[SUGGESTION] Cold truth about any Story mode for Xonotic.

The main reason this initiative didn't get far is truly because of lack of programmers... that's probably the most difficult thing.

I certainly have too much other stuff to do than to worry about campaign so early, at least especially not any kind of special campaign with a story.

It would be much easier to make a Q1 style campaign though, and honestly.... i'd enjoy that more. If done right with good timing and map design, it could be really challenging and fun instead of a really shitty attempt at making a full story mode. (Which think about it.. with our resources a good story mode will never happen, it will be cheesy and lame otherwise.)

Lets not kid ourselves and go with something realistic At least, at first.

ONE DAY!

A MAN/WOMEN/BARNYARD ANIMAL WAS BORN!

AND THAT PERSON WAS ANGRY , SO THEY GOT ALL THE OTHER ANGRY NERDS AND HAD A FIGHT

THAT FIGHTING LASTED FOR AGES , UNTILL THEY HAD TO GOTO BED , BECAUSE THEIR MUM TOLD THEM TOO , BUT ONLY AFTER SOME HARDCORE CORN , MMMM CORN.....

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

THEY FINISHED THEIR HAWT CORN , BRUSHED THEIR TEETH

HAD A WANK , AND WENT TO BED.

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT.


t


:^

NEXT PROBLEM!

*reads chooksta's post*
I was wondering what happened to that fifth of Jager I had lying around...

The main reason this initiative didn't get far is truly because of lack of programmers... that's probably the most difficult thing.

I certainly have too much other stuff to do than to worry about campaign so early, at least especially not any kind of special campaign with a story.

It would be much easier to make a Q1 style campaign though, and honestly.... i'd enjoy that more. If done right with good timing and map design, it could be really challenging and fun instead of a really shitty attempt at making a full story mode. (Which think about it.. with our resources a good story mode will never happen, it will be cheesy and lame otherwise.)

Lets not kid ourselves and go with something realistic At least, at first.

In my opinion classic Doom and Quake style campaigns are really missing from today's games and would kick a lot of ass right now, especially when you look at all that bull crap that holds your hand and guides you along a set path as well as gives you that BLOODY SCREEN! (So real) annoyance that you can quickly recover from by hiding like a wimp. Another option I think would be doable after seeing Vore Tournament in action is a Turok 2 style campaign where you have a central level hub and a bunch of locked levels you have to find keys for, though mapping something like that would be challenging since each level would actually be multiple maps seperated either by load screens or teleports, and each map in a level would have to be connected and possible to back track through. The upside of doing a Turok 2 style campaign though would be giving the game far more unique gameplay and we'd only need like 4-6 levels for it to seem like an extremely long game, provided the exploration (look for switches and keys to unlock doors, using every possible inch of a map, mission objectives, etc.) and item fetching part (grabbing special items such as charges to blow up a certain objective, level keys so you can progress through the game, etc.) is nailed right.

I agree with Samuel, a Q1/Doom/Serious Sam "Story" would rock for a single player campaign.
Keep it simple:
In year 2367, 50 years after the warp drive got invented human race creates her first colony on an earth-like planet 15 light years away from home. Everything goes fine till a bunch a nasty aliens decide to assault the colony. There is only one survivor who, to stay alive and to find a way home uses massive firepower to get those alien fuckers of the planet. Lots of pew pew boom boom, no annoying talking. Some puzzles and vehicle races are welcome too of course.

I agree with Samuel, a Q1/Doom/Serious Sam "Story" would rock for a single player campaign.
Keep it simple:
In year 2367, 50 years after the warp drive got invented human race creates her first colony on an earth-like planet 15 light years away from home. Everything goes fine till a bunch a nasty aliens decide to assault the colony. There is only one survivor who, to stay alive and to find a way home uses massive firepower to get those alien fuckers of the planet. Lots of pew pew boom boom, no annoying talking. Some puzzles and vehicle races are welcome too of course.

THIS, also non-linear level design (think some of Doom's more complex levels) would be a HUGE plus as it's shockingly not something we see today outside of maybe the latest Deus Ex game. Also we could use alien technology and major advances in weapons, armor, and medical equipment as an excuse for the player's super human abilities. We could also make the player some sort of super bad ass that is basically trained and equipped to be a one man army, hence why he doesn't bring any dead weight (aka Halo's marines), err, back up with him. Also from what I've seen, the engine does have SOME capability for out door maps as well, so there could be a handful of wide open areas, something that Doom and Quake never had. Some key-fetching (Doom) and an occasional objective here or there (Quake II) in addition to maps where the only thing you have do is fight your way through wouldn't hurt either. It should also be noted that the back story can be something as ridiculous as someone merely getting pissed off at a planet's military just because their commander looked at him wrong and then going in and wrecking everything.

In year 2367, 50 years after the warp drive got invented human race creates her first colony on an earth-like planet 15 light years away from home. Everything goes fine till a bunch a nasty aliens decide to assault the colony. There is only one survivor who, to stay alive and to find a way home uses massive firepower to get those alien fuckers of the planet. Lots of pew pew boom boom, no annoying talking. Some puzzles and vehicle races are welcome too of course.

This. Simple, dumb and effective. Plus, with a bit of imagination, some additional opposing teams may appear, which game usually benefits from. Just take a look at Half-Life set of sides - helpless, although sometimes useful scientist team with not-so-helpless representative Gowdon Frowman, then HECU Marines, Black Ops team and of course aliens, who, in turn, have their own internal hierarchy of predator-prey lowly creatures plus more sapient ones. Adding some spice this way into Xonotic campaign is sure possible, even if simply basing on current player models.

Adding some spice this way into Xonotic campaign is sure possible, even if simply basing on current player models.

Basing anything off player models is a bad idea, since that would lead to inaccurate expectations when the player chooses his own and plays online.

Instead, what I would see as alright would be you choose your "faction" (alien, human, and/or maybe tron-erebus dudes) and they fight over "resources" (mission objectives). Each side would have the same skills and weapons and whatnot, just all the alien player models would be on one team, and the others on the other... ...not always mission objectives either, we can have good old TDM once in a while too.

Or we could do RED vs BLU, nice and simple like everything else in TF2

Screw the faction stuff for now, I think solid old school gameplay that is seriously lacking in today's AAA titles is the way to go. Something like Doom, Quake, Marathon, and if the team is up to it Turok 2. Levels would mostly be non linear (just like Doom) with some possibly having more than one exit, there may be some key fetching required at times to get through doors, possibly some special item to pick up here or there (such as explosive charges). Since some outdoor maps are doable (as I've seen from vehicle servers), it may also be a good idea to throw in a few of those as well. Throwing some sections reminiscent of Final Doom or Dynasty Warriors (FILL THE SCREEN WITH ENEMIES) might be fun as well, but possibly demanding on hardware.

"possibly some special item to pick up here or there (such as explosive charges)."
This made me think of an example, perhaps like using the mine layer to blow up a part of wall needed in order to progress.
Would such a thing be possible in the engine?

I agree that story shouldn't get in the way of gameplay, but nowadays excuse plots are being sneered at. A good example of balanced story and gameplay is, of course, half-life, and I think a HL model + non-linear levels is the way to go.

You know, if you were interested in the story of the game 15 to 20 years ago you had to read the good old on-screen-text that would explain the story to you, like in all these dungeon crawlers from the late '80s and early '90s. I think this would be perfect. No cut-scenes, no scripted scenes, just the game and text for the story. Central hubs are alright, just like the episodes in DOOM are alright, however one could think of reviving that concept in a refreshing way. Just imagine this: The Xoylent map is the central hub and it already has a teleporter that leads to the "You are here!" asteroid. Just add a machine that programs the teleporter via symbols like a slot machine. Let's keep it simple and say that there are eight symbols and the symbols are e.g. chinese trigrams (see attachment). Each trigram has a certain meaning to it (see attachment) and the levels you get to, could be designed in accordance to the symbol's meaning (e.g. "fire", "water" ... quite different settings) In each level there's an item that represents the trigram. Once you got a trigram you bring it back to the teleporter and put it into the slot machine. As you have found the eight items, you are teleported to the "You are here asteroid", end.