When I am not day-dreaming of being a successful squad leader for an allied unit in WW2, I’m day-dreaming about space ships and colonizing/invading alien planets. Did I just say that out loud?

What this means is that while I will never grow old of TR gaming in the WW2 environment, I would also like to branch out into my second favorite genre - space combat. The problem is that FPS games with a sci-fi theme are never candidates for TR gameplay. Badge of Blood looks to change that. It is a mod for HL2 that promises to deliver TR in space. Check out the feature list:

GRAVITY & BALLISTICS

· Badge of Blood maps will feature a gravity entity that will alter the affects of the acceleration of gravity on a given body. So, if you’re fighting on Mars, the force of gravity will be roughly 0.36 Gs. If you’re fighting on a space station, or in the asteroid belt, the affects of gravity will be negligable.

· Because of this, Badge of Blood will feature a zero G combat system that will take into account the various forces acting on a player while fighting in a weightless environment.

· All bullets fire will be tracked through space… meaning that there will be no instant point-click kills with ballistic weapons. Players will have to account for bullet drop and time to target when they fire their weapons, especially at long ranges.

REAL-WORLD ADVANCED WEAPONRY

· We intend to use science FACT to support our fiction. You won’t see “phasers”, “energy shields”, or “plasma rifles” in this game.

· Almost all of the weapon systems in Badge of Blood will be designed around real-world technologies that are in development today. We’ve done extensive research into projects revolving around high energy heat lasers, gauss rifles, rail-guns, and assorted other plausable technologies that are likely to see extensive use in the coming century. If you want disrupter rays, you’ve come to the wrong place.

In addition to building in realism, Badge of Blood promises a campaign mode where the results on one map are carried over to the next. There is also an RPG element to the game, where player stats, skills and customized appearance data are saved client side to an xml file. The combat in Badge of Blood will follow a story line involving a war of independence as the Martian colony fights to free themselves from Earth dominion.

Throw in a server enforcing TR rules and it sounds like a lot of fun. A single map demo should be coming out soon.