Today we tested out the "periodic visibility" stealth mechanic as described in the design post for the "Stealth Slash Pickup Weapon."
The stealth feels controllable, and it's not very confusing for the hidden player to estimate where he is. While in stealth mode, the player alternates between .8 seconds of invisibility and .5 seconds of visibility, with the total duration of the stealth mode being several seconds long (between 5-10 seconds). However, we discussed an alternative design to the stealth that is also interesting:
Upon activating the stealth weapon, the player turns invisible for 2-3 seconds. If the player walks within close range of a valid target during this time (enemy player or turret) the player automatically ends stealth mode and attacks any targets within range. The most significant difference is that the player gains stealth mode for a much shorter period, but gains complete invisibility during this time, rather than blinking. This gives less time for the player to reach a target during stealth, so it must be activated shortly before striking. This also means the player does not have to learn how to anticipate walking with the blinking system. The shorter overall duration on the stealth-mode is necessary because the player will quickly lose track of his own location otherwise. Either way, having the player automatically activate the melee attack upon coming into range may be good to have even if we also allow the player to manually trigger the attack.
One concern I have with the shorter duration alternative is that an opponent is more likely to walk away and wait out the brief stealth period, since it is so easy. It then becomes difficult to use the stealth to actually attack unless approaching enemies who are too occupied with one another to realize someone is turning invisible. This is not necessarily bad. In contrast, the longer blinking stealth gives the user more time and opportunity to use the attack portion, or use it to gain concealment while moving around the map.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Weapon Ratings
This is an assessment of the roles and values of the current weapon designs. Weapons have traits rated from 1 to 3, with 3 meaning a weapon is most useful when used for that purpose.
Boomerang Shield:
3 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
1 Negate Enemy Gains
Dash Trap:
2 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
2 Survival
2 Tile Gain
2 Negate Enemy Gains
Ground Worm:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Hijack:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
2 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Auto Turret:
1 Kill Player
1 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Stealth Slash:
2 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Boomerang Shield:
3 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
1 Negate Enemy Gains
Dash Trap:
2 Kill Player
2 Kill Turret
2 Survival
2 Tile Gain
2 Negate Enemy Gains
Ground Worm:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Hijack:
1 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
1 Survival
2 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Auto Turret:
1 Kill Player
1 Kill Turret
1 Survival
3 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Stealth Slash:
2 Kill Player
3 Kill Turret
3 Survival
1 Tile Gain
3 Negate Enemy Gains
Monday, September 19, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Boomerang Shield Pickup Weapon
This pickup weapon allows the player to rapidly fire projectiles out to a medium range, which later fly back to the player and create a shield.
- When activated, the player files a projectile and gains the energy to rapidly fire more similar projectiles
- The projectiles may be continuously fired as long as energy remains
- Each projectile consumes energy, and the energy also depletes over time
- While the player has energy to fire the projectiles, a particle aura surrounds the player
- The particle aura changes color and flashes when critically low on energy for this attack
- The projectiles damage enemies they strike, but pass through without being dissipated
- Each projectile may only damage a given target one time during its flight
- The projectiles have significant spread for low accuracy
- After a projectile travels for a certain amount of time or strikes a wall or level edge, it stops moving
- While a projectile is stopped, enemy players can walk through it, but takes damage per unit time while in contact
- The projectiles do not damage the player who fired them
- After a certain amount of time passes after a projectile stops, it will rapidly fly back to the player who fired it, homing in with perfect accuracy and much greater speed than when it was fired outward
- The return flight has no range limit and will reach the firer regardless of distance between them (we should consider whether the return flight can pass through level geometry or if level collision destroys the projectile)
- During the return flight, the projectile passes through and damages enemies as before, except the higher speed makes it harder to avoid and it is aimed toward the firer
- When a projectile strikes its firer at the end of the return, it creates a special shield around the player or adds health to an existing shield, and then dissipates
- The amount of shield health granted by a projectile is a percentage of the damage it dealt after being fired by the player
- When a projectile strikes is firer upon return, an explosion occurs centered on the player, dealing damage to enemies, knocking them away, and claiming tiles within its radius
- When a shielded player would take damage, the shield is damaged instead, with the damage lowering the shield's health
- While the shield has very low health, its appearance reflects this
- The projectiles from this weapon do not have very much health, and can be reliably destroyed by contact with enemy weapons during flight or when stopped
- If a player picks up a replacement weapon prior to firing off all this weapon's projectile energy, all remaining energy is lost, but previously fired projectiles will still return after the normal amount of time and shield the player
- The shield only protects from damage, and does not stop other effects like knockback, hijack, or tile loss
- The shield slowly loses health over time
- The shield may be built up to be very healthy with multiple uses of the boomerang shield weapon, but there is a maximum amount of shield health possible, and its appearance changes to indicate that it is near its maximum
- The enhanced version of boomerang shield has a higher rate of fire, projectiles with faster outward flight, and more energy to fire the projectiles with
- The boomerang shield is the one of the most reliable weapons for straight-forward combat, providing sustainable offense for a time along with defense
- When activated, the player files a projectile and gains the energy to rapidly fire more similar projectiles
- The projectiles may be continuously fired as long as energy remains
- Each projectile consumes energy, and the energy also depletes over time
- While the player has energy to fire the projectiles, a particle aura surrounds the player
- The particle aura changes color and flashes when critically low on energy for this attack
- The projectiles damage enemies they strike, but pass through without being dissipated
- Each projectile may only damage a given target one time during its flight
- The projectiles have significant spread for low accuracy
- After a projectile travels for a certain amount of time or strikes a wall or level edge, it stops moving
- While a projectile is stopped, enemy players can walk through it, but takes damage per unit time while in contact
- The projectiles do not damage the player who fired them
- After a certain amount of time passes after a projectile stops, it will rapidly fly back to the player who fired it, homing in with perfect accuracy and much greater speed than when it was fired outward
- The return flight has no range limit and will reach the firer regardless of distance between them (we should consider whether the return flight can pass through level geometry or if level collision destroys the projectile)
- During the return flight, the projectile passes through and damages enemies as before, except the higher speed makes it harder to avoid and it is aimed toward the firer
- When a projectile strikes its firer at the end of the return, it creates a special shield around the player or adds health to an existing shield, and then dissipates
- The amount of shield health granted by a projectile is a percentage of the damage it dealt after being fired by the player
- When a projectile strikes is firer upon return, an explosion occurs centered on the player, dealing damage to enemies, knocking them away, and claiming tiles within its radius
- When a shielded player would take damage, the shield is damaged instead, with the damage lowering the shield's health
- While the shield has very low health, its appearance reflects this
- The projectiles from this weapon do not have very much health, and can be reliably destroyed by contact with enemy weapons during flight or when stopped
- If a player picks up a replacement weapon prior to firing off all this weapon's projectile energy, all remaining energy is lost, but previously fired projectiles will still return after the normal amount of time and shield the player
- The shield only protects from damage, and does not stop other effects like knockback, hijack, or tile loss
- The shield slowly loses health over time
- The shield may be built up to be very healthy with multiple uses of the boomerang shield weapon, but there is a maximum amount of shield health possible, and its appearance changes to indicate that it is near its maximum
- The enhanced version of boomerang shield has a higher rate of fire, projectiles with faster outward flight, and more energy to fire the projectiles with
- The boomerang shield is the one of the most reliable weapons for straight-forward combat, providing sustainable offense for a time along with defense
Dash Trap Pickup Weapon
This pickup weapon allows the user to rapidly dash forward in straight line while leaving harmful traps in a trail.
- Upon activation, the user dashes forward in a straight line for moment, with no steering control during the dash
- The dash ends after a short time duration or when the player collides with an obstacle like a wall, level edge, or player, or turret
- The player may be struck by projectiles and explosions during the dash, but this does not disrupt the dash unless they kill the player
- During the dash, the player may attack and claim tiles as normal, with the added speed making it easier to gain highlight tiles by movement
- The dash speed may be faster than many of the game's projectiles
- For every given number of units of distance traveled during the dash, the player creates an energy trap behind him, building a trail of traps in a line over the course of the dash
- The traps are floating orbs of energy that do not collide with or harm the player that created them, but damage enemies that collide with them
- Traps are colored to represent the player who owns them
- The traps also do not collide with, harm, or get harmed by the player's attacks
- After damaging an enemy, a given trap dissipates
- If a trap exists for a time without damaging an enemy, it selects the location of the nearest valid enemy, and flies toward that location as a projectile
- The traps only select a target location at the moment they change from trap to projectile mode, and do not change targets or flight direction after beginning flight
- The traps have no range limit for targeting, and have sufficient flight speed and duration to reach anywhere on the map
- The traps will not target anything that has too great of an elevation difference from them, such as enemies on a higher or lower floor of the map
- The traps prioritize targets in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest enemy turret
- Whether in trap or projectile mode, the traps will deal damage to enemies they collide with and claim a tile upon which a struck target is standing
- A collision in trap mode deals far more damage than a collision in projectile mode
- Traps may be damaged in either trap or projectile mode, and lose a percentage of their remaining health when entering projectile mode
- The enhanced version of this attack grants the user invulnerability to damage and negative effects during the dash, and deals damage to any damageable object collided with, along with significant knockback
- The enhanced dash will destroy any turret it collides with
- The traps created by the enhanced dash gain an explosion radius on impact, whether in trap or projectile mode, and the explosion claims tiles within that radius
- The role of the dash trap is to allow a quick evasive or escape move combined with an attack that forces the enemy to be more defensive, while also helping the player build up a highlighted tile trail (combining this with the primary activation of stealth slash can be a very good way to highlight a trail)
- Upon activation, the user dashes forward in a straight line for moment, with no steering control during the dash
- The dash ends after a short time duration or when the player collides with an obstacle like a wall, level edge, or player, or turret
- The player may be struck by projectiles and explosions during the dash, but this does not disrupt the dash unless they kill the player
- During the dash, the player may attack and claim tiles as normal, with the added speed making it easier to gain highlight tiles by movement
- The dash speed may be faster than many of the game's projectiles
- For every given number of units of distance traveled during the dash, the player creates an energy trap behind him, building a trail of traps in a line over the course of the dash
- The traps are floating orbs of energy that do not collide with or harm the player that created them, but damage enemies that collide with them
- Traps are colored to represent the player who owns them
- The traps also do not collide with, harm, or get harmed by the player's attacks
- After damaging an enemy, a given trap dissipates
- If a trap exists for a time without damaging an enemy, it selects the location of the nearest valid enemy, and flies toward that location as a projectile
- The traps only select a target location at the moment they change from trap to projectile mode, and do not change targets or flight direction after beginning flight
- The traps have no range limit for targeting, and have sufficient flight speed and duration to reach anywhere on the map
- The traps will not target anything that has too great of an elevation difference from them, such as enemies on a higher or lower floor of the map
- The traps prioritize targets in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest enemy turret
- Whether in trap or projectile mode, the traps will deal damage to enemies they collide with and claim a tile upon which a struck target is standing
- A collision in trap mode deals far more damage than a collision in projectile mode
- Traps may be damaged in either trap or projectile mode, and lose a percentage of their remaining health when entering projectile mode
- The enhanced version of this attack grants the user invulnerability to damage and negative effects during the dash, and deals damage to any damageable object collided with, along with significant knockback
- The enhanced dash will destroy any turret it collides with
- The traps created by the enhanced dash gain an explosion radius on impact, whether in trap or projectile mode, and the explosion claims tiles within that radius
- The role of the dash trap is to allow a quick evasive or escape move combined with an attack that forces the enemy to be more defensive, while also helping the player build up a highlighted tile trail (combining this with the primary activation of stealth slash can be a very good way to highlight a trail)
Stealth Slash Pickup Weapon
This is a weapon that can be picked up on the level.
- When this weapon is activated, the user turns invisible for a time, and is able to activate the weapon once again to actually attack
- The primary and secondary activations together constitute a single use of the weapon for purposes of ammo expenditure
- After the primary activation, the user instantly enters stealth-mode and only exits this mode when killed, using the secondary activation to attack, using some other attack, or after a time duration expires
- While in stealth-mode, the character cannot be seen by anyone, except for periodically becoming visible briefly (appearing for about 0.5 seconds once every 3 seconds)
- While in stealth-mode, the character does not claim new tiles by walking, but the game keeps track of the tiles he would have claimed by walking
- When stealth-mode ends, all the tiles that would have been claimed by walking during stealth-mode are now claimed and highlighted as if the player had just walked over all of them (this is likely the most reliable way to build a long highlight trail, since they are all highlighted in an instant)
- An unseen character may be affected by attacks as normal, but being damaged does not disrupt the invisibility in any way aside from the obvious clue of a projectile exploding when it strikes the invisible character
- While a character is unseen, any particle effects on the character are also invisible, but become briefly visible during the periodic moments when the character becomes visible
- While in stealth-mode, a character cannot be targeted for attack by anything besides a player (turrets cannot target this character)
- The secondary activation is an attack, which appears as a circular spinning slash with an energy sword, striking all enemies within a certain radius of the user
- Any enemy players struck by the slash lose all their claimed and highlighted tiles, with the tiles reverting to unclaimed status
- The user also claims any tiles within the slash radius
- Stealth-mode ends when the slash is used (the player appears and then slashes, and then tiles are claimed by the end of stealth-mode)
- The slash instantly destroys any turret or projectile it strikes
- A player struck by the slash does not lose ownership of tiles occupied by his turrets
- A player struck by the slash does lose ownership of tiles ignited by his ground worm, although these tiles remain ignited and thus cannot be claimed by the player's enemies
- If a player uses the primary activation to enter stealth-mode, but picks up a replacement weapon before activating the slash, then the player retains the normal benefits of stealth-mode, but the new weapon replaces his ability to use the slash
- Using enhanced attack on this weapon will improve both the stealth-mode and the slash with a single enhance usage
- Enhanced stealth-mode will let the player run faster (which likely results in a much longer highlighted tile trail for the player when the stealth-mode ends)
- Players struck by the enhanced slash will take more damage, and all their turrets, ground worms, and ignite effects are destroyed (any tiles that would have been protected from loss by an occupying turret are lost when the turret is destroyed)
- The role of the stealth slash is to destroy the leading player's tile and turret advantage without having to kill him, as well as reliably building up a trail of highlighted tiles and providing some safety from attack
- When this weapon is activated, the user turns invisible for a time, and is able to activate the weapon once again to actually attack
- The primary and secondary activations together constitute a single use of the weapon for purposes of ammo expenditure
- After the primary activation, the user instantly enters stealth-mode and only exits this mode when killed, using the secondary activation to attack, using some other attack, or after a time duration expires
- While in stealth-mode, the character cannot be seen by anyone, except for periodically becoming visible briefly (appearing for about 0.5 seconds once every 3 seconds)
- While in stealth-mode, the character does not claim new tiles by walking, but the game keeps track of the tiles he would have claimed by walking
- When stealth-mode ends, all the tiles that would have been claimed by walking during stealth-mode are now claimed and highlighted as if the player had just walked over all of them (this is likely the most reliable way to build a long highlight trail, since they are all highlighted in an instant)
- An unseen character may be affected by attacks as normal, but being damaged does not disrupt the invisibility in any way aside from the obvious clue of a projectile exploding when it strikes the invisible character
- While a character is unseen, any particle effects on the character are also invisible, but become briefly visible during the periodic moments when the character becomes visible
- While in stealth-mode, a character cannot be targeted for attack by anything besides a player (turrets cannot target this character)
- The secondary activation is an attack, which appears as a circular spinning slash with an energy sword, striking all enemies within a certain radius of the user
- Any enemy players struck by the slash lose all their claimed and highlighted tiles, with the tiles reverting to unclaimed status
- The user also claims any tiles within the slash radius
- Stealth-mode ends when the slash is used (the player appears and then slashes, and then tiles are claimed by the end of stealth-mode)
- The slash instantly destroys any turret or projectile it strikes
- A player struck by the slash does not lose ownership of tiles occupied by his turrets
- A player struck by the slash does lose ownership of tiles ignited by his ground worm, although these tiles remain ignited and thus cannot be claimed by the player's enemies
- If a player uses the primary activation to enter stealth-mode, but picks up a replacement weapon before activating the slash, then the player retains the normal benefits of stealth-mode, but the new weapon replaces his ability to use the slash
- Using enhanced attack on this weapon will improve both the stealth-mode and the slash with a single enhance usage
- Enhanced stealth-mode will let the player run faster (which likely results in a much longer highlighted tile trail for the player when the stealth-mode ends)
- Players struck by the enhanced slash will take more damage, and all their turrets, ground worms, and ignite effects are destroyed (any tiles that would have been protected from loss by an occupying turret are lost when the turret is destroyed)
- The role of the stealth slash is to destroy the leading player's tile and turret advantage without having to kill him, as well as reliably building up a trail of highlighted tiles and providing some safety from attack
Ground Worm Pickup Weapon
This is a pickup weapon on the map. It fires a projectile that claims and ignites on fire any tiles it passes over, and shields them from being claimed by enemies.
- The player fires a low projectile that travels along the surface of the tiles, below the elevation of most other projectiles
- The projectile travels in a straight line until it dissipates when it cannot travel any further over tiles in that direction (because it meets a wall, the edge of the level, or a surface that cannot be ever claimed like the current elevators)
- If the projectile's path is unblocked, it continues to move forward for a very long time
- The projectile claims any tile it passes over for the user's color, and also ignites those tiles on fire that is of the color of the user, creating the effect of a flaming worm crawling across the ground
- The projectile will not claim a tile occupied by an enemy turret, but will ignite the tile on fire
- Flaming tiles deal damage per unit time to any enemy within a given distance above them, such as enemy players, enemy turrets, and enemy projectiles that pass over their space
- Each tile remains flaming for a certain amount of time after it first ignites
- While a tile is on fire, it cannot be claimed by enemy players, and new enemy turrets cannot be created on it
- While a tile is on fire, the ground worm user may still lose ownership of the tile's color, such as when the player dies
- The owner of the flame effect and his projectiles and turrets are not damaged by the flame
- The fired projectile that bestows the flame effect may be damaged and destroyed, but this does not quench any previously ignited tiles
- The ground worm projectile moves too close to the ground to be struck by the hijack projectiles, and cannot be hijacked in any case
- If a player fires the ground worm while hijacked, the projectile along with any tiles it claims and ignites are owned by the hijacker, and deal damage to the hijacker's enemies as if the hijacker had fired the worm
- The projectile passes through players and turrets without dealing damage, but its tile ignite effect will deal damage
- If the projectile passes over a tile currently occupied by an enemy player, it claims and ignites the tile just as it would an unoccupied tile
- If the projectile passes over a tile that is protected by an enemy ground worm's ignite effect, it will claim the tile and override the enemy ignite, but take damage from doing so
- The enhanced version of this projectile does not stop and dissipate when there is no more ground in front of it, but instead changes direction to move away from the obstacle at an opposite angle, as if reflecting off a mirror
- The role of the ground worm is to be one of the most reliable ways to control space, being less sustainable than a turret, but also having the ability to quickly destroy stationary targets like turrets
- The player fires a low projectile that travels along the surface of the tiles, below the elevation of most other projectiles
- The projectile travels in a straight line until it dissipates when it cannot travel any further over tiles in that direction (because it meets a wall, the edge of the level, or a surface that cannot be ever claimed like the current elevators)
- If the projectile's path is unblocked, it continues to move forward for a very long time
- The projectile claims any tile it passes over for the user's color, and also ignites those tiles on fire that is of the color of the user, creating the effect of a flaming worm crawling across the ground
- The projectile will not claim a tile occupied by an enemy turret, but will ignite the tile on fire
- Flaming tiles deal damage per unit time to any enemy within a given distance above them, such as enemy players, enemy turrets, and enemy projectiles that pass over their space
- Each tile remains flaming for a certain amount of time after it first ignites
- While a tile is on fire, it cannot be claimed by enemy players, and new enemy turrets cannot be created on it
- While a tile is on fire, the ground worm user may still lose ownership of the tile's color, such as when the player dies
- The owner of the flame effect and his projectiles and turrets are not damaged by the flame
- The fired projectile that bestows the flame effect may be damaged and destroyed, but this does not quench any previously ignited tiles
- The ground worm projectile moves too close to the ground to be struck by the hijack projectiles, and cannot be hijacked in any case
- If a player fires the ground worm while hijacked, the projectile along with any tiles it claims and ignites are owned by the hijacker, and deal damage to the hijacker's enemies as if the hijacker had fired the worm
- The projectile passes through players and turrets without dealing damage, but its tile ignite effect will deal damage
- If the projectile passes over a tile currently occupied by an enemy player, it claims and ignites the tile just as it would an unoccupied tile
- If the projectile passes over a tile that is protected by an enemy ground worm's ignite effect, it will claim the tile and override the enemy ignite, but take damage from doing so
- The enhanced version of this projectile does not stop and dissipate when there is no more ground in front of it, but instead changes direction to move away from the obstacle at an opposite angle, as if reflecting off a mirror
- The role of the ground worm is to be one of the most reliable ways to control space, being less sustainable than a turret, but also having the ability to quickly destroy stationary targets like turrets
Hijack Pickup Weapon
This weapon can be picked up on the map.
- The player fires a single spread of multiple projectiles (perhaps 5 or 7)
- Any player struck by one of the projectiles is damaged and also hijacked, and claims tiles for the hijacker with any action that would normally claim tiles for the hijacked player (such as walking and attacks)
- The projectile also claims the tile that a struck target is standing on
- The hijacked status lasts until a certain amount of time passes, the hijacked player dies, or the hijack is overridden by another player's new hijack
- Turrets struck by the hijack projectile are also damaged and hijacked, but the without time limit, so the status lasts until overridden by another hijack or the turret is destroyed
- A hijacked turret is considered owned by the hijacker, and tries to shoot the new owner's enemies and claim tiles for the new owner, and may be healed by the new owner
- The tile occupied by a hijacked turret is claimed by the hijacker
- If a hijacked player creates a turret while hijacked, the turret is owned by the hijacker and acts as if the hijacker created the turret
- A hijacked player's attacks still damage enemy players and turrets as normal, and heal his own turrets as normal
- A hijacked player's turrets that were created prior to the player being hijacked continue to attack and claim tiles for the hijacked player rather than the hijacker
- The projectiles from the hijack weapon have little health compared to most other attacks, and can be easily destroyed by projectiles from other weapons
- The death of a hijacker does not remove any hijacked status on targets
- While a player is hijacked, a particle effect indicates the hijacked status
- If we implement an enhanced version, the enhancement will fire a spread that includes more projectiles, projectiles with more health, a denser pattern, and travels faster, and if it strikes the killing blow against a player, it claims all that player's tiles and turrets for the hijack user to own
- The role of the hijack is to force enemies to carefully consider when to attack and move, and it is one of the best counters to the auto-turret's ability to dominate the map
- The player fires a single spread of multiple projectiles (perhaps 5 or 7)
- Any player struck by one of the projectiles is damaged and also hijacked, and claims tiles for the hijacker with any action that would normally claim tiles for the hijacked player (such as walking and attacks)
- The projectile also claims the tile that a struck target is standing on
- The hijacked status lasts until a certain amount of time passes, the hijacked player dies, or the hijack is overridden by another player's new hijack
- Turrets struck by the hijack projectile are also damaged and hijacked, but the without time limit, so the status lasts until overridden by another hijack or the turret is destroyed
- A hijacked turret is considered owned by the hijacker, and tries to shoot the new owner's enemies and claim tiles for the new owner, and may be healed by the new owner
- The tile occupied by a hijacked turret is claimed by the hijacker
- If a hijacked player creates a turret while hijacked, the turret is owned by the hijacker and acts as if the hijacker created the turret
- A hijacked player's attacks still damage enemy players and turrets as normal, and heal his own turrets as normal
- A hijacked player's turrets that were created prior to the player being hijacked continue to attack and claim tiles for the hijacked player rather than the hijacker
- The projectiles from the hijack weapon have little health compared to most other attacks, and can be easily destroyed by projectiles from other weapons
- The death of a hijacker does not remove any hijacked status on targets
- While a player is hijacked, a particle effect indicates the hijacked status
- If we implement an enhanced version, the enhancement will fire a spread that includes more projectiles, projectiles with more health, a denser pattern, and travels faster, and if it strikes the killing blow against a player, it claims all that player's tiles and turrets for the hijack user to own
- The role of the hijack is to force enemies to carefully consider when to attack and move, and it is one of the best counters to the auto-turret's ability to dominate the map
Auto-Turret Pickup Weapon
This weapon can be picked up by players on the level. When activated, it creates a gun turret in the center of the user's current tile.
- Upon creation, the turret displaces players out of the tile it occupies
- The turret's tile remains claimed by the player who created the turret, even if the player dies, and cannot be claimed by enemy players while the turret exists (we may consider having the turret self-destruct if the owner dies)
- The turret periodically fires a 3-round rapid burst of projectiles at a target within a maximum range
- Turret target priority is in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest destructible enemy object (such as enemy turrets), and then nearest to farthest tile not claimed by the turret's owner
- If there are no valid targets within range (no enemies or unclaimed tiles, the turret is idle until a valid target becomes available)
- The turret only fires at targets on the same elevation on the level as itself
- The projectile deals damage to targets with health and claims the tile that the target is standing on for the turret's owner
- The projectile claims any tile it strikes for the turret's owner
- The turret has health and may be damaged
- The turret rapidly heals back to full health if not damaged for a certain amount of time, similar to player characters
- The turret owner's standard attacks heal the turret by some amount proportional to the damage the attacks would normally deal (we may consider allowing the pickup weapon attacks to also heal the turret)
- When the turret is at critically low health, this is indicated by a flashing colored material effect on it
- If we implement enhanced attacks, the enhanced turret may have increased maximum health and fire rate
- The role of the auto-turret is to be one of the most reliable weapons for controlling space, and being able to build and sustain many turrets is a sign of progress and advantage
- Upon creation, the turret displaces players out of the tile it occupies
- The turret's tile remains claimed by the player who created the turret, even if the player dies, and cannot be claimed by enemy players while the turret exists (we may consider having the turret self-destruct if the owner dies)
- The turret periodically fires a 3-round rapid burst of projectiles at a target within a maximum range
- Turret target priority is in order of nearest to farthest enemy player, and then nearest to farthest destructible enemy object (such as enemy turrets), and then nearest to farthest tile not claimed by the turret's owner
- If there are no valid targets within range (no enemies or unclaimed tiles, the turret is idle until a valid target becomes available)
- The turret only fires at targets on the same elevation on the level as itself
- The projectile deals damage to targets with health and claims the tile that the target is standing on for the turret's owner
- The projectile claims any tile it strikes for the turret's owner
- The turret has health and may be damaged
- The turret rapidly heals back to full health if not damaged for a certain amount of time, similar to player characters
- The turret owner's standard attacks heal the turret by some amount proportional to the damage the attacks would normally deal (we may consider allowing the pickup weapon attacks to also heal the turret)
- When the turret is at critically low health, this is indicated by a flashing colored material effect on it
- If we implement enhanced attacks, the enhanced turret may have increased maximum health and fire rate
- The role of the auto-turret is to be one of the most reliable weapons for controlling space, and being able to build and sustain many turrets is a sign of progress and advantage
Enhanced Attack by Expending Highlight Tiles
At the last meeting we discussed the possibility of an enhanced version of each pickup weapon's attack that can be used by expending a certain number of highlighted tiles:
- When a player claims tiles by walking, the tiles change to the player's color and become also highlighted (we should discuss whether to allow tiles gained from attacks to gain the highlight)
- Highlighted tiles grant the player points over time just like normal colored tiles, but may also be expended to fire enhanced attacks with the currently equipped pickup weapon, and after expenditure will revert to normal colored tiles
- There is no maximum number of highlighted tiles the player may have at one time (we may want them to revert to normal colored tiles if enough time passes after they are gained however)
- The player may re-claim a currently owned colored or highlighted tile to highlight it, and this replaces any old highlight with a new one
- When a player fires a pickup weapon, if the player has more than a certain number of highlight tiles, that quantity of them is expended, and revert back to normal colored tiles (reverting in order of oldest to newest acquired)
- When highlight tiles are expended to fire a pickup weapon weapon, an enhanced version of that weapon's attack is fired (we may also want the improved attack to not expend the weapon's single use ammo, and allow consecutive shots as long as highlight tiles are available) (we may want to implement a cooldown between improved attacks to avoid a player gaining too much advantage from attacks with disabling effects)
- It will be difficult to build up a large number of highlighted tiles because other players can claim those tiles by walking or with attacks
- If a player's highlighted tile is claimed by an enemy player, all the player's remaining highlighted tiles gained prior to the one just lost will lose their highlight status and revert to normal colored status
- Highlighted tiles or the player should show some visible display that there are enough highlighted tiles to fire an enhanced attack
- Highlighted tiles should show some visible display that they are being expended for an enhanced attack rather than simply being lost without purpose
- It should require sufficient time and effort to gain enough highlight tiles for the enhanced attack that they cannot be fired frequently, and gaining enough for two enhanced attacks should be nearly impossible unless opponents are totally ignoring the player
- When a player claims tiles by walking, the tiles change to the player's color and become also highlighted (we should discuss whether to allow tiles gained from attacks to gain the highlight)
- Highlighted tiles grant the player points over time just like normal colored tiles, but may also be expended to fire enhanced attacks with the currently equipped pickup weapon, and after expenditure will revert to normal colored tiles
- There is no maximum number of highlighted tiles the player may have at one time (we may want them to revert to normal colored tiles if enough time passes after they are gained however)
- The player may re-claim a currently owned colored or highlighted tile to highlight it, and this replaces any old highlight with a new one
- When a player fires a pickup weapon, if the player has more than a certain number of highlight tiles, that quantity of them is expended, and revert back to normal colored tiles (reverting in order of oldest to newest acquired)
- When highlight tiles are expended to fire a pickup weapon weapon, an enhanced version of that weapon's attack is fired (we may also want the improved attack to not expend the weapon's single use ammo, and allow consecutive shots as long as highlight tiles are available) (we may want to implement a cooldown between improved attacks to avoid a player gaining too much advantage from attacks with disabling effects)
- It will be difficult to build up a large number of highlighted tiles because other players can claim those tiles by walking or with attacks
- If a player's highlighted tile is claimed by an enemy player, all the player's remaining highlighted tiles gained prior to the one just lost will lose their highlight status and revert to normal colored status
- Highlighted tiles or the player should show some visible display that there are enough highlighted tiles to fire an enhanced attack
- Highlighted tiles should show some visible display that they are being expended for an enhanced attack rather than simply being lost without purpose
- It should require sufficient time and effort to gain enough highlight tiles for the enhanced attack that they cannot be fired frequently, and gaining enough for two enhanced attacks should be nearly impossible unless opponents are totally ignoring the player
Endgame Super-Mode
As Tony wrote in his email, we now have a new win condition for the game:
- The player with the most tiles by the a certain time no longer wins
- Players gain points per unit time for each tile they currently own
- When a player reaches target point total, this activates the endgame mode
- Each player's progress toward reaching the point total is displayed in a meter that fills up
- The first player to reach the target point total gains a super-mode with increased abilities
- Super-mode abilities may include:
--- no ammo cost for any attacks
--- increased movement speed
--- increased fire rate
--- increased damage
--- quicker activation time for healing
--- a more devastating replacement for the main weapon
--- a particle effect aura around the character
- It is possible for multiple players to be the first to reach the point total and activate the super-mode
- After the endgame is activated by the first player to reach the point total, players stop gaining points from tiles and cannot attain super-mode
- During the endgame, death is permanent, the goal is killing, and the victor is the last player left alive
- It is possible for a player to be victor without gaining the super-mode from reaching the point total first, but this should be very difficult since players with super-mode have significant combat advantages.
- When a player gains super-mode, the game freezes for a moment while the camera zooms in for a closer view of the super character in an animation that shows the transition to super-mode. If multiple players gain the super-mode at this point, then they animate one at a time and the camera zooms to them one at a time. During this transition sequence, players have no control over the characters, and both characters and any attack effects are frozen. After all the animations end, the camera returns to normal, and normal character control and weapon effects resume.
- The player with the most tiles by the a certain time no longer wins
- Players gain points per unit time for each tile they currently own
- When a player reaches target point total, this activates the endgame mode
- Each player's progress toward reaching the point total is displayed in a meter that fills up
- The first player to reach the target point total gains a super-mode with increased abilities
- Super-mode abilities may include:
--- no ammo cost for any attacks
--- increased movement speed
--- increased fire rate
--- increased damage
--- quicker activation time for healing
--- a more devastating replacement for the main weapon
--- a particle effect aura around the character
- It is possible for multiple players to be the first to reach the point total and activate the super-mode
- After the endgame is activated by the first player to reach the point total, players stop gaining points from tiles and cannot attain super-mode
- During the endgame, death is permanent, the goal is killing, and the victor is the last player left alive
- It is possible for a player to be victor without gaining the super-mode from reaching the point total first, but this should be very difficult since players with super-mode have significant combat advantages.
- When a player gains super-mode, the game freezes for a moment while the camera zooms in for a closer view of the super character in an animation that shows the transition to super-mode. If multiple players gain the super-mode at this point, then they animate one at a time and the camera zooms to them one at a time. During this transition sequence, players have no control over the characters, and both characters and any attack effects are frozen. After all the animations end, the camera returns to normal, and normal character control and weapon effects resume.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Arena Base
So here's my attempt at the Arena's base. The first image is a reference shot to what I was working with. The second is to showcase how this piece can be mirrored. Hope it helps. I emailed the Max file and augmented texture to Brett. Thanks you guys. I'm sorry I can't stick around to help out any more. Best wishes to all with warmest gratitude.
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