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We who are about to die, salute you!
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"And die the gladiators did. In a vast marble Colosseum, the people of Rome, patrician and commoner, flocked to see gladiators mangled beneath the hoofs and wheels of horses and chariots, slaughtered by half-starved wild beasts, and butchered by well-armed and armored professionals. With the Empire in decline, death and torture became the only spectacles that satisfied the decadent Romans’ longing. The Emperor Trajan gave one set of games that lasted 122 days; at its end, 11,000 people and 10,000 animals had been killed. The people of Rome loved it—and they wanted more."

Gladiator is a third-person melee-combat modification centered around the gladiator battles in ancient Rome and will strive to recreate that visceral feeling. There are many aspects of this mod that differentiate this from a normal hack and slash fight-fest:

Classes:
Several gladiator classes are avaible from the classical Retiarius (net-trident gladiator) to unique classes (one per server) like Spartacus! Each class comes with a different weapon loadout and skills. Class selection is also determined by a player's notoriety : the more popular you are with the crowd, the more classes will be unlocked.

Blocking:
If you have a gladiator that has a shield, you can block melee and ranged attacks with your shield. This is real blocking with the shield itself (hitboxes are assigned directly to the shield), so it is very realistic.

Alternative strikes:
Differents strikes can be attempted with the strike toggle key. This effectively allows for 4 different “attacks” for every weapon and allows for greater strategy in combat.

Stamina:
This effectively handles how much you can swing your weapon before you become too tired. This adds a new dimension to melee combat since the combatant will have to plan out when to strike, instead of blindly striking out at everyone.

Mercy:
When a player reaches a low health, he will kneel down from exhaustion and bleeding. In this state, his opponent has a chance to perform a special “killing blow” move (decapitation, strike, etc), to please the crowd. The flashier the move, the more notoriety he will receive from the crowd.

Killing Blow:
This is a special move that is available if the player's opponent is down on his knees (mercy). For now, decapitation is available, more moves are to come.

Notoriety points:
The flashier the gladiator kills his opponent, the more notoriety he gets. With notoriety, he will have access to better weapons and equipment. The crowd will also respond differently with these gladiators (throwing petals when he enters the arena, cheering him on, etc).

The Crowd:
The crowd entity pays attention to certain battles and reacts accordingly. For example, if you strike multiple blows on your opponent, the crowd will start cheering. If your opponent is at mercy, the crowd will either chant "Kill, kill!" or "Live, live!" depending on how the battle went.

Weapons:
Gladius, trident and net, crossbow, axe, spear, and many other different melee weapons will be available.
Each weapon has a speed, reach, stamina cost, and damage rating.

Gameplay Modes:
Various gameplay modes will be avaible: team based battles, free-for-all, beast matches (beasts will be periodically released into the battle), paired-match (the gladiators are chained two-by-two). These will have full spectator and HLTV support.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team and make this mod great!
There has been released a public alpha, including bots, and now there are about 3 dedicated servers up and running already.
The next alpha has been released internaly recently and a lot of progress is done.

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What do you gain by joining the Gladiator team?
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-The chance to work with dedicated members, working on a mod that has much potential
-Get experience towards the gaming industry, as mods have a lot of exposure. Two of our former artists have gotten jobs at TKO Software and 2015!
-Have fun!

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Who we need
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Animator
This is the biggest lack in our team and without one the progress of the mod is very much detained. We would greatly appreciate any applications! He/she will be in charge of animating player models as well as the animals.

-Ability to physique a mesh to a skeleton.
-3d Studio Max / Character Studio experience preferred

Modeler
Should be able to model in low poly (around 700-1000 polys) various gladiator player models, armors and weapons.

-Ability to assign proper UVs to the model and create a template for skinning
-Ability to physique a mesh to a skeleton
-3d Studio Max experience preferred

Skinner
Will be in charge of supplying various textures for player models

-Ability to create and assign skins
-Photoshop experience prefered

Well, these are all the key openings at this moment, if you have any skills not listed here, you may want to contact us by e-mail and we'll see what we can do.
All applicants must provide samples of their work before being considered.

For more information please contact Cyberbum, our project leader at:
cyberbum@planethalflife.com - Any files/examples/applications should be sent there as well. Or you can visit our website at http://www.planethalflife.com/gladiator

-inFERNo
2D/3D Artist | Gladiator | Portfolio | Schule3D | G-13