Ok guys, im developing a skill based FPS(but with swords and sorcery, not guns) im still coding the engine, so this is a bit premature, but im looking for opinions here. If you ever played Counterstrike(or Halflife), SOF2, Doom, etc... you probably realize that most people ended up playing the multiplayer side 10 or 20 times longer than the single player. However, alot of people probably bought the game originally for the campaign aspect of the game, and then learned that the multiplayer was far more intense. So my question is, is it any longer necessary to create a single player campaign mode when the "meat" of your game will lie in its multiplayer capabilities? Dredd ________________________________________ "To die with your sword still in its sheath is most regrettable" -- Miyomoto Musashi

Campaigns+story may not be required, but bot support that offers a singleplayer mode mimicking the multiplayer play is IMO a must.

The obvious answer is "it depends if you want to play it alone"

I personally really enjoy a story-driven game that I play at my own pace. I''m not overly keen on Multiplayer gaming, it has to be said.

i rephrase
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WHAT DO YOU WANT? >>>>> YOU <<<<< ??
WHAT DO YOU LIKE? >>>>> YOU <<<<< ???
whose GAME is IT <<<<< YOURS >>>>> ??
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be good
be evil
but do it WELL
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[edited by - Neoshaman on December 9, 2003 1:25:25 AM]

In my opinion if you go multiplayer-only, make sure you have a very nice matchmaker server with ability to find similarly-skilled players with good pings etc. Make it pretty painless starting or joining games. If games are configurable, make sure players can tell who started the game and how it was configured before they join it. But I''m sure you already know all of that...

quote: Original post by Neoshaman
i rephrase
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WHAT DO YOU WANT? >>>>> YOU <<<<< ??
WHAT DO YOU LIKE? >>>>> YOU <<<<< ???
whose GAME is IT <<<<< YOURS >>>>> ??
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What??

Anyway, I am not really interested in multiplayer gaming much, so take that into account when I say that single-player modes are absolutely essential. Even if your game is multiplayer oriented (UT), it might seem incomplete if you leave out any non-multiplayer modes, in the same way that a single player focused game might seem incomplete without some type of multiplayer element.

I always like to have a one-player mode, at least for practice and training purposes. Learning how best to use certain skills or items is best done in 1P modes.

You could make a big story-based game, or a simple training room that spawns one simple "target" enemy at a time, or anythign in between. Bots are good for one-player, but they''re not necessary or particularly like in multiplay, unless you''re going human team vs. stupid bot horde. Which is fun, don''t get me wrong.

If it''s skill-based, and not MMO, then your multiplayer games will probably have balance issues. There are of course ways around this (start-up customization, all-zero starts with or without accelerated levelling, gameplay-based levelling, spawn-based levelling, item-based levelling, score-based levelling), but those decisions must be yours.

On a related note, are you sure you want this to be a first-person game? Melee tends to suck in first-person. Just a thought.

ah, by skill based i should have said its a "twitch" game.
but instead of having different weapon load-outs (ala SOF2, or Counterstrike) you actually have classes, with a divergence of skills. However a fighter class will be equal in all respects to every other player that has a fighter class(other than their personal skill level of course)

Dredd
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"To die with your sword still in its sheath is most regrettable" -- Miyomoto Musashi

At the very least, any FPS game should have bots that can navigate maps. It doesn''t matter if they are ''smart'' and can make tactical decisions etc as long as they can provide moving targets that can ''shoot'' back. The only thing I''ve seen single-player in CS and the like used for is target practice, which is all your single-player mode needs to provide.

Half-Life single player was awesome, but IMO that came at the expense of the built-in multiplayer. HL DM was not so great, but the basic story was AWESOME and the mods that became included later (tfc, dm classic, etc) were pretty good (as were the many free mods that came out for it - too bad that only counter-strike and dod really caught on. Science and Industry, Wizard Wars, and many many others were awesome games but not possible to play due to lack of opponents).

Have any of you ever played America''s Army? That game is fantastically well done, and it doesn''t have a single player mode. Well, there''s the training parts that are single player, but if you''ve played the game, you know what I mean. Just a thought.