Hello everyone
First off, forgive me if this is not the place for this post. I looked through the forum sections and this seemed like the most logical place for such a topic. Also, this is a very, very, very large post. It has pretty much all of my ideas in it, but the first paragraph below pretty much sums it up in a nutshell if you don't wanna read it all.
Here's the skinny:
I was playing around with this idea in my head for a while now for a gametype that I would call Bossfight. The basic idea would be a "1 vs. World" type of game, one player with a massive amount of health versus another player or players with a limited amount of lives. Think "deathmatch meets last man standing". For an even better visual, think back to the old school 2D games you used to play on those 8 and 16-bit machines and '80s arcade machines, where you were one or two players fighting against an impossibly powerful boss. Stop me here if this has already been done, as I'm not aware of such a gametype. The closest thing I've seen so far would be 1 on 1 Ultra-Duel, but this isn't quite what I'm going for. Boss of the Arena for UT2003 is also not what I'm going for. Fraghouse Invasion seems to have a pretty close boss thing in it, but it's not a player-controled character like this gametype would have.
Why?: I've already asked some of my programmer friends from a local game company to help me out on this idea, but all of them are busy working on PSP and DS games at the moment (doh!). None of them know the UE code anyway, so they'd be at a signifigant disadvantage were they to start from scratch. Here, on the other hand, many talented programmers already schooled in the UE codes reside. I realize this would be a large time investment were anyone to take on this task, but I'm putting it forward more as an idea than a request. I'm also posting it here to see how you programmers would react to it. How hard would it be for a seasoned programmer with no knowledge of the UEngine code to program this Gametype? What kind of testing would be involved? And so on. Reaction and opinions are mainly what I'm looking for. If anyone wants to do this, all the better.
Now some of the details:
Forgive me if I become rather long-winded in this section and for being long-winded already.
The setup would be a 2 team deal. One side would be the boss(s), the other team would be the ones against the boss(s) (the "players"). If the boss kills the player and the player runs out of lives, the boss wins. If the player kills the boss, the player wins. The number of bosses and players should be configurable, and the game should have bot support for offline practice.
========The Boss=========
On the boss side, each player would have a high number of health points, preferably something over 999. Something in the thousands or tens of thousands would be better. This number should also be configurable, perahps with a 999,999 health point cap, if that's possible in the Unreal Engine. Bosses have only 1 life, hence their high health number. Once the boss or bosses are dead, the game is finished.
They would also be hindered old school boss style, with terrible aim for rapid fire weaponry and those with splash damage (minigun, flak cannon, etc.), but somewhat deadly aim for slower-firing but more powerful weapons with little to no splash damage (lightning gun, shock rifle, etc.). Bosses would also have unlimited ammunition, allowing them to stay in one position for long periods of time, but ammo does deplete. Ammo is recovered slowly as the gun is innactive, requiring the boss to switch weapons and allow it to reload. As a boss, camping IS an option. A neat but unnecessary addition might be the inclusion of some new weapons, such as some sort of "whistle" that calls in very weak bots that attack players. This whisle would need to recharge before being used again. The recharge would be indicated by the weapon's ammo meter on the GUI.
The boss's rate of fire would be the same as a normal UT2004 game. All weapons fire at a decent rate, but accuracy would vary depending on what I've described in the paragraph above. As either a main feature or an added option, the boss could have 4 modes of fire for each weapon. Here are some examples:
Link Gun==============
Tap LMB: fires one link projectile, tapped rapidly to fire in rapid succession.
Hold LMB: charges the weapon, release to fire a more powerful variant of primary fire which would release a shotgun-like barrage of plasma projectiles.
Tap RMB: fires a large plasma charge, 6x larger than the regular plasma projectile, but rate of fire is 4x slower, regardles of how fast the RMB is tapped.
Hold RMB: fires the standard link beam, used to roast players or recharge other bosses.
Shock Rifle==============
Tap LMB: fires a single shock beam, tapped rapidly for repeated shots.
Hold LMB: charges the shock beam, when released produces a wider, more powerful shock beam, up to 10x wider, depending on the length of the charge. Also enhances shock beam combos, multiplied by the width of the beam (up to 10x more powerful shock combo)
Tap RMB: fires a single plasma projectile, tapped repeatedly for multiple releases.
Hold LMB: powers-up the plasma projectile, creating a denser plasma sphere, ehancing shock combo power, up to 10x. This can be added to the shock beam, creating shock combos up to 20x more powerful than normal.
Shock combos can vary in diameter by up to 10x. The diameter is determined by adding the charge power of the shock beam and the shock projectile and dividing it by 2.
Minigun==============
Hold LMB: fires the gun, firing rate varies depending on the mode.
Tap RMB: switches minigun firing modes: x1 slow (accurate, UT2004 secondary fire mode), x2 mid (UT2004 primary fire mode), x3 fast (inaccurate), and x4 spray (extremely fast, but very inaccurate).
BioRifle==============
Tap LMB: fires one globule of bio sludge.
Hold LMB: charges the gun for larger globs.
Tap RMB: switches bio sludge type (green, blue, and red (RGB).
Bio sludge types can be mixed to produce different effects, ala RGB values.
R=red sludge; fire: ignites after a short time.
G=green sludge; standard UT2004.
B=blue sludge; poison: slowly depletes player health.
RG=yellow sludge; napalm: ignites and stays burning for a little while, stays on players till it burns out.
GB=cyan sludge; confuse: does not cause damage, but temporarily rearranges player movement keys.
RB=violet sludge; blind:does not cause damage, but temporarily blacks-out or darkens player screens.
RGB=white sludge; explosive: violently explodes, causing damage to any player in the splash damage radius. If the resulting globule is large enough, the explosion can have redeemer-like effects.
The boss would have slow movement when walking or running around and chasing the player, and high speed when dashing (dash movements would have longer, faster movements). Dashing would be limited, possibly with a meter that would need to recharge before dashing again, like how bosses in old 2d games would only charge you once every so often. If possible on the program side, the boss would also have a chargeable super-jump which shares the same charge meter as the dash movement. Instead of tapping the jump key to jump, the boss would hold the jump key down to charge, then release to super jump. The super jump would be 2x-10x higher than the regular jump depending on how long the jump key is held, but to be used again the boss needs to wait till the dash meter recharges, regardless of how high the jump is.
The dash meter itself would consist of two parts: the charge bar and the power overlay. The charge bar (a yellow bar) would slowly recharge over a period of time (possibly 10 seconds or so) after either a dash or a super jump is used. Once it reaches maximum capacity, it should alert the boss somehow, be it with a sound or an on-screen notification. When charging for the super jump, the power overlay (a red bar) would slowly rise like the recharge would, covering the yellow charge bar. Next to the meter, a number would indicate how high the player would be jumping by a multiplier (x2, x3, x5, x10, etc.).
As a separate option, the boss or bosses could be a vehicle instead of a character walking around. In this case the vehicle would be hindered in no way except that the boss would not be able to get out and must remain in the vehicle till it is destroyed or all other players' lives are depleted. I've considered the removal of the AVRiL for this, as it may give players an unfair advantage. The vehicle would be heavy (weight modifier, like the vehicle weight mutator). The boss would not be damaged by player hits as they are in normal games, and the boss is allowed to switch between different weapons on the vehicle if available. Multiple bosses can control the vehicle, and in cases where all seats are full, perhaps the addition of a "passenger" seat should be considered, so that a boss can become a "passenger" and allow another boss to switch into that available space. For example, if all 5 seats are taken in the Leviathan, if a different boss wanted to drive, the driver would switch to the passenger seat first, then that other boss would swap into the driver's seat.
Another idea I've thought about would be to mutate the boss to be bigger than the player characters for a number of reasons. One reason would be to restrict movement in a level to certain areas of a map, so that players have the ability to escape and hide if necessary. Another reason would be for visibility. Bosses in the games of old were always very visible and flashy, easy targets for the almighty player. One caveat of this would be that bosses may become stuck in levels where the ceiling is low in all areas. If a boss were to spawn in such an area the boss would not be able to move, with "suicide" being the only way out, but simultaneously causing an instant win for the players. I'm not sure if there are work arounds for this.
Mutators could be applied to this, but preferably the boss weapons would be forced as standard only, unless "boss weapon compatible" weapon mutators are coded. This is just to be safe.
Lastly, to indicate boss life points the boss skin would flash red. The frequency of the flash would be determined by the number of health points the boss has remaining. When the boss is hit, the boss would flash white, once for each hit that makes contact. Again, this is ala old school games.
========The Player=========
The player would be, for the most part, a normal Last Man Standing player. Each player would have a set number of lives (configurable) and would preferably have to pick up their weapons on the field. Remember that power-ups never came to you fully-loaded in the old school games (in most, anyway).
The player weapons would have higher rates of fire than the normal UT2004 weapons. Perahps something similar to the Super Berzerk mutator is what could be used. The weapons would need to be slightly weaker in this case, but the whole "millions of bullets from a tiny little character" idea is part of the old school, and I would want to keep that. Other than a weaker per-hit adjustment and a faster rate of fire, all weapons would be relatively standard.
Up at the top, replacing the player rank should be a lives remaining counter. The standard UT2004 one is a little too vague for this type of game, IMO, and should be replaced with a counter that displays nothing but the number of lives he or she has remaining.
Players should not be allowed to pilot vehicles, as this may cheapen the game, although if the vehicles can be stopped dead when it hits a boss then it may be a welcome addition. I just wouldn't want the boss's life to be depleated by something like being run over. That's just weak, and not something a boss should be.
Lastly, the player should have some sort of boss indicator, be it a directional marker or a targetting reticle that shows through any and all walls. This could also be worked in as a weapon, so as not to give the player an unfair advantage if the boss is trying to be stealthy. Something like an Aliens-style motion tracker might be neat, something that the player needs to hold in order to locate the boss. The screen on the model itself could display the boss location.
I guess the player section is relatively short compared to the boss section, but the boss section is easily the most important in this gametype.
Anyway, I think I'm about done with the descritption. I've been playing this out in my head all night while I was typing this out and it seems like it would be incredibly fun. Again, if this is posted in the wrong section of the forums, I apologize. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions, or anything, I'd like to hear them. I have no doubt in my mind that this has very little chance of becoming a gametype without being a programmer myself (I can't program at all... I'm on the art side of things), but it would be cool if this eventually did become one.
First off, forgive me if this is not the place for this post. I looked through the forum sections and this seemed like the most logical place for such a topic. Also, this is a very, very, very large post. It has pretty much all of my ideas in it, but the first paragraph below pretty much sums it up in a nutshell if you don't wanna read it all.
Here's the skinny:
I was playing around with this idea in my head for a while now for a gametype that I would call Bossfight. The basic idea would be a "1 vs. World" type of game, one player with a massive amount of health versus another player or players with a limited amount of lives. Think "deathmatch meets last man standing". For an even better visual, think back to the old school 2D games you used to play on those 8 and 16-bit machines and '80s arcade machines, where you were one or two players fighting against an impossibly powerful boss. Stop me here if this has already been done, as I'm not aware of such a gametype. The closest thing I've seen so far would be 1 on 1 Ultra-Duel, but this isn't quite what I'm going for. Boss of the Arena for UT2003 is also not what I'm going for. Fraghouse Invasion seems to have a pretty close boss thing in it, but it's not a player-controled character like this gametype would have.
Why?: I've already asked some of my programmer friends from a local game company to help me out on this idea, but all of them are busy working on PSP and DS games at the moment (doh!). None of them know the UE code anyway, so they'd be at a signifigant disadvantage were they to start from scratch. Here, on the other hand, many talented programmers already schooled in the UE codes reside. I realize this would be a large time investment were anyone to take on this task, but I'm putting it forward more as an idea than a request. I'm also posting it here to see how you programmers would react to it. How hard would it be for a seasoned programmer with no knowledge of the UEngine code to program this Gametype? What kind of testing would be involved? And so on. Reaction and opinions are mainly what I'm looking for. If anyone wants to do this, all the better.
Now some of the details:
Forgive me if I become rather long-winded in this section and for being long-winded already.
The setup would be a 2 team deal. One side would be the boss(s), the other team would be the ones against the boss(s) (the "players"). If the boss kills the player and the player runs out of lives, the boss wins. If the player kills the boss, the player wins. The number of bosses and players should be configurable, and the game should have bot support for offline practice.
========The Boss=========
On the boss side, each player would have a high number of health points, preferably something over 999. Something in the thousands or tens of thousands would be better. This number should also be configurable, perahps with a 999,999 health point cap, if that's possible in the Unreal Engine. Bosses have only 1 life, hence their high health number. Once the boss or bosses are dead, the game is finished.
They would also be hindered old school boss style, with terrible aim for rapid fire weaponry and those with splash damage (minigun, flak cannon, etc.), but somewhat deadly aim for slower-firing but more powerful weapons with little to no splash damage (lightning gun, shock rifle, etc.). Bosses would also have unlimited ammunition, allowing them to stay in one position for long periods of time, but ammo does deplete. Ammo is recovered slowly as the gun is innactive, requiring the boss to switch weapons and allow it to reload. As a boss, camping IS an option. A neat but unnecessary addition might be the inclusion of some new weapons, such as some sort of "whistle" that calls in very weak bots that attack players. This whisle would need to recharge before being used again. The recharge would be indicated by the weapon's ammo meter on the GUI.
The boss's rate of fire would be the same as a normal UT2004 game. All weapons fire at a decent rate, but accuracy would vary depending on what I've described in the paragraph above. As either a main feature or an added option, the boss could have 4 modes of fire for each weapon. Here are some examples:
Link Gun==============
Tap LMB: fires one link projectile, tapped rapidly to fire in rapid succession.
Hold LMB: charges the weapon, release to fire a more powerful variant of primary fire which would release a shotgun-like barrage of plasma projectiles.
Tap RMB: fires a large plasma charge, 6x larger than the regular plasma projectile, but rate of fire is 4x slower, regardles of how fast the RMB is tapped.
Hold RMB: fires the standard link beam, used to roast players or recharge other bosses.
Shock Rifle==============
Tap LMB: fires a single shock beam, tapped rapidly for repeated shots.
Hold LMB: charges the shock beam, when released produces a wider, more powerful shock beam, up to 10x wider, depending on the length of the charge. Also enhances shock beam combos, multiplied by the width of the beam (up to 10x more powerful shock combo)
Tap RMB: fires a single plasma projectile, tapped repeatedly for multiple releases.
Hold LMB: powers-up the plasma projectile, creating a denser plasma sphere, ehancing shock combo power, up to 10x. This can be added to the shock beam, creating shock combos up to 20x more powerful than normal.
Shock combos can vary in diameter by up to 10x. The diameter is determined by adding the charge power of the shock beam and the shock projectile and dividing it by 2.
Minigun==============
Hold LMB: fires the gun, firing rate varies depending on the mode.
Tap RMB: switches minigun firing modes: x1 slow (accurate, UT2004 secondary fire mode), x2 mid (UT2004 primary fire mode), x3 fast (inaccurate), and x4 spray (extremely fast, but very inaccurate).
BioRifle==============
Tap LMB: fires one globule of bio sludge.
Hold LMB: charges the gun for larger globs.
Tap RMB: switches bio sludge type (green, blue, and red (RGB).
Bio sludge types can be mixed to produce different effects, ala RGB values.
R=red sludge; fire: ignites after a short time.
G=green sludge; standard UT2004.
B=blue sludge; poison: slowly depletes player health.
RG=yellow sludge; napalm: ignites and stays burning for a little while, stays on players till it burns out.
GB=cyan sludge; confuse: does not cause damage, but temporarily rearranges player movement keys.
RB=violet sludge; blind:does not cause damage, but temporarily blacks-out or darkens player screens.
RGB=white sludge; explosive: violently explodes, causing damage to any player in the splash damage radius. If the resulting globule is large enough, the explosion can have redeemer-like effects.
The boss would have slow movement when walking or running around and chasing the player, and high speed when dashing (dash movements would have longer, faster movements). Dashing would be limited, possibly with a meter that would need to recharge before dashing again, like how bosses in old 2d games would only charge you once every so often. If possible on the program side, the boss would also have a chargeable super-jump which shares the same charge meter as the dash movement. Instead of tapping the jump key to jump, the boss would hold the jump key down to charge, then release to super jump. The super jump would be 2x-10x higher than the regular jump depending on how long the jump key is held, but to be used again the boss needs to wait till the dash meter recharges, regardless of how high the jump is.
The dash meter itself would consist of two parts: the charge bar and the power overlay. The charge bar (a yellow bar) would slowly recharge over a period of time (possibly 10 seconds or so) after either a dash or a super jump is used. Once it reaches maximum capacity, it should alert the boss somehow, be it with a sound or an on-screen notification. When charging for the super jump, the power overlay (a red bar) would slowly rise like the recharge would, covering the yellow charge bar. Next to the meter, a number would indicate how high the player would be jumping by a multiplier (x2, x3, x5, x10, etc.).
As a separate option, the boss or bosses could be a vehicle instead of a character walking around. In this case the vehicle would be hindered in no way except that the boss would not be able to get out and must remain in the vehicle till it is destroyed or all other players' lives are depleted. I've considered the removal of the AVRiL for this, as it may give players an unfair advantage. The vehicle would be heavy (weight modifier, like the vehicle weight mutator). The boss would not be damaged by player hits as they are in normal games, and the boss is allowed to switch between different weapons on the vehicle if available. Multiple bosses can control the vehicle, and in cases where all seats are full, perhaps the addition of a "passenger" seat should be considered, so that a boss can become a "passenger" and allow another boss to switch into that available space. For example, if all 5 seats are taken in the Leviathan, if a different boss wanted to drive, the driver would switch to the passenger seat first, then that other boss would swap into the driver's seat.
Another idea I've thought about would be to mutate the boss to be bigger than the player characters for a number of reasons. One reason would be to restrict movement in a level to certain areas of a map, so that players have the ability to escape and hide if necessary. Another reason would be for visibility. Bosses in the games of old were always very visible and flashy, easy targets for the almighty player. One caveat of this would be that bosses may become stuck in levels where the ceiling is low in all areas. If a boss were to spawn in such an area the boss would not be able to move, with "suicide" being the only way out, but simultaneously causing an instant win for the players. I'm not sure if there are work arounds for this.
Mutators could be applied to this, but preferably the boss weapons would be forced as standard only, unless "boss weapon compatible" weapon mutators are coded. This is just to be safe.
Lastly, to indicate boss life points the boss skin would flash red. The frequency of the flash would be determined by the number of health points the boss has remaining. When the boss is hit, the boss would flash white, once for each hit that makes contact. Again, this is ala old school games.
========The Player=========
The player would be, for the most part, a normal Last Man Standing player. Each player would have a set number of lives (configurable) and would preferably have to pick up their weapons on the field. Remember that power-ups never came to you fully-loaded in the old school games (in most, anyway).
The player weapons would have higher rates of fire than the normal UT2004 weapons. Perahps something similar to the Super Berzerk mutator is what could be used. The weapons would need to be slightly weaker in this case, but the whole "millions of bullets from a tiny little character" idea is part of the old school, and I would want to keep that. Other than a weaker per-hit adjustment and a faster rate of fire, all weapons would be relatively standard.
Up at the top, replacing the player rank should be a lives remaining counter. The standard UT2004 one is a little too vague for this type of game, IMO, and should be replaced with a counter that displays nothing but the number of lives he or she has remaining.
Players should not be allowed to pilot vehicles, as this may cheapen the game, although if the vehicles can be stopped dead when it hits a boss then it may be a welcome addition. I just wouldn't want the boss's life to be depleated by something like being run over. That's just weak, and not something a boss should be.
Lastly, the player should have some sort of boss indicator, be it a directional marker or a targetting reticle that shows through any and all walls. This could also be worked in as a weapon, so as not to give the player an unfair advantage if the boss is trying to be stealthy. Something like an Aliens-style motion tracker might be neat, something that the player needs to hold in order to locate the boss. The screen on the model itself could display the boss location.
I guess the player section is relatively short compared to the boss section, but the boss section is easily the most important in this gametype.
Anyway, I think I'm about done with the descritption. I've been playing this out in my head all night while I was typing this out and it seems like it would be incredibly fun. Again, if this is posted in the wrong section of the forums, I apologize. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions, or anything, I'd like to hear them. I have no doubt in my mind that this has very little chance of becoming a gametype without being a programmer myself (I can't program at all... I'm on the art side of things), but it would be cool if this eventually did become one.