Bug-Alien combat game (tabletop) - Inspiration for Round based Gameplay!

[SeanCJ]

Hey everyone,
I've been having fun recently thinking up different parts of a (tabletop) skirmish game where you're in command of a couple Exo-skeleton Armoured-Suit ex-Marines that fight other groups for turf and loot on a bunch of run-down and gritty Lunar bases.

A lot of this is still in my head, but I do have the basic combat rules down (based on an earlier game I made), and some background together. I've even got some 3D printed models of marines inbound - (though the models are neither from Unv nor Tremulous, since I don't know how to set up computer-game models for printing - yet.

Anyway, from that I got the inspiration yesterday that a round-based FPS shooter version of the game could be cool and fun as well - which is why I'm writing here now :P. I fully intend to give this a shot myself, but I thought there's no harm in letting people know, right ?

So for my background story, Tremulous fits better style wise (the universe - or at least the time the game is set in - is near future). So as a first jab I'll probably test my luck on how close I can get to setting up the gameplay I have in mind there. (Also, I have to admit, I gave Tremulous a quick stab today, and - the nostalgia effect is just far stronger than it is for Unv :P). But if that works out, I'd definitely want to see it happen in Unvanquished as well :P !

I'll keep you posted on how I do, and of course if anyone would like to chat about it (or better still, help me with pointers where I could do with them), that'd be cool of course!

[SeanCJ]

P.S. A bit more background on my thought process (for anyone interested ):

I've not been on the chat(s) for a while now - so feel like I'm kinda bursting in to here but I thought this'd better place to post anyway: This last week I've been ill, so to keep myself busy I've been building up on a fictional "universe" that integrates Bug-Aliens (of Tremulous / Unvanquished likeness).

I could tell you a lot about that universe (if anybody is curious, I'd be happy to in a separate thread :P ). But the short version is I'm pretty happy with the rough "outline" I have now . As I said above, I was playing with this fictional background mostly to go with a tabletop game. But for one, the Bug-Aliens actually *are* based on the Tremulous / Unvanquished Aliens :P. Plus, I've always thought it'd be cool to have one universe and then games for that universe across multiple media (eg board game, tabletop, videogame). So that's what gave me the spark of the "round based" Unvanquished !

[Gireen]

How would the round based part work?

I had also thought about having some framework to divide the game in different phases of building, attacking and defending.
Something like that could make 1v1 more feasible but i fear it would also make the game more stale with less freedom and more repetition.

[SeanCJ]

Hey, I realised after going to bed that I hadn't actually explained that (crucial!) part :P.

Overview:

So the concepts I had in mind was twofold: First, the basic structure / objectives of each round, and then a progression and carry over between rounds. Oh - and for it to work (well, especially as you say for small player numbers), my concept drops some of the central features of Unvanquished... (base building and - largely - earning/losing momentum) .

So I guess the central idea is to a) provide a game that is easier to approach and pickup (-> short round times, and fun with small player numbers), and b) overall still resembles a "full" game of Unvanquished to a certain extent.

Details:

Round structure: What would work best in my mind is for each round to be a "sweep" of the map by the humans: Say for a smallish map, there might be two Alien "mini-base" locations, and the Humans will by killing all Aliens or destroying both bases (or central base features). Note when I say "round", I mean there is no re-spawning, so dead is dead till the round is over :P ! (you could possibly play with some - very slow - respawning for Aliens, but thats optional in my mind).
The Aliens objective is simple: kill all the Humans (without dying first or having both their "bases" destroyed).

Overall Progression: So to keep a bit of Unvanquished's variety and flair, the first round would start with ~ 0 momentum for both teams - just SMG and Dretches :P. Then maybe every other round, the momentum is increased to add some unlocks. Funds / Evo points I would do a hybrid approach: Ideally kills from the last round would translate into funds for the next (as in Counter-Strike). But also I would have some base "cash" for each player each round, so that in mixed skill games, the newbs get to buy stuff/evolve as well.

For the Humans to kit themselves out, I guess the easiest way would be to have an Armoury (and RC) at their starting point. The "mini-bases" of the Aliens and the "Launch-point base" of the Humans could also increase in size and strength somewhat over the course of rounds. (For the very first rounds, I had basically envisioned just a non-functional egg + maybe Acid-tube as the "mini-base" for the Aliens.)

Final thoughts:

I have a couple more thoughts (especially on variety and/or semi-random starting layouts; and maybe a slight - temporary - momentum edge for the team that won the last round), but that's it for the most part.

Whats been cool writing this up is that I realised that to do this - for a core version - its not as many changes as I thought (mostly getting the layout setup). So thats been a nice bonus to explaining :P !

[SeanCJ]

So I slapped together a "Layout" - for Arachnid2, cause I'm familiar with that map (and I like it :P).

Just tried it 2v2 (with 3 bots), played as humans - and I lost . (I did have them down to their last egg though!).

So this isn't round based in the way I intended yet, and there is respawning, but I've grown to doing things in incremental / small steps, and this *is* still interesting already I thought.

Basically it's a race - Humans need to wipe out the Alien eggs before the Aliens gain too much momentum, because then they'll easily wipe out the human base (the idea being that no additional BP are used as Humans - and no Drills/ Leechees by either side).

I'll be looking into how to set Build Points (and Drill / Leech numbers - cause I've seen those can be changed), and then I reckon this'll be playable as a "mini-Unv" already :).

Oh hmm - I somehow had assumed I'd be able to attach files :P. I'll see what I can do I guess...
Edit: I put the Layout file here https://codeberg.org/SeanCJ/TremHunt/sr ... achnid2-v1 (you'll have to add the .dat extension yourself, I forgot to add that to the name, sorry) . There's definitely room for improvement with the Layout, this is mostly just to show what I mean!

P.S. Many thanks to you freem for slapping together this wiki page - it was a *huge* help :D ! (Also, now that I know how easy that is, I've half a mind to put together some of single player oriented ideas when we discussed - quite some time ago :P ).