Re: Engine
 

Have you guys considered a sci-fi cyberpunk style/realistic type game concept, rather than the dime a dozen terrorist vs counter terrorist or WWII game types?

Perhaps it's just my facination with the "cyberpunk" concept but IMO it would be fun as hell to play a game set in the future a bit, where cybernetics are main stream and where firearms are a generation or two ahead. That's not to say it couldn't sport the typical favorite weapons, just that there could be more variety and more room for some creativity. Just as a comparison, instead of equipping your character with your weapons like most games, suppose you could outfit your guy with various cybernetic enhancements. Maybe cybernetic legs would allow you to move faster/jump higher, cybernetic arms would decrease crosshair wobble and increase carry capacity, cyberobtics could open up various view modes(IR,lowlight..) cyberaudio, enhance your hearing range, filter noise. Lots of room for creativity on the designer side of things while still having the fun factor of more realistic weapons and such. I'm not suggesting the sort of sci-fi that the unreal series does, more along the lines of CS + 50ish years. Not too far to be totally devoid of the familiar firearms of today, but far enough in the future for some futuristic creativity.

Regarding the realistic reactions to being shot, for gameplay purposes I personally would hate if the game kept me slow as hell for the rest of the round if I was shot, temporary speed drops are acceptable, just need to remember that not everything about reality is fun in a game.

Just some ideas...

Re: Engine
 

i (personally) am not a massive fan of games set 'in the future', i dont know why, but they just dont appeal to me (except maybe UT.. nut that just owns).

Futuristic games are great for deathmatch, but i cant really see a productive use in a highly team based tactical game..

Re: Engine
 

But then people would suicide pill spam! I mean repedively commit suicide just to be a jackass.

The problem with Cube is that it is a terrain engine. It has a floor and roof terrain. But the biggest problem is that it uses cubes (hence the name) instead of triangles to represent the world. This is not a good choice for outdoor scenery.

Also, Cube has no way to kill people if they touch a certain spot, like a trigger_hurt, so people can walk off of open maps and stand there. Another limitation is that you cannot have floors over floors. Probably the best bet would be to combine a couple renderers, like portals and terrain, so you can have indoor and outdoor scenery.

By the way, I think I posted this before, but http://cal3d.sourceforge.net/ is a free skeletal animation library. It could be possible to use it to implement ragdoll physics if used in conjunction with OpenDE. I think it is under GPL, though, so no problem if you are going to GPL your engine.

Re: Engine
 

The theme of a game has little to do with that. Simply making a CS clone doesn't give you a highly team based tactical game, that's all in the design. Any theme can be made highly team based with the proper design.

Re: Engine
 

Your concept can, to some extent, be applied to modern firefights.

Morphin or steroids to give boosts to wounded players
Improve on the "night vision" concept
Unidirectional amplified hearing headphones
Heat sensors
Optional rifle stabilizers
Optional flashlights
Optional scopes or lens to all rifles
Optional laser beams
...

they do this already in The Specialists. Although it's a deathmatch. But I *LOVE* the fast-paced tactical side of this game.

Re: Engine
 

agreed, loads of interesting things can be done to weapons nowadays.. what could be interesting, is if you let guns 'overheat', they blow up in your face.. help reduce spammy play :D

Re: Engine
 

someone mentioned having to go slow all round if you get shot. Solution: "MEDIC!"
Give the players some reason for being a medic, eg 2 'frags' for an enemy kill, 1 for helping a teammate. Another, similar option would be to have a 'hospital' area injured players can go to to be treated. It could be an objective - capture the hospital in thwe centre of the map, and you can use it. Hmm, should make a gameplay thread for this, but that's gonna be in the future.

Re: Engine
 

I think medics should get a point after they have been healing players for X ammount of seconds, healing doesnt happen immediatly (unrealisitic, ("hi, your gonna die in the next 2 seconds, take this pill, and you'll be right as rain again in 1")), and instead of giving points for healing a single player, do it based on the number of seconds they spend healing people, for example, 10secs is 1 point. Certainly makes more sence to me :/

Re: Engine
 

true.. also.. if you do something else.. and if you check my beloved game battlefield 1942 it shouild be the same if you fix tanks..

another thing.. if you heal yourself.. same points?
can you check if you only fix your tank that you use,,, maybe.. destroy it.. just to fix it and get points..

Re: Engine
 

I dont think we have decided fully on what sort of vehical support we are including yet (and yes, Battlefield 1942 OWNS! *strokes CD case* my precious! (yeah, LOTR rocks too ;P)), healing yourself probably shouldnt get you points, as it kinda defeats the point. Giving points for healing teammates gives you incentive to do so, makes you go and do your job :p