcedodmaterials emp ..where USERNAME is your Steam username. These VTF files can be viewed with a program such as VTFEdit. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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