Plan for Gary Haussmann

Let's try making a prototype FPS/RTS hybrid (actually, more of an FPS with some RTS elements) and see what happens.

I basically wanted to prototype up a simple game where you could play either as a single-avatar FPS participant, or as a multiple-avatar RTS participant. Actually the RTS portion of the game is closer to a party-based RPG as there is currently no concept of a "base" or resource harvesting. But the "click-to-attack" and "controlling a bunch of units" concepts are included in my current test build.

So far you can wander around as either a single human with a gun (FPS mode) or as a pack of five small critters (RTS mode). I apologize in advance for the programmer art that appears below.

When the player connects, instead of being immediately dumped into the game they get a "backstage" menu that allows them to select the style of play: human (FPS) or critter (RTS)?


In FPS mode you get the typically biped avatar with a bug gun and all the exacting control of an FPS game. This stuff is basically unchanged from the starter FPS, with some basic additions like vehicle mounting, melee combat, and the ability to select between multiple weapons.


in "RTS mode" you get a group of small green critters that operate like the normal RTS or RPG. To move or attack something, click on it and your pack of critters will faithfully move to or bite whatever it is you clicked on. This portion obviously needs a lot of work, but at least I can get an idea of the cool and not-so-cool aspects of the control scheme.


My main concern at mixing the two styles is play balance. The first concern is that large packs of critters can overwhelm small groups of FPS players; some area-effect weapons should take care of that. The other concern is that the exact control and agility given to FPS avatars can make it easy for them to outmaneuver the critter packs and possibly exploit aspects of the relatively stupid critter behavior. A possible fix is to add some sort of formation and tactical commands (like "surround" or "ambush") to the player controlling a critter pack.