I've come up with a draft of first 3 chapters of the story mode. While it's not exactly oriented in any way, it's hinting on an alternation between puzzle and action, with some RPG elements thrown in.
get it here:
http://ompldr.org/vOTNmaA
This is actually a second draft from me, the first one was kinda stupid actually.
Have you thought of a general overview for a plot, or are you going to take it forward from these three chapters?
LMAO @ the thread title. I'm surprised no one has done a parody of the balance and physics drama yet.
(06-16-2011, 03:40 PM)ThePWTULN Wrote: [ -> ]Have you thought of a general overview for a plot, or are you going to take it forward from these three chapters?
I have some ideas.
(06-17-2011, 12:16 AM)Lee_Stricklin Wrote: [ -> ]LMAO @ the thread title. I'm surprised no one has done a parody of the balance and physics drama yet.
Feature in Story mode: Balance and physics changing in every level!
(06-17-2011, 04:51 AM)Mirio Wrote: [ -> ] (06-17-2011, 12:16 AM)Lee_Stricklin Wrote: [ -> ]LMAO @ the thread title. I'm surprised no one has done a parody of the balance and physics drama yet.
Feature in Story mode: Balance and physics changing in every level!
Joke or not, that probably isn't a bad idea... Imagine your character getting more powerful as they progress through the game, or possibly getting crippled some how, or picking up certain items that enhance their stats... In theory it can't be too hard. An insanely ambitious idea would be Turok 2 and Metroid mechanics getting mixed in with Quake ones, though that would be harder to pull off as the first two Turok games and most Metroids were anything but linear, with Turok 2 using a hub for the levels and teleporters for going between the smaller maps that make up each level (though load times were instant in both versions... still trying to figure out how Iguana/Acclaim pulled that off with limited technology and a crippled engine).
(06-17-2011, 05:41 AM)Lee_Stricklin Wrote: [ -> ]Joke or not, that probably isn't a bad idea... Imagine your character getting more powerful as they progress through the game, or possibly getting crippled some how, or picking up certain items that enhance their stats... In theory it can't be too hard.
Map cfg file. That'll work.
This is the continuation (meaning last 3 chapters):
http://ompldr.org/vOTNzbA
Obligatory thread bump based on interest in subject.
Do you plan for these BSPs to be seamlessly loaded, or with loading screens? Seem quite short if you intend for there to be loading screens...
@top_cat this is quake1 engine. so "seamlessly loaded" not likely, but yes the loading is completely unnecesarry at this point, but this is a design draft or smt like that
- making a regular campaign with normal xonotic physics would be a little insane, the player could charge through entire level in a few seconds and it takes a lot to actually make a level, plus the maps would have to be huge (or long). laser jumping(limited) could be, but bunnyhopping not. maybe later in a game player would get sort of a armor that would allow bunnyhopping and trickjumps.
Actually, this SHOULD use normal physics. There are multiple ways to evade the issues of that in SP games.
Ideas for this (possibly need to be combined):
- monsters with quick reaction time
- complex "terrain" to walk on (e.g. crates put in the way)
- water parts
- exit of room may need to be unlocked in various ways:
- switches
- standing in front of it for a while slow opening doors
- killing monsters may be required
- items/keys may be required and could be well guarded by monsters
- traps: spikes, laser, etc.
- monsters could have weapons that primarily slow you down (think tower defense games)
As for physics changing across levels: the only sane way to do this is changing the g_movement_highspeed cvar. It quite well scales the physics speed without changing the general feel of them.
Loading could be somewhat seamunobtrusive. (Remember first Half-Life?) Here's how:
As the player passes the checkpoint, his position and whatever else within the func_loading_mapexit entity gets saved with relative positions.
A screenshot is taken in the last moment, then it replaces the game. "Now Loading" shows up on HUD.
The current map is destroyed, and the next one is loaded.
Then the player and everything else gets restored, according to the relative positions, in func_loading_mapentry.
This means that it will work <=> dimensions of func_loading_mapexit(bsp1) = dimensions of func_loading_mapentry(bsp2) & the pair has unique pairing code, similar to targetname→target.
To avoid confusion, q3map2 could be modified to check that in a chain compile (ie. start compiling one map and then move on to the next one), but would be problematic with a 1 entry → 2+ exits maps. Alternatively, it could just scan the mapfiles of bspfiles linked in func_loading_*, and raise a warning if the sizes don't match.
How would the relative coords work: Take the point where the triggerbrush is registered on the grid, and make it the origin of the internal grid. Then convert the global coords into inbrush coords, and after the map is loaded, inbrush coords into global coords.
Now, this may take some time, so I made the maps smaller just to avoid long loading times - but then again, it would mean much more loading screens.
Still, I'll probably re-write this chapter. But the problem of seam-unobtrusive loading still stands. If we could get seamless to work, then it would be just awesome, but I think it's an engine limitation, not a QC one.
I think a cross between Turok 2 and Quake would be an excellent direction to go after if a singleplayer is implemented. For those that haven't played Turok 2, one of the biggest things that seperated it from other first person shooters was it combining Metroidvania mechanics with a central level hub that required you to pick up keys to access the individual levels. There were six levels and each one was HUGE and was actually made up of several maps seperated by teleporters. In addition to locating keys to unlock other levels in the hub, you also had a few objectives to complete such as rescuing prisoners, activating beacons, placing charges, etc. as well as locating permanent power ups that allowed you to do things such as walk/swim through lava without taking damage, jumping high, etc. The game didn't have much in the way of dialogue and character interaction outside of your objectives being told to you when entering a level for the first time while a cut scene shows you what to expect (basically just shows different sections of the levels and what to look for), and occasionally running into the only friendly NPC in the game when you go to save your progress. The story was clearly retro-fitted to the game as well, which meant that it was put together AFTER the levels were done and basically revolved around the current Turok saving the universe or something.