dim3 Forum

Now, I know I have three technically unfinished projects I'm working on, two on temporary pause and one that I'm working on fairly consistently. But while experimenting with a particle and looking across some of the resources I have no use for I ran across an great game idea. I have a basic map that looks like the Lobby from the Matrix, I have the M16 sound from said scene, and today while doing an experiment with gun hit particles it all came together, I hit on a simple plan with lots of potential: What if we made a game to imitate the Matrix Lobby scene...


Lobby Shootout concept

Goal: To create an online multiplayer game that allows players to experience the Matrix lobby scene, and play it for themselves.


Description:

Gameplay- Third person shooter.

Gameplay will take place in a map resembling either the lobby from the first Matrix movie, or the basement room from the third movie. In the lobby one team will consist of police with m16s and shotguns, while the other team will consist of 'agents' with their choice of weapon sets. Police will recieve one weapon, either a shotgun or M16, and several magazines. Agents will get three different weapons sets and no ammunition. When one weapon or pair of weapons runs out of ammunition they must throw them away and pull out another set. Bullet hits on scenery will kick up clouds of concrete dust that quickly obscure vision, so using suppressive gunfire becomes an important tactic. The differences in weaponry will also create interesting combat variables since police can reload their weapons and thus shoot more bullets overall, but agents can throw their guns away and pull out another set much quicker than reloading. Camera position will be third person so animation is vital. As an additional feature there could be a basement lobby map where one team would be mafia and the other agents. Both would have identical weapons options.

Additional idea's that might not be practical-
It would also be nice to include some basic hand to hand combat moves in case an agent player runs out of guns. However I'm not sure that this would work with dim3 yet. Acrobatics such as rolls and cartwheels would also be a nice addition, but probably not practical since the hitbox wouldn't change much.


Weapons:
Agents can generally choose three weapons or pairs of weapons, all of which must be discarded once empty. There are size constraints that limit the possible combinations. For instance, carrying two pairs of small submachine guns leaves room only for a brace of pistols. So the player can either have two pairs of pistols and a pair of small submachine guns (Uzi's for instance) or two pairs of small smg's and a pair of pistols. These limits are to keep players from being too powerful.

M16 A1- Police:
One of the origional M16 family, the A1 is fully automatic with a 30 round magazine. This weapon will be powerful and accurate and an advantage for Police to help balance out the larger weapon selection for Agents.

SPAS 12 shotgun- Police:
A pump action 12 gauge shotgun with a ten round magazine. Deadly at close range, a slow reload speed can render the shotgun useless if it runs out of ammunition.

Uzi micro- Agents/Mafia
A pistol size submachine gun with an unbelievable rate of fire. It has a 30 round magazine and is carried in pairs. The Uzi's are extremely potent at close range, but since they run out of ammunition very fast they can be difficult to use effectively.

MP5K-PDW- Agents/Mafia
A compact submachinegun with a 30 round magazine. It is fairly accurate and powerful. The MP5 can be carried singly or in a pair and be duel wielded. If you take a pair however you sacrifice one of your three weapon slots.

Skorpion- Agents/Mafia
The Skorpion is a pistol sized 32 caliber submachinegun. It has 20 round magazines and is very accurate, but also shoots rather weak bullets. Comes in pairs.

Berreta 92FS- Agents/Mafia
The Berreta comes in duel wielded pairs, it is a 15 round semiautomatic handgun. It is quite powerful and accurate. The semiautomatic only function can both help conserve ammo, and make it difficult to use.

Glock 17- Agents/Mafia
The Glock 17 comes in pairs, it is a less accurate semi automatic pistol than the Berreta, but has a larger 17 round magazine.



Player models:

Police-
Basic SWAT look, vests, helmets, ect.

Agents-
Trenchcoats, suits, cool shades, you know the deal.

Mafia-
Leather jackets, masks, unkempt look.



I don't know how many people would be interested in such an idea, but I certainly would want to play this game.
I don't want to undertake this entire project myself, but I think if it were a group project we could finish it in record time and have a great final product which might help generate interest in dim3. if nobody is interested I'll just shelf it for awhile because at the moment I'd rather devote the majority of my effort towards Mutant Island.

I want to get some feedback on this before I go posting a list of some kind. But I'm thinking it would be nice to use Alex's skills for modeling and texturing low poly Player models. I think of the BOBs he's done for Infested, that's the type of player model I would want for this game and he's the only one who's ever done anything like that so well (if at all). I could take care of weapon models, music, and some if not all of the sound. I also have a nice library of map textures which would do fine. Somebody else can do the necessary scripting, preferably somebody who's better at it than me. And so on.

For those who have not seen the Lobby Scene or Basement scene or who wish to refresh their memory you can watch these scenes handily on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6FYs8aok...re=related
Lobby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8WBYnElZ...4&index=10
Basement

What do you think guys? Blame Christmas Eve for causing this brainstorm. Merry Christmas!

I'll probably be able to help! I have go, but I'll read more about it when I get back. Note most people will be gone for xmas .

I love that scene and I'd love to help. I could probably do scripting. I'm actually busy with a lot of other projects right now, but maybe I could find a little time to help with this one.
Since there is absolutely no story or setting, and it's pretty much just stealing from Matrix, why not go completely crazy?
By crazy I mean a huge lobby, 32 players, particle effects everywhere, agents jumping 30 feet high, doing a backflip and taking out 3 enemies with a spinning kick while firing two M16s simultaneously.
Okay, maybe that's a little too crazy...
I'd really like to work on this one and if you find someone who can do decent player models (and by decent I mean http://www.dailyscreenshots.de/screensho...-3-1147041), I'd be glad to help.

EDIT: And empty your inbox, Durandalski! I can't send you PMs!

Its been done a million times before, almost ever action shooter has the massive 1 against many stand off. Max payne, deus ex, hell - even all the Matrix games. The diffrence is that all these parts in the game were a mere 5% of the level they were part of. Your trying to make a Dr Kill Cote FPS assumably.

Trying to make a well directed highly choriographed action sequence into a shootem up level; the 2 styles don't go together. Look how awful a game XIII was. The story and the graphic style was great, but the gameplay was awful.

mafoo, I think it would make it much more fun since it's multi player . There should be many MANY different things you can do, moves tricks, and there has to be ALOT of cheats to keep people playing one level-but it could, could be REALLY fun!

Note that I laughed at how cool that scene was when I first saw the matrix :D.

ccccc Wrote:mafoo, I think it would make it much more fun since it's multi player . There should be many MANY different things you can do, moves tricks, and there has to be ALOT of cheats to keep people playing one level-but it could, could be REALLY fun!

Note that I laughed at how cool that scene was when I first saw the matrix :D.

cheats + multiplayer = bad

There is a (few) matrix mod(s) for UT that betters anything you could do.

Sadly dim3 cant handle what you want - and I doubt neither can anyone on this forum could produce good enough animation, model, texture and script combinations for what you want either. :/

I don't want to be a downer, but I'm sick of people talking pie in the sky here.

I hear you, mafoo, of course it isn't going to be the best. There will always be someone better, if I only made games I knew would be better than everyone else's, I wouldn't make games .

Heres my question: Do you make games so people will play them, or do you make games to make games?
I make games to make games. I'd rather people play them, but that's just an extra.
I care about my games being good, not better.

(if I was selling games I'd have a different answer, obviously)
[EDIT]And I do like entertaining people, I juggle, preform magic, mystic sticks, but that's just not why I make games.

I'm not aiming for the sky here, I'm thinking simple first, complicated later. We can start with a couple basic player models and weapons and one map, and expand on that if we want to. Remember our Blood Rush game? I'm thinking like that, something small, simple, and fast. But that can be improved and made larger if people are willing. Which by the way no one was in the case of Blood Rush apparently.

NowI don't want to imitate the lobby scene exactly, that's impossible and stupid. Besides, it's a multiplayer game, and that means nothing is scripted. But instead I'd rather capture some of the feel; the bullets and concrete dust flying, the running around blazing away with dual weapons, and maybe even kicking the enemy to death at point blank and cartwheeling between pillars. Let me show you what I've done with the particles.


It's hard to show with just a screenshot. Basically what I did is made the gun hit spawn a cloud of little clouds, which expand and fall to the floor while vanishing. Just imagine, you're playing a cop and you see a figure in a trench coat poke out from behind a pillar. Instantly you unload on it with your M16, then you reload while the dust clears, and suddenly you realise the enemy used the dust cloud you raised to dodge around the pillars and get behind you. Or better yet, he's running up through it blazing away with a pair of submachine guns. Cmon, doesn't that sound fun? The idea is to let you play the lobby however you like.

I don't intend to go orginising everything till after the Holiday Season, I just wanted to get the idea out there so we can chat it up.

I've read this thread and i saw some things reported as little problems:

Problem:
Additional idea's that might not be practical- 
It would also be nice to include some basic hand to hand combat moves in case an agent player runs out of guns. However I'm not sure that this would work with dim3 yet. Acrobatics such as rolls and cartwheels would also be a nice addition, but probably not practical since the hitbox wouldn't change much.

Sollution:
Dim3 supports melee attacks so it is definitly possible. do you always use one hitbox? use hitboxes for every part of a body, so: head, chest, waist, hips, upperarms, lowerarms, upperlegs, underlegs and feet. this way you'll need to make a lot of animations but it would be all worth it. especially if you divide each part into different direction, for example: head front, head leftside, head rightside, head back, head top.

idea:
SPAS 12 shotgun- Police:
A pump action 12 gauge shotgun with a ten round magazine. Deadly at close range, a slow reload speed can render the shotgun useless if it runs out of ammunition.
script that if the shotgun runs out of ammo it will turn the primary fire (fire guns) into secondary fire (melee attacks). and if you press it a couple of times you would do an Equillibrium-style combo (is really a great movie but if you've seen matrix you might find it a rip-off).

more ideas:
if you'd try to create the illusion that you can actually break down the pillars. i had an idea for it but it needs some work and testing i think. i'll get back on that

and yes i would also like to help :D with modelling, animations and a bit of texturing :D

Durandalski:
We need better textures and particles, AND bullet holes, though I guess you know that .

Hey, is there any way to use parallax mapping on a bullet hole? I don't think so, but that would be awesome!
[EDIT]btw, I don't mean cheats like invincibility and stuff, that would suck in multi player, I mean little things like "if you run into the wall at this angle firing a passage opens up". Weird things like that to keep people playing .