Eschaton

[sin-arty]

hey everyone, im sinarty, Project Director, PR Mangager, Design Director, Storyboard/Dialgue/Script Writer, Lead Art Director, Concept Artist, Modeller and Webmaster of the Eschaton project.

website link: http://ren.ahl2mod.net/


First and foremost, and most importantly, Eschaton is a sci-fi first person RPG modification based on Valve Software's Half-Life 2's Source engine.
Eschaton is an extremely ambitious and complicated project, involving many gameplay elements and concepts not done before.
The goal behind Eschaton is to revolutionize modern gaming as it is today in every possible aspect available.
Bringing many elements never before seen in-game, is definitely not going to be an easy task, thus the element of time is the mod's friend, and since Eschaton isn't developed by a licensed gaming company, it's not restricted by any software restrictions or regulations nor does it have a limited budget or a deadline.
Eschaton is more of a total conversion than a simple modification; It is the range of content, detail and design that is outrageously immense and ambitious, as it is expansive.

small overview:
Eschaton is a story of humanity, an experience that touches the political, the spiritual, the philosophical, the romantic and the emotional.
It is a story of struggle that speaks of two heroes in a world of a thousand factions, the immensely profound movements of powerful organizations, and the unity of a race against an upcoming strife and a tidal wave of unstoppable change.


You can find a short work-in-progress script here:
http://ren.ahl2mod.net/docs/eschaton.doc

This will give you a better understanding of the atmopshere and feel which i am trying to create.
and also, a wip timeline can be found at http://ren.ahl2mod.net/timeline.htm

I am mainly looking for concept artists, and a Lead programmer, so if anybody is interested, here's my contact info;

email/msn: [email protected]
icq: 335808975
aim: artyhimself
irc: irc.gamesurge.net #eschaton

have a great day.
cheers.

-sinarty

 

[crackhead]

i found this hilarious :

hey everything

that is a fantastic concept picture on the website. have you gotten any models or maps done?

 

[Majestic XII]

Is this one of those mods with huge worlds with people and cities all over the planet living their own life etc? I had one of those ideas when i was about 7 years old, and you know what? Wolfenstein 3D couldnt handle it, and I doubt Source can handle it.

I don't know if this is what you're going for, but since you don't actually tell us anything about the mod (gameplay) it all fair game, yeah?

Could you tell us something about the revolutionary features in your mod, please?

 

[sin-arty]

The mod sure is in its early stages, so at the moment we don't have any maps done, because I havent sketched out the evnironmental layout yet.
Models should be uploaded soon, as well as more concept artwork.

And Majestic XII, this won't be a mod with huge cities and people all over the planet living their lives etc. lol no.

Those "revolutionary" features are just things that i thought up, theres no code done, no internal working version of the game, hence thats why im looking for a lead programmer.

The mod's genre is action / thriller / sci-fi / drama / romance (its written in a moviescript style)

It's filled with story twists, conspiracies, secret government agencies and so on... (I just love this style)

Gameplay? Think of Deus Ex and Half-Life2, where everything is interactive and realistic.
Realistic movement, speed, gunfire (health system) etc.

I would really like if you read the small intro script i posted
peace.

-sinarty

 

[Majestic XII]

The mod sure is in its early stages, so at the moment we don't have any maps done, because I havent sketched out the evnironmental layout yet.
Models should be uploaded soon, as well as more concept artwork.

And Majestic XII, this won't be a mod with huge cities and people all over the planet living their lives etc. lol no.

Those "revolutionary" features are just things that i thought up, theres no code done, no internal working version of the game, hence thats why im looking for a lead programmer.

The mod's genre is action / thriller / sci-fi / drama / romance (its written in a moviescript style)

It's filled with story twists, conspiracies, secret government agencies and so on... (I just love this style)

Gameplay? Think of Deus Ex and Half-Life2, where everything is interactive and realistic.
Realistic movement, speed, gunfire (health system) etc.

I would really like if you read the small intro script i posted
peace.

-sinarty

I'm more interested in gameplay than story right now. Afterall, games is something you - the player - take a active part in rather than TV shows and movies where you take a very passive part in (You just watch the movie).

You have to give us some more information about the features and the how the gameplay will be if you want people to be interested. I'm just trying to help you give us some more information in order to get more people interested in the mod.

I write singleplayer games too, so I know how important it is to have a good story. But the story is nothing if you can't get it into the game so to speak. For example; if we have a protagonist with a short temper and easily gets angry at things/people. You could have the protagonist "outbursts" as a special weapon in the game. When you're running low on health, you are able to do this special attack to get away/kill the enemies.

You see what I mean? The story needs to have a direct connection to the gameplay to actually have any effect on the player.

Also, use the word "realism" very seldom, since its a very "big" word and often used for every genre. Define the features more.

If you would like, we could take this somewhere else (in another forum or just stop) so I don't hijack your thread too much

 

[Humidor]

needs more game design. You're obviously passionate about the story, and thats great, but the feature list doesn't have much in the way of "this is going to revolutionize modern gaming." If you want to get people interested you have to grab them with not only a compelling story but some mechanics that will really engage them.

I dont know... how about the player's gun is a character itself, make the player interact and form a relationship with it. make communication with it context based, and throw in a bunch of different inputs. it will act differently depending on how you manage it's energy, how accurate you are with it, who you shoot, etcetera.

or how about none of the characters are human, the way they take and deal damage is very different, and all of their weapons are nothing like that of our militaries'. you can do a cheap allegory of the cold war by having the character take part in an arms race, and all of the weapons become more effective but on a paralell become more like that of our human weaponry. You can tie it all up and make them think about it.

just brainstorm.
anyway, like Majestic XII, I'm happy to discuss on irc or what have you.

 

[crackhead]

how about the player's gun is a character itself, make the player interact and form a relationship with it.

have you been taking drugs?

 

[RabidJester]

have you been taking drugs?

How about a mod where each team has a mad dash to find randomly placed items for construction of a car scattered about a map. They have to locate an engine or other propulsion, a frame, wheels, weapons, etc. Sort of like in Junkyard Wars.

Then they have a gui that allows each team to select a vehicle from the parts they scavenged (perhaps each type of "loot" item has a type attached to it - chassis, wheel, propulsion, etc) and then you take your thrown together crap and fight or race or whatever against your enemy.

All of this happens in a world made entirely of peanut butter.

How's that for tasty innovation?

 

[crackhead]

i like it!

 

[Humidor]

have you been taking drugs?

it's just thinking outside of the box.
of course outside of the box there is an ample supply of hallucinogens.

 

[crackhead]

yeah i guess it really depends on what sort of box it is.

 

[RabidJester]

 

[sin-arty]

I really appreciate all your posts, and yes, I am very passionate about the story
I didn't put much design into the script because I'm sketching out all of the environments on paper so..
In anycase, as I see the mod playing out in my head, it's defenitly nothing like anyone has ever seen before.
It's pretty hard to understand, I'll have more concept artwork done soon showing off scenarios and the like, and progress on the script.
All in all, thanks for the interest.

Anyhow, I started this thread not to discuss
I'm looking for a lead programmer, if anyone's interested, details are at the first post.
Peace.

-sinarty

 

[Ennui]

if you're not open to discussion you won't get very far.
all threads are for discussion here.

 

[Yorick]

That concept is absolutely gorgeous.

Features list though? Kinda weak. Having listed Voice Acting is irrelevant. And Character Evolution is nice, but isn't really a feature as such, moreover what the story is.

Although, "Player's injuries from getting shot at including being winded, going deaf, slightly blind when explosions go off and even disorientation." sounds pretty cool, I think it might also end up being annoying.

The features list just seems like it assumes an awful lot, and is quite vague, instead of having a solid grasp of what you're actually trying to convey.

"Weapon fire will make the player feel nervous and act frantically, geysers of dust will fly out from walls, realistic material will eject from surfaces and bullets will whizz and ricochet violently."

"Advanced decapitation system". What sets it apart from other decapitation systems? What makes it a system? What makes it advanced? Is it an advanced system because you can rip someone's head off with your hands at different angles?

It seems like it could be cool, but some fleshing out would be nice.

 

[sin-arty]

I'm always open for discussing sry
This forum has the nicest people I've ever met, completly unlike hl2world.com.

It really gets me down, because all these features are just words at the moment (all show no go), they are theoreticle, that's why I'm looking for a really strong, dedicated and friendly lead programmer.
alsom check out the media page at http://ren.ahl2mod.net/media.htm
just uploaded an ak47.
Speaking of weapons, on the website is says that the player is going to have dozens if not hundreds of weapons, I meant that he won't be carrying 300 weapons or anything like it.
He could (I'm still working this out) carry say 3 or 4 pistols, one or two rifles, a knife and a couple of grenades, eeping it realistic as possible.
And from time to time, during game progress, the player will just find random weaponry and he would choose to what to do with it; either pick it up and drop some other weapon, or just leave it.
Hope you understand.
discuss.

 

[Humidor]

"Advanced decapitation system". What sets it apart from other decapitation systems? What makes it a system? What makes it advanced? Is it an advanced system because you can rip someone's head off with your hands at different angles?

More importantly, will I be able to drink the blood of my enemies and go into berserker mode?

more on topic, if you want to get a programmer to help out (who we all know are the most important members :upstare: ) you should write a design document if you haven't done so already.
I beleive that's what a coder would like to see the most, to understand what they will be doing rather than joining a team with one list of vague features that they are supposed to implement. I even go so far as to include specific units and name structures, and if I'm feeling pretentious I throw in some pseudocode (most coders laugh at it).

 

[sin-arty]

I understand you perfectly, thanks for the heads up.

 

[sin-arty]

Thought I'd give you more information, hopefully this will help, so here it is:


ESCHATON
An Immersive Role-Playing First-Person Adventure Shooter Simulation Thriller.
Genre: Action / Thriller / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Drama / Romance.


EDITOR'S NOTES:
Hello and welcome to the Eschaton introductionary section.
First and foremost, and most importantly, Eschaton is a sci-fi first person RPG modification based on Valve Software's Half-Life 2's Source engine.
Eschaton is an extremely ambitious and complicated project, involving many gameplay elements and concepts not done before.
If you haven't, please refer to the Features page immediately.
The goal behind Eschaton is to revolutionize modern gaming as it is today in every possible aspect available.
Bringing many elements never before seen in-game, is definitely not going to be an easy task, thus the element of time is the mod's friend, and since Eschaton isn't developed by a licensed gaming company, it's not restricted by any software restrictions or regulations nor does it have a limited budget or a deadline.
Eschaton is more of a total conversion than a simple modification; It is the range of content, detail and design that is outrageously immense and ambitious, as it is expansive.
Fundamentally I am trying to achieve something that has never been done before in a PC game while trying to push the boundaries of Source™ technology further.
Eschaton is trying to be as realistic as possible, be it the health system, movement system or firing system, where each system contributes in immersing the player more deeply within the game, and adds overall complexity.
Am I trying to change the world? Not all at once.

For about 3 years now, I have been thinking, researching and spending time brainstorming ideas.
The idea was originally inspired by many cyberpunk and sci-fi movies, pc games, books and so forth.
I had a vision; this vision was to create a whole new world set in an far alternate future, either a motion picture or a PC game, filled with conspiracies, black government and military projects, evil A.I. supercomputers, secret societies and immoral scientific research, be it cybernetics, biological research, cloning, “Super Soldiers”, human augmentations, deadly viruses and so forth.


PHILOSOPHICAL POINTS
Let’s take Warren Spector’s Deus Ex for example, I really think that Deus Ex has made a lot of people open their eyes and change their views on secret societies, government agencies, and on conspiracies in general.
Honestly, I didn’t know about secret societies only after I played Deus Ex, I was so fascinated by them that I started researching and reading about them for months, day and night, and frankly, I think more people should learn about this sort of stuff, not only because its interesting, but because secret societies exist behind every government, behind every major event, behind every world war etc, and it is also important to know their motives, and their hunger for control, and money.
But secret societies never touch anything directly, they are invisible, they only influence, suggest and insinuate.
Eschaton will supposedly take the player behind the scenes of a couple of secret societies and secret government agencies, black military projects and so on.
I would like to point out that for the past few months I have been researching mankind's history, and I want to say that I am afraid, I’m afraid because we live in a very violent world, world full of political assassinations, world wars, uncontrolled bloodshed and natural disasters.
Their motives are crystal clear; lust for power and money.
It is that simple, and it scares the shit out of me, and it scares me even more because of the fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are unaware of the forces which truly control our world.



2. //INTRODUCTION

Eschaton is a story of humanity, an experience that touches the political, the spiritual, the philosophical, the romantic and the emotional.
It is a story of struggle that speaks of two heroes in a world of a thousand factions, the immensely profound movements of powerful organizations, and the unity of a race against an upcoming strife and a tidal wave of unstoppable change.

2. //THE GAME

Eschaton is a sci-fi first person RPG modification based on Valve Software's Half-Life2™ Source engine.
Fictionally, Eschaton is set in a near alternate future version of the real world.
Conceptually, Eschaton is genre-busting game – part immersive simulation, part-role playing game, part first-person shooter and part adventure game.
Theoretically, I am trying to create an immersive simulation game in which you are made to feel as if you’re actually in the game world.

Ideally, when playing the game, nothing should remind you that you are just playing a game; not the interface, not your character’s back-story or capabilities, not game systems, nothing.
It should be all about how you interact with complex environments in ways which you find interesting, and in the way you move closer to accomplishing your goals.

It is a role playing game in that you play a role and make character development choices which ensure that you end up with a unique alter ego.
You progress throughout the game through a variety of minute-to-minute gameplay experiences in a manner that grows naturally out of the unique aspects of your character.
Every single and possible choice you make is theoretically designed to reflect your own biases and express your own personal characteristic differences in obvious ways in the game world, as much as realistically possible.

It is a first-person shooter because the action unfolds in real-time, seen through the virtual eyes of your alter ego in the game world, and your reflexes and skills play an important role in determining your success in combat.

And finally, Eschaton is like adventure games in that it’s story-driven, linear in narrative structure, and involves character interaction and item accumulation to advance the plot.
However, Eschaton is designed to “ask” players to determine how they will solve game problems and force them to deal with the consequences of their choices.

Eschaton is not about using the biggest gun to defeat a final boss, not at all.
Eschaton is about making minute-to-minute nerve breaking critical decisions which impact the world, and using the environments to accomplish the tasks set before the player.

 

[crackhead]

romance? i dont think that will work somehow.

 

[sin-arty]

trust me, it will.