Flatline - A new way to slay

[GodlyPerfection]

MMMMmmm fresh first thread of the forum... ***cracks knuckles*** let's get this party started.


So I posted on the public Bungie.Net forum about my blog post on my gametype preview of Flatline from RP. Feel free to post there if you want. lol

[Gametype] Flatline - A new way to slay (http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=48103825)

Here is the post copy and pasted from my blog if you don't want to play in the public forums. I still would love your support and ***cough*** bumps that aren't really bumps but intellectual comments on the gametype in question. lol... I'm using this as a way to get some intellectual discussion going on something that might have holes in it and still needs some kinks worked out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Less than 3 weeks to Halo: Reach folks. We are inching ever closer. Good news is the blog is actually starting to get some decent attention. I just started transferring my Forge Lessons (http://www.reachingperfection.com/p/forge-lessons.html) one at a time every other day yesterday. And what do ya know? Lesson 1 was featured on Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com) this morning: Level Design Lesson 1: First Impressions (http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/RaymondBenefield/20100825/5820/Level_Design_Lesson_1_First_Impressions.php). Not too shabby... with that and the featuring of the series at TCE (http://www.thecustomexperience.com) and Forgineers (http://www.forgineers.com) I can't go wrong. ;) Anyways, today I'm previewing one of my planned gametypes for Reach. It is simple, but complex and clever all at the same time. I'm hoping it will catch on like Hot Potato and Conquest has. Introducing a new way to slay... Flatline. (Thank you Time Glitch for the great name suggestion)


The Basics

Alright so first things first, I love evade. It reminds me of Armored Core's quick boosting and dashing in Gunz: The Duel. It allows you to instantaneously change your direction and re-position you in order to throw your opponent off guard. I love the concept of being able to out maneuver my opponent so I really wanted to fully utilized evade. Evade is all about horizontal maneuvering so I decided that my new gametype was going to remove your ability to maneuver vertically. So in comes 0% jump height. The game is meant to be fast paced so let's throw in some increased speed to get your juices pumping... maybe 110% or 125%. Finally let's reward people for being able to maneuver extremely well being able to avoid fire for a decent amount of time while in combat. Your reward is faster shield recharge rate. And since I love evade so much you can do it as many times as you want, in comes infinite equipment usage. And now we have what I now call Flatline.


The Results

So here are the gametype settings:

* Faster Movement Speed
* Infinite Equipment Usage
* One loadout featuring Evade as the armor ability
* Quick Shield Recharge Rate
* No Jumping

The result of all of these put together is a fast paced slayer gametype that revolves around utilizing evade to out maneuver and out play your opponent. You are rewarded for taking cover to recharge your shields or just plain being good at not getting hit. You are able to traverse the map very quickly in order to hunt down your pray. There will be no shortcuts available to you and the only height advantage that you can achieve is by natural landscape height. Some of you may feel that infinite Evade is going to make it to easy to avoid shots and stay alive. If this is true I may be upping weapon damage.


The Uniqueness

The reason this gametype is going to play uniquely is because it forces you to use paths that you may never have used before because you can no longer jump. Railings can no longer be jumped over but they can still be shot over. Rocks now act as if they are massive columns that you can't just jump over. Imagine maneuvering around Swordbase with no jump and no jetpack. While that seems frightening at first remember moving around it as an elite with evade... now imagine moving through it much faster. Swordbase now becomes a pretty small map. Players are now more predictable in their paths making the gameplay not much about flanking and tricking your opponent, but now a game of who can out maneuver and out shoot who. I look forward to fully playtesting this on every map imaginable. It requires no special maps so not only will it play on default maps, but it will play on any map that you make that is designed to play Slayer. Maybe together we can find out what level design aspects really make this gametype shine. Imagine the possibilities of a low to the ground ramp that you can't just jump over because of the railing there. It makes you move different, it makes you play different. It is a whole new game for us to play within the Halo: Reach engine.

See you guys tomorrow with Forge Lesson 14.

[Silver0range]

Copy-pasted.

Yeah, I'd love to create a map for this if it turns out to be enjoyable and I have no brilliant ideas of my own (hopefully that won't be the case).

I'm envisioning a large central courtyard with pillars and height variation - perhaps ramps or something you could roll off of for shits and giggles, and overhangs and catwalks that will have a good view but will not be able to jump down into the courtyard to chase fleeing prey. Yeah, this sounds sexy.

[GodlyPerfection]

I'm not posting my content. It isn't fully developed or released so it is here for discussion. The game isn't even out yet. Calm yourself Mace. gaymearureer? Do you have a speech impediment good sir?

And I completely agree Silver, I think this could allow for some very interesting maps built around it. Many players don't know how much they use jump in halo to traverse. I think this will force people to learn new paths and shortcuts around based on rolling. And with Time Glitch's idea of lower gravity to increase soar time for when someone rolls off of a ledge could make evade "jumps" interesting to add in maps. I think cat walks are definitely a cool idea since you are forced to traverse them and not just jump over the railings yet you can still shoot from them.

I can't wait to get to playtesting this with you guys. I think it ought to be quite fun.

[RPAL]

Some of you may feel that infinite Evade is going to make it to easy to avoid shots and stay alive. If this is true I may be upping weapon damage.

That's exactly what i thought when i was first reading it. Overall though i think its a great idea. Would be extremely fun to play.

[cory21]

Looks fun. What weapons would are you planning as using as starting weapons? I would suggest using a strict range of weapons, but still be creative with them.

Some fun ones would be the Needler, since it requires the target to be relatively still, but can kill at a decent speed. The Magnum would be fun, since it is hitscan and can potentially kill the fastest and be the most rewarding, but has a low clip size. The Plasma Repeater could be the CQC weapon, since it would be the only fully automatic weapon that doesn't need to be reloaded. If you want to get really crazy, you could put the Grenade Launcher as a starter as well. It would be a hard weapon to use with everyone evading around, but could be a little overpowered if you tune down everyone's resistance. It could maybe work with the other weapons.

There's a few ideas ;)

[GodlyPerfection]

Well I plan on using default weapons on maps so for weapons I am trying to debate between the pistol and the AR as the only weapon. Mainly because I think the AR may not be good for this gametype... but who knows. It may just follow standard team slayer with AR prim/Pistol secondary. Can't know until I try eh?

[Coyote1023]

I actually think some slower arms fire could be cooler, like the concussion rifle. Also I'm assuming you're trying to make this like your mech games, right?

If so I would recommend multiple classes, maybe a "tank" mech (no rolling) by giving no AA and giving them heavier arms. You could also try a flight mech that has unlimited jetpack but weaker weapons. It would all come with tweaking and balancing.

[GodlyPerfection]

I actually think some slower arms fire could be cooler, like the concussion rifle. Also I'm assuming you're trying to make this like your mech games, right?

If so I would recommend multiple classes, maybe a "tank" mech (no rolling) by giving no AA and giving them heavier arms. You could also try a flight mech that has unlimited jetpack but weaker weapons. It would all come with tweaking and balancing.

Actually I am not basing this particular gametype off of my mech games. It will be completely separate. My goal is just to make this fun and fast paced. I'm not sure how the concussion rifle is going to quite work in the gametype. I may actually add it as a secondary to allow for some sick "jumps" because of its effect of pushing people around.

[Coyote1023]

You're also going to be turning off melee damage, right?

[GodlyPerfection]

More than likely though I may be keeping assassinations in...

[coolaid55]

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I'm 99% sure there's no 0% jump height. I believe the lowest is 25%. Actually, now that jump height and gravity are separate options, you could set the gravity at the highest setting and jump height at the lowest. That might work . . .

[DIRT JOCKEY]

This sounds really fun, I really like the evade ability as well and I think this will bring out the ninja in everyone. Which brings me to my point: with increased movement speed and unlimited evade, I predict that players will be in melee distance much faster and this will result in many beatdowns and assassinations. With that being said I think swords as a primary weapon would be most fun. Maybe a shotgun as a power weapon and you can pretty much make the perfect Pirate map. This gametype gives me so many ideas..

I can see pirate ships raiding coastal towns.

[Silver0range]

As long as jump height can be reduced to a point where no one will actually use it, that will be fine.

Anyhow, I thought up a gametype involving evade and FRGuns with increased damage resistance, hehe. Should be an interesting gametype for arena maps.

[Boston]

Wow this sounds like a great idea! I'd love to test when the game ships! The out maneuvering part sounds really interesting, and this could possibly be the very first 'big' custom game with 0% gravity. Looking forward to your creation!

[GodlyPerfection]

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I'm 99% sure there's no 0% jump height. I believe the lowest is 25%. Actually, now that jump height and gravity are separate options, you could set the gravity at the highest setting and jump height at the lowest. That might work . . .

You aren't raining on my parade since you are wrong. You can set 0% jump height. I am 100% sure because I'm genius ;). And I have my sources. Several people know that it exists. However what a lot of people don't know is that you can also now set 0% movement speed... sssshhhh don't tell anyone. ;) I am so abusing that possibility too.

This sounds really fun, I really like the evade ability as well and I think this will bring out the ninja in everyone. Which brings me to my point: with increased movement speed and unlimited evade, I predict that players will be in melee distance much faster and this will result in many beatdowns and assassinations. With that being said I think swords as a primary weapon would be most fun. Maybe a shotgun as a power weapon and you can pretty much make the perfect Pirate map. This gametype gives me so many ideas..

I can see pirate ships raiding coastal towns.

If we gave swords as a primary weapon then this wouldn't be that much of a standard gametype now would it? lol... however it would make an interesting variant.

As long as jump height can be reduced to a point where no one will actually use it, that will be fine.

Anyhow, I thought up a gametype involving evade and FRGuns with increased damage resistance, hehe. Should be an interesting gametype for arena maps.

And don't worry like I said silver 0% jump height is possible. And I'm curious about this gametype you are talking about. And FRGuns? Splain plox... lol

Wow this sounds like a great idea! I'd love to test when the game ships! The out maneuvering part sounds really interesting, and this could possibly be the very first 'big' custom game with 0% gravity. Looking forward to your creation!

And it is 0% jump height bro... you can't set gravity to 0%. That would be interesting though lol. And I will be sure to get you in on the testing.

[Sotha Sil156]

This sounds like a really cool idea. You know how I always make funny little minigametypes. I've never really been able to make a standard gametype, though, God(ly) knows how much I've tried.
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I'm thinking of doing a gametype with two distinct loadout that I can think of though, which should be interesting. It will have 0% jump height. One will have sprint, so you can run fast (or something like that), and the other will have jetpacks that allow you to actually get over small obstacles. There will probably be high gravity and reduced speed to make them more balanced. And maybe needlers too.

I don't know. I just like the idea of replacing jumping with the jet packs. In which case I will have to see just how high you can get on a full charge when at the highest gravity. I'm thinking it will be pretty cool.
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Oh, and a footrace game with sprint where players have 0% jump height, but the gravity is on its lowest setting, which will mean that when they go off ramps they get massive air! And the destinations will presumably be floating or something.

I also just like the idea of having 0% jump height and super-low gravity. Then you can glide and stuff. Or at least I imagine it being kind of like Morrowind's Slow Fall, just without nearly as much control.
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I have quit a few ideas to try out actually. Of course, yours sounds like it will be an amazing (and actually popular game) once you get it balanced.

[DimmestBread]

So in a sense, this would be like unreal tournament like gameplay? I like that. Although the infinite evade would be a pain in the ass. That would make it very hard to kill people combined with the higher recharge rate and fast movement speed.

[GodlyPerfection]

I'm still definitely debating about the faster recharge rate. It may not be needed depending on how easy it is to kill people. I may end up slowing it down a bit.

And Sotha I can't wait to see the ideas you have come to life.

[Silver0range]

FRGun - Fuel Rod Gun

[coolaid55]

Is it possible to change the speed of the recharge rate on an Armor Ability?

[GodlyPerfection]

Sadly you cannot change the recharge rate on an Armor Ability. It is either none, normal, or infinite.

[HLG FlashPoint]

Yeah, That sucks that you can't. But it'll work well enough with infinite or normal. I want to make a map for this now. Lol