[Project] - Evac Maps / Gameplay Mode

MaximumSquid · April 2012

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Tried doing the first easy steps myself, but ran into some snags =/
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I feel like this would be the perfect setup for someone that wants to run a dedicated NS:2 server with a high player count

Evacuation Mode. . .
Marine team start off with full upgrades in a heavily damaged base
The order is given for evacuation and everyone has 30 seconds to purchase gear before everything in the base gets sold

Marines Objective: Get to the Rendezvous Location for Evac when you only have 1 life
Alien Objective: Prevent marines from leaving. . .

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If anyone is interested in helping I think we could get a map/mod of this out fairly quickly for testing

1. Get a modified version of Summit with a Command Chair location added to Crevice
(Update: Need some help with this one. . . see post #8)
2. +3/+3 Marines spawn in Ventilation with a Proto Lab/Advanced Armory; Aliens spawn at their hive in Crossroads
(Should be able to be done using a batch file to turn on cheats and give marines "alltech" once the game has started)
3. Add some code so that if a Marine becomes the Commander it triggers victory for the Marine side
(Essentially closing the door on the dropship that we don't have yet; I have no idea how to do this one though codewise)

Additions:
4. Disable the "You need an Infantry Portal" message

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Angry Hillbilly 2 · April 2012

I love the sound of this. I was actually thinking of somthing similer earlier today. That sounds very epic. One thing i think might be better insted of the buildings suddenly exploding is perhaps have large steel doors with sirens going and red lights flashing (spinny ones :3) and steam n everything a real "this ###### about to get real" moment (which happends once the start round button is pressed) and then they just run like mad.

A little like F**king run in F.E.A.R 3 (but not) but u get what i mean. only thing is i think it would need a custom built map. I think current maps wouldnt work for this kind of thing. VERY awesome idea though :D

(for youse that dont know what F**KING RUN!!) is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ57_eKPuVE" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ57_eKPuVE</a> BEST. CO-OP. GAME MODE. EVER XD

Flayra · April 2012

Really cool idea.

Depending which targets the aliens hit first (and which the marines focus on to save) could totally affect how the marines play: arms lab going down would play very differently than Observatory going down.

I'd like to see the pacing such that it starts off epic and frenetic and sometimes gets down to a single alien playing cat and mouse, stalking a single marine as he tries to make his way to the exit shuttle.

I think this would be all about cinematic feel, if you can pull it off.

killer monkey · April 2012

So basically zombie escape from Cs:s?

Sounds great to me!

MaximumSquid · April 2012

killer monkey:

Counter Strike 1.6 actually had a two different versions of escape maps. . .
Both AS_mapname ViP Style escort missions and the lessor known ES_mapname Terrorist escape maps

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Flayra:

yeah one thing I would love to do is to have a warm up round where nothing but skulks hit the marines after the power goes out

after the warm up round is over is when aliens could evolve to try and counter the marine team after they have seen what each member has spent their PRes on
(maybe the chair goes down during the initial fight during the chaos or some other permanent damage to the facility that forces the marines to leave)

probably something for down the road though. . .
I think for now just getting a working model to test with alongside normal game changes would probably be enough for now

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peregrinus · April 2012

I loved the VIP maps from Counter Stike. Well I only remember Oil Rig...that was cool! Would be fantastic to see something like this in NS2 universe.

Could it really work with NS2 as it is? Aliens can scout the map so fast that the marines wouldn't be able to hide or sneak around.

Would all aliens be restricted to going skulk?

Yes, everything could start off unpowered for a thrilling atmosphere.

Or rooms start off powered, but in turn they lose power over time, sort of forcing marines to keep moving.

MaximumSquid · April 2012

peregrinus:

It would be really hard on marines, but that's why only 1 person needs to make it to the exaction point

That's a good point mentioning the power system though. . .
On a custom map you could have rooms full of useful stuff that the marines could tap into if they wanted to risk stopping

Hide and seek is also a big factor. . .
Being able to stay off infestation or going threw a vent would be huge obviously

It would be interesting to see

MaximumSquid · May 2012

Ok, just some updates quick

I spent an hour looking at the tools and ran into a few snags:

<img src="http://i48.tinypic.com/2dgwbic.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

I noticed that I was unable to place a Prototype Lab; as well as, an Advanced Armory before the game starts using the editor
There's probably an easy solution to get them into the editor, but I'm sure I'll need help

Next problem is a way to disable the game from constantly telling you that you need an Infantry Portal

After that we can move onto making a batch file that the server can run to turn on the necessarily cheats to give marines "alltech" when the game starts

If we're lucky we might also be able to use this batch file to turn off the "You need an Infantry Portal" message, but no guarantees for now

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Martinet · May 2012

It may be interesting to add a time "Problem" to the mix: i.e.If you take too long, you die anyway.

Some ideas:

<ul><li>Marines just placed a "Phase Event Device" which will begin to eat away at the structural integrity of the area at the molecular level... in Five Minutes.</li><li>The infestation has devloped a toxic aspect, and the very air itself is becoming corrosive as the hives spread outward. [Auto generating and spreading infestation, pushes marines to abandon areas as it spreads.]</li><li>We got it: a pure sample of the Alien's root genome. Now we have to get it to stasis before it degrades, and the Aliens always know where it is...</li></ul>

Lots of possibilities, all technically difficult though...

I look forward to hearing more about this!

alibi · May 2012

Really great idea.

The marines have zero lives and the aliens with unlimited respawn, correct?
Perhaps offer the aliens an opportunity to evolve from skulk once they have killed a marine or two.
Additionally, you could offer similar rewards for marines but as respawns.

Slight twist:

To get players moving and keep everything feeling frantic and cinematic, the starting room could have a power node with limited juice. 60 seconds into the game the power goes out there so they must move on or become easy meat.

The whole map could also be in darkness (except the starting room as above). Each room would also contain a few limited defenses and an armoury structure.
All of these things are without power until the marines decide to build the node in that room. Again, only a minute or so of power is available before the lights go out.

Instead of offering ALL upgrades to marines in the first room the marines must go looking for them in their escape route. The armoury in each room offers a different weapon or upgrade but only enough personal resource is supplied to each marine to buy one thing.

With this machanic, marines would be given a choice of which route to go and which upgrade to buy. They would have to decide to stick together or be split up and find a better upgrade. The upgrades could be offered at random so each game is different.
The aliens would also have no idea which route the marines have chosen. Powering on the rooms would supply the marines with a minute or so of minimal defense and an optional upgrade however the aliens would be alerted to their whereabouts.

One more note regarding marine respawn. Some rooms could offer an infantry portal for limited respawning whilst powered on. If balance tests so require respawning.

Worth noting: the powered down marine structures would have to have some kind of impenetrable shield at the start of each round to prevent aliens from killing everything before the marines have gotten there. Once the structures are powered up the shields are gone and they can then be destroyed.

Just a few ideas for you all!
Good luck.

Soul_Rider · May 2012

You need to place objects in the code, not in the map.

You would be best creating a function in CommandStation_Server called SpawnInitial(). Place the code for the spawning objects in there, then modify the call to SpawnInitial() to remove the clause that causes it to be called for Hive only.

This will be a lot of code work to implement, I wish you good luck :)

[Project] - Evac Maps / Gameplay Mode

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