| Day of Defeat: Source | |
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| Developer(s) | Valve Software |
| Publisher(s) | Valve Software |
| Distributor(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Engine | Source engine |
| Released |  26 September, 2005 (Steam) 28 September 2005 (Windows) |
| Genre | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Ratings | ESRB: Mature 17+ PEGI: 16+ |
| Platform(s) | PC (Windows) |
| Media | CD, Steam |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse |
Day of Defeat: Source is a conversion 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 (HDR) rendering, predating the official HDR technical demo, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.
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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 Counter-Strike: Source package. Day of Defeat: Source was released in retail as a Stand-Alone Product for $19.99 USD. It was later reduced to $9.99. Unlike Half-Life 2, the game's release on Steam went smoothly, with large IRC parties and live radio shows organized 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.
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[1], with other Source titles later following suit. 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[2], depth of field[3], film grain[4] and color correction[5]. Some of this technology is meant to convey period cinema, while others, such as high dynamic range, were meant to simulate how the human eye works.
Gameplay
Upon entering a server, players chooses a team to play for - either the US Army or the Wehrmacht. After this, they choose a class, each with specific weapons and tasks. The nature of a map's objectives is defined by its game mode. In territorial control game modes, the objective is to hold every strategic point on the map, denoted typically by flags but also as other objectives such as tanks and buildings. 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 or killing the players, thereby disrupting a capture. The first side to capture all the points wins the round. The objective in a detonation Day of Defeat: Source match is to detonate two explosive devices at every opposing checkpoint. In some maps, this involves one team attacking the other's position, with only a set amount of time to do so. In others, both teams must attack the others objectives while defending their own.
All weapons in the game have realistic limits to their use. Machine guns must be deployed to maintain accurate fire or to be reloaded, rockets launchers must be shouldered to be aimed and fired, sniper rifles are most accurate when used with the scope, and grenades must be primed before release or else they may be easily fled from or even thrown back. 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 fatal. Being shot in the head with any gun is an instant death, making it more realistic than many other action games where players may have an enormous amount of health. As such, players must utilize cover and teamwork to win. When a player dies, in order to respawn they must wait a number of seconds for "reinforcements" to arrive. Any friendly players who are killed during this time join the original player and respawn together as the next wave of troops.
Classes and weapons
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[6]. 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, Flash, 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[7], 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, a territorial control map.
- Argentan, a territorial control map.
- Avalanche, a territorial control map.
- Colmar, a detonation map.
- Donner, a territorial control map.
- Flash, a territorial control map.
- Jagd, a detonation map.
- Kalt, a territorial control map.
On the 26 April 2007 the first in a series of finalised custom maps was released under the name of the Community Assembled Map Pack. Whilst unofficial, the maps are endorsed by Valve and according to one of the C.A.M.P. team their creation "would not have been possible without the assistance, encouragement, and support from Valve"[8] and as such featured in a weekly news update on Steam[9]. The maps are not distributed using Steam but rather by a thread on the official Day of Defeat forums.[8] The second pack was released in similar style on July 26, 2007[10].
- Aura, a territorial control map.
- Churchyard, a territorial control map.
- Coire, a territorial control map.
- Crash, a territorial control map.
- Strand, a detonation map.
- Stug, a territorial control map.
- Tunisia, a detonation map.
- Vigilance, a territorial control map.
New features and changes from Day of Defeat
Day of Defeat: Source makes some minor and some major 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
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 nor can they attack with the rifle butt. They can now bring up the rifle's iron sights for increased accuracy and have been equipped with trench knives and entrenching spades. 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. In the game, the engine gives the player the ability to modify the environment for a more favorable position, as they might in a real firefight. 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 or her. However, the protection commonly goes unnoticed, as the most common sound to be heard accompanying a death is the tink of a bullet hitting your helmet, followed by the sounds of it scraping rock and dirt. 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. With machinegun fire, this method appears awkward, however, as the cutoff for sound changes can be a few steps, or simply be within clear view of the shooter at ranges which make the gunner sound much farther away than they are.
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.[11]
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 is the amateur division of CPL, or Cyberathlete Professional League. Currently for Day of Defeat: Source there is an Open, Main, and Invite division. Other leagues include Online Gaming League, TeamWarfare League, ClanBase, Electronic Sports League, Source League 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. Day of Defeat: Source in league play is young, especially compared to its predecessor Day of Defeat and other games such as Counter-Strike and Quake III. This is due to the fact that Day of Defeat: Source was released in September of 2005, even though the game from which Day of Defeat: Source's engine derives from (Half-Life 2) was released in 2004. Successful game sales, plus the addition of competitive players from the original Day of Defeat are quickly improving and helping the Day of Defeat: Source community grow.
References
- ^ Smalley, Tim (December 09 2005). Cinematic effects in Source - Introduction. bit-tech.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Smalley, Tim (December 09 2005). Cinematic effects in Source - Motion Blur. bit-tech.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Smalley, Tim (December 09 2005). Cinematic effects in Source - Depth of Field. bit-tech.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Smalley, Tim (December 09 2005). Cinematic effects in Source - Film Grain. bit-tech.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Smalley, Tim (December 09 2005). Cinematic effects in Source - Colour Correction. bit-tech.net. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Mapping releases. Official Day of Defeat forums. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Reynolds, Alfred (November 30 2005). Day of Defeat: Source and Rag Doll Kung Fu update available. Valve Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ a b "Shane" (April 26 2007). CAMP1 Pack is GO!. Official Day of Defeat forums. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Steam weekly news update. Valve Corporation (27 April 2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ "Shane" (July 26 2007). CAMP2 is GO!!. Official Day of Defeat forums. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Holt, Tim (December 19 2005). Cone Of Fire Discussion: Round 2 (with some startling test results). Official Day of Defeat forums. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
External links
- The official Day of Defeat website.
- Community Assembled Map Pack 1 release at the Day of Defeat forums.
- Community Assembled Map Pack 2 release at the Day of Defeat forums.
- Player statistics at the Day of Defeat website.
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| Half-Life series | Half-Life (Opposing Force · Blue Shift · Decay) · Uplink · Half-Life: Source · Half-Life 2 (Episode One · Episode Two · Episode Three) · Deathmatch · Lost Coast · Survivor |
| Counter-Strike series | Counter-Strike · Condition Zero · Counter-Strike: Source · Counter-Strike Neo · Counter-Strike Online |
| Day of Defeat series | Day of Defeat · Day of Defeat: Source |
| Team Fortress series | Team Fortress · Team Fortress Classic · Team Fortress 2 |
| Other games | Deathmatch Classic · Gunman Chronicles · Left 4 Dead · Ricochet · The Orange Box |
| Soundtracks | Valve Soundtracks Tracklist |
