Welcome back binsky,
Interestingly, I'm also working on a Open-Source Game Engine Application (see my sig) and my first commercial game I plan to develop with it, is a Massive Multiplayer (Coop) Online FPS. An Action Survival Horror with elements borrowed from several genres. I wanted to do something a little different with the Zombies Theme. You and your party (Human/AI) strive to survive in a modern Urban Landscape threatened by a hyper-infectious Zombie Horde, Giant Monsters, Mutants and Machines invading our world thru unpredictable Dimensional Rifts dubbed (DRIFTERS).
I'm drawing on inspirations from many games I've enjoyed playing over the years: Left 4 Dead, Earth Defense Force 2014, Dragon Age, Battlezone, Soul Caliber. I take the game play mechanics I enjoyed most about these games and integrate them into DRIFTERS:
FPS/RPG
The underlining gameplay is based on gun/projectile weapon-based combat viewed in first-person perspective. The highlight of the combat system is a fully customizable FPS Weapon System
(Gunvertor). I've wanted to develop this system for years. From my perspective, the Weapon is the embodiment of your character in a FPS. The player should be allowed to take ownership and give it more personality. I love Sci-fi FPS Weapons and they're my weapons of choice for DRIFTERS. Sci-Fi FPS Weapons offer an extremely wide range appearance, operation, effect, possibilities. Lucky for us, Monsters aren't the only things coming thru the DRIFTERS.
Arcade
Its my goal to keep action extreme and intense so that cool down periods are in high demand. A good majority of the action is based on Arcade style game mechanics which are fast paced, simple, and relatively short. An example of such mechanics are
the infection used by Zombies. Like a virus, Zombies seek-and-infect Player/NPCs upon contact. If you're character is infected - game over. Play my game
c e l l u l a r to see the game mechanism in action.
Bosses. I like Bosses. Arcade games have Bosses. DRIFTER has Bosses. Bosses are Big, Mean, and Powerful.
Checkpoints. I like them in FPS games to keep the player and action...moving. They almost appear to be a necessity in a Survival Horror. Your mission: Get from Point A to Point B, alive. Usually with something chasing behind you and obstacles thrown in front of you. A chain of Checkpoints equals a Quest. Two schools of thought on implementation: 1) Explicit Checkpoint System, 2) Implicit Checkpoint System. An Explicit Checkpoint System is like a Quest/Mission System (Locate 3 Survivors, Return to Safe House).
RTS
An Implicit Checkpoint System thru depletion of resources (Generator powers Safe House Lights & Appliances, Generator require Gas, Gas located at abandoned Fuel Stations, Go to Gas Stations- Get Gas- Refuel Generators) and drive the need for Manpower/Resource gathering, while swarms of monsters drive the need for team work and safe house building.
Tactical
Team Work. I love cooperative games, wish there were more coop RPGs. Anyways, on top of FPS/RTS/Arcade I'm going to throw in some Tactical Game play elements in which the Players can issue simple instructions to AI controlled bots and
requests to other Players to help one another. Rescuing Survivors serves purpose. Survivors can be useful in gathering resources, building, defending and attacking. They also make good Zombies.
Survival
Survival Points the primary unit of measurement used to quantify a player character's progression through the game. Its earned automatically at a very slow rate (Survival Duration) and in Bulk amounts after accomplishing tasks.
