We are working the soldier sprites. Here is an excerpt from the LD design document (which I had to write for the first time).
“The two competing factions are: The Tech-Militia & The Mutant-Rebels.
The Tech-Militia is the remains of corporations and people that were once in power. They are highly technologically advanced. Their main base is located in the Mother Ship located on orbit around the planet earth. They fall on earth in search of resources in Drop Ships invading the planet surface and Underworld. The Mother Ship is capable of assembling hi-tech armor, techno-biological transplants, futuristic weaponry and machines. The militia was once regular human-beings but the use of technological transplants makes them uncertain whether they are still human or not.
The Mutant-Rebels are the remains of ordinary people and soldiers who have long-ago forgotten who they were or what they fought for. Living on the radiated planet and underground has caused various biological mutations mainly evolved for survival. They are tougher and stronger than pre-war human beings. Their main enemy is the Tech-Militia which invades them and steals their resources. Nearly all of the rebel weaponry, armor and machines are borrowed and/or modified versions of the Militia items. Rebels specialize in taking whatever they can acquire and modifying it for their needs.”
concept documentation always makes me giddy.
Not bad, but HOW ORIGINAL.
it doesn’t have to be original, you just need some background.
and who cares about the story in LD anyway? GIEV US WEAPONZ!!1
Where did you see that story before?
Dunno what there’s to complain about, we all knew this is the background story for months now, I think it’s great.
If single-player is going to be an important component of the game (oh yes, pls), then maybe you could add a kind of civil-war between two tech-milita groups?
And I know this is crazy for a shooter, but just listen to it: I’d love a top-down-map made out of a couple of sectors (say 3-5 sectors) that can be conquered (this being some kind of menu between spawns, letting you choose your respawn-sector). So each sector would have its own 2D map on which the battle is taking place in parallel. I remember us talking about how to make the background more alive. So how about when I’m playing on the map Sector A, I can see in the background very small the map Sector B and the fight that is going on over there at the same moment? As if everybody in each sector is part of the same, big battle.
This would also allow for way bigger teams and be a good challenge for the hackers to manage.
What he wants say Tenshi is this.
{Image made by me, upload in Imageshack.]
http://yfrog.com/jkmapzcp
Tenshi: multiple layers like this are done in Crash Commando. I like the idea, I think it would add a lot of tactical variety introducing a 3rd dimension to the buildings. But I doubt I will do this in the early releases of the game, maybe future.
Crash Commando is a copy of Soldat.
Have you thought about creating a false 3d?
This game is called Tombi, use sprites 2D in banckgrounds 3d.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VDgidqJbBo
I already suggested that idea of multiple layering, about a year ago. im pretty confident i still have some of the JPEGs in my document folders..
It could work out, and it could not.
maybe in urban form only, but in a full scale war? i doubt it should work effecively… you would need to be able to target the tanks/mechs in front and behind your current position, which is a bitch, because its a 2d sidescroller…
I played quite a bit of crash commando, the layers really had NOTHING to the experience. Most of the time its just frustrating not to be able to shoot at soldiers on the other side. I do believe you could pull it out better, but this is indeed not a thing to focuse on.
Story wise, I love it. Thats the way it should be.
Same basic concept as Wall-E
walrus: not really
KKND
=)
not the same, but almost =D
At first sounded to me like the story of the planet Vegeta, from Dragon Ball, not the same, though.
@Sinpol: Thanks for visualizing it!
@TLD: Well different layers wouldn’t interact with eachother, the other maps would be pure background for you with a bit of action going on, best blurred-out. Not much gameplay value in this, just making the game stand out nicely and adding to the war feeling.
The sector selection on the other hand would allow for interesting combinations.
Of course it’s just a secondary idea for the distant future.
“(which I had to write for the first time).”
Well, that explains a lot. You should always, always, write the design document either soon after or preferably before you start coding.
“The militia was once regular human-beings but the use of technological transplants makes them uncertain whether they are still human or not.”
Yeahhhhh I love plots with futuristic debatable ethics!!
Same basic concept as Wall-E
ROFL
Well, that explains a lot. You should always, always, write the design document either soon after or preferably before you start coding.
I know everyone says that but I don’t understand why. I didn’t even use scraps of paper to write something down while making Soldat
@MM:
The design document gives you a clear idea of what direction to go in and what goals need to be achieved (similar to your chart thing from December). It sounds boring as shit, yeah, but a written record is invaluable for understanding the big picture. It’s very easy to get lost in code.
Sinpol: a much, MUCH better example of 2d sprites + 3d backgrounds is the awesome as fuck STRIDER 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLM5QEwNUQg
I can see this working for Link-Dead, but I am not sure if it would be better than the actual format (entirely 2d with parallax scrolling).
I know this is way too late, but I felt I had to share this. You might like BLAME and Biomega, even if you are not into japanese comicbooks. Biomega is really short, and I think topicwise it might be interesting to you so def. skip over it:
http://www.onemanga.com/BLAME/
http://www.onemanga.com/Biomega/
Could well be inspirational to you, at least I had to think of the two when reading your backstory for LD.