What do you want out of NS:S
MrMakaveli
Join Date: 2004-05-06 Member: 28509Members
Join Date: 2004-05-06 Member: 28509Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Discuss</div>What does everyone want out of NS:S in comparison to regular NS? Do you want a grander scale of NS (64 person servers, huge battles)? Do you want a lot more abilities/tech? Do you want more features? Do you want it to stay the same as NS (port to source engine, basically)?
I for one want NS:S to simply be a port of NS to the source engine. I love NS's gameplay, and don't want it to change (drastically, at least). NS:S would be perfect (imo) if: It was simply a port of regular NS. It was optimized extremely well so it played as well as the Half Life 1 version.
I fear that NS:S will be so unoptimized (in-part due to the sluggish Source engine) that even if it was a completely unchanged port, balance tweaks would have to be made to compensate for whatever the Source engine affects (air control, bunny hopping skulks, etc).
I wonder what Flayra wants out of NS:S? A game that appeals to the average casual gamer, or a very balanced, competitive game that is worth of the CPL (which NS definitely could have been).
I for one want NS:S to simply be a port of NS to the source engine. I love NS's gameplay, and don't want it to change (drastically, at least). NS:S would be perfect (imo) if: It was simply a port of regular NS. It was optimized extremely well so it played as well as the Half Life 1 version.
I fear that NS:S will be so unoptimized (in-part due to the sluggish Source engine) that even if it was a completely unchanged port, balance tweaks would have to be made to compensate for whatever the Source engine affects (air control, bunny hopping skulks, etc).
I wonder what Flayra wants out of NS:S? A game that appeals to the average casual gamer, or a very balanced, competitive game that is worth of the CPL (which NS definitely could have been).
Comments
In my opinion, there's only 2 things that really NEED to change. NS:S needs to be advertised so there will be more leagues and more players, and Flayra's idea of a seperate mode that is more casual (combat) needs to be revamped somehow.
Edit: Hmm something seems to be wrong with the 'edit' function. I edited this post and the edit never came through. Oh well, I'll rewrite it.
Something came to mind after re-reading my post. I beleive the MOST unique aspect of NS is the role air control and movement plays into combat and traveling around the map. I really hope there is still SOME sort of air control and movement skills required in NS:S. Fading is perhaps the most fun thing I've ever done in a game, and taking out the required skill of air control will, most likely, change it so drastically that it will no longer be fun for me. Fading just won't be fading without the air control involved.
In short, better graphics. May also be nice to see game features added, that were perhaps wanted previously, but no way of running it on the HL1 engine. This would bring in a whole balance issue though. I would just like to see it ported first just for a well-needed fresh look.
I can bhop well, but its not fair on the poor sods who cant do it, its not a natural form of movement to learn. I'd like to see movement implemented that can be used to your advantage, and still needs to be learned, but it needs to be obvious from the very beginning to players it's something you can do.
I would also like to see the loony crack jumping marine movement removed. Again i admit its something i do, but it looks ridiculas and so out of place.
the loony crack jumping marine movement
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What's that ?
Silent-ducked jump and then normal jump ?
Hum, tbh, NS:S would be totally different, with more than " graphic changes ". Gameplay and other things have to be changed ( of course, with better features ), but I don't know what, i'm not really good to develop ideas :/ But I want another NS style ; of course, Aliens vs Marines ( FrontiersMen vs Kharaa ), but I want new strategies, buidlings, weapons ?, races ?, environnement, etc etc. A lot of players are bored of NS, more than the others who still like the game " like this ". NS needs to be changed, so old players will probably come back, and of course, new players will buy the game <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Basically, I like NS as-is. It's why I'm still here. I think an asymmetrial strategy game is very difficult to design, and has a fragile balance. I'm worried about changing it too much.
( When you're moving very very fast, or when you're moving in all the directions, or both ^^ ).
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lerk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::lerk::" border="0" alt="lerk.gif" />
NS could make great use of shader effects.
To Reeke: Bunny hopping is an exploit of the half life engine, but it's grown to be a part of NS now. If it was taken out, it would change the game a lot (for the worse imo). Bunny hopping is a skill that needs to be learned to be a better player. I feel that when a game is being balanced, the devs should have the mind set that people CAN play the game perfectly. Skulks HP should be balanced around the fact that a marine will hit all 10 shots without missing 1. Obviously, this doesn't happen every time, but I feel the game should be balanced around the fact that it CAN. I really dislike the mindset some people have that "oh this is too difficult for new players to learn, it should be changed so it's easier to learn".
This also brings up another one of my peeves with NS. Carapace. Keeping the previously-mentioned mindset in mind, fades should have to execute every single maneuver flawlessly. They should blink in, hit as many swipes as they see fit, and retreat, without flaw. If they make a mistake, they SHOULD die. Now carapace is basically a clutch upgrade for bad players. They can blink in, do whatever, blink out, and hit a wall, and still manage to get away even though they would have died twice without carapace.
In other games that I play, there are some difficult aspects. For example, in BF2. I see some people maneuver in the helicopter pretty amazingly. I don't cry "it's too hard to learn, it should be changed". I just admire their skills, and if I want to do the same as them, I practice.
I just want to say that there are people who play this game competitively, and balance is everything to them. I see from everyone else's point of view that nifty effects and cool graphics would be neat, but I hope anything unecessary won't be added, or there is an option to turn said effects off. Flayra had a CPL-level game, it just didn't have the popularity. I'm pretty sure NS:S is going to be really popular if it comes out before HL2 and Source starts dying out. If he plays his cards right, he could have a game at the CPL this time around, which is what I'm hoping for.
I just hope NS:S is exactly that. NS on the Source engine. Nothing more, nothing less. NS2 should be the game where he starts adding flamethrowers and whatever else, not NS:S.
Then I'd like to see it taken to the next level - NS2, if you will. More guns, different scenarios, different tech and evolutions... Maybe even a single player campaign.
*dreams*
For example, a skulk hangs off a small ledge, then jumps down on a marine, biting his head off, and instantly jumping off that marine to get to a wall. As another marine try to get aim, the skulk jumps onto the ceiling, onto the opposing wall, thus circling the marine and biting him out from behind.
Currently, jumping off walls is quite limited, but even so, I notice that using walls to evade easy tracking is still sometimes useful, albeit not as much as I hoped. I suppose that one reason for this is that jumping off a wall usually means you do not have any speed.
For marines, I would like to see jumping modified to avoid the infamous backwards glide. In fact, Marines rarely have a necessity to jump. Rather, they should be able to cross obstacles by simply climbing them (when I decide to go up some stairs, I climb rather than jump) and eventually, if not too game unbalancing, haul themselves up when they grab ledges, such as entering a vent like the ones near each hive in veil (doing so would incapacitate them for the duration of the action)
Also, I feel like vents should be Alien territory. Currently, marines in vents have quite an advantage due to their range and the reduced mobility (vertical and lateral) of aliens within vents. But marines shouldn't be able to have near perfect aim in such a cramped space.
Visible Upgrades - When the aliens get carapace i wanna see a change on their body.
Better cloaking - Something more than just transparency, make the aliens completely invisilbe and use a shader for a slight "wobble" effect of the graphics behind them (maybe even with a fade near the edge of the object so it becomes a subtle line rather than a sharp edge)
Better Animation - Ok I assume this is quite difficult so erm probably wont see it for a while <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" /> but i've seen it done in games like DOW, when an Onos devours a rine you should see the onos actually swallow him whole.
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I thought the problem with anything besides complete invisibility is that people with inferior graphics cards/properly adjusted brightness settings could mostly negate the cloaking effect. Using the Source engine wouldn't prevent that abuse, so isn't complete invisibility a requirement for the upgrade to be useful?
Actually, as I understand it, Flayra (or another dev) got the volumetric code working, but couldn't get it to look good on the HL engine without massive performance hits.
...dream of the same, the Onos should stick his Head out, and -guulp- the Marine is away in the fraction of a Second. Currently it's impossible because it interfers with all other Animations, HL1 doesn't support Animationblending.
...await better Models, Hitboxes, "Camerareferencepoints" (especialy for Onos) and all the Gizmos that are all but impossible with the new Engine.
...hope that there are multiple Models for each Class, at least for Marines, and Armorupgrades visible for all.
A carapaced Onos should look like a rabid Armadillo on Speed, drawn by H. R. Giger on Crack.
And, lastly, I'd wish that there are valid Functions like traveling on an Onos' back as Alien or something like that.
That Stomp finaly throws you over in NS:S is pretty obvious, I think.
*snip*I can bhop well, but its not fair on the poor sods who cant do it, its not a natural form of movement to learn.*snip
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It's already "fixed" in HL2DM, sorta, when you just jump you get a speed boost without any mouse movement so it's easy for casual gamers.
Here's my list;
- Remove combat. Yeah i know i'm being harsh. Even if i'm making a... combat map for the HL1 version. In the long run, <!--coloro:#CC0000--><span style="color:#CC0000"><!--/coloro-->its destroying the playerbase.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
- WAY more entities for mappers. (think sven-coop)
- Revamped graphics, of course.
- Some vehicles. (but i know i'm dreaming, way too hard to balance)
- Webcam/avatar support. When a marine talks over voice comm, you see his face as well. If no cam this would be replaced by an avatar.
- More gore. I like blood. As an alien, being able to "eat" corpses to regain HP's. Remove innate regen.
- Remove blockscripts. It's useless and only creating drama, <!--coloro:#CC0000--><span style="color:#CC0000"><!--/coloro-->dividing the community<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->. Scripts are harmless as long as potential exploits are being fixed. "OMG n1 pistol script!!11oneone". Enough of that, we are already tired of the "omg no reg, crappy server, fix ur rates". <!--coloro:#CC0000--><span style="color:#CC0000"><!--/coloro-->Its destroying the playerbase.<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
- Secksy new textures. Lots.
- " " new sounds, 'nuff said.
- " " new voice acting. There has to be some <strike>slave</strike> volunteer willing to do this.
- Meh, i typed this two hours ago and now i'm kinda drunk so huhhh, yeah. I'm posting it anyway...
YARRR!
I was personally hoping that NS2 would be a different game, maybe even a little farther into the future were the war has escalated in some ways. I think the gameplay should be kept nearly the same, the base alien types should remain with maybe a few minor evolutions to spice up the game. Marine weaponry might become slightly more advanced. I think an all new roster of maps should be created, with old maps not making an appearance unless a storyline can be made. In fact a storyline would really inhance the atmosphere of NS. I always loved to read the online NS manual to see what the marines thought about the aliens in their first encounters.
Now, due to popular demand, a direct port would probably happen as well, but I think NS2 should be prioritized over NS:S. Also, I beg that Combat will not be implemented, though I know it will be :|
And revamp co, it obviously didnt turn out how it was supposed too.
Ideally, NS and Combat wil be distributed as different games, because they are. A bit in the same way MarioKart isn't yet another Mario platformer.
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Talk about splitting the playerbase...
BUT MOST OF ALL! THE RETURN OF ... BABBLERS, NS:S NEEDS THEM!
Talk about splitting the playerbase...
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Yeah well it's better than joining a server and finding out that the next map is going to suit only half of the players, making the other half leave.
And nothing would prevent players to play both if they enjoy both. I play Combat extremely rarely, and never for prolonged amounts of time (a few rounds tops), and only because I happen to be on a server that switched from ns_ to co_. I for one would not miss combat, and I can assure you I have met more than enough that would not miss Classic.
+moveup incorporated in your jump bind felt so natural running up walls, walljumping is a hugely annoying, artificial thing... Although I haven't played for more than an hour or two since it was put in it's really annoying when I do play.
oh yeah and fix combat if it's still in. The fact that Onos's and Hive3 weapons (as a start) are still in combat is amazing to me.