I''m in a brainstorming phase and eventually plan to create a total conversion for an FPS. At this point I''m just brainstorming gameplay, nothing on paper, just formulating ideas in my head so I can get a more clear picture of what I''m after. I''m aiming at multiplayer team oriented, because that''s what is near and dear. As a general theme I was thinking something fantasy oriented in the sense of melee/magic, but not another Tolkien based world. Most likely something completly new (or as new as you can get anyway). There are more than enough counter-strike type TC''s for any FPS you''re interested in, so I''m not going for the modern weapons/realistic approach (or even future/cyberpunk because there are a few of those), although that type of gamplay is attractive. Stealth, teamwork, limited life, round based, goal oriented, etc. However I don''t want to copy the exact gameplay and just throw in new eye-candy and weapons. Of course there are advantages to the Quake/UT syle gameplay as well. Unrealistic, fast paced action, gets out agression quicker when you need to, no worrying about ''money'' for weapons, etc. I would like to aim for some sort of hybrid between the two styles, although I''m not quite sure what that means yet. As far as how the weapons/magic implementation might go, I''m debating that in my head as well. I thought Saber/Force battles were fun enough in Jedi Knight that it could be extended to a melee/magic type mod, I''m just debating how to implement it. I plan on having some sort of class based system, so I could follow most other styles and go for a melee/warrior class, magic class, and others for different playstyles. So a melee class would have access to mainly just melee weapons, while the magic would just have magic instead of weapons. Or I could aim for some sort of Jedi Knight type system where everyone has a set of weapons, and then a set of ''magic'' (jk force powers) related to their class. Right now I''m leaning more in this direction, personally I think that could wind up being a more fun game, plus be easier to balance between the various classes. I know that''s a bunch of stuff thrown out, but that''s the stage I''m in right now So given the general ideas I''ve thrown, what is something that you might find interesting for a Mod and actually be interested to play? Round based gameplay or no? Or both? Something along the lines of Jedi Knight with different melee weapons/''magic''? Something like a Counter-Strike variant where you select your weapons at the start of the round for a specific purpose, or classes where everyone already has a distinct purpose based on class (a la team fortress)? - Kas

I like the slower moving knight idea, that while carrying the princess (or whatever), he''s even slower, and perhaps can''t attack at all, so he requires cover/support from the rest of the team. If everything is balanced correctly that could make for some really fun games.

With a lot of AE or Ranged it might be difficult to make a capture though, depending on the gamestyle. If it''s die/respawn it''s hard because even if a well organized team enters a ''base'', odds are at least one or two will be killed, and then far from the action. The rest, and/or slow moving knight, could get picked off by respawning rangers/mages and he waddles away.

Of course you could just make people spawn a bit farther from the base, or location of the princess so it''s not as much of a problem. Or it''s less of a problem if it''s some sort of limited life round based play, but then it might just degrade into a team deathmatch.

A pretty interesting idea, and with some thought it could be a cool variation of CTF to add.

I got an idea:
how bout a class system that isn't set. basicly everyone starts out as the same charicter and experence accumlates as you play. but the twist is that ther are diffrent catagories of exp, and it accumlates into the catagory you use the most, for example if you're a sniper and you consistantly score sniping kills then you're sniping abilities will improve. As for the weapons, well....., I don't have any ideas about that.

Edited by - Captan_Carnage on July 31, 2001 7:20:36 PM

The problem I see with that last suggestion is the time commitment. I don''t know who the target audience for this mod is exactly, but I''m sure most fps players would much rather start with a predefined sniper/whatever class than invest time in honing their skills.

Heh yeah Drew, but silly is fun too. I''m not aiming for a completly silly gameplay, but sometimes it''ll turn out like that. Ever do saber/force battles in JK? Not something you do all the time, but fun enough that you would on some semi-regular basis. And also, what I''m going to work on will be a mod, not a complete game that will either live or die. I hope to treat development/production value as if it were real, but I don''t have any illusions of making the next Counter Strike Being a mod it can have quirky gameplay as long as it''s fun. It might not be something you''ll load up every time, but if it''s got a fun aspect it will be something popular.

As far as the ''experince'' suggestion I had an idea similar. If I did different classes with different sets of weapons (and maybe some ranged ), then give each class a set of maybe 4 ''magics'' which start at level 1 (maybe 0) of like 4-5. Then at the beginning of the round everyone starts with a few points to dump in, maxing out one, or getting a lot at less power, etc. As rounds progress get more points, maybe some sort of individual bonus for performance. Something of that nature.

If I didn''t go with round based gameplay I suppose you could still do it but it would interrupt gameplay trying to decide where to put stuff, better off just choosing at the start (either by class or some other method) and having it done.