Development Blog Update - Seventh podcast
Flayra
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
Please post comments on the topic Development Blog Update - Seventh podcast <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/news/2007/10/seventh_podcast" target="_blank">here</a>
Transcript and Summary <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103013" target="_blank">Here</a>.
Transcript and Summary <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103013" target="_blank">Here</a>.
Comments
Another quality podcast! Can't wait to hear more about NS2, hint hint.
--Scythe--
quick idea - for commander abilities (spells lol) what about something like emergency beacon - which the commander selects which players they want to teleport to a specific spot or just back to marine spawn.
I sure appreciate the little information that the commander will play less of a "babysitting" role in NS2, and more of an "active force" which aliens must always be aware of. Imagine fighting a group of marines and suddenly you get hit with a Death Nova...
As far as humor being in games, I definately miss the humor that used to be in NS. I'm not sure what happened to it, but it's great to hear it's a planned "aspect" of the game.
Knowing that Valve had an interest in some design concepts that you guys created, (Dynamic Infestation,) is totally awesome! Hopefully this will provide lots of support from them once production gets a little further along.
Lastly, thanks for the mention guys. Here's what I have to say about being "rambly" ... OMG NO! Guys, if you're got things to talk about, keep talking! If it takes 45 minutes to explain something, I'm sure those who prefer to read over listen will be more than happy to wait an extra day or two. One thing that makes a podcast a podcast instead of just a progress report is personality. You guys definately have that. (I'm also trying to make sure I'm not to blame if the community dubs a podcast "too short.")
A summarization in German can be found here: <a href="http://www.lerk.de/2007/10/siebter-unknownworlds-podcast/" target="_blank">http://www.lerk.de/2007/10/siebter-unknownworlds-podcast/</a>
Nice to hear commander mode is being evolved, It seems like a good idea to give the armament option to the marines since many players favor different weapons, and its hard for commanders to know who performs better with a shottie or who excels with nadelaunchers.
More realtime abilities might seem a good tradeoff to still keep the commander busy, still I urge that you don't set in abilities that effect the combat directly (alien players would feel extremely frustrated by being zapped/nuked by a skilled invisible omnipresent commander, for example) bu rather indirect effects on the marines, enhancers, intelligence and deployment.
Will the commander still place all buildings, or will/can it be delegated to marines?
Will he still work from the command chair?
Also... while humor is an important game enhancer. Compared to TF2, the NS atmosphere and play style is a bit more... serious.
Personally I think the best humor in a game is the one which is created by players. Like two skulks taking turns parasiting a marine from different directions, constantly chuckling.
It's great listening to your updates, keep up the great work!
good sound track
I love a bit of humor in games, i also like humorous situations in games
Have alook at how the tactics guide was used in the total war games. it can be quite useful when u first start out, but after a while u realise its tactics are often flawed. If an ai tactical adviser is going to be give to the comm you should be able to switch it off very easily.
and if rines can select their own weapons there needs to be a system in place to stop them spending all the comms res. This of course assumes that there will be an NS1 style res pool, which there maynot.
Also some times its fun in games to have choices made for you so you have to learn to adapt, thats why i some times like it wen the comm gives me a weapon like a gl that i dont really like, cos it makes me play a different game. Maybe the comm should get a trump card over the rines, so if for an assult to work one rine needs to take a gl and none of them want to, he can give one of them it.
it's asking a lot but if you don't ask you don't get!
It takes a big strategic element from the Commander, and sounds unbalanced.
I find that because weapons are usually given out in limited supply makes them more fun to use <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/asrifle.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::asrifle::" border="0" alt="asrifle.gif" />
Unfortunately I am only think in NS1 terms and I just can't visualise how this would work, but I'd love to here more on the resource models\chain of command for both sides.
It this meat and bones of the gameplay that I am much more interested to hear about than fancy graphical effects <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/nerd-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::nerdy::" border="0" alt="nerd-fix.gif" />
Keep the podcast coming! <3
I like that you're cracking down and working to make comm mode more fun/efficient, just as long as NS2 doesn't turn into some Combat hybrid. I'm curious as well about how purchasing weapons will work. Maybe a menu comes up when you're at an armory of what weapons/upgrades are currently researched, and you have a certain amount of points to spend as allotted by the comm? Maybe there will be a limited supply of the heavier guns based on research / team size. Or maybe they'll all be available from the start and it will be more like class based games where one gun isn't necessarily better than the next, each just has different strengths and weaknesses...
this is acctuly a really good mod but a little over powered, in some ways.
I think unchain, but allow all non chained chambers three chambers per amount of hives untill unlocked.
so say we start, build mc we can build unlimited mc's but can build 3 sc and 3 dc's for upgrades.
two hives build sc, we can now have unlimited mc's and unlimited sc's but only 6 dc's till we get third hive.
a chamber display counter toggleable would also be great.
perhaps unchained upgrades cost res lie kthe old 2 res system
we already have so many diverece groups and classes and team play now.
welding the heavy, scrofice light to ono's, com and jp, or com and ninja. welder rine and shot gun support, gl in a group,
protect the mine layer builder.
kharaa admitedly have more dynamics in some area'a of team work
fade lerk, sulk gorge bait or res chew, gorge ono's, battle gorge pair or three some
onos sulk support, lerk and sulk ambush, you gased if you dont and chomped if you do.
i dont think these need to be painted out to people, such as the medic and heavy weapons
i think the the overheal option would be great for gorge and kharaa it could be what we need to see more gorges, suddenly your looking for gorges as apose to oh i have no health and theres a gorge in the room with me.
puting ranged player near to heart attack distance with melee units is the key here to make it fun, but yet most kharaa cant get down a coridor with out being pistol whiped, or get two feet from the target to be shotguned, yet waiting endlessly above a door frame only to be scaned is just not as fun. nore is being focused at vanilla lvl by a cloaked alien.
people are still going to run and jump blindly and stupidly down hall ways if their abillitys allow them to benafitaly gain kills in that manner. more abilitys tayilored to ambushing and team work for kharaa tayilored towards ambushing, would make people sway to spending there res more productively, suddenly when people work out they can gain three times the ratio of kills with ambushing than even the leetest flying bladed fade then they will. and they will spend the res to even better that ratio.
scan needs to be nurfed cos you can do anything you want to one side but with a ability this nasty your changes will be usless.
I am confident from all i have seen you guys will work it out, and anyway it falls i most likly still buy my copy of ns 2, even tho i still may have a secret fetish for classic ns 1
but if at all possable can you guys take a momment to realse another version of NS 1, cos there are so many changes fixes and things that can and should be adjusted, as well as it would give you a opatunity to set up a advertisment for ns 2 with in your game as well as bridge the gap in story line and conent.
it's asking a lot but if you don't ask you don't get!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Damn, you arn't happy with a transcript and summary?
Ok, I'll do it in time.
And I continued to promote these 'memes' when they started to host NS1 on various (popular ISP) [Australian] servers..
It's good to see their still being used and by people all over the world...
I guess no one will believe me, but <i><b>I know I</b></i> started it.
That's my claim.
I love NS1, can't wait for NS2... Hopefully not too long!
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" />
(I had Veteran Status and was quite popular in the WA-NS Community; A <b>shout</b> out to those guys too!)
<!--coloro:#FF8C00--><span style="color:#FF8C00"><!--/coloro-->Anywho: Topic Seventh Podcast:<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><ul><li> I'm personally intrigued by evolving the Commander's role in the game.
As for weapons, I love the shotgun in NS1: It had the appropriate "horse kick" effect and chunkiness that would kill an unarmored skulk in a single blow (if it was a direct shot), and still remains to be my all time favourite shotgun since..</li><li>I like the idea of comic relief as opposed to what 'Breadman' was talking about, which was going to an extreme; In the podcast they discuss that it only is going to be <u>comic relief</u>, not a full blown comedy or spoof.. The game is mostly serious, but like Blizzard with their Warcraft Series, it has moments of humor or "easter egg-like" entertainment: When you keep clicking on an NPC/Creature you get voice responses from them that can make you chuckle..
"This place is a mess" always brought a smile to my face.
</li><li><!--coloro:#FFFF00--><span style="color:#FFFF00"><!--/coloro-->I'll be promoting the game and website in my own way<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->; In advertising, I'm known as a "sneezer";
Anyway, I'll endeavor to release my own fan-art or t-shirts (wink wink) and work it into conversations..
</li><li>I was hoping that "lerk-lift" would actually be integrated into the gameplay for skulks and gorges anyway.. (with added weight debuff, fly a bit slower when carrying the heavier gorge)
</li><li>Love the transcripts, good to read when I've no speakers on the computer I'm using at work.
</li><li>Reading other posts, I still believe that Flayra and Dev Team will leave the building placement to the Comm and building of items by marines (rines) but remove the "omg shotgun pls, Comm!!" spamming, allowing players to be more diverse in their play styles is an interesting move; hopefully it pays off (testing in betas surely will tell, esp. if you have innovative play-testers)
</li><li>Speaking of Innovative gameplay, I'd love to see perhaps a fun mode/mod of Hide n Seek (accessible Server side); For those that remember, or don't know: Players (Marines) have 1-2 minutes at the start of a round to find a hiding spot in a map. After that time elapses, 1 alien skulk (using no parasites or upgrades) seeks out each marine in a "last man standing" affair: prizes to the last guy (in 10-15 mins usually). I won an Alienware hat at one "WA-NS LAN". <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
</li><li><!--coloro:#FF00FF--><span style="color:#FF00FF"><!--/coloro-->Spells from the commander: <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
- Emergency Beacon &
- Scanner Sweep
</li><li>Goes without saying
- But new ones? (Will post ideas later)
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->* A Spy Drone/Cam <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->- that shows what that marine sees in fewer frames, like maybe 5fps; Again a reference to Aliens (the second movie)
<!--coloro:#FF0000--><span style="color:#FF0000"><!--/coloro-->* Health Monitor<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--> - See a list of your active marines HP's (if you've see the "Raid Displays" in World of Warcraft, then you know what I'm thinking of)
- And then adding to this, a voice-over for the commander (ala Starcraft) "Your marines are under attack" /"Your Resource Node is under Attack" (which I seem to remember was in effect in later versions of NS1)
*Sticky Grenades - throw a couple onto an unsuspecting Onos and watch the fireworks..
</li><li>I'd love to see an <!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro-->acid blood effect <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->from the Kharaa (Aliens); skulks and fades would be most appropriate, but giving this edge to a gorge would certainly give it more threat than whats currently given by Spit and Spray (Web also); Perhaps a Damage over Time effect from a Second Ability Spit (Alt Fire) or Shoot a shotty buck into a gorge expect some blood sprays on you. (Reminiscent of Starship Troopers and of course, the Alien movies)
* TF2 or Soldier of Fortune Alien Dismemberment would add some graphical aesthetics: Littering a Comm Room with alien and marine parts, blood splatters and structure fragments could add to the dynamic environments that NS2 boasts..
</li><li> MC Chamber hive warps have gotta stay <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
</li><li>I'd love to see some CG rotations (via QuickTime Virtual thingies) of the new concepts of Aliens/Marine models, something interactive for the community (see ET:Quake Wars website, all player models/vehicles/structures (deployables) have this)
</li><li>Love the Music from the first game, but personal mp3 choices could be an extra feature, just edit a sound folder in the game (like The Sims) to hear your own mp3s in the tracklist ...
Would be awesome to "book it" to a Hive listening a Jetpack & Shotty it to 'Stuck in the Middle with you' (think Ear-Cutting scene in Tarentino's '<i><b>Res</b></i>ervoir Dogs') [which would be an interesting video on YouTube, but i digress]
</li><li>A great thing from NS1 was the ability to record demos (with full tracking options, Project Gotham style pause/playback, Cam Angles and zooming abilities... perhaps with export to mpeg options). This would be a nice feature, if not in the first release, then maybe in some patch down the track..
</li><li>Glad to see Valve-man GN loved DI; Would love to see a follow up movie about a reverse effect of DI, ie, flamethrower burning it away <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
</li><li>I do hope they promote it more on Steam or invest some money into NS2 themselves (small minor royalties) or perhaps the Community (I know I will) helps via Word-of-mouth Promoting/Advertising, this is a great game, with unique & innovative concepts that needs support and the attention it deserves!</li></ul>
It's getting late; Hope this wasn't "rambley" also.. but NS(Saga?) is one of my worldly loves...
And I continued to promote these 'memes' when they started to host NS1 on various (popular ISP) [Australian] servers..
It's good to see their still being used and by people all over the world...
I guess no one will believe me, but <i><b>I know I</b></i> started it.
That's my claim.
I love NS1, can't wait for NS2... Hopefully not too long!
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" />
(I had Veteran Status and was quite popular in the WA-NS Community; A <b>shout</b> out to those guys too!)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I've never heard of you and I'm as known as they come in the Australian community <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
But yeah, NS1 had great humour, with the chuckles and the marine taunts, made for a good play time if you wanted to relax a bit.
The problem with MT is that it ruins teamwork. If the alien team is working together and attacking a target, anyone with half a brain can see it coming and be there to defend against it (especially with phase gates). A more limited version of it would work too, like writhen x feet of a structure.
PS.
Commander improvements would be great! Removing the need for the commander to babysit marines is cool (although it raises the point on how marines will be limited so that not everyone has a hmg/shotty the moment the comm is done researching it). Maybe more then one comm, especialy if trhe teams can grow to greater then 10v10, would be cool.
That's coz we're in different states! (West n East didn't like to play together, usually 'cause of the lag differences back then: Easties had 1.5MB or Cable; Westies: Mostly 512 or 56k Dialup!)
In Regards to "commander position is more of a hassle"; I've seen some of the best comms in my experience and some of the worst; I agree that it falls down to the person in the seat than the gameplay aspect this particular role plays.
"This place is a mess" always brought a smile to my face.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hey don't get me wrong, I didn't say I don't want any humor whatsoever, just that I don't want to see it overdone. I like humor but I like a dark creepy sci fi atmosphere as well. NS1 had a perfect balance imho, marine taunts ftw <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Err, why'd you put my name in quotes, are you suggesting I'm some sort of impostor BreadMan?
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><b>It seems like a lot of time is spent upgrading your characters in-game by purchasing better equipment. How is spawning handled in the game? Are these upgrades things that can be applied each time you spawn, or must you earn them each time you regenerate?</b>
Upgrades are basically divided into two groups: personal upgrades and team upgrades. Personal upgrades are chosen and purchased by the player and are lost when you die. Team upgrades are paid for and researched by the commander and stay with the player indefinitely unless a key structure is destroyed.
Purchasing weapons in Nuclear Dawn will be much like buying your weapons at the beginning of a round in Counter-Strike, the difference being that additional ‘buy zones’ can be built further up the battlefield to support the troops fighting at the frontlines. The ‘buy zone’ is situated around the armory structure, and it is here that you purchase weapons and other equipment via a simple mouse or hotkey menu. To reduce the time spent repurchasing weapons, players will be able to save their favourite weapon configurations in order to access them quickly when they respawn.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Most certainly coincidence and the product of sitting down and looking at how to improve the successful-but-not-perfect NS formula, but I just wanted to make that clear before anyone tried to accuse ND of 'ripping-off' NS2's ideas when we release.
you want the comm to have strategic diversity, might be hard to encompass that in a tutorial.
also, i don't think you should decouple the marines and comm too much, like the resupplying in ns1 means they have to work together at the same time and place.
edit: hi res, we're down to just pugs these days, come join in etc
---
As for the tutorial thing, the dynamic objectives in ETQW work very well. I think another cool feature would be player-set waypoints, independant of the Commander.
E.g. Someone on the Marine team sees the Aliens have dropped Bio Hive, so you type "!bio" and a green waypoint appears directing you to Bio, telling you that a Hive is growing there. The waypoint would be cancelled if any of the Marine team went to the waypoint and there were no Hive, or maybe "!-bio" could remove the waypoint if it were faulty. This could be handled as a server-side Lua addon.
umm lua, hope those that can type *cough not me truely do bring some good mods to the game, i think ill offer up 1/8th of my play time finding mods i like and 1/4 playing on servers with hopefuly only those mods.
In Regards to "commander position is more of a hassle"; I've seen some of the best comms in my experience and some of the worst; I agree that it falls down to the person in the seat than the gameplay aspect this particular role plays.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
when i was talking about being commander to be a hassle, i meant it was boring, i don't ever consider myself a good comm, but i always stepped in when needed..
i think its a great idea to have a commander tutorial, but i don't think so online, maybe there can be a offline scenario of training, don't know if this is possible, but i feel if people are on the tutorial trying to complete it as it goes along, isnt going to be in the chair for two seconds if hes got an impatient team waiting to respawn after dying because there's no IF's or whatever.. would make it impossible almost i think...
In Regards to "commander position is more of a hassle"; I've seen some of the best comms in my experience and some of the worst; I agree that it falls down to the person in the seat than the gameplay aspect this particular role plays.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
when i was talking about being commander to be a hassle, i meant it was boring, i don't ever consider myself a good comm, but i always stepped in when needed..
i think its a great idea to have a commander tutorial, but i don't think so online, maybe there can be a offline scenario of training, don't know if this is possible, but i feel if people are on the tutorial trying to complete it as it goes along, isnt going to be in the chair for two seconds if hes got an impatient team waiting to respawn after dying because there's no IF's or whatever.. would make it impossible almost i think...
i know its off-topic and been mentioned before but a alien commander would be kinda nice, instead of controlling maybe 1 or 2 sets of rines, (Heavys / JP / normal whatever) that aliens control the separate types of aliens according to what they are, so when you click on a gorge you could have a list of commands for a gorge, a skulk could have a list of commands such as "scout" or maybe even "tag" (cant remember the name of the skill <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />)