You said this is supposed to be a top-down shooter. I don''t think the style makes any difference to how good the game is, but I want to make a few comments that will. You described the game as mission-based, which could be good or bad depending on how the levels are designed. Id est, good-designer equals good-levels. Personally, I think it''s an awesome idea. Sort of like Assault missions in Unreal Tournament, but the results carry onto the next mission, instead of replaying the same map ten-thousand times until everybody gets bored and logs off. Allowing people to jump into the middle of a fray is also cool, as this could change the outcome and drive the plot in a different direction. I can see an idea like this spanning as many as 20 or 30 missions. The key is to design each mission so you can''t find one easy way to finish it, otherwise people will quickly stop playing that sequence of missions. Ideally, each mission should have more than one path, perhaps as many as three. With enough players, you could strike out on more than one path at the same time, thereby creating "mini-games" within the same map, with teams divided to participate in each attack. Something else you can do to make the game more interesting is provide different tools for each team. For example, the defenders of a military outpost will be heavily armed and armored, and they''ll have unlimited access to ammunition. The rebel attackers, with weaker weapons and less ammo, have the option of taking over certain parts of the outpost, using the enemies'' tools against them. This could play into the plot(e.g., remaining ammo carries over into the next map), making it worthwhile to capture as much stuff as possible. Damn, this is a great idea, MaNiak. I''d definitely be interested in playing a game like this, or even making maps for it.

You can go one better for this:

Everyone starts with zilch, but powerups can be frequent and randomized.. At the start of each mission, everybody streams out of their respective gates to find powerups - some find offensive, some find defensive, then return home to defend, or move out to fight. Along these lines, if you have players who already have a mule''s-pack of defensive powerups, they stay at the base (presumably because they move about as fast as Louie Anderson after the buffet closes...) Maybe trading powers between players to allow your character to become well rounded, more tanklike, more sniper, more combat, whatever...

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-WarMage
...nuke a gay communist black baby whale for JEEZUS!!...

You said this is supposed to be a sandwich creator. I don''t think the ham makes any difference
to how good the burger is, but I want to make a few comments that might appear in "Loser''s Daily". You described the game
as hellish, which could be good or bad depending on how the sins are committed. (Untranslatable),
good-food equals happy-joe.

Personally, I think it''s an interesting/boring idea. Sort of like Suicide missions in Windows XP, but
the results carry onto the next operating system, instead of allowing you to reinstall it
until everybody gets bored and blows things up. Allowing people to make their own hamburgers
cool, as this could change the taste and drive the people to make their own chain-hamburger business.

(The rest has been deleted. If you have a problem with that, contact my alwke at: george@georgeisthebest.com. nostl ksle oaow.. aisf.

Wow, I appreciate the response everyone! Here is how im going to design it...

MAPS

The maps have a little mini scripting language in it so you can have pretty complex missions (I love the old Quake 1 Team Fortress and how their maps are designed, that is my inspiration for fully custom maps). In each map there will be as many paths as the amount of teams (Yes you will be able to have more then 2 teams). Tom is right where the idea would span across 20 to 30 missions which will make for pretty interesting game play. Unfortunately it will be very hard for mappers to tie the maps in to a series of maps because at some point they have to make the maps "reloop" into the sequence of maps or there will be literally an infinite amount of sequences (impossible for mappers to make if they mapped all their lives). So mappers would have to take that into consideration, of course you will also be able to create a map that would be like the traditional UT assault type of map except maybe a bit more advanced.

WEAPON AND CLASS SYSTEM

I would love to tell you I have this all worked out already but the truth is, I really dont. The current system I have now is when a client connects to a server a tech tree screen pops up to upgrade certain skills. Of course you only have a certain amount of points which means you can only upgrade a certain amount in different areas. The areas would include, speed, offensive weapons, defensive weapons, and accurate weapons. Of course if one put all their points into defensive weapons they would have a ton of awsome defensive weapons except they would have no speed which means they would run really slow. If someone wanted to be like a "sniper" they would add a bunch of points into accuracy weapons which means they would get a sniper rifle, and maybe a few points into speed. I am still open for suggestions on the weapon and class system so feel free to reply with suggestions.

HIRELINGS

Hirelings are what you will be able to buy with your money which means the more people you kill or objectives you complete the more hirelings you will have. What im unsure about is if I should continue and give them the amount of money they had in the previous map in the next map - not something I really have to be worrying about now, but I eventually will.

Welp, there is my current take on design for the game! Im going to call the game Edge. Unless there is such thing as a game with that name already, which in that case please tell me.