System Description

Introduction

The Friendly Stapler development team will produce the game Rymdvarelser Mot Soldater (RMS).

RMS is largely inspired by a popular first person shooter (FPS) game called Alien versus Predator 2 (AvP2). We chose this game not only because it's a good game, but also because it opens up a lot of exciting possibilities that maps well to what the team wants to work on.

Any game design questions we have while developing will be answered simply by looking at how AvP2 did it. AvP2 is a game based on the popular series of Alien movies. In AvP2 you play as one of three classes, either Alien, Predator or Marine. AvP2 features both single player scenarios for all classes as well as multiplayer modes over the network.

Original Game: AvP2

http://nevyn.nu/sp/DesigningRMS/introduction.Pasted%20Graphic%2020.png

Playing as a marine

When you play as a marine you have an array of weapons and gadgets at your disposal. The weapons include a hand gun and two different automatic weapons, a flame thrower and different type of grenades. His most distinct accessory is the radar, which bleeps characteristically as enemies moves about in the surroundings. Other accessories are flares, a flashlight, and medkits for regaining lost health. Marines have two main vision modes, normal mode and night vision. Playing as a marine is dark and scary.

Playing as an alien:

Playing as an alien you use your claws, tail and teeth to subdue enemies. Health is regained by attacking (read: eating) enemies. A special ability of the alien class is that it can climb any type of surface, including walls and ceilings. Aliens also have two different vision modes, a hunting mode where enemies are highlighted, and a monochrome night-vision mode. Playing as an alien is alternatingly fast-paced (while hunting) and scarily slow (while hiding, waiting for prey).

AvP2 offers a Predator game mode as well.

The RMS take on AvP2

RMS will be a multiplayer-only game with Marine versus Alien action (thus discarding single player scenarios and the Predator).

AvP2 came out 2001. Since then, there has been major strides in the quality of game components (graphics, physics, ...). Thus, we are to add additional functionality both to the engine and the gameplay. This also enables each of us to work on one specific part that inspires us. RMS will feature:

  • Level generation on-the-fly. No level looks the same.
  • Realistic sound modelling
  • Shader technology used in rendering, including HDR rendering
  • Accurate physics
  • Engine and logic completely separated by extracting logic into scripts (Python)
  • Additional objective based game modes (like Unreal Tournament's Assault)

There are some basic decisions about the game the whole group made when we met to decide which game to clone. These are:

  • Focus on cooperation - we want the game to be a good multiplayer experience
  • Scary - We want the gaming experience to be nerve wrecking, with elements of shock. This also implies that the surroundings should be dark and atmospheric.
  • Reusability of engine. We want to create an engine that can be reused in future projects.

The end product will be a game engine together with the logic for the game. One or several pre-built levels will be available as well as the ability to create random levels. Multiplayer game modes will work both over LAN and the Internet.