Thread: New guy

Hey all. I just want to say I really like playing on your server and introduce myself.

I just started playing BF2 in a major way a week or so ago but TTP is easily the best server I have found. Less 1.3 crashes, less lamer smack talk, and more team communication.

So yeah, keep it up. Also, how long does it normally take stats from this server to populate? I got promoted today but it isnt showing up yet :cry:

stats are an EA thing...it varies with how it updates... :roll: youll find alot of variations with ea/dice/1.3... :? :P

There's an idea I've been toying with for some time now. I thought I'd share it with you all.

I've always wanted a good, immersive zombie game. But I don't want to have to follow a linear story line where you basically wheel your character from one event to another (as we've seen with every zombie game that comes to mind). I want control over what happens to my in-game character (akin to the sandbox style of game play in Grand Theft Auto). I want a destructible environment, and at that, one I can manipulate (as in Half-Life). I want a game with excellent mechanics and game play (like Gears of War). I want horror (think F.E.A.R., its expansion packs, and its upcoming sequel). And I want the action of a first-person-shooter (like Halo or Unreal Tournament).

So, let's take your basic elements for a zombie game and try enhancing them with these goals. You take your basic post-apocalyptic major metropolitan center (it'd all start with a virus, as is typical, and the city would be partially destroyed as a result of heavy fighting from military forces sent in to deal with the zombies, who were then forced to retreat). Any building that isn't destroyed would be completely accessible and destructible (meaning that I could plant explosives around the base of a giant skyscraper and blow it up; more to the point, I'd actually be able to go into the skyscraper). The city would be in a coastal area with hills and mountains surrounding it. A large downtown area would be surrounded by expansive residential and industrial areas. This is your setting.

Your character is not some jack-off with a three-paragraph backstory that you could care less about. He/she would be custom created by you at the beginning of the game (you could possibly have skills relating to the individual's background, i.e. strength, intelligence relating to a certain field, and so forth). He/she would just be nothing more than a random civilian who survived the onslaught. You would start off in the center of the city at some kind of shelter where you were told you would be safe (but of course, the truth was much different). Your goal would be to get out of the city and make it out of the "quarantine zone" that's set up around it (and thus into friendly territory). However, you have to contend with three different types of enemies:

1. The Zombies (of course); either they want to assimilate you into their ranks, or they want to eat your flesh; you'd encounter different kinds of varying size, strength, and speed, each with a relation to a certain part of the city (some would be found only in sewers, others only in compact or dark areas). Nightime would be especially dangerous, given that other, nastier kinds of zombies would come out of the woodwork and try to hunt you down.
2. Other survivors; here is a major part of the game. You find other survivors roaming the city. Some would be hostile towards you and try to take anything you have of value, but others could become potential allies. You could partner up and try to get out of the city together.
3. The Military. There would be military forces combing the city trying to destroy the zombies and reclaim the streets for civilization. This isn't a case of merely running into checkpoints and so forth (although it would be a part). Patrols would actively be hunting you and trying to eliminate you, and if you ever encountered a patrol, you would either have to hide or defend yourself in a firefight

In order to leave the city you'll need supplies. You won't necessarily be able to just scrounge your way as you move out. Rather, you'd need some kind of base of operations in which to store supplies you come across (i.e. food, weapons and ammunition, clothing, medical supplies). Furthermore, in order to simulate realism, your character would need a place to sleep for a few hours (you'd enter a "sleep mode," during which time the game would jump forward a few hours, and your character would be rested; as a little twist, you could throw-in the occasional midnight attack upon your bastion, which you would have to repel).

You'd have to pick this stuff up and bring it back. But more to the point, you'd have to build this base (not so much the actual structure, but you would need to fortify it against attacks from zombies, other civilians, and the military). Thus, you'd need to be able to manipulate objects in the environment (and, for example, be able to blast holes in things in order to create obstacles, such as ditches) and be able to carry them back to your base.

Different areas would yield different kinds of stuff to pick up. Industrial areas would net you lots of good materials for the construction of yours base (did I mention that you would be able to use vehicles to get from one place to another, although using them would put you at risk of interference from the military?). Hospitals would be a goldmine for medical supplies. Hardware stores and gun shops would provide tools and firearms. Supermarkets and outlet stores would net you food and other items. Plus anything else that you'd come across in the street or in a building that you could use in some way.


That's the basic idea. Now, excluding the fact that it would take the monolith to run this game, and it would take something equally as large to hold all the information for it, what are your thoughts about it?

Why would the military attack citizens if they are trying to reclaim the streets? Do they think everyone is infected?
But good idea overall

Modify that a little and you've got a wonderful Source mod. I can put you in contact with some Source-skilled guys if you like.

Originally Posted by Flawless Cowboy

Why would the military attack citizens if they are trying to reclaim the streets? Do they think everyone is infected?
But good idea overall

This is one of the points I've been trying to get my head around.

I want to establish the military as something to be avoided at all costs. While having them think that everyone is infected and thus needs to be destroyed is one plausible (if overused) approach, it doesn't do anything to negate the argument of why doesn't the player just doesn't shout in clear English and act in as human a fashion as possible.

The next logical reason would be that it's some form of a cover-up. Again, a perfectly plausible situation: government/corporate lab had a breach, the virus escaped, and now people in high places want to eliminate everything pertaining to the project to avoid public backlash or criminal charges. Two problems I see with this:

1. Sounds a lot like Resident Evil, doesn't it?
2. It ruins the whole "make it out of the city and to safety" deal, since your perceived "friend zone" would just be controlled by these guys. Perhaps you could make it so that the player would have to break through this zone and out into the rest of the country, and I suppose that works, but it doesn't do enough for me story-wise (it would make for a pretty decent climatic ending, though).

Hmm, let's try this idea on for size:

You have a paramilitary force/organization led by a single individual who purposefully released the virus into the city. It was designed to kill its inhabitants directly, but for some unknown reason it didn't work quite as planned, and instead of getting dead people this individual nets a bunch of living dead people.

The purpose for the release would be something either diabolical (the leader may wish to take control of the city), or he wants something that's in the city. This wouldn't be something money-related (robbing a Federal Reserve bank, although plausible, just isn't convincing/exciting, and is a bit too close to a Die Hard film). Even an object would be a stretch (no nukes -- done that too many times, and you'd need to avoid making the game-version of The Score).

This operation, as I said, goes horribly wrong, and these guys end up being trapped in the city like you. Even their soldiers have become infected (and are still capable of using their weapons; you'd have to fight these guys).

So, in order to get his operation on the right track again, the leader sends out patrols to try and clear the city. They kill everyone, survivors and zombie alike (you'd witness something early on that sets these guys up as bad mofos, i.e. you watch an execution or something). On the outside, surrounding the city is the National Guard and just about every other government agency who have set up a blockade around the city. They make some inroads into the city, and you could actually come upon them fighting each other (you could theoretically try to escape with one of these teams, but doing so would automatically force you to fight your way out in a serious firefight).

You thus are left with two options regarding how to play the campaign: you can try to escape the city, or, you could try to take these guys on (either by yourself or using other survivors you've come across as a kind of assault team) and eliminate them.


How's that sound?

Originally Posted by Mr Psi

Modify that a little and you've got a wonderful Source mod. I can put you in contact with some Source-skilled guys if you like.

Modify in what way(s)?

Nice idea. The sand box style could work with a zombie game but I'd rather have a character or characters with set backgrounds I hate games that force you to create your own character (probably why I returned Oblivion after 20 minutes of play). Create your own feels like a lack of creativity on the development team. I'd rather learn about a character through progression than know all about them up front.

I do like the idea of the military as an obstacle. I mean the most logical recourse for them would be kill everything so as to not perpetuate infection. Plus they are still humans, frightened and panicked humans with guns.

Overall not bad, sounds like what Resident Evil Outbreak should have been like.

Originally Posted by Flawless Cowboy

Why would the military attack citizens if they are trying to reclaim the streets? Do they think everyone is infected?
But good idea overall

I recomend the ending of the original Night Of The Living Dead for you

YouTube - Night Of The Living Dead Trailer

YouTube - Night of the Living Dead ending

nope, they just make assumptions better safe then dead

I think that whole cover up idea is bullshit. Cities don't disappear off the map magically. People will ask questions (probably friends and realatives living in another city), and the government can try to bullshit them with weather baloons. And if they blame it on terrorists detonating a nuke, well:
A) Mass hysteria
B) People will wonder why its not on the news

I could understand a cover up of a town or military base, but with a city it's illogical.