Telltale Games:
http://www.telltalegames.com/
Telltale Games was founded in 2004 by a group including former LucasArts employees working on the cancelled Sam & Max sequel. The company focuses on creating adventure games released with an innovative episode distribution system.
The episodic format would mean being able to take more risks and try new things. They are currently trying out a pilot format similar to TV where they make one episode and see how it sells before making an entire season. And they currently hold the licences to some of my favourite franchises that I grew up with including Sam & Max, Monkey Island, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. I would love to write or work as an artist/designer for any of their current projects.
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Bioware:
http://www.bioware.com/
Bioware is a Canadian Based company famous for creating some of the best RPG's ever made. Their games have a strong focus on well written stories and characters and I would love to find a job there working as a junior writer or designer so I can pursue my goal of becoming a writer for games.
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Naughty Dog
http://www.naughtydog.com/
Naughty Dog is a developer for Sony that has been around for a long time but is mostly well know for the two Uncharted games. Uncharted and Uncharted 2 featured probably the best writing I've ever seen in a game and Uncharted 2 was the most polished game I think I have ever played. I would like to work as an designer or writer for their games because it would be fantastic to work with a team who obviously has so much pride in what they make.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Ben's Homework Week 5
Exercise 5
Places I want to work in:
Melbourne = Blue Tongue
http://www.bluetongue.com/
Blue Tongue Entertainment Ltd
Level 3
606 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne, VIC, 3004
Telephone: +61 3 9914 9914
Facsimile: +61 3 9038 5432
Email: info@bluetongue.com
Blue Tongue Entertainment is one of Australia's premier game development studios; we've been making games for consoles and PC for over a decade. We began life as an independent studio in 1995, and became a part of THQ in 2004. We now have more than 100 staff, and are continuing to look for talented individuals to join our teams.
They’re currently making De Blob 2, I could work as either an associate producer/ texture artist or QA.
Australia = Infinite Interactive
http://www.infinite-interactive.com/index.php
3/201 Fitzroy St
VIC 3182
AUSTRALIA
contact@infinite-interactive.com
Infinite Interactive was founded in January 2003 by Steve Fawkner, creator and lead designer of the critically acclaimed Warlords series of PC games. The founding members have a total of over 40 years of game development experience between them, bringing you the highly praised Warlords I, II, III & IV, and Warlords Battlecry I, II & III.
Texturer…
International = CCP Interactive
http://www.ccpgames.com/en/home.aspx
CCP Headquarters
CCP hf
Grandagarður 8
101 Reykjavík
Iceland
Tel: (+354) 540 9100
Fax: (+354) 540 9198
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson - Chief Executive Officer
CCP was founded in the summer of 1997 with the goal of becoming a leading massively multiplayer game company. With the launch of EVE Online in May 2003, CCP has established itself as one of the leading companies in the field, winning numerous awards and receiving critical acclaim worldwide.
CCP is dedicated to the development of cutting edge massively multiplayer games. CCP is founded on the principle of pushing the envelope and breaking new grounds on all levels. CCP is not about making copycat products with compromised quality. CCP is about making dreams become a reality.
JOB: QA TesterReykjavik, IcelandQuality Assurance
CCP is looking for several experienced testers to work within the Eve Online Engineering, EVE Online Art, EVE Online Localization and Core Technology groups. The successful candidate would be responsible for games testing and the creation of workflows, schedules and systems to track code related defects. Other responsibilities include creating and executing test plans, organizing compatibility testing for multiple PC configurations and troubleshooting issues found during the development life cycle. Members of the team will also need to manage installer creation and testing, report defects and project status.
Places I want to work in:
Melbourne = Blue Tongue
http://www.bluetongue.com/
Blue Tongue Entertainment Ltd
Level 3
606 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne, VIC, 3004
Telephone: +61 3 9914 9914
Facsimile: +61 3 9038 5432
Email: info@bluetongue.com
Blue Tongue Entertainment is one of Australia's premier game development studios; we've been making games for consoles and PC for over a decade. We began life as an independent studio in 1995, and became a part of THQ in 2004. We now have more than 100 staff, and are continuing to look for talented individuals to join our teams.
They’re currently making De Blob 2, I could work as either an associate producer/ texture artist or QA.
Australia = Infinite Interactive
http://www.infinite-interactive.com/index.php
3/201 Fitzroy St
VIC 3182
AUSTRALIA
contact@infinite-interactive.com
Infinite Interactive was founded in January 2003 by Steve Fawkner, creator and lead designer of the critically acclaimed Warlords series of PC games. The founding members have a total of over 40 years of game development experience between them, bringing you the highly praised Warlords I, II, III & IV, and Warlords Battlecry I, II & III.
Texturer…
International = CCP Interactive
http://www.ccpgames.com/en/home.aspx
CCP Headquarters
CCP hf
Grandagarður 8
101 Reykjavík
Iceland
Tel: (+354) 540 9100
Fax: (+354) 540 9198
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson - Chief Executive Officer
CCP was founded in the summer of 1997 with the goal of becoming a leading massively multiplayer game company. With the launch of EVE Online in May 2003, CCP has established itself as one of the leading companies in the field, winning numerous awards and receiving critical acclaim worldwide.
CCP is dedicated to the development of cutting edge massively multiplayer games. CCP is founded on the principle of pushing the envelope and breaking new grounds on all levels. CCP is not about making copycat products with compromised quality. CCP is about making dreams become a reality.
JOB: QA TesterReykjavik, IcelandQuality Assurance
CCP is looking for several experienced testers to work within the Eve Online Engineering, EVE Online Art, EVE Online Localization and Core Technology groups. The successful candidate would be responsible for games testing and the creation of workflows, schedules and systems to track code related defects. Other responsibilities include creating and executing test plans, organizing compatibility testing for multiple PC configurations and troubleshooting issues found during the development life cycle. Members of the team will also need to manage installer creation and testing, report defects and project status.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Will Owen
Will Owen:
Week 5: 16th Aug - Final HUD / Menu Artwork. Powder Monkey character design.
Week 6 23rd Aug - Model Powder Monkey. Design replacement control points.
Week 7 30th - Model control points. Do new Control artwork.
Week 8 6th Sept - Start Animating. Model extra level props.
6 Minutes
Week 5: 16th Aug - Final HUD / Menu Artwork. Powder Monkey character design.
Week 6 23rd Aug - Model Powder Monkey. Design replacement control points.
Week 7 30th - Model control points. Do new Control artwork.
Week 8 6th Sept - Start Animating. Model extra level props.
6 Minutes
Ben Goodvach-Draffin Schedule
Week 5: 16th Aug - Texture Panther Warrior, Finish Recording, Texture 2 Weapons
Week 6 23rd Aug - Texture Marksman, Edit Voices, Find SFX, Texture 2 Weapons
Week 7 30th - Texture Power Monkey and Warrior, Texture Remaining Weapons
Week 8 6th Sept - Finalise Sound Editing and Import, Start Animating
5 Minutes
Week 6 23rd Aug - Texture Marksman, Edit Voices, Find SFX, Texture 2 Weapons
Week 7 30th - Texture Power Monkey and Warrior, Texture Remaining Weapons
Week 8 6th Sept - Finalise Sound Editing and Import, Start Animating
5 Minutes
Exercise 4b
4b
Week 5: 16th Aug - Model, UV and Rig Sharpshooter character.
Week 6 23rd Aug - Re-model weapons, UV ready.
Week 7 30th - Model, UV and Rig Aztec warrior character.
Week 8 6th Sept - Start weapon animations first person.
write time: 10min
Week 5: 16th Aug - Model, UV and Rig Sharpshooter character.
Week 6 23rd Aug - Re-model weapons, UV ready.
Week 7 30th - Model, UV and Rig Aztec warrior character.
Week 8 6th Sept - Start weapon animations first person.
write time: 10min
Design Document
Design Document
Bungle in the Jungle – High Design Document
Product Overview
Bungle in the Jungle is a team death-match, first person shooter set in South America during the Spanish invasion. Players are split into teams and will take control of a “class” or “character” and work together in the effort to complete their objectives. The game is not historically accurate by any measure and many of the characters are made with a light-hearted sense of humour in mind. Gameplay is fast paced and rounds should not last more than fifteen to twenty minutes.
Core concept
The two teams will face off against each other and who is attacking will depend on the level played. Effort has been put into each character in order to give the player a connection to which they’re playing with. Playing the character should be fun not only from a game rules point of view but also by the traits, quotes and actions their character performs.
The levels are all set in South America; expect to see lots of jungle, small coastal ports and the like. A somewhat artistic license will be taken in terms of making the levels fun for players to traverse. You might see some early cargo containers or trees that are somewhat conveniently wide enough to travel on top of.
Gameplay shall be fast paced and stalemates should be broken by cooperating with your team. Weapons are funky, levels are bright and violence common.
Combat will vary depending on which class is being played. If you’re a Marksman you will be better served staying back and shoot from afar. Classes such as the Panther Warrior or Inquisitor will get deep into the action and attempt to melee the enemy to death.
As far as realism goes, I wouldn’t look towards this game for a history lesson. Inaccuracies will range from the costumes and weapons being used to the locations and attitudes of the characters. The game is meant to be fun and is only loosely based on the actual events of the time.
Controls will be similar to most PC FPS.
Player Characters
Spanish
Marksman
The marksman is actually a Frenchman recruited by the Spanish. Based off the French in Monty Python’s Holy Grail. He is obnoxious, uncouth and just plain rude. His primary weapon is a musket with a naval spyglass attached to it. It’s powerful but has a slow reload time. His melee weapon is his bag of rifle shot and the auxiliary item is a grappling hook which he can use to scale sheer walls and the like. Once used the grappling hook remains until the player changed class or collects rope by hand (if lost for whatever reason it can be retrieved during spawn). The rope can not be retrieved while someone is climbing it.
Primary: Long Rifle = 100 Damage
Auxiliary: Grappling Hook/Rope
Melee: Bag of Shot = 50
Health = 100
Speed = 12
Taunt: Gives the finger
“I think you’re heading in the wrong direction”
“Of course I’m better than you, why else would I be speaking in this outrageous French accent”
Powder Monkey
A young boy who’s job was traditionally to carry gunpowder to the cannon crew aboard a war ship. This particular unit has watched a few too many battles and has obtained a certain blood lust. Based off Warner Brothers’ Yosemite Sam and the helicopter gunner from Full Metal Jacket, he is excessively violent and excitable. His primary weapon is a gunpowder grenade which can be cooked, he can also grenade jump with them, they don’t bounce very well per se. The melee weapon is a gunpowder canister which he swings around. As an auxiliary ability if within a certain distance to the Canoneer he can give the Canoneer the ability to fire his cannon, kills are shared.
Primary: Gunpowder Grenade = 60/40/20 damage pending on proximity
Auxiliary: RMB with grenade plants it as a mine
Auxiliary 2: Supplies Canoneer with powder
Melee: Gunpowder Canister = 50
Health 100
Speed = 12
Taunt: uses powder canister like a mini gun “brap brap brap brap”
“GET SOME, GET SOME”
“So you have to ask yourself “do I feel lucky”, well, do ya, punk?”
Canoneer
Your traditional and much loved pirate, rough, crude and violent. He is based off the likes of Jack Sparrow and, well, every other pirate in popular culture. His primary weapon is a blunderbuss which acts like a shotgun. The melee weapon is the cannon he carries on his shoulder which he swings like a giant club. The Auxiliary ability can only be used when the powder monkey is nearby. The Canoneer may then fire the cannon. It fires like a grenade with an arc. Very high damage on the direct hit, cannon balls may bounce depending on how much time is available. A concussion based AOE is also possible, slow reload.
Primary: Blunderbuss = 10 pellets each does 6 damage
Auxiliary = 100/50/20
Melee: Cannon = 80
Health = 180
Speed = 6
Taunt: Rolls on cannon
“Yarrrrr”
“Come here matey, I have a present for ye”
“Boom, hur hur hur”
Catholic Priest
There is a rather popular reference to the current pope and his likeness to the Emperor from Start Wars. Enter the priest, apathetic, cold and very unpriestly. His main weapon is a repeating crossbow (stolen from the Chinese) which has the unfortunate habit of pinning people to walls. It has an average damage output and high rate of fire. His melee weapon is an oversized bible used to smite the disbelievers and with this same bible he reads holy phrases which if his team mates are nearby will be healed.
Primary: Crossbow 60, magazine of 10.
Melee: Big Bible = 40
Auxiliary: Chant = heals 10 health a second
Health = 80
Speed = 10
Taunt: Pulls ups hood and make force lightning
“You have failed me for the last time”
“Darth Vader Breathing”
“Damn YOU, no, really!”
Inquisitor
The Spanish Inquisitor is based off Monty Pythons sketch. He is larger than life, passionate and generally just wrong. His primary weapon is duel tri barrelled pistols, well lots of them. They make up for the fact that he hasn’t time to waste time reloading he simply throws them away and brings out two more. His melee weapon is a lit torch which sets the heathens on fire. As an auxiliary ability, the Inquisitor spawns as a random object from the environment such as a boulder, barrel, small tree, comfy chair. He may then move around the level in this disguise, when he chooses the optimal moment he may burst out with a puff of smoke and screams his line “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition”. Aside from the humour aspect of this it moderates the ability a little bit letting everyone know that yes, he has indeed arrived. Once revealed he does not return to his hidden form until his next spawn. If we have time we’ll add his animated legs to the object so you watch him run around
Primary: Pistols = 30 per shot mag of 6
Melee: Torch = 35 initial and a further 35 DOT (doesn’t stack)
Auxiliary: Disguised mode
Health = 125
Speed = 10
Taunt: Torch goes out, pulls out a lighter and relights it after a few attempts
“Burn, burn heeeeeeeee”
“My face, not my face”
Aztecs
Catapulter
A gentle giant whom has been unwillingly pressed into the military. The Catapulter is a very remorseful lad who although will carry out his duty, is really quite sorry for the damage he causes. He has a catapult mounted on his back which he can use to lob around certain items scattered around the level. These do damage depending on the weight of the object (rigid body weight). As a melee weapon he simply carries around a big rock than he abuses people with. As a special ability he can fire the birdman up into the air, although the birdman has some manoeuvrability a lot of skill will be required on the Catapulter’s part to send his avian friend in the appropriate direction.
Primary: Shoulder mounted catapult = 40 - 80
Melee: Big rock = 70
Auxiliary: Fires Birdman into the air
Health = 200
Speed = 7
Taunt = Sits on giant rock and looks very sullen
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” (as beating with rock)
“Ahh, I’ll pay for that”
Birdman
An Aztec lad who has a slight obsession with becoming air born. Based somewhat off the actor Jack Black the Birdman is a bit of an unknown comedian. Somewhat hindering his ability to make flight like a bird is an unfortunate weight problem, the best he can manage is a short glide from high places, still this has its uses. His main weapon is a sling which has a medium rate of fire, is very accurate and average damage, and is able to critically head shot. His melee weapon is a stock standard hatchet. Where the birdman really shines however is when he takes to flight. He can attempt to glide off tall places and land on people (distances in air == damage on landing). He has limited manoeuvrability when in the air and if he takes no fall damage. If he is near the Catapulter, he can be launched on the catapult to great heights. If this is done can he perform a “death leap” by nose diving down with an area of effect assault. A proposed feature is to replace the model with a static which becomes a permanent ledge. The birdman can not fire his sling whilst air born but if within range and not dive bombing can swing his hatchet.
Primary: Sling = 40 Damage
Auxiliary: Flight, distance travelled * 1.5 = Damage, Dive bomb does 80/60/40
Melee: Hatchet = 50 Damage
Health 125
Speed 8
Taunt: Walks around on the ground pretending to fly around like little kids do
“Caw caw, caw caw”
“Eeeeeeeeh” (Assassin’s Creed bird scream made during dive bomb)
Witch Doctor
The local Shaman is all knowing and wise. Inspiration is a mix from Bob Marley to the general crazy man that walks past you on the street. He appears a little lost to everybody but as far as he’s concerned everything is just fine. His main attack is to throw poisonous frogs at people. They explode with an AOE DOT. The damage is minimal but the poison causes those affected to have their controls reversed for a period of time. Friendlies hit by the gas are not damaged but will affected by the gas. His melee weapon is a sacrificial knife which does extra damage from behind. He may also heal his team mates by rubbing frogs on them, if this is done to the Warrior or Panther Warrior then their next ranged attack will apply the poison to whatever is hit.
Primary: Poison Frogs = reversed controls, 30 DOT
Auxiliary: Can poison Panther Warrior darts and Warriors arrows (Gas affect as well as weapon damage), heals by rubbing frogs on friendlies DOT 80.
Melee: Sacrificial knife = 50
Health = 125 (he’s totally oblivious to pain)
Speed = 10
“It’s ok, it’s medicinal”
“Let me put something on that for you”
Panther Warrior
Cool, calm and quick describes the Panther Warrior pretty succinctly. He is the scout of the Aztec’s and has the speed and agility to reflect as such. His attitude is similar to that of Terminator or Riddick. His good, and he knows it. His primary weapon is a blowpipe with a steady rate of fire. Melee is two knives which although have a fairly average damage output they are extremely fast to attack with. As an auxiliary ability he can wall run short distances to get to high places.
Primary: Blow darts = 40 silent, doesn’t tell player which direction damage is coming from
Auxiliary: Can wall run a limited distance
Melee: Two knives = 15 damage fast attack (similar to the Alien claw attack from AVP)
Health = 80
Speed 14
Taunt: Spits on the ground in disgust
“Come with me if you want to live”
“I’m like a fucking ninja”
Warrior
Yet another Monty Python representative, enter the black knight. He is immune to pain and devoid of reasoning. He is a lean mean killing machine, and will use your skull as a goblet. His primary weapon is a bow which acts similar to Team Fortress 2’s huntsman. However arrows which stick into walls can be used as footholds for people, it’ll take some balance and practice but you should be able to make a sort of stair case for people. He has an obsidian club for melee that does a considerable amount of damage. As an extra ability he can scale vertical walls; however he cannot attack whilst doing so.
Ranged: Bow = 50
Melee: Big Club = 80
Aux: Can climb walls
Health = 150
Speed = 8
“Thats just a flesh wound”
“Come on then you pansy, come on”
Gameplay
Story
The story is very loosely based upon the Spanish invasion of South America and the struggle that ensued with the Native Americans. The goal to each level will differ depending on the level and what each team’s role is. At this point, in one level the South Americans are attempting to sacrifice a Spanish maiden, and the Spanish must stop them. And in another the Spanish are making off with all the South American gold and the South Americans must sink their boat to win (they can salvage the gold later). That’s about the extent of it…
Intro Cinematic
It’s unlikely there will be time for this. But probably something involving the Spanish arriving on the South American coast. Perhaps a parody based off “Apocalypse Now”.
Game Shell
The title screen will either be a render of some of the characters in a suitable pose or a hand drawing of something similar. Loading screens will be renders of the characters in different poses, something relevant to their personality (if we do taunt’s then maybe a still from one of those).
Options available
Players have most general options available to them. This includes:
• Graphical resolution and the ability to change the level of graphical features
• Changing in-game volume for FX and music.
• Alter key-bindings
• Player profiles
Controller Configuration
At the moment release is set only for the PC. All controls may be changed but they will default to:
• WASD for general movement (forward, back and strafe left and right)
• Spacebar to jump
• Left Ctrl to Crouch
• LMB for Primary Fire
• RMB for Secondary fire (if applicable)
• Mouse Wheel to scroll through available weapons and items (LMB to select)
• Numeral buttons will select primary/secondary/tertiary weapons as appropriate
• “e” to use an item or interact with the game world
• “t” to Taunt
• “y” to enable chat to everyone
• “u” to enable team chat
• “v” for voice chat
Character Actions
Movement
Players can control their characters using the above bindings. The characters speed, jump height and jump length will vary depending on the class played (some classes are faster pending on their use to the team)
Using Objects
Any objects or interaction in game will be used with the “e” button. This will include things like picking up certain items and using buttons or switches (if applicable)
Combat Actions
Player’s combat actions will change pending on their class. However every player will have some form of ranged attack and some form of melee attack. The exact effect and damage caused will depend on the class and weapon used. It is yet to be decided if hitting certain parts of the body will do more damage or not
Melee Combat
All characters have a default melee attack. To perform this attack they must stand adjacent to an enemy and have the appropriate weapon selected and attack with it. Damage will vary depending on the class.
Weapons
Weapons are set to each class. Therefore you cannot pick up or use other classes’ weapons. A detailed explanation of all weapons can be found with the class descriptions.
Auxiliary Items
Certain units have non-combat weapons or abilities. This may involve using a weapon in a different way (either targeting a friendly with it, or perhaps pressing the RMB instead of LMB). If they are a separate item then they may be selected in the same manner as the weapons are with the mouse wheel or numeral keys. These are also detailed under the character classes
Exploration
Advancing through levels
Levels will rotate depending on the server they are hosted on. At the moment since only two levels are planned they will alter accordingly once the timer runs out on a game (or the game finishes). As the objective of each level is for the attacking team to get to the end and capture a point. To prevent people running straight to the end point at the start of the game (or sneaking past the main lines). There will be several gates blocking the way. Gates will have a certain amount of health or hit points. The attacking players must attack the gates to destroy them so they can then move forward. There will be more than one way to access each gate as to provide different points of attack. However all damage is cumulative and once the gate falls it falls at all points. Once the last gate is destroyed the attacking team may attempt to take the control point. Defending players will either be able to walk through the gates, or they’ll spawn on the attacker’s side of the gate until it is destroyed, where they will then be spawned at the front of the next gate. Note “gate” is just the term being used. The actual static could be anything that suits the level (door, boulder, tree, stack of barrels etc etc).
Interface
Components
The Interface will compose of a HUD. The HUD at this time will not be able to be altered. It will contain:
• The players team and class
• Their health
• Ammo in the current weapons clip and total ammo for that weapon
• A crosshair (if desired by the player)
• And an indicator on how far they are to completing their mission
Weapons
Weapons may be accessed by using the mouse-wheel. If this is done the weapons and items will scroll through on the top of the screen until the player finds one they desire and presses LMB to select it. The icons will either be semi-transparent or very small so as not to impair the player’s field of view.
Direct Effects on Characters
Health
A player’s health will depends on which class they’re playing. Some classes have more health than others and this will depend on their role in the team.
Damage
Player’s may take damage from a variety of things. They may be under the effect of an enemies weapon (whether this is shot, stabbed, set alight or blown apart depends on what they’re being shot with). The may injure themselves by using an AOE weapon too close or they may take damage by falling too far.
Armour
Characters have no armour value, if they appear to have armour on the model this will be represented in their health if required.
Replenishing Health and Armour
Players may replenish their ammunition by either walking up to an ammunition dispenser belonging to their team; Or by picking up fallen players weapons. Health and Ammo packs will also be placed around the map for players to pick up.
Character Death
If a character is killed they must wait a certain amount of time before they respawn back at their base camp (somewhere between five and twenty seconds). However the time may be changed server side if desired. Whilst dead they may watch other players in game. LMB will cycle them forward through characters, RMB will cycle them back
Power-Ups
As said above, the only power ups available will be health and ammo packs.
Levels
The Temple
In this scenario the Spanish are attacking an Aztec stronghold for undisclosed reasons (Destroy, Pillage and Rape…but not in that order). The Spanish start off on lower ground in the nearby jungle. The must traverse a hill which contains a small Aztec town and then up the steps into the pyramid itself. The Aztecs for the most part will have a higher ground advantage in this map however the Spanish will be able to utilise several underground tunnels and side passages to their advantage. There are three “gates” the Spanish must overcome before they can capture the point.
The Port
In this scenario it is the Aztecs who are making an offensive. Their objective is a boat in a port. The will start in the outskirts of the Jungle and move through the port until they eventually reach the dock and the boat berthed nearby. The Aztecs will start in higher ground but will eventually have to move to the streets of the level. By the time they reach the boat the Spanish will have a definite height advantage (being able to climb masts and the like). The terrain will be littered with objects such as barrels, crates and cargo containers which may be used as cover (or weapons). There are again multiple points where the Aztecs can mount an offensive.
Sound
A lot of sound will probably be sourced off the internet, but we will make what we can. It is acknowledged how important sound is to a game and the fullest effort will be made to show this.
Character Sound
Characters will make a variety of sounds including foley such as footsteps and the like. Sounds will also be applied when they are wounded, jumping, landing, weapon effects and voice.
Music
Music will only be used on the title screen, if we can make music occur in game during specific situations this will also be played with. So maybe if you’re character has just killed three enemies in thirty seconds and you have less than twenty percent health some adrenaline fuelling music will start to play. Or if you play the birdman and are air born for more than three seconds it’ll start some “Apocalypse Now” music.
Music and Effects to set mood
As far as setting the mood, the game is comical and light hearted and sound shall reflect this. Cartoon styled bumps and whacks will be prevalent along with the above mentioned music to help set a humourous situation.
Vocal Recordings
Ideally all characters will have at least a few lines to say. Things like taunts, quotes when they kill someone in a spectacular way and perhaps a line or two that will randomly come up if they are wounded (or wounded heavily in a single hit). Voice talent will be done with friends of the developers.
Development Summary
Preliminary Schedule
Those doing art will start characters right off the bat. Once we have finished one each work will start on the first level. Both artist and designer will be working on the level with who ever is designing the level giving requests to the other for statics and the like. Once the level is well underway we will do another couple of characters and get started on the weapons. Somewhere in this the designer will organise the music and sound effects (which we are hoping to record ourselves).
Since we have two programmers, one will begin with the main game type. So setting out the ground rules and making the scenario playable, The other will begin work on a character selection module and work on the menu’s and the like. The programmers will however at times be working on the same part of the project if the manpower is required.
Risk Q-and-A
“What are going to be some of your biggest hurdles?”
Art wise will begetting all the characters done, getting the levels to flow properly. And making the classes play how we originally intended. The programmers will spend most of their time getting their heads around the engine itself, creating the class selection and a few of the weapons which we wish to implement. Effectively the game will get done, it just depends whether it will be in the time allotted or sometime next year.
“Can you feasibly finish this in the time allotted?”
We intend to develop this mod over the entire year. Although it’s early still, we should theoretically be able to finish a good deal of the game. The biggest hurdles we’re concerned with will be finishing the characters to a point that we’re happy with. We originally planned for ten characters but have decided to cut back to six and if we finish these with time to spare we will begin work on the final four. Time will also be spent balancing the game and some potential issues with coding several of the weapons.
We’re going to do our best to stop feature creep. We may outsource aspects of the game such as music and some animating depending on time constraints.
There are a lot of resources concerning the importing of assets into the UE so we are hoping this will not be an issue. We may fail other classes…
Some time in Jan we decided to drop 4 characters for the time being, if they are added then that is a bonus. But the game will start off being playable for 6.
“What are you going to cut back if you run out of time?”
First and foremost will be four of the characters. Although we believe the game will be more enjoyable with more choice in character class, these are probably the biggest time sink and so forth will be let go first. We are also doing our initial character animations by applying the Unreal Tournament 3 rig to our characters and using the premade animations. As time allows (or doesn’t) we will replace these animations with our own thus allowing a gaugeable amount of man/woman power in this aspect of production. If we’re still late on schedule then there are a number of features that can be removed such as voice acting, loading screens and the like. If not being able to program everything is an issue we can always simplify weapon and auxiliary effects. Most of the game can go in either direction depending on time spare.
“So, it sounds like you’re making Team Fortress 2?”
Our team is very heavily influenced by Valve and we are taking a lot of their development procedures into consideration. We originally planned to do a different genre of game but given the workload and time constraints we have decided to do something tried and tested. Last years Bailter Ray is a prime example that just because something isn’t unique, doesn’t mean it isn’t fun (see the triple negative there). If it’s done well, it’ll be fun.
“How is your game different from others?”
As before stated we have gone with the tried and true team death match due to the fact that we know it is a popular genre and has a good online community. To diversify ourselves a bit from the norm we have first of all aimed for a fairly uncommon fps setting. I can’t out of hand think of any other Spanish/South American first person shooter games. We are also quite heavily basing our game play on teamwork. So players will have to actively work together to make the most of certain character abilities, to the point of crippling certain game elements if they don’t work as a team. We are also trying keep a very light sense of humour with lots of pop culture references.
Bungle in the Jungle – High Design Document
Product Overview
Bungle in the Jungle is a team death-match, first person shooter set in South America during the Spanish invasion. Players are split into teams and will take control of a “class” or “character” and work together in the effort to complete their objectives. The game is not historically accurate by any measure and many of the characters are made with a light-hearted sense of humour in mind. Gameplay is fast paced and rounds should not last more than fifteen to twenty minutes.
Core concept
The two teams will face off against each other and who is attacking will depend on the level played. Effort has been put into each character in order to give the player a connection to which they’re playing with. Playing the character should be fun not only from a game rules point of view but also by the traits, quotes and actions their character performs.
The levels are all set in South America; expect to see lots of jungle, small coastal ports and the like. A somewhat artistic license will be taken in terms of making the levels fun for players to traverse. You might see some early cargo containers or trees that are somewhat conveniently wide enough to travel on top of.
Gameplay shall be fast paced and stalemates should be broken by cooperating with your team. Weapons are funky, levels are bright and violence common.
Combat will vary depending on which class is being played. If you’re a Marksman you will be better served staying back and shoot from afar. Classes such as the Panther Warrior or Inquisitor will get deep into the action and attempt to melee the enemy to death.
As far as realism goes, I wouldn’t look towards this game for a history lesson. Inaccuracies will range from the costumes and weapons being used to the locations and attitudes of the characters. The game is meant to be fun and is only loosely based on the actual events of the time.
Controls will be similar to most PC FPS.
Player Characters
Spanish
Marksman
The marksman is actually a Frenchman recruited by the Spanish. Based off the French in Monty Python’s Holy Grail. He is obnoxious, uncouth and just plain rude. His primary weapon is a musket with a naval spyglass attached to it. It’s powerful but has a slow reload time. His melee weapon is his bag of rifle shot and the auxiliary item is a grappling hook which he can use to scale sheer walls and the like. Once used the grappling hook remains until the player changed class or collects rope by hand (if lost for whatever reason it can be retrieved during spawn). The rope can not be retrieved while someone is climbing it.
Primary: Long Rifle = 100 Damage
Auxiliary: Grappling Hook/Rope
Melee: Bag of Shot = 50
Health = 100
Speed = 12
Taunt: Gives the finger
“I think you’re heading in the wrong direction”
“Of course I’m better than you, why else would I be speaking in this outrageous French accent”
Powder Monkey
A young boy who’s job was traditionally to carry gunpowder to the cannon crew aboard a war ship. This particular unit has watched a few too many battles and has obtained a certain blood lust. Based off Warner Brothers’ Yosemite Sam and the helicopter gunner from Full Metal Jacket, he is excessively violent and excitable. His primary weapon is a gunpowder grenade which can be cooked, he can also grenade jump with them, they don’t bounce very well per se. The melee weapon is a gunpowder canister which he swings around. As an auxiliary ability if within a certain distance to the Canoneer he can give the Canoneer the ability to fire his cannon, kills are shared.
Primary: Gunpowder Grenade = 60/40/20 damage pending on proximity
Auxiliary: RMB with grenade plants it as a mine
Auxiliary 2: Supplies Canoneer with powder
Melee: Gunpowder Canister = 50
Health 100
Speed = 12
Taunt: uses powder canister like a mini gun “brap brap brap brap”
“GET SOME, GET SOME”
“So you have to ask yourself “do I feel lucky”, well, do ya, punk?”
Canoneer
Your traditional and much loved pirate, rough, crude and violent. He is based off the likes of Jack Sparrow and, well, every other pirate in popular culture. His primary weapon is a blunderbuss which acts like a shotgun. The melee weapon is the cannon he carries on his shoulder which he swings like a giant club. The Auxiliary ability can only be used when the powder monkey is nearby. The Canoneer may then fire the cannon. It fires like a grenade with an arc. Very high damage on the direct hit, cannon balls may bounce depending on how much time is available. A concussion based AOE is also possible, slow reload.
Primary: Blunderbuss = 10 pellets each does 6 damage
Auxiliary = 100/50/20
Melee: Cannon = 80
Health = 180
Speed = 6
Taunt: Rolls on cannon
“Yarrrrr”
“Come here matey, I have a present for ye”
“Boom, hur hur hur”
Catholic Priest
There is a rather popular reference to the current pope and his likeness to the Emperor from Start Wars. Enter the priest, apathetic, cold and very unpriestly. His main weapon is a repeating crossbow (stolen from the Chinese) which has the unfortunate habit of pinning people to walls. It has an average damage output and high rate of fire. His melee weapon is an oversized bible used to smite the disbelievers and with this same bible he reads holy phrases which if his team mates are nearby will be healed.
Primary: Crossbow 60, magazine of 10.
Melee: Big Bible = 40
Auxiliary: Chant = heals 10 health a second
Health = 80
Speed = 10
Taunt: Pulls ups hood and make force lightning
“You have failed me for the last time”
“Darth Vader Breathing”
“Damn YOU, no, really!”
Inquisitor
The Spanish Inquisitor is based off Monty Pythons sketch. He is larger than life, passionate and generally just wrong. His primary weapon is duel tri barrelled pistols, well lots of them. They make up for the fact that he hasn’t time to waste time reloading he simply throws them away and brings out two more. His melee weapon is a lit torch which sets the heathens on fire. As an auxiliary ability, the Inquisitor spawns as a random object from the environment such as a boulder, barrel, small tree, comfy chair. He may then move around the level in this disguise, when he chooses the optimal moment he may burst out with a puff of smoke and screams his line “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition”. Aside from the humour aspect of this it moderates the ability a little bit letting everyone know that yes, he has indeed arrived. Once revealed he does not return to his hidden form until his next spawn. If we have time we’ll add his animated legs to the object so you watch him run around
Primary: Pistols = 30 per shot mag of 6
Melee: Torch = 35 initial and a further 35 DOT (doesn’t stack)
Auxiliary: Disguised mode
Health = 125
Speed = 10
Taunt: Torch goes out, pulls out a lighter and relights it after a few attempts
“Burn, burn heeeeeeeee”
“My face, not my face”
Aztecs
Catapulter
A gentle giant whom has been unwillingly pressed into the military. The Catapulter is a very remorseful lad who although will carry out his duty, is really quite sorry for the damage he causes. He has a catapult mounted on his back which he can use to lob around certain items scattered around the level. These do damage depending on the weight of the object (rigid body weight). As a melee weapon he simply carries around a big rock than he abuses people with. As a special ability he can fire the birdman up into the air, although the birdman has some manoeuvrability a lot of skill will be required on the Catapulter’s part to send his avian friend in the appropriate direction.
Primary: Shoulder mounted catapult = 40 - 80
Melee: Big rock = 70
Auxiliary: Fires Birdman into the air
Health = 200
Speed = 7
Taunt = Sits on giant rock and looks very sullen
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” (as beating with rock)
“Ahh, I’ll pay for that”
Birdman
An Aztec lad who has a slight obsession with becoming air born. Based somewhat off the actor Jack Black the Birdman is a bit of an unknown comedian. Somewhat hindering his ability to make flight like a bird is an unfortunate weight problem, the best he can manage is a short glide from high places, still this has its uses. His main weapon is a sling which has a medium rate of fire, is very accurate and average damage, and is able to critically head shot. His melee weapon is a stock standard hatchet. Where the birdman really shines however is when he takes to flight. He can attempt to glide off tall places and land on people (distances in air == damage on landing). He has limited manoeuvrability when in the air and if he takes no fall damage. If he is near the Catapulter, he can be launched on the catapult to great heights. If this is done can he perform a “death leap” by nose diving down with an area of effect assault. A proposed feature is to replace the model with a static which becomes a permanent ledge. The birdman can not fire his sling whilst air born but if within range and not dive bombing can swing his hatchet.
Primary: Sling = 40 Damage
Auxiliary: Flight, distance travelled * 1.5 = Damage, Dive bomb does 80/60/40
Melee: Hatchet = 50 Damage
Health 125
Speed 8
Taunt: Walks around on the ground pretending to fly around like little kids do
“Caw caw, caw caw”
“Eeeeeeeeh” (Assassin’s Creed bird scream made during dive bomb)
Witch Doctor
The local Shaman is all knowing and wise. Inspiration is a mix from Bob Marley to the general crazy man that walks past you on the street. He appears a little lost to everybody but as far as he’s concerned everything is just fine. His main attack is to throw poisonous frogs at people. They explode with an AOE DOT. The damage is minimal but the poison causes those affected to have their controls reversed for a period of time. Friendlies hit by the gas are not damaged but will affected by the gas. His melee weapon is a sacrificial knife which does extra damage from behind. He may also heal his team mates by rubbing frogs on them, if this is done to the Warrior or Panther Warrior then their next ranged attack will apply the poison to whatever is hit.
Primary: Poison Frogs = reversed controls, 30 DOT
Auxiliary: Can poison Panther Warrior darts and Warriors arrows (Gas affect as well as weapon damage), heals by rubbing frogs on friendlies DOT 80.
Melee: Sacrificial knife = 50
Health = 125 (he’s totally oblivious to pain)
Speed = 10
“It’s ok, it’s medicinal”
“Let me put something on that for you”
Panther Warrior
Cool, calm and quick describes the Panther Warrior pretty succinctly. He is the scout of the Aztec’s and has the speed and agility to reflect as such. His attitude is similar to that of Terminator or Riddick. His good, and he knows it. His primary weapon is a blowpipe with a steady rate of fire. Melee is two knives which although have a fairly average damage output they are extremely fast to attack with. As an auxiliary ability he can wall run short distances to get to high places.
Primary: Blow darts = 40 silent, doesn’t tell player which direction damage is coming from
Auxiliary: Can wall run a limited distance
Melee: Two knives = 15 damage fast attack (similar to the Alien claw attack from AVP)
Health = 80
Speed 14
Taunt: Spits on the ground in disgust
“Come with me if you want to live”
“I’m like a fucking ninja”
Warrior
Yet another Monty Python representative, enter the black knight. He is immune to pain and devoid of reasoning. He is a lean mean killing machine, and will use your skull as a goblet. His primary weapon is a bow which acts similar to Team Fortress 2’s huntsman. However arrows which stick into walls can be used as footholds for people, it’ll take some balance and practice but you should be able to make a sort of stair case for people. He has an obsidian club for melee that does a considerable amount of damage. As an extra ability he can scale vertical walls; however he cannot attack whilst doing so.
Ranged: Bow = 50
Melee: Big Club = 80
Aux: Can climb walls
Health = 150
Speed = 8
“Thats just a flesh wound”
“Come on then you pansy, come on”
Gameplay
Story
The story is very loosely based upon the Spanish invasion of South America and the struggle that ensued with the Native Americans. The goal to each level will differ depending on the level and what each team’s role is. At this point, in one level the South Americans are attempting to sacrifice a Spanish maiden, and the Spanish must stop them. And in another the Spanish are making off with all the South American gold and the South Americans must sink their boat to win (they can salvage the gold later). That’s about the extent of it…
Intro Cinematic
It’s unlikely there will be time for this. But probably something involving the Spanish arriving on the South American coast. Perhaps a parody based off “Apocalypse Now”.
Game Shell
The title screen will either be a render of some of the characters in a suitable pose or a hand drawing of something similar. Loading screens will be renders of the characters in different poses, something relevant to their personality (if we do taunt’s then maybe a still from one of those).
Options available
Players have most general options available to them. This includes:
• Graphical resolution and the ability to change the level of graphical features
• Changing in-game volume for FX and music.
• Alter key-bindings
• Player profiles
Controller Configuration
At the moment release is set only for the PC. All controls may be changed but they will default to:
• WASD for general movement (forward, back and strafe left and right)
• Spacebar to jump
• Left Ctrl to Crouch
• LMB for Primary Fire
• RMB for Secondary fire (if applicable)
• Mouse Wheel to scroll through available weapons and items (LMB to select)
• Numeral buttons will select primary/secondary/tertiary weapons as appropriate
• “e” to use an item or interact with the game world
• “t” to Taunt
• “y” to enable chat to everyone
• “u” to enable team chat
• “v” for voice chat
Character Actions
Movement
Players can control their characters using the above bindings. The characters speed, jump height and jump length will vary depending on the class played (some classes are faster pending on their use to the team)
Using Objects
Any objects or interaction in game will be used with the “e” button. This will include things like picking up certain items and using buttons or switches (if applicable)
Combat Actions
Player’s combat actions will change pending on their class. However every player will have some form of ranged attack and some form of melee attack. The exact effect and damage caused will depend on the class and weapon used. It is yet to be decided if hitting certain parts of the body will do more damage or not
Melee Combat
All characters have a default melee attack. To perform this attack they must stand adjacent to an enemy and have the appropriate weapon selected and attack with it. Damage will vary depending on the class.
Weapons
Weapons are set to each class. Therefore you cannot pick up or use other classes’ weapons. A detailed explanation of all weapons can be found with the class descriptions.
Auxiliary Items
Certain units have non-combat weapons or abilities. This may involve using a weapon in a different way (either targeting a friendly with it, or perhaps pressing the RMB instead of LMB). If they are a separate item then they may be selected in the same manner as the weapons are with the mouse wheel or numeral keys. These are also detailed under the character classes
Exploration
Advancing through levels
Levels will rotate depending on the server they are hosted on. At the moment since only two levels are planned they will alter accordingly once the timer runs out on a game (or the game finishes). As the objective of each level is for the attacking team to get to the end and capture a point. To prevent people running straight to the end point at the start of the game (or sneaking past the main lines). There will be several gates blocking the way. Gates will have a certain amount of health or hit points. The attacking players must attack the gates to destroy them so they can then move forward. There will be more than one way to access each gate as to provide different points of attack. However all damage is cumulative and once the gate falls it falls at all points. Once the last gate is destroyed the attacking team may attempt to take the control point. Defending players will either be able to walk through the gates, or they’ll spawn on the attacker’s side of the gate until it is destroyed, where they will then be spawned at the front of the next gate. Note “gate” is just the term being used. The actual static could be anything that suits the level (door, boulder, tree, stack of barrels etc etc).
Interface
Components
The Interface will compose of a HUD. The HUD at this time will not be able to be altered. It will contain:
• The players team and class
• Their health
• Ammo in the current weapons clip and total ammo for that weapon
• A crosshair (if desired by the player)
• And an indicator on how far they are to completing their mission
Weapons
Weapons may be accessed by using the mouse-wheel. If this is done the weapons and items will scroll through on the top of the screen until the player finds one they desire and presses LMB to select it. The icons will either be semi-transparent or very small so as not to impair the player’s field of view.
Direct Effects on Characters
Health
A player’s health will depends on which class they’re playing. Some classes have more health than others and this will depend on their role in the team.
Damage
Player’s may take damage from a variety of things. They may be under the effect of an enemies weapon (whether this is shot, stabbed, set alight or blown apart depends on what they’re being shot with). The may injure themselves by using an AOE weapon too close or they may take damage by falling too far.
Armour
Characters have no armour value, if they appear to have armour on the model this will be represented in their health if required.
Replenishing Health and Armour
Players may replenish their ammunition by either walking up to an ammunition dispenser belonging to their team; Or by picking up fallen players weapons. Health and Ammo packs will also be placed around the map for players to pick up.
Character Death
If a character is killed they must wait a certain amount of time before they respawn back at their base camp (somewhere between five and twenty seconds). However the time may be changed server side if desired. Whilst dead they may watch other players in game. LMB will cycle them forward through characters, RMB will cycle them back
Power-Ups
As said above, the only power ups available will be health and ammo packs.
Levels
The Temple
In this scenario the Spanish are attacking an Aztec stronghold for undisclosed reasons (Destroy, Pillage and Rape…but not in that order). The Spanish start off on lower ground in the nearby jungle. The must traverse a hill which contains a small Aztec town and then up the steps into the pyramid itself. The Aztecs for the most part will have a higher ground advantage in this map however the Spanish will be able to utilise several underground tunnels and side passages to their advantage. There are three “gates” the Spanish must overcome before they can capture the point.
The Port
In this scenario it is the Aztecs who are making an offensive. Their objective is a boat in a port. The will start in the outskirts of the Jungle and move through the port until they eventually reach the dock and the boat berthed nearby. The Aztecs will start in higher ground but will eventually have to move to the streets of the level. By the time they reach the boat the Spanish will have a definite height advantage (being able to climb masts and the like). The terrain will be littered with objects such as barrels, crates and cargo containers which may be used as cover (or weapons). There are again multiple points where the Aztecs can mount an offensive.
Sound
A lot of sound will probably be sourced off the internet, but we will make what we can. It is acknowledged how important sound is to a game and the fullest effort will be made to show this.
Character Sound
Characters will make a variety of sounds including foley such as footsteps and the like. Sounds will also be applied when they are wounded, jumping, landing, weapon effects and voice.
Music
Music will only be used on the title screen, if we can make music occur in game during specific situations this will also be played with. So maybe if you’re character has just killed three enemies in thirty seconds and you have less than twenty percent health some adrenaline fuelling music will start to play. Or if you play the birdman and are air born for more than three seconds it’ll start some “Apocalypse Now” music.
Music and Effects to set mood
As far as setting the mood, the game is comical and light hearted and sound shall reflect this. Cartoon styled bumps and whacks will be prevalent along with the above mentioned music to help set a humourous situation.
Vocal Recordings
Ideally all characters will have at least a few lines to say. Things like taunts, quotes when they kill someone in a spectacular way and perhaps a line or two that will randomly come up if they are wounded (or wounded heavily in a single hit). Voice talent will be done with friends of the developers.
Development Summary
Preliminary Schedule
Those doing art will start characters right off the bat. Once we have finished one each work will start on the first level. Both artist and designer will be working on the level with who ever is designing the level giving requests to the other for statics and the like. Once the level is well underway we will do another couple of characters and get started on the weapons. Somewhere in this the designer will organise the music and sound effects (which we are hoping to record ourselves).
Since we have two programmers, one will begin with the main game type. So setting out the ground rules and making the scenario playable, The other will begin work on a character selection module and work on the menu’s and the like. The programmers will however at times be working on the same part of the project if the manpower is required.
Risk Q-and-A
“What are going to be some of your biggest hurdles?”
Art wise will begetting all the characters done, getting the levels to flow properly. And making the classes play how we originally intended. The programmers will spend most of their time getting their heads around the engine itself, creating the class selection and a few of the weapons which we wish to implement. Effectively the game will get done, it just depends whether it will be in the time allotted or sometime next year.
“Can you feasibly finish this in the time allotted?”
We intend to develop this mod over the entire year. Although it’s early still, we should theoretically be able to finish a good deal of the game. The biggest hurdles we’re concerned with will be finishing the characters to a point that we’re happy with. We originally planned for ten characters but have decided to cut back to six and if we finish these with time to spare we will begin work on the final four. Time will also be spent balancing the game and some potential issues with coding several of the weapons.
We’re going to do our best to stop feature creep. We may outsource aspects of the game such as music and some animating depending on time constraints.
There are a lot of resources concerning the importing of assets into the UE so we are hoping this will not be an issue. We may fail other classes…
Some time in Jan we decided to drop 4 characters for the time being, if they are added then that is a bonus. But the game will start off being playable for 6.
“What are you going to cut back if you run out of time?”
First and foremost will be four of the characters. Although we believe the game will be more enjoyable with more choice in character class, these are probably the biggest time sink and so forth will be let go first. We are also doing our initial character animations by applying the Unreal Tournament 3 rig to our characters and using the premade animations. As time allows (or doesn’t) we will replace these animations with our own thus allowing a gaugeable amount of man/woman power in this aspect of production. If we’re still late on schedule then there are a number of features that can be removed such as voice acting, loading screens and the like. If not being able to program everything is an issue we can always simplify weapon and auxiliary effects. Most of the game can go in either direction depending on time spare.
“So, it sounds like you’re making Team Fortress 2?”
Our team is very heavily influenced by Valve and we are taking a lot of their development procedures into consideration. We originally planned to do a different genre of game but given the workload and time constraints we have decided to do something tried and tested. Last years Bailter Ray is a prime example that just because something isn’t unique, doesn’t mean it isn’t fun (see the triple negative there). If it’s done well, it’ll be fun.
“How is your game different from others?”
As before stated we have gone with the tried and true team death match due to the fact that we know it is a popular genre and has a good online community. To diversify ourselves a bit from the norm we have first of all aimed for a fairly uncommon fps setting. I can’t out of hand think of any other Spanish/South American first person shooter games. We are also quite heavily basing our game play on teamwork. So players will have to actively work together to make the most of certain character abilities, to the point of crippling certain game elements if they don’t work as a team. We are also trying keep a very light sense of humour with lots of pop culture references.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Counterstrike weapon flaw
Counter strike – Headshot to win mechanism
So there is a game called counter strike where it seems all the weapons do almost no damage to players. Unless you score a headshot, in which case a single shot from any weapon will do the trick. This mixture of unrealistic body damage with the quite understandable lethal head damage is very annoying during game play. Running around a corner with an automatic shotgun and unloading two rounds into someone’s chest. And then having them simply cap you with the smallest pistol once in the head ruins the game to a certain extent.
The beauty of it is that when you are that person with the pistol. A lot of FPS are played for the adrenaline players get by playing fast paced games. Counter strike is one such game where a little dedication and practice can make an enormous difference purely for the fact the an experienced player knows how to aim for those head shots and has some idea of the kickback a lot of the weapons have. Many skilled players go through entire rounds with just a pistol and win quite convincingly. It’s due to this flaw that make the win all the more sweeter.
Incorporating this into our game would be a little bitter sweet. Yes it would feel good, but since our setting is the Spanish invasion of South America. Many of the weapons have low rated of fire (Bows, Blowpipes, Flintlocks, Cannons) etc. What this means that if you miss your initial shot you’re generally in a lot of trouble. The game is balanced towards low rates of fire but high weapon damage, including a lot of melee. Therefore by introducing this mechanic it would make it highly unfair to the few classes that have an actual decent rate of fire.
So there is a game called counter strike where it seems all the weapons do almost no damage to players. Unless you score a headshot, in which case a single shot from any weapon will do the trick. This mixture of unrealistic body damage with the quite understandable lethal head damage is very annoying during game play. Running around a corner with an automatic shotgun and unloading two rounds into someone’s chest. And then having them simply cap you with the smallest pistol once in the head ruins the game to a certain extent.
The beauty of it is that when you are that person with the pistol. A lot of FPS are played for the adrenaline players get by playing fast paced games. Counter strike is one such game where a little dedication and practice can make an enormous difference purely for the fact the an experienced player knows how to aim for those head shots and has some idea of the kickback a lot of the weapons have. Many skilled players go through entire rounds with just a pistol and win quite convincingly. It’s due to this flaw that make the win all the more sweeter.
Incorporating this into our game would be a little bitter sweet. Yes it would feel good, but since our setting is the Spanish invasion of South America. Many of the weapons have low rated of fire (Bows, Blowpipes, Flintlocks, Cannons) etc. What this means that if you miss your initial shot you’re generally in a lot of trouble. The game is balanced towards low rates of fire but high weapon damage, including a lot of melee. Therefore by introducing this mechanic it would make it highly unfair to the few classes that have an actual decent rate of fire.
Digital Curation and Exhibition
Anthony Borell s3199196
3a
(a) TF2 Item/Crafting System
The idea behind items in TF2 was to give the player a reason to keep playing the game for prolonged periods of time. They did this by introducing achievements which unlocked certain items for each class as well as a random drop system to reward players for simply playing.
“Items = longevity”
The player completes x amount of achievements and by doing so has to reach 3 milestones. After all 3 milestones are complete the player receives the primary, secondary and melee weapons for that class. There are 9 classes in TF2, equating into numerous hours of gameplay to obtain each item.
Problems with the system include:
Idling – running the game but not actually playing.
Achievement servers – servers setup to gain achievements in a non conventional way often a lot quicker than normal.
Random item drop calculator – players can get an item in a few hours or wait weeks and get none.
Item Cap – max 7 items per week, so once all 7 items are obtained for that week the game then becomes pointless to play.
Upsets player balance – if not all players have the given weapon they may be at a disadvantage.
TF2 player base - Casual vs. Hardcore, the item system doesn’t allow the hardcore to gain anything from casual players even though they invest more time, therefore this design is counter intuitive.
TF2 is a FPS and does not contain the infrastructure to facilitate an item/crafting system.
Unlike traditional item based games, RPG’s for example where the sole goal was to get the best items to advance your avatar, TF2 only has the game mechanic of shooting, while a game like World of Warcraft has a storyline, lore, quests, socializing, economy, raiding, PvP, dungeons, etc to back up the reason to invest time into getting the best items.
Back when TF2 was released the players focus was on the classes/balance and gameplay, weapons were merely a tool used to kill an enemy player, Valve has now shifted the focus to the acquisition of items as the novelty of classes has worn off, by doing so the true spirit of the game has gone and players only care about getting that next hat or weapon and not the true intention of the game which was TEAM based gameplay.
(b)
If I was going to implement this game mechanic into my 3rd year project I would consider many of the following solutions:
Balance item drop rate.
Remove item cap to please hardcore players.
Remove item system altogether, CS:S survived with just gameplay alone.
Ban idling and achievement servers which forces players to actually play.
Remove the randomness and make all items/hats attainable through achievements. MW2 does that really well.
3c
Remove height/weight from the cards and add Age.
3a
(a) TF2 Item/Crafting System
The idea behind items in TF2 was to give the player a reason to keep playing the game for prolonged periods of time. They did this by introducing achievements which unlocked certain items for each class as well as a random drop system to reward players for simply playing.
“Items = longevity”
The player completes x amount of achievements and by doing so has to reach 3 milestones. After all 3 milestones are complete the player receives the primary, secondary and melee weapons for that class. There are 9 classes in TF2, equating into numerous hours of gameplay to obtain each item.
Problems with the system include:
Idling – running the game but not actually playing.
Achievement servers – servers setup to gain achievements in a non conventional way often a lot quicker than normal.
Random item drop calculator – players can get an item in a few hours or wait weeks and get none.
Item Cap – max 7 items per week, so once all 7 items are obtained for that week the game then becomes pointless to play.
Upsets player balance – if not all players have the given weapon they may be at a disadvantage.
TF2 player base - Casual vs. Hardcore, the item system doesn’t allow the hardcore to gain anything from casual players even though they invest more time, therefore this design is counter intuitive.
TF2 is a FPS and does not contain the infrastructure to facilitate an item/crafting system.
Unlike traditional item based games, RPG’s for example where the sole goal was to get the best items to advance your avatar, TF2 only has the game mechanic of shooting, while a game like World of Warcraft has a storyline, lore, quests, socializing, economy, raiding, PvP, dungeons, etc to back up the reason to invest time into getting the best items.
Back when TF2 was released the players focus was on the classes/balance and gameplay, weapons were merely a tool used to kill an enemy player, Valve has now shifted the focus to the acquisition of items as the novelty of classes has worn off, by doing so the true spirit of the game has gone and players only care about getting that next hat or weapon and not the true intention of the game which was TEAM based gameplay.
(b)
If I was going to implement this game mechanic into my 3rd year project I would consider many of the following solutions:
Balance item drop rate.
Remove item cap to please hardcore players.
Remove item system altogether, CS:S survived with just gameplay alone.
Ban idling and achievement servers which forces players to actually play.
Remove the randomness and make all items/hats attainable through achievements. MW2 does that really well.
3c
Remove height/weight from the cards and add Age.
Bungle in the Jungle Proposal
3rd Year Project – Proposal
Title
Bungle in the Jungle
Genre
First Person Shooter - Team Deathmatch
Version
1.3 Prototyping
Platforms
PC and Xbox 360
The Big Idea
Players will choose to play as either the Spanish or the Aztecs and compete against the opposing teams in a point capture styled death match. Each team has five unique classes to choose from, every class has its own strengths and weaknesses and players must directly work together in order to win the match. The game features hand painted textures and comic book like inking elements.
Licensing
Bungle in the Jungle is based very loosely on real events, namely the invasion of South America by the Spanish. But as far as franchising is concerned I believe it would be fairly limited.
Play Mechanic
Once players enter the game they may choose either team or have the computer decide randomly. After this they are presented with the five classes available to them. Following this the player/s spawn in their own area and the game starts. They are automatically outfitted with their class weapons.
The objective may differ depending on the map but one team is always attacking and the other is always defending. Players may attack other players in order to kill them, forcing them to respawn back at their original starting location. The player may at this point change their character class (or at any point in the game but doing so will kill them if they’re not already dead). Once the objective is completed, or the timer runs out (which ever is first) the appropriate team wins and the game either restarts or changes map.
Every time a game starts a random allotment of debris will spawn on the map. This will be a varied collection of rigid (affected by physics) props that may be used by the players as obstacles, blockades and even weapons (for some classes).
Players receive scores for killing other players and for certain class specific actions.
Technology
The creation of the mod will utilize Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK). This is a development kit using the Unreal Engine 3. It has had new licensing created by Epic which allows developers to make games with the engine and legally sell the result for a minor upfront cost ($99US and 25% of all revenue after $5000 profit). This suits us ideally because if the mod is successful we will definitely consider this option.
Bungle in the Jungle will also be created using Autodesk’s Maya. Adobe’s Photoshop , Pixologic’s Zbrush and Santiago Orgaz’s Xnormal . Other 3rd party programs may be utilized for such things as sound and compositing but these are yet to be decided.
Unique Selling Points (USP’s)
• Random static drops means a slightly different game every time you play
• Classes will complement each other directly creating new tactics and weapons
• Aztec and Spanish setting is not quite as overdone as something like WW2, fantasy or sci-fi
• Tongue-in-cheek humour and fun characters
• Unique personalities for all classes and hopefully voice acting and taunts
Demographic
Bungle in the Jungle is being aimed towards any fan of the FPS team death match genre. The cartoon graphics will appeal to most people and the game should be easily picked up and played for thirty minutes to a couple of hours.
Title
Bungle in the Jungle
Genre
First Person Shooter - Team Deathmatch
Version
1.3 Prototyping
Platforms
PC and Xbox 360
The Big Idea
Players will choose to play as either the Spanish or the Aztecs and compete against the opposing teams in a point capture styled death match. Each team has five unique classes to choose from, every class has its own strengths and weaknesses and players must directly work together in order to win the match. The game features hand painted textures and comic book like inking elements.
Licensing
Bungle in the Jungle is based very loosely on real events, namely the invasion of South America by the Spanish. But as far as franchising is concerned I believe it would be fairly limited.
Play Mechanic
Once players enter the game they may choose either team or have the computer decide randomly. After this they are presented with the five classes available to them. Following this the player/s spawn in their own area and the game starts. They are automatically outfitted with their class weapons.
The objective may differ depending on the map but one team is always attacking and the other is always defending. Players may attack other players in order to kill them, forcing them to respawn back at their original starting location. The player may at this point change their character class (or at any point in the game but doing so will kill them if they’re not already dead). Once the objective is completed, or the timer runs out (which ever is first) the appropriate team wins and the game either restarts or changes map.
Every time a game starts a random allotment of debris will spawn on the map. This will be a varied collection of rigid (affected by physics) props that may be used by the players as obstacles, blockades and even weapons (for some classes).
Players receive scores for killing other players and for certain class specific actions.
Technology
The creation of the mod will utilize Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK). This is a development kit using the Unreal Engine 3. It has had new licensing created by Epic which allows developers to make games with the engine and legally sell the result for a minor upfront cost ($99US and 25% of all revenue after $5000 profit). This suits us ideally because if the mod is successful we will definitely consider this option.
Bungle in the Jungle will also be created using Autodesk’s Maya. Adobe’s Photoshop , Pixologic’s Zbrush and Santiago Orgaz’s Xnormal . Other 3rd party programs may be utilized for such things as sound and compositing but these are yet to be decided.
Unique Selling Points (USP’s)
• Random static drops means a slightly different game every time you play
• Classes will complement each other directly creating new tactics and weapons
• Aztec and Spanish setting is not quite as overdone as something like WW2, fantasy or sci-fi
• Tongue-in-cheek humour and fun characters
• Unique personalities for all classes and hopefully voice acting and taunts
Demographic
Bungle in the Jungle is being aimed towards any fan of the FPS team death match genre. The cartoon graphics will appeal to most people and the game should be easily picked up and played for thirty minutes to a couple of hours.
Digital Curation Exercise 3b
Introduction:
Bungle in the Jungle is a first-person team based shooter for the PC that uses the well-known Unreal 3 engine to thrust players into the 16th century taking the role of 10 unique characters from the Aztecs and Spanish to wage battle in the lush jungles of South America.
Background:
Bungle in the Jungle is based very loosely on real events, namely the invasion of South America by the Spanish but is not historically accurate. The game has a light hearted sense of humor and often makes fun of itself/pop culture. Each team will have 5 unique character classes, some of which will complement each other forcing team based play. Bungle in the Jungle draws inspiration from other well known titles such as Team Fortress 2 and Borderlands.
Description:
Once players enter the game they may choose either team or have the computer decide randomly. After this they are presented with the five classes available to them. Following this the player spawns in their own area and the game starts. They are automatically outfitted with their class weapons. The Aztecs are defending and thus spawn at higher ground than the Spanish to give them a “home advantage”.
Players attack other players in order to kill them, forcing them to respawn back at their original starting location. The player can at any point during the course of the game change their character class. The Spanish objective is to destroy 3 Aztec shrines (capture points). Once points A + B have been destroyed, point C opens up.
Once all the objectives are completed, or the timer runs out (whatever is first) the appropriate team wins and the game restarts.
Every time a game starts a random allotment of debris will spawn on the map. This will be a varied collection of rigid (affected by physics) props that may be used by the players as obstacles, blockades and even weapons (for some classes).
Players receive scores for killing other players and for certain class specific actions.
Key Features:
• Unique art style
• Destructible point capture system
• Unique abilities and weapons for each class
• Team based play
• Uncommon setting/theme
Genre: First Person Shooter, Team based gameplay.
Platforms: PC
Bungle in the Jungle is a first-person team based shooter for the PC that uses the well-known Unreal 3 engine to thrust players into the 16th century taking the role of 10 unique characters from the Aztecs and Spanish to wage battle in the lush jungles of South America.
Background:
Bungle in the Jungle is based very loosely on real events, namely the invasion of South America by the Spanish but is not historically accurate. The game has a light hearted sense of humor and often makes fun of itself/pop culture. Each team will have 5 unique character classes, some of which will complement each other forcing team based play. Bungle in the Jungle draws inspiration from other well known titles such as Team Fortress 2 and Borderlands.
Description:
Once players enter the game they may choose either team or have the computer decide randomly. After this they are presented with the five classes available to them. Following this the player spawns in their own area and the game starts. They are automatically outfitted with their class weapons. The Aztecs are defending and thus spawn at higher ground than the Spanish to give them a “home advantage”.
Players attack other players in order to kill them, forcing them to respawn back at their original starting location. The player can at any point during the course of the game change their character class. The Spanish objective is to destroy 3 Aztec shrines (capture points). Once points A + B have been destroyed, point C opens up.
Once all the objectives are completed, or the timer runs out (whatever is first) the appropriate team wins and the game restarts.
Every time a game starts a random allotment of debris will spawn on the map. This will be a varied collection of rigid (affected by physics) props that may be used by the players as obstacles, blockades and even weapons (for some classes).
Players receive scores for killing other players and for certain class specific actions.
Key Features:
• Unique art style
• Destructible point capture system
• Unique abilities and weapons for each class
• Team based play
• Uncommon setting/theme
Genre: First Person Shooter, Team based gameplay.
Platforms: PC
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