The Match Laid Out

In the last post, I went over what I hoped the menu system would work like, this time around I am going to hopefully go over more of the actual game. Once a game is selected from the menu or via a friend, the tank selection screen will come up. For now I will not go over details since I am still working out what I want in terms of number of available tanks and modules to customize the tanks once set. Next post will probably cover modules and give a few screen captures of some tank ideas. Once this is finished and the "Join Game" button is hit, the very basic commands for the game will be W/A/S/D (turret up, left, down, right), up, left, down, right arrow keys (increase trust, turn left, decrease thrust, turn right) and space bar (fire auxiliary weapon). All other keys will be based upon how the tank is setup. The following sections describe each type of match which will hopefully be available.

Open
This is an nonobjective based map. The main goal is to kill enemies or capture the flag which in turn earns the killer/captor points towards their rank. This is the most like the original Tanarus game. A kill or capture will earn a bounty, not sure how bounty will be calculated yet. Captures are special since each member of the capturing team gets a kill on each member of the team which lost their flag. This will be discussed in greater detail under capture the flag. Additional ways to earn points in open include taking reconnaissance points or destroying enemy satellites, neither will net that many points but will be worth something for the help it grants the team. Game is four teams of six members.

Death Match
Very similar to open, but a greater emphasis is placed on the killing of enemies. I am not sure but I may remove flags and reconnaissance points and purposely place these on very small maps. Overall goal with these is matches is to get new players more used to the controls without as much worry about other in game situations. Game is four teams of six members with a set timer to limit match.

Capture the Flag
Much like Death Match, this is a dumbed-down version of Open where the main focus is on flag captures. Reconnaissance points may or may not factor into these like Death Match. Again the main goal is to teach new players how to work as a team for flag captures in the Open maps. When a flag is captured, each player bounty on the captured team is set for each player on the capturing team, and any bonuses are added. This bounty sum is them multiplied by number of people on the captured team over the number of people on the capturing team (if teams are even the multiplier is one, more people on the capturing team means the capture is worth less then if there are more people on the captured team). Each member of the capturing team then has the bounty added to their score, a kill for each member of the captured team. Members of the captured team get a death for each member of the capturing team and once the capturing team gets their bounty, the bounties are readjusted for the multiple deaths. Unsure, game may be two or four teams of six members with a set timer to limit match.

King of the Hill
Unlike Death Match/Capture the Flag, this is a match in its own right. In addition to the ways to earn points in open, points are also awarded for spending a set amount of time in the area designated as top of the hill. Unsure, game may be two or four teams of six members with a set timer to limit match.

Duel
For those willing to go one on one, duel eliminates flags and reconnaissance points, but has a kill count, ending when one player reaches the target number of kills. The map is very small and intended to be a very quick match. Points earned based on difference of combatant ranks and overall score to be finalized after much testing.

Challenge Match
This is a special form of open match where the tank selection screen is bypassed. Each player of this has the exact same setup. Going to the base and reconnaissance points in game does not open the ability to swap equipment like the option would be in a normal open match.

Now that I have described each of the main types of matches, some more may be added, I would also like to mention how matches may be selected. Each type of match may be limited in one of three ways: rank, bracket or open. Rank means that only people of a specific rank, beginner is a very good example of this, may enter the match. A bracketed match is reserved for those of slightly higher ranks, coupling several close ranks. An open match is one in which any player may enter, without needing to reach any set rank. In bracketed and open, killing a higher rank player nets a bonus multiplier, whereas killing a lower ranked player hurts the multiplier.

In a later post I will go over the exacts of terrain, roads, fluids and other map based obstacles. This brief description of game play will focus more on team oriented objects. One a fresh map, each team has a base with a set number (I am unsure if I will make it six or ten) satellites. Outside the base are numerous neutral reconnaissance points. Above the neutral reconnaissance points are neutral satellites which can be shot down. On this now open point, if the player has added the module to call over a satellite, that team may now capture the reconnaissance point. All tanks are given an energy bar, which recharges when in home territory and decreases when in enemy territory. By adding these points, the home territory can be expanded. A similar process can be used to take an enemy reconnaissance point. If a tank runs out of energy, it is no longer able to move, leaving it stationary, but still may rotate the turret and fire weapons with a penalty to the ability to move. In the discussion about modules, this energy gains and losses will be discussed more fully but it would be remiss to not touch on the subject while discussing game play.

Besides energy, each tank is equipped with armor, which can be augmented with shields. Once all of the armor has been destroyed, ever if shields remain, the tank is destroyed, the kill is rewarded, and the destroyed tank is returned fully healed and equipped back in the base after a respawn countdown. To view the current players, kills and deaths in this match and bounties, the tab key will probably be bound. Once a player is done, they can choose to leave the map, probably an option after pressing the escape key. At this point a timer begins and once the timer hits zero the player is removed from the map, be advised while the timer is going the player is completely vulnerable.

While this post probably touched on too many subjects an dis too long, I think it give a good idea as to how match selection will work. Game play will fill in as more of the detail about different topics come to light. In no particular order the next few posts will describe: Map Terrain, Modules, Server/Client Programming, and Tank Ideas.
~gunnah

New Direction

So I have decided to give this blog yet another try, third time is the charm or something like that. Well, my overall goal is to document the progress I am making on my newest project. Not really sure what to call it yet, then again, I do not really have much done. Without beating around the bush anymore, I am just going to give the basics:

The Inspiration:
A few days ago, me and a friend from high school started talking about a game we played online around the turn of the millennium. It was a 3D online tank shooting game called Tanarus, which we would waste countless hours on after getting home from school. That was until it became pay to play and neither of us had a credit card or could convince our parents. So time lapses, and I check on it every once in a while and the only real change is I become a poor college student who cannot really afford the $10 a month plus the time to play the game. As it turns out, the game has been offline now for a little over a year, after a thirteen year run which I would consider a success for any online game.

The Project:
While not wanting to tamper with anyone's rights, even though the game is offline, I would like to create a game with a similar play style. All of the code/models are going to be made by me, though it will be clear from where I draw my inspiration. I hope they, like I, consider imitation the highest form of flattery. Most of the models will be fairly square with lots of sharp angles, this is not because I am not learning the modeling software, but because I want to preserve some of the nostalgia I hope to eventually create.

Project Details:
The following is a very rough breakdown of what I will need to do before the game even begins:

• Game opens to a log in screen which sends the username and password to the server and can either send the client to a log in fail page where the user can try again or go to the server select screen.
• The server select screen is the main page for the game. A list of news/updates should appear on the one side. A link to option page(s) on the bottom. The tutorial and/or practice campaigns should also be a link on the bottom. A link to the user stats page should also appear on the bottom. Finally, counter to the news/updates should appear a list of all games currently going on, listing the match type, the map, and number of friends/people playing on each of the four teams.
• Option page(s) should include any video and audio options, as well as an option to re-key the game and credits.
• The tutorial and/or practice maps will be run solely from the client-side and include basic information on how the game works.
• The user page includes any stats which may be of interest, primarily the kill/death ratio, hit percentage for each ammo type, most used tank, kills, assists, points (used towards ranking), points in each match type and a list of friends the user has made, and an input field to add another friend. Clicking on a friends name will send you to their stat page, with a special table row that will be labeled status showing the match they are currently in, in the color of the team they are on. Clicking on that will join you to that game on their team, with a popup appearing if their team is full with a link to join teams which are not full, or an error that the match has no open slots.
• Possibly included above or below the news/updates is a ranking list for overall and match type by kills, points, kill/death ratio as well as maybe a drop down list to limit to only users of a certain rank.
• Finally, the table of matches. The arrows at the head of the match column will sort by alphabetical (-), increasing rank (^) and decreasing rank (v). Additionally there are four symbols above the team breakdowns: (^) for most people in a map, (v) least people in a map, (F) friends in a map (sorted by which has the most friends), and (All/Limit). This final button does not sort but chooses whether to display only those available to your rank (Limit, which is the default), or all of the maps (All). Clicking on match will join you to the team with the fewest number of players, whereas clicking on the team column in the team breakdown section will join you to a specific team.

More details of actual game play will be given at a later date, as this post is getting too long as it is.

~gunnah