Game Mechanics and Ideas Discussion

[B-rad]

-----Game Start-----
Server Select: Pick what server you wish to play on. Since the game will be low-budget starting out, we will need to have 1 player be host and have everyone connect to him/her as clients. Eventually, there will be dedicated servers (Most likely only 1 server in beginning). All dedicated servers will share user information, but players will be able to pick which server they want to play, be it private or dedicated.

-Avatar Select: Select avatar to play as durring Lobby System/applicable Maps.

--Lobby Select: Pick which unlocked Lobby Map you wish to start in.

-----Lobby System-----
The Lobby System will involve a large area/maybe 3-4 different areas to start with (we can add more as the game develops). These areas will be free-roam sidescrolling action with no real combat. The rooms will be large enough so that characters will have a decent amount of exploring to do. I'm thinking a City area with many high-up places/platforming to do, a Base area with different little rooms to hang out in, a Park area with different things to hang around (maybe interact with the environment), and a cliff-side area to run/dive off of a waterfall/rockface area into water (will need to code swimming though). You can run around this area, make friends, trade, build parties, and enter event maps. Entering event maps as a party must be done by the Party Leader.

-----Gaming Event Maps-----
Map-types for the more casual, fun-loving players. Most maps will be played with player's selected Avatar.

RACE Map:
Have a friendly race to get to the designated point on the map, or enter alone to simply run time-trials.

RELAY Map:
Similar to RACE, but players run to each individual point on the map. Players will go through twists and turns on the map to get to the end as quickly as possible.

FLY Map:
For those rail-shooter lovers out there, take on a mission solo or co-op with your friends to make it through the waves of enemies after you. Fly your ship/plane/mech/animal/whatever through the course Galaga-style, shooting down the enemies and collecting power ups in an effort to mass points for the high-score.

COLLECT Map:
Players run out in a free-for-all or team-based attempt at gathering as many tokens strewn across the map as possible before the time limit. The player/team with the most tokens by the end of the game will win. Some tokens are worth more than others.

SCAVENGE Map:
Players compete to run around the map and gather various items. Beware that oposing players may attempt to steal items from you. Items may be set or picked at random. Players who return with the appropriate items will be declared the winners. Items may disappear and respawn in different areas, and objects around the map may hinder your progress (Obstacles and background objects)/help you out (Power-ups, spring-boards, and other background objects).

PRIZE Map:
Compete to grab one of three prizes from other players (It will originate from different locations on the map and begin jumping around) and make it back to the entrance with it. Players will proceed to jump atop eachother to knock the prize from the grasp of their opponents. Players holding the prize will need to charge their jumps to disable constant jumping (you can expect a large amount of players to camp the end-point). Players will donate a set amount of money and compete with different amounts of people. The total pool of money will be staked on the match in the beginning. First place will win 60% of the pot, Second will win 30%, and Third will win 10%. Everyone else will be SOL. These are quick, easy-money matches.

BRIDGE Map:
Players will begin on a bridge area, and objects will begin falling from the sky to remove pieces of the bridge. Players who fall off will lose, until the final player remains alive atop the bridge. At the end, if multiple players survive, the bridge will re-spawn 50% of itself and survivors will have to play until a winner is announced or all players fall.

DODGE Map:
A variation to BRIDGE where players run back/forth to dodge the falling objects that do not break the ground, but do stack ontop of eachother/explode sometimes (depending on the object). Players hit with falling objects/explosions will lose, and the last-remaining player will be the winner. Deadliest game of Tetris EVER!

-----Combat Event Maps-----
Map-types for combat oriented gaming. Most maps here (until I find a way to allow the import custom sprites easily) will have stock characters to choose from such as swordsman, archer, gunner, mage, etc. Each character will have different move-sets and play-styles to set them apart from the others, offering diversity.

FFA Map:
A Free-For-All gametype where all players fight eachother. There are multiple spawns scattered all across the map for players to randomly revive at. Match will continue until time-limit is reached or score-limit is reached for the winning player.

TDM Map:
Team Death-Match game-style. Players will pick out their individual character at the start of the game (may be a round system where players can re-pick their characters at the end of each round). First team to run out of stock lives loses the round. Team to win the best out of the set of matches wins the game.

N-CTF Map:
Classic game of Neutral Capture-The-Flag where teams will compete to grab the neutral flag spawning in02 a central location on the map (may vary from point to point to prevent flag-camping) and escort it back to their home base. First team to get the set number of flags wins. Can be played with multiple flags, but each player can only carry one at a time.

A-CTF Map:
Assault Capture-The-Flag is where each team has their own flag and the opposing team must enter the other's base to grab their flag and return all the way back to their own base with it in order to make a capture. If an enemy has taken the flag from your base, you will be unable to capture the enemy flag until you have returned your own flag to it's start-point. If an enemy is killed while carrying a flag, the flag will be dropped and can be picked up by the next person to touch it.

HTF Map:
Hold-The-Fort is a gametype where players will take turns assaulting and defending the enemy base. At the end of the round, teams will switch sides so that one is in the fortified area (may have stronger characters to choose from while in the fortified position as well). Assault team will attack by carrying their "Flag/Bomb" into the enemy fortress and attempt to make it to the core area and plant the bomb. The round is over if time runs out (Defenders win), Assault team runs out of lives (Defenders do not have a life-limit), or Assault team succeeds in planting the bomb.

BOSS Map:
Players must band together to defeat the one player that has control of the Boss that round. Depending on the boss being played, the player team will have a different ammount of lives. They must defeat the boss before their lives run out. Teamwork is essential here, but the player who does the best overall will be made into the boss next round. In a full game, all players will cycle through a turn as the Boss, and no 1 player will be the boss more than once.

ESCORT Map:
Players on Defense team will have to escort a weakened player who is unable to attack to the goal-point designated on the map. Assault team's mission is to stop them from making it to the end by any means necessary. Players on each team may pick who will be the escort player. After each round, teams will switch sides.

-----Combat Features-----
Combat will be broken down differently for each character. Below is a brief explaination of what to expect.

-Melee Combat-
Will be broken down into combo attacks and power attacks. Melee users will generally have high mobility and deal mostly close-ranged attacks to overwhelm their opponents.

-Ranged Combat-
Will have primarily lower damaging, but much longer ranged attacks. Bows, guns, grenades, rockets, and the like.

-Special Combat-
Mages and certain other characters fall into this category. They mix their fighting styles between close and long range attacks with a mix of abilities that affect different aspects of the field (such as a Nature Mage summoning a pillar of rock to make a passage un-passable until the rock is broken).

-----Map Options/Additions-----
Additional to the Event Maps will be the ability to add in special rules that can be changed by the party-leader of any free-game. The ideas are as follows:

Powerups: May include different powerups that drop on map to enable game-changing variability. May include:
-HP Heal: Restore health by a certain amount quickly
-EN Heal: Restore energy by a certain amount quickly
-Powerup: Increase destructive force for a while.
-Regen: Constantly restore small amount of HP
-Poison: Slowly lose HP.
-Elemental Attacks: Next attack/next X amount of seconds your attack will be enhanced with an elemental attribute.
-Giga Orb: Fill Player's Giga Gauge instantly, allowing use of a Giga Attack at will.
-Extra Life: Increase Stock Lives by 1. (Rare)

Juggernaut: Enable the player who meets certain requirements to become a Juggernaut with increased power and resistance. The requirements can be determined before the game begins.

Hero: Similar to Juggernaut, but will become a different character on respawn with increased abilities in general. Life-span will be limited by a health meter that constantly depletes. Each team may have 1 Hero each at any given time.

Turbo/Slow-mo: Option to speed-up or slow-down gameplay for all players for fast-paced or slow and precise gaming.

Stock/Time: Change ammount of lives each team/player will posses from the game/start as well as the ammount of time the game/round will be played.

Player Handicaps: Change number of players on each team to be unbalanced to favor a more fair game.

Health/Point Handicaps: Players recieve higher health ratings or more points per pickup by changing this handicap.

So...you guys have any feed-back or questions about how things will play out? Maybe some ideas of your own that we could add?

[Julia]

This avatar idea you have, do the players get to make their avatars, or do they have to choose from a generic, default avatar? Or do they get to choose from one of the "Heros"? Do they get to play as Yuuki, Max, Keri and the others?

[B-rad]

What I had in mind was a "Lobby System" where you could choose from character templates the game provided or upload your own sprites for your custom character. In the game instances (like playing capture the flag or something) you'll be need to pick out of a list of characters so that everyone knows what you are and what abilities you have. Understand?

[Julia]

I think I understand. Is it something similar to DOMO or no?

[B-rad]

No, if anything, it'll be kind-of like Terraria. Except MMO, but the "Events" will be instanced based on parties, so the games can be played with only a few people as opposed to everyone playing at once. Like Dragonica Online had with it's Mission Maps.

I plan that (if I can figure out character uploading), to have custom characters be used at most times. But during some of the games, it would be hard to tell who is what character class (like Yuuki running around with a sword out, then all of a sudden she's using light-magic or sniping people with a rifle). So during certain combat-based games, you would be forced to pick a character.

[Julia]

Okay, I get it now. Though I like the idea of Yuuki sniping people with a rifle. Lol.

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