Mod Ideas/Soul Devourer
Description
by Novacane
1 Player is chosen to be the demon. To keep it simple, in the first version of the mod, he could just be a powered up player with extra speed, double damage, regenerating shields and such, and with some kind of glow to identify him, or make him really fat. In a more advanced version, he could be a choice of different demons, like a large and poweful monster that fires lightning bolts that send players flying, or a creature akin to the alien in aliens vs predator.
Either way, it's him versus the rest of the players. His powers should be scaled to the number of opponents. The way a typical game would start is that each side is assigned the same number of soul gems. The number of gems can vary, but let's say 3 for this instance. 3 would go to the demon, and 3 would be given to random players. The demon must try to kill the players who have the gems and collect them. If demon collects all of the gems from the players then he has won. The players must protect the gems (and the players carrying them) and try to kill the demon. The players have the ability to pass their soul gems to other players who are not carrying one. Each gem that the demon has is a life. If the demon is killed, he respawns and loses one gem (if the gem were to just fall off the demon, a game like this could go on for 2 years). Once the demon has no more soul gems, the opposing players win.
Once a game ends, a new player is chosen to be the demon. It wouldn't be random, but instead would favor those who joined the game the earliest. When a player is chosen, he is given the option to pass if he does not wish to be the demon. If he does not pass, he chooses his form (in the later version of the mod). The mod should be able to accept new demon forms created by other players so that the programmer doesn't have to make them all.
I'm not sure how to score the game. I think it should simply have a winning team and no points, as they are quite pointless in this style game.
The whole point of this mod is to create an intense and scary experience, and the flavor of fear is determined by the kind of demon. One that is like the alien in aliens vs predator gives the players a sense of tension and paranoia as it can climb walls, move quickly, and pounce from out of dark corners. A larger demon that fires lightning bolts that send you flying into the air and slamming into walls is a more intense experience. Large numbers of players battle him at the same time, firing away while bodies soar through the air and bounce off walls. Or how bout this... a wraith that moves rather slow, but has a very powerful close range attack with a large blade or claws, and has an inivisible translocator (with the camera in the translocator) that allows it to disappear and pop up behind people. Imagine how much fun you could have as that kind of demon. The possibilities are endless really. A giant scorpion, a mechwarrior, Slimer from Ghostbusters, a 6 foot tall hovering human head that spews sticky vomit that slows you down so he can bite you in half, Michael Jackson, Jason Vorhees, whatever scares ya.
Interested Scripters
If you are interested in developing this mod for UT2003 then add your name to the list. Once you start development you should indicate that below (and hopefully include a link to a journal page). Before you start development you should also check this section to see if anyone else has started.
Discussion
EntropicLqd: I took the liberty of placing it in the standard format I've adopted for these things - hope you don't mind. I also correct a spelling mistake and made a few sentance tweaks. It's a nice idea. I'd be inclined to set the number of gems to the number of people playing - and then give half of the gems to the player team, and half of the gems to the demon. I would also like an option to determine the winning team as the first "team" to collect all of the gems. Even though it might take a while .. it would be good fun. I suspect that the map would determine the type of demon chose - there's no point in being a predator type demon if you are on a map with so much "stuff" around the walls that you can't make use of them. I would also be inclined to provide a couple of types of "demon" or "special abilities" with the first version of the mod rather than a simple powered up player. I am complete agreement that the "scores" could be removed - as you say, they are irellevant. Also, it may be worth selecting the demon based upon the most "efficient" player - or perhaps the one that damanged the demon the most. Failing that .. make it random. If you want to be realy evil about it, allow players to vote on who should be the demon. One of the hardest things about this mod is going to be balancing the demon's strength/life with the number of players. Unless you have re-charging "powers" for the demon - in which case you can reduce the number of "power units" the demon has. It's a cool idea.
Novacane: Thanks for the input! Sorry if my format was messed up, I'm new to this web page. I've never seen a webpage like this, where anyone can just modify the entire layout at will. Most people try to find ways to prevent hacking!
Anyway, having an option to have to collect all the gems to win would certainly be acceptable, as long as there is a choice to go either way. I like a game that lasts, but a time limit would probably be necessary. I get a bit irritated after half an hour on the same map. Whoever has the most gems at the end of the map wins, if it's tied, just go into overtime until someone gets one. I'm not sure that the map should determine the demon, though. If this mod were to end up the way I envision it, there would be a variety of demons to choose from to suit whatever style the player likes, although you're probably right about the one example of the alien type demon (I'm guessing that's what you meant by predator), and that careful consideration would have to be paid to what kind of problems different map types might cause. Perhaps instead of having the map choose the demon, make certain demons prohibited on certain maps. Balancing would definitely be the tricky part, but in this type of game it doesn't have to be too precise, as there are no individual scores. You just want to be sure that the demon isn't a wimp, or that it isn't so powerful that the players don't have a fighting chance. I'm still a bit uncertain as to how the next demon should be chosen. I would hate for it to always go to the best player because then so many people would be left out. To me, it really seems like the poorer players would have more fun as the demon as it finally gives them a chance to wreak havoc and fear on other players! Voting wouldn't be a bad idea then, because if you want to win the game, chances are you'll pick the guy you think you can beat.
As for the development of the mod, unfortunately I have no experience in this area. I've done some level design for the first UT, and did my own music for a map too, but I don't know the first thing about scripting. I would be willing to learn, but this might not be the best idea for a first project. I have another, simpler idea, which I think I'll post as well... UT DODGEBALL! But how hard is the actual scripting compare to, say, Lingo? Really, I think this project is best left for a more experienced programmer. I'd rather do some level design and perhaps model the demons. I would need to learn a bit on how to import models and animation, but that's probably a lot easier than learning the programming.
EntropicLqd: My apologies for not explaining myself well. I wasn't suggesting that certain types of demon were outlawed on some maps but not others, or that the type of demon be tied to the map. I simply meant that some maps will be easier for some types of demon than others - you are right to give players the choice of demon (and I did mean alien rather than predator). In terms of a voting system for players to choose who gets to play the demon, it would be a good idea to track the last few players that got voted in to prevent one person from being the demon all of the time. Is a tricky one that. Maybe just make it random in the first instance.
I've never used Lingo so I don't know how it compares to UnrealScript – think more in terms of Java and C++. But yes, this mod is probably a little ambitious for a first project. The Wiki does have some form of hack protection built into it - it stores all previous versions of a page. When one gets blatted it's easy to simply restore an earlier version. There's a page about it on the Wiki someplace Wiki Protection
