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[Granite26]

Um...I was thinking there would only be one level, where Repairman goes in, fixes the problem, finds out what happens, and leave. Once he finishes that mission, he gets a "YOU WIN!" sign and gets to play again entirely...

I didn't think of the idea that there could be more than one level...hm. I really hope there is a good engine out there you could use...

I'm a big fan of metagames.  Even if it starts like this, 'winning' should give you a reward past the splash screen, even if it's very small.

[Jakkarra]

ive had a thought, would having an X-comesque movement and combat system work well?

im not sure if it would be good for the "scariness" though,

the other thought i had was a Doom-like system, FPS, but in using bitmaps and the like we can keep item cost down and have huge missions/levels and such, and with today's technology, we can still have all the features we want! it also assists multiplayer if that gets implemented.

what do you think?

[rickvoid]

First Person... hmm.

It would certainly make things more interesting. In a 2-D system, unless we keep track of what direction you're facing a use a vision cone, you're going to see the alien drop out of the air duct "behind" you. In a FPS, you only see what it in front of you, so a soft "ticking" noise on the metal floor would be your only warning. My only concern is how we would handle space-ship customization and space-missions, if any.

As for turn-based X-com style... naw. This should definately be real-time.

I want to post some stuff on "What type of Scary do we want", but no time. I'm on lunch break. I'll start up that discussion later this afternoon.

[Asehujiko]

An idea I had for some time but most likely won't fit here(due to being set on a spaceship) is to invert some standard cliches:
-daytime means exposition break or easy segment.
-big weapon equals non-scary boss.
The idea is that after a long night being chased by various horrors, you hear on the radio that the military is joining in to fight the threat and discover a set of paradropped equipment including a gun, say, a Barrett M107 and a backpack full of .50 BMG ammo. Then it sets you loose is a giant WH40K style city full skyscrapers dipped in a bucket of gothic architecture details in bright sunlight. Through an event like a companion being decapitated by a sniper(IE, the Half Life method of introducing a threat), you are informed that the rooftops are riddled full of hostile sharpshooters. Now instead of being just eyecandy, the statues become a notable threat with all the enemies hiding behind them. You then have to move very carefully, avoiding sunlight by staying in the shadows of wall or other objects and finding and eliminating everything on the rooftops. Firing accurately can only be done when standing still and doing so causes great amounts of noise, triggering the other guards to try and find a more favourable firing position.

Was that a reflection of a glass ornament or scope flare?
Is that protrusion there a gargoyle or somebody's muzzle brake?
Did somebody just run past there or was that a flag waving in the wind?

[Floirt]

I'm all for the FPS idea. Frankly, I can't even see what this would look like in a 2d manner.

As for a graphical engine, isn't the one of "Cube" (see the topic for it) public domain? It would surely be a nice choice.

[Granite26]

There's a lot (at least 3) of free 3d engines that support fps style viewports.  The problem is making the environments customizable.  OTOH, the xcom remake on the unreal engine is doing arbitrary environments.  Since it's on a ship, you've got an excuse to make everything DoomI blocky.

As far as 2d, using a flashlight is the tried and true mechanism for this.  Everything in the light is as is.  Everything out of the light is greyed out (creatures don't appear, doors show as the last state, etc.)  This would be a necessary step for enemy AI anyway.

[Jakkarra]

what we really have to do to make this game scary, is keep adding creatures, if there are just a few types, then people will get used to em quickly, and they will not be scary in the least.

i propose a quota of at least 10 new critters per month for a while, culminating in enough things to keep people on edge constantly, this IS a huge task, yes, but it will be worth it.




also, we need an engine that has enough detail to make things look realistic-ish and scary, the DOOM engine MAY work, if we incredibly up the pixel count on each thing.






i also suggest that weapons be generally useless, we need people to find creative ways to avoid creatures. a Physics engine (havok for choice) would be an awesome addition.

when we figure out what engie we want, i can start modelling items if its a three dimensional one, if not, i can probably do sprites too.

[Granite26]

The reason for bringing up Doom is that it had blocky corridors, and was generally chunky.  That means you could fit blocks together to construct a ship out of pieces, or procedurally generate a roguelike type map and then skin it in 3d.

More advanced games have more complicated maps and would be a pain it the but to procedurally generate AND THEN render 3d

[Jakkarra]

unless...



unless we simply make "blocks" of levels, these will fit together, and we can code the engine to make sure that its a working choice.


it would be similar to DOOM's way of doing it, but with a 3d engine, even better, we could have each PANEL of a wall/ceiling/floor fit together, probably requiring either overhang on every other peice or some form of merging script.

just poking ideas through,  BRAINSTORM

[commondragon]

We dont need a "Rank" or "Prestige" system.

We can have plenty of content by having the player put in with a specific budget and sent on their random mission. A repairman doesnt need rank to go to a damn space station and fix it.

Going about the rank and prestige system would make it feel like the command center expects all of their engineers to find aliens on half of their solo missions, I mean, why would an engineer need access to weaponry besides a basic self-defense laser pistol?

Seems better to do it as a one-shot game deal, where its randomised (perhaps the player can choose the difficulty they want to attempt) every time with no pre-mission hints otherwise besides the size and a few critical details about the ship.  The player can choose gear from a set budget, from tools and weapons to companion NPCs (sending one man to an abandoned space station, what?).  Companions would have their own budget that they randomly spend.

Of course once a play goes through a successful game they can unlock it in a free-play mode where they have an enlarged (or infinite) budget.

[Granite26]

I hate games that send you out into the field without giving you some hint what to face.  It's always 'Be Sure To Be Prepared and Plan Ahead', but they never tell you what to prepare for!

Ranks as a metagame (you're ranking up the player, not the character) could serve to put a few training wheels levels in the begining, and ensure that there is a steady growth in skills (rather than sink or swim, or being forced to start at square one when you die).  Could even be used to advance a Metaplot or two, where specific threats ramp up according to a story (but they'd be jumbled up, maybe 5% of the threats would advance A story, with 3-4 stories.)

[commondragon]

I hate games that send you out into the field without giving you some hint what to face.  It's always 'Be Sure To Be Prepared and Plan Ahead', but they never tell you what to prepare for!

Ranks as a metagame (you're ranking up the player, not the character) could serve to put a few training wheels levels in the begining, and ensure that there is a steady growth in skills (rather than sink or swim, or being forced to start at square one when you die).  Could even be used to advance a Metaplot or two, where specific threats ramp up according to a story (but they'd be jumbled up, maybe 5% of the threats would advance A story, with 3-4 stories.)

The whole point of the game is that you have no fucking clue whats going on.  And you WOULD get information that would help you while your facing the unknown threat, in the form of information about the mechanical systems aboard the ship, which you will be equipped to be able to repair (and break) to your advantage.  Other parts of the ship require experimentation (or looking it up online) to figure out how to use correctly and efficiently.

[Jakkarra]

i dont think there should be a training level either.

give them the controls i guess.

unless the command centre placed them in a special pre-made training ship back on earth, teaching them about the gameplay mechanics, but not saying that there will be creatures.

i could design it is we get all the mechanics though up first.