Mapper's Medical Clinic for Lack of Storyline (aka Ideas)

[Axel_m3sh]

So I decided to make a thread dedicated to random people who wanna put down their ideas for a map but can't map.

Basically a request thread so that mapper and the community can work together to get a storyline down for a good campaign lol

Type down an idea for a campaign or whatever you want (pics if you want for reference on places inside maps are more than welcome)

dunno if there's a similar thread but I'm putting this up anyways and see how it fares .

[MaestraFénix]

This thread can be used if you have an idea but you don´t have the time/efforts to do it?

I thinking about make a map in 3rd person, in a upper view (GTA) or lateral (Metal Slug). The first tests that i made looks like that is possible to do, but i found two problems:

One is that the player gets invincible (no damage of any type), the enemies ignore you and some sounds doesnt hear (but others yes like explosions or button sounds).

The second is the aim (look up and down with the mouse in the case to make a upper view, i dont know the command to the lateral view). To "deactivate" it, is necesary to use a point_clientcommand with the command "m_pitch 0", but i don´t know use this entity yet, and i don´t know if it will override the configuration of the player (is possible create a bunch of entities that, for example, when you disconnect, it will put again the correct command to restore the original configuration?).

I got the idea from this video:

[BBvideo 425,350][/BBvideo]


P.D: YES, i think that make a terror map with the Resident Evil or Silent Hill cam. configuration it will great.

[MaestraFénix]

^ Me and Fighter made a bit of progress, but continue having problems:

(At the moment) Only one player have a perfect 2D view (or side scroll view), the rest not.

(1st method) You can aim up, down and forward (right) but you cant aim to behind (left).

(2nd method) You can aim at all directions, but is not a side scroll view (is a thirdperson view with a heavy movement of the cam)

npc_hgrunt and npc_combine_s dont shoot, but yes npc_metropolice (we dont know why).


A bit of help guys. If we can fix the dammit cam issue (and find what makes that bug in these npc´s) we will can have a Metal Slug map

[Axel_m3sh]

Did you check the box that makes all players' view go to the point_cam(or something)? Also if you intend to parent cameras to players, it's gonna get wonky along with room transitions (unless you make all players go to a specific door kinda like the voting system in one of Masa0x's maps, and then teleport all players in that room to a new room)

The aiming system, if you have it sidescroll, it's gonna be impossible (if not very tricky) to aim behind because the view is technically restrained on the z-axis (up-down)
unless you allow the players to manually turn around (actual left to right)

Third-person is do-able but it clips through the world. I'd like to see a sidescroll map however, without code implementations it won't get far (single player is a different story however)

[MaestraFénix]

Did you check the box that makes all players' view go to the point_cam(or something)? Also if you intend to parent cameras to players, it's gonna get wonky along with room transitions (unless you make all players go to a specific door kinda like the voting system in one of Masa0x's maps, and then teleport all players in that room to a new room)

The aiming system, if you have it sidescroll, it's gonna be impossible (if not very tricky) to aim behind because the view is technically restrained on the z-axis (up-down)
unless you allow the players to manually turn around (actual left to right)

Third-person is do-able but it clips through the world. I'd like to see a sidescroll map however, without code implementations it won't get far (single player is a different story however)

I dont know what made Fighter, so he is the only one who can answer that. But i think yes.

We continue investigating about the aim (but if we will cant found nothing problably we left the first control type).

We know, we are messing with the m_pitch and m_yaw commands (the heavy movement of the cam). Anyway, i saw a lot of videos that are made 100% in Hammer, so is possible (how? no idea XD). Dont worry about the posibility of overwrite the default binds. Looks like that when you change the map it comes to default, so yeah.

(And well, there is that gamemod of GMOD, but uses LUA, so....)

[Mungy]

Ok here's my idea for a map.

Rescue and Escape

General Outline:

3 Maps

1- Infiltrate combine prison. locate randomly placed prisoner without actvating alarm(s).

1a- Retreat from prison having prisoner follow and make it to city.

2- Navigate through city to airfield

3- hold airfield until choppers arrive.

simple huh?

1- Prison:

Players spawn just outside the prison walls and have to find a way in. I would suggest a grate or perhaps a quiet way to break a wall.
Problem being, combine guards in watchtowers with search lights, if the light hits any player the alarm will sound and unlilited zombie hordes will attack. making it next to impossible to enter the prison unless you fight your way to the alarm and disable it turning off the zombie flood.

The team would have to navigate through the prison yard and various obsticals to find the way to the maximum security wing. of course deep underground.

Inside:
Once inside the object will be to locate the prisoner. my idea would be gordon or perhaps the doctor.

The issue with finding him would be those pesky combine guards patrolling. As you travel through the prison, the lights are white, but if you are spotted, the guard will hit an alarm button where the lights turn red hi-lighting your route and summoning continually spawning zombie reinforcements (again) until you turn off the alarm. making it necessary to leave at least one player behind to guard your retreat and the alarm buttons you pass because the guards spawn back from time to time.

one note: killing guards and leaving them there is a no-no they must be hidden or a passing guard will sound the alarm. use grav gun to hide them as you hide and dispatch any guard that gets close to an alarm.

as the game progresses the players will be dispersed thinner and thinner throughout the map. if one is killed and the alarm is sounded the others will have to find the alarm button and disable it.

Once the prisoner is located coax him to follow back through the route you just took to your origional spawn point

2- City:

Navigate through city avoiding the usual riff-raff snipers, combine, striders etc. problem being keeping the escaped prisoner alive (just pistol) with medkits and of course yourself and the team. all the baddies will be focusing thier attention on one objective GETTING YOUR ESCAPEE! so his protection 1s priorty one.

Keeping him inside buildings, behind obsticals, or behind a human shield sometimes just wont work..... you have to keep moving and fight your way to the airfield. is just that simple.

3- Airfield

Real easy..... prisoner is in bunker defend until timer runs out. keep him alive with medpacks if necessary make barriers set traps fight fight fight !!


What do you think?
Mungy

[DisConnected]

It seems alright, but a few problems.

1) The whole zombies in a Combine prison is way too random. Why in God's name would they keep a bunch of zombies handy to release onto someone, also probably having an extremely high risk of them escaping or start killing off other Combine. I think a Manhack swarm (/flameshield) would be more appropriate, or lasers with incoming Combine guards that keep coming until you hit a button to shut off the alarm, then hide until all the Combine pass, else the alarm is tripped again.

2) I don't think it's possible to do that hiding bodies part. Unless you make a phys model spawn on death of a Combine, but you'd still have the ragdoll. So that would look extremely awkward, expecially picking up a paralized body with a gravity gun. Not only that, but I don't think Combine would be able to "detect" bodies. Unless you put a trigger_multiple that fires them running up to some switch and pulling it, but I really don't know. Haven't done anything complex with Hammer in a a few months, or made a complex map with NPC's.

3) The prisoner would be a real pain in the ass. He should stay back in a safe checkpoint, then you and your team take a certain area, and after it's clear he runs there and hides. That's when maybe some Combine counter-attack, and then you move onto the next checkpoint to clear, or you just go to the next checkpoint right away without holding out.

4) The whole plot is griefer friendly. And before you say, "But it's co-op!" Yeah, but this one is just way too griefer friendly. "Whoops, sorry guys, I just stood out in the search light for the 5th time on accident! Gotta fight off them zombies!"

[Mungy]

I see your point with the zombies, my idea was that the zombies were for the lack of a better term "the security" . If a prisoner escaped of if someone tried a rescue, it would be like a poison gas but instead of flooding the complex with vapor I'd use zombies. perhaps at different levels different measures would be in order, sentries...electrified floors etc. but some deterrent to just madly running through a map just to complete it was the idea.

Also I was attempting to give the premice of leaving at least one member of the team back to guard egress or every one else is trapped or in for a very long battle. of course as you go deeper into the prison that reality would become more evident and dire...thus teamwork is vital.

As far as A-hats who would ruin a game for spite...fun...stupidity whatever it comes with any online game. they might as well include it in the user agreement LOL.

I really did'nt think of the problem with moving bodies, how about just hiding? I would think that the NPC's could have a limited view so if a player ducked behind something or was far enough away they could avoid detection. then if discovered the guard would rush to the alarm (or shoot) depending on proximity to the switch.

Wadda-ya-think

Mung

[Axel_m3sh]

I can see this idea being replicated with npc_enemyfinders parented to spot lights moving along a certain path. (good ol' sneaking games! MSG lol)
If spotted in enemy FOV snipers could be at tactical points to snipe enemies and players would have to quickly hide in certain objects (in trash cans, in dark corners, etc.) while some combine patrol come in once the snipers lose sight of players. Players then have to play hide and seek w/ the patrol and if spotted (as in you leave the hiding spots) then you get shot at.

The people who hide properly won't get found of course so even if a griefer gets spotted, other players can hide and avoid detection easily.

Edit: signing your name is not that necessary, we see it right next to your post lol, but if it gets a letter shorter with each post, I hope by the next few posts you make it'll disappear

[Mungy]

Thanks for the sig advise. I would like to expand on the dispersal of players as they move into the complex.

Say that there are 12 doors that have to be opened to get to the maximum security wing starting at the guard tower(s). there would be a room with a slotted window for a sniper to shoot at and a NPC guard inside (target). also in the room would be three switches, one for the alarm and two (of course) for two doors. The goal would be to snipe the NPC before he reaches the alarm switch or all hell breaks loose.

Once inside the door, monitors would be placed showing doors one (initial entry) and four (skipping two and three).
At least one player would have to lag behind fighting off the occational combine patrols while the remaining team enters the complex comming to the next set of switches and enemys.

Once captured, the the two door switches (and monitors) would be two (opening door three and closing door one) and five opening door six and closing door three (four is already open), so a player would have to wait and watch the monitor or wait for a signal to actvate (radio,text,watching the monitor) the door(s) that need to be opened. I am compiling a table to illustrate unless someone has the quick skills to do it.

Of course the reverse would be necessary to get out (I hope my logic is valid please correct if needed).
With each succesive door opening there would be guards or some obstacle to overcome taxing the remaining players and putting more pressure on the backup players to remain alive fending off respawning patrols.

For those not into puzzles there could be alternate not necessarily easer ways to gain entrance to the max wing. For instance, a sewer in fested with mini head crabs. I played a HL mod that has these tiny tiny headcrabs it was horrible they were like fleas EVERYWHERE.

any thoughts?

[Axel_m3sh]

Interesting, I think I'll wait for a diagram of your idea lol

Although you have to take into account that there may not be many players on a single server at once, even worse, just a loner. (like me lawl)

[DisConnected]

So you'd use zombies instead of poison. I'd rather just poison someone trying to escape instead of sending a zombie after them, which they'll probably kill off and just exit the facility. And why would they even have zombies stashed away in the first place? It's like a prison using a moose to hunt down escaped convicts throughout the prison instead of just having a guard shoot the dude.

Anywho, it seems like to me this idea is getting overloaded. The coordination needed for this is something you'd see in an MMO. I think it would work out better if you have a prison. There are patrols and watch towers. If a light of a watch tower hits you, an alarm goes off 3 seconds later (gotta keep it realistic). If a patrol sees you (let's say there's 7 guards in a patrol group), one or two guards make a dash for the nearest alarm switch while the rest fight you off. Each patrol has a env_microphone (is that what it's called?) parented to a guard that is set to hear gunshots. When it triggers because a patrol got into a firefight, the patrol that heard it makes a run for the alarm. Mics disable when any memeber of a patrol group sees an enemy, to prevent complications. When an alarm is triggered, groups of 2-3 guards would run out from a few un-enterable hallways to attack the players. The players need to disable the alarm, and hide for 15 seconds afterwards (because anything longer and it would just drag), until the extra guards run back into their hallways.

Now, when an env_microphone hears gunshots, it automatically sends extra patrol groups out to investigate. If too many of these extra patrol groups die, the alarm is automatically triggered. But this is the realistic scenario. I don't know how well this type of hide and seek map would turn out, it has to have action in at least half the map, so when you enter the facility I guess the patrols would find some dead bodies and raise an infinite alarm. Don't think the map should go any deeper than just invading a prison and releasing some prisoners. The whole following them around would just drag on the map series. We need more 15 minute maps than the 1 hour campaigns. And that's my take on it.

[Mungy]

thanks for all the great feedback and ideas.

It appears that there is some consensus.

1- No zombies. Guards, manhacks, traps, counter attacks etc. are the best way to give a stroke of realism to the map.

2- search lights are a good idea keeping in mind that some players may deliberately try to sabotage progress but it would be to their own peril because they would be the only one(s) shot.

3- A certain amount of hiding would be amusing by adding an amount of tension to the game.

4- No following NPC. too much of a pain-in-the-a##. Maybe clear and follow would be better.

5- Minimize number of players needed to stay behind, or have a way to open all doors at some point.

6- No hiding bodies. impractcal to code.

I just had a thought, do any of you remember ( I think it was either allied assault or wolfenstein )
playing a game that if you got killed you would be placed in prison...your team mates would have to break you out in order to finish the objective?

that may be a nice spin on a map such as this...

[MaestraFénix]

I have an idea for a map (or even for a campaign if is done well), but i´m doing at the moment some maps and i cant take it.


Operation Valkyrie

(yes, the entire story is inspirated in the real one of the WWII, i know).

After some experiments, the scientists of the resistence discovered that the brainwashed metrocops and soldiers still remembering their old life as humans, even those who decided to be implanted computer parts to ascend ranks in the army. Our tests showed that actually with a strong signal we can "undone" all the changes, making our enemy our allies. But there is a signal being transmitted by the Combine who prevents us convert large groups of soldiers.

After months of search, we found that the transmission comes from the central part of Europe. Our explorers found there a large Combine base, and we found their utility: They are the "B plan" in case something happens in Europe, like a sudden revolution. If C17 or another city would be attacked and lost, they will appear in all the cities, controlling the situation, like a wave that cleans the coast.

Our strategists believes that if we reach the main point of the combine base were is transmittied the signal, and we change it, we could recover all Europe easily, and after the fall of the main Citadel and the destruction of C17 in the lastest hours, NOW is the perfect moment to do it.

Ladies and gentlemen, Operation Valkyrie is in progress.



Features:

*Infiltration stage (this could work in multiplayer, the question is how it should be made?. Also, this is a good idea: http://halfwit-2.com/?page=tutorials&id=212)

*Reminiscence of the Conscripts: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Conscript

*New weapons (probably)

*New enemies?

*HL2/HL2 beta Combine building style.


I can help on some ways, and even participate directly in the creation of maps as i make public the actual maps that i´m working.