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"DAMAGER BALL"
by Violation Entertainment & Jedd
LDA 'brain-mincing' doc.
(120409)
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Ball abilities:-
- Turret. (deploy/launch) (turret-mode)
- Bomb. (timed/proximity/remote)
- Thrust. (item) (rapid propulsion)
- Repel. (item) (physics force)
- Hotball. (item) (destroy opponents on contact/protected from hazards?)
Turret:-
- Deploy. (lay)
- Launch. (shoot)
- Weapon change. (1-# weapons)
- Deactivate/"fold". (return to ball-mode)
World features:-
- Hazards. (constant gradual hurt)
- Crushers. (dynamic instant hurt)(triggered/timed)
- Critters. (run away within player proximity/can be killed)
- Shootable switches.
- Pressure plates. (while-on/trigger-time) (delay-on/delay-off)
- Teleporters. (teleporter colour = right/wrong destination?)
- Gravity-inverters. (special plates/switches?)
Gameplay features:-
- Speed-damage ratio. (damage on fast impacts and fall-damage).(also applies to physics collision with player?)
- Animation timer. (new class with multiple parameters that can be timed using the Logic Editor)(elevators/machines)
- Hurt surface. (function declared in the actual material, associated with "hazards" and "crushers".
Bits-'o-code:-
- Ball needs to receive damage from things like projectiles and fire (switches demo).
- Ball needs to be able to trigger regions for things like doors.
- Health meter for ingame GUI.
- Camera views. (TPS-offset / FPS(above-ball) / TPS-static(nearest-of-multiple) / free)
Uncertain:- (already possible?)
- Multiple spawnpoints and always respawn at last nearest? (optional)
- Number of lives VS instant save?
- Start-End points and time+conditions to get there.
- Jump-pads. (already possible?)
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Ball mode & Turret mode:-
Incorporating everything else a typical ball game like this normally would, puzzles, mazes, races and sumo-matches, one of the main unique features of this one is the ability to lay _or_ launch a turret, at which point the player loses control over the ball and assumes control over the turret, wherever it ends up.
The turret isn't very large or strong and can be easily run over and crushed by opponents or even its own parent ball, whether it's because the turret was launched directly on the ground ahead, or an opponent should knock your ball onto your own turret, it can be easily destroyed, perhaps even interfered with by human characters and hit by vehicles, things otherwise harmless in ball mode.
The turret's attack, in contrast to its defenses, are quite impressive and can be upgraded by using collectible "weapon-items" acquired while in ball mode. Even modest turret attacks are more than capable of inflicting severe damage to opponent balls, and the right combination of physical aggression in ball mode and precision with projectiles in turret mode means all the difference to success.
When a turret is destroyed, the player automatically returns to ball mode without that turret to redeploy. (discussion?) A player may choose to return to ball mode from turret mode and the turret would "fold" up into a collectible item, a moment before the player returns to ball mode. This gives the opportunity for the player to reuse that turret, but only if they recollect it in time and it's not stolen by an opponent.
Much of the game, the world and its puzzles and action, orientate around how the ball mode and turret mode work together. One primary example of this is the relationship with "shootable switches" and "pressure plates", one only able to be activated in turret mode and the other only in ball mode. This relationship already opens up a lot of possibilities for puzzles to be presented for the player to solve throughout the game.
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Game modes:-
- Singleplayer:-
- - Maze (tutorial-style, will later expand to "campaign").
- - Race. (beat the mapcurve buzzard-ghost)
- - Hoard. (collect teh monies)
- - Survival. (they want you dead)
- Multiplayer:-
- - Race.
- - Deathmatch.
- - Team deathmatch.
- - Capture The Flag.
- - Hoard.
- - Sumo. (no weapons, easy falls)
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Actions-list:-
- WASD - move ball.
- LMB - use item/shoot turret-weapon
- CTRL - use item/shoot turret-weapon
- RMB - deploy ("lay") turret (ball-mode) / "fold" turret (turret-mode)
- WASD+RMB - launch turret (ball-mode) (launch-distance depends on movement-speed ratio)
- MMB - use item/select item
- SPC - use item/select item
- MMW(up/dn) - swap item selection
- Q/E - swap item selection
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Items-list:-
- Turret. (grey)
- Bomb remote. (red)
- Bomb remote-armed. (red) (select this item again to detonate deployed bomb)
- Bomb timed. (yellow)
- Bomb proximity. (green)
- Thrust powerup. (purple)
- Repel powerup. (cyan)
- Hotball powerup. (orange)
- Coin. (for "hoard")
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Turret-weapons-list:-
- Rifle.
- Machinegun.
- Shotgun.
- Grenades.
- Missiles.
- Electricity.
- Railgun.
- Kill-everything energy-blast!!!
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Hypothetical tutorial level:-
- 01) (room1) move your ball around the room to the door.
- 02) move your ball onto the pressure-plate for 2 seconds to open the door to the next room.
- 03) go through the door from the pressure-plate within 2 seconds before the door closes.
- 04) (room2) collect the "turret"(1) item.
- 05) move across the platform without falling into the hazard.
- 06) deploy the turret and shoot the switch on the wall to open the door to the next room.
- 07) go from turret mode back to ball mode within 5 seconds before the door closes.
- 08) (room3) collect the "bomb"(1) item.
- 09) move through the electrical field without making contact with the electricity.
- 10) place a bomb near the "old wall" to destroy the obstruction.
- 11) easily handle the pressure-plate behind the "old wall" to get through the door in 1 second.
- 12) (room4) collect the "thrust"(2) items.
- 13) use the thrust powerups to get under the 2 "crushers" in time to the door on the other side.
- 14) use the pressure-plate for the hidden door, but this time clear the physics objects out the way first.
- 15) (room5) collect the "repel"(1) item.
- 16) move around a few hazards.
- 17) find an opponent ball (dummy-AI) on an open unguarded platform.
- 18) within proximity, the opponent ball uses hotball powerup and tries to destroy you.
- 19) at this moment, use repel powerup to knock the opponent ball from the platform, sumo-style. (along with a bunch of physics so it looks cool)
- 20) player must then use full "run-up speed" of the platform width to reach the door down at the other side.
- 21) (room6) collect the "missiles"(10) turret-weapon item.
- 22) move around a few crushers.
- 23) find a few "old walls" and destroy them with your missiles using turret mode.
- 24) find the shootable switches behind the "old walls" (redeploy turret) to open the door to the next room.
- 25) (room7) easy-fall and hazard trial. (test player agility)
- 26) (room8) collect the "hotball"(1) and "missiles"(20) turret-weapon item.
- 27) move through a crusher that combines hazards and weird timing.
- 28) reach the middle of a big empty arena to have the spotlights put on you.
- 29) suddenly many opponent balls come attacking, with some opponent turrets deployed too.
- 30) use your hotball powerup and/or your turret to survive and complete the tutorial.
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Discussions-to-be:-
- EVERYTHING!!!
- What is likely/possible to be done VS what will be useful for future projects = priority todo list...
- Number of lives?
- Number of turrets?
- Number of turret weapons?
- Should weapons be "turrets-with-weapons", or need turret-item before can collect weapon-items?
- Ammo and is it collectible? (recollect weapon-item for more of that ammo?)
- Is the turret a collectible item originally? (this means opponents could steal your turret before you can collect it back.)
- Should the turret "stick to walls"?
- What happens if the turret is launched/deployed somewhere 'unsavoury', and how to prevent that?
- Should the turret be launched/deployed by activating that selected item, or have its own key-control? (bombs too?)
- Should there be bombs and turrets in race mode?
- How should remote bombs be handled? (select the item again or have its own key-control?
- How to expand on the tutorial level and thus upon the entire game. (destroy a certain object with the ball?)
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