I'm a Planetside Fanboi
by Aaron Weingartner · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 12/27/2007 (2:38 am) · 1 replies
To get this out of my head
Old McDonald had a publisher....
Ee Ei Ee Ei Oh!
And in this publisher he had 12,000 different MMO concepts....
Ee Ei Ee Ei Oh!
Now to toss yet another random and occasional idea of mine out there....
Pretty sure at least some of us know Planetside....those that don't....well this is the internet and you should be able to look it up....
For simplicity I'll just say it's a commercial FPSMMO, and personally I love the game....but it's betting a little old in consideration of certain things they did to manage gameplay as well as it's starting to feel kinda limited as far as the kinda things one can do to affect the battlefield.
As such, I offer my idea of Planetside 2.0! (or some other name that SOE might not brain me with a lawsuit over)
The general idea is that the core concept remains, story advances and new is introduced, yadda yadda yadda....
To kick it off the story would be fast forwarded past the current struggles plaguing the three factions. It would be resolved with the Terran Republic moving off and calling the war a lost cause, pulling out and rerouting it's resources to populating new planets and attempting to stem off the other factions surrounding them. The New Conglomerate would finally find a place to call their own and eventually go about trying to become the "Great Liberators" of the known universe by blowing the holy hell out of other factions. Lastly but not leastly(It's a real word in my made up world!) the Vanu Soverignty would be left alone to tinker away with their alien technology, while not advancing themselves in comparable power then at least in a societal sense....they would become even more-so the technological super-nuts.
From here new "fragment" factions would be introduced. Small semi-independent factions that either operate of their own accord or serve as mercenary groups to the bigger factions. They are spread far across the known universe with no particular home planet traditionally.
As well new races may have been discovered (though for gameplay mechanics sake they would all be more or less the same size as normal humans with a slight variable range). This wouldn't add a whole lot aside from making a more varied battlefield to look at as well as a bit more interesting stuff for the lore.
Aside from story then there would be more general tweaks to the game world to consider.
Modern physics as opposed to rigid animation sets and outdated predictive physics. Would have to change the server setup and in-game battlefields to better accommodate the change in physics, but it would lend to some weapons being better balanced and there being less odd glitches like shooting people who you can't actually see anymore.
Filling out the general environments of planets with more flora and adding in actual fauna to create worlds that feel less desolate....this point is kinda self explanatory....
Adding AI troops and such to the game to make the battlefield stay more constant and avoid the whole "running around on a planet with only five other people" problem....at least try and give the illusion that that isn't the case....
Adding a gameplay control set similar to Splinter Cell for those in lighter armors and stealth armors would make it more entertaining for those who would like to drop down from the shadows rather than simply run and gun. As well adding the ability to take up cover similar to Rainbow Six Las Vegas or Gears of War would help others.
Keeping the faction specific gear free as long as one holds the given certification would be kept. Although the player will be given the option to customize their gear as well as buy custom gear and parts from other factions(maybe not other major factions) or independent manufacturers.
As well There would be other bigger additions. Such as....
Old McDonald had a publisher....
Ee Ei Ee Ei Oh!
And in this publisher he had 12,000 different MMO concepts....
Ee Ei Ee Ei Oh!
Now to toss yet another random and occasional idea of mine out there....
Pretty sure at least some of us know Planetside....those that don't....well this is the internet and you should be able to look it up....
For simplicity I'll just say it's a commercial FPSMMO, and personally I love the game....but it's betting a little old in consideration of certain things they did to manage gameplay as well as it's starting to feel kinda limited as far as the kinda things one can do to affect the battlefield.
As such, I offer my idea of Planetside 2.0! (or some other name that SOE might not brain me with a lawsuit over)
The general idea is that the core concept remains, story advances and new is introduced, yadda yadda yadda....
To kick it off the story would be fast forwarded past the current struggles plaguing the three factions. It would be resolved with the Terran Republic moving off and calling the war a lost cause, pulling out and rerouting it's resources to populating new planets and attempting to stem off the other factions surrounding them. The New Conglomerate would finally find a place to call their own and eventually go about trying to become the "Great Liberators" of the known universe by blowing the holy hell out of other factions. Lastly but not leastly(It's a real word in my made up world!) the Vanu Soverignty would be left alone to tinker away with their alien technology, while not advancing themselves in comparable power then at least in a societal sense....they would become even more-so the technological super-nuts.
From here new "fragment" factions would be introduced. Small semi-independent factions that either operate of their own accord or serve as mercenary groups to the bigger factions. They are spread far across the known universe with no particular home planet traditionally.
As well new races may have been discovered (though for gameplay mechanics sake they would all be more or less the same size as normal humans with a slight variable range). This wouldn't add a whole lot aside from making a more varied battlefield to look at as well as a bit more interesting stuff for the lore.
Aside from story then there would be more general tweaks to the game world to consider.
Modern physics as opposed to rigid animation sets and outdated predictive physics. Would have to change the server setup and in-game battlefields to better accommodate the change in physics, but it would lend to some weapons being better balanced and there being less odd glitches like shooting people who you can't actually see anymore.
Filling out the general environments of planets with more flora and adding in actual fauna to create worlds that feel less desolate....this point is kinda self explanatory....
Adding AI troops and such to the game to make the battlefield stay more constant and avoid the whole "running around on a planet with only five other people" problem....at least try and give the illusion that that isn't the case....
Adding a gameplay control set similar to Splinter Cell for those in lighter armors and stealth armors would make it more entertaining for those who would like to drop down from the shadows rather than simply run and gun. As well adding the ability to take up cover similar to Rainbow Six Las Vegas or Gears of War would help others.
Keeping the faction specific gear free as long as one holds the given certification would be kept. Although the player will be given the option to customize their gear as well as buy custom gear and parts from other factions(maybe not other major factions) or independent manufacturers.
As well There would be other bigger additions. Such as....
About the author
Aaron Weingartner
The whole space thing can be taken further though in that it can be put as a necessity to conquer the skies above a planet before raiding the planet itself (unless you infiltrate it's defenses somehow). After taking the skies you can commence an orbital bombardment. The smaller ships can actually drop into orbit and be a first shock-wave taking out bunker positions and turrets and such clearing the way for drop-ships, mobile spawn point ships, carriers and other vessels that might need protection upon entry.
The ground forces can counter the space invasion with missile pods, satellite turrets, or launching their own fleet into orbit.
This would bridge the gap between land and space combat. As the battle transitions more heavily to the ground other vehicles and such come into play and the combat shifts hopefully smoothly into it's next phase. At this point the enemy could be doing a few things. They could go about trying to assault and capture a currently standing base, cut the supply and information lines for the surrounding territory, start construction on their own base, shell the hell out everything nearby, or any random number of trivial entertainments.
One thing to help manage all this would be the 2D/3D tactical mapping system. Each squad, unit, battalion, or whatever would be able to track, plan, coordinate, and trigger specific unique things like an orbital strike, supply drop, unit drop, or other such thing at a specific location. They would also be able to access other local friendly troops battle plans and send each other notes for further coordination.
The leveling system would see a bit of a tweak. Basically being that you have access to a base range of items and abilities. As you use specific things you will gain experience that is particular to that given field which will give you point that you use to gain certification specific to that kind of thing. Like if you use a handgun allot you will be given access to more kinds of handguns and other kinds of small arms like uzis. As you move along the experience chains many different optional and sometimes interwoven choices will become available but given a limited amounts of points each level you will be given the ability to be an in-general kinda person of a highly specialized one, but not both.
Note however, all the things you unlock for the most part have little to no absolute advantage over things that come prior to it. In some cases the unlocked item or ability will at face value be weaker, but offers a special bonus that makes up for it. Like if you use assault rifles you might unlock a smaller rifle that doesn't do quite as much damage and has shorter range, but it can be silenced so you can use it to sneak around.
My head is feeling a little hazy right now...might have something to do with that annoying alarm outside and the fact that it's 2:30 am... :P ah well...I'll look over what I out down later and edit/add stuff later...