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[mainiac]

I think that it would be fun to make a LCS game for one of the more sandboxy FPS engines and I wonder if anyone else shares my sentiments.  I suggest the orange box because a lot of people have played around with it to do a lot of things and it's really cheap.  However I am open to suggestions if anyone else has any good ideas.

I don't have modding experience directly related to this project.  I have done some mucking around with Paradox Interactive games but not anything with a FPS.  However I do have quite a bit of time right now and that's usually the most important ingredient.

The plan that I have in mind is that we start with a simple, 1 level raid based around a LCS raid:
-level full of neutral NPCs wandering around and intractable objects  i.e. stuff to use, break, steal and spraypaint
-an awareness meter that climbs as you are seen by NPCs or as you interact with objects
-when awareness meter is full, NPCs turn hostile and more NPCs start to spawn
-level ends when player returns to the exit or dies
-player receives a score ("juice") based on the amount of mayhem caused at end of level

I think this sounds like a manageable project.  It's also something that can be expanded on.  We could add a car chase after the escape.  We can create skins for liberal, conservative and neutral NPCs and PCs.  We can make different types of NPCs.  We can make more levels.  We can do our own voice acting, recording various LCS slogans.  Maybe multiplayer raids would be possible.  But it would start with the small, manageable project of the one level raid outlined above.

How does this idea sound?  Does anyone with experience modding FPS games have any suggestions for this project?  Does anybody want to join me in the quest to bring liberalism to the third dimension?

[Bdthemag]

Sounds like a good idea and it would be possible, and by Orange box do you mean making a mod in Garry's Mod?

[mainiac]

Yes.

[jester]

might work as a mod for fallout NV as well

[NobodyPro]

NV might work better as your idea sounds like a headache for the Source engine. It doesn't handle menus well.

You do realise you can change the topic name in your thread?

[Ampersand]

NV might work better as your idea sounds like a headache for the Source engine. It doesn't handle menus well.

You don't need direct menus when you're working in a 3D environment. It may not handle graphical menus well, but it does handle triggers well.  In terms of design, I'm not sure how to go about handling multiple liberals, but when it comes down to an individual, you can make complex decisions by making complex trigger systems with buttons and such. It may be necessary to body swap between active liberals in order to assign them to individual tasks, though. I wouldn't write it off.

However, the intrinsic RPG mechanics of New Vegas or Fallout 3 make it automatically more likely a candidate when it comes to the combat. The FPS mechanics of Half-life mean that it's freaking impossible for everyone to survive even with perfect tactics.

[mainiac]

You don't need direct menus when you're working in a 3D environment...It may be necessary to body swap between active liberals in order to assign them to individual tasks, though. I wouldn't write it off.

Yes, exactly, this isn't going to be a menu driven game.  It's a LCS inspired shooter, not a 3d LCS clone.  Also, body swapping would be cool methinks.

However, the intrinsic RPG mechanics of New Vegas or Fallout 3 make it automatically more likely a candidate when it comes to the combat. The FPS mechanics of Half-life mean that it's freaking impossible for everyone to survive even with perfect tactics.

That is worth consideration, but I tend to consider the fact that not everyone is going to live as a feature, not a bug.

[GlyphGryph]

failquotes

Sounds like a good idea. At the very least I think the raid should have SOME non-conservatives (perhaps indicated by a color ring below them, grey, green, or red? That would be pretty simple), and killing them reduces your score.

Having non target civilians getting in the way is ALWAYS fun ^_^

Also, do you have a particular location in mind for the initial raid?

Ideas for interaction beyond the general destruction/spraypainting:
Computer to steal files from or destroy the contents of (or both)
Safes to crack to get secret documents documents
Doors to pick (takes time) or break down (attracts awareness)

[mainiac]

I was thinking a sweatshop would be a good place for the first level because it could be fairly repetitious.  Still getting my head around the basics of Garry's Mod right now however.  Those ideas of yours are the things I'd want to consider if I can get the initial raid working.

[Innominate]

Would you be wanting to have a persistent NPC population or spawning and despawning mechanics (the latter being LCS's method)?

A persistent population has the downside that it takes a lot of effort to have any but the most rudimentary AI on a lot of things at once (though Gmod would probably take care of that pretty well), and spawning would have to occur anyway to bring in site backup (or not - just move them to the site when a raid happens).

Spawning and despawning has the problem of working out when and where people should spawn/despawn; if you have them spawn where the player(s) isn't looking, they may spawn in a place the player(s) thought was cleared (so you need clear sign-posting that a given place is never really 'cleared', e.g. hallways the player can't walk down or doors that are 'real' but not openable).

Neither situation is unworkable, but which one you use should be decided early on and factored into level and mechanics design.

The key point is that if you have spawn/despawn or relocation mechanics, you should have fixed spawn points that check for line of sight/proximity and look as if they could admit NPC's.

[mainiac]

I think that randomly spawning enemies, while good for replay value, would probably be too ambitious for the scope of this project.  I'd rather just have designed levels for each location and just accept the limited replay value that entails.  What might be possible is spawning at certain locations at the level start and having random AI wandering take care of randomizing the locations.  And yes, I was planning on using spawn at the exit for the response team like you suggested.

[Innominate]

Well if you're using Garry's mod then you should be able to use the lua hooks to do all of that without too much difficulty. If I had Gmod I'd offer to help, but my main computer is defunct at the moment.

[Bdthemag]

I suggest if your really serious about this to go to the Facepunch forums and ask for help/suggestions if you need it, most people there would actually be willing to help you, atleast in my experience.

[mainiac]

Good suggestion, I'll check that forum out.