Top 5 Focuses for NS2

Comments

• Haze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  -Creative
  
  Thats it. I want to see what NS has currently and expanded upon to degrees I would have never thought of. Bigger maps, larger games, more lifeforms, weirder ways to kill eachother.

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• SpaceJesus Join Date: 2004-07-02 Member: 29683Banned

  April 2007

  Gameplay
  Balance
  Innovation
  Interactivity
  <b>Learning Curve</b>
  
  thats me.

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• the_x5 the Xzianthian Join Date: 2004-03-02 Member: 27041Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618261:date=Apr 1 2007, 09:29 PM:name=Haze)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Haze @ Apr 1 2007, 09:29 PM) [snapback]1618261[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  -Creative
  
  Thats it. I want to see what NS has currently and expanded upon to degrees I would have never thought of. Bigger maps, larger games, more lifeforms, weirder ways to kill eachother.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  Give me your five top ideas please. I'm sure you can expand creative into five key areas. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

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• NS-SkorpioN Join Date: 2006-10-31 Member: 58101Members

  April 2007

  I want just epic battles, like large time gameplay and more big maps.

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• Garet_Jax Join Date: 2003-02-23 Member: 13870Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  1. Depth.
  
  2. Viable, different tactics.
  
  3. Similar pace to NS1.
  
  4. Easier learning curve.
  
  5. Shorter end game.
  
  [I'm going to assume that some of the above points such as "stability" and "balance" are a given- can't see any dev team not having those points in mind when making a game]
  
  p.s. puzl unban my main account you nibz, I've served my time.

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• SpaceJesus Join Date: 2004-07-02 Member: 29683Banned

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618457:date=Apr 2 2007, 02:52 PM:name=NS-SkorpioN)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NS-SkorpioN @ Apr 2 2007, 02:52 PM) [snapback]1618457[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  I want just epic battles, like large time gameplay and more big maps.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  go play wow.

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• Merkaba Digital Harmony Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 22Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester

  April 2007

  x5, you violated your own strict rules <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />

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• Faskalia Wechsellichtzeichenanlage Join Date: 2004-09-12 Member: 31651Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  Well, instead of the top 5 focuses (which would be fun, fun, fun ,fun ,fun anyway) I am going to write my top 5 new features list (which they of course should focus on <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />)
  
  1- Self scaling battlefields. Thanks to dynamic infestion and airlocks, the battlefield will scale itself, depending on the number of players. This could be even midgame. (Example: 8vs8 now 4 players drop and it is 6vs6. The game would now seal airlock 8, making the hallway leading from core to databse inaccesable)
  
  2-Advanced ressource managment and player-strength managment. Players dying on infestion will give additional res to the res pool. Aliens standing on infestion are stronger etc. How for infestion grows, depends on total res and Rts that are capped.
  
  3- Flamethrower
  
  4- Serverside ragdoll and players-corpse interaction. An Onos corpse would block a hallway for 5-10 seconds, until it gets fully disassembled by either the nano-grid or by infestion.
  
  5-Enviromental damage. You can for example blow a wall into the space stations hull, which would suck smaller aliens out into the vacuum. The wall would of course self-repair after 3-4 seconds. (yeah for magic/nano-bots)
  This would also make some neat bullet-holes-removal-effect. You shoot a wall and instead of the decals just disappearing a tiny blue smoke puff appears, indication that the damage has been repaired <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />

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• NS-SkorpioN Join Date: 2006-10-31 Member: 58101Members

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618480:date=Apr 2 2007, 06:12 PM:name=SpaceJesus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SpaceJesus @ Apr 2 2007, 06:12 PM) [snapback]1618480[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  go play wow.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  Don’t tell me what I have to do.

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• schkorpio I can mspaint Join Date: 2003-05-23 Member: 16635Members

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618484:date=Apr 3 2007, 08:24 AM:name=Faskalia)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Faskalia @ Apr 3 2007, 08:24 AM) [snapback]1618484[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  Well, instead of the top 5 focuses (which would be fun, fun, fun ,fun ,fun anyway) I am going to write my top 5 new features list (which they of course should focus on <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />)
  
  1- Self scaling battlefields. Thanks to dynamic infestion and airlocks, the battlefield will scale itself, depending on the number of players. This could be even midgame. (Example: 8vs8 now 4 players drop and it is 6vs6. The game would now seal airlock 8, making the hallway leading from core to databse inaccesable)
  
  2-Advanced ressource managment and player-strength managment. Players dying on infestion will give additional res to the res pool. Aliens standing on infestion are stronger etc. How for infestion grows, depends on total res and Rts that are capped.
  
  3- Flamethrower
  
  4- Serverside ragdoll and players-corpse interaction. An Onos corpse would block a hallway for 5-10 seconds, until it gets fully disassembled by either the nano-grid or by infestion.
  
  5-Enviromental damage. You can for example blow a wall into the space stations hull, which would suck smaller aliens out into the vacuum. The wall would of course self-repair after 3-4 seconds. (yeah for magic/nano-bots)
  This would also make some neat bullet-holes-removal-effect. You shoot a wall and instead of the decals just disappearing a tiny blue smoke puff appears, indication that the damage has been repaired <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  
  :o they are all very awesome ideas <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" /> -espscially #1

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• rsd Join Date: 2003-02-11 Member: 13405Members

  April 2007

  1. Flamethrower
  2. Variety of viable tactics
  3. Flamethrower
  4. Atmosphere
  5. Flamethrower

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• [Deleted User] Join Date: 2003-11-28 Member: 23688

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  <b>1 - "bigger" gameplay </b> - No, I do not mean huge outdoor battlefields. By this I mean more tech routes for marines to use different tactics under different situations, and more life forms for aliens. These new life forms do not necessarily have to fill a new "role" in the team, for example the fade is the alien soldier, a new life form could also fill this 'soldier' role, but go about it's job in a very different way from the fade... if that makes sense to you.
  
  <b>2 – Dynamic Hives </b> – let the players chose where to place hives. This could REALLY spice things up in NS2.
  
  <b>3 – Marine Teamplay</b> – get rid of rambo marines. IMO the aliens should have the solo units, not the other way around. More realistic marine movement (ties in with ramboing)
  
  <b>4 – Atmosphere</b> – I suspect a portion of users on here would rather smack up their gamma to the max, remove the ambient sounds and run the game on minimal graphics to simply make it easier to kill, but I for one want to be sunk into a different world. And remember, this is a commercial title, and the general public like pretty things.
  
  <b>5 –longer games</b> –I don’t want to see a return of the epic games that lasted multiple hours, but I’m tired of seeing games decided within 2 minutes of round start. More back and forth action would be great. Exactly how to achieve this I’m not sure, could be as simple as taking some anti-stacking measures to help give more even teams, so its not over before it even begins.

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• the_x5 the Xzianthian Join Date: 2004-03-02 Member: 27041Members, Constellation

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618480:date=Apr 2 2007, 05:12 PM:name=SpaceJesus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SpaceJesus @ Apr 2 2007, 05:12 PM) [snapback]1618480[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->go play wow.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  Don't troll members in my thread, plzkthx. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":angry:" border="0" alt="mad-fix.gif" />
  
  <!--quoteo(post=1618483:date=Apr 2 2007, 05:55 PM:name=Merkaba)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Merkaba @ Apr 2 2007, 05:55 PM) [snapback]1618483[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->x5, you violated your own strict rules <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  LOL! What?! How? What did I miss? >< Or are you just messing wih me...? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  
  <!--quoteo(post=1618618:date=Apr 3 2007, 09:25 AM:name=nizb0ag)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nizb0ag @ Apr 3 2007, 09:25 AM) [snapback]1618618[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->1.Lerk spikes
  2.fade hitbox made smaller.
  3.smoke grenade, flashgrenade.
  4.laser working on/off button.
  5.more jetpack fuel _b
  6.new turret that spins around slowly and shoots things the laser is pointing at <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> example: you bunnyhoping through a room full of turrets. You dont get shot antil the laser hits the model.
  ^
  not like the ones on the current version which automaticly shoot anything that comes into site.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  If you had to eliminate one of these to get to <i>five</i> focuses, which one would it be?
  
  
  Overall, this is turning out to be a good thread. I hope the developers are reading this. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

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• badmoon Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7212Members, Reinforced - Shadow

  April 2007

  I can't say for sure if these are a <i>top 5</i> but they are certainly 5 values (not really in any order) I enjoy and would like to continue to enjoy in NS.
  
  <b>-Diverse Strategy</b>
  One thing I would like to see expanded are more in depth tech trees. When one team gets to the end of the tech tree they tend to have everything. Now that's not to say it should be unlikely for a team to research everything, but I would think it also shouldn't be the norm. This also helps with the classic "rock-paper-scissors" element which is common to strategy games, as teams become more reliant on one type of tech.
  
  <b>-Valuable Resources</b>
  Resources, whether ther are just single nodes or, one day, multiple types should always be valued. The game should only rarely get to a point where one team can buy anything and everything they want, and if that's the case the game should end fairly quickly.
  
  <b>-Balance</b>
  The game should be balanced so that not one side has a clear advantage. Sounds simple, but the best way is usually to test and and see what happens.
  
  <b>-Evolution</b>
  One thing I have enjoyed about NS is the way the game has evolved or changed. The developers have always seemed to listen to the community, and has been willing to change mechanics, abilities, maps, etc... I used to always be happy when a change log would come out because it almost always had all the changes I had hoped for. I am not asking for the game to change its mechanics weekly, but it's always nice to hear a new patch is coming with new maps, new balances, and maybe even new things.
  
  <b>-Team Play</b>
  One of the coolest elements of Natural-Selection is the team work. A team that plays well together and listens to each other tends to better.
  
  
  These aren't points of change that I want. These are points that I feel help define NS as to what it is right now and why I enjoy the game. There are certainly other things that make this game appealing, but you only wanted five of my favorites.

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• Kittamaru Join Date: 2006-09-18 Member: 58017Members

  April 2007

  1) Epic Battles
  
  Yes, you know, the ones you used to love back in 1.02 and 1.04. When you could play for an hour, go out to eat, come back 2 hours later, and jump back into the action from the SAME map! When there were stalemates and base breakings and OH IT WAS AWSOME.
  
  2) Babblers
  
  Just cause, you know, babblers were ###### awsome!
  
  3) No SuperRape
  
  I don't want to see a SINGLE bad*** player be able to completely ruin the game for the other 15-31 people on the server. As it is, a single super fade can WTHpwn a decent marine team until they all get shotties. As it is, a single Gl'er can make skulks almost unusable!
  
  4) Spawn Camping Fixed
  
  Some way to prevent the instant-death on spawn that isn't unbalanced. Perhaps a one second invulnerability+invisibility that wears off the moment you move more than 25 units (so you can't have people who learn where the spawn spots are pop you anyway the second you move) This also helps with skulks and GL's.
  
  5) Dynamic Damage
  
  A skulk should take VERY LITTLE damage from a grenade.
  
  Why? It's a shrapnel-based/explosion-based weapon trying to hit a very small target. Make GL's act like frag grenades mixed with HE grenades. Small, disorienting shockwave, and 20-30 "pieces" that go out in a radial pattern, dealing damage to what they hit. To make it useful against structures still, give it 5x damage to structures if there is a direct impact, 2x if there isn't.
  
  Conversely, HMG's should do very little damage to critters that do not have heavy armor (skulks, lerks, gorges, uncarapaced fades) due to the armor-piercing nature of those rounds. On the other hand, shotguns and LMG's should simply bounce off the faceplate of an onos.

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• Detheron Join Date: 2006-11-07 Member: 58469Members

  April 2007

  <b> - Larger Maps, Larger Games </b>
  
  Most FPSes are moving away from the 6v6 games into 10v10 or larger. Id like to see the NS going in the same direction. The game's supposed to be about a war between humans and aliens, and 6v6 games are too small to give you that feeling.
  
  <b> - Dynamic Damage </b>
  Like Kittamaru, I'd love to see different alien forms taking different damage from weapons, but nothing as drastic as the 50% reduction from piercing we already see in the game, more like 15-25%.
  
  I disagree with skulks/gorges/lerks/fades taking less damage from HMG, but agree with most of the other suggestions.
  
  <b> - An improved "spawn" system </b>
  Distress beacon is too great of an advantage to Marines currently, even moreso in larger games. Plus, aliens are too easy to kill when they respawn.
  
  Suggestion: Change the alien respawn system to work like combat, once every 7 seconds every dead alien (up to 50% of their team) will respawn, and make IPs spawn faster as more players join the Marine team.

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• Harrower Join Date: 2005-03-16 Member: 45478Members

  April 2007

  You know it's a good point about environmental damage. Why couldn't the source engine permit brushes to be destroyed and rebuilt dynamically?

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• the_x5 the Xzianthian Join Date: 2004-03-02 Member: 27041Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  Well Harrower, one obstacle could be simply the quantity of system RAM available. And remember for Vista users it's even less. So it's not a bad idea per se, but it needs limits due to hardware restrictions if nothing else.

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• Haze O RLY? Join Date: 2003-07-07 Member: 18018Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618766:date=Apr 3 2007, 09:49 PM:name=the_x5)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_x5 @ Apr 3 2007, 09:49 PM) [snapback]1618766[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  Well Harrower, one obstacle could be simply the quantity of system RAM available. And remember for Vista users it's even less. So it's not a bad idea per se, but it needs limits due to hardware restrictions if nothing else.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  People who can't deal with environmental damage on the source engine really, really need to upgrade their PCs. I don't understand why the great majority of Natural-Selection's player base seems to be teeming with people playing on Atari's, but I've seen the "hardware limitations" argument arise several times before.
  
  <b>Please, for the love of god, upgrade.</b>
  
  <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> 3) No SuperRape
  
  I don't want to see a SINGLE bad*** player be able to completely ruin the game for the other 15-31 people on the server. As it is, a single super fade can WTHpwn a decent marine team until they all get shotties. As it is, a single Gl'er can make skulks almost unusable! <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  I don't see how this could be limited. Just learn2play - get better at the game and this becomes less of an issue. Removing any skill based play completely ruins the game for people who have played for more than a week. Why should a noob filled team actually be able to stand up to super fade? Super fade's a bad***, let him kill everyone. They'll learn.
  
  <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> 1) Epic Battles
  
  Yes, you know, the ones you used to love back in 1.02 and 1.04. When you could play for an hour, go out to eat, come back 2 hours later, and jump back into the action from the SAME map! When there were stalemates and base breakings and OH IT WAS AWSOME. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  If you have two evenly matched teams these matches still crop up. I've played through several actually, and they were a good 10% - 15% of the total games I've played (ones that I would label epic, if you will).
  
  One game the marine's were sieging on Orgin at furnace at our hive that was being built, as well as walking in and shooting it. They had about five sieges hammering the hive, but we had a handful of gorges healing the crap out of the hive while we barely held them off. I told another gorge to throw up a movement chamber when my adrenaline was running low, and we got it up JUST in time - the hive's health was <u>literally</u> at 1%. Everything happened JUST right JUST in the nick of time, and we pulled a win out of our rear ends.
  
  That happens plenty of times now. I'm actually pretty fond of the current version of NS. Find a good community server and stick to it.
  
  <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> - An improved "spawn" system
  Distress beacon is too great of an advantage to Marines currently, even moreso in larger games. Plus, aliens are too easy to kill when they respawn.
  
  <b>Suggestion: Change the alien respawn system to work like combat, once every 7 seconds every dead alien (up to 50% of their team) will respawn,</b> and make IPs spawn faster as more players join the Marine team. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  I <b>really</b> like this idea.
  
  As for my own idea, I think that we should have bodies regulated server side instead of client side, and make it so that in order to "destroy" them you have to knife through them. Carving through an onos corpse in the middle of the hallway would be awesome.

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• the_x5 the Xzianthian Join Date: 2004-03-02 Member: 27041Members, Constellation

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  Haze, before flaming others, why don't you write out your top five focuses <i>first</i>?
  
  The first priority of this thread needs to be for people to list their top five. No I don't agree with all of them either. But people should feel welcome to post their focuses here, no?

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• schkorpio I can mspaint Join Date: 2003-05-23 Member: 16635Members

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  1. more paper scissors rock style abilities and weapons - it seems to me that currently ns works like this, aliens get abilties and marines counter them - rather then being true paper scissors rock. More marines tech trees and tactics, and more alien abilities that tie in together.
  
  2. DI - making a useful(and fun) part of the game rather than just a visual, as well as desiging levels so the terrain can be best exploited by certain abilities / weapsons
  
  3. Flamethrower <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
  <a href="http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?srv=img01&img=/7/1/24/f_nsflameri_80c9m_de5d503.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img01.picoodle.com/img/img01/7/1/24/f_nsflameri_80c9m_de5d503.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" /></a>
  <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?s=476332755701012608&showtopic=98987&st=40#" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index....8987&st=40#</a>
  
  4. More gamplay modes - Classic, Combat, Escape, Territory, VIP, defent the fortress , seige maps , place the nuke in the hive mode,
  
  5. EDIT - changed my mind - proper use of physics - onos knocks over turrets and marines, GL sends skulks flying , NO ONOS CLIMBING LADDERS!

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• Harrower Join Date: 2005-03-16 Member: 45478Members

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618766:date=Apr 3 2007, 10:49 PM:name=the_x5)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_x5 @ Apr 3 2007, 10:49 PM) [snapback]1618766[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  Well Harrower, one obstacle could be simply the quantity of system RAM available. And remember for Vista users it's even less. So it's not a bad idea per se, but it needs limits due to hardware restrictions if nothing else.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  I wonder if Max has an opinion on this.

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• scaryface Join Date: 2002-11-25 Member: 9918Members

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  <b>1) Strategy</b>
  I don't mean tactics, i mean strategy. I want there to be many ways to win the game for both teams. This is a really vague request, but as long as it's fulfilled in some way i'll be happy.
  
  <b>2) Skill</b>
  I don't want every player to become just a unit in an RTS. If a player is good, he/she shouldn't be completely nerfed to the point where he/she is exactly as effective as the other players.
  
  <b>3) Strategy over Skill</b>
  If there is one supermarine, I think that player should be able to get kills, but that doesn't mean he should singlehandedly win the game. In NS, a team can still win even with a lower kill-death ratio. This reminds me of whenever Mario used to join a game and gun down half the alien team. This certainly gave the marines an advantage, but the aliens were able to win by using good teamwork, building nodes, defending them, etc. if the marines did not have as good a strategy as them. (This didn't happen often, mind you, since Mario joining the game completely demoralized the entire alien team until they all f4ed.) In short, a bad comm should be able to ruin the game <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  
  <b>4) Commander</b>
  The commander should have real power to control the marine team and shape its strategy, instead of just having a glorified throne from which to yell at people.
  
  <b>5) Make the game good upon release!!!</b>
  initial reviews are everything, especially for an indie game like this. Have some additional game modes available at release (not combat, for the love of god, maybe something like co:territories). Don't count on user created content and game modes making the game popular. If the game is popular, people will make the content--not the other way around. Any problems shouldn't be fixed by a patch a week or a month after release, since it will be too late for those crucial initial reviews. That may be fine for a mod, but isn't good for a commercial product. I chose this to be my last focus since the 'Prosumers' blog made me worry that UWE hoped to get away with doing less work since consumers would make content and game modes for them.
  
  And those are the best foci i could come up with quickly. I may change them if i remember something better <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
  
  For all the people requesting long games:
  I have nothing against long games, but i hate stalemates. This is when both teams (or even just one team) have nothing they could possibly do to change the situation besides unbelievably small steps. If the games were long due to a powerstruggle where the balance of power shifts repeatedly (territories lost and gained) that would be fine with me. The problem with the long games of old ns was that they were stalemates. little happened besides pointless suicide bum rushes or trying to take out structures with lerk spikes, and it got boring.
  
  @nizb0ag: actually, i'm pretty sure turrets have to find you before they can shoot at you. as a skulk you can strafe around a turret while biting it while it looks the other way and it will never find you. (can someone confirm this? or am i just imagining it?)
  and "4.laser working on/off button." <-- WTH does this mean? a laser sight on guns?
  
  @whoever suggested the improved spawn system: that would kick ###### (the alien side) Maybe the whole team shouldn't spawn at once, but they should definitely spawn in groups. this would help prevent spawn camping, and would help skulks go out in groups instead of alone. I know the reason i usually skulk alone is because i'm too lazy or impatient to find someone else to go with.
  
  [edit] holy crap, this was a long post

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• Bacillus Join Date: 2006-11-02 Member: 58241Members

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  Some copypaste and modifying and I'll have the list
  
  1. Depth.
  
  2. Viable, different tactics.
  
  3. More teamwork dependant, but still skill intense.
  
  4. Good tutorials
  
  5. Optimized network code
  
  I'd be fine with even more fast-paced game tempo to make fps elements, tactical gameplay and teamwork even more challenging, but the public players and internet connections would probably be unable to handle the speed.
  
  If its going to be epic games, I'd rather have them because both teams are playing at the same skill level and extremely well instead of teams playing bad or passive.
  
  <!--quoteo(post=1618767:date=Apr 4 2007, 03:18 AM:name=Haze)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Haze @ Apr 4 2007, 03:18 AM) [snapback]1618767[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  People who can't deal with environmental damage on the source engine really, really need to upgrade their PCs. I don't understand why the great majority of Natural-Selection's player base seems to be teeming with people playing on Atari's, but I've seen the "hardware limitations" argument arise several times before.
  
  <b>Please, for the love of god, upgrade.</b>
  
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  Heh... I completely understand that people should update their hardware and that ns should be developed for the new hardware, but this still reminds me of the "get bettar" discussing. The key is finding the balance between the new stuff and low-end PCs.

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• KainTSA Join Date: 2005-05-30 Member: 52831Members, Constellation

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  1) Real variability in strategies for BOTH teams. Perhaps with a reworking of chambers with aliens and a rebuilding of research trees for rines.
  
  2) Lots of clever gameplay elements for DI such as bonuses for aliens, destruction by flame throwers etc.
  
  3) Spawn camping prevention in some manner. I would suggest aliens spawning on full cloak that wears off quickly. Just enough that aliens can't be seen and killed instantly with no chance for even skilled players to avoid it. Maybe a slight armor bonus for marines while still on the IP from spawning, like a forcefield of some kind.
  
  4) Proper hitboxes for aliens and perhaps marine damage dependent on area struck
  
  5) Keep strategy and teamwork the most important factor in deciding a round
  
  
  
  <!--quoteo(post=1618767:date=Apr 3 2007, 11:18 PM:name=Haze)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Haze @ Apr 3 2007, 11:18 PM) [snapback]1618767[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  People who can't deal with environmental damage on the source engine really, really need to upgrade their PCs. I don't understand why the great majority of Natural-Selection's player base seems to be teeming with people playing on Atari's, but I've seen the "hardware limitations" argument arise several times before.
  <b>Please, for the love of god, upgrade.</b><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  
  Unfortunately you have to deal with reality and not what you think should be reality. The reality is the general population isn't going to upgrade just to play NS. If a lot of potential customers have lower spec machines, then as a company UWE HAS to keep them in mind. I'd love the kind of graphics that my machine can handle to be implemented, but not at the expense of a much lower player base. You have to find the right balance between features and availability of the average FPS gamer to run them.

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• Detheron Join Date: 2006-11-07 Member: 58469Members

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618793:date=Apr 4 2007, 06:57 AM:name=scaryface)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scaryface @ Apr 4 2007, 06:57 AM) [snapback]1618793[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  @whoever suggested the improved spawn system: that would kick ###### (the alien side) Maybe they whole team shouldn't spawn at once, but they should definitely spawn in groups. this would help prevent spawn camping, and would help skulks go out in groups instead of alone. I know the reason i usually skulk alone is because i'm too lazy or impatient to find someone else to go with.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  That would be me.
  
  My original idea was every dead alien up to 50% of their team (If there were 10 people playing aliens and 6 were dead, 5 skulks would respawn in the next wave). It would be a great fix against spawn camping and would promote skulk rushes, like we had it before the RFK system.
  
  Additional hives could shorten the time between respawn waves by one second per hive, or increase the number of aliens brought back to life by 10% per hive. The downside is that IPs would have to be counterbalanced. There's no way your standart 2-3 IPs could keep up with 3~8 skulks spawning every 7 seconds. It would be awesome though.

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• the_x5 the Xzianthian Join Date: 2004-03-02 Member: 27041Members, Constellation

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618872:date=Apr 4 2007, 03:28 PM:name=Detheron)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Detheron @ Apr 4 2007, 03:28 PM) [snapback]1618872[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  That would be me.
  
  My original idea was every dead alien up to 50% of their team (If there were 10 people playing aliens and 6 were dead, 5 skulks would respawn in the next wave). It would be a great fix against spawn camping and would promote skulk rushes, like we had it before the RFK system.
  
  Additional hives could shorten the time between respawn waves by one second per hive, or increase the number of aliens brought back to life by 10% per hive. The downside is that IPs would have to be counterbalanced. There's no way your standart 2-3 IPs could keep up with 3~8 skulks spawning every 7 seconds. It would be awesome though.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  Nice idea actually. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

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• Zaggy NullPointerException The Netherlands Join Date: 2003-12-10 Member: 24214Forum Moderators, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Onos, Subnautica Playtester

  April 2007

  To try out the things the NS devs just couldn't do with the Half Life engine.
  I can't think of any at the time of writing, but I'm sure there are!

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• tjosan Join Date: 2003-05-16 Member: 16374Members, Constellation

  April 2007 edited April 2007

  In no specific order:
  
  <i>* Well balanced learning curve</i>
  There should always be something more you can work on perfecting in your individual play, but the game must be easy to pick up and get proficient at.
  
  <i>* Accessible </i>
  It should be simple to just hop on a server and play a bit without feeling obliged to stay and play out the round.
  
  <i>* Depth</i>
  Rock paper scissors is all fine, but we know it's hard to implement RTS structures in a FPS game without creating frustration. Make use of mapping!
  <i>
  * Compatible with competetive play</i>
  Depth and learning curve and accessibility all tie into this point, but there are other things to keep in mind as well. For a game to pull in the large masses it needs to conform to the standards set by the public. It needs to be easy to play, most often the more players on the server the better, and similar things. To make a successful game compatible with competetive gaming you need to be able to pull the game out of it's ordinary context and directly place it in the template of organised gaming; fewer players on each team, possible to spectate and/or record and replay, shorter and more decisive rounds and most importantly easy for individual players to make large impact.
  
  <i>* Support</i>
  The game needs to be continously updated and supported to fix balance, gameplay problems and bugs.

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• Trojan Join Date: 2002-11-02 Member: 4611Members

  April 2007

  <!--quoteo(post=1618766:date=Apr 4 2007, 12:49 PM:name=the_x5)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_x5 @ Apr 4 2007, 12:49 PM) [snapback]1618766[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
  Well Harrower, one obstacle could be simply the quantity of system RAM available. And remember for Vista users it's even less. So it's not a bad idea per se, but it needs limits due to hardware restrictions if nothing else.
  <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  
  I imagine the fact that Source uses BSP for its level rendering would pose more of a problem than system requirements. BSP is the anti-fun when it comes to dynamic.. anything

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