Mod idea... Middle Ages

[EsR_prowl]

I have been toying with this idea for a mod based on the middle ages... swords, shield, bows, all that good stuff. I dont want to post my entire idea here, unless one of the mod teams out there really wants me to, I would rather talk about it over email.

Anyways if your a mod developer just shoot me an email, ill send you my idea, and just tell me if you like it, cant hurt anything

 

[63]

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=96881

 

[EsR_prowl]

The chivalry mod looks ok, but there is a few key differences between it and my mod idea, ill post it here I guess just to see if anyone thinks its cool.

Middle Ages Half-Life 2 Mod

This is a rough draft of my idea of this mod. It is meant to be a roughly realistic (mainly no magic of any kind) based game on the middle ages. With swords and other hand weapons, shields, ranged weapons like bows, and different armor types. This mod is meant to show some kind of historical references, to roughly depict different battles throughout the age's, taking place in castles, villages, open fields, and in forests. The game will be compromised of 2 teams, representing various civilizations in their different historical battles. Different maps will offer different ways to win, both teams with an objective (usually 1 team defending something, and the other team trying to capture or destroy something, but other map types will arrise later) The weapons will also be based on what that civilization commonly used. There will be no class system, you can pick and choose what weapons and armor you want, but with some limitations. Here is a very rough look at how the weapon and armor system will be, this is more to be used as an example, rather than actual planning of the weapon system, so bare with me.


One Handed Weapons

Short Sword
Falcuta
Mace
Spear

Shields

Small Shield
Medium Shield
Large Shield
Tower Shield

Two Handed Weapons

Broad Sword
Highlander Sword
Doubled-Sided Axe
Large Hammer
Long Spear

Ranged Weapons

Short Bow
Recurve Bow
Long Bow
Cross Bow
Javeline

Armor

Leather Armor
Plate Armor
Chain Armor
Helmet

Now when I say limitations, I mean you cant just equip a long bow, a highlander sword, a short sword, and a tower shield, so you can run around the map and wreck everything in your path. Different players are going to have to choose different roles. If you want to be more defensive, but like to still be mobile, you can get chain armor, a medium shield, and short sword, giving you a fairly good balance of defence and movement speed. If you want to be quick, sneaky, and dangerous, you can equip leather armor, and 2 falcuta's.

There are tons of ways to mix and match, but the game will also be programmed to not let you stack all the weapons you want together.

To emphasize a little on the ranged weapons, you can equip hand weapon and ranged weapons, but again with limitations. A long bow has a long range, can only be fired while standing still, and only allows you to carry a one handed weapon and small shield. A recurve bow has average range and hits hard, you can equip it with a one handed weapon and up to medium shield, or some of the smaller 2 handed weapons like a broad sword, you can move at a walking speed while firing the recurve bow, with some decreased accuracy. The short bow and cross bow can both be fired while moving at almost full speed with again decreased accuracy, and can be coupled with most weapons, the short box can fire arrows at a faster pace, but your arrows dont do as much damage, where as a crossbow bolt while taking longer to load, has a bit more of a punch to it.

I guess the biggest differences are the way the weapon system is laid out compared to their class based system, my maps I want made to resemble realistic places in history, with different civilizations and such.

 

[Duff]

wouldnt ranged weapons completely pwn?

 

[Ennui]

Ridiculous amount of work you're proposing, and it could probably be far better done on an engine whose melee system doesn't suck as much.

 

[StAtiC]

Ridiculous amount of work you're proposing, and it could probably be far better done on an engine whose melee system doesn't suck as much.

Weeeeelllll... its not like he's suggesting being able to do a flying axe-kick in the face or anything. How much work would it really be? Vary the melee weapon range/damage and use different models and there you go. The real difference he suggests is how you choose weapons and armor and such, and that can't be too hard to code. The other Middle-Ages mods aren't having such a difficult time, as far as it looks. But I'm no melee weapon expert so you could have different things in mind.

 

[EsR_prowl]

The melee weapons wouldnt be hard, the work for them is really already done, you just increase or decrease the distance at which they can hit, and how much damage each one does.

The menu work wouldnt be too difficult either, when you buy a certain weapon, other ones become inaccessable.

The difficult thing would be the ranged weapons, you would have to factor in that at range you would want the weapon to shoot at a bit of an angle, which would require something that I dont think halflife already has incorporated into it, but then again, I guess you could borrow code from like hand grenades, and tweak it to do what you want.

Bows wouldnt be too overpowered, we would just have to mess with the power/accuracy on it untill its balanced, it doesnt have to be like an AWP in cs, 1 shot 1 kill.

Im not trying to sound like I know what im doin when I say stuff will be easy or hard, im no modder, im just kinda guessing, most, if not all, of the code that is needed, is already in the game, it just needs to be played with untill you get what you want.

Anyways, I think if done exactly right, a mod like this could possibly become as popular as a DoD or CS, those mods are popular because of their fairly realistic nature (yeah they may not be 100%, thats why its a game)

I dont know how many, if any of you, played counter-strike beta 1-5, but you wanna talk about a buggy game, the movement was messed up pretty bad, there werent many weapons, few maps, but it was new and fun, their development team released new versions of each beta every few weeks, and new beta's every couple months, and they finally got all the kinks out, now its the most popular game out there today.

Anyways im rambling now anyone else have any comments ?

 

[JFry]

I think you are shooting for wayyy too many models. 18 weapon models and 3+ character models is no small feat. Also the maps you're proposing would require all new texture sets. It seems like a lot of work for what is essentially a team deathmatch game.

I suggest concentrating more on the core gameplay. Think of the things that cause tension when you are playing cs. You hear the bomb has been planted and its a frantic rush to the site. Or in DoD when the enemy is at the last checkpoint before your spawn and you're being rushed left and right. If you can make the gameplay fun then you don't need tons of resources and you have a much better shot of actually completing the mod.

You admit yourself that you aren't a modder so how can you expect some one you don't even know to spend hundreds or even thousands of hours of their life creating models for your mod? Try developing a skill like mapping, modeling, coding, etc.. for a few months and then consider making a mod when you can better contribute to your team. Not trying to sound like a jerk I'm just saying keep your goals realistic.

 

[EsR_prowl]

I understand what your saying, I have been playing with mod tools a little bit, but im in the very beginning learning stages.

As far as the weapons and maps go, I believe a periodic release is far better than a mass release, weapon modeling is something me and my friends could definitly take care of, maybe starting with 12-16 weapon models, they dont have to be the absolute greatest at first, thats what updates are for, and maybe 1 or 2 maps, im sure some existing textures can be used, where as others will have to be created, 2 player models at first are fine as well.

If I am to do this, I plan on following the kind of planning the dev's of cs did at first, you start out with a little content, let the players help test the game and find bugs after you do initial alpha testing to catch the big stuff, and release bug fix's often, and new content as you create it every couple months, whatever kind of community you create for your game will like that they contribute to the creation of it, and keep playing to see the constant stream of new content and improvements.

Besides, if you want to really think about it, the core gameplay all revolves around 2 things, the environment, and how you kill the other player

Looking for some help I know is a long shot, but I figured hey, you never know if some anxious modder out there might see this and think hey, thats a hell of an idea, and offer his help or atleast his input. Either way, I have some friends that im coaxing into helping me, I just gotta find a way to motivate them is all