Need some help with game project

[MyStic]

I recently started a game project that I really want to do. This game will be pretty hard to make due to my high standards for games <_< Anyway, I am stuck in the design process,the overall outline of the game is a bit sketchy. I guess I am being a bit vauge right now,here is a little better picture of what I'm trying to do.

I am attempting to make a FPS game. I will,even if it takes years eventually finish this game,and it will compare with modern games. I know it sounds far fetched,but I will try to make this game a legend in the making. Anyway, The game will be multiplayer,but within the multiplayer there will be side missions given by NPC's. I don't want the game to involve anything with mutants or an radioactive explosion or the military. So what would the story be?why would your character be there?

Next I need to think of a way to make it appeal to everybody. On one side theres the people who just like to pick up a gun and shoot,such as unreal tournament fans. Then theres people that like some depth to the game, they like it so the smarter you play it the better your chances will be of survival. I don't want it to neccessarily be fake with guns sitting on the ground all over, but I need a simple way to get guns. I also need to think of how the player would get the money for the weapons and equipment they would need :blink: Money and Misc. gifts will be given for doing the side missions but there needs to be another way.

Another thing to worry about is the story line. As mentioned before I do not want anything to do with mutants,aliens,radioactivity,or the army. I also need to develop the location and why you are there.

The areas that you can play in is also a challenge I am faced with
I plan to make a gigantic area for when I first finish the game,but eventually hope to make new ones. I am thinking that each new level I would make would have a totally new setup,so you would start from the beginning of this new place. They would be big enough so they would keep the player entertained for extended periods of time,and I would add lots of fun little secrets for people to discover but it would take a long time to get the thing right.

As for saving of the missions. Since I want to have the missions within the multiplayer, I would make it so you would click to leave the server and it would take a few extra seconds to save everything you did from the last time you logged off. The one dought I have with that is that if there machine froze after a long period of work on the game it might not save,and I know how aggravating that is

Next question. The time period. I plan on making weapons and vehicles that do not exist,but that aren't super futuristic. The weapons will still use modern style bullets,most of them will anyway,but nothing to out of this world,like laser cannons that shoot through walls or something like that. I was thinking in the 2020 or 2030 area.

There are a lot more questions that need to be answered before I can even get a good idea of this but I better stop typing before this gets so long nobody will read it,if they do at all :huh: Pretty sure this is my longest post.

EDIT:sorry for the mispelling in the title. I thought I fixed it,I must have did something wrong.

[Soaker Leader]

Sounds like a stratagie kind of a First person shooter. I'm assuming it is going to be similar to Tom Clancy's Rainbow six? Except, in Tom Clancy's Rainbow six it has to do with the army, and ordering your team around.

The story I think should be, either when there is Chaos going on all over the U.S.A (a.k.a Anarchy). A guy is fighting for survival trying some how to restore peace or get some where to do something. Or A guy is under hostage ( like in the movie Proof of life) And he is trying to escape out of where he is being held. Say he lives in phucket because it is so nice there and he gets held hostage on a business trip in africa.

For multiplayer how would you do this? Would you have your own site, and have people wait for other people to search for a multiplayer game
and join if enough players found. If so this is how you do it, I think you should set a limit to the minumun internet speed. Say nothing below 50k (I have a 52K internet here in Aramco, yes only 52k) because peope lag sometimes and other people get frustrated and start swearing or saying DDDDDDDDDDDDDD, meaning drop if you play on battle.net You should make a lag countdown. If the person lags for over 45 seconds the others in the battle should be able to kick him from the game. As for the side missions for multiplayer do you mean Co-op missions were two ore more plyers ply the missions together like a team. Similar to Halo 1, and Halo2? Multiplayer maps you could make as if you were in a jungle, inside a building, in a wrecked town. Be creative and come up with stuff.

Vehicles, Vehicles. I would say a motorcycle with some little machine guns right on the front, A jeep similar to the Wharthog in Halo 1,2 with the machine gun in the back. Boats possibly like the hovercraft kind. Be creative!

For getting cash, equiment , guns exec exec... I would suggest if you use the chaos verison when you kill a guy he would drop money some times a little, some times a lot. Maybe he would drop a rifle, a pistol, a super soaker . If you were in a hostage sitiuation, you whack the guy with a chair he falls down, you grab the gun AND RUN FAST! Oh and btw, don't make it one big area for the entire game, people would get board of always staying in the same place. They would explore all of it on the first level and wouldn't have fun exploring through the whole game. You need a variety.

Hope this may help you a little, and sorry if you don't like my suggestions. Just trying to help you on your way. B)

[Forceuser]

How about, instead, a soaker-oriented FPS. If you want ideas for plot, vehicles, etc. check out the RP.

[MyStic]

Sorry for the BIG delay since the last reply,I have been so caught up between school,creating the game,and my social life I haven't been on the forums much Thanks for all the ideas and stuff.

First things first, Forceuser, Making a Soaker Oriented would be a lot harder,at leas the way I figure it. When doing guns you have to make the bullet go straight ahead, this may differ depending on how its suppose to work, but generally they just go straight ahead. Making water physics, especially good ones, is extremely hard. Though if they weren't hard I would and maybe eventually I might redo some of the code and do that later,maybe.

Now that thats out of the way. This game will be a lot like the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R, the game hasn't been released yet,but promises to be a great game Here is a link http://www.stalker-game.com/index_eng.html . I have been thinking a lot of the plot and find myself constantly thinking or thinking of variations of the idea of the chaos around the U.S. idea. My most current was that the United Nations fell, and soon after the United States goverment went bankrupt and crashed to the ground. Then in the mass chaos of riots in the U.S. some rivaling countrys would attack. Thats as far as I have gotten on a full planned idea, the rest is a bit sketchy but basically it was you are on your own against other people and some NPC's. The problem is I didn't want to have military due to how common it is so I am trying to think of how to add more challenege to the game than just other people.

About your question about the Multiplayer/mission questions. Basically I plan on having NPC's throughout the world. I am still working on how you would be presented with he mission, but basically you would go through and do missions for the NPC's. The progress of your mission would be saved on your PC even though there is a lot more going on around you such as they actual people players, but they won't always be on the same time as you so you Don't need to save their information onto your PC. Basically each map will have its own mission file where it saves all the mission info of the missions you have done. So when you log on it will load that and you will continue from where you were. I am also thinking of how a Team system will work. I have the clan system planned already but thats a totally different thing. Basically the team system I have planned is kind of like this, one person opens up their party and a person joins them,they can than start missions together. Lets say there was a mission that involved destroying a massive object and you needed help on it, you could recruit a friends and have him/her help you destroy it and split the rewards at the end.



As for the maps. By what I've came up with so far it is pretty near impossible to make maps quickly. Basically I will make one GIANT map to come with the game. You won't have to worry about them going through the hole map quickly because I will make it big enough and have some parts that only after getting to a certain point in the missions will be able to access. Each new map would basically have to have its own story then because of how its being setup so far. The maps will all be HUGE and will include everything you could want in a map B)

Vehicle wise. There will be a at least one of each basic type of vehicle. as in at least one car,motorcycle,plane,and boat. I don't think I will have many problems as far as these go other than physics.

As far as equipment and weapons go. You will start off with one or 2 very basic weapons,because your character will have already been fighting back. I will have probably 8 or 9 basic weapons,but with the tons of combinations with attachments available with most guns. Equipment wise you can get all kinds of different items and things for your character. most of these will be pawned from others or found throughout ruins. You will gain money through the missions or from dead enemies.

Sorry if I was a little vauge in certain areas. The final idea is a little sketchy yet, I am working on the Design Document to clear this up, but it isn't close to done yet -_- If you have any questions yet please feel free to ask