by date
Plan for Ben Garney
Plan for Ben Garney
| Name: | Ben Garney |  |
|---|---|---|
| Date Posted: | Jun 27, 2005 | |
| Rating: |  4.0 out of 5 | |
| Public: | YES | |
| Comments: | YES | |
| RSS Feed: |  or Subscribe with  . | |
| Profile Page: | View profile page for Ben Garney |
Blog post
A quick blog on a fun weekend project.
Disclaimer: This .plan is about something I'm working on in my spare time, for fun. It is not representative of GG's plans or current projects. It does not indicate that I've changed my development focus. This is a .plan about a man, and the zombies who love his brains. Please enjoy, realize that 90% of it is speculation on my part on things I may never get done, and hopefuly get excited about your game projects. :)
Oh yeah: I realized after writing this that I end up pimping a lot of the cool stuff we have at GG. I didn't intend to when I started. We have, like, lots of useful stuff for making games with, and I guess I reflect that. :P
Onto the real plan...
So, I thought I'd take a little time and prototype a game idea. Specifically, something concerning zombies, and shooting them with shotguns because, dammit, that's a lot of fun.
I quick-like snagged some resources using the inimitable search.garagegames.com, our Google Mini-powered search system. A shotgun resource, some free sample art, a radius damage script upgrade, some tweaking, and I've got a pretty bad ass shotgun. Nevermind that I have to manually mount it to my player for the moment. ;)
Then I write some simple zombie AI that tries to home on the player and spawn about 20 zombie-orcs.
This is fun. I've decided the working title will be "onoez zombies." ;)
In general, it was amusing (but not the best thing ever) to shoot the zombies - which for the hour of time I put in, wasn't too bad.
Where to go from here?
Well, first off, let me note that I probably won't get too far. I've got a lot on my plate, and not much free time. :) But we'll assume I do, and go from there...
A lot of places. First off, I need to get the zombies to look like zombies (using a certain soldier model I've seen bouncing around...) and use Mr. Cailiff's excellent ragdoll animations to get a better reaction to shotgun blasts.
I want a more interesting level to get chased around by zombies, and I need to tweak their AI a bit - for instance, it'd be nice if they'd just wander if I wasn't nearby, rather than homing no matter what. They should also chase the nearest player - I want to be able to play co-op, which means they can't all home on the first player. (Or, the one who sticks his ID in the $Zombie::target global... :P)
I need to make the shotgun feel really, really solid. This is equal parts art, animation, tweaking physics constants, and sound. A lot of weapons I see in games (even in professional ones!) just don't feel very solid. I think for an FPS-like game, where you interact with the environment almost exclusively by shooting, it's VITAL that you have extremely solid, fun weapons. For this game, I'd sorta like to have: a shotgun, a pistol, an SMG, and a sniper rifle.
One problem I have with the shotgun as is is simply that the network model in Torque isn't well suited to fast-action weapons like a shotgun. Spawning a projectile that dies almost immediately makes it tend to not show up, even on a loopback connection. I'll probably end up moving a lot of the weapon effects for that class of weapon onto the client side, for better responsiveness. Humans can detect delays in the range of milliseconds - and this is a pretty easy way to cut that down. (See RTS Starter Kit for prior art on client side projectiles... :P)
Every weapon should have a unique place in the gameplay, and in a multiplayer game, they should act to reinforce one another. For instance - shotgun is for closeup zombie mauling. Pistol is a last ditch or harassing weapon. SMG is for mid-range broad fire. Sniper rifle is for long-range zombie assassination.
Weapons are tools to enable players to deal with certain situations. I'm of the mind that if you have a hammer, a screwdriver, and some pliers, you don't need a kit with five hundred unique tools in it. Especially not when you're being chased by zombies, slavering for your sweetest brainmeats.
I could easily imagine, in co-op, having one player up on the roof picking zombies off, while you have a few guys with shotguns or SMGs doing cleanup work. Maybe using their pistols from time to time to save ammo.
Anyway - let me just stress once more the importance of good tools. If you give the player a gun that's satisfying and fun to fire, they won't care if they're shooting crates with it - they'll have a good time. On the other hand, if your weapons feel flimsy, even if you have the best monsters in the world, people'll have a hard time buying into the reality of your world, and people that can't buy into that, can't have fun with it...
The other major thing is to get some more interesting levels in there. I have some ideas... ;) But art sets the mood and Orc Village isn't quite the right look for a exhilarating zombie shoot-'em-up. I'll probably raid some of Tim Aste's content packs so I can get something about right going quickly. The urban pack might also be a good idea, come to think of it.
Once I get something fun and pretty solid feeling, I can try to seduce some of the artists around here to working on onoez zombies in their spare time. ;)
Oh yeah: I realized after writing this that I end up pimping a lot of the cool stuff we have at GG. I didn't intend to when I started. We have, like, lots of useful stuff for making games with, and I guess I reflect that. :P
Onto the real plan...
So, I thought I'd take a little time and prototype a game idea. Specifically, something concerning zombies, and shooting them with shotguns because, dammit, that's a lot of fun.
I quick-like snagged some resources using the inimitable search.garagegames.com, our Google Mini-powered search system. A shotgun resource, some free sample art, a radius damage script upgrade, some tweaking, and I've got a pretty bad ass shotgun. Nevermind that I have to manually mount it to my player for the moment. ;)
Then I write some simple zombie AI that tries to home on the player and spawn about 20 zombie-orcs.
This is fun. I've decided the working title will be "onoez zombies." ;)
In general, it was amusing (but not the best thing ever) to shoot the zombies - which for the hour of time I put in, wasn't too bad.
Where to go from here?
Well, first off, let me note that I probably won't get too far. I've got a lot on my plate, and not much free time. :) But we'll assume I do, and go from there...
A lot of places. First off, I need to get the zombies to look like zombies (using a certain soldier model I've seen bouncing around...) and use Mr. Cailiff's excellent ragdoll animations to get a better reaction to shotgun blasts.
I want a more interesting level to get chased around by zombies, and I need to tweak their AI a bit - for instance, it'd be nice if they'd just wander if I wasn't nearby, rather than homing no matter what. They should also chase the nearest player - I want to be able to play co-op, which means they can't all home on the first player. (Or, the one who sticks his ID in the $Zombie::target global... :P)
I need to make the shotgun feel really, really solid. This is equal parts art, animation, tweaking physics constants, and sound. A lot of weapons I see in games (even in professional ones!) just don't feel very solid. I think for an FPS-like game, where you interact with the environment almost exclusively by shooting, it's VITAL that you have extremely solid, fun weapons. For this game, I'd sorta like to have: a shotgun, a pistol, an SMG, and a sniper rifle.
One problem I have with the shotgun as is is simply that the network model in Torque isn't well suited to fast-action weapons like a shotgun. Spawning a projectile that dies almost immediately makes it tend to not show up, even on a loopback connection. I'll probably end up moving a lot of the weapon effects for that class of weapon onto the client side, for better responsiveness. Humans can detect delays in the range of milliseconds - and this is a pretty easy way to cut that down. (See RTS Starter Kit for prior art on client side projectiles... :P)
Every weapon should have a unique place in the gameplay, and in a multiplayer game, they should act to reinforce one another. For instance - shotgun is for closeup zombie mauling. Pistol is a last ditch or harassing weapon. SMG is for mid-range broad fire. Sniper rifle is for long-range zombie assassination.
Weapons are tools to enable players to deal with certain situations. I'm of the mind that if you have a hammer, a screwdriver, and some pliers, you don't need a kit with five hundred unique tools in it. Especially not when you're being chased by zombies, slavering for your sweetest brainmeats.
I could easily imagine, in co-op, having one player up on the roof picking zombies off, while you have a few guys with shotguns or SMGs doing cleanup work. Maybe using their pistols from time to time to save ammo.
Anyway - let me just stress once more the importance of good tools. If you give the player a gun that's satisfying and fun to fire, they won't care if they're shooting crates with it - they'll have a good time. On the other hand, if your weapons feel flimsy, even if you have the best monsters in the world, people'll have a hard time buying into the reality of your world, and people that can't buy into that, can't have fun with it...
The other major thing is to get some more interesting levels in there. I have some ideas... ;) But art sets the mood and Orc Village isn't quite the right look for a exhilarating zombie shoot-'em-up. I'll probably raid some of Tim Aste's content packs so I can get something about right going quickly. The urban pack might also be a good idea, come to think of it.
Once I get something fun and pretty solid feeling, I can try to seduce some of the artists around here to working on onoez zombies in their spare time. ;)
Recent Blog Posts
| List: | 09/22/08 - Austin GDC Talks: Robust Efficient Networking and Flash MMOs 05/30/08 - Next Big Thing 02/12/08 - Come See Me At GDC 2008! 10/27/07 - TGEForest Free Release 10/13/07 - Polysoup Free (And IGC) 01/26/07 - Speaking and Running Into Walls (Collision Fix) 12/25/06 - Merry Christmas, Community - Poly Soup 10/05/06 - Community Weekend (Not-IGC) |
|---|
Submit your own resources!| Chris Labombard (Jun 27, 2005 at 10:47 GMT) |
| Michael Cozzolino (Jun 27, 2005 at 12:26 GMT) |
| Brett Fattori (Jun 27, 2005 at 13:57 GMT) |
Sounds like a fun project anyhoo..
- Brett
| James Polston (Jun 27, 2005 at 14:27 GMT) |
-James
| Adam deGrandis (Jun 27, 2005 at 16:29 GMT) |
In case that math was too hard to follow, Im at 11, Ben. 11.
| Ray Noolness Gebhardt (Jun 27, 2005 at 16:51 GMT) |
| Mark Storer (Jun 27, 2005 at 17:18 GMT) |
Have a town populated with a bunch of humans and some zombies. Zombies attack the nearest non-zombie, and convert them to zombies. Have the players' score be based in part on the number of surviving civilians at the end of the level.
If you wanted to Add More Depth, you could even have several different classes of 'civilians'.
Old people: slow, but will always make the best "run away" direction choices. Never "freezes".
Kids: Fast, but can fixate on running away from a particular zombie, fatally ignoring others. High probability of "freezing" rather than running away.
Adults: Pretty fast, decent judgement, and capable of fighting back to some degree. Will ATTACK (and generally die) when a kid (their kid?) is in danger. Medium low probability of freezing.
Anything more than a dozen or so AIs running around will probably require some RTSUnit-style net optimization.
| Joshua Dallman (Jun 27, 2005 at 17:46 GMT) |
best zombie game ever
| Timothy Aste (Jun 27, 2005 at 17:54 GMT) |
I love zombies
| Ed Johnson (Jun 27, 2005 at 22:00 GMT) |
ugh
| Eugene Schaeffer (Jun 27, 2005 at 22:34 GMT) |
| Solaris (Jun 27, 2005 at 23:59 GMT) |
That has to be the greatest name for a zombie game ever. Seriously. It encapsulates the fact that there are zombies and that zombies arn't a good thing. None of that OTT "VERY MALICIOUS UNDEAD BRAIN EATERS 5" which seems to be the trend in zombie things.
| Jeff Highsmith (Jun 28, 2005 at 04:50 GMT) |
| Vashner (Jun 28, 2005 at 04:51 GMT) |
| Matt Vitelli (Jun 28, 2005 at 06:50 GMT) |
I think AI Guard would work pretty well with your zombie project. Niice work man!
EDIT: I know this is just a small project, but for one of the levels you should have an abandoned
police station or mansion. (Yes, I do love Resident Evil!) Try Tim Aste's 2nd content pack! That would be awesome to use for a survival horror game!
P.S. Land of the Dead isn't that great. I expected more of the "last survivor" type thing and less of the thriving civilization thing. It was kind of cool to see the zombies shooting people and
stuff. Made me laugh when the zombies started playing musical instruments and watching the fireworks.
Edited on Jun 28, 2005 07:01 GMT
| Matthew Langley (Jun 28, 2005 at 15:58 GMT) |
| Joshua Dallman (Jun 28, 2005 at 18:48 GMT) |
| Rob Terrell (Jul 07, 2005 at 19:12 GMT) |
Ben, also, please -- for us on the Torque short bus, please give the links to all of the resources you're using.
| Dee (Jul 15, 2005 at 07:43 GMT) |
Think back - "Zombie Attack" SNES/Genesis - and IS fun.
Seems like a timeless fixation
Play it, if you can find it! for zombie game type inspiration, has some the ideas presented above.
Oh, for some zombie inspired 'ideas' http://loris.net/zombie/index.html
Edited on Jul 15, 2005 07:52 GMT
You must be a member and be logged in to either append comments or rate this resource.
