It’s time to write down for everyone the gamemode that will be available in the alpha. This isn’t the full gamemode that I am planning with robots, bases and hacking but something to play while I will be developing that. The current gamemode is called Huntdown, which is a mix of words Countdown and Hunting. Please note that not all features and weapons will be available in the first version.
At first I was planning to just do a Team Deathmatch mode but because of the playing style I made in Link-Dead it doesn’t make much sense. In Huntdown there are two teams. One is called Mutant Men (team 1), the second Übermen (team 2).
Objectives
The objective of team 1 is to survive for a given time limit. Surviving means not depleting a maximum unit respawn counter (something like in Battlefield). So for example there is 50 Mutant Men (50 unit respawns) and they must last for 10 minutes while the Übermen try to hunt them down. Team 2 wins of course, by depleting the enemy unit counter (killing’em all!!!).
Respawn placement
Players can choose any point to respawn on the map. However, team 1 can travel only through tunnels and sewers and reach any point by drilling a new hole. This means they can respawn only undergrounds, which is their natural habitation and safest environment to hide, setup traps and ambush. Team 2 respawns only above surface in open air, where they can teleport from the dropship. They can camp on surface but more likely they will have to invade the enemy tunnels.
Weapons & Inventory
Team 1 has only weapons that are available to a typical guerilla type army. Only basic pistols, SMG’s and shotguns. Their primary power is the use of IED’s (Improvised Explosive Device) which can be used, depending on attachments, for assault, defense or as traps. Team 1 besides hiding in darkness can use camouflage and cloaking devices. Team 1 can steal enemy technology by taking an enemies weapon and researching its construction. The weapon from then on will be available for the whole team to use.
Team 2 has access to a variety of military arsenal. Ranging from light guns to heavy guns. All guns can have special attachments which customize the gun to fit the players fighting style. Besides standard assault rifles and sniper rifles they also use electro-magnetic weapons like railway guns and pulse-laser weapons. Team 2 can also use special drones and robots designed to seek the enemy and go into places that are too dangerous for infantry to walk in.
Armor & Movement
Team 2 is always equipped with a full body armor. This makes them nearly twice as resistant to projectile impact than team 1 which doesn’t have any armor. The drawback is they are heavier than team 1. With only light guns they have the movement speed and ability of team 1 but adding inventory makes them quickly become very slow and immobile.
In a nutshell
Huntdown should provide two distinct gameplay styles for each team. One makes use of hiding, running away, setting up traps and teamwork to create ambushes. The second makes use of weaponry and technology to search and eliminate their targets.
How much of that did you already code? Or is this basically what has to be done before the next test release?
I’d say 85%: there are missing weapons, cloaking items and there aren’t any drones yet. And stealing technology, but that’ll be easy to do.
This sounds like a very interesting game mode. Written down it seems very balanced. I’d be keen to see what this plays out with real human players.
The teamwork emphasis really interests me and the unique roles and abilities of each team seem quite interesting.
I think the difference in weapons and equipment will make this the real turning point in how the game is played, but the proof, as they say, is in the eating!
I’m interested to see the type of Drones/Robots that will be available!
Will the Mutantmen be able to make use of trained dogs or is this out of scope for unit design?
I hope you can get enough out of I SHOOT YOU NOW to make the team 2 interesting. You might want to consider some “novelty” weapons, such as different payload grenade launcher and such.
Will team 2 have any stealth elements? Cyborg ninjas!
Will the Mutantmen be able to make use of trained dogs or is this out of scope for unit design?
Heh, what use would they be? To smell a terminator?:)
I’m interested to see the type of Drones/Robots that will be available!
I’m thinking right now about a seeker drone with a flashlight and some small drone that can detonate/deactivate bombs.
I hope you can get enough out of I SHOOT YOU NOW to make the team 2 interesting
The whole way of shooting and managing your weapon is I hope interesting in itself.
Will team 2 have any stealth elements? Cyborg ninjas!
No, I’m not planning that, I want the teams to be very different.
Heh, what use would they be? To smell a terminator?:)
Granted, but you never know. The Russians trained dogs to take out enemy tanks…..although, that might now be the best example…..it ended badly for the Russians!!
I really love the idea of that gamemode.
I fear the fact that to win as team 2 a game has to be at least 10 minuites. The time should be somehow variable. I want team 2 to be able to take influence on the time…
also: every map should be played twice with swapped players…
one more thing: will you get an AI done that can handle that complex game mechanics?
I can smell progress!
Does team 1 earn anything for killing members of team 2? If not, it will be easier to play defensive and run away all the time than trying to protect yourself by killing the Übermen.
Or am I wrong somehow?
Great stuff! Can hardly wait (hope it’ll run on my T61 Thinkpad, since the last alpha didn’t…)
Two things I’d like to point out: The “limited amount of spawns” is great, but please do it for each player separately. (So if 5 players are playing, rather than 50 respawns/team, use 10 respawns/player). Or else one noob will ruin the entire match.
And secondly, what Luma said: Let the defensive team influence the remaining time somehow. An idea would be to substract 5 seconds for each attacking player that they manage to kill. This way, the attacking team will be much more cautious with their lives in the tunnels. Or even better: substract 5 seconds from the timer for every 20 seconds that a defensive player survives. This way, they’ll REALLY want to survive as long as possible.
This sounds dope as fuck. I want it nooooow!! Can’t wait!
Great!
I agree with Tenshi. But the Tenshi’s idea can cause some problens, like: this player died 20 times and this died only 1…
Maybe you can exclude the player from the game when he dies 10 times..
Btw. The bots you coded are obsolete now, right?
http://pics.livejournal.com/ibigdan/pic/00hh4797
I fear the fact that to win as team 2 a game has to be at least 10 minuites. The time should be somehow variable. I want team 2 to be able to take influence on the time…
All settings can be changed in a config file.
That is an interesting thought about influencing the time… Maybe when a team 2 member dies the clock goes ahead 10 seconds.
Oh I see Tenshi thought of the same…
also: every map should be played twice with swapped players…
True.
Tenshi:substract 5 seconds from the timer for every 20 seconds that a defensive player survives
Great idea.
50 respawns/team, use 10 respawns/player
What about players disconnecting and rejoining just to have a full counter again?
one more thing: will you get an AI done that can handle that complex game mechanics?
No. I would love to but unfortunately I don’t have time for it. Just the multiplayer code is too much consuming.
So bots are obsolete. You can have some nice 1v1 fights with them now.
“0 respawns/team, use 10 respawns/player
What about players disconnecting and rejoining just to have a full counter again?”
Well actually I thought the game would be less “free for all join” and more… say…starcraft like: e.g. 8 players come together in a “join game room”, then the game starts, and nobody else can join until the round is over. I mean… it is about survival, right?
@Tenshi
The initial purpose of the game was to at some point to have 2000 vs 2000 player battles(or more). So i dont know how possible it is to get 4k players in a lobby room XD
They wait for a whole month
@TLD
Hmmm, I honestly doubt that’s ever gonna happen, though… think of hardware limitations… besides, more than 100 people and you can’t even find yourself on the screen.