RTS/Shooter Thingo

That looks really interesting, it does seem like a fusion of popular aspects seen in the two genres (not a bad thing at all) but the ability to actually enter the buildings you placed had me the most interested. After all they seemed like little more then a placemarker by which to locate certain functions in some RTS games, that makes the buildings themselves appear to have much more function if they actually change the terrain upon which you battle. Do you (or are you planning) to limit where buildings can be placed? (within a certain border of your specifie "home base" area for example). Because being able to change the feild of play anywhere could be really cool and really hard to handle. btw nice to see someone whos mostly focused on code posting in exhibition

Thanks for the nice comments MoonUnit [:D]

Well, my thinking came about aaaages ago from when I imagined one day that every infantry dude in my favourite RTS (Dark Reign of course!) was actually a squad of infantry (each with their own weapons, personality, fighting style etc), and that tanks were actually groups of tanks, aircraft were squadrons of aircraft etc

I then imagined that buildings were MASSIVE (The Dark Reign manual and associated documentation makes lots of cool references, I've also seen some concept pics and buildings such as the Headquarters are HUGE! [:0]) and that they were like buildings in real life, ie. constructable, destructable, interactive, and full of people doing stuff, in essence like a level for an FPS.

Basically all I did was imagine a war on a real life sized scale. This game is a proof of concept of my massive idea... Sure it can't handle as much as i'd like (yet! *evil grin*) but it's still fun.

Atm you can place buildings wherever you want and most likely I'll leave it that way. Which means if you can sneak in a construction rig and build up a bunker or something your troops can really bug the enemy [:P] Naturally of course the current construction speed is WAY too fast for a proper game... Buildings will be as interactive as I can get em, which means you could say walk into a barracks and change your weapons or walk into a factory and order a new vehicle. (Kinda like Renegade but it'll be better I hope!)

I also have plans to integrate RPG elements (eg. gain greater ranks (levels) and be given more powers on the battlefield, or wander around and chat to your troops or whoever really, eg. recruit some NPCs to your cause) and also other bits and pieces too such as proper vehicle support (as good as in BF2 for example, minus decent physics probably unfortunately - my physics skills aren't too good). Naturally what I can do is limited by my programming skills but I hope with persistance and time I can accomplish my goals. The RPG elements are ridiculously easy todo - I already have the code and it's just a matter of copying it all over.

Many of my ideas will only take time to implement, other ones will be alot tricker. Of course the main (and really the only) two problems are art and scaleablity. If I want 128+ characters in battle at once with the player and over a million going about their lives on the map I'll need some SERIOUS optomisations. And i'll need A LOT of art for all the 'stuff' about the world and the massive buildings and environments.

But what the heck [:D] I'll give it all a go! I love this stuff...

Edit:
Quick addition - I figured I may as well add this too... It's a raw FRAPS dump of a battle from an older version of QFusion Reign
[url]http://darkreign.buysmartpc.com/temp/QFusionReign.avi[/url]
Sure it ain't 128 characters but it's a start! [:P]

the hybrid fps/rts ordering management reminds me a lot of battallion wars on gamecube.
[img]http://www.hanshansen.com/images/battalion-wars-20050826072606396.jpg[/…]
That game's a lot of fun but frustrating to do any specific orders in the heat of battle (eg, select anti air units and detach them from the main group and attack choppers). If you figure out a fast and easy way of ordering while in fps view, that'd be awesome.

Here's some feedback:
Since this is a hybrid system, I'd suggest doing a over-the-shoulder style camera instead of centered third person. Reason for this is that all that middle screen real estate is very important to be clear to focus on both attack and ordering field of vision. Something like the resident evil 4 camera style?
[img]http://ps2media.gamespy.com/ps2/image/article/662/662600/resident-evil-…]

Ordering I'd suggest basing heavily on traditional selection/action style such as c&c -- click+drag to make a selection, single click context sensitive to move/attack/interact. Maybe shifting this over to the right mouse button clears up the left for fps actions?

Well, the thing with Batallion Wars is that it doesn't seem to be a 'true' RTS/FPS hybrid. While you *can* order stuff around in shooter mode as you could also see it was possible to use a traditional top down styled RTS view. I already knew some games combined RTS with FPS (eg. Battlezone) but they didn't do it with a proper RTS view. While atm the RTS view isn't very much like a normal RTS game I'm working on making it so that it's like a normal RTS [:)] ie. You use a cursor to select things, click menu items etc

For selection and ordering and all that in FPS... Well, I have some ideas for that too [;)] eg. Hold a key and your cursor is unlocked allowing you to select units and perform other RTS-type options easier.

Thanks however for the suggestions - I've still got to investigate camera views a bit more, I like first person more for some reasons (ranged), 3rd person for others (melee) but 3rd person saves me having to do view weapons [:P] However... I could do it Ghost Recon style.

For mouse stuff currently I'm using the mouse buttons in the normal way depending on what mode you're currently in.

Note: Atm you can swap modes anywhere... this kinda sucks cause it means you can easily run away before you get killed [:P] The final game will only allow you to swap modes at your team's buildings. However from the FPS view you still can do most RTS actions, it's just a bit tricker to get that overall view. And while in the RTS view it's harder to get that 'on the battlefield' intelligence and general battlefield fun! Plus there will be other stuff you'll miss out on... But you won't *have* to play in both modes.

I like the idea of only being able to go into FPS from your base. Preparing your attack and then playing the risk of leaving your base actually right at the helm of your prepared squadron. I can also imagine noticing an enemy coming in with his FPS character and realising this seriousness (thats a word right?) of the situation if hes actually taken to the battlefield. Opens up a whole risk and reward system of leaving the base to have a better handle on the outcome of the battle, but completely removing your attention from whats happening back at base.

Reminds me actually of a old school yard game called 40 40, for those that dont know one person is "it" and gaurds base. Everyone gets a count to 40 to go hide and their job is to try and get back to base without being spotted (at which point the person at base yells "40 40 i see at ") where they touch base and yell "40 40 home!." The thing is the person whose it is actually allowed to leave base, but they can only make the "i see you" call when touching base. Thus a risk and reward system works where you might have a better chance of catching someone if you move around to find them, but someone else might get home whilst you make your cautious steps away.

If you stay at base you mount a better defense, but you cant win on defense alone and leaving base allows a much better attack. As i write this i wonder if what im talking about has relevance yet i suppose school yard games have stood the test of time better then any video game so perhaps my ramblings will be of some use :P

Eek... long reply delay. Didn't get a chance to reply earlier cause of Uni!

But anyway, when I read your response MoonUnit it got me wondering... TA has a similar idea present in it. ie. The Commander unit. It's crazily powerful due to the D-Gun but it's still vulnerable to air units and stuff. As a result it can be a risk to send it out but a Commander can also make a nice suicide nuke [8D] Plus interestingly enough I think it'd be capable of taking out a Krogoth in one hit... LOL never thought of that tactic before!

The point is i guess that such a game feature can cause people to innovate in all sorts of cool ways (Like Commander stealing using flyers [:P]) and in QF Reign, due to it's hybrid nature, a commander on the battlefield would be a serious threat. But it also leaves open their main base (As good as I hope the Strategic AI will be, it can't beat a really good human [:(]). But for all you know that commander may be sabotaging your armies or even recruiting the locals to rise up against you [;)] So many options...

While of course you're not entirely stuck on defence when in RTS mode you sure do get a better feel for the battles on the ground

One idea i was wondering about could be a vehicle that's like a mobile command center. It'd be specially armed and armoured and quite a nasty vehicle but the key feature would be to allow the commander to swap between shooter and RTS without having to be near one of their own buildings.

Note on code status:
Menu system looks fantastic [:D] It's now much like a traditional RTS, ie. Click on buttons to make stuff on a sidebar. The next video should be *MUCH* better than the old one I hope. I'll try to emphasise the fact it's a shooter/rts combo more too.