Hive-Mind

ID:73449
 
Jun 20 2009, 6:24 am (Edited on Jun 20 2009, 7:15 am)
Keywords: action, byond, hive, mind, new, project
I started working a small project a few days ago called; Hive-Mind. It is an action team-based game with a horror (sort of) genre with a few ideas/concepts from Prototype (Hives, infected etc). where the objective is heavily based on capture the flag (without the flags =P). I've been working on the interface mostly over the past few days with my not-so-good graphic skills and planned how the game will work. Here are a few things I have already planned.

Factions:
Factions will play a big role. There are 2 factions that a player can choose to fight alongside.
  • Infected:
  • The first faction is the infected. These are superhuman beings that have been in direct contact with the virus and have lost their sanity and become monsters that kill others. Infected naturally have grown stronger then an average human and can use their bio-mass as a weapon to destroy their enemies. They are extremely fast and agile. They lack in ranged combat but make up for it in close combat. There are different variants of infected. Each one with different types of bio-mass such as the Leader Infected (which only appears in VIP mode) is extremely strong and capable of even destroying APCs, tanks and helicopters in a couple of swoops. The main objective if you're infected is to destroy the military base stronghold or kill their Captain (applies only to VIP mode).

    Pros:
    - You are durable and can take quite a beating before going down.
    - You have superhuman reflexes, agility and strength.

    Cons:
    - Hive strongholds are not very durable and have no protection.
    - You are extremely vunerable to bloodtox.

  • Military:
  • The second faction is the military. They will have access to quite a vast amount of firearms, vehicles and other hardware. Their base is very durable and protected by unmanned auto-turrets. The main objective if you choose to be in the military faction for a round is destroying the infected hive stronghold which is found by killing players on the infected team. If a round is VIP mode then the military will have another task of protecting their Captain (VIP chosen randomly) and killing the leader infected.

    Pros:
    - Have access to very durable and destructive military vehicles.
    - Have access to destructive/heavy firearms.
    - Have a well fortified base stronghold with turrets.

    Cons:
    - You will be very vunerable to other infected (You are only human).
    - Your speed is only that of a normal human, you will not be able to perform superhuman feats like infected.



Round-based:
The game will be totally round-based with 2 modes to start with until I add more. These are as follows:
  • Strongholds
  • In this mode both teams objective is to destroy the opposing enemy base.

  • VIP + Stronghold
  • In this mode both teams objective is the same as strongholds with an added victory condition: kill the leader of the opposing team (Captain & Leader Infected).



Moving away from the key system:
I've decided to move away from the BYOND key system, so I decided to create my own registration system using the interface and a database that will store the players information (username, password etc) so players that join do not necessarily need to use the same key in order to play. Just login with their registered username & password they signed up with. You can see this in action in one of the screenshots below.

These are only a few ideas that I have in mind (although the database and registration system is functioning). I'll post again with a progress report when I have more done. Until then I'll leave you with a few of the interface screenshots.

Welcome Screen
Registration Screen
Password Recovery Form
Main Window
Jun 20 2009, 8:57 am
Why on Earth would you decide to require in-game registration? Player keys are one of BYOND's most useful features.
Jun 20 2009, 8:59 am
SuperAntx wrote:
Why on Earth would you decide to require in-game registration? Player keys are one of BYOND's most useful features.

Well for one, I can distribute it outside of BYOND. However I do plan on letting users retain their key as their usernames too.
Jun 20 2009, 10:28 am
Aries wrote:
SuperAntx wrote:
Why on Earth would you decide to require in-game registration? Player keys are one of BYOND's most useful features.

Well for one, I can distribute it outside of BYOND. However I do plan on letting users retain their key as their usernames too.

Using BYOND's key system doesn't stop you from distributing it outside of BYOND. "But they'd have to make a BYOND key to play!" How is that any different from having to register a totally separate account for your game? I'll tell you the only difference: by being forced to use your in-game registration, they don't get the other advantages that a BYOND key provides (ie being able to play other BYOND games and involve themselves in the community).
Jun 20 2009, 11:08 am
Zaole wrote:
Using BYOND's key system doesn't stop you from distributing it outside of BYOND. "But they'd have to make a BYOND key to play!" How is that any different from having to register a totally separate account for your game? I'll tell you the only difference: by being forced to use your in-game registration, they don't get the other advantages that a BYOND key provides (ie being able to play other BYOND games and involve themselves in the community).

It's true what you say, however there's nothing from stopping people outside of BYOND from creating a key and playing other games or involving themselves in the community, is there?

Also, they aren't being "forced" to use the ingame registration as you said. I already said I'd let people have the ability to retain their keys (most users who already have a BYOND key will do this). I guess that the ingame registration is for people who don't want to create a BYOND key and focused more on people outside of BYOND.
Jun 20 2009, 11:42 am
I like the general concept. It's nice to see some more Action games being made or in the making. As for the registration... The registration in-game is kind of cool but would not allow client-side saving which I personally think is bad if you don't have a permanent server.

Stick with normal keys, and the other registration as for the outside audience, it would be nice I guess for new players to BYOND, but than again limits you from client-side saving.
Jun 20 2009, 12:23 pm (Edited on Jun 20 2009, 12:30 pm)
Flame Guardian wrote:
I like the general concept. It's nice to see some more Action games being made or in the making. As for the registration... The registration in-game is kind of cool but would not allow client-side saving which I personally think is bad if you don't have a permanent server.

Stick with normal keys, and the other registration as for the outside audience, it would be nice I guess for new players to BYOND, but than again limits you from client-side saving.

Thanks for the comments. I will have a permanent server (thanks to farawayhost) that'll be up 24/7. I don't really want to distribute the host files. If the Make Exe function had a few more features added to it, I'd be able to distribute it much easier.