Would you play such a game?

Hi!

I'm currently thinking of developing games again. My first game project I worked on was a top-down multiplayer shooter featuring CTF, TDM and DM. Now I'm thinking of finishing this game (of course I would totally start from scratch again, because this project is from my very beginning).

It would be similar like this game I found on the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgEYXTSHWHI

BUT I would make it a bit different:

• less ammo, more damage
• bigger levels
• only the room you are currently in is visible, so that you can't see everything
• for shooting, mouse have to be over the enemy and not only pointing into his direction
• adding different types of mines, for explosive fun
• adding explosive barrels
• maybe some kind of online highscore, so that you have some kind of challeng
• and some other improvements like using ragdolls and shaders but these are not important yet

It should be a brake game (playing it for 10-45 minutes), but whit a high replayability. The focuse is nothing more than a FUN gameplay (not a realistic gameplay). I don't want to sell the game by publisher, but offering it over the internet:
1) either embedded into a homepage
2) or downloadable

Of course even if the game itselfe will be free, I want to earn a little money with commercials and/or small items that can be bought. But primary I want full servers, because such a game is only fun, if a lot of people play it.


What I would be interested in is, would you like such a game/would you play it?
For how long would you play it?
Would you give money away for items, or would you buy a "vip account"?
If you dislike the gameplay idea, what would you change?
How would you create this "online highscore" thing? Would you like to have some kind of level system that unlocks new weapons if you get better or something totally different?
Do you have any other ideas?

These are a lot of questions ^^ You don't have to answer all of them if you don't want, just give me an idea if it is worth to develop this game

Thanks for your answers

I think i would play such a game


I like the idea with an highscore system and a possible to unlock new weapons like in TF2 .

I wouldn't spend money for items or a vip account, because: 1. The game should be paid once at the beginning 2. Totally free

I also dislike the idea that you have to click the enemy directly and not pointing into his direction.


I would play such games for long times, cause I am addicted to online multiplayer games(like TF2^^)


--> Develop that game !

the game looks fun , i would play at least once , and more if i liked it , and it doesnt look like to hard a project to realize either. although i know nothing of the multiplayer part of the scripting , you and anet should have no problem there.

i would say go for it,looks good.

A game embedded in a website with the same game idea, but a different camera:
Quakelive

Ok and what about blood? Should I add blood and how much?
The vid. I posted got a lot of criticsm because of the blood.

I think for the beginning, it would be also good to have bots. Because otherwise, servers will be very empty when the game is released (at the beginning).

@Razaron: Thanks for the link, but I already knew Quakelive. What I dislike is the scifi stuff... My game should have "normal" weapons in a todays scenario.

In a mp shooter, blood can be an important hit indicator;
If I developed such a game, I'd add blood, but not too much. Think of CoD4 for reference.

Besides, I like the idea of such a game. Sounds funny, especially with a todays scenario - a bit like Modern Warfare as arcade game.

I almost cannot believe this coincidence. Yesterday I spent almost the whole day to create a multiplayer top down shooter with waves of enemies and RPG elements that is working quite nicely (my first multiplayer that works, too). If I deactivate player movement acceleration and make smaller waves it should work nicely via internet, too.


(I know that it looks shitty, there is only one player visible, the rest are bots.)

That means I would like to play such a game and I will follow your development with interest.

few points you made that i dont like:

# less ammo, more damage
# bigger levels
# only the room you are currently in is visible, so that you can't see everything
# for shooting, mouse have to be over the enemy and not only pointing into his direction

lemme address each and why i think so, a multiplayer game is all about balance, what makes this game hard to work with is the fact that its a top down view, so if its player versus player then you have the problem that players can see each other behind walls and i can really see how it would be problematic trying to kill a player behind a wall.. as you go left, he goes right and your both circling the obstacle and getting nowhere, i think that would happen alot since the other players position would be clear

[less ammo, more damage]
well... that only makes sense for some weapons, most players rather hold down a fire button, its just a greater sense of fun

[bigger levels]
this comes with the problem that players can see each other behind walls, it'd turn into a cat and mouse like gameplay some times, personally i think arenas with cover would do great and keep the action intense but this depends on the pace you want

[only the room you are currently in is visible, so that you can't see everything]
would that look good if youre in a small room? idk.. just wondering

[for shooting, mouse have to be over the enemy and not only pointing into his direction]
i pretty much think that alone would make me not like the game sounds annoying lol

ofcourse if this is team based and its players versus AI then you can ignore some of the above though and goodluck

This is how the room fading will look like:


There are rooms around this room, but they are drawn black (please ignore the grafics, these are simple placeholders). I had to insert something that shows you where doors are. Because as you can see, the door on the right corner is not visible for the player.


What I mean with this is, that you shoot at what is directly under the crosshair and not only in the direction of the crosshair. So you have to move the crosshair over the enemy to hit him. Of course shooting will also work if you have the crosshair pointing on the ground. But then you will shoot on the ground


For preventing this, I think I will also add ducking and jumping. So you can cover behind boxes, tables,...
But of course also hold down the fire button makes fun, so I have the possibility to create some levels where you can take cover and others where you can't

Edit:
@Superku: Your game looks fun When will we have the possibility to play a demo? ^^

What I would be interested in is, would you like such a game/would you play it?
Yes, I'd play it. Definitely.
For how long would you play it?
For a long time. But only if the gameplay's very quick and it's simple to start/join a game, fast to get the map setup etc. Bots are a must, I'll explain my idea to this later.
Would you give money away for items, or would you buy a "vip account"?
I've never given away money for items for a game. You could think about a "donation" button somewhere though, so people can donate 5-20 Euros or so. You can also add that button ingame, but don't make it too big . If I were the creator wouldn't the players to feel bad for not donating^^.
Another idea is buying a "full" version which, instead of 10 levels, lets you play in 20 different levels. The idea here would be that everyone can join such a level, no matter the version, but only people with the full version can host them.
Dunno. Items might just make it unfair, and less fun if someone has a rocketlauncher and someone else doesn't, and for items that don't affect the gameplay I wouldn't pay.
If you dislike the gameplay idea, what would you change?
I don't like the "nowadays" idea, but that's just a personal choice. I don't like these games to be realistic. Same goes for the blood, I don't care much for splatter, I prefer other cool effects, but that's just my personal taste and I'd love to play it even if it's semi-realistic. Or Nowadays-ic. Or whatever you wanna call it.
How would you create this "online highscore" thing? Would you like to have some kind of level system that unlocks new weapons if you get better or something totally different?
Unlocking more playable levels sound better to me, rather than unlocking more weapons.
Do you have any other ideas?
a) make me a beta-tester
b) squads: I've seen quite a few top-down shooters. but what I've never seen is a top-down-squad-shooter. Idea: instead of just one character, the "player" is made up of 4 characters, 1 controlled by the player and 3 bots. I'd loooove to play the game that way. If one of them dies, the other 3 go on, the player is "dead" when all 4 are gone, if the leader dies the players controls the next guy in the squad. Default behaviour would be: all of the bots shoot at the same position the player's firing at, giving you 4 times the firepower. 4 Little icons at the top or bottom of the screen let the other squad members behave differently, like "fire at will" or "cover me", just 2 or 3 very basic behaviours will do so it doesn't turn into a strategy game. Since you're programming bots anyways, this would be pretty simple to do.
You have boxes in the game, it'd be really cool if the bots would automatically crouch behind them and fire over the crates. Or something.

c) Not another idea, more of a comment: I think it a great idea for you to develop multiplayer games, because I think that's what every codebase needs: one or more of the creaters actually using it themselves. I'm sure ANet will benefit a lot from it if you actually use it.
d) The door-indicators look pretty cool. I like 'em!

Have fun with this, and keep us updated!

P.S. sorry, monster post ... just my two cents.

If you haven't, you should try SmashTV.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=smash+tv&search_type=&aq=f
--of course based on robotron.


I think you just need to make sure that you have a distinctive style.
Will people pay for it? I don't know. A lot of factors go into that. A 1% conversion rate is very acceptable. Are you prepared for that? 1% of the people downloading your game purchasing it.

>What I would be interested in is, would you like such a game/would you play it?
>For how long would you play it?
I wouldn't play a casual game too long-- 15mins.

>Would you give money away for items, or would you buy a "vip account"?
If the game was incredible I might purchase the game for a flat fee. I would not want anything that I had to pay for over and over or enter credit card info for micro payments.

>If you dislike the gameplay idea, what would you change?
Just go for a distinctive theme and style if you want to stick in the genre of top down fast paced shooter. Space marines have been over done-- still good if you want to, but over done.

>How would you create this "online highscore" thing? Would you like to have >some kind of level system that unlocks new weapons if you get better or >something totally different?
I don't care about high scores or leaderboards for a casual game.
Perhaps that's just me, though.

>Do you have any other ideas?
I would stay positive in whatever game that you want to make. That's easy to do early on, but gets challenging as you move forward. If you're thinking about a commercial effort, you must plan marketing and many other things. How will people learn about your game?

I would be careful in creating anything that creates a liability of service without generating lots of income. For example, if you run servers and can generate x amount in sales, is x amount enough to keep the servers rolling? Once you've sold the game or game item, the work still continues to provide the service.

I was going to make a free multiplayer game with a server online just for the fun/experience of it, but then realized the electric bill alone would be $150 to $200 US per year min. for a single server. That's chump change for a great game; however, for a hobby project it was too much.

sorry unrelated question but. DarkSamuri ...That circle thing in top right corner thats like a map. Is their a term for that in todays gaming world? I have scene that type of thing in many games and I wanted to research on how to make one in game studio. Any tutorials you know of that cover that?
thanks..pardon the intrusion in your topic.
I do like the idea though of fading rooms and top down look and I would play that.

The code was written in C-Script, so for using in Lite-C you will have to do some changes.



First of all I want to thank you guys for your numerous answers

The problem with the server costs is indeed a big problem... It would be great, if users open up servers (like in cs). But for the start I have to offer a few servers of course. Maybe I can find some sponsors or something like that. I have to think about how I will solve this problem.

I'm currently creating the designdocument. It progresses rather slow, because I have not that much time for this project currently...

any news on this?

Sadly I have no free time for this at the moment... But I did some more research to find out if it is worth to make such a game and the truth is, it is not. The only market that has currently real potential for indies are cell phones. But developing for cell phones is currently not possible with gamestudio.

That sounds like 97% of all developers here are developing something they'll never sell.

Sad, but probably true.

I also develop for cell phones.
At least its a market you can sell games as small developer.

PC Games automatically require a much higher standard to compete
with other products. Also in the indy segment.

With gamestudio you can create marketable games.
But much more important, its a good basis to get into
gamedevelopment as a process itself.
(thus the main focus on hobby game development)