WIP The Zone (Recruiting)

[Varine]

This is an FPS project that I've been working for a short amount of time. Right now I'm mostly making the models required for the project to get started, which is mostly involving the display.

Forum:

TheZone.aowc.net

The game itself will be a campaign based around a chemical accident which has created a Zone of Isolation. The story revolves around a man who was inside the area when the acciedent occured. Due to the extreme levels of radiation, the area was immediatly isolated and those inside were forced to stay. The accident occured at a military research installation. It killed most of those exposed shortly after. Of those it didn't kill, the majority became hostile and mutated forms of themselves. A small minority proved to be immune, and those have in the time since banded together and formed fortress cities. I've not worked much on the real story part yet as I've been working on the models and trying to get the combat system to work.

Currently I'm getting no where fast as I'm still looking for a way to make the weapon fire in an accurate way as well as place the camera behind the weapon. I am using models, not fade filters, which is making things a little harder but I think it will allow for a smoother animation.

The playable area will be comprised of several different maps, which will allow the player to travel between them at will. I am working on a new system for inventory, as well as a vehicle driving system and obviously a new combat and movement system.

Sub-Projects

Driving System

Spoiler

The driving system will allow for the player to drive such things as cars, trucks, tanks, helicopters, and hopefully even planes. I am not currently working on a fuel system, however after the initial release I think that I may feel like persuing this as I think it will allow a more realistic world and make it a little more intense and require strategy.

Inventory

Spoiler

I'm not really sure how to go about the inventory. Since it's a large RPG, you're going to need more than six slots to carry things. Normally the system would be pretty easily done, I could probably save some time and just use one of the many out there. However, because the game is going to be taking place in multiple maps, I need to make a system that can be chached so that the items can be saved and reloaded as you go through each of the different maps.

Movement

Spoiler

The movement system is going to be based on keys. WASD will be the movement keys (hopefully), while the arrow keys will allow you to turn yourself to look around.

Combat

Spoiler

The combat system will probably not include ironsights simply because I don't think it would be useful in anyway and would probably be really really hard to get to work and look right. Instead I'm going to have the weapon off to the side of the screen, similar to other FPS's, with a crosshair for the targeting component.

The completed game will include:

Entirely custom models, textures, tilesets, and HUD

• A brand new combat and movement system
• A massive playable area
• A new system of inventory, allowing you to carry far more items
• A system of driving not only cars and trucks, but helicopters and possibly planes as well
• Hours of gameplay

Completion:

• Terrain - 0%
• Models - 5%
• Textures - 5%
• Sounds - 10%
• NPC's - 0%
• Combat System - 0%
• Movement System - 30%
• Driving System - 0%
• Inventory - 0%

Some weapons (taken in 3DSMax without textures applied)

Spoiler

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesh...02660_17715018615&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

I need people to help with:

• Modellers
• Animators
• Texture Artists
• Terrain Artists/Cartographer (to make layout maps to use as a base)
• JASSER for: Movement, Combat, Driving, Inventory Systems
• Writers (for Dialog and Quests/Missions)
• Ideas

 

[PureOwnage]

Hmm... Sounds like a fun game!
FPS games are hard in my opinion..
:thup:
I'll take the position of the good luck person.

 

[WindexIsBack]

Those models are incredibly high res; even by my standards in wc3.
http://images.kodakgallery.com/servlet/Images/photos3897/6/18/50/12/88/0/88125018615_0_BG.jpg?a=2

* A brand new combat and movement system

By "Brand New" you mean a thoughtless arrow-key system that does not work in wc3 due to connection issues and optimizations.

* A massive playable area

Sure, you can have a huge playable area. But how detailed will it be?

* A new system of inventory, allowing you to carry far more items

Full-screen inventory?
Hah. hardly new

* A system of driving not only cars and trucks, but helicopters and possibly planes as well

I'm curious to how you think you can do this while making them seem unique, and not cars that can fly.

* Hours of gameplay

Eh, we'll see.

The movement system is going to be based on keys. WASD will be the movement keys (hopefully), while the arrow keys will allow you to turn yourself to look around.

Unless the game will be single player only, I don't think it will be possible to create a true first-person. The major problems with using arrow keys and first person;
-Massive performance costs: Wc3 renders things, even if they're hidden behind something else.
-Very difficult or impossible to create an arrow-key system that works on bnet. Main problem is the keys must be checked so often that it begins causing lag.
-Lack of accuracy with arrow keys

I recommend using Arrow Keys for a camera system (left turns the camera left, ect) while using mouse-orders to move the unit around.


EDIT: You've probably seen my model pack, and are free to use anything inside of it as your own.
And try to move away from Stalker, the similarities are huge. The Zone, Radiation, 'walled' off by the military? Hah!

 

[Varine]

Because STALKER is so obviously my primary inspiration, not one of the many other things that inspired STALKER.... And for future reference, I'm basing it off A Roadside Picnic and I Am Legend.

Unless the game will be single player only

The game itself will be a campaign...

Thought that made it clear, right in the beginning.

Full-screen inventory?
Hah. hardly new

I didn't say anything about a full screen.

Sure, you can have a huge playable area. But how detailed will it be?

As detailed as I can get it.

Those models are incredibly high res; even by my standards in wc3.

Most of them have about the same amount of polies as any Warcraft unit does. Largest has 900.

By "Brand New" you mean a thoughtless arrow-key system that does not work in wc3 due to connection issues and optimizations.

System I'm basing it off of works just fine.


And for everyone else: Let's all just be void of any optimism, mmkay? I feel that it's really going to help if everyone just tells me that nothing is going to work and it's all totally unoriginal anyway.

 

[MurderMode]

^ woah that was a harsh post by windex ^

..Well it would be except that I agree with it. I don't know why people want to create first person mods for warcraft 3... why not create a first person mod for a first person game instead? Atleast then there is a chance of your idea working.

I've played a couple of games on b.net that have keyboard keys for movement... and it sucks. You spend all your time running into every wall and obstacle because latency denies you the ability to move in a straight line or turn a corner when you feel like it.

It sounds like you are making a single player campaign, but still those issues will pop up. Why would anyone want to play a first person clone with dodgey movement when they could play any first person game for a more pleasurable playing experience?

Not only that but using the wasd keys to move/strafe and the arrow keys to turn is a bit rediculous... do you need a third hand to control the mouse :S

Anyways, warcraft 3 is a strategy game... if you wander too far from the core of the genre your game is destined for failure. I suggest you drop the movement system and the first person view and make a solid post-apoc adventure rpg. If you are still really keen on the FPS idea, go to a budget games bin and dig out a copy of half-life, or if you feeling like scaling up the specs a bit get Half-Life 2. You can download all the tools for modding these games from the developer, so it might be right up your alley.

 

[WindexIsBack]

Unless the game will be single player only

The game itself will be a campaign...

Thought that made it clear, right in the beginning.

I'm working on a two (possibly) three part game that that is made for battle.net
Just because it's a campaign doesn't mean players can't play it online. The only thing you'll lack is ability to move between levels.

^ woah that was a harsh post by windex ^

Eh, I was actually nice about it this time. The moderators tend to be obnoxious about rules and think a few insults can cause a lifetime of sadness
I didn't go on about what job he would do; as it seems every possible job is already taken besides Credit Taker.

If that job IS open, I'll gladly take it. =]

 

[Varine]

I also always spoke of the player in the singular fashion, never plural. I also made note of the maps being connected for the player to travel between.

Anyways, warcraft 3 is a strategy game... if you wander too far from the core of the genre your game is destined for failure. I suggest you drop the movement system and the first person view and make a solid post-apoc adventure rpg. If you are still really keen on the FPS idea, go to a budget games bin and dig out a copy of half-life, or if you feeling like scaling up the specs a bit get Half-Life 2. You can download all the tools for modding these games from the developer, so it might be right up your alley.

I am well aware of the other options at my disposal for use. Actually I recall people saying essentially the same thing when I was working on my Morrowind mod that would turn it into a shooter game, and lo-and-behold I said fuck it, no one cares. And then a while later the Apocalypse mod was announced. And the point of using the keyboard for everything is to avoid any requirement of the mouse.

 

[MurderMode]

Never played it, but I thought morrowind was played in first person and used arrow keys for movement. If that's the case it'd make more sense to make this mod for that game.

Oh, and having no mouse control at all in a fps mod would make it kind of frustrating.

Anyways the point I'm trying to get at is the base ideas for your game sound good, if you took the first person and key controls out of it. If this was your standard 3rd person warcraft style map then I'd be interested in it's development... but as it stands I wouldn't play it. If I wanted to play an FPS I'd crack open my cd case and pick one of them, but when I feel like playing warcraft 3 I generally feel like playing warcraft 3.

There's already a game out there with all these features (or at least similar), I think it is called combat zone or something. You can drive tanks and planes, run around with your arrow key movements etc. Someone put a lot of work into it and it is impressive for WCIII, but the bottom line is that it is f$#%ing s@#t to play. Unresponsive, awkward movement and retardedly plain looking from the low set camera angle... doesn't matter how good your terraining skills are when you take the cam down to that level playable terrain just doesn't cut it for detail.

Rethink your idea, keep the same plot and systems and just implement it as a more warcraft friendly game. I'd be keen on seeing a post-apoc, inventory crazy and vehiculartastic stats driven war 3 map.

 

[Varine]

I'm reworking the camera system I'm using to add in a hotkey to allow you to change between first person, a few fixed third person cameras, and then the normal third person where you can move the camera around to the map. I'll record a video of it when I get done, hopefully sometime next week if I get it to work fast enough.