Oh, and look whats on the front page of FilePlanet's Half-Life section! <a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/half_life.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.fileplanet.com/half_life.shtml</a>
Wow, thanks everyone! It's great (and motivating) to see so much excitement and support for this feature.
The most common question/comment seems to be about the way infestation spreads. This is something that's still in development and the video isn't really a good reflection of his this would work in-game. We generally want the infestation to spread outwards in a more radial fashion and it won't be a uniform thickness over everything. As Charlie mention the infestation may spread slower than this as well.
We still have a lot of investigation into how exactly this will work in the game, but it looks like there are a lot of interesting ideas in this thread.
Without prying too much, I know that many current NS maps have infestation that has caused physical damage to base structures (pipes, halls etc). Will features like this be able to mesh with the current system?
Very impressive stuff guys. Judging from how thick the stuff is, players will actually be walking on it, right? How do you plan to handle that when it comes to low-hanging doors, vents, etc?
This is the bit that I love about young companies (before they grow too big and start to produce mostly junk and think only about money), the immense amount of inituative and fresh ideas that they come up with.
Never grow too big, Charlie!
As for the creepy infestation - all I have to say is: amazing. It is going to do wonders for the atmosphere!
The response to this video has been out of control. We got plastered on just about every game site out there. Just a lonely developer video that apparently has me unable to pronounce the game name (though I disagree)!
To answer a few more questions:
- Yes, it could be a lot of work to make sure this works in a networked environment, but we have some good ideas so far. The infestation will be exactly the same on everyone's machine.
- As far as performance goes, it won't be a hog. We're tentatively targeting HL2 system specs for NS2 so don't worry about having to buy a new video card/computer.
- Lots of great ideas floating around about how the infestation will affect the game, but be sure that it won't be just eye candy, it will affect the game.
- We've confirmed that Max can get a job wherever he wants now (not that he couldn't before!). I'll make sure to keep him sated with pizza and soda so he never leaves us.
- I confirmed that Gabe Newell did in fact post that message. In case you were wondering. I changed his title to more accurately reflect him.
Needless to say, we're going to be doing a lot more opening of the kimono from now on (where DID that phrase come from? A bad business book I read?).
Today has been a great day for us, and we're looking forward to many more. Hope you enjoyed it too!
First of all, it's awesome! I havent read all the replies, so sorry if other people already told, what Im going to say. This infestation system could help the mappers a lot. And you dont have to make so many different textures. Here are the things what came in my mind, when i sawe this video: - if it changes the gameplay, infestation should cost some res. -then, the "cleaning" should cost some res too, like special grenades by this pourpose, or a flamethrower(but im sure of it, almost all of you've written it too) - if an area reach an infestation level, than, the commander can't see that area(can' see anything, if he scans too, or there are marines) - but with these changes, NS2'd be a siege, and the rounds'd be extremly long - it should be cheap to build it, but you'd clear an area pretty fast - if there'll be a flamewhtrower, it wouldn't hurt the living aliens too much, only the "plants", so the man with flamethrower'd need backup, to stay alive, and it could increase the necessity of tactics - flamethrower could be upgradable by commander, like longer range, more damage against aliens, more spread, etc. but you can only upgrade one of these, or the commander may change these features by sliders, and if you increase one of them, the others could decrease. Also, the color of the fire should change too, i mean, if it doeas more damage against aliens, it should be green, if it has longer range, then it should be a blue like plasma in hl2, etc. - maybe gorges'd be able to infest the enviroment - oh and gorges should have a nice building animation like, they ramp, lean on the structure by their arms, and do something, like sucking the structure, and while they are building(sucking), they stomach should pulse
well, i know, i didnt' say too much new ideas to you, but now i feel better <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> nice work again <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
i think it would be cool if the infestation stayed in the same place for a certain time it could "eat" through walls and break the walls open and create through paths or shortcuts? similar to many maps were u weld open/closed areas? this could be a nice way to make the infestation more part of the game and not only eye-candy?
That's really really really awesome. I can't get this out of my head: You see the reflection of the light on the ground. As the camera moves around, the reflection moves, too. Is this a normal cubemap reflection? Or what is this shader?
wow that is really amazing! wanna have it right now <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
About the spreading of the creep: Since it's an alien "structure", it should be connected to the hive mind and so it should know where other alien structures (including our beloved infestiation) are. And of course it wants to connect to other structures so they can share their energy and get stronger. So if u build a chamber somewhere where no creep is, u need kinda long to build it, because u can only build with your own (as gorgie) energie. When the chamber is rdy, creep slowly starts growing around it, some tendrils grow into some corners, one big tendril grows in the direction where the next hive is, cause the infestation wants to connect to it. And now, you build a second chamber something like 3 Meters away. As soon as you drop the chamber, a big tendril starts growing from chamber 1 to chamber 2 and when they are connected, u can build a bit faster, because all the creep connected to chamber 2 can pump energy in it. Since you got two chambers now, the infestation is growing faster, trying to gain control of the whole room and sooner or later, the tendril coming from the hive and the one going to the hive (which is growing faster, since the second chamber is up) will meet and merge and then your chambers are directly connected to the hive! So lets have some party: creep everywhere, tendrils shooting out in every direction, trying to conquer more and more territory <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
I don't know if something like that is possible, but i would love to see an "intelligent" growth of the infestiation.
Well I'm out, gotta play the new beta (haven't had time yet oO)
This looks really good, I'm impressed by the innovation shown ;D I never would have thought you would be able to dynamically generate a mesh with correct texturing in Source, it is certainly an outstanding start and I'm eagerly waiting to see what else you guys are working on.
Greetings... First time posting, played on and off for a very long time.
A very nice idea, and even at this early stage, extremely well implemented, visually.
To offer my feedback...
It's a nice feature, so don't fail it - Get too ambitious with this idea in your first release of Natural Selection 2, and I can imagine it being shelved as too time consuming, exploitable, or performance-hitting.
Keep it nice and simple. It looks fantastic, work on making it 'flow' more, very slowly and smoothly from a core point.
Potential ideas:
Bacterial Infection creeps steadily forth from several or a single source point from the start of the game, slowly tipping the game in the favour of the Kharaa on some maps, demanding that Marines press their advantage early on.
Flamethrower or new marine bio-weapon is capable of killing infection, pushing it back to clear areas.
Source points for bacterial growth are actually placed by the next-generation equivalent of the Gorge, allowing Kharaa to choose where the infection develops.
Bacteria can be guided/placed, in the same fashion as NS1's Gorge Webs.
Bacterial infection can seal off areas, lock doors, rise up over Infantry Portals, deactivating them, or create bridges at scripted points that would allow ground-based, heavy units like the next-gen equivalent of the Onos access across large chasms.
---
I don't doubt most if not all have already been considered, but I dare to hope some of them have inspired you =)
Much of the potential Dynamic Infestation possesses would benefit from being held back a while, being implemented when Physics Processing cards like Aegia PhysX are more common, allowing this stuff to have some minor liquid/organic properties and creep around the ship loading onto the PPU's processor rather than the GPU/Processor.
And one minor visual critique; Though this is of course an early stage, I'd recommend a more gradual expansion, the yellow 'veins' or tendrils creeping out far further and covering an area long, long before the main green 'flesh' is even seen. An early warning, seeker tendrils going out to explore the enviroment before the flesh grows into a new room.
Imagine it... Marine base, everyone waiting for orders and weapons ready to be sent out, edgy and watching the doors, then one calls over microphone 'Uh.. Guys.. Look at the vent..'.. And a few little yellow snake tendrils are slowly sliding down the wall and across the ceiling from a ventilation hatch in the corner, paving the way for the main flesh to bubble out of the hole, carrying powers, taints, being impassable to marines, but perhaps the smallest Kharaa unit could tunnel through this stuff without harming it, making a one-way invasion tunnel...
Heh.. *imagines jetpacking marine frantically trying to escape chasing Kharaa, flying into a vent, zooming along dank, cramped passage after message before hitting a dark, warm, mass in the tunnel, flicking on his flashlight and realising it's blocked with a rapidly growing tumorous snake of kharaa bacteria, bubbling softly with a faint heart-beat sound (like the Hive when it heals).. And the hisses and howls of the Kharaa as they slowly creep closer behind him, leaning him cornered in the dark.
*giggles manically*
Err.. Well, damn good idea, and impementation. Remember that dynamic features such as blood decals on bodies and ragdoll corpse physics are a surprisingly powerful selling point in modern combat-based games... This feature, this dynamic bacterial infection of the map, would very much fit into that category. It's certainly worth the effort to implement into the first release, even if you hold back some of it's deeper functions for later releases and more advanced hardware.
<!--quoteo(post=1582968:date=Dec 1 2006, 05:42 PM:name=scaryface)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scaryface @ Dec 1 2006, 05:42 PM) [snapback]1582968[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> [..] What I want: -Little alien plants, kinda like moss sporophytes, growing on top of DI <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> -Stuff hanging from the ceiling -DI that acts living ...-pulsating infestation (I'm thinking of the pulsing stuff in doom 3 near hell.) ...-DI that makes creepy noises that sound suspiciously like moving aliens. ...-<b>DI that retreats when it is attacked? (may solve the potential problem of blocked doorways)</b> ...-<b>DI that screams when you kill it *a must*</b> -Marines can't build on DI until they kill it -Aliens DON'T have to build on DI; instead of alien structures suddenly appearing out of nowhere, I want a growth animation while a gorge builds, where a structure rises from the ground on a generated pile of creep and blossoms. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> -Infestation makes walls more climbable by removing sharp corners -maybe makes walking quieter? -<b>Instead of RFK, have infestation consume dead bodies</b> -I agree with Gabe (the real gabe?) that it should have purpose beyond just looking cool, even if it's a small <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
well those points would all be pretty cool to have ... especially the pulsating "venes"
moultanoCreator of ns_shiva.Join Date: 2002-12-14Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
One question. Right now, colliding with objects in the source engine online sucks a lot. Will the players collide with these, and if so, can that be made to not suck?
Be sure to test this on real server hardware with real lag. I remember when 1.0 came out and everyone was like "wow, look at the slideshow" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
that was awesome, well done i really hope this goes into ns2 it will make things so much more realistic.
one crit though, i am hoping that the speed it was generating at in the preview was just a fast prievew.. in reality i wouldnt want it to infest too fast.. possibly a little slower than displayed.
<b>Suggestions:</b><ul><li>The creep should have visual and pseudo-physical properties only. By that I mean it shouldn't reduce the amount of space by pushing up buildings, it should grow around both teams structures so they look 'sunken in', and Marines and Aliens should walk through it (this is so mappers don't have to make their rooms and corridors X units bigger in all directions to accomodate for creepage, so you know if you make a doorway that fits an Onos, it fits an Onos). This would also mean that when weapons are dropped Marines would have to 'hunt around' for them since they wouldn't be visible under the creep, making Alien trritory just that little bit more hostile as special weapon recycling is nerfed.</li><li>There should be 'creepable' map tool that allows you to select surfaces or areas that should be 'creep-free' (creep shouldn't clog up areas that are supposed to give Aliens more freedom of movement, i.e. vents)</li><li>Creep creates a 'no-build' area (for Marine team only)</li><li>Flamethrower <i>de-creepifies</i>. Nuff said.</li><li>Have res nodes and Hives generate creep, with Alien structures buildable in all areas but with slightly faster 'rate of fire' for their abilities if built on the creep (OCs fire very slightly faster, MC gives Arenaline ever-so-slightly more often). Remove innate regen for Aliens and have them regen on creep. This gives Marines an added incentive to taking it down, and means Aliens will naturally regroup around strategic points in the map to recoup health, improving map navigation and promoting teamwork as teammates on the Alien team see eachother more often. It also means a lot of the combat will be refocused around the res nodes.</li><li>Make Marines move slightly slower in creep; again, giving Marines yet another incentive to taking it down. Also this would fit in with them 'wading' through it.</li></ul>
Really well done guys. The effect itself looks really cool and AFAIK has never been done before in an FPS. And if it indeed has an effect on the game play this will be one hell of an innovative feature. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Some suggestions: - Maybe alien structures that are surrounded by creep should have more armor and should regenerate faster.
- Maybe you could have the level designer paint on the map (with visually invisible textures) to specify an intensity of the creep if it should grow there. Then the growing of the creep is still dynamic, but you have control over where it can go at which intensity. That would be visually be very pleasant, because you get rooms where you can still see some of the surroundings and partially covered in creep.
Would be cool if the aliens themselves gave off 'creep' Have one of the larger lifeforms stand in one spot for a few seconds and infestation grows up around its feet, if itmoves within a short period of time, the infestation dies. If it stays for a while, it grows larger and can then sustain itself. Or if there are a large number of lifeforms in the vicinity, it speeds up the growth. Would be good for creating forward bases, if DI provides some sort of small bonus to the aliens.
Comments
<a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/half_life.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.fileplanet.com/half_life.shtml</a>
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
It should make the lights go out when it covers it, and good marines should be able to shoot it and expose the light to the room.
Amazingly awesome <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
The most common question/comment seems to be about the way infestation spreads. This is something that's still in development and the video isn't really a good reflection of his this would work in-game. We generally want the infestation to spread outwards in a more radial fashion and it won't be a uniform thickness over everything. As Charlie mention the infestation may spread slower than this as well.
We still have a lot of investigation into how exactly this will work in the game, but it looks like there are a lot of interesting ideas in this thread.
Max
Never grow too big, Charlie!
As for the creepy infestation - all I have to say is: amazing. It is going to do wonders for the atmosphere!
The response to this video has been out of control. We got plastered on just about every game site out there. Just a lonely developer video that apparently has me unable to pronounce the game name (though I disagree)!
To answer a few more questions:
- Yes, it could be a lot of work to make sure this works in a networked environment, but we have some good ideas so far. The infestation will be exactly the same on everyone's machine.
- As far as performance goes, it won't be a hog. We're tentatively targeting HL2 system specs for NS2 so don't worry about having to buy a new video card/computer.
- Lots of great ideas floating around about how the infestation will affect the game, but be sure that it won't be just eye candy, it will affect the game.
- We've confirmed that Max can get a job wherever he wants now (not that he couldn't before!). I'll make sure to keep him sated with pizza and soda so he never leaves us.
- I confirmed that Gabe Newell did in fact post that message. In case you were wondering. I changed his title to more accurately reflect him.
Needless to say, we're going to be doing a lot more opening of the kimono from now on (where DID that phrase come from? A bad business book I read?).
Today has been a great day for us, and we're looking forward to many more. Hope you enjoyed it too!
/me utters a phrase to his Max shrine before bed
First of all, it's awesome! I havent read all the replies, so sorry if other people already told, what Im going to say.
This infestation system could help the mappers a lot. And you dont have to make so many different textures. Here are the things what came in my mind, when i sawe this video:
- if it changes the gameplay, infestation should cost some res.
-then, the "cleaning" should cost some res too, like special grenades by this pourpose, or a flamethrower(but im sure of it, almost all of you've written it too)
- if an area reach an infestation level, than, the commander can't see that area(can' see anything, if he scans too, or there are marines)
- but with these changes, NS2'd be a siege, and the rounds'd be extremly long
- it should be cheap to build it, but you'd clear an area pretty fast
- if there'll be a flamewhtrower, it wouldn't hurt the living aliens too much, only the "plants", so the man with flamethrower'd need backup, to stay alive, and it could increase the necessity of tactics
- flamethrower could be upgradable by commander, like longer range, more damage against aliens, more spread, etc. but you can only upgrade one of these, or the commander may change these features by sliders, and if you increase one of them, the others could decrease. Also, the color of the fire should change too, i mean, if it doeas more damage against aliens, it should be green, if it has longer range, then it should be a blue like plasma in hl2, etc.
- maybe gorges'd be able to infest the enviroment
- oh and gorges should have a nice building animation like, they ramp, lean on the structure by their arms, and do something, like sucking the structure, and while they are building(sucking), they stomach should pulse
well, i know, i didnt' say too much new ideas to you, but now i feel better <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
i think it would be cool if the infestation stayed in the same place for a certain time it could "eat" through walls and break the walls open and create through paths or shortcuts? similar to many maps were u weld open/closed areas? this could be a nice way to make the infestation more part of the game and not only eye-candy?
thumbs up to max and charlie ;D
I can't get this out of my head: You see the reflection of the light on the ground. As the camera moves around, the reflection moves, too. Is this a normal cubemap reflection? Or what is this shader?
About the spreading of the creep:
Since it's an alien "structure", it should be connected to the hive mind and so it should know where other alien structures (including our beloved infestiation) are. And of course it wants to connect to other structures so they can share their energy and get stronger. So if u build a chamber somewhere where no creep is, u need kinda long to build it, because u can only build with your own (as gorgie) energie. When the chamber is rdy, creep slowly starts growing around it, some tendrils grow into some corners, one big tendril grows in the direction where the next hive is, cause the infestation wants to connect to it. And now, you build a second chamber something like 3 Meters away. As soon as you drop the chamber, a big tendril starts growing from chamber 1 to chamber 2 and when they are connected, u can build a bit faster, because all the creep connected to chamber 2 can pump energy in it. Since you got two chambers now, the infestation is growing faster, trying to gain control of the whole room and sooner or later, the tendril coming from the hive and the one going to the hive (which is growing faster, since the second chamber is up) will meet and merge and then your chambers are directly connected to the hive! So lets have some party: creep everywhere, tendrils shooting out in every direction, trying to conquer more and more territory <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
I don't know if something like that is possible, but i would love to see an "intelligent" growth of the infestiation.
Well I'm out, gotta play the new beta (haven't had time yet oO)
A very nice idea, and even at this early stage, extremely well implemented, visually.
To offer my feedback...
It's a nice feature, so don't fail it - Get too ambitious with this idea in your first release of Natural Selection 2, and I can imagine it being shelved as too time consuming, exploitable, or performance-hitting.
Keep it nice and simple. It looks fantastic, work on making it 'flow' more, very slowly and smoothly from a core point.
Potential ideas:
Bacterial Infection creeps steadily forth from several or a single source point from the start of the game, slowly tipping the game in the favour of the Kharaa on some maps, demanding that Marines press their advantage early on.
Flamethrower or new marine bio-weapon is capable of killing infection, pushing it back to clear areas.
Source points for bacterial growth are actually placed by the next-generation equivalent of the Gorge, allowing Kharaa to choose where the infection develops.
Bacteria can be guided/placed, in the same fashion as NS1's Gorge Webs.
Bacterial infection can seal off areas, lock doors, rise up over Infantry Portals, deactivating them, or create bridges at scripted points that would allow ground-based, heavy units like the next-gen equivalent of the Onos access across large chasms.
---
I don't doubt most if not all have already been considered, but I dare to hope some of them have inspired you =)
Much of the potential Dynamic Infestation possesses would benefit from being held back a while, being implemented when Physics Processing cards like Aegia PhysX are more common, allowing this stuff to have some minor liquid/organic properties and creep around the ship loading onto the PPU's processor rather than the GPU/Processor.
And one minor visual critique; Though this is of course an early stage, I'd recommend a more gradual expansion, the yellow 'veins' or tendrils creeping out far further and covering an area long, long before the main green 'flesh' is even seen. An early warning, seeker tendrils going out to explore the enviroment before the flesh grows into a new room.
Imagine it... Marine base, everyone waiting for orders and weapons ready to be sent out, edgy and watching the doors, then one calls over microphone 'Uh.. Guys.. Look at the vent..'.. And a few little yellow snake tendrils are slowly sliding down the wall and across the ceiling from a ventilation hatch in the corner, paving the way for the main flesh to bubble out of the hole, carrying powers, taints, being impassable to marines, but perhaps the smallest Kharaa unit could tunnel through this stuff without harming it, making a one-way invasion tunnel...
Heh.. *imagines jetpacking marine frantically trying to escape chasing Kharaa, flying into a vent, zooming along dank, cramped passage after message before hitting a dark, warm, mass in the tunnel, flicking on his flashlight and realising it's blocked with a rapidly growing tumorous snake of kharaa bacteria, bubbling softly with a faint heart-beat sound (like the Hive when it heals).. And the hisses and howls of the Kharaa as they slowly creep closer behind him, leaning him cornered in the dark.
*giggles manically*
Err.. Well, damn good idea, and impementation. Remember that dynamic features such as blood decals on bodies and ragdoll corpse physics are a surprisingly powerful selling point in modern combat-based games... This feature, this dynamic bacterial infection of the map, would very much fit into that category. It's certainly worth the effort to implement into the first release, even if you hold back some of it's deeper functions for later releases and more advanced hardware.
Good luck, Unknown Worlds.
- Jakk'
[..]
What I want:
-Little alien plants, kinda like moss sporophytes, growing on top of DI <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
-Stuff hanging from the ceiling
-DI that acts living
...-pulsating infestation (I'm thinking of the pulsing stuff in doom 3 near hell.)
...-DI that makes creepy noises that sound suspiciously like moving aliens.
...-<b>DI that retreats when it is attacked? (may solve the potential problem of blocked doorways)</b>
...-<b>DI that screams when you kill it *a must*</b>
-Marines can't build on DI until they kill it
-Aliens DON'T have to build on DI; instead of alien structures suddenly appearing out of nowhere, I want a growth animation while a gorge builds, where a structure rises from the ground on a generated pile of creep and blossoms. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
-Infestation makes walls more climbable by removing sharp corners
-maybe makes walking quieter?
-<b>Instead of RFK, have infestation consume dead bodies</b>
-I agree with Gabe (the real gabe?) that it should have purpose beyond just looking cool, even if it's a small
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
well those points would all be pretty cool to have ... especially the pulsating "venes"
Right now, colliding with objects in the source engine online sucks a lot. Will the players collide with these, and if so, can that be made to not suck?
Be sure to test this on real server hardware with real lag. I remember when 1.0 came out and everyone was like "wow, look at the slideshow" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Are you wearing clothes under the kimono or do i need to press charges for indecent exposure?
one crit though, i am hoping that the speed it was generating at in the preview was just a fast prievew.. in reality i wouldnt want it to infest too fast.. possibly a little slower than displayed.
awesome work!
<b>Suggestions:</b><ul><li>The creep should have visual and pseudo-physical properties only. By that I mean it shouldn't reduce the amount of space by pushing up buildings, it should grow around both teams structures so they look 'sunken in', and Marines and Aliens should walk through it (this is so mappers don't have to make their rooms and corridors X units bigger in all directions to accomodate for creepage, so you know if you make a doorway that fits an Onos, it fits an Onos). This would also mean that when weapons are dropped Marines would have to 'hunt around' for them since they wouldn't be visible under the creep, making Alien trritory just that little bit more hostile as special weapon recycling is nerfed.</li><li>There should be 'creepable' map tool that allows you to select surfaces or areas that should be 'creep-free' (creep shouldn't clog up areas that are supposed to give Aliens more freedom of movement, i.e. vents)</li><li>Creep creates a 'no-build' area (for Marine team only)</li><li>Flamethrower <i>de-creepifies</i>. Nuff said.</li><li>Have res nodes and Hives generate creep, with Alien structures buildable in all areas but with slightly faster 'rate of fire' for their abilities if built on the creep (OCs fire very slightly faster, MC gives Arenaline ever-so-slightly more often). Remove innate regen for Aliens and have them regen on creep. This gives Marines an added incentive to taking it down, and means Aliens will naturally regroup around strategic points in the map to recoup health, improving map navigation and promoting teamwork as teammates on the Alien team see eachother more often. It also means a lot of the combat will be refocused around the res nodes.</li><li>Make Marines move slightly slower in creep; again, giving Marines yet another incentive to taking it down. Also this would fit in with them 'wading' through it.</li></ul>
Some suggestions:
- Maybe alien structures that are surrounded by creep should have more armor and should regenerate faster.
- Maybe you could have the level designer paint on the map (with visually invisible textures) to specify an intensity of the creep if it should grow there. Then the growing of the creep is still dynamic, but you have control over where it can go at which intensity. That would be visually be very pleasant, because you get rooms where you can still see some of the surroundings and partially covered in creep.
Would be cool if the aliens themselves gave off 'creep'
Have one of the larger lifeforms stand in one spot for a few seconds and infestation grows up around its feet, if itmoves within a short period of time, the infestation dies. If it stays for a while, it grows larger and can then sustain itself.
Or if there are a large number of lifeforms in the vicinity, it speeds up the growth. Would be good for creating forward bases, if DI provides some sort of small bonus to the aliens.