Hi, I'm currently trying to get some inspirations for my game. It's a 2D Sidescroller Multiplayer Shooter with 3D Graphics, you can find a sample video on

">Youtube (in HD). As I've never designed a game and don't have a clue about it (I prefer to program and manage resources :) ), I thought I could fine some ideas here. The game plays in the near future, Cyborgs have taken the world domination and Mankind must defeat them. The basic gameplay is already done, so you have a bunch of weapons to kill the enemies, you have the Jetboots to fly around. - Gameplay The idea was to get a simple and fun game, and as it's 2D, you skills don't need to be so high. That's what the game currently is. Not more, but I want to extend this part. I had the idea about getting some Special Skills into the gameplay, e.g. you have some sort of Power (which gets higher, the more people you kill), and you can use it, e.g. for double damage, or instand-heal. So, it should still be simple to use and to understand. Does anyone have some good other ideas to improve the gameplay (but keep in mind, it should be easy to understand and easy to use) or an idea how to improve the idea? - Weapons The weapons in the game are pretty basic, nothing really fancy, I guess you already have seen all the weapons in other games. There are two types of weapons, instant-hit weapons (Rifle, Shotgun, Railgun, Gatling) and projectile weapons (Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Laser, Plasma Gun). The problem is, that they all feel pretty much the same, and I would like to extend the weapons a little bit, but don't know how. I had the idea for laser, that it could reflect on walls, so that you could "shoot around corners". But it's just one idea. So, I'm really happy about every input you could give me about weapons (but, as said above, keep in mind, that it should be simple to use). And how do you balance weapons? I have currently no clue about that part. - Mods, gameplay should be the top priority Currently, the game has three mods, which are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, but all that already exists, therefore I would like to get a nice mod, which fits perfectly into the game setting. Any ideas? - Thrill people I guess this is the hardest part :) What are you doing to keep your players playing your game? So, that they don't throw it away after the first try. I guess this is coupled with all the other stuff mentioned above. Seems like the longest post I've ever made here on gamedev :) I'm really interested in all sort of feedback you can give.

To confirm, the game is primarily about battles rather than side scrolling?

Assuming yes, the first thing you need to focus on is map design. Get together a team of people (equal to the amount of people in one game) create a map and play it. Iteration is the real answer to your question "how do you make something fun?". Yes, there are some people who are geniuses, but iteration can be nearly as good. Play the map, see what works and what doesn't, update accordingly and play it again. Keep playing right up till the last moment.

As a starting point, for your maps I would suggest using multiple levels. If it feels like just constantly running forwards towards the enemy and then spamming fire, it might become boring.

For weapons, I would opt for a tier system. Ie, better weapons require going out of your way or some sort of risk to get. To balance weapons on the same tier, it is iterative testing again.

As for different modes (I assume you mean modes, mods are create by players usually), I would focus on getting those listed really fun. Work on a great set of maps, rules and weapons and make it addictive and simple to play. If you've got time after that, you could look at games like Halo for inspiration.

Finally, as your game is 2D, I think death match is going to be very limited. The 1 dimension of movement is going to limit free for alls, if you spawn in the middle you are going to feel trapped. Camping at the sides will quickly become a dominant strategy

Hope this helps, your question was quite ambitious!

2D side-scroller deathmatch can be great fun. Check out soldat. Each player has a limited jetpack to soar through the air. The view zooms out as the mouse cursor reaches the edge of the screen, allowing the player to look around. Those two key features made soldat a great game.

I've never played it, but surely it massively favoured people at the edges? I suppose one way round it would be larger maps so you're not instantly surrounded by people. Another idea which just occurred to me was rapping the map round, so it was continuous. And, I suppose, jetpacks would help to break out of the otherwise dominant 1 dimension :P

Hi,

I know that you have probably changed it for different game modes, but I think the field of view in your sample video is too narrow. I feel that I don't see far enough to be able to plan, since your character move pretty fast compared to the screen width. I

In terms of game modes, I think you could have a capture the flag map that takes place inside a compound or a highly congested tunnel. On the stage, the player needs to blast walls or rocks to create a path to the enemy. The players would modify the environment to make covers (like bomberman).

About the edges: you could wrap the edges so that the stage is a cylinder. Then there would be no "edges". Another way is to differentiate between the locations. For example, you could spawn ammos only in the center, so players need to get to the center sometime to resupply.

Another stage idea is "Mutant Factory". In this mode, the players are still doing deathmatch, but the stage itself has mutants that attack anyone. To kill an opponent you could shoot them or route the mutants on them.

this soldat game looks a lot like worms in full realtime.
Is it a free game? I'd love to give it a whirl.

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Original post by buckED this soldat game looks a lot like worms in full realtime. Is it a free game? I'd love to give it a whirl.

apparently http://www.soldat.pl/en/ I don't think that it has always been free, but i think to many people pirated it, so they had to change market strategy :s

I think that most people who have ever been at a LAN party, has a copy of it on their computer (at least in Denmark).

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Original post by thk123 To confirm, the game is primarily about battles rather than side scrolling?

Yes, that's right.

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Original post by thk123 Assuming yes, the first thing you need to focus on is map design. Get together a team of people (equal to the amount of people in one game) create a map and play it. Iteration is the real answer to your question "how do you make something fun?". Yes, there are some people who are geniuses, but iteration can be nearly as good. Play the map, see what works and what doesn't, update accordingly and play it again. Keep playing right up till the last moment.

Okay, I just thought that someone is going to suggest an iterate approach. Seems like there's no real way to avoid this, so, a lot of testing is needed.

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Original post by thk123 For weapons, I would opt for a tier system. Ie, better weapons require going out of your way or some sort of risk to get. To balance weapons on the same tier, it is iterative testing again.

Could you explain it a little bit more. What do you exactly mean with a tier system?

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Original post by thk123 As for different modes (I assume you mean modes, mods are create by players usually), I would focus on getting those listed really fun. Work on a great set of maps, rules and weapons and make it addictive and simple to play. If you've got time after that, you could look at games like Halo for inspiration.

Okay, sounds like a good idea. So, I already have enough to do to create nice maps.

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Original post by thk123 Finally, as your game is 2D, I think death match is going to be very limited. The 1 dimension of movement is going to limit free for alls, if you spawn in the middle you are going to feel trapped. Camping at the sides will quickly become a dominant strategy

Well, it's not that bad. Basically, the fun raises and falls with the map. The map in the video is just a testbed, it's not a real map.

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Original post by thk123 I've never played it, but surely it massively favoured people at the edges? I suppose one way round it would be larger maps so you're not instantly surrounded by people. Another idea which just occurred to me was rapping the map round, so it was continuous. And, I suppose, jetpacks would help to break out of the otherwise dominant 1 dimension :P

I thought about that too, but I wanted to finish the game within a finite timelimit, therefore, there's no support for continues maps. Actually, the game has Jetpacks.

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Original post by Wai I know that you have probably changed it for different game modes, but I think the field of view in your sample video is too narrow. I feel that I don't see far enough to be able to plan, since your character move pretty fast compared to the screen width. I

The camera zooms in and out dynamically, depending on the distance to your next enemy. So, if nobdy is close to you, the camera is close to the player, otherwise it zooms smoothl out.

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Original post by Wai About the edges: you could wrap the edges so that the stage is a cylinder. Then there would be no "edges". Another way is to differentiate between the locations. For example, you could spawn ammos only in the center, so players need to get to the center sometime to resupply.

Yes, that was the plan. To have some certain "hot spots" in the maps, where you can get the best weapon/armor, etc. So, if you want to survive, you'll need to get there.

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Original post by Ludi83 Quote: Original post by thk123 For weapons, I would opt for a tier system. Ie, better weapons require going out of your way or some sort of risk to get. To balance weapons on the same tier, it is iterative testing again. Could you explain it a little bit more. What do you exactly mean with a tier system?

Basically you would have 3 levels of weapons. Each level would contain maybe 3 weapons in. These three weapons would be vastly different from each other. You might have the rocket launcher, which does a lot of splash damage, the Uzi which fires very quickly, but is inaccurate over long range, and the sniper rifle which has a very slow rate of fire but allows you to see across the map.

Then, on different levels, you would have a similar/same set of weapons but are more specialised. Eg, the sniper fires slower but has even longer range, the Uzi fires even faster at a cost of accuracy and the rocket launcher effects a bigger area but needs reloading even more often.

Then, you can position the higher tier, better weapons, in more hard to reach areas to force the players in to choosing whether to go for them. This also allows you to have more weapons, whilst still being able to focus on getting a smaller number that work very differently. (You can advertise 9 weapons whilst only designing 3)