Horde Game Mode Suggestion

(zenstar) #1

SockDog mentioned something in another thread that got me to thinking:

You know what game mode is really popular with people? Co-op players vs mindless hordes!

TF2 has Mann vs Machine.
CoD has Zombies.
Gears of War had some Horde mode (iirc).
Halo:Reach had firefight.
L4D is basically all about players vs mindless horde (and they have a survival mode)

These are all really popular modes and if we’re going to be having different game modes I’d strongly suggest looking at something like this… I know it’s a bunch of AI code that wouldn’t have been required otherwise, but SD has done bots before and it would make for a really fun mode that kinda fits the theme.
Ok… it’s a little more pulp and requires a little more suspension of disbelief, but I think the pay-off is worth it.

(Rex) #2

I think they should concentrate on the game itself first. No need to add further stuff if the old one isn’t right yet. Why should they waste their spare time now on something unimportant?
Though I think bots would be enough.

(zenstar) #3

[QUOTE=Rex;410368]I think they should concentrate on the game itself first. No need to add further stuff if the old one isn’t right yet. Why should they waste their spare time now on something unimportant?
Though I think bots would be enough.[/QUOTE]
Just getting ideas out there before things get too set in stone.

I don’t think bots alone are enough. There’s a big difference to playing against a bot team and playing a scenario that is specifically defence against a horde of AI.

(Dragonji) #4

[QUOTE=zenstar;410284]You know what game mode is really popular with people? Co-op players vs mindless hordes!

TF2 has Mann vs Machine.
CoD has Zombies.
Gears of War had some Horde mode (iirc).
Halo:Reach had firefight.
L4D is basically all about players vs mindless horde (and they have a survival mode)[/QUOTE]

//youtu.be/Sj9Tih-esfw

It would be really fun indeed, however I’m not sure if something like this would fit to the main concept of the game unfortunately.

(SockDog) #5

[QUOTE=Rex;410368]I think they should concentrate on the game itself first. No need to add further stuff if the old one isn’t right yet. Why should they waste their spare time now on something unimportant?
Though I think bots would be enough.[/QUOTE]

There is every need to add further stuff. OBJ isn’t going to be for everyone and it’s better gamers play some other mode and pay into SDs pocket than drop the game. Other modes also mean there can be other difficulties, something like DM could be very noob accessible. TDM, CTF, S&D would allow people to build on gameplay.

As Zenstar says you could have a survival/horde type mode where you have to use the classes to complete objectives while being attacked by [insert bullet sponges]. This would be entertaining for many but also enable people to learn some core points for OBJ mode. AI is an issue, unless there is some there already it could be time consuming getting it back. I wonder if wild animals aren’t a good idea for enemies but then taken from CoD it’s not like you really need to stay in story here, have timewarping nazis from mars.

And lets not forget the Challenges from Brink. Those could also provide a competitive, leaderboard style of competition but also prove to be a nice pay item down the road.

(Pytox) #6

Why not the attackers and defenders against waves of toxified humans and they also have to complete objectives while defending those waves? :smiley:

(SockDog) #7

Yes, this too!

(zenstar) #8

Oh yes! engineers building fortifications while medics keep everyone healthy and flops keep everyone full ammo’ed / taking chunks from larger hordes. It would be a blast mixing a little objective play into the standard survival gameplay.

And AI shouldn’t bee too difficult. Both QW and Brink had bot AI. It just needs to be tweaked to be a bit mindless and then spawned x 100 :slight_smile:

(stealth6) #9

[QUOTE=zenstar;410450]Oh yes! engineers building fortifications while medics keep everyone healthy and flops keep everyone full ammo’ed / taking chunks from larger hordes. It would be a blast mixing a little objective play into the standard survival gameplay.

And AI shouldn’t bee too difficult. Both QW and Brink had bot AI. It just needs to be tweaked to be a bit mindless and then spawned x 100 ^_^[/QUOTE]

What’s the endgame? If the engi keeps repairing and the medic keeps healing and the engineer keeps repairing when does the game end?

I don’t really like the idea of engineer constructing things - it limits you to those areas in the map. The way MvM did it was very nice, multiple choke points and the best way to stop them was to create a crossfire. Is this really a gamemode that works well though? The only really successful game is L4D and there the hole game is focussed around it. Even MvM mainly gets played for the items imo.

(SockDog) #10

I watched a Rooster Teeth Let’s Play of Killing Floor last night and it did make me think that the average survival mode, while fun, can be a little bland and generally revolves around getting harder and harder. Whether you picked random objectives that gained more weapons, a store, better respawn etc or even had it work on tweaked MP level so that you had a 4 player co-op objective mode it would still be teaching players a lot of transferable habits.

Logically the baddies would be some military outfit but I think this is too cliche and close to the established human vs human team set up. I think I’d personally vote for mutants regardless of the factual basis mutants and dirty bombs. This would allow some general cannon fodder, clawing enemies but also give you some room to stretch into some projectile throwing creatures.

[QUOTE=stealth6;410452]What’s the endgame? If the engi keeps repairing and the medic keeps healing and the engineer keeps repairing when does the game end?

I don’t really like the idea of engineer constructing things - it limits you to those areas in the map. The way MvM did it was very nice, multiple choke points and the best way to stop them was to create a crossfire. Is this really a gamemode that works well though? The only really successful game is L4D and there the hole game is focussed around it. Even MvM mainly gets played for the items imo.[/QUOTE]

End game can be time, xp gain, coins. I’d generally go for all three in a leaderboard and unlock type affair. With it being co-op you generally don’t need to be all that concerned about ruining an MP game because someone wants to grind this and that. And in order for them to earn anything in such a mode they’d have to be doing things that would benefit playing objective.

Wouldn’t just be constructing things though. You could mix up the objectives, offer rewards for completing it. Say for example that a FOps would need to airstrike 3 locations on the map to block off drains that are letting mutants into the area. Engineers could construct or repair multiple items to access/seal bases or get vehicles to ride in or escape. CovOps could assume a disguise of a mutant and have to sneak through a level to shut down an access gate while the rest of the team hold off the mutants.

Existing maps could be reused with only some minor block off and then scripting.

(zenstar) #11

[QUOTE=stealth6;410452]What’s the endgame? If the engi keeps repairing and the medic keeps healing and the engineer keeps repairing when does the game end?
[/QUOTE]
The point is to survive as long as possible. The engi would be barricading a position / prepping guns while the horde would be breaking them down to get at the tasty morsels inside. Perhaps there would be an end (survive for X amount of time) but the survival modes are generally just about surviving.

I don’t really like the idea of engineer constructing things - it limits you to those areas in the map. The way MvM did it was very nice, multiple choke points and the best way to stop them was to create a crossfire.

Well you could have multiple places on a map that could serve as potential defensive bunker points which would allow you to still chose an area on a map, but generally once you’ve chosen a spot you stick to it because moving while fighting off a horde is extremely fatal in 90% of cases.
Also: depending on the type of survival game we’re talking the map may not be very big… more of a defensible building of medium size surrounded by hoard attack paths. Big enough to make people have to move for incoming threats while not being so big that the group can lose one another.
Or you could do more “storied” missions like Sockdog suggests where you need to play an objective game against a constant horde of incoming mutants (I like the mutant idea) until you can complete some gameplay objective and then get to the choppa! Those could use more traditional maps and would see the players continually moving towards other objectives
This twist is a little more l4d and less ‘simple survival mode’, but it’s still players vs horde.

Is this really a gamemode that works well though? The only really successful game is L4D and there the hole game is focussed around it. Even MvM mainly gets played for the items imo.

let’s discount TF2 MvM then…
CoD SELLS games based on its zombie mode. There is a group of CoD fans that only buy the game because of that mode and they advertise it as a major part of the game. It has slowly morphed from a funny addon they once did to a full-fledged part of their game.
Gears of War Horde (and now Horde 2.0) is pretty damn popular. Kotaku even said it was “The way to go” when it first came out. I would try grab some stats about it but I’m currently at work and they frown upon me surfing gaming sites =P
Halo:Reach had firefight. Halo 4 doesn’t (it has Spartan Ops which is similar but not the same) and plenty of people in the community are complaining about it.
Killing floor is a very popular game. Released in May 2009 and still releasing DLC for it as recently as October 2012.
L4D was (as you say) pretty damn popular too.

I’d say that it’d be a nice addition to have (either a simpler survival mode or a more complex l4d-like mode) and it would be played a good deal if it existed.

(SockDog) #12

And it teaches the classes, class behaviour and class interaction. That shouldn’t be lost here, there are benefits to the game as a whole beyond the possibility of being a popular mode and crowd puller.

(zenstar) #13

Agreed. It needs to have the class interactions and objectives even if it’s just a simple survival map.

(Runeforce) #14

Waves of conform toxified humans or terrorising toxified humans? :slight_smile:
/jk