Quote:

Original post by Discord Thank you for the replies so far. Obviously the biggest advice is not to make it just a gimmick. If that happens then we would just release it as a fan thing and not market it as a serious game. I am curious about thoughts on the other ideas that could be done to make it more serious. I think trying to establish a community through forums, ranking system, clans or guilds, and stuff like that really add to the life of a game. What are things along those lines that could really work for a FPS?

Even if the game ends up being a pretty good job, I don't think there is a big chance of it inspiring enough player commitment for a clan/guild type affair in the normal sense. Looking beyond the launch, I see a potential problem in player count occasionally dropping so low that they don't have opponents and will leave. This is self perpetuating.

I'd shoot for accessibility. Make it dead easy for a fan to jump in the action. Creating an account and other such roadblocks should either be removed or seriously streamlined. If you end up with versions of the game for different bands, by all means, in addition to keeping individual scores, pool the scores from everyone who plays a given band's version. (This doesn't have to mean team play inside the game.) "Band vs band" is a natural division and might inspire a good amount of fans to try to keep theirs at the top. Make these scores "fade" over a week or so, so that at any given time, it doesn't take impossible effort to tilt them. I would also consider putting some NPC enemies in the multiplayer levels to give people something to do while waiting for opponents.

How about special events once a week or once in every two weeks where a band member (obviously, rotate different members) plays a superpowered version of himself for an hour, and the fans try to take him down as many times as possible? If you do this early in Saturday afternoon, there will be a ton of players online for the evening after the event.

I would say that, perhaps in contrast to what other people are saying, I think you should play up the 'gimmick' aspect a little. No matter how good your programmer is, this game is very very unlikely to beat modern FPSes on either presentation or execution, so you have to do something that small teams can do well, and that is apply a bit of ingenuity and bring something different.

With that in mind, have bizarre things like putting one of your Suffocation cds into the PC to unlock weapons or areas, have cooperative play that is somehow like being in a band with a rhythm-based element to the attacks (in time to the game music if possible!), have timed tasks that you have to complete before the track finishes, etc.

I'd agree with Kylotan on this one. As a fairly avid FPS player, I'm looking for my game to be about something just as surely as I'd be looking for a movie to be about something. Usually these games are very rich in a grounding mythos: Half-Life, for example, really tries to make you feel like you're in Black Mesa and puts a lot of work into delivering all the backstory, situations and lore of the place to you through the game.

I don't know your band, but I'd wonder if it's mythos is strong enough to support a full on game. That's not to knock you, by the way, but just to point out that an FPS game probably needs to have a lot of fictional underpinnings that don't have much to do with music, but which command the player's imagination. These games are seen as having a sort of gravitas that makes titles with less effort seem lightweight in comparison.


So I think you would need to free yourself from the baggage that go with FPS expectations. You tell potential players up front that this isn't supposed to be some engrossing world they're entering, it's just a fun gimmick. Then you litter the world with stuff that reminds the player why they like / should like the band and give them little puzzles or challenges that relate to something that they care about (which is probably getting a window others don't have into the band, such as with unreleased song lyrics or behind-the-scenes glimpses). It would sort of be like the appearance of the NIN boxes and Nail Gun in Quake, a nod to Nine Inch Nails.

If you get your gameplay right, those who like the band will be even more pleased while those who don't know anything about them might become interested.

Quote:

Original post by Kylotan I would say that, perhaps in contrast to what other people are saying, I think you should play up the 'gimmick' aspect a little. No matter how good your programmer is, this game is very very unlikely to beat modern FPSes on either presentation or execution, so you have to do something that small teams can do well, and that is apply a bit of ingenuity and bring something different. With that in mind, have bizarre things like putting one of your Suffocation cds into the PC to unlock weapons or areas, have cooperative play that is somehow like being in a band with a rhythm-based element to the attacks (in time to the game music if possible!), have timed tasks that you have to complete before the track finishes, etc.

Oh absolutely. When I read gimmick I was thinking don't make it like something on a McDonald's website where the gameplay is completely lacking and is basically just a commercial.

Of course the band will be an integral part of the game, from the story to the graphics to the sound effects and maybe even some of the ideas you just mentioned. If this only appeals to fans that is still a large demographic to get sales from, plus if we expand to other bands those fans as well.

But I don't want to give up on the possibility of having the game appeal to a slightly wider audience so we are trying to make the game exciting with intense music and graphics.

Easter Egg content coinciding with the band's other releases is definitely something we are considering. Thanks!

Quote:

Original post by Wavinator I don't know your band, but I'd wonder if it's mythos is strong enough to support a full on game. That's not to knock you, by the way, but just to point out that an FPS game probably needs to have a lot of fictional underpinnings that don't have much to do with music, but which command the player's imagination. These games are seen as having a sort of gravitas that makes titles with less effort seem lightweight in comparison.

Not a knock at all, the storyline was something I was very concerned about, both for this and we have also been approached about a comic book. The last thing I want this to be is Kiss Meets the Phantom.

Actually, if you don't mine, I'd like to bounce what I have so far off you.

I am a bit of a sci-fi and physics nerd, so my idea comes from the concept of energy cannot be created or destroyed. All of the emotional energy of earth once expended has to go somewhere, so I have it reflected into an alternate dimension where those emotions take physical shape.

Music being a pretty powerful evoker of emotions has a particularly powerful affect there. Since Suffocation's music is very aggressive and energetic, the resulting space created (the Suffoverse, as it were) is itself aggressive and energetic. Songs such as Infecting the Crypts, Thrones of Blood, Abomination Reborn and such manifest as actual levels or mobs in the game.

Players are immortal avatars created from the essence of this universe, fighting for control of resources, territory, survival (depending on the map and multi player mode). This explains why players die and respawn (something that always bothered me in many games).

Other versions of the game reflect other pocket universes created by other bands, that interact with each other, which is how different versions will affect the overall game play.

I figure this kind of approach provides a somewhat logical (if that word is appropriate) reason why the band and their music/images would be involved in a FPS. Also we can have the band members themselves be boss villains since it really isn't them, but their alt universe counterparts. The band is in the studio now and are saving any little tidbits and samples for the programmer to use, like 5-30 second bits to be used for sounds, cut scenes, etc.

That is my thoughts so far, generated by 4am scribbled notes.