Author Topic: Ideas & Feature Requests  (Read 483 times)

gb_remake

  • Main Offender
  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 692
  • Knee-deep in the doomed
Ideas & Feature Requests
« on: October 03, 2011, 10:08:07 PM »
Wot it says.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

Spiney

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2011, 04:14:51 AM »
Not all enemies in Quake are created equal; gameplay wise I find some inherently more interesting than others.
For example, you could argue that the knight is nothing more than a weak fiend without jumping capability.

The thematic backgrounds are interesting though, I was thinking of possibilities one could go to exploit that further.

The death knight is one of the more sinister enemies, also, he seems to posses a form of dark magic.
Now I was thinking, what if he was a necromancer, he could revive fallen enemies.
He could turn fallen grunts into zombies for instance, or revive his knight brothers.

The latter could be an interesting hook; the regular knights are but his minions.
You could make a special class of knight, for example, that can't take damage untill the death knight is defeated.

Also having an enemy that heals his minions, is interesting, because it creates the need to prioritize targets.
I can also imagine map designs where you could exploit that, you could set the death knight behind bars or on the foot of a mountain so he's difficult to get to.

ijed

  • Main Offender
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 572
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2011, 09:17:02 AM »
I posted something along the same lines recently in the internal ticket, but dividing the death knight up into various classes and types.

Not quite 'death brigade' but more like various types of brigade with their own hierarchies - raising undead could be one ability of one of these brigades.

Spiney

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2011, 07:26:30 PM »
Sometimes when I'm dicking around in Q1 sp I turn on god-mode and try to kill enemies by making them attack each other.
Most fun is making the shambler shoot lightning into other enemies.

I thought that could make for a cool boss, a big shambler that charges lightning for a certain time,
and sends waves of enemies behind you, which you need to kill by getting them to line up between you and the Shambler.
Best would be if he had an obvious powering-up stage before shooting, perhaps he would only be vulnerable during this stage...

Another thing I though about, are the lava balls that jump out of the lava. I think those could have some gameplay potential.
Perhaps having some kind of powerful weapon that only works with lavaballs as it's ammo.
It could works as a sort of tractorbeam like weapon that you can use near lava to 'catch' the lavaballs before firing.

Hah, sounds silly enough huh? Just thinking out loud here  :P

mh

  • Engine Lead
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 286
    • MHQuake Blog
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2011, 07:32:58 PM »
Lava ball monsters. :)

What about a lava ball version of the tarbaby?  Lava baby?
It would take an eternity to reach the earth and even when you reached the destination, you wouldn't actually hit the ground. You'd be going so fast you'd just go through and out the other side.

ijed

  • Main Offender
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 572
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2011, 07:36:36 PM »
Sounds a lot like the HL2 thing, or the grabber from Doom3... interesting.  E4 is still quite underdeveloped, though Pineapple has a catalog of ideas.

Maybe the boss could be some sort of horde / lightning thing such as you describe.  Ancient shambler... one without legs, who moves by teleportation and smashes stuff, including his own minions.  Ep4 boss, maybe.

ijed

  • Main Offender
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 572
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2011, 07:39:28 PM »
Lava baby 8)

How to make the actually fun, and not torture, though.

I still want to include a new idle state for the tar babies, where they start on the ceiling, and then drop off after their usual delay, to attack.

Maybe a lava baby could reattach to the ceiling at will, but not do the horizontal leaping that the tar baby can do, so it just creeps towards you until it drops on your head, or you kill it.

Spiney

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 23
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2012, 05:24:21 PM »
Regarding zombies, Necros had given them a running animation in his Altar of Storms episode, which I thought was a brilliant touch.
Ofcourse that would break consistency, but perhaps in some hellish or alternate dimension map, where the creatures behave a bit differently.
He also had the firebreathing lava tarbabies at the bossfight, they had a short lifespan before they became petrified -- they breathe out their lifeforce vs. freezing over?

mh

  • Engine Lead
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 286
    • MHQuake Blog
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2012, 05:38:59 PM »
How about a short lifespan before they explode?
It would take an eternity to reach the earth and even when you reached the destination, you wouldn't actually hit the ground. You'd be going so fast you'd just go through and out the other side.

gb_remake

  • Main Offender
  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 692
  • Knee-deep in the doomed
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2012, 06:08:57 PM »
I like running zombies, it's just a matter of using them well; it's no fun if you get cornered by fast zombies and then killed because you simply couldn't shoot them fast enough and they act like a living wall that surrounds you (where Quake zombies act more like slow-moving turrets).

This depends to a large degree on what the mapper makes of it. There were similar issues with some of our spellcasting monsters - spells are area effects, and mappers have to ensure the player has enough room to dodge those. Having the player near a dead end and then slamming either a Forcewall spell or 10 fast zombies in there == frustration. The only way to break such a living wall before you get killed is with a supernailgun and Quad. :)

The idea is good though, maybe a spawnflag and a different skin... we don't have a lot of zombie "wargear" yet.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

ijed

  • Main Offender
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 572
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2012, 07:23:14 PM »
Fast zombies need to be easily killed - a single shotgun blast and they should gib.  You'll remember Necros had 50+ attack the player at once.

An explodign zombomb has been posited before, that wouldn't have any upper limbs or head, instead something like a massive throbbing pustule - when shot, boom.  I'm thinking the boom would be the same as that of a tarbaby, but red.  Walking speed as per a normal zombie.

For the fast zombies,we have a green skin we could use - although I was thinking of that one being a POISON version.

Before RMQ I was planning on a mod called the Dead Mod..

Flesh Golem:  That was a big pile of zombies stuck together, lumbering around on a collection of limbs and with multiple heads spitting at the player.  Would become various other creatures on death, wouldn't have recovery.

Zombie: as normal, but when gibbed can be split into two sections - the top crawling towards the player until re-gibbed.

Spine: A head and spinal column, like a snake - one hit and its dead, but very fast, melee only.  No recovery, the head would gib on death.



Anyway, Let's do fast zombies with a reskin and the zombomb.

Later, maybe others.

gb_remake

  • Main Offender
  • Administrator
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 692
  • Knee-deep in the doomed
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2012, 07:46:41 PM »
Fast zombies could have their arms raised while they charge - this would make them immediately identifiable among several monsters. A matching sound would help, too.

Exploding fast zombies that need just one nail or shotgun blast (or just a few pellets) to kill would perhaps work. The explosion could resemble a cloud of gibs and poisonous gas or spores.

I like the flesh golem etc. ideas; the zombie fight in the e1m3rq moat for example is pretty boring and more zombie-like monsters would help spice it up.

and btw, I still like the idea of zombie dogs, RE style. These would also run pretty fast.
I'll have to kill Borov AGAIN.

mh

  • Engine Lead
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 286
    • MHQuake Blog
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2012, 07:59:54 PM »
The two-section zombie sounds awesome.  I'd like to see that as the gib behaviour for fast zombies actually, where one shot would split them, with them then becoming a regular crawling slow zombie that bites yer ankles (and a pair of legs that kick around but don't do much else).
It would take an eternity to reach the earth and even when you reached the destination, you wouldn't actually hit the ground. You'd be going so fast you'd just go through and out the other side.

ijed

  • Main Offender
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 572
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2012, 08:05:31 PM »
I reckon an exploder would have to be the same speed as a normal zombie - if it kills you then it has to be your fault.  Also, would provide much hilarity with chain reaction explosions.

I remember Arne drew the exploder in one of his sketches, but I can't find it now.  Looked like a giant zit, with legs.

Zombie dogs sounds good actually - I can just picture them getting up after the typical recovery delay to carry on attacking. 

ijed

  • Main Offender
  • RMQ Team
  • Veteran
  • *
  • Posts: 572
Re: Ideas & Feature Requests
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2012, 08:08:23 PM »
Found it.  Check out his site - there's some great ideas on there, even if they're cute / Chibi: http://androidarts.com/kawaiik/kawaiik.htm



Also, an idea: the explosive zombie, if a slow mover, wouldn't have any attack at all - not even exploding.  It'd just walk towards you and stand there when close enough.  That'd be fun, although we'd have to let the player gently shove them aside.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2012, 08:10:12 PM by ijed »