Rockful
ideas
* As Talon moves along in the single player game, he is secretly
"scored"-when he reaches certain score thresholds, his
demeanor will change (he is growing more confidant), so that the
content of his spoken dialogue will alter. We may also want to
give him slight performance bonuses, as well.
* Talon's great grandfather will appear to Talon as an
Obi-wan-like spirit in the game, helping him at times. His spirit
type is "plain-walker" and Talon will encounter other
"walkers" in the game, some good, some malevolent.
* Have Talon "warp" between two separate experiences,
changing location and time within the Trocara ship. This can give
us a unique way to deliver the story, as well as create a sense
of player tension (he may explore the same room, but it has
changed somewhat, for example). One possibility is that he has
made a "spirit connection" with the plain walker that
is his great grandfather and becomes him, at an earlier time,
during an earlier abduction (when Earth was not on the brink that
it is now). Another, related way to approach it is that Talon's
great grandfather is actually Talon-and the connection Talon had
as a small child was a contact between and old and new
"version" of his self
* At the end of the shareware, Talon is "abducted" and
operated upon-he is literally disassembled and then re-assembled.
This process helps to awaken some mystical powers within him.
Talon is also fitted with a translation device-this allows him
to, at time, decipher the alien's language (all except the
insectoids-their language should remain wholly unintelligible)
* Talon's default weapon, the wrench, will also come in handy
during some "fix it up" puzzles and operations
* Talon can urinate-this might just be done for relief, but may
be key in some puzzle situations (like shorting out some wires to
open a door, or to make some ammo insolvent).
* Maybe have the Keeper's realm be a sort of "game hub"
(we can utilize this "central area concept in multiplayer as
well). This is where Talon goes to choose between the many areas
that compromise the Trocaran ship-the way he gets "from here
to there" is varied: some are doors, some are shuttle bays,
some are trams and other are portals. Once Talon gets through an
area, he can return here to access other areas of the game-some
area may require keys or other "tests to be passed" for
access. Talon can also regroup and recharge here (an idea: this
is the only place that Talon can save a game?). We could possibly
do a variation on the "hub" for multiplay areas-this is
where player's meet to set up a multiplay game-then move to the
level in which they are playing-new passages can be added in the
form of user levels and such-perhaps this multiplayer hub can
handle access to up to 10 environments-when a player joins an
online or Internet game, they enter the hub of a certain server,
and then can check out that server's unique levels.
* Modular interfaces on the screen that the player can move
around and position anywhere-the game doesn't pause during the
move operation, however. The player taps a key (like Tab) to
activate the mouse pointer, and can then click and drag the
interfaces-tapping the key again returns the player to normal
control
* "bot" play should be part of the package-let's let
the player choose between three types of play experiences: single
play, bot play or multiplay. In bot play, we should have two
"flavors"-traditional (like Quake) bot play (coop or
deathmatch) and a learned mode, in which the player can create a
bot, much as we'll create an AI (with a set of characteristic
values). This bot will then learn levels as the player learns,
gaining more and more knowledge about the location of prime
objects, as well as the player's fighting style. When the player
loads the bot into a new level, it will begin learning again.
* Let's see if we can use the Prey engine for the game
cinematics-that way, we can hand control back to the player
without ever having a break in the action-we can even use these
"engine cinemas" at certain times within the game when
Talon may have some interaction (interactive or not) with
entities such as Keepers or his spirit guide-the camera can zoom
out to 3rd person even, and then "re-enter" Talon's
view when finished (as in Resident Evil)
* Let's make the Trocaran ship look many millennia old-the
humanoid sections of the ship should be riddled with insectoid
infestations and saurian advances on their territory, etc. We
should do this "species blending" throughout the game.
* Once Talon has gotten about 2/3 of the way through the game, he
is given the "ultimatum" from the Keepers, who tell him
that if he survives, Earth will then be "taken out of the
game." This allies the humanoid nobles with Talon (all other
humanoids and all other species will still attack him).
* Let's have some enemies group together an attack in
"packs" or attempt to surround the player
* Some weapon using enemies use the some of the same weapons
Talon uses-can use multiple weapons-when Talon kills one, he can
grab the weapon (or ammo) of the weapon it was using
* We want to, later in the game, really convey the sense that the
Trocaran species wager and gamble with each other in trials of
combat (with their genetically enhanced alternates)-we need to
see, hear and feel these contests and even place Talon in the
middle of them, later in the game
* We most definitely want Talon to be able to blow off arms and
legs of his foes (single and multiplay)-maybe we can have Talon
get his arm blown off as well? He'd shriek, blood would spatter
everywhere, and he'd see his severed arm twitching on the
ground-couldn't use 2-handed weapons then. If he has the right
stuff in his inventory, perhaps he could make a tourniquet so
that he doesn't bleed to death.
* Another option is to have one of Talon's arms replaced with a
cybernetic arm after his abduction and mutilation-he could then
have some enhanced abilities, and when he looses the arm, he
wouldn't automatically begin bleeding.
* We could have Talon, when he loses an arm, grab an arm from
certain killed foes, "grafting" it onto his body, and
gaining some of that creature's abilities (think of the cool,
panicked hunt for a donor arm before the player bleeds to
death...)
* We should allow some of the beasties to "morph" into
different types of creatures, or variations with alternate
abilities-keeps the player guessing
* Natural crystals: crystal formations that grow out of rocks,
etc. Perhaps they glow slightly. If the player shoots a
formation, the whole thing explodes violently. If, however, the
player bashes it with his wrench, then he might be able to break
off a "prefect" crystal that is ammo for his crystal
gun.
* from the web: in multiplay, when you die, your
"spirit" raises up from your body (other can see this?
It'd be cool). You can then "remanifest" yourself by
either just becoming corporeal again (at any spot), floating to a
multiplay-only "soul-to-body conversion station," or
simply by picking which start point to materialize into
* we can dynamically link areas in the game via dynamic
portals-example: a burrowing insect pops up through the floor to
get you (you hear rumbling first), in a shower of earth and haze.
When you've killed the burrower, you see his tunnel down to
another area.
* Let's have the player get things (such as keys, access codes,
etc.) from in-game characters, such as the great-grandfather
spiritwalker, etc. Also, we can take advantage of a DNF idea: say
you enter a level, and then work your way through it-at the end,
you see a dead body and several primaries with weapons, which you
must fight though. But if you cruise there right away, you can
possibly stop the execution, and get something useful (an object
or some information) from the individual that you've just saved.
* In the first levels of the game, let's let Talon have his first
cool battle in the motorpool garage, and he can grab his default
weapon there-it can be something like a wrench, a crowbar, a big
screwdriver, etc. Each will offer some cool type of attack and
tool benefit later in the game
* Idea from Todd (DNF): let's have a large humanoid
alternate-when the player sees him, he seems to have these things
wrapped around him. It turns out that its actually an insectoid
alternate, specifically bred to control this humanoid (to aid in
their war with the humanoids). If the player kills the humanoid,
then the spider thing will leap off and attack. Too cool!
* Let's have a "necklace of kills" that the play sees
before loading a new play session (once he's played for a while).
It will be filled with fingers, ears, etc. (done in cool 3D) of
critters he's killed. It'll let the player see at a glance where
he's at and the proud killin' he's done. As an aside, we could
have a button that the player can click that will make this
necklace, plus some other cool Prey stuff, into a .bmp image that
it loads into the Windows directory and makes the current
wallpaper.
* What if we have different gun positions? There is a standard
"gun held at ready" position. He can run, jump, fire,
etc. He can switch to a gun standby position, which will let him
run faster and jump farther, but not fire (if he fires, it will
switch back to gun ready position). He can also sling the gun on
his back for climbing, etc. Finally, when standing perfectly
still, he can raise the gun to his shoulder for a better, more
stable "sniper-like" shot.
* Allen's idea: what if Talon saw a helpless woman huddled in a
dark corner, moaning for help? Talon goes over to help, but
suddenly she flashes out of the way, and a large boss steps into
the light. The "woman" was actually an appendage of the
beast, like those things hanging in front of deep sea fishes to
attract their prey.
* Let's have a "stealth" mode-no weapon drawn, slower
than walking, but Talon is quieter and more difficult to see
(allowing him to do sneak attacks)
-----------------------------
August 15 1997, Scott McCabe
-----------------------------
- In battle, it would be cool if the person your fighting starts
off fighting normal, if you're kicking his ass, his shots become
more aggressive and exaggerated. Once in a while if you're REALLY
kicking ass, it could do a battle cry (now this should be rare)
so spine tingling it can really scare the player.
- When loading a level, for example, have the ai take into the
account of the size of the level, fill it with monsters but
each time you play that level, the monsters start in all
different spots. So that the player cannot simply
"breeze"
through the level by knowing where all the goons are.
- Sometimes in battle, being able to get close enough to someone
(ie. Saurian) to where you're waiting for him to move and he's
waiting for you...but during this tense moment, you can see him
staring you down but it can actually blink it's eyes...this can
give the player an even more frightening experience by looking
it dead in the eyes.
- Before play, the game can actually take the models and apply
different skins. By this I mean for example, take one saurian,
for that model it has 5 different skins (for 5 different looks
of the dude) and randomly apply the skins so that they also
appear differently each time you play.
- Have a Saurian that is nothing but an earth equivalent to the
elephant, it gets ridden but you can actually shoot the rider,
and take over this creature for transportation.
- At the start Talon should be Joe Normal. But as the game moves
on, he , like his past Indian relatives, can take
"souviniers"
from certain "Bosses" (if the player so chooses) so
that in
the end he emerges looking like a true warrior. Perhaps certain
items help him out (ie. A Claw from a Saurian boss gives him
luck)
he can actually use with his character while playing on the
internet.
- Twitching bodies....depending on the strength of the shot, an
enemy
could fall to the ground....twitch for a bit and die but
sometimes
twitch but later be able to pick up their gun for a surprise
attack.
- Have a choice for a default weapon...being able to pick up a
weapon
from a variety of different stuff (ie. knife, wrench yadda yadda)
and/or
2 firing weapons , (peacekeeping pistol or bolt action rifle)
* Pistol that is loud, powerful, long barrel, very old
(possibility of
misfire), and must be reloaded every eight or so shots.
============================================
Loyal's Nifty Ideas:
8/15/1997 Skateboarder monster (I think that Matt would like
this!)
Medium that we travel through. We have seen too many lava and
water effects.
Thick cloudy oddly windy and torrential mediums
Ether that gives you a wacky drug effect
Rain
Snow (good and swirling)
First person camera that is completely correct as the third
person view!
Yes! it will make stuff mega-simple!
No special cases!
8/28/1997
Shrinking the weapon to make it fit into your backpack
inventory items around your belt (you look down to select
something)
no numbers (health is analogue breathing heavily bad controls,
ammo read-out on the gun, inventory see above)
--Two headed monster that is controled by two different people
(good for monster cam)
portal for seeing what a monster sees
William:
8/18/1997
The decal poster of the chick on the wall
when you shoot it it turns into a portal and the chick jumps out
and rocks you.
Switches that are that nifty deformed geometry
UPDATED August 15th by Allen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
*3D interactive interface for main menu.
*Setup menus and configuring should be as "graphical"
and point and click as possible.
*TONS of options in the config.
*More hand to hand combat than typical shooter. Have the ability
to grab an entity as you whack it or throw it. Also some kinds of
"combo" moves to counter an attack or kick them up in
the air to then shoot, etc. Todd's idea for DNF: grab and use
enemies as shields. cool no?
*Force field corridor barriers that you can pass through, but
take 1/4 of your damage(unless you turn them off). Might make for
interesting puzzles. (like you're surrounded by these fields and
you can only move through 3 of them to get out of a maze or
you'll die.
*You can destroy sensors in a room or area to keep enemy troops
from finding you immediately.
*Big crystal walls in insectiod level that refracts energy weapon
shots, so you can't fire a lot (or just don't miss) without
having blasts bounce everywhere and hitting yourself.
*Anitgrav rooms where you have Grav boots that you can turn off
and on to get around. Like turning them off and then jumping
towards another wall or ceiling and then rotate 180 and turn them
on again to stick.
*Level that has transparent tube transports (like gerbil tubes)
for zooming around in, and also fighting in them as you zoom
around to the tubes destination.
*Level that has a cloning machine Talon can use to make a small
temporary squad for co-op against lots of enemies or a bad-ass
boss.
*Bots ("Preditors?") you can use for CTF levels and
co-op against real players. This way you don't always need an
even number of players for team games. Make the AI smart enough
to be able to take orders and learn. Ex: "Bot, get
flag" "defend base" "defend me" etc.
*End of a level where you start going down an insectoid corridor,
then fight nursery guards who are carrying and protecting larvae.
You keep going and notice you're now in a slimy, organic tunnel.
As you progress you fight maggots and finally discover that
you're inside a huge insectoid mother. You end up destroying her
from the inside as her immune system tries to thwart you.
*Add flashlight (ala 3DFX demo), maybe Infrared lens to follow
footprints?
*Primary's throw humans at lower GM's to slaughter and eat.
*Grandfather's words as Talon wakes from dream to start cinematic
"The circle (cycle) begins again..." (In Apache with
subtitles?)
*Enemies can run out of ammo too and also try to get powerups.
*Roll sideways and get off a few low % shots. (make it a combo
move?)
*Jabba's palace door-robot sensor thingy that scans you before
you can enter a room. You have to use a Personal Holographic Camo
Projector belt device to look like a saurian to gain entry.
*Big, alien, floating orb-like things in levels. Possibly
generators?
*Ground rumbles and shakes when close to big dinos.
*Big Roman-esque bathing house social area for saurians.
*Doors that are stuck partially open and you have to use a manual
pump in side panel to open it.
*Weapons depo area or factory with moving gears, belts,etc. that
you can't fire inside it without blowing it all up so you're
forced to use stealthy hand to hand to reach goal.
*Dune-esque personal shield so you can't be damaged if you're
still, only venerable when moving.
*Robotech protoculture-like powersource for certain weapons and
powerups that can scanned and traced by sensors when in use.
*Last thing you see after bloody hand to hand defeat is the
monster bending down and laughing in your face?
*AI ideas: Enemies can get frustrated, have dying/mad bezerker
scream, be able to be scared/surprised by you, and some enemies
have unknown intentions at first- you don't know if they're good
or bad.
*Instead of boring lava (why the hell would lava be on a
spaceship anyway), have flowing, crackling crystal-like
substance. If you step in it, it will start to grow up your leg
and crystallize, inflicting damage. If you get out before it
overtakes you, you can move and kick to shatter it although the
whole process will fuck you up. If you fall in a deep pool of it,
you're pretty much fucked unless you have a jetpack, shield, etc.
*Talon curses and comments when you're totally out of ammo. Also
he curses when a shot is close to him. Comments when loading
weapon during a firefight. ("Get in there you piece of
shit!!",etc.)
*Cool-ass blizzard like arctic area (probably outside in land
areas up in a mountain range, and although it's closer to the
"sun", the atmosphere is thinner).
*Aquatic saurian levels, maybe swampy or an awesome, huge ocean
area with big alien battleships,etc. you run around on. Perhaps a
waterworld type level miniadventure or underwater saurian base
areas with lots of windows for great views and effects!
please,please,please!!!!
*(Scott Miller's idea)In one level, let's have Talon walk past a
forcefield of some sort. Through it, he can see some mondo
creature/boss just rocking on "lesser" creatures,
destroying them utterly. In a few levels, let's have Talon open
some door and there he is, in that arena, ready to face that
boss.
----------------------------------------------
Scott McCabe's Appendum [August 22 1997]
----------------------------------------------
*What about a level or part of a level, that is mostly based on
speed.
Like, huge air tunnels that the player can only accelerate but
never
slow down. The player(s) can fight each other or enemies wizzing
along
at a smooth 200+mph. Also, there could be things that the player
can
grab hold off or even switches to shoot (ie. Railroad tracks) to
switch
tunnels to make things harder. These would either switch tunnel
tracks
or activate traps. Example, players racing down this air tunnel
shooting,
then one shoots a switch, opens a tunnel and closes off another,
if the
one player manouvers over so that he gets pulled in to the other
tunnel,
he's safe while the other (not knowing what happened) gets
slammed into
a closed door and thus dies.
*It would be cool if characters had memory. Like if the player
shoots
a family member of a certain species, the living members can seek
revenge
and comes to kill the player at the most least expected time.
*Since Talon is an Indian, it would be cool if he could
"track" things
but without the use of technology. He could say something to the
player
that could drop a hint of what he's tracking.
*Timed events would be cool. Like for example, the humanoid
section would
have timed sewer flushes. The player would die if caught in
something like
this. In order to avoid it, he could pick up something like a
"Trocaran Watch"
so that he could avoid such things.
=============================================
Scott Miller's Brainfarts:
* Mystic Walking -- After Talon first meets his grandfather, a
plainwalker, he gets a medallion, which his grandfather says
gives him a special ability, but doesn't say what. That ability,
to be discovered by the player, is "mystic walking."
The player presses a key that puts Talon in this mode, which
allows Talon to leave his body and move in any direction,
including up. This allows Talon to see in places he might not be
able to see otherwise, and preview look around corners to see
what awaits. When this mode is activated a Mystic Meter appears
which shows how much time is left to do this. The whole while
Talon's real body is motionless, but still open to attack. Any
attack automatically pulls Talon back to his body. The journey
back to his body is swift, and done using the spline method, so
it'll look cool. Talon's mystic energy recharges slowly, so this
is not an ability he can use often to great effect. Like a ghost,
I don't think Talon should be able to in any way affect his
surroundings will out of his body.
* Base the weapons on what the various enemies might likely use
(Every weapon is alien in design, except the first which is a
wrench, and/or the knife that Talon carries, if we use this
weapon). The humanoids will likely have the high tech weapons and
shields. The Saurians can have the stranger weapons and
bio-weapons, like the Stinger (below). The Insectoids should not
have weapons other than those it has built-in (they can spit acid
streams, shoot stingers, shot webs, etc.) Basically, Talon can
only have weapons that are also used by his foes. He shouldn't
have any weapon that isn't used by an enemy. Weapons in this game
are a discovery process for the player. Several might have a
secondary mode that is not known until much later in the game.
The game manual must not describe what the weapons do.
* Weapon idea: Slugs that are ripe with acid, and if stepped on
will deliver damage. You can collect them and throw them as if
they're acid grenades. They just slither around rather aimlessly.
Because they're organic, shields do not protect against them.
* Weapon idea: Stinger -- A bio-style weapon similar to the
wasp's or scorpion's stinger. Shoots a stinger that hits and
delivers 20 points of damage (a number used just for
illustration), but the damage occurs at a rate of 1 point per
second. If hit several times then each stinger is delivering 1
damage point per second. Stingers penetrate all shields because
they are organic. A person with 30 points of health might get hit
with two stingers (40 points of damage over 20 seconds), but be
able to find enough health before dying.
* Shields -- These do not protect against biological weapons,
such as the slug and stinger. Shields protect against energy and
mechanical objects. A shield device is worn on Talon's belt. Only
humanoids use shields, not the other two species.
* Cloaking device -- Attached to Talon's belt. When standing
still you're 90% invisible. When moving you're 75% invisible.
When firing an energy weapon you're 100% visible while firing.
Using a non-energy weapon, like a slug, will not affect your
current cloaked percentage. Several tactical trade-offs are
incorporated here.
* Bosses: Multi-stage bosses that are not killed via the all to
common circle-strafe technique. Multi-stage means that they
change at points during the attack, similar to how Hitler changed
from the robot to the human-form at the end of Wolfenstein 3D.
* Natural Crystals -- These are crystals that grow out of rocks.
There are two color types, one is rare and more powerful. These
crystals are unstable and will explode if set-off with a blast of
energy from another source, such as a weapon. If you find an
out-cropping of crystals and you hit them with your wrench, you
might break off a piece useful for your crystal gun--hit the
crystal two many times and it'll explode in your face, so you
need to be careful. You might also find smaller crystals in
walls/rocks that you can take. These crystals out-croppings can
be used to blow holes in walls or kill nearby enemies. The
chipped off pieces (or small pieces you find) can be used in your
crystal weapon.
* AI Considerations: In making actor AI, we should dissect what
it is about players in a multiplayer game that makes them appear
to be intelligent. The following issues make human players appear
intelligent:
1. Humans react different to opponents depending on the opponents
weapon. This can be replicated by a number of actors.
2. Humans use a wide range of available weapons, and make
intelligent choices on which weapon to use in different
circumstances. For actors, some should be able to use two, three,
maybe up to four or five weapons. I do not think that it's
prudent to have these actors seek out or use weapons that are
available for the player to pick up. Instead, I think these
actors should already have these weapons on them.
3. Humans use all of the power-ups available, which obviously
shows them making intelligent decisions. This might be tough for
actors to do, too, since I think power-ups, like ammo and
weapons, should be reserved for the player's use and the mappers
shouldn't need to be concerned if a strategically placed power-up
will be used by an actor before the player gets to it. However,
some actors should use certain power-ups as if they already have
them in their inventory, such as maybe an invisibility device.
Overall, this is a hard ability to get actors to duplicate, so it
should be very low on the priority list.
4. Humans use all of the interactive parts of the level, such as
doors, switches, computer screens, elevators, vehicles, etc. Some
actors should also use these things.
5. Humans can fire while moving forward, backward and strafing.
Actors should do the same them unless they have attacks that
don't make sense for this.
6. Humans will run away and dodge when necessary, rather than
always pursuing the target without personal concern for damage.
Many actors should do the same.
7. Humans will seek advantage points in a level to snipe from, or
to have a better position on opponents. We can flag certain level
locations as "vantage points" so that certain actors
(with long range attacks) can go to these points easily if they
choose.
8. Humans know a levels full layout and make movement and pursuit
decisions based on this knowledge (whereas in all previous 3D
shooters the actors do not know a level's layout at all, and
simply follow the player via a line-of-sight algorithm. Actors
can be given a better understanding of a level's layout by
mappers placing a "player pursuit array" (PPA) at
junctions in the map in which the actor might not know which way
is best to go because the player has already left its
line-of-sight. For example, an actor spots and player and the
player bolts away around a corner and into a room that has two
other exits and a ladder going up. The mapper can place a PPA at
this junction that gives each direction a percentage value (they
all add up to 100%), and based on those values the actor picks a
direction of pursuit rather than just giving up the chase.
9. Humans do unpredictable things while playing. Actors can be
programmed to do unexpected things, too, such as randomly going
into a plan (see above) that is a series of moves, such as
running out of the room, waiting 5 seconds, then running back
into the room guns blazing.
[Sept 20th by matt]
* this might be a bit fantasy style, but with all of exploited
portal crap, we should have some sort or 'portal' container for
talon to carry that can hold more inventory than it seems it
could. as an example a zipper of infinate holding like the old
Sorcerer game. it is just a zipper, but when you open it, it is a
black hole (or PORTAL) that can hold a shit load of stuff. if we
have an inventory, Talon could aquire this to give an excuse for
all of the heavy shit that he will be carrying. in the beginning
(before he gets it), he has to discard objects/weapons because he
cant carry them.
* i want to have a firehose in a level. not necessarily a 'hose'
but a nozzle that shoots water/sludge/sewage that you could
pummel players/enemies with and they would totaly fly back
against a wall or whatever. not really a destructive device, but
a cool one none-the-less. you could really hose things down and
piss people off by blocking a doorway off with it. you could even
rig it to stay on and players would have to take alternate routes
to get to the nozzle to turn it off.
* WE NEED A SHOTGUN! this is my excuse for having a shotgun style
weapon, but not calling it that or whatever. A crystal or rock
exploder or something of that nature. WTF does it underline this
sheeyat?? Anyway...Judge Dredd the movie had this AWSOME shot gun
thing that had this high pitched ping/hum when it shot and when
you cocked/reloaded, it gave this high-pitched kick ass tech
sound. It also made this fine mist when it shot (hollywood effect
im sure) but it was cool. We should all watch it. Anyway, my idea
was to have this kind of gun but you load a crystal/rock
thing/something hard into it and it crushes it at a very high
speed and projects it out of the barrel. Dammit we just need it.
:p
*OLD POWER-UPS/WEAPONS IDEAS from Big
Al--------------------------------------------->
GENERAL:
POWER-UPS
RC recon hovering probes (with handheld monitor?)
Digital Binoculars (X-ray too? w/ super microphone?)
Personal Shield Belt (ala Dune-equivelant to Quake's armor. Each
race has it's own frequency rate, but there's also a super-shield
for all rates)
Health (in a more realistic form-like food, drinks,
gel-containers,etc)
SuperHealth (for all the pussies out there)
Black-Holes (the WB style Portal holes that can be thrown on the
ground, etc.)
Nova Boost (Makes weapons 300% more powerfull)
WEAPONS
Hand to hand default weapon (Wrench, laser saber,etc)
Wire for choking/hanging/decapitating enemies.
Laser Grenade (pops 10' up and spins around shooting lasers in
several directions)
Rift Cannon/Bomb(rare - opens a portal that sucks people in or
unleashes aliens from other levels that fight/flee depending on
race and situation)
M-16 (for earth level only-obviously you won't find ammo for this
on the mothership)
CRAFT
Shuttle (space and flying inside ship to other towers)
INSECTOID:
POWER-UPS
Anti-Grav Belt w/ Mag Boots
Gen-Boost(Genetically inserted temp wall crawling abitlies)
Projection device (project a holo-image wherever its pointed.
Images can be of you, powerups, weapons, etc. Great for causing a
distraction)
WEAPONS
Cutting laser rifle (cuts enemies and other stuff in two-and
maybe through walls to hit enemies with IR or X-ray scope)
Morph Gauntlet (Bio-tech living cannon that attaches to your arm
and can morph into a powerful set of spinning blades for hand to
hand, plasma spread shot gun or ion cannon -also it takes damage
for you, but takes a bit of health to power itself too- so don't
waste shots or you'll end up killing yourself)
RC throwing blade (ala Krull, Pred 2-maybe has laser blade
cutting edges-you can control it for 4 seconds before it returns
to you)
Energy "Hall Cleaner" trap (setup at the mouth of a
hallway and it sends a wave of energy down the hall damaging
anyone in it)
Electro-Net Mine (a booby trap that nails you to the wall with an
electrified "web")
Bio-Cannon (Eats target's skin off and leaves a bloody, red
muscle only, screaming body)
Rictor Cannon (sound based blaster that sends a high-frequency
defening/damaging concentrated shockwave or a low-frequency
booming shockwave that knocks you off your feet and back a few
yards)
Disruptor (The longer you hold the trigger, the more powerfull
this beam gets-enemy turns into particles and disolves when hit
-like spinning particle system sprites-if held down long enough,
it can destroy anything within a 20 feet radius)
Goo-Shooter (Emits sticky goo-crap that damages you and glows so
everyone can see you)
Tentacles (Another weapon that latches onto you. It extends out
(very fast) a few flailing bio- metallic tentacles that pierce
targets and gut them like pigs. And can be used like a grappling
hook too.( about a 35' range) Also you can grab other weapons and
powerups across a room without moving-plus rip skins off people!
Try this at home with the kiddies)
CRAFT
Living Shuttles (space and flying inside ship to other
towers)-part bio-mech and have a mind of there own-to a certain
degree.)
Living Bio-pods for traveling into "goo"- filled
"cocoons" levels?
SAURIAN:
POWER-UPS
Personal "Dephasing" cloaking belt (again another
Predator inspired device- you're only 100% transparent when
still, say 90% when in motion)
Psionic Helmet (Several uses- can make others not see you, can be
used to totally blind them,
make their movement controls reversed, make them shoot
themselves, make their eyes see world upside down, etc.)
Gen-Boost (Genetically inserted temp super strength- great for
knocking someone on their ass or throwing them across the room,
ripping out spines, etc.)
Temporal Displacement (makes you slightly out of sync with the
world, the extra friction you create when you move creates
shockwaves that cause damage. EX: You can shadow- box and hurt
someone across the room. But you walk slower though.)
WEAPONS
Laser-tipped Tachyon Spears (after it's thrown, it instantly
reaches it's target with a wicked screaming noise and can stick
into walls/characters. Throw it at an enemies chest and spear
them to the wall behind them. Stick them in the wall and climb on
them, etc.)
Crystal Transparent Rifle (you can see into how the gun works.
Different energy crystals power it for different results and you
can see the energy building up and firing inside the weapon.
Possibly has it's own energy based adjustable shield projector
that disminishes when firing. Possible crystal powers: a slow,
very powerfull wave of energy rolls across the ground toward
enemies, rapid laser firing, heat ray that sets you on fire,
Sidewinder Blaster (energy blasts with trails that seek any
motion and target it, Energy Regulator ( you can shoot a
concentrated beam or a thin flat expanding beam-either horizontal
or vertical for "sweeping" a room...)
Bio-Magnetic Mines (Low hovering mines that quickly slide toward
you if you're stupid enough to walk by them)
SLAMMER (beam that graps an enemy and hold them-like an
"alien on a stick". You can slam enemy into walls,
floors just by swinging around.
SLAMMER POLE (trap that acts like a SLAMMER, but it leaves enemy
stuck 20' in the air ripe for target practice)
Vortex Cannon (sends out a spinning vortex of energy particles
that create a small antimatter implosion within any object it
hits, creating a huge explosion of blinding lightrays and
radiated matter particles. Very powerfull and great to use in a
crowd)
CRAFT
SpeederBike-esque personal transports (very fast-plus leads to
deathmatch races, and excuses for huge levels, etc)
Shuttles (space and flying inside ship to other towers)
Underwater transports (for possible aquadic levels)
HUMANOID:
POWER-UPS
Structural Integrity Scope (to analyze walls for areas that you
can blow up)
Oil Slick (spray oil all over ground or enemies to make slippery
or light on fire)
Cloning machine (rare-you can replicate weapons, ammo and even
another you-temperarilly of course)
Cherubs (2 or 3 balls orbiting and protecting you -if you get a
weapon powerup they can fire it too?-ala old arcade
"SideArms" game)
Gen-Boost (Makes you faster for limited time)
WEAPONS
Ion Rifle (to knock out shields and cloaking devices, but only
1/2 damage to health -has cool electricty "shocker"
frag look -like Luke getting zapped by the Emperor)
"Flaming Balls" Hall Cleaner (launches huge flame ball
down hall to clear out any bad dudes)
Energy-Sucking/Transfusion Weapons (For possible vampire GM's to
use)
Limbo-Mine (sends you to a Hell of visual wierdness and dangerous
creatures for 10-30 seconds, odds are you won't come back
alive-AAAAWHAHAHAHA <evil laugh)
Tempest Rifle (Based on sound. Small multi-ringed vertical
shockwaves shoot out. Any environmental sound causes damage to
expand and do more damage to target and any close-by aliens.
Enemy screams and blood comes squirting out of them in different
points before they fall like a limp rag -like poking pinholes
into a water-balloon)
Springer Traps (thin boxes on the floor that catapult an enemy
across the room (splatting into walls, etc.) when they step on
it.
Acid Bombs (Canister of acid that damages enemy and also can eat
away his weapons/powerups)
Gas Grenade (yep, nasty gas that can kill you if you're downwind)
CRAFT
Shuttles (space and flying inside ship to other towers)
Mechs (Robotech style, small (or medium sized ones at most),
possibly transformable (like Cyclone Bike Power armor) maybe just
an exo-skeleton like Aliens Loader machine)
Hoverpads (small one person pads with a control box sticking out
of it to hold onto)
More Crazy Ideas from Allen (Sept 29th)------------>
Enemy (insectoid?) that uses removable bony appendages from it's
own body to attack with. Ex: throwing shards, swords, etc.
Jumping attack Saurian with large umbrella-type flap of neck skin
that opens up when excited.
(Tyrs?) Small Compy-like scavengers about the size of a cat that
run around here and there and feed on dead carcases.
(Negs?) Small scavenger bugs similiar to above but travel in
groups of 2 or 3 and can fly.
Bezerker grunt warrior (saurian?) who when low of life will go
nuts and attack you hard core, during this short time, the
creature's defense is double.
BOSSES:
Huge aquatic/plant -type dude that is "planted" to it's
roots but has little bit of movement range, also controlls plant
life in area that can attack you.
Ariel Saurian pyradactyle type thing that humanoids are afraid of
and make you fight it before they help you or give you
info/key,etc. Perhaps you have hoverbike/battle armor to battle
it with.
To keep anymore Insectoids(since they won and are taking it over)
from tearing up Earth while you're trying to save it, one
"mission" is to find and blow up their main hanger bay.
(maybe this is first part of trocara levels?)
*A beastie that gains HP the first five seconds after being
attacked. The more you fire in the period, the bigger and
stronger the alien gets. Then after this time, you can inflict
damage on it. This will cause all those dumb-ass shoot-first
types to get reemed up the bunghole!
*(Matt's) Sound Shockwave generating armbands, so when an enemy
punches or moves it's arms, blasts come out.
*Weapons that can transform into other items.
*Still have weapon pop up when it's out of ammo. It will just
"click" and do nothing, but it's more realistic than
having it just disappear.
*Enemy that can grow/shrink to use different abilities/strategies
against you.
*Dynamic Portals that can be "ripped" or pulled open
with your hands. It keeps stretching and getting bigger as you
pull on it.
*Ability to push crates, rocks, etc. Also pull open windows, vent
grids by hand instead of just blowing it up and making noise that
could cause enemies to come rushing your way.
*A "parasite" onboard the Trocara that will attack the
enemies sometimes out of the shadows and take them away for food.
Kind of an "Alien" for the Aliens.
*Level where you have to chase/hunt down a small, but fast
creature who has an object you need to solve a puzzle.
*Try playing with FOV to get better gameview with realworld
objects/camera. Say, 70 degrees instead of 90?
*Have less Ammo available so you think more and don't waste
shots. This can be used to set the pace of a level.
*Use Power Crystals for weapons/armor in a similar way to Materia
in FF7.
*Fire that is "alive" like demons or something really
wicked or can form into shapes like snake, skull, sword, etc.
*Gravity controlled level where you need to manipulate the
gravity sectors to solve a puzzle.
*While fighting a Boss, Keepers show up and take away your
weapons so you are forced to find another way to kill it.
*Early in game, you meet a catured human (while in holding
cells?) who helps you out with some brief background of the
immediate area and helps you escape. A few other times throughout
the game, he/she shows up and gives you info, THEEEEN...you find
out that he/she was an agent of the Keepers (or a shape-changing
Keeper) who has been manipulating you the whole game to do it's
bidding and now has led you into a trap.
*Lose hearing for a few seconds when a big blast hits you or when
a sonic weapon is used on you.
*Perhaps have Talon receive/find a device, glowing sphere, etc.
that can be used throughout the game in certain spots to open
doors, or make a change reaction with other such devices to solve
puzzles, etc. This way you can have a small inventory of 2 or 3
special items that you can try to use and figure out how to use
them throughout the game. (Kind of like in The Dig, where you'd
get a strange object then get to use it much later in the game,
maybe for more than one thing)
*CyberVamps that can somehow do a little mind control(mess with
the player's config?) and try to lure you into their haven. You
need to fight the controls to escape. Perhaps only with a Boss
Vamp?
*Area where you get trapped underwater and have to blow a hole in
the wall/glass to escape and you are shot out of the hole along
with the water down a long tube into another room.
*Have ropes/vines/cables to swing around levels with in certain
areas.
*Alien that can inhale huge amounts of air causing a vaccum that
sucks in weapons, powerups, talon?
COPYRIGHT 3D REALMS 1997. CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT
Jan 7, 98 - Tom:
) Have different keys/events assigned to the left and right hand
and get rid of the Quake-like 'Attack' message. Have talon be
able to hold different things in the left and right hands. For
example, a pistol in left hand, and wrench in the right. Then
when the user presses a key to use the left or right hand, the
appropriate action will be taken. Using the left hand fires the
gun, using the right activates the wrench (if appropriate) or
attacks with it (if appropriate). Some items may require both
hands, in which case, using either hand will activate the item,
but may activate it in different ways. For example again, with a
staff, left hand action can mean attack, while right means block
(for medieval type battles with certain enemies). This could also
mean that if the player takes possession of a three or four armed
creature, he could equip each arm with a different weapon.
) Have each item have a certain weight, and each character a
strength. This would mean that Talon would only be able to carry
so much in his pack. At times, this would mean he would have to
trade off a powerful weapon for something else. We will also have
some other human characters for coop or deathmatch play with some
different stats. Strength, speed, constitution, etc... to throw
in a little variety. And of course, stronger monsters might carry
more, while weaker ones less.
You look into a mirror and are attacked by your reflection
(keeper level).
1/17 allen
*ability to become small fly/wasp, etc. as observer in multiprey.
Fun to buzz around and sting people with extreme FOV bug vision.
Then some user can later make a Bug-Bot to create dangerous
swarms. BAWWAAAAHAHAHAHA
2/4 DM
* Humanoids have little remote controlled vehicles that shoot.
You may acquire one of these to control yourself, maybe from a
position of advantage or a stronghold. In addition, this could
provide a cool interface to control something else...differing
perspective and accessability.
March 3
Alpha Textures an a portal that allow us to have weird shaped
portals. This will be really nice on the portal device. It
requires alphatesting and some funky blending modes to draw it
correctly.