End of July Update

Hey there!

Well I was able to keep up my add-a-new-unit-every-week scheme for three weeks, which is just about how long I expected I'd be capable of doing so.

What's derailed me is a fantastic new idea for a brand new project--something completely different from StarDodgeBall and entirely unrelated. I haven't been this excited for a SC2 Arcade game idea since almost exactly two years ago, when I started forming the ideas for none other than StarDodgeBall!

I'll still be keeping StarDodgeBall updated, of course, so if you have any ideas/complaints please share them!

rut

any details on the new game? It sounds interesting

Hey Pierce! Here's the idea:

There is a city, small to medium in size, populated by many many identical marines. You and all the other players control a Marine and there is no way to tell them apart based on appearance--only by behavior. Assuming a FFA game, you would move around the map keeping an eye open for any usual behavior that leads you to believe a Marine is being controlled by a human, and you'd take a shot at it.

When you fire a weapon, the neutral Marines around you scatter and run! The sound is explosive and loud, and every player is alerted that a shot has been fired by a ping on the minimap. If you hit an enemy player, he goes down and you earn a kill/point. Hitting him from behind gives you a point bonus, as does knifing him. Using a melee attack is also quiet and does not cause neutral Marines to scatter or enemies to be alerted.

Special weapons periodically spawn on the map and they appear on the minimap. Picking one up gives you a different, more effective gun, though it holds limited charges. A Sniper Rifle has additional range and is silenced, helping you to attack without giving away your position, while a Shotgun fires many shots in a spread, making it near impossible to miss your target.

Every player also has a defensive ability, ranging from cloaking to blink to creating a controllable Hologram to deceive enemies. You can use your ability only once before it must be recharged by walking close to a recharging station, several of which are scattered across the map.

Anyway, that's the gist of the game. At the moment I've made the standard attack, melee attack, 5 special weapons, and 4 defensive abilities, making me about 90% done with Data Editor stuff. Then I'll work on the game engine via Triggering and the UI. I'm saving the terraining for last in the hope that I can get someone to help do it for me since I have somewhere close to no experience with any sort of advanced terraining.

It's a simple project--pretty small in scope--so I hope to be able to publish it after several months. Of course you never how things will happen, but I'm already super excited with how it's going! If you have any ideas/suggestions please let me know, as I'm sure you're aware I always appreciate feedback.

rut

The new project sounds interesting.Its gameplay is something like Assassin's Creed multiple game,which is the only thing that concerns me.

It seems that the map is quite simple.Players just wander around the street,pretending to be a citizen and taking opportunity to kill each other.The idea of special weapons and melee attack are good,yet not good enough.If you want the players be personally on the scene,like they're the real assassins,you ought to add some unique action for them. Such as climbing the wall,jumping between the rooftops,hiding in a haystack...etc. Which i mean is Parkour. Is it possible to design it by sc2editor?

Anyway,I love Stardodgeball.It's the best and most creative maps i've ever seen in SC2.I'm dying to play your next map.

You know it's kind of funny--I'm really the least qualified person on Earth to make a game like this. I've never played Assassin's Creed in my life! On the other hand, though, not having played the game puts me at an advantage in that I won't be attempting to copy its mechanics into a game in a different medium--I'm hoping not to create a Starcraft version of Assassin's Creed, but rather a different game entirely (though I admit it shares the fundamental concept of blending in and assassinating enemies).

As far as parkour goes I don't think I'm capable of making a system that would work in SC2, but that's okay. I'm planning on using the standard type of game camera with the standard type of controls, and an overhead system would make climbing over things kind of difficult to work with. There will be obstacles to bullets and line-of-sight blockers to add ways to hide and use the terrain to your advantage.

That being said I agree that the more diversity of strategy we can think of the better. We can't really do "parkour" but we can add in interesting, interactive obstacles. Once I have the "engine" complete we can start stretching the boundaries of settings and terrain. In the finished game I'm hoping to have almost every aspect of the game's mechanics modifiable via voting at the start of the game. I'd love for people to choose to play a game with lots of powerups or with none at all, or choose between heavy foot traffic or even no neutral Marines--kind of make the game a "Snipers" variant. And with lots of options I think we can start to see what is fun and what is lame.

Thanks for your feedback! I'm always open to ideas and suggestions. If you want to be a casual part of the project I would love your input! When the game mechanics are ready I'll upload a Youtube video so you guys can see how what it looks like.

Oh, and I'm actively trying to come up with a name for this project. My wife wants me to call it "Sidewalk Sociopaths" but I can't say I'm fully decided on that. I'm kind of thinking I should do something with the prefix "Star" to cash in on my last project, kind of make a signature for my games.

Thanks,
rut

I've got some ideas about the name of your new project such as "Star Phantom","No One Lives Forever",“Hustle” or "Korhal Gangster".

 I'm glad you invited me to be a casual part of project.But I'm an amateur of sc2editor,despite I've been learning it in sc2mapster.com for several weeks.  When I'm ready,I will let you know. Wish i could help you with your 3rd project in the future.

Interesting name ideas--I'll be thinking about them. And don't worry about the Editor, I can handle all the data and triggers and UI and whatnot. I'm just trying to gather ideas as much as possible. I'd hate to leave out a good idea just because my brain wasn't able to come up with it!

rut

Hey, this game sounds like a lot of fun.

On the topic of titles, I really liked Star Phantom and Sidewalk Sociopaths. Maybe even Star Gangsters, Starssassin Wars, or StarSidewalk Sociopaths if you're really into that! Have you considered an option to change the population density pregame, like the cars and city boundaries? It would be funner to have a higher population density when playing with more people, and less population density with fewer players. As a last resort, i think all players should have a sprint ability to quickly escape, but when sprinting all AIs will back away from you distinguishing you from the rest of the crowd. When making the city, I think it would be a lot cooler if you didn't use actual buildings, but instead create walls representing the outside of buildings enabling players to walk in and out of coffee shops, clothing stores, jewelry stores, auto-repair shops; restroom assassinations would be hilarious.

-Zergling

Hey Zergling!

My goal with the new game is to create an engine with almost all the significant variables modifiable by the people playing (via voting). This means the map size and population density are both adjustable--I even want the option to play with no neutral Marines at all, like a Snipers game!

Sprinting is also already in the game--neutral Marines don't behave differently if you sprint past them, but since they don't sprint on their own the person sprinting stands out like a sore thumb.

The aesthetics of the map are something I'm hoping to get some help with since I have practically no experience creating terrain myself. That being said, I do like the ideas you've put forth since they would make the game feel more realistic.

I'm really looking forward to getting a proof-of-concept gameplay video set up so people can see what the game will look like! It will still take some additional time, however--these games take so long to make it's almost unbelievable, and I just don't have the free time I used to (StarDodgeBall is the product of a large period of unemployment, but luckily I don't have that issue anymore!).

Thanks for your input,
rut