Class based multiplayer mod concept/standard MP concept
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 9:36 pm
Hi folks, I'm new here, although like quite a few people, I've been following OG for quite a while now. I bought it because the bundle promo was simply too good to pass up. However, I admit that, were it not for the promo, I would have waited until OG's multiplayer was more fleshed out before I made my final decision as to whether or not to buy it. That is because I fit in the multiplayer community; the games I want to buy are ones with a strong multiplayer component. Traditionally, I've played strategy games, but team based multiplayer games have lately appealed to me (DOTA and TF2 being good examples).
Now, I've always been interested in crossing over into the modding community, since I've had a few ideas of my own I'd love to see implemented. Certainly, if OG's multiplayer is still kept very simple, I'll try to mod my ideas in myself, assuming that's possible. In a perfect world, Wolfire will implement similar ideas to mine, but I'm not expecting necessarily that they will.
The title of this thread talks about class based multiplayer. For those who don't know what that is, basically there are several predefined classes, and prior to spawning, you select which one you'd like to play. Each class has certain strengths, and certain weaknesses, a fact which is made more interesting and feasible because we are working with 5 (possibly more I suppose) distinct races.
I'll organize the rest of this OP with a QA format, because that's the easiest:
Q: What kind of gameplay would you want?
A: The goal would be to make multiplayer gameplay which combines teamwork strategy with OG's doubtlessly awesome combat system. To encourage teamwork, players are presented with classes which have specific strengths and weaknesses. Victory is achieved strategically, that is, rather than winning if your team gets 10 kills, your team wins if it scores ten points by capturing the flag, by seizing the most territory, or slaying the enemy leader (examples). This kind of strategy creates a system which allows classes which don't specialize in direct combat to be interesting and useful.
Q: What would be the mechanics of an example gametype?
A: Each team starts with a fixed number of points. Certain events trigger a reduction in points, and bringing your opponent down to zero is victory. Scattered around the map are strategic nodes; players capture these by being near them for the required duration. Each node reduces the number of enemy points at a fixed rate, but it also negates the loss of points by the same fixed amount. The effect is that in order to win, your team needs to control more points than your opponent does. This is similar to a lot of team based multiplayer games, but with OG's combat system, it could be really intense, especially over large maps (creating the strategic dilemma of where players should be concentrated, and increasing the usefulness of classes designed to capture points rather than kill enemies).
Other events, such as the death of a friendly player, cause your team to lose points. Certain modifiers might be included to spice things up (e.g. a streak of kills might cause a multiplier effect).
Q: Interesting, so what would the classes be?
A: Currently, to add diversity, I think it would be more interesting if there were asymmetric sides. In other words, the opposing teams have different classes. Those sides will hereafter be referred to as A and B because I'm too lazy to make cool sounding names. My reasoning would be that because OG is constrained by its medieval-ish setting, asymmetry would be a way to make things a little more dynamic. Of course, hopefully by design there would be lots of gametype options (e.g. to allow all classes for both sides ala DOTA). The division would be mainly racial; A is constituted by a wolf class, a rat class, and a cat class, while B consists of a dog class, a rabbit class, and a (different) cat class, cats being on both sides because they appear to be most morally ambiguous.
I'll start with a world in which there are only two classes (one for each side), and work up from there. As a quick side note, players should have a limited selection of gear prior to spawning. For instance, I might choose a Dog with a spear and sidearm; however, I could choose a dog with a superior glaive, but then I give up the sidearm (a little contrived, but just an example).
The first class would be the Wolf. They are A's attack class; the wolf is intended for killing enemies, first an foremost. Mobile, tough, and powerful, they are also an effective class for capturing nodes due to their speed. Indeed, a wolf can take out any other class in a one on one confrontation, assuming the other guy decides to engage toe-to-toe.
The Dog guard for B is quite different in his role, although s/he is still intended for direct fighting. Equipped with a polearm and thick armor, the dog is not very fast. Because of their armament, dogs are far better at supporting one another than wolves are. A group of them will actually defeat a group of wolves; however, wolves which successfully divide up the dogs will win. This creates a very interesting strategic dynamic; the dogs can effectively hold any point they want to against the wolves, and can even take any point they wish, but the wolves have an easier time holding a greater number of nodes. This kind of dynamism leads to interesting games.
The next classes would not be focused on direct combat; the scavenging Rat and the Rabbit scout. Rabbits are quick, but nowhere near as strong as dogs or wolves. Hence, due to their remarkable agility, they are far better at seizing territory. Equipped with an efficient ranged weapon (throwing knives, a sling etc) as well as a close quarters weapon, they double as skirmishers, and are able to draw wolves away or soften them by kiting (also referred to as hit and run).
Rats are sort of a response to rabbits; they too are physically weak, but are still quite fast. Not as agile as rabbits, they make up for it with stealthier gear and poisoned weapons. They sort of fill the defensive deficiency of the A; moving through A's territory is a dangerous prospect, as they can use paralyzing darts or ambush from a tree with a poisoned dagger. They hamper the enemies movement, but more importantly, they make ninja node caps more dangerous, as a rat might by lying in wait for an unsuspecting rabbit scout. This results in a game of stealth detection; not being detected, and successfully detecting, which is very rich gameplay wise.
Anyways, this OP is waaaay too long, but those were my thoughts. I hope they warranted a thread of their own. Criticism, and ideas for additional classes (for the cats, in particular) would be interesting indeed.
Now, I've always been interested in crossing over into the modding community, since I've had a few ideas of my own I'd love to see implemented. Certainly, if OG's multiplayer is still kept very simple, I'll try to mod my ideas in myself, assuming that's possible. In a perfect world, Wolfire will implement similar ideas to mine, but I'm not expecting necessarily that they will.
The title of this thread talks about class based multiplayer. For those who don't know what that is, basically there are several predefined classes, and prior to spawning, you select which one you'd like to play. Each class has certain strengths, and certain weaknesses, a fact which is made more interesting and feasible because we are working with 5 (possibly more I suppose) distinct races.
I'll organize the rest of this OP with a QA format, because that's the easiest:
Q: What kind of gameplay would you want?
A: The goal would be to make multiplayer gameplay which combines teamwork strategy with OG's doubtlessly awesome combat system. To encourage teamwork, players are presented with classes which have specific strengths and weaknesses. Victory is achieved strategically, that is, rather than winning if your team gets 10 kills, your team wins if it scores ten points by capturing the flag, by seizing the most territory, or slaying the enemy leader (examples). This kind of strategy creates a system which allows classes which don't specialize in direct combat to be interesting and useful.
Q: What would be the mechanics of an example gametype?
A: Each team starts with a fixed number of points. Certain events trigger a reduction in points, and bringing your opponent down to zero is victory. Scattered around the map are strategic nodes; players capture these by being near them for the required duration. Each node reduces the number of enemy points at a fixed rate, but it also negates the loss of points by the same fixed amount. The effect is that in order to win, your team needs to control more points than your opponent does. This is similar to a lot of team based multiplayer games, but with OG's combat system, it could be really intense, especially over large maps (creating the strategic dilemma of where players should be concentrated, and increasing the usefulness of classes designed to capture points rather than kill enemies).
Other events, such as the death of a friendly player, cause your team to lose points. Certain modifiers might be included to spice things up (e.g. a streak of kills might cause a multiplier effect).
Q: Interesting, so what would the classes be?
A: Currently, to add diversity, I think it would be more interesting if there were asymmetric sides. In other words, the opposing teams have different classes. Those sides will hereafter be referred to as A and B because I'm too lazy to make cool sounding names. My reasoning would be that because OG is constrained by its medieval-ish setting, asymmetry would be a way to make things a little more dynamic. Of course, hopefully by design there would be lots of gametype options (e.g. to allow all classes for both sides ala DOTA). The division would be mainly racial; A is constituted by a wolf class, a rat class, and a cat class, while B consists of a dog class, a rabbit class, and a (different) cat class, cats being on both sides because they appear to be most morally ambiguous.
I'll start with a world in which there are only two classes (one for each side), and work up from there. As a quick side note, players should have a limited selection of gear prior to spawning. For instance, I might choose a Dog with a spear and sidearm; however, I could choose a dog with a superior glaive, but then I give up the sidearm (a little contrived, but just an example).
The first class would be the Wolf. They are A's attack class; the wolf is intended for killing enemies, first an foremost. Mobile, tough, and powerful, they are also an effective class for capturing nodes due to their speed. Indeed, a wolf can take out any other class in a one on one confrontation, assuming the other guy decides to engage toe-to-toe.
The Dog guard for B is quite different in his role, although s/he is still intended for direct fighting. Equipped with a polearm and thick armor, the dog is not very fast. Because of their armament, dogs are far better at supporting one another than wolves are. A group of them will actually defeat a group of wolves; however, wolves which successfully divide up the dogs will win. This creates a very interesting strategic dynamic; the dogs can effectively hold any point they want to against the wolves, and can even take any point they wish, but the wolves have an easier time holding a greater number of nodes. This kind of dynamism leads to interesting games.
The next classes would not be focused on direct combat; the scavenging Rat and the Rabbit scout. Rabbits are quick, but nowhere near as strong as dogs or wolves. Hence, due to their remarkable agility, they are far better at seizing territory. Equipped with an efficient ranged weapon (throwing knives, a sling etc) as well as a close quarters weapon, they double as skirmishers, and are able to draw wolves away or soften them by kiting (also referred to as hit and run).
Rats are sort of a response to rabbits; they too are physically weak, but are still quite fast. Not as agile as rabbits, they make up for it with stealthier gear and poisoned weapons. They sort of fill the defensive deficiency of the A; moving through A's territory is a dangerous prospect, as they can use paralyzing darts or ambush from a tree with a poisoned dagger. They hamper the enemies movement, but more importantly, they make ninja node caps more dangerous, as a rat might by lying in wait for an unsuspecting rabbit scout. This results in a game of stealth detection; not being detected, and successfully detecting, which is very rich gameplay wise.
Anyways, this OP is waaaay too long, but those were my thoughts. I hope they warranted a thread of their own. Criticism, and ideas for additional classes (for the cats, in particular) would be interesting indeed.
