Last updated, August 11, 2000 0:08 AM
The definitive tactical and atmospheric
humans vs. aliens experience
Overview
Game objective – The humans assault an infested spacecraft and must keep their cool and work together to kill the alien queen |
Multiplayer-only Half-life mod |
Tense, not breakneck action |
Marines get fluctuating resource injections based on chain of command and team merit |
Aliens get increasing resource injections based on the game time elapsed |
Marines don’t respawn but aliens do |
Innovative social dynamics and UI |
Extremely polished and atmospheric |
Simple to learn and play, it is hard-core action/strategy for a mainstream audience |
Both sides are genuinely different and together they accommodate a different play styles including strategic team-based play, "hero"-based action |
Influences include Starcraft ™, Aliens ™, Advanced Space Crusade ™ and Gloom ™ |
General goals
Every rule, included feature and decision made should be made with these goals in mind. If a potential feature or rule doesn't serve one of these goals, it is removed from the design.
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Humans | |
Team philosophy and themes |
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Well-executed, coherent, macro. Keep them operating as a cohesive unit. Decisive group actions are potent. Promote these through: commander area effect bonus, arrows on ground showing exact line and direction of each teammate, upgrades distributed by commander, powerful mini-nukes require time to set, powerful rockets leave firing marine vulnerable, upgrades distributed at a maximum rate that should be planned for. | |
Advantages |
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High-tech and powerful weaponry, versatile, multi-talented, superior ranged-fire, can change level geometry through door sealing, can shoot through walls, overwatch, autonomous (don’t need a base of operations and each can upgrade independently), can communicate silently via throat mikes and gestures, indirect fire. |
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Disadvantages |
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Fatigue, wounds slow movement and cause pain until treated, can’t see well in dark, all damage is permanent, fear, slower than many aliens, no jumping, can't respawn. | |
Hero figure |
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Commander. Can possibly view through teammate cameras or top-view, reduces fatigue, fights, gives orders. In charge of purchasing special upgrades, authoritative order-giving. | |
Aliens | |
Team philosophy and themes |
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Sneaky, micro. More powerful when spread out. Coordination still powerful but it can be acted upon without planning; actions fall into place naturally without communication. Distraction, subterfuge and harassment tactics. Provoke single marine away from group. Promote these through: communal LOS/scouting, nasty close attacks forcing overwatch, slime slows movement, flanking very powerful because of overwatch and concentrated fire, turrets, human fears. Played psychologically and instinctually. Role-playing aspect. | |
Advantages |
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Time advantage because of reinforcements and accelerating resource injection, faster movement, teleportation and can use walls and ceilings, can respawn, magic-like abilities, faster than marines, flight, unified hive mind, can respawn, cloaking |
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Disadvantages |
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Low rate of fire ranged weapons (hit and run), entire team loses if queen dies, upgrades are centralized, low-level aliens not very powerful, communication is implicit via unified hive mind, no indirect fire, no defensive structures | |
Hero figure |
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None. |
Atmosphere | |
Gun sounds and screams are heard through trebly radio when teammate isn’t close by | |
Extensive particle effects (smoke, fog, fire, cold breath) | |
Extensive taunts, breathing and hissing for aliens | |
Slight jingling of bullets when marines walk, background breathing | |
Different material types that make different sounds when walking (or scuttling) on them | |
Simulate background ambient noises programmatically | |
Extensive hand gestures for marines | |
When overwatch kicks in, there is an audio cue | |
"Jungle" feel for aliens with "bogs", mist and mossy growth. They change the environment with their presence. |
Easy to learn | |
Track how many games a player has played. Display some in-game indication on each player showing their experience level. New players will be indicated as new to teammates. This encourages social order and listening to orders. Display with colored stars and adjective (three gold stars, Veteran). When a newbie sees an experienced player, they will be in awe and will listen and learn. This automatic mentoring helps new players get up to speed and helps the community sustain itself. | |
Pie-menu starts simple and opens itself up over time. At any time, the player can revert to simple mode or advanced mode. Simple mode also displays all key bindings for basic keys. | |
Chain of command for humans means that new players get put into "commanded" position and can receive orders from more experienced players. The aliens are even easier to start playing; their sneaky DM play style is familiar, only their abilities will be strange at first. | |
When in spectator mode, clip camera to world and use intelligent default view. |
Game rules to promote | |
Concentrated fire is huge (human) | |
Suppressing fire (human) | |
Covering a teammate while they perform a slower, vulnerable but important action (human) | |
When in spectator mode, clip camera to world and use intelligent default view (human) | |
Flanking is very effective (for aliens) | |
Quickly taking opportunities and exploiting weaknesses when they present themselves (both) | |
Ultra-cautious behavior, as time to wait for match to end can be up to a couple minutes (human) |
Morale and resource model for humans
The resource system is modelled through likelihood of resources getting put to good use. If a player has shown his competence, he continues to receive resources. If a player fails at his role, he is given less resources because he has shown that he is less likely to put them to good use. This system is justified in the backstory but also promotes teamwork and protecting of teammates. The more players under a player's command, the more his resources depend on their livelihood. With this greater responsibility should come a bigger reward: knowledge that a successful mission was in large part to his own efforts and leadership? An extra sub-menu with special commands? Special priviledged upgrades?
Every x seconds, a resource injection is administered. The maximum size of the injection is determined by a starting number, then increased by number of aliens killed. The resources a player receives at regular intervals is proportional to percentage of those below a player in the chain of command (if any) that are alive. This proportion is multiplied with the current maximum resource injection to determine the actual injection. Whenever a squad leader receives resources, the players under his command who AREN'T squad leaders also receive it. Example: Player A is squad leader for Player B and Player C. Player B and Player C are at the bottom of the totem pole and command no one. Player A receives 100% of the resource injection at regular intervals. When he receives it, B and C also get it so everyone gets one 100% of the maximum resource injection. Player B then dies. Player A now only gets 50% of the resource injection, which also goes to C. Another example: Player 1 is the ultimate commander. He commands Player 2, who in turn commands Player 3 and Player 4. It is time to give a resource injection. Player 2 is alive, so Player 1 gets 100% of his resources. Player 2 is below Player 1 but is a squad leader, so gets no runoff. Player 3 and Player 4 are alive, so Player 2 then gets 100% of the resources. Player 3 and Player 4 aren't leaders, so they also get the resources that Player 2 got. Now Player 3 dies and it's time to give resources again. Player 1 gets 100% of his injection because Player 2 is alive. Player 2 only gets 50% of his injection because Player 3 died. Player 4 also gets the 50%.
The morale level of a player is proportional to the percentage of players above you in the chain of command (if any) and below you in the chain of command (if any) that are alive and in a defined range. If there were never any players below a player in the chain of command, the number of players in the same squad count instead (those commanded and not other leaders for squad leaders, and close teammates for lowest-level soldiers). If a relevant player is alive but not in range, only 50% of that player's morale bonus is contributed. The morale level for a player is expressed as a percentage and is displayed at all times. Morale gives a player a defensive bonus and an accuracy bonus.
This system promotes proximity between squads and makes it in a player's best interest to keep his commander and fellow squad mates alive. It also forces the marines to move forward to and kill aliens. It also keeps the aliens from acting stupid and throwing themselves into the marines' weaponry, lest they feed the fire.
How to make the commander a leader? When the leader is more skilled than the others, it should be evident. Those below him will want to be led and want to feel like they are under the care and guidance of a true protector. How to make the commander a leader and not just another player? He has to have the ability to make decisions that no one else can make, because they don't have as much information. The commander can be in contact with the mothership which has more information about this engagement than he does. Maybe he receives intel about types and numbers of aliens in the vicinity? Informs him when aliens purchase key upgrades? Let him use his "insight" to get glimpses of aliens through walls (or at least vague shape indicating amount and position)? What can we do to make squad leaders feel more responsible and empowered?
The alien resource model
The aliens have a constantly increasing maximum resource injection. It also increases when they kill marines. They have no morale model or chain of command. The total resources is divided among the number of players on the team (including dead players). If a player leaves the game, that player's remaining resources are divided to everyone else on the team. After an alien player dies, he is presented with a graphical menu that shows all the different aliens he can respawn back as. One or more of the alien choices may not be available in the beginning of the match. There should be a choice in the beginning of the game, not only one alien to select. Alternatively, the player can wait a bit and receive resources before entering. While this menu is up, they can still receive chat messages but are at a dark screen (or inside the alien hive mind?). They can't see the current game in progress.
Version 0.9 feature list (each described in detail below)
Marines vs. Marines
Humans |
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Resource injections to everyone (probably equal for all players but may respond to player’s actions) | |
All soldiers get base amount of points to start | |
Equipment buying during game, distribution to soldiers from commander | |
Commander provides leadership near him, decreased fatigue, increased damage (encourage grouping of marines so they advance together or in small teams) | |
Marine movement (walking, running and crouching) | |
Comm radios | |
Upgrade menu | |
Overwatch | |
Fatigue | |
Machine gun (all soldiers have this) | |
Explosive grenades (all soldiers have this, very important advantage vs. aliens) | |
Flame thrower (purchased) | |
Ammo clips (guns) and fire canisters (flame and napalm) | |
Medium and heavy armor (slows movement, greatly increases damage and carrying capacity, purchased) | |
Turrets (purchased) | |
Door welding (purchased) | |
Armor piercing ammo (shoots through thin walls and all aliens, upgrade) | |
Stimpack (purchased) | |
Smoke grenades (purchased) | |
Gestures (pointing left, right, up, down, wait, follow) |
Version 1.0 feature list
Marines vs. Aliens
Aliens | ||||||||
Allow jumping and hopping off walls to promote skillful use | ||||||||
Abstract and grotesque view for queen player (warm, pulsing, indistinguishable dark shapes), shows third person view of each other alien on team | ||||||||
Don't concentrate on melee, it's boring | ||||||||
Alien movement: Creeping, scuttling, flying, and gliding down from high places | ||||||||
Teleportation or hive structure to move quickly to another place | ||||||||
Non-queen aliens communicate mostly via primal squeals, grunts and gurgling. Messages from queen are broadcast to all minions in italicized font (like a thought or urge more than speech) | ||||||||
Some aliens can move on walls and ceilings (too confusing?) | ||||||||
Communal upgrades that any player can buy, everyone receives benefit: | ||||||||
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General |
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Automatic opening and closing doors (aperature and regular doors) | |||||||||
Particle system for all effects | |||||||||
Very 3D maps with ventilation shafts, bridges, tight corridors opening into rooms and mutiple paths between rooms | |||||||||
Sound system features if needed | |||||||||
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Media |
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Human sounds | |||||||||||||
Each marine weapon | |||||||||||||
A few marine pain sounds | |||||||||||||
Marine walking (almost silent) | |||||||||||||
Marine running (jangly) | |||||||||||||
Heartbeat | |||||||||||||
Overwatch activated sound | |||||||||||||
Two different marine dying sounds | |||||||||||||
Upgrade or purchase complete notification (short and unobtrusive) | |||||||||||||
Commander voice (authoritative, confident and cool as a cucumber) | |||||||||||||
Squad leader voice (moderately authoritative and seasoned) | |||||||||||||
Grunt voice (slightly indignant, a little panicky, green-sounding) | |||||||||||||
Alien sounds | |||||||||||||
Dying sound for each alien | |||||||||||||
Layered whispers for alien UHM | |||||||||||||
Looping queen-is-nearby sound | |||||||||||||
Generic scuttling sound | |||||||||||||
General sounds | |||||||||||||
A few explosions for grenades | |||||||||||||
Ambient ship sounds: groans, clanks, alert sirens, humming | |||||||||||||
Music |
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A few songs to play in the background occasionally (one for beginning, one when game completes, one when marine dies). Often there will be very subtle background music, along with sounds of the ship. If it had intermittent volume swells, it would be clost to inaudible then occasionally swelling to the foreground (parallels hidden enemies suddenly attacking and allows ambient and environmental cues). |
Version 1.1 feature list
Marines vs. Aliens with more depth and scale
Solider cam for commander | |
Grenade launcher (purchased) | |
Flashlights and/or nightvision | |
Options only shown on upgrade list if carrying capacity allows (shows text why not available) |
Feature descriptions
Alien movement: - Creeping, scuttling and flying
Buying menu - Marines can buy new equipment, armor and upgrades during the game. The menu is brought by hitting a key. The menu shows the list of items and upgrades and their prices, also showing the amount of points each costs. Any upgrade that is too expensive is drawn in red, any upgrade that is already purchased is drawn in green. The rest are drawn in white. Any equipment or upgrades that are "purchased" are acquired immediately.
Commander - Marines within a certain range of the (a) commander has their fatigue reduced quickly or is completely immune to effects of fatigue. The commander has more responsibility for all his teammates, so his resource level depends on their livelihood. With this increased responsibility, does he get any extra power? To prevent cheating and make the commander role a social distinction, no extra power would be granted. To compensate for this extra responsibility, the commander should get something...maybe he just has an booming and authoritative voice that is distinct from the others. Likewise, the squad leaders should have a distinct voice, and the grunts their own as well.
Comm radios - When marines use their communicators (team chat), they make muffled chatting noises that the aliens can hear. Besides team chat, marines also have a handful of common sayings.
Door welding – Marines with welding torch can spend twenty seconds to weld doors shut. Aliens cannot get through closed doors
Explosive grenades- This is the marines' main form of indirect fire and is a principal advantage over the aliens. It can be bounced around corners and does damage to marines as well.
Fatigue (marines only) – When a marine runs or fighting, his fatigue level increases. When he is walking, it stays the same and when he is stationary, it decreases. The higher the fatigue level, the slower his movement rate. He will also take slightly more damage from attacks and will take longer to arm his weapon. When a marine is fully fatigued, he cannot fire and his movement rate drops severely. It is important that firing isn't allowed because the machine gun has unlimited ammo. Alternatively, force reloading. The fatigue rules promote planning and "leap-frogging" with teammates and further discourage the one-man army.
Flame thrower-
Gestures -
Machine gun- Unlimited ammo. Can be upgraded in ROF and damage. Promotes cover fire.
Marine movement-
Overwatch - Kicks in automatically when weapon is held stationary for a few seconds. Marines stay in overwatch as long as they don’t move, turn, change weapons or gesture. Overwatch increases the amount of damage inflicted on it’s target and automatically starts firing as soon as an enemy passes in range and area of effect of the weapon. Not all weapons can go into overwatch (only machine guns?). Overwatch is disabled when ammo runs out or the marine runs, turns, gestures or changes weapons. Chatting is still permitted and the weapon will still fire even while typing. This lets the marines strategize without immediate fear of death!
Queen’s lair- The big room where the queen lives. Aliens spawn here and is their base of operations. The aliens will try to prevent the marines from finding or entering this room for as long as possible so reinforcements can be gathered.
Resource injections (both)- Both the marines and aliens get intermittent resource points. The queen player gets all the alien resource points, which he can use to produce drones or purchase upgrades. Every marine gets their own amount of resources, with the commander getting more. The marines then handle individual upgrades themselves and buy their own equipment. The marines can also give resources to other marines if they are both within range of a commander.
Regeneration – Gives all aliens (including the queen and drones) automatic regeneration. Marines must continue to press attack to prevent reinforcements.
Scuttle on ceiling/walls – Aliens of level 1 and 2 can freely travel on ceilings and walls with no movement penalty
Stimpack – Reduces fatigue effects and temporarily increases speed
Turrets - After turrets are placed, overwatch kicks in after a few seconds and the same sound plays. Turrets also have an audio sensor and will track sounds that are close by. It will spin to aim at the nearest sound, overwatch flipping on after it is still for a few seconds each time. This lets aliens outwit turrets. Do turrets fire at any targets or only aliens?
Wounding – Both marines and aliens move slower and generally are less effective when wounded. This is largely permanent for marines but can be regenerated by aliens when available.
Victory conditions – The game is immediately won by the marines if the queen is destroyed. The game is won by the aliens when all the marines have been killed.
Current design weaknesses
The commander isn't well-defined or justified | |
The aliens don't have any equipment or social rules (all innovative stuff is on human side) |
Old or undecided
Possession-Target another alien not controlled by a player and hit possess key. You are instantly in control of that alien. Any alien not controlled by a player, will attack marines within a reasonable range but won't follow them. An alien player can group other aliens with him by targetting it and holding the possess key. After a few seconds, the alien will travel over to the player and will now follow the player and attack the target the player is targetting. Only aliens of the same type as the player can be grouped. In this way, a player can create and control an army. He can also "place" aliens as sentries and set up ambushes.
Infestation - Can inhabit enemy player (host). Subject loses ability to speak, gets fatigued quickly and triggers unified hive mind sight for aliens. Unresolved: Is there a way to cure?
Sphincters - Aliens can enter the queen via sphincters on her. Once inside, they can choose between multiple exits, each one leading to a different part of the map. These sphincter doors exit through ceilings, walls or floors. They can also be entered to quickly travel back to the queen’s lair. They can be destroyed by marines
Unified hive mind (UHM) - When alien sees marine, queen and teammates get notified of general location via sound or display, enabling aliens to stalk the marines. Aliens also always know about each other’s locations. The player or enemy type is not disclosed. When drone is spawned, play sound that can always be heard. When upgrade is purchased, play sound that can always be heard. In each case, play chat message from hive mind to all players. Chat messages to and from hive mind are silent so they can’t be heard by marines.
Version 1.2 feature list
Marines vs. Aliens, easier to use, more cinematic
Show upgrade in progress HUD, along with researched tech | |
Pre-game buying aboard drop ship | |
Drop pods that land on alien ship with cinematic camera | |
Automatic upgrade option so player doesn’t have to choose | |
Solider cam for commander | |
Multiple simultaneous alien cams for queen | |
Grenade launcher (purchased) | |
Show key bindings and abilities on HUD with simple explanations (give reason why available if not) | |
Options can be queued for purchase (triggers AVC) | |
Automatic voice chat (AVC) that informs teammates of upgrade choices |
General wounding for both sides
Blaze of Glory
Grow queen (upgrade, provides quicker drone production, increases hit points, cannot be purchased to early so other players aren’t bored). Risky, as offensive power suffers and marines could stumble upon queen.
Alien cam for queen (like observer mode, takes up full screen)
Slow or immobile defensive alien
Marines can give resources to another player to acheive an expensive upgrade sooner
Display a teammate's role (scout, heavy, commander, etc.) when looking at him. Role's aren't chosen, but would have to be determined by looking at the player's equipment and actions.
Six levels of aliens. Each one costs more than the last. To spawn, the player must have enough to pay for one of the alien types. Show graphical menu where they are shown and can be selected.
Napalm missile (purchased)
Level 0 – Drone, bottom of food chain. No combat skills. (guinea pig size) Suicide ability? |
Level 1 – Basic melee alien, scout (cat-sized). Can lunge and hop. |
Level 2 – Alien with basic ranged attack can lay sticky web (upgrade, German-shepherd sized) |
Level 3 – Flying alien with lightning speed and nasty melee attack (eagle-sized). Flies like first-person Joust (default is right mouse button) |
Level 4 – Big alien with acid gun that does splash damage (infection upgrade, man-sized). This is a heavy defender that can also take damage clustered marines. |
Level 5 – Monstrous charging melee alien that can run through turrets (horse-sized) |
Possession (allowed by all aliens except queen)
Level 2 alien gets infestation ability
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