See, this is why I don't mind discussions like this. Red Eclipse thrives on this sort of thing, just nobody really knows it. Every time I play a game I'm looking at gameplay mechanics and other minuscule but varied parts of it to glean ideas and apply them to our game. What amuses me is how much everyone appreciates these gameplay rules we had from the outset.
I was a hardcore Quake and UT player, so I guess I overplayed the classic type of deathmatch too much and needed something different. I really hate items, because; (1) they're designed purposely to unbalance the game slightly in favour of the person who can keep collecting them, and (2) you end up getting distracted by low ammo/health counts and have to go hunting for items instead of players, whereas with regeneration, a quick run and hide is also a good opportunity to reload your gun and get straight back to it. Wouldn't we all rather just get to the core and shoot at each other? That's why our only items are weapons, really.
I also found it funny that what were originally bugs in the early shooters, got kept and became so commonplace these days (weapon jumping/bunny-hopping). I personally
loathe bunny-hopping, and I feel with the impulse system we get the same kind of movement feedback we're after without the stupid kangaroo effect, and even this attempts to be balanced out with the impulse meter. What's also good about this is that new players pick it up far easier, so we're all on a rather level playing field, operationally speaking anyway.
But yeah, I think we're all a little spoiled now and probably find it hard readjusting to the old-school style shooters. You won't see vehicles, I'd rather improve on the player we all start with. I think we can get almost anywhere pretty quickly too :P As for the graphical side of things, yes we are a bit limited by technology (because the engine is designed to run on a
wide range of hardware), but we also suffer a lack of experienced volunteer artists, like a lot of projects.
More often than not, I will make up place holders (and programmer art isn't pretty). A great example of this are the "piano" hit effects everyone complains about; I made them almost 7 years ago (it is a glockenspiel and bass drum with echo and bass enhancement applied) and nobody has ever made anything to replace it. Don't like something? You can probably do better than me, so give it a shot and let us all decide if its better than what we have