Need feedback on mod idea

[Merc248]

Hey... well, I'm going to try this modding stuff again after the utter failure of my original "Rebellion" idea (had a lot of internal team issues). This will probably be my new "Rebellion" mod idea for HL2. Here it is (originally posted on Hostile Intent forums):

if anyone has played defense alliance for unreal tournament, you'll know what i'm talking about. for those who don't, imagine something like starship troopers except the attackers aren't mindless bugs, but rather just streaming amounts of bipeds trying to go for a certain objective. the players are the defenders against this endless stream of guys. the players win when time runs out.

anyhow, i'd say it would be great if instead of mindless troopers going for an objective, it would be the combine going for an objective (with their appropriate AI). it would complement the HL2 environment near the end of the game quite nicely (follow freeman, anticitizen zero, etc.). the players are the guerilla fighters with the beanies. because they are guerilla fighters, they can use fairly rag tag obstacles to stop the combine from getting to an objective; obstacles such as flipped over tables, shabby retractable sky bridges, perhaps barrels full of hot tar that can be dropped from above. there would be two classes: the medic, and the defenders. the medic can carry everything but the rocket launcher and perhaps the pulse rifle, and has a bit less health than everyone else. the defenders can carry everything but of course they cannot heal nor revive their teammates.

objectives that the combine can go for can range from a bunker, to a landmark, to a strategically important location, to perhaps some sort of weapon cache that the guerilla fighters have scrounged up.

and because these guys are guerilla fighters, they only have a limited supply of weapons. so they must conserve their ammo, pickup the enemies' dropped weapons (and perhaps there should be an option to carry a weapon back to a weapon cache for later use), etc. the combine will always be double the amount of players (or will be a number set by the server admin) and will use the same tactics as they used in the single player game. only thing i find a problem with is the amount of CPU usage... hopefully there are ways around that.

So what do you guys think? Anyone interested in making this sort of mod? I imagine that it would only require new maps and new code, and perhaps some custom made map models.

 

[Merc248]

Err... anyone even interested in the idea?

 

[RabidJester]

It sounds like a great idea, as long as the AI is smart enough to attempt more tactics than just charge and overwhelm. It should be part of their repetoire, but not the only part.

 

[André Damli]

I think you've got a good idea there.
I'm personally someone who preferes co-operative games where you don't fight a player enemy, as I'm a sore loser, and can't stand people laughing in my face when I do lose

It's an original idea, and very aracde-ish. Should be very entertaining, and with a good AI, it might not wear out too fast either.

 

[Lorka]

Should be a co-op MP. Sounds interesting, definately. That UT mode in the original had some truely cinematic potential.

 

[ReDGuNNeR]

heh, I like the original idea of hundreds of mindless drones just charging at their next objective, you and your buddies. The enemies only weapons would be their claws, and they just run and destroy whatever is in their way from the defenders. There could be 2 types of weapons, splash-damage weps that hurt alot of enemies, but only takes away a little HP, and then accurate weps, that kill an enemy in 2 or 3 shots.

There could be 2 types of maps. One is where you are defending a building, and enemies are coming in every direction. The other type is defending an area one at a time, and when that area is broken through, you run and try to protect the next area behind it, which the enemies are now trying to reach.

There could be a mode where everyone is working together to survive in a set amount of time, and there could be a team-mode where 2 teams compete to see who survived for the longest amount of time. They never see each other, but they are fighting in the same map.

Even if you don't want the mindless drones, you can still use an idea or two for your mod hehe...

 

[RabidJester]

heh, I like the original idea of hundreds of mindless drones just charging at their next objective, you and your buddies. The enemies only weapons would be their claws, and they just run and destroy whatever is in their way from the defenders. There could be 2 types of weapons, splash-damage weps that hurt alot of enemies, but only takes away a little HP, and then accurate weps, that kill an enemy in 2 or 3 shots.

There could be 2 types of maps. One is where you are defending a building, and enemies are coming in every direction. The other type is defending an area one at a time, and when that area is broken through, you run and try to protect the next area behind it, which the enemies are now trying to reach.

There could be a mode where everyone is working together to survive in a set amount of time, and there could be a team-mode where 2 teams compete to see who survived for the longest amount of time. They never see each other, but they are fighting in the same map.

Even if you don't want the mindless drones, you can still use an idea or two for your mod hehe...

These are great suggestions and should definitely be considered. It's the details and variation that make mods great.

 

[Merc248]

Hmm... it's possible to also implement something where depending on the map, certain types of enemies are spawned in. Like on the beach/desert maps, there could be a fort to defend where a lot of those antlions come in and try to overrun the fort.

I'm thinking about opening up the mod for community contribution as well. The architecture should be based a little bit on what HL2 presented in its single player levels, so assuming that everyone went through the single player, that should serve as a good guide as to what one can expect to see in the mod.