GorgeForts

Soul_Rider

I began work on a new mod yesterday. Because of all the previous mods I have worked on with their code laying around, In 4 hours, the game was basically complete. It just needs tidying up some NS2 specific bits, and needs menus/scoreboard adjustments to show flag captures.

There is a problem, though the game can be played on NS2 maps, they really don't work for this game and are way too big. So while the mod can almost be finished in a weekend, it can't be played until there are some suitable maps.

I have been testing with a modified version of sws_eden, as it is close to what I need, but I'd need permission from @Loki and @Flaterectomy and possibly others before I could release the mod with the map.

GorgeForts

Two teams of Gorges face off in a CTH (Capture The Hydra) game.
First team to 5 captures wins.
There are no harvesters etc, players start with 20 res.
You can spend your res on any gorge build menu item, with standard NS2 costs/restrictions.
You get 10 points for taking the enemy flag
You get 20 points for returning your flag
You get 50 points for capturing the enemy flag

Important Notes:
Gorges jump higher than normal, to get around the test map I am using.
When a flag is captured a message is printed to console, this is currently the only way to know how many flags have been captured.

Now up on steam - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=618811973

Loki

I am more than happy for you to use any of my maps, anything that gets people playing on stuff that is created I will fully support !

Flaterectomy

And I only did a fix on the map at some point, so it's all up to him. I am all for it, though.

Valo

I'm still waiting for gorge with the golden gun ^_^ couldn't be that hard to colour a pistol gold with one shot @ 10k dmg!

Sounds like an interesting idea! Maybe increase the number of clogs per gorge to get some massive forts? xD

Soul_Rider

Thanks Guys

I was going to add my team spawn code to take advantage of sws being designed with spawns away from flag, but I have left it be for now.

I won't be upping the number of clogs as it will be too difficult for players, remembering that each player can build 10 clogs already, it probably won't work as is and have to be reduced.

If someone wants to volunteer to test this works with more than 1 player, I will look to push this out in time for the map testing sessions later.

Soul_Rider

OK, had a good test with @Brute and found a few issues that will need fixing, and one or two balance issues...

In a One on One fight, Gorges can outheal the damage of the other gorge. It's a never ending war...

Soul_Rider

First alpha is now available on steam - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=618811973

Soul_Rider

Great test today at SCC, got a lot of good feedback. Was glad to see the game inspired people to want to play Skulks With Shotguns as well. Hopefully that will get fixed up soon.

deathshroud

Theres a lot of potential in this mod, who doesnt want to be a gorge.

Although i would prefer the standard ns2 game mode kind of marine vs marine but with gorges and hives

Flaterectomy

It was a messy test, but fun! My only beef with the principle is that I don't find gorge combat particularly gratifying, so levelling-up to Railgun Spit might be necessary. :P

Nordic

deathshroud wrote: »

Theres a lot of potential in this mod, who doesnt want to be a gorge.

Although i would prefer the standard ns2 game mode kind of marine vs marine but with gorges and hives

I imagined it being like that and more RTS than ns2's FPS.

deathshroud

Nordic wrote: »

deathshroud wrote: »

Theres a lot of potential in this mod, who doesnt want to be a gorge.

Although i would prefer the standard ns2 game mode kind of marine vs marine but with gorges and hives

I imagined it being like that and more RTS than ns2's FPS.

yea maybe get rid of commanders to and have gorges build everything so they pool their resources

Soul_Rider

@deathshroud Those are valid ideas, but not where GorgeForts is headed.

GorgeForts was originally conceived as the 2nd mod in a trilogy, that was going to make up GorgeWorld. The first game being GorgeCraft. GorgeWorld was meant to be a chance to see the gorges playing in their natural habitats and games, before they were captured by the hive mind. All my 'gorge' based games are prequels to the NS2 universe. You could argue they are in fact happening at this very moment in a galaxy far, far, away.

GorgeForts is based on one of my favourite source mods - SourceForts - http://www.moddb.com/mods/sourceforts

If you don't know of it already, read up on it, the building ideas in the game are tailor-made for Gorge play, although gameplay will of course be different, it will embody the spirit of the original. That means more building and FPS style CTF, less commander and RTS.

Gorges will not stay as we know them, and there will be 3 classes, Capper, Healer, Defender. Can you work out what their roles will be?

The general structure of a round will be the same as the original - Players will have a set time to build their forts, then players will play CTF, trying to kill the enemies and destroy their forts so you can get at the flag, then return to build mode to repair/redesign the forts, then play again. At the end of the 2nd half, the team with the most captures wins.

Of course, it would be a simple thing to switch the CTF part to be like SWS, and the building part to be done with Gorges, but that is not how I want this game to go. I want to make the gorges more fantasy and magical than currently. I have a few interesting ideas, but we'll see how things pan out.

@Flaterectomy Yes, upgrades, even item drops, that sort of thing to try and spice up the game play. Gorges themselves will be much more nimble than currently as well. I think of the pre-hive mind gorges as happier, sports loving, game playing builders, hence the direction of my Unity game.

I hope that clears up things about the direction I am taking this mod. However, making a straight alien vs alien mod would be quite easy to do currently, making it gorge based would add a bit more work...

--EDIT---

The classes are optional, I may not go with them. There weren't classes in the original game, you just picked up whatever weapon you could. As I plan to add Item spawns, classes may be dropped to allow greater player agency in how they play. Overall, it depends how complicated everything is getting

Saffron_baker

Awsome!
Just a question how did the Gorges life before?
What kind of plants?
What enviroment?
And the infestation on the Gorges and the buildings need to go away..

Soul_Rider

Unfortunately, the mods themselves will not reflect the gorges llives, as I cannot do the required art customisation for it. You will have to use your imagination on the what it was like part, I can only supply the games..

As for customisation, the biggest piece of feedback which needs to be addressed is how to differentiate between friendly and enemy gorges. As it turns out, it is also the biggest issue. Any suggestions for a quick and easy way to do this?

I would just use @McGlaspie 's colored skins mod, but I don't know how to make a colormap for the Gorge skin. I can't do what SWS did, as that would require building out custom gorge models, and I wouldn't even know where to start with that one.

Any ideas?

BeigeAlert

Soul_Rider wrote: »

Unfortunately, the mods themselves will not reflect the gorges llives, as I cannot do the required art customisation for it. You will have to use your imagination on the what it was like part, I can only supply the games..

As for customisation, the biggest piece of feedback which needs to be addressed is how to differentiate between friendly and enemy gorges. As it turns out, it is also the biggest issue. Any suggestions for a quick and easy way to do this?

I would just use @McGlaspie 's colored skins mod, but I don't know how to make a colormap for the Gorge skin. I can't do what SWS did, as that would require building out custom gorge models, and I wouldn't even know where to start with that one.

Any ideas?

For a quick fix that you could refine later, maybe just modify the shader so it tints the gorge's albedo texture either red or blue based on a shader paramter.

Soul_Rider

I give you an awesome - but a quick fix generally doesn't mean learning a new language...

Yeah, it sounds like the best solution, just need to look into the parameters available, any tips on where to start, you know like, what file should I be looking at? what parameter? Any initial starting point that would be good for me to jump off from would be helpful

BeigeAlert

Soul_Rider wrote: »

I give you an awesome - but a quick fix generally doesn't mean learning a new language...

Yeah, it sounds like the best solution, just need to look into the parameters available, any tips on where to start, you know like, what file should I be looking at? what parameter? Any initial starting point that would be good for me to jump off from would be helpful

You can specify your own parameters. Take a look at the exo minigun, that uses custom parameters for the heat map.

Soul_Rider

It's been long slow work on this. After 2 weeks mucking around, I finally have a class spawn system 'working'. Need to integrate it properly, but essentially, you spawn as an egg, and have to select your class, before spawning.