Yes I know the titles a bit of a mouthful but I wanted to make sure everything was clear.
Now to the point, I would like to propose a new Mod project for Portal and would like volunteers to help, but to give you some idea of what im dribbling about here is a rough treatment of the idea.
Portal : TrapMatch
A new multiplayer game modification for Portal. Where people can come together and challenge their skills at trying to kill each other with weapons that can`t actually hurt you, well not directly anyway. Pure understanding of the environment around you and total mastery of the tools at hand will help you survive.
Gametypes
Hopefully there will be several different game types, all various twists on the standard ones but with that special Portal edge, including.
TrapMatch Tourney - 1 on 1
TrapMatch Open - Up to 8 player Free For All
TrapMatch Teams - 2 on 2 > 4 on 4
Companion Cube Soccer - Like Deathball for UT but with portal + Gravity Guns in special areas.
Capture The Cake - Basically CTF
These are what I definately want, more modes like Last Subject Standing and others may be added or even thought of if the project does well enough.
Now to detail
TrapMatch.
This game is some crazy genetic crossbreed of Portal and the old C64 classic game Spy vs Spy and is the games answer to deathmatch. It comes in 3 flavours ( Tourney,Open and Team ) each with it`s own set of maps specially crafted for it, other than that the principle is basically the same.
This is portals answer to Death Match, but to score points instead of shooting each other (as you have no proper guns), you must work out other ways to be indirectly responsible for each others deaths. This can be accomplished using the equipment at hand and the environment itself, as well as the stuff in the environment. There is also one last option which is risking your body itself but more on this in the Tactics Section.
Companion Cube Soccer
This is a Portal styled version of Deathball from Unreal Tournament (basically single flag CTF). The two Teams start at each end of the environment and try to grab the companion cube in the centre of the arena and get it through the opposing teams goal. This game will rely on Team work as the cube carrier CAN`T use their Portal gun so is going to have to rely on their team-mates to help them through the map. If while carrying the ball you die or go through a sparkler field you drop the cube. If the cube gets destroyed it gets re-spawned back in the centre of the arena. Goals can be such things as team colour marked lifts or incinerators (which could even be timeswitched so a team mate has to open it for the cube carrier)
Capture The Cake
A very Portal version of the old classic, The same basic rules as Capture the Flag, Each team has to capture the other teams cake and carry it back to their own base and put it with their own cake , as long as it`s still there of course and not halfway across the arena in the other teams hands. If you die you drop the cake, if it gets squashed/burned etc it auto warps back to it`s stand, otherwise it has to retrieved by the it`s team members. As in Companion Cube Soccer while carrying the cake you can`t fire your own portal gun while carrying the cake so relying on your team mates is essential, especially as if you accidentally run through an opposing teams portal you will drop the cake. Also while carrying the Cake you will be glowing because of all the candles burning on it, especially while running so you will be easily seen from any distance away.
Weapons.
Portal Gun - This is Your Standard equipment If you`re reading this i`m pretty sure you know what it does. You get one each. Your portals only link to your portals, your opponents only link to theirs. Also anybody can travel through any body else`s portals.
As well as the vanilla Portal Gun there will be several extra Pick up guns littered around the maps, the most powerful of which are to be hidden in places in the maps which only the most Ninja skilled of players can reach. The pick up guns will include definatley the first three and possibly one or two more if models/physics can be built for them.
Black Portal Gun - Like the above mentioned Portal Gun but it can open more than one entrance portal to it`s exit portal. The exact rules and balancing of this weapon to be worked out with the coders and play testers as early as possible.
Gravity Gun - An Aperture Science version of the gravity gun from HL2, smaller sleeker but also weaker, strong enough to throw a cube across the room but not strong enough for you to massively hurt another player if you throw something at them.
Super Gravity Gun - A Larger Variant of the Aperture Science Gravity Gun, still weaker than HL2`s Super Gravity Gun but strong enough to knock opposing players around a bit when they`re flying through the air.
The Would be Nice Weaponry
Gravity Glue Gun - A special gun that layers an area with an effect that changes gravity in that area to the direction which would be up if that surface was the floor. Possibly to come in two strengths as well, the first just strong enough to enable players to stick to walls/ceilings and walk on them and attract things like loose cubes at 1G. So they can get to awkward switches or hidden places etc. The second strength would be extra strong, to such a point that anything that enters the area will suddenly stick to it and hold fast. This can be used to make surfaces sticky to trap slow moving players so they can be squashed/burnt etc, it could be used to barricade areas, or build impromptu steps so you can find a Portalable wall for example. It can be fired in any direction and onto most surfaces. Producing a noticable visual effect on the area. Field can be nullified by the Super Gravity Gun.
Sparkler Field Gun
This would seem like one of the weakest weapons but I think with careful use it could be one of the most useful, it would just allow you to create a sparkler field across a space (like the ones before most lifts in normal Portal)by shooting two emiters at two different places and a field will spring up between them. These can be used to dissolve objects opponents are carrying (especially useful in Capture The Cake / Companion Cube Soccer) as well as their portals. Im sure other tactics for this will become apparent if and when they get implemented/playtested.
The environments :
These ( as all environemtns in the game ) should be done in the basic portal visual styles (both in test and escape fashions ). All containg the usual sets of hassles, doors, Floor/Pedestal buttons, cubes + dispensers, Gun turrets, Giant pistons etc. All of these set out so they can be used as places to trap and kill the players. Either by dropping them into something nasty, squashing them with pistons, burning them, frying them in special fields whatever evils the map makers can come up with using recognisable Portal equipment. Most of these traps should be able to be escaped from in some way with the tools at hand if the player is good/quick enough, but NOT all. In the Team games there could even be special Black Mesa styled environments for away games.
Tactics.
Im sure after reading most of that most of you have some idea of the mechanics here by now, you are going to have to use your portal skills to get around the maps of course, lots of flinging etc included. But other legitimate ideas would be bouncing force balls at each other (possibly throwing them with Gravity guns too), opening portals under the opponents feet so they fall into a fire pit / piston press etc. But other ideas include being able to knock each other about if you collide when in the air, who ever is fastest knocks the other person off course for example (This should be fun for the physics engine). or by zapping other players who are in the air with the super gravity gun, or by hitting them with launched cubes etc you may be able to drag/knock them off course into a fire pit/water pool or possibly your own portal leading to something even nastier ( say a room filled with turrets no proper exit and your portal in the roof etc. I`m sure many more tactics to kill will occur to you already that I can`t even think of yet, and many more cool ideas will probably come to the fore during any construction and playtesting, if we get that far ((Fingers crossed!!!!)))
So what do you think?
The crew currently contains only myself as project director/artist/texturer and possibly as a map builder (I don`t actually know Hammer/HL-SDK that well yet but I am quite proficient in the UTED from all it`s generation as well as the old Deviant editor for Quake based games so it shouldn`t be too hard to transfer what I know and I am always willing to learn from any experienced map-builders who are willing to help.
As the project develops I will need people to help in all the jobs, Coders, Concept Artists, Map Makers, Texture Artists, Modellers, Sound People, Musicians, Voice actors even yes you guessed it Play-Testers, basically the works.
but what I really need is a coder, someone who knows how to script Multiplayer for Source and is prepared to help bring this vision to the fore, as well as help work out how to implement suchthings as scoring and who`s to blame for a death. Without one it is doomed to being just a good idea.
If you like what you have just read and think you can help please post below with some way I can contact you. Otherwise if you just like the idea post as well and ask about for me. The more support I can get the more likely I will attract the talents I need to build this marvelous vision, you never know it may become the next Counter-Strike.
If this project seems viable enough I will start Steam Groups an official web page, everything. so for now...
HELP!!!!!
Thanks HP Bifta (High Plains Bifta)
Now to the point, I would like to propose a new Mod project for Portal and would like volunteers to help, but to give you some idea of what im dribbling about here is a rough treatment of the idea.
Portal : TrapMatch
A new multiplayer game modification for Portal. Where people can come together and challenge their skills at trying to kill each other with weapons that can`t actually hurt you, well not directly anyway. Pure understanding of the environment around you and total mastery of the tools at hand will help you survive.
Gametypes
Hopefully there will be several different game types, all various twists on the standard ones but with that special Portal edge, including.
TrapMatch Tourney - 1 on 1TrapMatch Open - Up to 8 player Free For AllTrapMatch Teams - 2 on 2 > 4 on 4Companion Cube Soccer - Like Deathball for UT but with portal + Gravity Guns in special areas.Capture The Cake - Basically CTFThese are what I definately want, more modes like Last Subject Standing and others may be added or even thought of if the project does well enough.
Now to detail
TrapMatch.
This game is some crazy genetic crossbreed of Portal and the old C64 classic game Spy vs Spy and is the games answer to deathmatch. It comes in 3 flavours ( Tourney,Open and Team ) each with it`s own set of maps specially crafted for it, other than that the principle is basically the same.
This is portals answer to Death Match, but to score points instead of shooting each other (as you have no proper guns), you must work out other ways to be indirectly responsible for each others deaths. This can be accomplished using the equipment at hand and the environment itself, as well as the stuff in the environment. There is also one last option which is risking your body itself but more on this in the Tactics Section.
Companion Cube Soccer
This is a Portal styled version of Deathball from Unreal Tournament (basically single flag CTF). The two Teams start at each end of the environment and try to grab the companion cube in the centre of the arena and get it through the opposing teams goal. This game will rely on Team work as the cube carrier CAN`T use their Portal gun so is going to have to rely on their team-mates to help them through the map. If while carrying the ball you die or go through a sparkler field you drop the cube. If the cube gets destroyed it gets re-spawned back in the centre of the arena. Goals can be such things as team colour marked lifts or incinerators (which could even be timeswitched so a team mate has to open it for the cube carrier)
Capture The Cake
A very Portal version of the old classic, The same basic rules as Capture the Flag, Each team has to capture the other teams cake and carry it back to their own base and put it with their own cake , as long as it`s still there of course and not halfway across the arena in the other teams hands. If you die you drop the cake, if it gets squashed/burned etc it auto warps back to it`s stand, otherwise it has to retrieved by the it`s team members. As in Companion Cube Soccer while carrying the cake you can`t fire your own portal gun while carrying the cake so relying on your team mates is essential, especially as if you accidentally run through an opposing teams portal you will drop the cake. Also while carrying the Cake you will be glowing because of all the candles burning on it, especially while running so you will be easily seen from any distance away.
Weapons.
Portal Gun - This is Your Standard equipment If you`re reading this i`m pretty sure you know what it does. You get one each. Your portals only link to your portals, your opponents only link to theirs. Also anybody can travel through any body else`s portals.
As well as the vanilla Portal Gun there will be several extra Pick up guns littered around the maps, the most powerful of which are to be hidden in places in the maps which only the most Ninja skilled of players can reach. The pick up guns will include definatley the first three and possibly one or two more if models/physics can be built for them.
Black Portal Gun - Like the above mentioned Portal Gun but it can open more than one entrance portal to it`s exit portal. The exact rules and balancing of this weapon to be worked out with the coders and play testers as early as possible.
Gravity Gun - An Aperture Science version of the gravity gun from HL2, smaller sleeker but also weaker, strong enough to throw a cube across the room but not strong enough for you to massively hurt another player if you throw something at them.
Super Gravity Gun - A Larger Variant of the Aperture Science Gravity Gun, still weaker than HL2`s Super Gravity Gun but strong enough to knock opposing players around a bit when they`re flying through the air.
The Would be Nice Weaponry
Gravity Glue Gun - A special gun that layers an area with an effect that changes gravity in that area to the direction which would be up if that surface was the floor. Possibly to come in two strengths as well, the first just strong enough to enable players to stick to walls/ceilings and walk on them and attract things like loose cubes at 1G. So they can get to awkward switches or hidden places etc. The second strength would be extra strong, to such a point that anything that enters the area will suddenly stick to it and hold fast. This can be used to make surfaces sticky to trap slow moving players so they can be squashed/burnt etc, it could be used to barricade areas, or build impromptu steps so you can find a Portalable wall for example. It can be fired in any direction and onto most surfaces. Producing a noticable visual effect on the area. Field can be nullified by the Super Gravity Gun.
Sparkler Field Gun
This would seem like one of the weakest weapons but I think with careful use it could be one of the most useful, it would just allow you to create a sparkler field across a space (like the ones before most lifts in normal Portal)by shooting two emiters at two different places and a field will spring up between them. These can be used to dissolve objects opponents are carrying (especially useful in Capture The Cake / Companion Cube Soccer) as well as their portals. Im sure other tactics for this will become apparent if and when they get implemented/playtested.
The environments :
These ( as all environemtns in the game ) should be done in the basic portal visual styles (both in test and escape fashions ). All containg the usual sets of hassles, doors, Floor/Pedestal buttons, cubes + dispensers, Gun turrets, Giant pistons etc. All of these set out so they can be used as places to trap and kill the players. Either by dropping them into something nasty, squashing them with pistons, burning them, frying them in special fields whatever evils the map makers can come up with using recognisable Portal equipment. Most of these traps should be able to be escaped from in some way with the tools at hand if the player is good/quick enough, but NOT all. In the Team games there could even be special Black Mesa styled environments for away games.
Tactics.
Im sure after reading most of that most of you have some idea of the mechanics here by now, you are going to have to use your portal skills to get around the maps of course, lots of flinging etc included. But other legitimate ideas would be bouncing force balls at each other (possibly throwing them with Gravity guns too), opening portals under the opponents feet so they fall into a fire pit / piston press etc. But other ideas include being able to knock each other about if you collide when in the air, who ever is fastest knocks the other person off course for example (This should be fun for the physics engine). or by zapping other players who are in the air with the super gravity gun, or by hitting them with launched cubes etc you may be able to drag/knock them off course into a fire pit/water pool or possibly your own portal leading to something even nastier ( say a room filled with turrets no proper exit and your portal in the roof etc. I`m sure many more tactics to kill will occur to you already that I can`t even think of yet, and many more cool ideas will probably come to the fore during any construction and playtesting, if we get that far ((Fingers crossed!!!!)))
So what do you think?
The crew currently contains only myself as project director/artist/texturer and possibly as a map builder (I don`t actually know Hammer/HL-SDK that well yet but I am quite proficient in the UTED from all it`s generation as well as the old Deviant editor for Quake based games so it shouldn`t be too hard to transfer what I know and I am always willing to learn from any experienced map-builders who are willing to help.
As the project develops I will need people to help in all the jobs, Coders, Concept Artists, Map Makers, Texture Artists, Modellers, Sound People, Musicians, Voice actors even yes you guessed it Play-Testers, basically the works.
but what I really need is a coder, someone who knows how to script Multiplayer for Source and is prepared to help bring this vision to the fore, as well as help work out how to implement suchthings as scoring and who`s to blame for a death. Without one it is doomed to being just a good idea.
If you like what you have just read and think you can help please post below with some way I can contact you. Otherwise if you just like the idea post as well and ask about for me. The more support I can get the more likely I will attract the talents I need to build this marvelous vision, you never know it may become the next Counter-Strike.
If this project seems viable enough I will start Steam Groups an official web page, everything. so for now...
HELP!!!!!
Thanks HP Bifta (High Plains Bifta)
