Project EXO

[Pierre]

Hello ladies and gentlemen. I’m starting a mod for Half-Life 2 called Project EXO. It’s a game based about 100 years into the future where things are not so good in North America. Terrorists have striked all over the place with nuclear and bio weapons. The government creates an elite force to eliminate the terrorists and they succeed. But this special force is now the problem - many of them have gone crazy and they are so powerful that the government has to create a more powerful force to eliminate the "mistakes". You are one of the "mistakes" but you haven’t gone crazy and now you have to survive and fight back.
The terrorism led to a great depression - the streets are now filled with poverty, drugs, sickness, crime, traitors, etc. making your objective even harder.

To get an idea of the gameplay think of Max Payne 2 + Splinter Cell 2 + Hitman + GTA + Deus Ex + Star Wars: KOTOR. it will be 3rd person, it will have rpg elements but it wont be slow like an rpg.

The game style will be fast paced, brutal, violent, puzzling, classy, and adventurous. The game will have RPG elements where you can change your appearance, learn knew moves, buy/steal/trade/earn new equipment, get stronger, faster, etc, etc. But the game will not play like an RPG.

I need a Lead Designer in the modelling/skinning/Mapping section of the team. I myself will be leading Art, Music Composition, Plot, and Screen Play. I'll be more like a director.

Also needed at the moment (in this order) are Concept Artists, modellers, and skinners. Will need coders, mapers, Sound tech, later in development but if you are one of those and want to join the team that’s fine.


If you are interested in the slightest bit plz personal message me with what you are applying as and a small sample of your work. If you want to be the Lead Designer please tell me what mod’s you have been lead designer for before or what mod’s you've worked on.

Once you PM me I will send you a basic documentation on some of my ideas and some of the story line so far. What I talked about at the top was pretty limited to what the game was about and it just sounds like another anti terrorism game but its much more. So please PM!

Pierre

 

[Neutrino]

To get an idea of the gameplay think of Max Payne 2 + Splinter Cell 2 + Hitman + GTA + Deus Ex + Star Wars: KOTOR. it will be 3rd person, it will have rpg elements but it wont be slow like an rpg.

The game style will be fast paced, brutal, violent, puzzling, classy, and adventurous. The game will have RPG elements where you can change your appearance, learn knew moves, buy/steal/trade/earn new equipment, get stronger, faster, etc, etc. But the game will not play like an RPG.

Sounds kind of interesting. But can you expand on the gameplay somewhat? I don't think saying it will be like a whole bunch of games combined really says much about it. Also using adjectives like "fast paced, brutal, violent, etc" doesn't really tell me much about what makes it special. I'm just curious as to what the mod will really be like and what sets it apart. Thanks.

 

[Pierre]

ofcoarse!
Some missions will require you to use stealth some missions you will have to go in hard and fast with guns blazing and some missions will give you the choice. The game will be played in a 3rd person view to make it easier to move around in the environment. You will be able to climb aling ledges, climb up pipes, jump from roof to roof, jump onto fences and then climb over, etc. You will also beable to use moves to evade enemies but dogging, rolling, jumping of walls, jumping into shadows. You will beable to use the shadows to your advantages to hide from enemies.

It wont be arcadey it will be more like realistic fiction because it isnt to far in the future. Pure humans will die realisticly no matter how high their status is.

You will beable to jack people cars, steal things, buy things, rob banks, etc.

There will be numerous branching plot lines - you'll beable to work for different people and work your way up, you can be a rogue, or even start your own group, recruit your own guys, etc

There will be cut scenes (very cool cut scenes may i add) once and a while to help the plot out and make it interesting and to set the mood of the game.

And there will be cool effects like bullet time.

Thats about as much as i can say.

 

[Sprafa]

I don't you'll get what you want from the Source.

max entities problems...max map size....don't think the Source engine will manage to do al that you want....

 

[Pierre]

well, i heard the map sizes will be quite big and if you lowerd graphic quality a bit you could get the size even a little bigger. The mod is still under thought process though so it might change... Will just have to see what it can do.

 

[Neutrino]

Just so you know max map size is about +/-16000 units. This means that the largest map you can make without changing the scale is about a half mile on each side I think. Of course you'd never be able to make such a map for multiplayer I wouldn't think. A big part is going to be poly limits, entity limits, and physics limits. But like you say, we'll just have to see what is possible.

 

[IchI]

Hmmm.... this isn't a very constructive comment but "This mod will never be made/finished" Thats just a simpily 99.9999999% Fact.

Pierre now this is my contructive stuff "Go read engine manuallys and read about restrictions. Find out how you do everything your planning on doing and think realisticly. At the moment you are just thinking.. ' wow max payne has good bullet time lets have that... ow and gta has robbing cars.. i will add that.... ow and counter-strike... got to have terrorists in there somewhere, lets buy weapons as well'.

There is a reason why games don't just add loads of things together from other games and its mainly because I dought very much even a proffesional team could add everything you have just said into a game without it taking them 10 years + (Dukenukem forever style... but u are actually working 24/7 on the mod). They are restrictions everywhere and its not just about thinking "wow that would be cool".

From the way you have presented your self so far I would sujest starting of simple. Make something like a simple deathmatch game but with 1/5! concepts no one has seen before. Don't think about all these stupid ideas thats have been done before and nearly impossible to have in 1 game. Its just like... impossible, thats nearly a fact.

So as I said start all over again and think simple. Get a basic idea in your head of a concept people will like. Then think about the actual gameplay elements of the game. You seem to be dreaming to much atm so just sit down and have a long hard think about what your doing.

 

[Pierre]

Screw it... why dont i just post what i have so far


Basic Story

It was thought that Terrorism was defeated until 2119. Out of nowhere Terrorists hit North America with extravagant force with bio and nuclear weaponry and even infantry. These terrorists are a new force… One never heard of before and the NACIA claimed to know nothing. They are fierce, powerful, equipped, intelligent, and they have no mercy. Their only objective is to destroy and terrorize. This new threat had to be counter attacked. A new world organization was formed to develop new and sophisticated weapons – scientists from Russia, Britain, the USA, and Japan came together and formed a new breed of soldier. A soldier with enhanced capabilities – a soldier that wouldn’t get tired and wouldn’t sleep – a soldier that could seek and destroy for days without food or water – a soldier with integrated AI – a soldier with enhanced strength and speed and vision. the project was called Project EXO(experimental extreme operatives). They abducted youth from their homes and erased some of their memory then put them through intense military training and medical operations that reinforced their bone structure, made their muscles stronger, made them faster, gave them better eye site, expanded their lung capacity, etc etc. After that, they integrated the micro-nano computer technology system which aloud the operatives to store tens of thousands of Tbytes. The operatives could then go to the computer in the military base and upgrade new information – how to use weapons, how to use certain vehicles, martial arts, how to hack, etc, etc. The computer also had a motion tracking, thermal vision, electromagnet vision, night vision, and x-ray vision which was linked to the operatives eyes. They could also take photographs and short videos through their eye site and have the video or picture come up whenever they wanted. The computer also showed a HUD could show ammo left in mag, health, injured points on the body, motion tracked targets, time, waypoints, mission timer, compass, basic information on selected targets, rear view site, distance to location, etc. The operatives can also communicate through their computer through voice or text, they can share pictures, information, etc.

3000 were made and they did what they were supposed to do. They destroyed the terrorists – they found the leaders and assassinated them, they worked in squads and destroyed the terrorist’s bases and killed thousands of terrorists in QQBs. It seemed that the opposition was defeated but the exo’s soon became the next opposition. Many of them went awol and turned against the government. They started attacking each other, military personal, police, and they were attempting to kill the President. It was if the became schizophrenic – They had to be destroyed. Four hundred of the exo’s were still awaiting completion but they were then ordered to be killed so they rebelled and escaped with little challenge.

The scientists developed another new soldier… A soldier that was completely robotic and twice as strong as the exo’s. Their purpose was to kill all the exo’s – Find them on the streets and eliminate them.

There is estimated to be under 100 exos left.
Many of the exo’s formed an underground force attempting to hide from the government and strike back when necessary. Others were lone wolfs using their abilities to rob banks, casinos, etc, etc. Others created a Militia recruiting people from the streets and training them and then sending them to attack government targets – they were an army.



In the game you play a character who was one of the exo’s who escaped the exo development building but you were only partially complete you only have a quarter of your memory and half of your abilities. The game lets you play how you want… You can be a rogue type, you can join gangs, start your own gang and recruit people, be a hit man, etc, etc. There will be many branching story lines bur they all lead to one objective and that’s to release every secret that the government holds, discover your past, etc. There will be many twists in the plot and if you fail a mission all it does is change the plot.

Gameplay


-The game style will be fast paced, brutal, violent, puzzling, classy, and adventurous. The game will have RPG elements where you can change your appearance, learn knew moves, buy/steal/trade/earn new equipment, get stronger, faster, etc, etc. But the game will not play like an RPG.

-You will view the game in a Splinter Cell like way accept that you will be able to fire your weapons without having to go into an aim mode. But there will also be a precision fire mod where you look through your sites.

-Your character can take a beating but it wont be as easy to heal as it is in most games and some things will kill you instantly.

-There will be hit points on the body, when you get shot it will effect your performance

-You will be able to climb, jump, slide, etc, etc. Use cool moves to get you around.

-You will be able to drive vehicles (steal, buy,)

-The game will enforce players to go in stealth, smartly, etc. though players will have the choice to go in loud and proud but it wont be an easy fight. Some missions will make you go in with guns blazing some will make you rely on stealth.

-You will be able to wander the streets and steal things, cause anarchy, find side quests to earn extra money, etc.

-there will be bullet time



Character Development

In the game players will be able to upgrade their characters stats and abilities by going to illegal upgrade centers – in the story the technology gets leaked to the public and billionaire criminals start to develop the basics of the technology, the government considers it terrorism and ordered the clean up forces to kill anyone with any links to the plans. The upgrades are very expensive so you wont be getting lots of them

The ability upgrade system will work somewhat like the star wars: KOTOR system except that you don’t need to get experience points, you need to get money.

Each type of ability system will have 4 levels of expertise. E.g.

Martial Arts lvl 1 ----Martial Arts lvl 2 -------Martial arts lvl 3 ------Martial arts level 4
Vision lvl 1 ---------Vision lvl2---------Vision lvl3-------Vision lvl4
Hacking lvl1--------Hacking lvl2 --------Hackinglvl3 ---------Hacking lvl4
And so on

The higher the number the more money it will cost. Also if it’s a rare upgrade it will cost more
Also some upgraders will rip you off etc. But if you do good things for the upgraders they will give you discounts and such.

Stats will work on an experience type system where you need to gain experience before you level. Once you level you choose what you want to increase (speed, agility, strength, etc)

Sometimes you might not be able to upgrade an ability if it exceeds your physical properties. You you’d have to level up and get the stats that you need. Also some abilities might require you to have other abilities before you can upgrade. For instance if you wanted to increase your hacking ability to level 3 that might require you to have Computer Implant Processing Power level 2.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer wont be like single player. It will be a little more realistic and it won’t have rpg elements at all. It will be objective team based and will most likely be government vs exo’s.

Other Notes

-Blood: The game will be gory no doubt – blood splatters, bleeding bodies, mangled bodies, exit wounds, etc. It will be realistic gore though. Examples of other games with gore:
-Hitman-http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2004/screen0/918782_20040409_screen003.jpg
-Mafia-http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/news/000912/mafia_screen036.jpg
-Maxpayne 2-http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/pc/maxpayne2/1016/max_screen022.jpg


-Weapons: Defiantly over 20 firearms, melee weapons such as, knives, throwing stars/knives, strangle wire, tasers, bats, clubs, screw drivers, axes, etc. plus you will be able to use objects in the environments such as chairs, shards of glass, glass bottles, chains, phone chord, pillows, mail opener, etc. and then you have martial arts.

-Graphics: We will go for medium graphics because of large environments and lots of things going on in the world. But the graphics will still be very good.

 

[Pierre]

When your planning a mod for a game that isnt released yet you should always think big and get out all your ideas then when the game comes out you can eliminate the ones that wont work and then you get a better idea of what you have to work with.

 

[IchI]

urr..... dunno where u got that idea m8. But it's wrong. No games company or mod team have ever done that from my experiance and I can't see them ever doing it. Maybe something small like take out a weapon or change a small system like how you jump. But you don't go spending years making a game that won't work on the hl2 engine, release it. No one can play it and then get feedback that can't be given and then expect to take stuff out. Its a pointless system even if the game did actually work. Because you have spent so long making all these systems that have been in other games then half-life 4 will be out.

You should just face facts m8. Sorry to bring you down, but this isn't going to happen on your current idea.

They are too many people that do exactly what your doing and just don't have a clue at all, sorry.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

You don't start off big and crop down. You start off realistic, and add/remove features during development as necessary. However, you stay as true as possible to your original vision.

 

[Pierre]

Theres actually alot more behind the story than ive told. That was just the basic.

I dont see how this is a Deus Ex clone. My idea is a 3rd person action game.


The way im thinking it will work is that you would beable to switch mods. There would be a normal mod and a stealth mod. Once you activate stealth mod the controls will change abit, the camera will change to a full rotation, you will have to aim your gun, etc.
In normal mod the camera will pretty much be stuck in one place to make it easier to run and gun.
The switch will be fluid though so if you need to quickly get into normal mod you will do so and you wont notice the switch. It will be instant.


Is what i meen is you wont be running into random med pacs on the wall and such and med pacs wont heal you they will only preserve the wounds until you can get to an upgrade center like place. This matters because players will want to be carefull and skill full.


Hit points on the body will effect your characters movement. for instance if your arm gets totaly mangled by bullets (which you'll beable to see) you wont beable to use that arm any more. Getting shot in the legs will slow you down, etc.


"That's great--standard issue stuff, until the "cool moves" bit. Cool moves, like those in SCPT and others, are there as gameplay mechanics, to facilitate something the user should be able to do, not to serve as eye candy. Convince me that yours aren't just eye candy please."

I was just trying to make a fast explanation.

Some Cool moves.

Zig Zag jumping up an elevator shaft
Wall Walk
Wall Walk to a side flip

and many more that are hard to explain.

"I'm getting some really mixed messages here. Is this a GTA3 style game but in a post-apocalyptic setting, an SC lookalike, or what?"

What are you trying to tell me? That im not alloud to mix elements? that all games can only be one time of game?

"Quote:
there will be bullet time

WHY? There's no reason to have bullet-time in an SC lookalike or a GTA3 clone! Don't go for fanboy stupid mixing!"

To simulate the characters speed.


Im not sure what your post was trying to tell me... All you said was that all my ideas were just clones. It's pretty stupid when you call peoples ideas clones from other stuff. If man didn't build off of other peoples ideas we would still be in the stonage. Half-Life 2 has elements from other games! big deal.

hmmmm.The Manufactured War sounds like a cross of mechwarrior and the galatic battle part of Terminator. Or it sounds something of a Battlefield clone set in the future with mechs and such.

 

[Pierre]

Maybe if i run through a visual demo of what im thinking of.

You start in a room and you see your character in a 3rd person view. You look in the room and see some things you want to pick up. You pick up a trench coat, some uzi's, and a unbuilt sniper rifle in a suit case. You go into your invetory window and equip the trench coat and you holster the guns. You go to the front door and exit the room....

Your now in a dark alley, you hope into your parked car and head to your boss. He gives you a mission to kill some guy that ripped him off. Hes in his club pent house. You drive to the location, observe the area and find an entry point. You enter sneak mod and you get in through some vents. Your now over the club dance floor and you can see the guy in his penhouse looking over the club. you get your sniper rifle, assemble it, take the shot. Before you het out of the club. Police are already there. You take the 2 uzis out and unload both magazines into 3 squad cars killing all the cops with your pin point accuracy. then you get out of the area quickly... go to your boss get money. etc.

Now this would probably be the most basic mission you could get. Other missions will have steps that you need to take and stuff.

 

[Fluffy Kitten]

It does sound like you've just glanced across your games shelf, picked off your favourites and thought "wow, how cool would it be if all these things were in 1 game ?!".

Ambitious ideas are great and everything, but the way you list what you'll be doing as "Art, Music Composition, Plot, and Screen Play" makes me wonder if you have even the first idea at how even half your ideas could be made in HL2...

 

[Pierre]

I just mainly wanted a Lead Designer to take lead of my story. The gameplay ideas that i have are just things i though of as i was typing the story.

 

[IchI]

Ok.... at the start I kinda restrained by self from been an ass hole. Because at the end of the day everyone can have ambitious and make a mod, no matter how much skill they have. Its not nessaserily going to be a good mod but if people really like games design and have fun doing it then I am all for it. But so far you have not listened to anything we have sujested and continue to add all these stupid ideas together to try and get people to understand you and be on your side. But we have already said what needs to be said. Face it and listen to our advice, start again (If you ever think you have the dedication, rather than you been bored and giving your self something to dream about and letting everyone else do the work). So far we have tryed to help you and you havn't listened once. So tbh I give up. GL with your project and if you ever want to get anywhere I sujest listening (Reading.... whatever ).

 

[X_i_Z_o_R]

Heh, I can see where all this negative feedback is coming from but it seems a little out of place. Personally, I think if you can create a mod with the kind of gameplay and setting that you've outlined it would have a great atmosphere and be a joy to play. I'm all for the ongoing evolution in the games design as we're witnessing lately where genres are merging and giving birth to much deeper and enjoyable gameplay, like Natural-Selection with FPS and RTS and Deus Ex with RPG and FPS.

The problem here seems to be that right now you have loads of good ideas in the overview which are all fairly challenging to implement, so naturally people don't believe it will be feasible to accomplish. Perhaps a more focused and possibly less ambitious design overview will help to make your idea more realistic and easier to develop as after all the ability of a mod team can only go as far. There are too many mod ideas out lately with 0% innovation in gameplay or story ( Yep, we all know our war mods ) Thinking big isn't necessarily bad, just look at what the Natural-Selection mod did with a dusty Half-Life engine, but every one of those good ideas will take a lot of dedication and time to complete so have a good think about which features are realistic and how you're going to implement them when writing your overview

 

[Pierre]

Thx for the feedback.