After a small lull in activity on TA the work is now ramping back up as we continue to work towards getting an early version of TA complete. Things have been a little quiet recently due to the proliferation of exams around this time of year, hopefully in a few months time it will all pay off and the team will be even more qualified than before!

Nizza has now begun work on another Special Forces character model to follow up his excellent Terrorist model and the early shots are looking very promising. We also have a couple of new guys who have recently joined the team who are working hard, Spooki3 and REDPlague are working on some art for the HUD and MrFred is giving some more support in the animation department to help keep things moving. InT-2k - an experienced coder - has also joined the team to help out with some of the networking code, to ensure that things run smoothly online.

See you on the servers,
Your TA Team.

We bring you the much awaited Fusion media release... at last you get to see what Laky has been working on for such a long time. I was dubious at first and though he has spent months slacking, but having seen these pictures and having had a run around in the map I can tell you that it's quite the opposite.

I hope you are all as excited as we are getting about Tactical Assault now! Can you believe we now have a forum community of over 750 people? I think that's pretty awesome for an unreleased mod. To reward you all for being so faithful we are going to keep the media rolling out and hopefully keep it getting more impressive as we progress.

OK onto the good stuff. We were really pleased at the great feedback we got from the Fusion media release so we thought we would do the same sort of thing again. Some preview pictures to show you what it's about and an interview with Laky to give you some behind the scenes info.

AP: Hi Laky, time to introduce yourself I think L: Hello, I'm Laky, and I'm currently studying games design at college in the UK. TA is probably the biggest project I have worked on yet but I was a mapper and beta tester for TO:C which is what really got me into TA. I applied for the team at the end of 2007 and have been mapping ever since.

AP: So did you find that mapping with Unreal Editor 4 any different from previous versions? L: Well in some respects it's easier but in others it's harder. It is much more stable than previous versions which used to crash a lot and also some of the tools like the terrain editor are now easier to use. But also it's harder because you have got to make your levels much more detailed these days.

L: Yeah, making maps is the same idea as before but you have also got to make it much better looking. This is why the level has taken so long, the detailing of all of the textures and models takes longer than before. It's no longer enough just to have box rooms and brown textures and no detail. AP: So you have carried your level design skills forward then?

L: Level design is mostly about what feels good and I think that it's something that you develop over time from both playing and designing games. My previous experience has all gone into this map and I think that it's the best one yet in terms of layout and playability. L: You can only do so much with graphics so I think that what makes it stand out will have to be the layout. It is something that I have focused on and what TA is about really but I guess that the proof is in the playing.

AP: Where did you get your inspiration for the design from? L: The map design is an old one that I was working on for TO:C with PerfectStorm. In the end it never saw the light of day so I thought that I would try and bring it to TA as it's a design that I really love. Also I am inspired by the thought of people playing the map and enjoying it. It is easy to get down about it sometimes, especially since it's a long project and you are working on the same thing day after day. Thinking about people enjoying it really helps to motivate you.

AP: So are you aiming to create the most popular TA map then? You could have some stiff competition from Jungle and the other maps we have got lined up. L: Yeah, obviously I want mine to be the most popular but that is one of the nice things about working in a skilled team like we have got, seeing what other people are doing really spurs you on to work that bit harder. You don't want to feel like you are letting the rest of the team down.

AP: Well I think that you have done enough there to keep people happy L: I hope so, like I said before, the proof is in the playing. I would like to thank the modellers and texture artists too, although they have loads to do they have produced quality work and you can see the results now.

AP: So has the layout of Fusion changed much from the original inspiration then?

L: There isn't really much in there that hasn't been changed in some way. I have reworked most of it from the original to improve the gameplay and the flow of the level. I have learnt quite a lot since I worked on it before.

AP: OK, so aside from the design what was the hardest bit of creating the map?

L: Probably just making it look natural, to make a realistic map you have to avoid just having box rooms and completely flat areas because the real world just isn't like that. I did some research and got some reference pictures which really helped. Also the modellers were great too; it helps to have proper environmental objects around the map, that's what brings it to life.

AP: What sort of stage is the map at now? Is it, dare I ask, complete?

L: Well the entire map is complete now, it just needs some proper team testing now to find the little bugs and smooth out some bits. It's quite an exciting time really with the map and the whole of TA to see it all coming together.

AP: Have you got a favourite part of the map?

L: If I had to choose it would have to be the alleyway in the third picture, I really like how the look of that bit turned out in the end. Like most areas in the map it took quite a while and a few modifications before I was really happy with it.

AP: So what are your plans now? Sticking with mapping after Fusion?

L: Of course! I am working on a couple of things in the background at the moment but nothing that I can tell you about yet. I am also working on improving my modelling too, it really speeds things up if you can make up a basic model like some railings, it saves being completely dependant on the modellers all the time.

AP: I am definitely looking forward to getting in there and playing it now. It must be a pretty good feeling now its nearly done.

L: I can't wait to see it on the servers, I'm hoping I will have the tactical advantage over everyone else since I know the layout so well now.

AP: You will certainly have the upper hand on me, well for the first few weeks at least..... Thanks for taking some time out to give us some more info on Fusion Laky.

Well there you go, don't say that we don't keep you updated often . As usual if you want to support TA then have a quick look at our news on ModDB and also spread the word around... let your clans know and let your friends know, the more people that we have playing TA the more fun it will be.

Oh! And before I forget... I would like to take a minute to say thanks to the whole TA team. Making a mod like this is really demanding, it takes a lot of time and commitment to come and put time into TA after a day at work and the progress we have made after only a year could almost rival that of some professional development companies. So a big thank you to the team for all you have done so far and what is yet to come.

See you on the servers,
Your TA Team.

Its been a while since we gave you an update so we thought we would give you some more information on the development and also some more pics to drool over. Remember we told you a couple of weeks ago that all the weapon models and textures were complete? Well here are some of the ones that you haven't seen before along with a little teaser for our next big map release.

This is the almighty Colt that the terrorists will wield as the most powerful pistol. PixelDamage worked on this for his trial for the team a while back. As you can imagine he passed the trial with flying colours! Although not easy to use there is definitely something satisfying about hitting a headshot with this cannon.

Well we had to have a G3 in TA didn't we? Its design hasn't changed much since the early 50's when it was first designed and it is still widely used by military forces across the world. This one was also modeled and textured by Pixeldamage and is looking very smart. If you were waiting for a heavy duty automatic rifle then this might just do the job.

The Glock is the basic and cheap pistol for the terrorists so you will see plenty of these in the early rounds. GuyB modeled the Glock for us and Disaster did a good job of texturing it. It is perhaps not as well known as the Desert Eagle but is still useful as a Tactical backup to a bigger rifle.

You have already seen the Remington 870 but here is the Terrorist shotgun, the good looking Mossberg 590. A bit shorter but will all the same firepower as the 870, handling this is going to be very important in the tighter maps if the Terrorists want to escape. Nizza worked on modeling this one and Sampson created the very nice looking wooden texture.

The Mac-10 is a powerful weapon for the Terrorists, cheap adaptable and in the right hands quite deadly. We knew that SWAT were going to have to have an equally awesome weapon so we had to make sure that we did a good job of the MP5k and Nizza has once again excelled himself. This is the SWAT version as used by the Special Ops for covert missions - it is slightly smaller than the standard MP5 and due to the shorter bolt also has a faster rate of fire.

Modeled by Disaster and then finished by Midgard our super fast texture wizard, this is the SWAT answer to the MP5A3. Small fast and cheap these can be used as an alternative to a pistol to back up a bigger rifle. We know that these were never as well known as the MP5's so we thought we would make it look cool just so that you were spoilt for choice.

Here is a sneak preview of Laky's map: Fusion. It is set in an abandoned industrial estate so expect a grubby warehouse setting. It looks great already and is very nearly finished, all that remains is some intensive team testing to iron out the map bugs. Our next media release will be a full preview of Fusion so keep tuned for that one.

If you like our updates then please visit our moddb page at www.moddb.com/mods/tactical-assault. The more views we get the higher up the mod list we get and the more publicity we get. The end result? A bigger community for all you guys.

Thanks to Nizza and Igi who were very helpful in getting these weapons rendered. I think its about time for me to get started on that fusion release now

See you on the servers,
Your TA Team.