Redoubt - A Co-Operative Shooter / Tower Defence hybrid
About the Project
www.redoubtgame.com
Redoubt is a multiplayer only, co-operative first person shooter which will be hopefully released on Steam in the £15-£20 bracket. The basic back story is that the planet has been overrun by cybernetic horrors, by-products of a war where experimentation was allowed to spiral out of control, and humanity has been forced to evacuate the planet onto orbiting stations.
The players assume the role of one of many gangs of former soldiers who make secret and illegal trips to the planet’s surface to profit from the wealth of salvage that was left behind on the surface. Unfortunately their ship has been shot down in the middle of one of the many cities during their latest sortie and they must now survive long enough to repair their ship and escape, while protecting it from attack. Full back story can be found HERE.
Gameplay
The gameplay is orientated around a day and night cycle.
During the day the players’ ship will not be attacked, and they must venture out into the surrounding environment and scavenge for resources, weapons and equipment to help them survive the night and repair their ship. Unfortunately, the best equipment and resources are usually found in the many abandoned buildings and underground areas where the enemy hides from the sunlight. Players must work together and be organised enough to gather the equipment they need and ensure they get back with enough time before sundown to build up their defences.
Defences consist of constructible turrets, barriers, ammo boxes and various helper structures to slow and weaken the attackers. These however cost resources which are also needed to repair the ship, so they must balance their expenditure. They can also carry and stack various props found lying around the place to make more makeshift barricades and set impromptu traps. Though of course these are not as reliable as proper constructions, they are free.
At night the enemies will start appearing and will converge on the location of the crashed ship, attacking anything in their way. The players will lose the game if the ship is destroyed. The players must hold out until daybreak when the enemies stop the attack, and the cycle will begin again until either the ship is repaired or destroyed.
Weapons and Equipment
Most of the basic weapon types you would expect can be found in the game, however we want the weapons to be more than being about dealing damage. We are aiming to have them perform secondary, useful functions as well. For example, the shotgun’s alternate fire will emit a pneumatic blast which will blow enemies off their feet in an arc in front of the player, and the flamethrower’s alternate fire squirts a flammable gel which sticks to the walls, floor, ceiling, enemies or physics objects which can then be ignited with the primary fire to make traps.
In keeping with the theme of scavenging, the weapons are also modifiable, and players can use items found in the environment to alter certain aspects of their weapon to suit their play style. For example, the pistol can be modified to act more like a hand-cannon, sacrificing range and rate of fire for stopping power.
Players also have access to tools such as a grappling hook, a repair tool for repairing the ship (with an alt fire that shoots bolts which can nail objects together or enemies to the wall), a healing tool (we’re going with non-regenerative health) and others.
Art Style
Environment: The game does not take place on earth, but rather a new planet that was colonised to escape the overpopulation back on Earth. As a result, the architectural style of the cities is multicultural, offering an interesting blend of different looks and feels. The futuristic setting offers some freedom to break from contemporary designs, but we want the city to remain recognisable to players to help establish an emotional reaction when they see it in ruins. Below is a mood board that our current environment artist has put together to try and bring together the key feels we’re going for. Note that this isn’t our own original work, more an attempt to capture the spirit we’re aiming for.
Characters and Weapons: The players are former soldiers and engineers who, with the war over, have now formed an illegal salvaging gang. They have combat training, but with weapons outlawed and heavily controlled on the orbiting stations, their equipment is largely home-made and heavily customised. There is a very rough feel to the weapon design, as you might expect from someone who has chopped up and rebuilt the weapon to their specifications, tacking on new bits they find on their trips to the planet’s surface. They are rough and crude-looking but effective. The same applies to the players as well. Below is an initial concept render of the pistol to give you an idea of what we’re aiming for.
The enemies are the result of scientific experimentation left unchecked. Their sanity is shattered from having such extensive surgery and bio-modification, as well exposure to chemical and biological weaponry and the horrors of what they’ve seen on the battlefield. They no longer see themselves as human, but rather as twisted former images of themselves, bitter and angry, betrayed by those they trusted. All they think about is venting their hatred.
Current Progress
The programming side has made significant progress. Please find a list of completed and partially-completed features HERE. We have put together a video demonstrating some of the features below. Note that none of the assets used in the video are our own, just placeholders:
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Y7OnDaBH0"]Redoubt Features Reel - YouTube[/ame]
Unfortunately the art side is lagging behind due to lack of available time on the part of the artists, which is what has prompted this thread. We will hopefully have some architectural pieces to put into the map soon, as well as a working pistol model, however we are reaching a stage where we need more art assets to be able to make further progress with the programming.
Current Team and What We Need
The current team consists of myself doing the design and programming, 2 artists working on the weapons and environments and we have recently brought on a talented sound artist to do the foley work and he is currently composing a soundtrack. However, we are all working in our spare time and we need additional people to help bring the world of Redoubt to life. Ideally we are looking for:
- 1, preferably 2 character artists to do the modelling and animation for the players and enemies
- At least one more environmental artist to support our current one, preferably 2
- 1, preferably 2 artists to do the weapons, equipment and miscellaneous modelling as our current weapons guy is limited with the time he can commit currently
- Someone who can do particle effects and other special effects
- A concept artist who can draw up some original work for us
If you are provisionally interested in the concept, then please feel free to drop me a PM or email at contact@redoubtgame.com and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have on Skype or by email.
All who contribute towards Redoubt, no matter how small, will receive a share of the revenue on release based on overall contribution. While there are plans for a Kickstarter campaign further down the road to pay something up-front, we can’t do that without a decent amount of art already finished since code alone doesn’t make for pretty videos. Additionally, all work done for Redoubt will remain the property of the artist, who is free to use it as they see fit. As long as Redoubt ends up looking great, I don’t mind if people want to use the art they created elsewhere.
Thanks for reading!
www.redoubtgame.com
Redoubt is a multiplayer only, co-operative first person shooter which will be hopefully released on Steam in the £15-£20 bracket. The basic back story is that the planet has been overrun by cybernetic horrors, by-products of a war where experimentation was allowed to spiral out of control, and humanity has been forced to evacuate the planet onto orbiting stations.
The players assume the role of one of many gangs of former soldiers who make secret and illegal trips to the planet’s surface to profit from the wealth of salvage that was left behind on the surface. Unfortunately their ship has been shot down in the middle of one of the many cities during their latest sortie and they must now survive long enough to repair their ship and escape, while protecting it from attack. Full back story can be found HERE.
Gameplay
The gameplay is orientated around a day and night cycle.
During the day the players’ ship will not be attacked, and they must venture out into the surrounding environment and scavenge for resources, weapons and equipment to help them survive the night and repair their ship. Unfortunately, the best equipment and resources are usually found in the many abandoned buildings and underground areas where the enemy hides from the sunlight. Players must work together and be organised enough to gather the equipment they need and ensure they get back with enough time before sundown to build up their defences.
Defences consist of constructible turrets, barriers, ammo boxes and various helper structures to slow and weaken the attackers. These however cost resources which are also needed to repair the ship, so they must balance their expenditure. They can also carry and stack various props found lying around the place to make more makeshift barricades and set impromptu traps. Though of course these are not as reliable as proper constructions, they are free.
At night the enemies will start appearing and will converge on the location of the crashed ship, attacking anything in their way. The players will lose the game if the ship is destroyed. The players must hold out until daybreak when the enemies stop the attack, and the cycle will begin again until either the ship is repaired or destroyed.
Weapons and Equipment
Most of the basic weapon types you would expect can be found in the game, however we want the weapons to be more than being about dealing damage. We are aiming to have them perform secondary, useful functions as well. For example, the shotgun’s alternate fire will emit a pneumatic blast which will blow enemies off their feet in an arc in front of the player, and the flamethrower’s alternate fire squirts a flammable gel which sticks to the walls, floor, ceiling, enemies or physics objects which can then be ignited with the primary fire to make traps.
In keeping with the theme of scavenging, the weapons are also modifiable, and players can use items found in the environment to alter certain aspects of their weapon to suit their play style. For example, the pistol can be modified to act more like a hand-cannon, sacrificing range and rate of fire for stopping power.
Players also have access to tools such as a grappling hook, a repair tool for repairing the ship (with an alt fire that shoots bolts which can nail objects together or enemies to the wall), a healing tool (we’re going with non-regenerative health) and others.
Art Style
Environment: The game does not take place on earth, but rather a new planet that was colonised to escape the overpopulation back on Earth. As a result, the architectural style of the cities is multicultural, offering an interesting blend of different looks and feels. The futuristic setting offers some freedom to break from contemporary designs, but we want the city to remain recognisable to players to help establish an emotional reaction when they see it in ruins. Below is a mood board that our current environment artist has put together to try and bring together the key feels we’re going for. Note that this isn’t our own original work, more an attempt to capture the spirit we’re aiming for.
Characters and Weapons: The players are former soldiers and engineers who, with the war over, have now formed an illegal salvaging gang. They have combat training, but with weapons outlawed and heavily controlled on the orbiting stations, their equipment is largely home-made and heavily customised. There is a very rough feel to the weapon design, as you might expect from someone who has chopped up and rebuilt the weapon to their specifications, tacking on new bits they find on their trips to the planet’s surface. They are rough and crude-looking but effective. The same applies to the players as well. Below is an initial concept render of the pistol to give you an idea of what we’re aiming for.
The enemies are the result of scientific experimentation left unchecked. Their sanity is shattered from having such extensive surgery and bio-modification, as well exposure to chemical and biological weaponry and the horrors of what they’ve seen on the battlefield. They no longer see themselves as human, but rather as twisted former images of themselves, bitter and angry, betrayed by those they trusted. All they think about is venting their hatred.
Current Progress
The programming side has made significant progress. Please find a list of completed and partially-completed features HERE. We have put together a video demonstrating some of the features below. Note that none of the assets used in the video are our own, just placeholders:
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Y7OnDaBH0"]Redoubt Features Reel - YouTube[/ame]Unfortunately the art side is lagging behind due to lack of available time on the part of the artists, which is what has prompted this thread. We will hopefully have some architectural pieces to put into the map soon, as well as a working pistol model, however we are reaching a stage where we need more art assets to be able to make further progress with the programming.
Current Team and What We Need
The current team consists of myself doing the design and programming, 2 artists working on the weapons and environments and we have recently brought on a talented sound artist to do the foley work and he is currently composing a soundtrack. However, we are all working in our spare time and we need additional people to help bring the world of Redoubt to life. Ideally we are looking for:
- 1, preferably 2 character artists to do the modelling and animation for the players and enemies
- At least one more environmental artist to support our current one, preferably 2
- 1, preferably 2 artists to do the weapons, equipment and miscellaneous modelling as our current weapons guy is limited with the time he can commit currently
- Someone who can do particle effects and other special effects
- A concept artist who can draw up some original work for us
If you are provisionally interested in the concept, then please feel free to drop me a PM or email at contact@redoubtgame.com and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have on Skype or by email.
All who contribute towards Redoubt, no matter how small, will receive a share of the revenue on release based on overall contribution. While there are plans for a Kickstarter campaign further down the road to pay something up-front, we can’t do that without a decent amount of art already finished since code alone doesn’t make for pretty videos. Additionally, all work done for Redoubt will remain the property of the artist, who is free to use it as they see fit. As long as Redoubt ends up looking great, I don’t mind if people want to use the art they created elsewhere.
Thanks for reading!