New type of horror game
by Jeremy Jenkins · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 11/17/2007 (10:08 am) · 24 replies
I'm finally going to get serious with torque now that I have time and I would like to run my idea by the community before I start development.(It would be much better to hear it sucks now than after its done!)
The game is going to be built for multiplayer but I have an idea for a short single player game too.(About eight decent size levels)
Anyway, the idea is to create a couple of different monster classes like werewolf, humans, zombie, vampire, witches/warlocks, and amphibian(lake monster creature). I might also add ghosts and demons, but I would like to be realistic about the size of the project. Each class will have there different abilities and drawbacks too.(Vampires can fly but have very little health, humans are weak but will have guns, etc.)
I'm planning a few basic types of multiplayer games, like arena, survival, team arena, etc.
What I really want to do though, is create an infection type multiplayer game. What that means is giving each class a way to change an enemy player into a player for their team. So a werewolf could bite a vampire and turn it into a werewolf. A human could bless a cross and change a witch back to a human. The game would end when there is only one team of monsters left. I think that would be pretty interesting trying to convert an enemy while their trying to kill you.
It does have some serious problems though. For example, if a player who wanted to be a werewolf is changed into a human, do you think they would start playing for the other team or just screw around. I thought about replacing a player with a bot when their changed, but it doesn't seem fair to make a player wait for the whole game to be over to rejoin.
What do you think?
The game is going to be built for multiplayer but I have an idea for a short single player game too.(About eight decent size levels)
Anyway, the idea is to create a couple of different monster classes like werewolf, humans, zombie, vampire, witches/warlocks, and amphibian(lake monster creature). I might also add ghosts and demons, but I would like to be realistic about the size of the project. Each class will have there different abilities and drawbacks too.(Vampires can fly but have very little health, humans are weak but will have guns, etc.)
I'm planning a few basic types of multiplayer games, like arena, survival, team arena, etc.
What I really want to do though, is create an infection type multiplayer game. What that means is giving each class a way to change an enemy player into a player for their team. So a werewolf could bite a vampire and turn it into a werewolf. A human could bless a cross and change a witch back to a human. The game would end when there is only one team of monsters left. I think that would be pretty interesting trying to convert an enemy while their trying to kill you.
It does have some serious problems though. For example, if a player who wanted to be a werewolf is changed into a human, do you think they would start playing for the other team or just screw around. I thought about replacing a player with a bot when their changed, but it doesn't seem fair to make a player wait for the whole game to be over to rejoin.
What do you think?
About the author
#22
Great posts. Really like your ideas. To be honest though, I think a lot of your suggestions might be over my head in what I'm capable of.
Right now I am in the process of creating a very simple game prototype which I hope to post in about two weeks.
Here are some of the things I am working into the prototype.
First, I plan on letting players choose between first or third person view. I can see the advantages to both views and I don't want to discourage players that only like playing a certain way.
Next, I will start off by including the human, zombie, vampire, and werewolf classes. As far as their abilities go, this is what I'm thinking of starting them with.
Humans will be slow and weak. They will be equiped with a revolver and a shotgun. I haven't decided about their "infinite ammo" weapon yet. It wil probably be a pitch fork, or a harpoon gun. (the harpoon gun will act like a hookshoot from zelda, its important to the single player game) For the cross, I thought they would have to touch other characters with it to convert them. I like the boomrang idea, but I don't want the humans to be able to keep far away from the other players the whole game.
Zombies will be slower than humans, but stronger. They will have will have a quick slash move, slower but stronger slash move, and the ability to shoot stomach acid. The slash moves will be the invisible bullet hacks for now. (I hope to use the hand to hand combat resource for the actual game.) Each of their moves will have something like a fifty percent chance of infecting another character. The zombies will also have a regenerating health meter.
Hopefully I'll get the jet pack resource going and have some type of flying vampires. I like the idea of them changing to bats when they fly. (It would definatly give the game that old monster movie type feel) I don't know if that limits their abilities though. I pictured the vampires being able to swoop down and claw at some unsuspecting victim. I just can't imagine a bat being that threating though. Anyway, the vampires will be able to slash and bite to attack. Only the bite attack will actually convert another player though. They will also get some health for each enemy they convert.
Werewolves will be the strongest and fastest class. They will be able to slash and bite like vampires, but only one or two hits will be needed to kill most enemies. They will also get some health for each enemy they convert. They will have a dash ability which will allow them to quickly run into or away from danger.
The dash is also meant to make them jump higher too. ( I never thought about the howling, but I think it would be pretty cool)
I hadn't thought about only limiting things like ladders to certain classes, but now that I think about it, seeing a werewolf or zombie going up them would look kinda strange. :)
As far as the light for vampires goes, I wouldn't even know how to begin putting that into the game. :)
Now for the game types. Since this is just a prototype I will only try to create three for now. One is the conversion point system. It will be very similar to the one you described. (I like the idea of being able to take points away from the enemy)
Then there will be a normal capture the flag, no conversion. Finally there will be team survival with and without conversion.
After I get reactions about the game, I will decide what to add or remove and I will try doing some of the things you described(more classes, abilities, and interactive enviroments)
Thanks again.
11/23/2007 (2:02 pm)
MSW:Great posts. Really like your ideas. To be honest though, I think a lot of your suggestions might be over my head in what I'm capable of.
Right now I am in the process of creating a very simple game prototype which I hope to post in about two weeks.
Here are some of the things I am working into the prototype.
First, I plan on letting players choose between first or third person view. I can see the advantages to both views and I don't want to discourage players that only like playing a certain way.
Next, I will start off by including the human, zombie, vampire, and werewolf classes. As far as their abilities go, this is what I'm thinking of starting them with.
Humans will be slow and weak. They will be equiped with a revolver and a shotgun. I haven't decided about their "infinite ammo" weapon yet. It wil probably be a pitch fork, or a harpoon gun. (the harpoon gun will act like a hookshoot from zelda, its important to the single player game) For the cross, I thought they would have to touch other characters with it to convert them. I like the boomrang idea, but I don't want the humans to be able to keep far away from the other players the whole game.
Zombies will be slower than humans, but stronger. They will have will have a quick slash move, slower but stronger slash move, and the ability to shoot stomach acid. The slash moves will be the invisible bullet hacks for now. (I hope to use the hand to hand combat resource for the actual game.) Each of their moves will have something like a fifty percent chance of infecting another character. The zombies will also have a regenerating health meter.
Hopefully I'll get the jet pack resource going and have some type of flying vampires. I like the idea of them changing to bats when they fly. (It would definatly give the game that old monster movie type feel) I don't know if that limits their abilities though. I pictured the vampires being able to swoop down and claw at some unsuspecting victim. I just can't imagine a bat being that threating though. Anyway, the vampires will be able to slash and bite to attack. Only the bite attack will actually convert another player though. They will also get some health for each enemy they convert.
Werewolves will be the strongest and fastest class. They will be able to slash and bite like vampires, but only one or two hits will be needed to kill most enemies. They will also get some health for each enemy they convert. They will have a dash ability which will allow them to quickly run into or away from danger.
The dash is also meant to make them jump higher too. ( I never thought about the howling, but I think it would be pretty cool)
I hadn't thought about only limiting things like ladders to certain classes, but now that I think about it, seeing a werewolf or zombie going up them would look kinda strange. :)
As far as the light for vampires goes, I wouldn't even know how to begin putting that into the game. :)
Now for the game types. Since this is just a prototype I will only try to create three for now. One is the conversion point system. It will be very similar to the one you described. (I like the idea of being able to take points away from the enemy)
Then there will be a normal capture the flag, no conversion. Finally there will be team survival with and without conversion.
After I get reactions about the game, I will decide what to add or remove and I will try doing some of the things you described(more classes, abilities, and interactive enviroments)
Thanks again.
#23
Iv'e been working on my own engine in blitzbasic for the Area 51 game described in another thread (the engine is Tomb Raider inspired, only the "grids" arn't as obvious) And it should be capable of handleing all the various class abilities and whatnot...But networking and Bot AI is something I haven't even begun to develop yet :P If you don't mind I may try out my ideas on it.
Typicaly I try to focus on maximum impact gamemechanics. Giveing the humans pistols and shotguns is nice and all. But if the difference between them amounts to the scale of damage then there is little reason to use the lesser tool (If you are trying to scrub floors then why choose to use a toothbrush when you can use a power scrubber? ). I also avoid depending on collectables like ammo and power-ups. In a sense this only realy introduces a Pac-Man like game mechanic where you want the player to "run here, pick this up" basicly leading them around like Pac-Man eating dots. This also introduces a balanceing issue when more/less ammo is available, so the classes are only balanced if the pickups are balanced (not to mention that classes that do not depend upon such pickups automaticly have a big advantage, in the very least they know where the humans will be running to)...Not my idea of fun, and largely why I avoid FPS, realisam be damned, just make it fun...but to each thier own. :P
11/23/2007 (3:32 pm)
Cool. Glad you liked those ideas :)Iv'e been working on my own engine in blitzbasic for the Area 51 game described in another thread (the engine is Tomb Raider inspired, only the "grids" arn't as obvious) And it should be capable of handleing all the various class abilities and whatnot...But networking and Bot AI is something I haven't even begun to develop yet :P If you don't mind I may try out my ideas on it.
Typicaly I try to focus on maximum impact gamemechanics. Giveing the humans pistols and shotguns is nice and all. But if the difference between them amounts to the scale of damage then there is little reason to use the lesser tool (If you are trying to scrub floors then why choose to use a toothbrush when you can use a power scrubber? ). I also avoid depending on collectables like ammo and power-ups. In a sense this only realy introduces a Pac-Man like game mechanic where you want the player to "run here, pick this up" basicly leading them around like Pac-Man eating dots. This also introduces a balanceing issue when more/less ammo is available, so the classes are only balanced if the pickups are balanced (not to mention that classes that do not depend upon such pickups automaticly have a big advantage, in the very least they know where the humans will be running to)...Not my idea of fun, and largely why I avoid FPS, realisam be damned, just make it fun...but to each thier own. :P
#24
Good luck with your engine. It would be cool to see sometime.
I don't mind you making a similar game to mine,(thats what you meant by trying your ideas right?) I just wouldn't want it to be the exact same thing. It would really suck finishing my game and finding out someone else had published the exact same thing a week earlier. :)
Thanks again.
11/23/2007 (4:13 pm)
MSW:Good luck with your engine. It would be cool to see sometime.
I don't mind you making a similar game to mine,(thats what you meant by trying your ideas right?) I just wouldn't want it to be the exact same thing. It would really suck finishing my game and finding out someone else had published the exact same thing a week earlier. :)
Thanks again.
Torque 3D Owner Sean H.