Game mode idea topic

Pikminwars · March 2007

<div class="IPBDescription">We've got LUA, lets use it!</div>For any of you that have played Garry's mod, you should know how amazingly customizable LUA makes games. In Garry's mod, I've played a dune buggy racing tourney, a game where I built a spaceship and flew to other planets(you even make your own life support system), an overhead 2D(ish) zombie survival game with several different minigames, and another zombie survival game where if you die, you become a zombie. There are so many things you can do with LUA, and yet nobody is thinking up any ideas. Lets have a topic where we brainstorm fun possibilities.

For example, we could have a map sort of like spacebuild, the game mode where you make spaceships. There would be 4-5 planets, including Earth and some Kharra home world. The other planets would be possible hives, res spots, or marine start. First you would spend some time upgrading your planet defenses and make some space ships for travel(someone could model a space ship, look at Gmod, people have made countless vehicles in that). Then you would go to other worlds, establish a base & life support system, and get more res. Aliens could build a type of chamber that allows temporary flight(to get out of the atmosphere), and supplies the alien with enough Oxygen to reach their destination in one piece. Phase gates could play a huge part, and you could have spawnable space stations for marines to defend areas and assault planets. Quality of space ships could increase with research, like you start with a simple drop pod that shoots you at the determined planet and end up with a massive carrier for an instant win. Gmod shows that you can do just about anything with LUA, and we should explore that.

Spacebuild trailer:
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=OOW0I1QQywo" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=OOW0I1QQywo</a>

Someone making a nice elaborate space ship:
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ZPUxEYLL0w" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ZPUxEYLL0w</a>

An example of custom vehicles in Gmod, along with a nice video showing off spacebuild:
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=bVzP3eYIhl4" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=bVzP3eYIhl4</a>

Spacetrek, another map based on the spacebuild game mode:
<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=mnnrkEffmLk" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=mnnrkEffmLk</a>

Just to show you what I'm getting at. Even if the map is a little big(and by a little big, I just found out it's the maximum size a source map can currently be <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />), we could limit it to 3 planets and make stations in space more important than settlements on the actual planets.

So, what are your game mode ideas? The more the better.

Buzzou · March 2007

damnit that looks fun, i'd really like to see some NS2 custom mods like that when it gets released. i especially liked the orbital defences, and dropping through the atmosphere.... there's definately a lot of possibilities for people to explore.

i cant see NS2 having stuff like that, but maybe NS3... the problem would be keeping the original "feel" of natural selection. space and planet surfaces are a lot different to poorly lit tight corridors.... also you would have to try to make it look different to eternal silence.

but having said that, i'd love to be a gorge, climb into a hive and get "spat" out into space, land on a planet and start colonising.

the only problem i can see for marines would be the commander view, but i'm sure that could be worked out. it would be awesome landing on a deserted planet, building defences, structures to generate an atmosphere, spaceport etc.

i definately vote yes to custom mods like this.

apart from interplanetary warfare, another mod someone could do would be a 2d version of NS, sorta like that zombie thing you were talking about, basicially a single player game from the commanders view or something.

Pikminwars · March 2007

Ok, now to expand on the 2D overhead shooter.

All movement is normal, except your view is overhead, and you aim in two dimensions. You move the mouse left/right to rotate, and you have a laser pointer on your gun so you can see what you're shooting that changes color depending on whether an enemy is in range.

Just found a video showing off how it works: <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gj_U6nsU278" target="_blank">http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gj_U6nsU278</a>

There would be only one team: the Marines. There would be varied objectives, although the one that seems to be the perfect fit for this would be a VIP mode. You have a VIP and the rest of the team. The VIP is only armed with a knife, while the rest gets all the normal types of guns. What you do is run through the map and look out for AI controlled aliens, which mostly include skulks. You would have an XP system similar to combat, but give more XP for welding and sticking close to the VIP. You can have multiple path ways out, and a way to limit spawning to give it more of an intense feel. Maybe people have to accomplish certain objectives in order to initiate a beacon.

Also, Skulk racing. Have race tracks spanning all our favorite maps, and keep a server side score system to see who is winning. Whether Bhoping is included in NS2 deeply effects how awesome this idea is. Fade racing would be pretty awesome too. Also, there would be obstacles like barrels that you can knock over to give yourself the edge.

Also, how about hide and seek? There are many ways for it to be implemented, you could have aliens hide and marines seek, or marines hide and one marine seeks, or aliens hide and one alien seeks, or any other combination that would work.

Mine mountain climbing? Gorge battle arena? Onos slaughterhouse? NS RPG? LMG shooting range? Lerk racing? Co-op campaign missions?

Come on, any more ideas?

schkorpio · March 2007

skulk racing lol awesome idea <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" /> would be funny seeing marines sliding down a hill / tube, then a skulk races through the group biting them - just make it like mario cart ftw <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

same with hide and seek

Tilkor · March 2007

The idea is kind of used in eternal silence currently, but the mod does not utilize it that well in that its only for fighting in space. The idea in the original post sounds kind of like something you would use in a single player game.

Here is my thoughts that could be used in NS2. I am not thinking on the scale of planets but more so on the scale of space stations and such. Imagine a space station that is made of like 2 large components, two giant squares to think in simple terms, they are connected by stuff and whatever, but in the middle of it all is a glass tube. This glass tube is the only passable connection between the two that you can walk through.
With the spaceships, controlling the space outside it would be a strategic advantage, because with a spaceship, you could destroy the tube. If the aliens see a bunch of marines going through the tube to assault the hive, or the marines see a heard of onos going through the tube, they are going to be like "onos", and start destroying the tube.
Controlling the tube however means they have access to the best path to the other teams base, they lead right to the command center and hive, in areas hard to defend. If turret flooded they can still access vents right at the other side and still kick their ######.

Well if the tube is destroyed, well WTH now? Well these stations have ports, and you must now transport yourselves over there through the space ships, and say you only have 2-3 fighters and only one transport ship.
Where you land would be pretty much a huge hanger with a passable forcefield. Its a safe landing spot, because if people just camp the hanger, you're in a ship and you blow them away. Still though, you can clear out your own entrances with your own ships which is why its key to dominate the space.

The hanger would of course give you access to their side of the map, but its hell getting past the first two rooms because they are easily defendable.

I think this would make for a much interesting set up, but also build for some longer games in the sense.
It would make the teleport pad a very important structure when infiltrating the other side.

Moving_Target0 · March 2007

This is pretty cool, but in my opinion, it short-changes the people with low-end computers. Essentially, from what I see, this would be turning the game much larger scale, with vehicles...actually, I'm kinda reminded of Battlefield 2...only with aliens instead of koreans / japs / russians / Middle easterners.

DumbMarine · March 2007

Actually Moving_Target0, what he is describing would not be too difficult low-end computer wise. If you look at some of the other mods and their maps, you'd be suprised at what you can do.

Also, since none of this would be "official", low-end computers be damned <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> (mine will probably be low end by the time NS2 comes out anyway)

Now, I don't mean to quash your enthausiasm for modding, but it's rather difficult to come up with modifications to a game when we're all busy trying to come up with ideas for the official game itself. We've got things like dynamic infestation to play with. The LUA scripting available is going to make for some incredibly awesome maps though. Strategic elements like res containers, random puzzles, the sky's the limit. Just wait till we have a beta.

Pikminwars · April 2007

NS Grand Prix:

Ok, think Mario Kart. You can use Any alien race or a marine for playable characters. For aliens you use the adrenaline bar & alien abilities for items. For Marines... upgrades or something. Basically you pick a character and race around a race track that is taken out of a normal NS map.

Each race gets four abilities: a melee attack, a speed boost, a ranged attack, and a fourth unique ability. The alien's adrenaline bar charges slowly, and you can collect 2D sprites for more adren. The higher it gets, the more abilities are available for you to use. You get to use them in the order mentioned above, where you can use melee attacks often and must save up your adren a while for your last special attack which depletes your bar. You build up speed with whatever the alternative for bhopping in NS2 will be. The floor could be modded to have less friction in order to make it semi possible to bhop.

Gorges would be different. They should wear aviator goggles, ride in a little go kart, use healspray for a speed boost, and possibly double up with another gorge/marine for some co-op racing action. The abilities are like so:

Spit: less damage than a normal melee attack, but ranged
Heal spray: Speed boost
Bile bomb: Oil spill anyone?
Babblers, nuff said.

The Marine would get a jetpack, knife, jet fuel boost, gun clip, and... uh... super catpack & ammo.

Attacks wouldn't kill, just slow opponents down. Each map would 4-5 tracks with a score counter, and a winner would be declared at the end.

Thats all I've got for now, I'll edit this post if there's anything that I forgot to add.

Pikminwars · June 2007

I'm not finished with this topic, so I must use my extreme necro powers to raise it from the dead... *waves fingers magically*

Ok, uh... ideas... ok... almost got one... yes... ok, here's an idea:

Monorail Escape:

Ok, for this gamemode, all the Marines are put on a fast moving monorail, which goes on a set course throughout the level. The much stay on the monorail, survive, and make it to the end. The aliens must do whatever they can to slow the Marines' progress and hopefully kill all the Marines/destroy the monorail.

For the Marines, everyone spawns on the monorail and are given maybe 10-30 seconds to prepare themselves/connect to the server. There is no commander, but there is an armory on the monorail. The Marines must ride the rail to checkpoints, where the rail cannot continue (because of a malfunctioning door, unextended bridge, etc). They must then split into two groups: one that fixes the obstacle ahead, and one that defends the monorail. Along the way they find weapons in closets, on bodies, and in other nooks and crannies. They will also be given limited spawning via bonus objectives. The Marine goal is to get to the escape pod at the end of the rail and evacuate.

The Aliens all spawn in a separate area and must catch up to and destroy the monorail. There are many different passages that lead to the main rail, and the aliens must either go ahead and time their jump or catch up the the rail via blink, flying, bhopping, etc. The rail will be going FAST when it it's moving, so the aliens must plan ahead in order to catch it. The aliens can also sabotage the rail and set up obstacles. As the Marines progress, their opening of jammed doors also give Aliens access to more res and more hives.

There could also be some sort of overheating system with the monorail, where you can choose slow, fast, or HYPER DRIVE drains your energy and forces you to go slow afterwards, but can still get you out of sticky situations. Eh, you could also throw in a monorail driver who gets an awesome static machine gun and manages speed, and is a commander equivalent w/ an eject button.

kk, that seems like a decent summary for now, I may come back and edit this later for more depth, and may even add pics in MSpaint.

HatlabuFarkas · June 2007

"SKULK racing" good idea, but need map maker to work on Easy-medium- (and of course) HARD difficulty ns_skulkrace.bsp maps. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />

CanadianWolverine · June 2007

These are some sweet ideas.

I especially want to see V.I.P. Evac, Space Infestation, and Monorail Run.

I am sure these ideas now help the Devs explore ways to expand the gameplay in ways that will blow our mind in NS2, keep 'em coming!

Game mode idea topic

Comments