Battle Field

[jim]

Do you hate it when people run away from you in DeathMatch and then you have to chase them if you want to kill them?

No more. Run away and die! In other words... Attacking someone will spawn a field around the attacker and the target. The field size depends on the initial distance between the two, there's also some minimum size... Being outside the field results in damage. Staying outside long enough results in death, and score for the other.

The field size could shrink with time, but it could increase a bit if more players/monsters join the battle. Possibly the borders of the field could stop incoming/outgoing attacks. So new players/monsters need to get inside it. The field will be removed when there's only one left alive.

There could be some rules about weapons. Like if player_1 has weapons 1 to 4 and he attacks player_2 who only has weapon 1. Then it might be a bit unfair for player_2 not to be able to get to the other weapons. Maybe players should spawn with all weapons and some ammo? Handicap damage? Limit weapons to what the other has?

What do you think? Good or bad idea?

[r00k]

bad idea

[qbism]

Health rot when exceeding time limit on inflicting opponent damage.

[frag.machine]

Hit & run is a valid strategy to counter campers. If you take this off the equation, anyone camping value items will just shoot you once and sit waiting you die.
That said, some kind of weapon that fires a "proximity dart" forcing the victim to stay closer for some time to avoid detonation would be interesting.

[jim]

Well, the field would spawn around both, so the camper couldn't just wait for the other one to die... And maybe items don't always spawn to the same place. Still there might be some corner that's easy to defend...

I did think of Sticky Bomb today.. it explodes into a pile of sticky goo that makes players/monsters move slower if they got hit. Some blackhole kind of gravity pull could work too..

[Dr. Shadowborg]

[Spike]

just a wallhack indicator to show you which way your victim went would solve the issue. would make the chases more interesting too. just remove it again if they've not encountered combat for a while. wallhacks are evil.

[frag.machine]

[r00k]

I dont think you fully appreciate the actual logistics of deathmatch that players call strategy/skill/fun.

When you spawn in a DM game you :
a.> tell your teammates where you are
b.> gravitate to the nearest weapon(s) and items based on a pretty over-played syntax.
c.> kill opponents, then aid your team along the way
d.> communicate where you are now.
e.> gainfully acquire your goal, if fighting hold position until a teammate can succeed at taking another weapon/item respawn.
f.> gravitate towards the powerup, manage time.
g.> wash rinse repeat....


if this is not how you play Quake, then you need to take your mod and make it your TC.

We programmers can have all the ideas flowing like a bong on 420, but in the end, the players dictate what you are coding.

[Dr. Shadowborg]

[jim]

Maybe this could work as some kind of duel mode? Players spawn into the server and then find someone they want to duel. Other players can't interfere and are not invisible/untouchable spectators, they can watch or start a duel with someone else.

Challenging / accepting challenge would be to slap the other one with a glove/gauntlet/melee weapon. When the duel starts there would be some 5 to 10 seconds time to get into a good place within the area.

Maybe starting a duel wouldn't spawn a field around the players, but it would just be some predefined areas in the level. Weapons could be given when the duel starts, or just spawn players with every weapon.

Scoring could be like this:
Challenge a player to duel: 1 point
Accept a challenge: 2 point
Don't accept challenge: -2 points
Win a duel: 10 points
Lose a duel: 5 points
Run away from duel: -5 points or -10 points (duel starter gets the bigger minus) (but maybe the area entraces/exits would become impassable so running away isn't possible?)

There could be bonus points for challenging/accepting/winning if player had low health at the start, or calculate them using the difference between the health levels. Players could regenerate health after duels if they want... but is optional.

[frag.machine]

[Dr. Shadowborg]

Sounds like Rocket Arena, only with the ability to do more than one fight at a time, plus the ability to pick and choose who you fight.

Personally, I think frag.machine's weapon or perhaps a rune powerup would probably be the way to do this.

Powerup method:
1. Pick up duelist / hitman rune / powerup.
2. damage whoever you want to lock into a fight.
3. Once locked into a duel, nobody else can harm you. (needs visual effect so other people know who is locked into a fight)
4. If somebody else kills your mark, you get a penalty. (explode, frag deduction, etc.)
5. If your mark gets a certain distance from you, he explodes. If you kill him, you get 2-5 frags instead of 1. (escape deaths only give 1)

The above could probably be tweaked for gameplay, but could prove interesting.

[goldenboy]

You didn't say if this is for Quake or for a completely new game.

Most people who think this is a bad idea probably thought of it as a quake mod.

I think this is a cool idea, it's definitely not Quake, but not everything needs to be like Quake.