EPIC: Plz give us more story and depth in the game
I posted this on AtariCommunity, so I thought i might as well post it here on BeyondUnreal. Especially since theres a forum called ENVY.
The following has been taken from Zoeffs envy thread:
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Known stats of the teams so far from the other Unreal titles:
Nahkti: UC2 -redesigned from the "anubians"
The concept was that the Nakhti people have their own combat tournament called the Ascension Rites, which is held whenever the Emperor or Empress is unable to rule. Anyone can enter the tournament, and the winner becomes the new ruler. The Liandri Mining Corporation steps in and tries to commercialize the event, and at the same time, hopes to 'encourage' the selection of a new ruler who will let them exploit the resources of the Nakhti planet.
Necris: UT / UT2K4 / UC2
The Necris are a new race (human, but with dead pale skin) who are attempting to destabilize the New Earth Government through guerilla warfare. The Phayder are a dangerous secret society of Necris assassins.
Kragoth a Necris Phayder is a known member of the Phayder Secret Society.
A brood of assassin and doomsday cultist, the Phayder have declared a sort of guerilla war against Earth.
Juggernauts: UT2K3 / UT2K4 / UC / UC2
Gorge is determined to prove that his one year reign as Tournament Champion is no fluke, and he has re-assembled the Juggernaut team he led to the championship. Axon Research Corporation has made armor and bio-genetic upgrades to the Juggernauts design for this year's Tournament.
Corrupt: UT / UT2K4
Xan Kriegor was long regarded as invincible, until Malcolm defeated him in the fourth officially recognized Tournament finals. After a long hiatus, he has returned to lead the Liandri team, The Corrupt, back to the championship. Xan is sitting out the early rounds, which he perceives as beneath his attention.
Iron Guard: UT / UT2K4
Members: Harlin, Rylisa, Johnson, Lauren, Brock
This veteran squad of elite warriors once served as personal bodyguards to the powerful arms smuggler Jihan Nyhn. After Jihan's assassination, the Iron Guard found themselves unemployed and the Tournament was an ideal arena to vent their aggression.
Brock and Lauren joined forces with Malcolm during his reign as Tournament champion. Infighting and recrimination over their stunning defeat in last year's Tournament led to the dissolution of that team. Now, Brock and Lauren have returned leading their old team, the Iron Guard.
Krall: Unreal
The Krall are a slave race of the Skaarj, and have been integrated into their society as a lower class of soldier. Though a Krall will always follow the orders of a Skaarj, they have their own ways of rebelling, such as by sleeping or playing dice when they are supposed to be on duty.
All Krall come armed with a staff weapon with three vertical blades on one end. The weapon is long enough to be considered a staff, but top-heavy enough to act as a mace when necessary. This weapon is also capable of launching energy bolts from the bladed end, so it will also server as a ranged weapon. In general, most Krall are slow but agile. This is predominantly due to their frail legs, which can be lost in battle quite easily.
Krall Elite are high-ranking Krall that can be identified by their white skin and blue accents. They are more agile and demonstrate a much greater skill in battle. They also carry a staff weapon that shoots faster and more powerful energy bolts.
Jakobs Team: ?
*Note: Brock & lauren are Necris in UC2:
"Malcolms Loyal teammate, Brock Attempted to avenge his defeat and kill Gorge. His Death was predictable. He was ressurected via the patented Necris Process. Unlike is former girlfriend Lauren, Brock has no memories of his previous life. Unburdened by remorse, hes free to kill in the tournament again."
"Lauren is a former grand tournament champion. After her boyfriend Brock died in combat, she pulled a Romeo and Juliet; taking her own life as well in grief. The Liandri couldn't afford to have two of their top competitors dead all at once, so they brought Lauren back to life with a very horrific (and expensive) Necris process. She's still cute, but she's just barely sane. Not a good combination"
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You see by looking at those team descriptions, you can see that theres a lot of thought behind them. Same with the ut2k4 teams.
The problem is that when you go in-game single-player ladder, it is mostly just botmatches combined with specific maps, one after the other, when you finish one part the next gets unlocked.
Theres not much story involved as in nothing really happens when you defeat or get defeated by another team (you just move to the next match till u get to the end and still there is no end cutscene or the like).
There are some good things about the single player though, it does have CREDITS and things like buying players. Also, there is the assault mothership cutscene giving you some info which is nice. BUT there is still something missing.
Let me show you the unreal timeline, which is GREAT, http://www.unrealtournament.com/general/timeline.php. Now the only problem is that MOST people dont care about that and will never read about it because it is just TEXT.
What my suggestion is that you might want to put some cutscenes talking about the game, maybe a little bit of history like the unreal timeline, whats happening as you defeat a team, perhaps you will get challenged by the Iron Guard to an instagib match after you have defeated them in normal-weapon-match (you might want to show this by displaying Brock walking in a very angry manner breaking a pillar on the side), or maybe you can show the Juggernauts getting armor and bio-genetic upgrades from Axon corporation in a cutscene. Also, there is nothing that tells you what the liandri corporation and unreal tournament is all about. You might want to show this in like an intro cutscene or something. The current info about all this is in the form of TEXT which is not good, and most people do not know or even care about which character is which, what team the characters belong to, how strong some teams are in terms of accuracy, movement, etc.. Perhaps there should be cutscenes showing tension as your teams rank is reaching number 1 and many teams want to challenge you (they might challenge you in a bloodrites match to get your best player to prevent you from defeating them), and in the end your team holds some sort of futuristic unreal trophey. Like tell us about the unreal universe and maybe during the middle of the game some new challenging species gets discovered with like near 100% accuracy perfect for ig.
What I'm saying is get the gamer immersed in the game so that he knows what the game is all about. Im not saying to integrate Unreal 3 into Envy (although id like that). Im saying keep it a TOURNAMENT because it is and put some storyline in it. Make it obvious to the gamer what is the unreal tournament (that its a bloodsport) and liandri corporation and things like that.
UC2 has cutscenes, and the UT99 intro was GREAT, so was 2k3's. The UT99 and 2k3's intros, AS-Mothership cutscene, and UC2's cutscenes are great examples. Perhaps expand on those and add more to them. Also use the Unreal timeline and the mentioned stats of the teams (the new ENVY ones).
Make the game so that its actually worth playing again because of THE EXPERIENCE DURING THE GAME, and NOT JUST because of the END outcome, as this was the case in ut2k4 where you unlocked some characters. DURING the game it was mostly just match after match.
Btw, im only talking about the single-player.
I posted this on AtariCommunity, so I thought i might as well post it here on BeyondUnreal. Especially since theres a forum called ENVY.
The following has been taken from Zoeffs envy thread:
______________________________________________________
Known stats of the teams so far from the other Unreal titles:
Nahkti: UC2 -redesigned from the "anubians"
The concept was that the Nakhti people have their own combat tournament called the Ascension Rites, which is held whenever the Emperor or Empress is unable to rule. Anyone can enter the tournament, and the winner becomes the new ruler. The Liandri Mining Corporation steps in and tries to commercialize the event, and at the same time, hopes to 'encourage' the selection of a new ruler who will let them exploit the resources of the Nakhti planet.
Necris: UT / UT2K4 / UC2
The Necris are a new race (human, but with dead pale skin) who are attempting to destabilize the New Earth Government through guerilla warfare. The Phayder are a dangerous secret society of Necris assassins.
Kragoth a Necris Phayder is a known member of the Phayder Secret Society.
A brood of assassin and doomsday cultist, the Phayder have declared a sort of guerilla war against Earth.
Juggernauts: UT2K3 / UT2K4 / UC / UC2
Gorge is determined to prove that his one year reign as Tournament Champion is no fluke, and he has re-assembled the Juggernaut team he led to the championship. Axon Research Corporation has made armor and bio-genetic upgrades to the Juggernauts design for this year's Tournament.
Corrupt: UT / UT2K4
Xan Kriegor was long regarded as invincible, until Malcolm defeated him in the fourth officially recognized Tournament finals. After a long hiatus, he has returned to lead the Liandri team, The Corrupt, back to the championship. Xan is sitting out the early rounds, which he perceives as beneath his attention.
Iron Guard: UT / UT2K4
Members: Harlin, Rylisa, Johnson, Lauren, Brock
This veteran squad of elite warriors once served as personal bodyguards to the powerful arms smuggler Jihan Nyhn. After Jihan's assassination, the Iron Guard found themselves unemployed and the Tournament was an ideal arena to vent their aggression.
Brock and Lauren joined forces with Malcolm during his reign as Tournament champion. Infighting and recrimination over their stunning defeat in last year's Tournament led to the dissolution of that team. Now, Brock and Lauren have returned leading their old team, the Iron Guard.
Krall: Unreal
The Krall are a slave race of the Skaarj, and have been integrated into their society as a lower class of soldier. Though a Krall will always follow the orders of a Skaarj, they have their own ways of rebelling, such as by sleeping or playing dice when they are supposed to be on duty.
All Krall come armed with a staff weapon with three vertical blades on one end. The weapon is long enough to be considered a staff, but top-heavy enough to act as a mace when necessary. This weapon is also capable of launching energy bolts from the bladed end, so it will also server as a ranged weapon. In general, most Krall are slow but agile. This is predominantly due to their frail legs, which can be lost in battle quite easily.
Krall Elite are high-ranking Krall that can be identified by their white skin and blue accents. They are more agile and demonstrate a much greater skill in battle. They also carry a staff weapon that shoots faster and more powerful energy bolts.
Jakobs Team: ?
*Note: Brock & lauren are Necris in UC2:
"Malcolms Loyal teammate, Brock Attempted to avenge his defeat and kill Gorge. His Death was predictable. He was ressurected via the patented Necris Process. Unlike is former girlfriend Lauren, Brock has no memories of his previous life. Unburdened by remorse, hes free to kill in the tournament again."
"Lauren is a former grand tournament champion. After her boyfriend Brock died in combat, she pulled a Romeo and Juliet; taking her own life as well in grief. The Liandri couldn't afford to have two of their top competitors dead all at once, so they brought Lauren back to life with a very horrific (and expensive) Necris process. She's still cute, but she's just barely sane. Not a good combination"
______________________________________________________
You see by looking at those team descriptions, you can see that theres a lot of thought behind them. Same with the ut2k4 teams.
The problem is that when you go in-game single-player ladder, it is mostly just botmatches combined with specific maps, one after the other, when you finish one part the next gets unlocked.
Theres not much story involved as in nothing really happens when you defeat or get defeated by another team (you just move to the next match till u get to the end and still there is no end cutscene or the like).
There are some good things about the single player though, it does have CREDITS and things like buying players. Also, there is the assault mothership cutscene giving you some info which is nice. BUT there is still something missing.
Let me show you the unreal timeline, which is GREAT, http://www.unrealtournament.com/general/timeline.php. Now the only problem is that MOST people dont care about that and will never read about it because it is just TEXT.
What my suggestion is that you might want to put some cutscenes talking about the game, maybe a little bit of history like the unreal timeline, whats happening as you defeat a team, perhaps you will get challenged by the Iron Guard to an instagib match after you have defeated them in normal-weapon-match (you might want to show this by displaying Brock walking in a very angry manner breaking a pillar on the side), or maybe you can show the Juggernauts getting armor and bio-genetic upgrades from Axon corporation in a cutscene. Also, there is nothing that tells you what the liandri corporation and unreal tournament is all about. You might want to show this in like an intro cutscene or something. The current info about all this is in the form of TEXT which is not good, and most people do not know or even care about which character is which, what team the characters belong to, how strong some teams are in terms of accuracy, movement, etc.. Perhaps there should be cutscenes showing tension as your teams rank is reaching number 1 and many teams want to challenge you (they might challenge you in a bloodrites match to get your best player to prevent you from defeating them), and in the end your team holds some sort of futuristic unreal trophey. Like tell us about the unreal universe and maybe during the middle of the game some new challenging species gets discovered with like near 100% accuracy perfect for ig.
What I'm saying is get the gamer immersed in the game so that he knows what the game is all about. Im not saying to integrate Unreal 3 into Envy (although id like that). Im saying keep it a TOURNAMENT because it is and put some storyline in it. Make it obvious to the gamer what is the unreal tournament (that its a bloodsport) and liandri corporation and things like that.
UC2 has cutscenes, and the UT99 intro was GREAT, so was 2k3's. The UT99 and 2k3's intros, AS-Mothership cutscene, and UC2's cutscenes are great examples. Perhaps expand on those and add more to them. Also use the Unreal timeline and the mentioned stats of the teams (the new ENVY ones).
Make the game so that its actually worth playing again because of THE EXPERIENCE DURING THE GAME, and NOT JUST because of the END outcome, as this was the case in ut2k4 where you unlocked some characters. DURING the game it was mostly just match after match.
Btw, im only talking about the single-player.
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And let's not forget about the manpower it takes to create those cutscenes. No thanks, I'll rather have the developers spend some more time in usefull parts of the game (map optimising, model creation, whatever).
