Project: Squad
| Project Started: |
22nd September, 2011 |
Last Update: |
17th December, 2011 |
| Project Owner: |
 Muz |
Project Members: |
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| Project Type: |
Shooter management |
Project Progress: |
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Why? What? huh?
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Posted 24th Sep 11, by Muz
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The first step is always the hardest. Where do I start? More importantly, where am I going? I have the tendency to want to get it right in one try, which is why I end up not trying.
So, what is this about?
Action movies are lame. The hero dodges a million bullets. He won't get injured or killed unless it was part of the plot. There are no consequences for the hero running in all trigger happy, bullets will just miss him. I'll still give a respectful nod to all those movies where the protagonists get seriously injured.
Shooters are ok, but really, they get tiring sometimes. I don't like shooters where I walk into a room, and BAM, killed by some hidden sniper/camper. I don't like shooters where my character can get shot multiple times a day, and he'll just regen and shrug off the bullets, while some other guy gets shot once and you get this stupid mission to send him to the hospital.
Why do I cope with them? The action! There's a delicate balance between it feeling real and threatening, and where it's too real and frustrating.
My approach to it being real is that the bad guys follow the same rules as you do. Your guys will always have the edge, they'll shoot faster and more accurately. But one shot to the head will still kill you or your enemy... just hope that you're the one making that first shot.
I choose permadeath to make it not frustrating. It's a rare design decision, I know. But it's designed to be quick. Have your entire squad wiped out? Roll up a new character in 10 seconds, finish a mission in 5 minutes, and you won't even have to strain your head focusing on the game. Fail it again, and it's just another 15 minutes to start up a new game, aiming for 30-60 minutes for a win.
The alternative is cranking up the difficulty enough that you have to have a few tries to succeed. I don't like that; when you look back on your squad's success, it looks like they won with a series of good luck. If they're going to win with a luck streak, let it be a real luck streak, not a thousand save/loads. The save/loads just interfere with the flow of the game.
And of course, everyone loves seeing stuff blow up. This game lets you actually enjoy watching stuff blow up, instead of keeping your view hiding behind the corner of the wall 80% of the time, while your friends lob in the grenades.
That's what I plan to do. But where first?
I've divided design into 3 parts - battle system, missions/story, and characters+equipment. From that, I think the foundation will be on the battle system (which I'll go into detail later). The battles will decide the gameplay after all.
Missions/story is going to be difficult, mainly because I can't think of something that's not cheesy. It's planned to be sort of like 3-4 stories in one. Be a gang leader, a rebel, police chief, or a mercenary. And some of the scenes allowed me to recycle some levels, playing opposite sides  I'm not quite happy with it, hoping to strike inspiration later, but most games like this have weak level design anyway.
After picking a background/path, you can then choose a branch between two missions. Like if you were a street rat, you can choose between jobs like initiating into a gang or robbing a house. If you were a military guy, your first choice is between the type of training you want, anti tank or infantry. Etc.
Characters + equipment is IMO, the fun bit. You'd get a mix of guys with different skills, qualifications, and personalities. Still... it's too dependent on what the missions and battle engine will be like. I mean, at this point, I know I'm going to put in lots of cover, and some explosives missions. So, there'll be quite a few personalities regarding how brave/aggressive they are, regarding cover, and maybe some will have a rarer explosives expert skill.
Though it seems like the battle system is based on missions, since I want the missions to sort of tell a story and the battles to illustrate it. So it's clear that I'd have to get the mission/level design finished first.
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I find that journals/blogs/logs really help with getting motivated, getting ideas, or just sort of materialize my thoughts. Even if it doesn't pan out, maybe someone can get inspiration from my devlogs.