I'm getting the sinking feeling that FPSC is missing out on some core FPS concepts. If I'm wrong please accept my humble apology.
Here are what I think most people would agree are "staple" (basic) concepts applicable to all current and future first person shooters. If FPSC doesn't have these elements then Rich, Lee and the rest of the crew should give serious consideration to them for after the EA release:
Jumping - a core element. Players should be able to hop or jump and as such be able to traverse obstacles - boxes, crates, low walls. They should also be able to jump across small gaps which provide obstacles as well.
Melee weapons - I believe this is the single most asked about feature since I have been here. Melee combat is a basic element from even the very first FPS - wolfenstein 3D (it contained a knife the player wielded and dog enemies with bite attacks. I can't think of a single FPS that doesn't contain at least one melee weapon for the player and multiple enemies with hand-to-hand attacks from dogs to zombies, ninjas, and clawed monsters. I realize time and time again TGC has stated that there will NOT be any melee combat in the early adopter release, but if this concept is never implemented in the game it will be the single most hated aspect of FPSC and it will show up in every review ever done of the software. Guaranteed.
Movable objects - second to switches, objects which can be moved (typically crates) are the most common puzzle elements used in FPS games. Movable objects are used in jumping puzzles, pressure plate triggers, or even just as ambience (anyone remember the pool tables in Duke Nukem 3D or even cooler was the basketball in System Shock 2). Obviously this may be better suited for the physics add on when objects can properly respond to the player and environment.
Cut Scenes / Cinematics - the second most asked about feature. I still hold that this is a powerful and necessary component if FPSC is ever going to be anything other than a click and play toy. Cutscenes are an integral part of current first person shooters as storytelling becomes a more important and expected aspect of games.
At a minimum the software should support some kind of mechanism for displaying media files (mpeg, avi), but it would be much more elegant to incorporate camera or player control into the scripting system - rotating, zooming, panning, hiding the HUD and so forth.
I really hope that TGC will consider these features careful and decide that they are important enough to implement if they haven't already.
Thanks very much for your time.
