Gundam game help

[ydawg314]

Ok so I am making a multiplayer 2d topdown gundam game. This game will be based of gundam seed and gundam seed msv.
heres is a picture

Would you guys have any ideas as to how i would implement a shield system. It has to ballanced because not every suit will have shields for example you have your ginn and your dagger. How should i go about doing this.

Ok so i think i perfected the shield system. The way is is going to work is that the shield will naturaly block all projectile shots but not explosions. Because of this the shiled will always protect the side of the body that the shield is equipped onto. You will be able to hold a button which will allow you to bring the shield up and block the front part of the body. By doing this your view will be limited so you will have to blind fire. The sheild gameplay should feel kind of like a topdown version of gears of war. The only thing is that you will have to watch your back because most Ms dont have sheilds which protect your back.
I will post some new pics soon. Right now i have four MS complete:
GAT-01 Strike Dagger
ZGMF-1017 GINN
TMF/S-3 GINN OCHER Type
TMF/A-802 BuCUE (in work)
GAT-01A1 Dagger (in work perfecting striker packs)
I will post more pics of gameplay soon


http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc69 ... game-1.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc69 ... pshot2.jpg
Like i said i am concentrating on the gameplay for now later i will do sprites

[quasadra]

it would be more helpful if you can give more detail. like what kind of game is this you are working on? what shield are you talking about? what action can be done in the game? frankly, just a picture dont tell us much.

[CHASER]

Knowing what program you're using to make the game would help as well since different ones use different coding methods.

Shields should really be easy; you just have to make it so that while a player holds down the button for the shield any damage it takes is either reduced or ignored, and change the sprite of the unit to one of it holding a shield in front of it.

Or something to that extent, you just need to know what you're doing.

[G-Slayer]

While playing the Gundam 00 DS game, I noticed that non-shield carrying MS like the Tieren Taozi form a multi-grid barrier to block attacks. Maybe you can do the same for your game.

[DAG101]

I'd say use CHASER's suggestion, but have a shield bar, that runs out each time the shield takes a hit, and when it is empty, the shield breaks. Also, is there any more information on this game? I can't really tell what the image is.

[Areus]

That Screen shot is way too small I have no Idea whats going on in there. What environment are you trying to develop in? Sounds like your biting off more then you can chew.

[ydawg314]

The game is a top down shooter. In the game you select and pilot a mech and complete missions similar to halo or something like that. There will also be an online component like i said before. I will post some more pictures but before i do that i wanna make sure my game looks a little less rough. Just image piloting a mech from a top down perspective.

The game will allow you to fight as a alliance grunt soldier in the Ce 70 war. The game will feature suits such as the strike dagger, 105 dagger, dual dagger, buster dagger, and many of the other ms seen throughout the shows. You will also get to pilot many zaft ms as well. I cant tell you much about the storyline right now but the game will utilize some rpg elements such as leveling and upgrading. You will eventually get to pilot custom gundams.

As for game play...
the ms will be controlled using the w,s,d,a and mouse. There are many other functions i will implement but my game is still in the early stages so i dont want to say to much.

right now i am focusing on making the game play fun and making the AI act like a human would. It however is taking a lot of time and trial and error. I am using c++, photo shop, anime studio, and a program called game maker.

I already have the shield bar thing However it doesn't seem to make the game anymore fun. With it it seem to make the play feel invincible.


Questions I have:
However remember that the game is supposed to feel arcade like and fun.
And i am not looking for my game to play like gundam versus so keep that in mind.

Should i make the shield only cover a partial area of your mech?

Should I have the player be stunned while taking direct hits?

although i have finished this already... Do you guys have any ideas on how the mechs should boost?

If you guys want i will post pictures/movies and a demo later on

[ydawg314]

Hey i will post a game play demo if you guys can critique it about controls and stuff

[DAG101]

Well, for your question about boosting, I would suggest using a button to boost forward/up, and have a boost fuel bar.

And some more shield suggestions, make it impossible to attack while blocking with a shield, if you haven't already, and maybe have a short delay between putting away the shield and being able to attack.

And, about the demo, go ahead and post it, even if the graphics aren't perfect yet, we can critique the gameplay

[ydawg314]

ok i will

[goufx]

sigh, is the game out yet?

[Camille Vidan]

there is a game for wonderswan with a similar concept like this, i think it was called gundam msvs or something like that.

[ydawg314]

My game will probably be complete by August. but i don't have a set date soooo......

i am really just working on it when i have time.

This is my school grad project so maybe that should give you comfort knowing that i have to do it.

The game looks like Mobile Suit Gundam MSVS except not. Plays completely different. I will post a game play demo soon. I need to get your opinions on how the game plays.

However before i do there there is a lot of things i have to work out like how i am gonna achieve flying!?... i have an idea but i need to implement it and see if it works the way i envisioned.

I thought up one game mode that i will probably call survival in which its basically you vrs the city your in. Similar to Grand theft auto where you can just fight the police until you get 6 stars

[CHASER]

Flying from walking isn't the best thing for top-down games, though in the end it would be more or less the field shrinking while the suit stays the same size, though I've never tried that and it could bring on some problems with landing on things you shouldn't be landing on.

Actually, can the suits get on raised platforms like buildings or is it all a single plane?

[Rudy A Winchester]

For this game, I assume you are trying to get simple, arcade-like, fact-action gameplay. You aren't, I assume, looking for a game with any extensive balance between mobile suits, or any realistic interpretation of how mobile suit combat would likely go. Again, I am assuming these.

With that said, I would suggest the following things for what you've been talking about:

1. For the shield, just for the sake of keeping fast and simple gameplay, I wouldn't actually make it an ability to use actively. For mobile suits that have shields, perhaps have an extended part of the health bar that is blue that represents the shield. And when the blue part of the health is gone (a hit or two, really; mobile suit combat in the animated productions don't seem to have shield take more than two hits most of the time), then the shield is removed from the sprite (make it blow-up or something, I guess). This will keep it simple (not having players fumble with having to block), but at the same time still give an advantage to players who choose mobile suits that have shields.

Another way to keep the shield as part of gameplay, but not have the player worry about activating it, is making it random. Make the shield take up to three hits or something (an example), and randomly absorb a hit out of those three on a 15% basis (again, example). So you would basically, again, have a reason for choosing a mobile suit that has a shield, but you wouldn't have to play it any differently than a mobile suit without a shield.

If you would like the shield to be an active part of gameplay, then I would recommend the simple hold down, immobilize your suit, and take however many hits before it breaks. Again, though, the problem I see with this, especially with a top-down shooter, is the added button for gameplay. I would say just keep it simple and utilize the shield in a passive way.

2. I don't think flying should be part of a top-down shooter. The perspective just isn't there for flying to be picked up fast for anyone; besides, shooing would be near impossible. I think it would, ironically, slow down gameplay. Instead, I would implement a more important and useful boost system. Make the boost something that stands out, and needs to be used in gameplay. With this, I would kind of ignore the boost as we see it in the series. Otherwise, any Gundam unit will give no other unit a chance. Again, I am under the assumption that you aren't going to go out of your way to make everything perfectly balanced; but I assume you do want obvious fairness. I would base the speed of boost on the weight of the suit. Bigger suit, slower boost. Then I would base the amount of boost that can be done on the power output of the suit. This should give you a decent amount of balance.

With boost, I would simply have it work on a double-tap basis. Double-tap a direction, boost toward that direction. Have a boost bar that regenerates with time, and therefore limits the boost. It would also be interesting to have a limited-time constant boost. So maybe when your boost bar is full, you can instantly use it all at once, and have a constantly boosting mobile suit for three or four seconds. Just something that may be worth trying out.

3. For the simple player campaign, I assume you want to keep it pretty simple. I would have the basic kill everything not on your team scenario, with some exceptions (simple things, such as needing to turn something off, or needed to destroy a certain mobile suit under a time limit).

I will hold off on other suggestions until the demo comes out, and we can witness the standard and melee combat first-hand.

[ydawg314]

wow... thanks for your lengthy reply i will take all of your suggestions into account the next time i work on my game

One issue that I am having is that I programmed the mobiles suits to take a few hits before they explode and stuff as you see in the shows. If you fast forward through any of the gundam seed episode you will probably see daggers and ginns getting blown up after one hit. The game plays just like this so that means that shields have to be an important part of game play.

I have been using a mix of your shield ideas. In the game so far the shield has its own health and you cant shoot while using the shield. So basically the shield is used when under heavy gunfire by like 3 suits or if your about to be hit by a beam, missile, of beamsaber

[goufx]

alright man, that does give me comfort, good luck on the project.

[Recon 5]

I have to disagree with Rudy on the shield. An active shield system has been a staple of mech shooters, Gundam games in particular, and having to time your blocks really adds quite a bit to the gameplay. Also, since a unit is unable to shoot while using a shield, I think that immobilizing it during shield usage is a bit too much of a penalty. A player could easily be overwhelmed by a follow up barrage after instinctively blocking just one shot, which does not make for balanced gameplay.

Just a note, though, most depictions of Mobile Suits in Gundam series have them moving and shooting while using their shields. Thats actually the purpose of the 'slot' that most large shields have at a suit's eye level- to allow them to aim while the shield is up.

Sorry for the late suggestion, and all the best on the project!

[ydawg314]

The issue with that is that it makes the mobile suit too invincible which makes the game less fun and challenging.

Maybe I should make the shield only protect the small part of the body when
the gun is in usage but when not in usage it protects front side of body. This would make the player risk getting shot if they were trying to shoot while being fired upon.

Anyone else have any ideas?

[WhiteWingDemon]

Sounds like a cool project. Are you actually making it in C++ or in Game Maker? Also, you wouldn't happen to have any game design documentation that you've written for this?