FreeGameDev

Hi folks,
This post will only make sense if you have recently used the new weapon, mines, present in the SVN. According to the response to my limited questioning in the game and on the forum I have determined that there is an interest beyond my own in being able to place activated mines in edit mode that would carry over into the game. I had only originally envisioned this idea for offline edit mode, but there is a possibility that it could be fun from online edit mode as well. Here are some play scenarios for edit mode activated mines. I am not the best at scenarios so please bear with me. Preplacing active mine primaries, proximity charges, could be used to slow people down in timetrial while requiring that they hit or be hit by the mines before passing an area. The mine secondary, 'laser activated charge' could be used to create nonlinear paths through timetrial maps where a player would be given an opportunity to go behind a mine and shoot it through a conduit from the side to allow passage through the area previously blocked by the laser from the mine. Some poeple like to create laser art with the mine secondary; this art could now be generated with a savable outcome in a map. Perhaps over the next couple of weeks we can discover if this idea is good or bad. To make it easy to convey our opinions I have created a poll that will last 21 days.
Cheers

The time trial mode was also the first thing which came to my mind while reading your first lines. It should be not to hard to cross such "lazerzones" though, - to give beginners a chance. All in all your idea sounds good to me.

You could just shoot the mines I guess?
Would be nice for time-trial and gauntlet, and as an alternate to deathzones.
However, as I already stated, I'd like a more general weapon-shooter entitiy

restcoser {l Wrote}:You could just shoot the mines I guess?
Would be nice for time-trial and gauntlet, and as an alternate to deathzones.
However, as I already stated, I'd like a more general weapon-shooter entitiy

Yeah, see, that's a much better idea in the long run.

restcoser {l Wrote}:However, as I already stated, I'd like a more general weapon-shooter entitiy

Turret does that already to perfection.

I would prefer this ability in offline editmode only. I know that playing around with that could be fun online too, but this may harm or disturb editors who try to have a serious editing session. ... I don't know, other opinions might update me .

LuckyStrike-Rx {l Wrote}:

restcoser {l Wrote}:However, as I already stated, I'd like a more general weapon-shooter entitiy

Turret does that already to perfection.

Yes but the turret is only avaiable when playing in Onslaught.
The objective of a shooter entity is to create a trap for the players in the levels, like some of the Quake 1 levels where theres a wall shooting, and you have to pass through it.
Walked through a room that doesnt seem to want to hurt you, to then press the switch button, open a door somewhere, and after that the walls open and there are things shooting, that you need to calculate the time to pass through it.
We could have a great variety in terms of time trial/general level design don't you think?

I don't think mines should carry over.

They create the need for familiarity with maps. Moreover, the mines won't respawn (or it would be terrible if they did, the last thing you want for your game is deaths that are not the player's fault) so I bet everyone will just shoot them if they have to (or not, I find sniping grenades quite fun when I'm bored). They will be unpredictable the first time and you'll know where they are the next time. Also, if mines were not allowed by default on maps, it gives us an opportunity to bump the damage they cause a bit, whilst maintaining balance.

As for time trials, there usually is just one way to cross a time trial obstacle in most maps. Otherwise you die and respawn. Allowing mines to enter time trial would also greatly reduce the replayability of time trial maps, as experienced players would know where all the mines are so they can take them out in advance. Noobs would feel unfairly treated. Experienced players would feel like they have to perform a chore. All obstacles like the lasers should be fixed and non-removable, or people who knew all the tricks of the map would have the upper hand.

Imho, the mines should respawn, maybe just on trigger, but they should, else they become useless, as one mine is destroyed fairly quickly.
(As for non-player caused deaths, we already have death and lava material, i don't see that being bad)
Also, knowing the map is and should always be an advantage. Knowing where you can get weapons, where you can wallrun efficently, what tricks you can do on a map is highly dependant on map knowledge. It gives the player a feeling of progression, of power that he might have over other players, as that is the very essence of an egoshooter, you (most likely) want to be better than everyone else.
What I'm also not that sure about is the use in time trial maps. It is an alternate to an instant death, but probably it is better to kill the player immediatly in time trial than catching him in the air and killing him there (mine2). That will make your time worse and can easily annoy you, as dying is common in time trial.
As I said I think that mines would respawn, so i think that taking out dangers ahead would not work completly. (maybe you could also set mines to immortal?)

Sniper-Goth {l Wrote}:We could have a great variety in terms of time trial/general level design don't you think?

I would love more triggerable actions indeed. Breakable map-model in the first place.

LuckyStrike-Rx {l Wrote}:

Sniper-Goth {l Wrote}:We could have a great variety in terms of time trial/general level design don't you think?

I would love more triggerable actions indeed. Breakable map-model in the first place.

I'm getting there slowly :-P