Vehicle objective ideas

[Lord_Simeon]

I'm heavily in Wangara3 now, and after the ship crashes on the alien planet Milly gets access to a alien hover bike (from the Vehicle static mesh package).
I'm planning on having the whole of W3 as a trek accross the Alien planet through rivines, refineries, over water and into an underground tunnel.

Anyway, i can only think of a couple of objetive ideas for it.
1 - Having to stop and get off the bike, activate a switch which opens a gate so you can continue on the bike.
2 - Parking the bike on a lift, activating a switch to rasie the lift, climbing a ladder to the top and continuing.
3 - maybe a lower bridge, but the bike is Manta based so you could just hop over the river if you wanted....

Any other good ideas for objectives?

[SuperApe]

I've always wanted to use those bikes, they look awesome. And Milly looks great on it. :)

Well, I can think of a few ideas off the top of my head...

Maybe it shouldn't be based on the Manta, which is visually designed for maneuverability. These bikes are obviously designed for straight-ahead speed. I'm thinking Star Wars speeder bike action, with a very slight motion blur effect to help sell the speed of the thing as you blaze over terrain and through tunnels, etc.

With this in mind, these Objectives (or some of them) could/should be timed and given a good story-reason why there's a timelimit and why Milly fails if she doesn't get to finish the Objective in time.

I see a couple forward mounted things that could easily be guns. Why not have a couple shootable Objectives, where she can pop off a round to hit a target and progress without stopping. But if she has to slow down and hit it, bad things happen. Maybe she's being chased by baddies that ride the other bike in that package. That other bike looks vaguely Skaarj-ish. :dunno:

Along the lines of Star Wars speeder-bike action, definately have a couple branching routes that might meet up, might allow her to pick up vehicle pickups, might end in a Dead End (Boom!), etc. Along the lines of vehicle pickups, a common thing to use is Fuel pickups. Picking the right route that branches off means getting enough fuel to finish.

If she can shoot, perhaps she catches up to a big baddie vehicle and takes it down while they're on the move. Maybe there are escort baddies (fighters) that are going to try to ram her off the road or just drop some mines on the road. :evil:

Perhaps baddies are waiting for her and have set up a big avalance of rocks to fall and Milly has to time it right and/or avoid falling rocks to stay alive and keep going.

She could/probably shoud get on and off the bike from time to time, especially if you have to set up the story for the next major section, but this sounds like a neat theme for the entire level. I'd keep those times off the bike few and far between. Just my suggestion. It depends on how the story and the pace of the map shapes up.

These are just a few. If we start thinking about other good vehicle SP games (like I'm thinking of Interstate '76), I'm sure we can come up with plenty for you. :)

[Lord_Simeon]

Cool stuff.
She's definately going to shoot, i'm actually working on that now.
The reason it's manta based is because it's the only one near how i want it.
Spacefighters fly, raptors etc. Wheeled craft are out so it's the good ol' manta again :evil:

With the destroyable objectives, i realised that AS stuff is out, then i forgot about the ol' shoot trigger, mover one mover two swaperoo trick :evil:
I also love the idea of a ship or two dropping mines.....heh heh.
Even one coming in, and spawning three or four skaarj then taking off (so it's looks like they are being deployed) might be cool.
Anyway, back to work on it:)

[outpt.co.uk]

Ramps!
Things to shoot!
Tunnels!
Very slim bridges!
:)

[SuperApe]

That's too bad about the manta setup, really. Although it's top speed is good, I'm thinking this vehicle map is a great opportunity. Maybe there's something we can do to help change the setting or maybe come up with a workable version in another class. It would be a shame to leave it as Manta, IMHO.

With the destroyable objectives, i realised that AS stuff is out, then i forgot about the ol' shoot trigger, mover one mover two swaperoo trick :evil:Yep, simple Movers can be damage triggered, like I do in the "Totem" room in Gauntlet. But, ShootableTriggers too. Heck, many destroyable Decorations will fire their Event when destroyed, you could do that too. I absolutely want to discourage using any AS actors with this toolset, for fear of leading people into thinking that they should be able to use other AS actors.

[Lord_Simeon]

Ramps!
Things to shoot!
Tunnels!
Very slim bridges!
:)
w00T, got most of them in now:)
A few sewer type tunnels, a lot of varying terrain (it's all ravine type based), a bridge that needs to be lowered, nothing to shoot yet but there's plenty of room for Skaarj :evil:

What i might do SuperApe, i'll send you a versin of it today to check out.
I fiddled last night and lowered the jump height, the firing still is a bit sucky but the looks are excellent.:)

[SuperApe]

What i might do SuperApe, i'll send you a versin of it today to check out.
I fiddled last night and lowered the jump height, the firing still is a bit sucky but the looks are excellent.:)Sounds good. Gives me a chance to revisit Vehicles. Last time was during TerraForma with the SparrowHawk UAV, but let's see if I can do more with it now. :)

[SuperApe]

I got the test map via email. I think there's a few big concerns to be addressed in terms of the type of gameplay you want to get and how to get it through the level construction. Right now, it's kind of a vehicle combat map posing as a racing level. Whereas I think the two types should use very different level construction schemes. Instead of having a big square map where you can account for the player to go anywhere, like in normal maps, racing levels probably should be more like long thin strips of terrain or tubes that hook up to one another. It depends on what kind of gameplay you want the player to play through in this section of Milly's story.

I sent you an email regarding the test map you sent where I elaborate more. I will tweak the bike as far as I can, just in case you're thinking more along the lines of a racing vehicle.

[SuperApe]

I've done some work on the bike.
It's got a faster top speed which is balanced by a very limited jump and strafe ability.
Minor improvements to sound and physics. (roll, pitch, etc.)
I still would really like to limit the backwards thrust, so that it can't go backwards just as easily and as fast as forwards. And it needs a good destroyed mesh, if not just completely blown up instead, like spacefighters do.
If the Bike animation were more universal, or if there were some way to force normal characters into a good pose, I'd want to include this thing (and the other bike) in the toolset. :)

But, I think it looks better.
I can send back a file with the bike in it, but here's a .uc file for now.
If you haven't opened a .uc file before, try opening it with NotePad. (I still use it all the time)
I'll be able to work on it more later.

[Lord_Simeon]

Wicked, i'll do some stuff on this today.
So, no i haven't opened a UC before (i think) and i'm not too sure what to do with it when it's open either.
I'd prefer a small test map with the bike in there, that way i can open, copy etc.
With the bike, yeah pity about none of the other characters having a good possy for them as the bikes reall look cool.
It took me ages to get the right pose, then ages again with the player position in UT2004.....rofl:)

[SuperApe]

So, no i haven't opened a UC before (i think) and i'm not too sure what to do with it when it's open either.
I'd prefer a small test map with the bike in there, that way i can open, copy etc.Okay. Here (http://home.netcom.com/~ghstorm/WorkShop_HoverBike.zip)'s a testmap (OSM) with the bike that I can keep up on my site until you have it. The bike seems to be huge in filesize. I think that's because you've re-imported it. I wonder if there's a better way to use the model straight from the Vehicles package instead. :scratch:
The bike will be ridiculous while in this tiny testmap room, but at least you'll have what I have so far. Again, I still want to do a few things to it. :)
I'm wondering if I can get the player on there another completely different way... hmmm, I just had a thought.

[TexasGtar]

Well...i was thinking...you have those worm weapons in the wangara2 section....


Maybe have a tunnel where these things come out of holes in the cavernous cieling and sides where milly must manuever left and right and such to avoid them grabbing her and the bike.

I am not really very familiar with any of the vehicles. Is that the one that just hovers but doesn't really go way up high?

If so you might want to make a course like SA suggestied with big tree trunks you have to zigzag through while baddies come from the edges if you are too slow.

I like the idea of some ramps. That would rock!

If i ever get to australia..i am going to want to meet this Milly. :) wink.

[Lord_Simeon]

Nice idea, i'm not sure if i can do it but i'll look at it:)
Kind of like DUNE, a rumbling the have one pop out with collision to knock Milly out the way:evil:

SuperApe, the bike is really getting there now, i like the limited strafe aswell as the constant velocity.
I want to remove the dust and add some kind of effect to the back of it to simulate engines somehow.

[SuperApe]

I want to remove the dust and add some kind of effect to the back of it to simulate engines somehow.I was gonna suggest that. :)

[Lord_Simeon]

Just messed withit some more, got rid of the dust and hover effect (w00T).
Not sure about the tail emitter effects though :scratch:
Pity the headlights are only viewable from the front, i could have used them and slipped them back a bit.......

[SuperApe]

Not sure about the tail emitter effects though :scratch:I can help with those. Basically, I'd copy from either the Raptor or the Spacefighter. You'll need to define new properties (an array I believe) for the TrailEmitters. I can work on them later.

[Lord_Simeon]

Cool, no rush mate i know you've got the tools, Gaunlet and Ms SuperApe to worry about too.
I'll be hitting the piss later anyway so no mapping for me later (going to my friends house to get loaded).
Incidently, my neice is back from University in Adelaide for a few weeks so her and her boyfriend are coming tonight aswell, i miss her and will be good to catch up on stuff:)
She's the only Spargo to have gone to University and i'm ferociously proud of her. She got into Law as her points we're upgraded due to 1. living in the country, 2. Going to a religious school and 3. being the first in our family to go....rofl:)

[SuperApe]

"Good Onya, M8" :)

Wow, this level looks so much better with a real video card. :p
We'll put this hover bike (maybe both) together soon enough.