(Recent) trends in multiplayer FPS
polycounter lvl 18
Just a thought that occured to me lately:
Why is it that there are recently only multiplayer FPS that basicly require to have at least 10 or 12 people playing (better to have 32
)?
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy those heavy team-play FPS like Enemy Territory or Battlefield(2), but they are impossible to play on private lan parties (I don't have 11 friends who enjoy hardcore 24h fragfests
), and also tent to be quite anonymous, e.g. you seldomly have these funny personal vandettas with certain players etc. like it was back in the days of Duke3D for example.
Of course there are the old school Deathmatch FPS like Quake1,2,3 & Half-life1 (and recent Open-source games, like nexuiz etc), and I guess low numbers of players better fit to these kind of games. But pure DM gets boring after all these years
There are also these few COOP games, but they are rare and often only let you replay the single-player you finished already weeks ago. And competition between players is also more interesting, and offers way more replay value.
But I think a non DM/COOP FPS game that is fun with 2-3(or max 5-6) players shouldn't be that hard to do, right?
/rant end
Why is it that there are recently only multiplayer FPS that basicly require to have at least 10 or 12 people playing (better to have 32
)?Don't get me wrong, I enjoy those heavy team-play FPS like Enemy Territory or Battlefield(2), but they are impossible to play on private lan parties (I don't have 11 friends who enjoy hardcore 24h fragfests
), and also tent to be quite anonymous, e.g. you seldomly have these funny personal vandettas with certain players etc. like it was back in the days of Duke3D for example.Of course there are the old school Deathmatch FPS like Quake1,2,3 & Half-life1 (and recent Open-source games, like nexuiz etc), and I guess low numbers of players better fit to these kind of games. But pure DM gets boring after all these years
There are also these few COOP games, but they are rare and often only let you replay the single-player you finished already weeks ago. And competition between players is also more interesting, and offers way more replay value.
But I think a non DM/COOP FPS game that is fun with 2-3(or max 5-6) players shouldn't be that hard to do, right?
/rant end
Replies
Yeah, what happened to the good ol days setting up sticky bombs, tripmines, and using scrolling inventory systems?
Everyone likes something different, I just like more people.
The huge games are fun, but hey we were doing 100 player games in Quake1. Warhead is too young to know old school DM.
What ever happened to Team Fortress classic 2? i love the original
I miss innovative weapon sets, i.e. take any build engine game for example, except anything before 1996 and anything during/after 1998.
Yeah, what happened to the good ol days setting up sticky bombs, tripmines, and using scrolling inventory systems?
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um.. have you played HL2DM at all?
quick scroll for weapons, and recently the added laser trip mines, which makes my method of killin all the more fun (i tend to get someone to chase me down and have them walk over nades or trip mines i've layed down).
haha nonsense when i played joint ops there'd always be someone on the other team i had a vendetta against
Funny enough, tho, I actually find the Onslaught game type to be a more fun DM than regular because the added vehicles balance it out more, as I've found my kill ratio goes way up when I'm in a vehicle (but only in UT, in BF2 i still kick ass on foot). Part of the problem with 'innovative' weapons is they tend to slow gameplay down, as 'innovative' tends to lend itself to "some kind of non-standard projectile that takes a while to load, lock on, or fire".
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I miss innovative weapon sets, i.e. take any build engine game for example, except anything before 1996 and anything during/after 1998.
Yeah, what happened to the good ol days setting up sticky bombs, tripmines, and using scrolling inventory systems?
[/ QUOTE ]
um.. have you played HL2DM at all?
quick scroll for weapons, and recently the added laser trip mines, which makes my method of killin all the more fun (i tend to get someone to chase me down and have them walk over nades or trip mines i've layed down).
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Yes, but too bad everyone whores the stupid gravity gun
Oh and by inventory system I did not mean weapon selection. Since when was the last time you've had a game with a holograms and jetpacks in selectable inventory systems?
as far as the grav-gun, cheap, i only ever use it when i've used up all my other ammo, or want to grab ammo out of reach... i gave up using it as a weapon (occassionally as defense for nade grabs) as i couldnt hit jack with it.
We also have All Out Assault, with yes, vehicles you can get into. There are currently two All Out Assault maps, one is smaller, suited for 2-10 players, the other large, and suited for more.
We haven't announced it yet, but we are working on a new version of the game called Alien Arena 2006, and are adding in yet another game mode, and a number of other things that I'd rather not divulge just yet.
We've also done some more code optimization, and plan to do quite a bit more. The game already plays very fast on most any computer, even with bloom and reflective water on. It's going to be even faster. Even with some new nextgen effects.
@FoeHammer: Interesting that you mention that game, since it is the exact opposite of what I am talking about. I think it was one of the first games that really required to have at least 10 players. But you are kind of right about the inventory stuff, even though it consisted mostly out of buildable turrets and all sorts of standard weapons.
@Vermeulen & Irritant: I enjoy both of your games (thanks a lot for the great work), but somehow they fit more into the realm of standart DM (or CTF) which is fun with few players, but also as much fun with more players.
I think Cheapy got what I was trying to get at. Laser tripmines, holograms, shrinkweapons etc are fun as long as you are only playing with few players, since you can place for example the mines at a certain location to exspecially hit a certain player. If you get more players, you are basicly just spamming mines so that anyone gets hit. Which isn't fun, and doesn't give you the satisfation of tricking someone to run in your laser-tripmine
Of course it doesn't have to be only these fun gadets like it was done in Duke3d.
I could imagine that a realistic sniper game would be fun with 2 (or a few more people), too. Kinda like in the movie "Enemy at the gates".
http://jonof.edgenetwork.org/index.php?p=jfduke3d - Port
http://forums.dukesterx.net/portal.php - online client.
PM me and I can "help" you locate a legit duke3d.grp file you need to play.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/cubegoodies/toys/7293/
JKMakowka: if you really want you could just download a duke3d Port and start playing it again.
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That isn't the point. It is not about reviving the memories, or having that 'old school' gameplay.
What I want is a modern FPS that is fun to play with few player.
But thanks for the links anyways