Planning For Level 1

Alright, the tech group is itching to get to work and Commander~DEST has urged us to plan this game thouroughly. To that end I shall lay-out my ideas for the first stage. I believe that an easy way to get started is not to focus on the game as a whole right away, but just concentrate on the beginning of the game right until the end of Stage 1. In this way we can focus on important gameplay elements and begin to give the game its shape.

Firstly, this is an early demonstration of Stage 1:
http://www.mediafire.com/?y0ezvinnw5j

Now this is just to demonstrate what level 1 may look like while giving you a general idea of the game's visual aesthetic. Press left and right arrows to explore the stage (never mind the unfinished character sprite).

Notice that there are objects in the room, specifically crates both metal and wooden and also explosive barrels. The explosive barrels I think are self explanitory, but the metal crates obviously can't be destroyed, while the wooden crates could contain health, perhaps ammo, or nothing at all, something to think about.

Also notice how there are doors, I figure a good control system could be something like W,A,S,D for movement (W being jump and S being duck), mouse left for primary fire, and mouse right for secondary fire i.e. grenade, proximity mine, or 3-round burst. I would suggest making spacebar the "operate/open" button i.e. for opening doors, picking up items, etc. Discuss this topic until we agree on a control scheme. For this stage I think we should just have all of the doors locked except for the stairs, which when reached takes you to a cutscene where you meet Garcon for the first time and lead you to several other levels and ends the first level.

Now the first level should probably have tipboxes that pop-up during gameplay informing you of the games controls. Also I figured being the first stage the layout should be simple, only enemies behind or in front of you, as opposed to later stages where there will be enemies possibly above and below you on other levels that can be reached by stairs.This can be discussed later.

I am currently working on a video that will start the story mode that is just basically text and images that tell the story of the game and lead up to stage 1. Then there will be an overhead image of the facility in which the game will take place and the following dialogue proceeds:

Quote :

Conrad Bishop: Okay I've made it inside, now I should have high enough security clearance to reach Biolab 4 right?
Lt. Hanley:...Huh? Oh....yes you should be able to.
Conrad Bishop: You okay?
Lt. Hanley: I...I'm just not sure. What happens if we get caught?
Conrad Bishop: Hey relax, as long as we stick to the plan we'll be alright, okay?
Lt. Hanley: Uh yeah, okay...good luck.
Conrad Bishop: We're gonna need it...
Commander Zie: Where's General Bishop?
Lt. Hanley: Um...
Commander Zie: Tell me, I don't trust him.
Lt. Hanley: I just found out sir, he's at the Deathsite facility. I don't know what he's planning.
Commander Zie: What? Call security there immediately! I will arrive shortly for my inspection of the new weapon and this situation better be resolved when I get there or its your head!
Lt. Hanley: Right away sir...
--
Level one begins:
Security guard: There he is, apprehend General Bishop!
Conrad Bishop: What the...? Hanley!

Now the first stage begins and tip-boxes inform you of different aspects of the control scheme and the HUD appears. As for enemies, stage one will probably mostly consist of security guards, but later stages will include shocktroops and officers. Of course more advanced enemies will come later, but let us focus on this for now.

Once the first stage is complete I will make a teaser trailer for the game that should be a great advertisement for our project. I hope this helps focus the planning process...

Nrage, you did it again.

The games view and theme and all are just like i wanted it to be, looks like you read my mind! Art work is spectacular, and all those ideas for the first stage!!(The reception, doors, lights, stairs...) I hope you have improved in animations, as that great artwork would get ruined by poor animations...

I got an idea for the first stage... The first security guards would be dummy, so you first see the tipbox which tells you how to shoot and reload and stuff and then you can kill him. After teh first door, you will see real guards with real weapons. I got some ideas for the static objects in the hallways and rooms: security cameras, alarm buttons, maybe some windows later on(if the facility is not underground) etc.

All I can say, brilliant!

Good, good ideas Hege. I really want to get the ball rolling, hopefully the tech guys can figure out some work to do now.

I will make alarms, cameras, and other stuff later on. Also the dummy idea is good. We'll have the security guards come and the game pauses their actions and says something like "Use W,A,S,D for movement. Point and click with the mouse to fire." After you fire off a few rounds the room unpauses and action resumes while other tips emerge during gameplay i.e. "Press space bar to open doors or grab items."

So, other controls would be:

R - Reload
C - Crouch(should we have this?)
Esc/P - Pause menu
Q/E - Weapon switching

I hope that other members would start to work on the engine. If not, I'll do it myself then, as I really, really want this game to get completed. Someone(legion?) could gather all the needed information for programmers so they dont have to check all the topics. I can do it too, but it will take some time...

If we did W,A,S,D then S would be crouch and W would be jump. Also some stairs will be in the backdrop that lead to secondary levels so I was thinking that for these stairs you press spacebar to climb, much like ladders on other games where you have to press a button to get on/off. These are just for stairs in the backdrop though, stairwells you won't need to do that because they will be in the foreground anyways. But yeah the other controls you said are good.

On the controls, I vote for a jump button like spacebar. I really hate up arrow jump keys. It just doesn't feel right to me. Like the story. I'll see the .exe once I get on a PC.

Nrage, you did it again.

The games view and theme and all are just like i wanted...

...

Wait! Hegemege, you took the words right out of my mouth! Very well done Nrage. You never cease to amaze me. Hege and Neko as well. I'm really proud of the level of commitment in this team.

Anyway, I will take care of compiling and updating a thread with all of our game information in it.

Commander~DEST wrote:

Nrage, you did it again.

The games view and theme and all are just like i wanted...

...

Wait! Hegemege, you took the words right out of my mouth! Very well done Nrage. You never cease to amaze me. Hege and Neko as well. I'm really proud of the level of commitment in this team.

Anyway, I will take care of compiling and updating a thread with all of our game information in it.

Well, there was a reason it was us 3 who made another group when DP got inactive.

Neko wrote:

Commander~DEST wrote:

Nrage, you did it again.

The games view and theme and all are just like i wanted...

...

Wait! Hegemege, you took the words right out of my mouth! Very well done Nrage. You never cease to amaze me. Hege and Neko as well. I'm really proud of the level of commitment in this team.

Anyway, I will take care of compiling and updating a thread with all of our game information in it.

Well, there was a reason it was us 3 who made another group when DP got inactive.

Good point!

Most of my points are good. A rocking programmer, spriter and brainstormer are all a group needs.