From the discussion here http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.p ... ource-Game

danmal wrote:

The video of the imrod isn't actually related to Unvanquished. It's some work one of our animators previously did before joining the project. We've also just released alpha 5 a few hours ago (mac build should be available shortly).

We're currently re-working gameplay so if you have any suggestions regarding gameplay I'd love to hear it.

Well the only FPS title that has had me interested in years was S.T.A.L.K.E.R., which was a massive open world had lots of Diablo like RPG qualities as to how you could use and carry equipment, and had many factions you could be ailed, neutral or enemy with as well it wasn't just a "Run-N-Gun" when it came to combat, you actually had to think about how you where going to take out your opponents. There where even special one off weapons and tons of modifiers and status up and downs, nobody could bounce around like an idiot since you had stamina and food to worry about, if you ran too much or where carrying too much stuff you would become exhausted very quickly, if you got hurt you could be bleeding till you put on a bandage, you could get radiation sickness, you could be drunk etc. There where even enemies that would reverse your perspective to theirs to make it way harder to kill them.

Take the first mission as an example: Rescue some guy from a set of buildings being held by a gang of bandits, the area has little cover on the approach to the buildings from all sides, all you have is a crappy inaccurate 9mm at this point and very little ammo for either, you also have the option to take an attack team with you or sneak in alone, as well you can try and do it during the day or at night. **

Now, do you have to make your game anywhere near as elaborate? No. But the last thing we need is yet another OpenArena/Padman/Nexuiz/BloodFrontier/AlienArena/RedEclipse/UrbanTerror/Smokin'Guns/Warsow/Sauerbraten/Tremulous/AssaultCube/Xonotic... Why? Because they are all the exact same game when you get down to it. If you made the models the same on all of them would anyone be able to tell them apart?

danmal wrote:

We're currently re-working gameplay so if you have any suggestions regarding gameplay I'd love to hear it.

I'd say for what you've already got, steal as much as you can get away with from the Alien series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien%28film%29 as well as the good PC AvP games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_ver ... eo_game%29 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_2 as they are far more likely to be feasible for an OSS game dev team. In those sneaking up on your opponent is key unless you are a marine, in which case you're just meat... The games are very dark and atmospheric which helps build a sense of tension, each species has it's own specialties:

Xenomorphs only use their teeth, claws and tails to kill, but they can climb any surface, can see in the dark, leap very long distances, run very fast and kill with a single bite. They also have the ability to grow and evolve over time, you can start as a tiny "Face Hugger" and from this find a host to latch on to, turn into a normal alien, dog alien, protarian etc, even evolve into an alien queen that can lay eggs that release more face huggers!

The Yautja have advanced weapons like a plasma caster and a dart gun that can do tons of damage, the darts can even nail body parts to the walls, they can also make themselves almost completely invisible, as well as they have several ways to see in the dark, a heat vision that sees humans, an ultraviolet that sees xenomorphs and another that sees light sources like flash lights but each of these is mutually exclusive, if you have it set to see humans via infrared they will easily stand out, but your ability to see everything else, especially xenomorphs will be compromised.

Humans, the physically weakest of the group but with the largest array of weaponry from handguns to rocket launchers and they aren't hindered by a lack of ammo for these weapons like the Yautja is, they even have guns like the smart gun that auto aims for them, you'd think they'd stand a chance?

Also, you need an idiot friendly mods and addons system much like Half-Life and Never Winter Nights had to breed and retain an actual community around the game of non programmers to build off your game.

**Personally I sneak around the base solo and hide in the garage around the back side till dawn as this makes sneaking in easier and makes the bandits easier to find then trying to locate them in the dark when they are all wearing dark colors. Again though, you can't just spray and pray either, you'll burn through what little ammo you have very fast and at this point in the game the only way you'll get more is taking what few rounds your enemies have left after you kill them, which is an incentive to take them out fast with headshots, then strip the bodies and trade their now empty guns for more ammo and healing items at the trader, because you're gonna need it if you want to get an AK and some grenades early, which only makes the next area slightly easier, since finding ammo for it to be more then just a single shot sniper rifle for you will still be a problem for a while...

kivada wrote:

Well the only FPS title that has had me interested in years was S.T.A.L.K.E.R., which was a massive open world had lots of Diablo like RPG qualities as to how you could use and carry equipment, and had many factions you could be ailed, neutral or enemy with as well it wasn't just a "Run-N-Gun" when it came to combat, you actually had to think about how you where going to take out your opponents. There where even special one off weapons and tons of modifiers and status up and downs, nobody could bounce around like an idiot since you had stamina and food to worry about, if you ran too much or where carrying too much stuff you would become exhausted very quickly, if you got hurt you could be bleeding till you put on a bandage, you could get radiation sickness, you could be drunk etc. There where even enemies that would reverse your perspective to theirs to make it way harder to kill them.

Take the first mission as an example: Rescue some guy from a set of buildings being held by a gang of bandits, the area has little cover on the approach to the buildings from all sides, all you have is a crappy inaccurate 9mm at this point and very little ammo for either, you also have the option to take an attack team with you or sneak in alone, as well you can try and do it during the day or at night. **

Now, do you have to make your game anywhere near as elaborate? No. But the last thing we need is yet another OpenArena/Padman/Nexuiz/BloodFrontier/AlienArena/RedEclipse/UrbanTerror/Smokin'Guns/Warsow/Sauerbraten/Tremulous/AssaultCube/Xonotic... Why? Because they are all the exact same game when you get down to it. If you made the models the same on all of them would anyone be able to tell them apart?

We could certainly add some complexity in regards to evolving/weapons although considering the format of our game (non-persistant pvp) we probably can't get too complicated. Our gameplay/movement is quite similar to quake but I don't think that's a major problem as long as we innovate in other areas.

kivada wrote:

I'd say for what you've already got, steal as much as you can get away with from the Alien series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien%28film%29 as well as the good PC AvP games http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_ver ... eo_game%29 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_2 as they are far more likely to be feasible for an OSS game dev team. In those sneaking up on your opponent is key unless you are a marine, in which case you're just meat... The games are very dark and atmospheric which helps build a sense of tension, each species has it's own specialties:

Xenomorphs only use their teeth, claws and tails to kill, but they can climb any surface, can see in the dark, leap very long distances, run very fast and kill with a single bite. They also have the ability to grow and evolve over time, you can start as a tiny "Face Hugger" and from this find a host to latch on to, turn into a normal alien, dog alien, protarian etc, even evolve into an alien queen that can lay eggs that release more face huggers!

The Yautja have advanced weapons like a plasma caster and a dart gun that can do tons of damage, the darts can even nail body parts to the walls, they can also make themselves almost completely invisible, as well as they have several ways to see in the dark, a heat vision that sees humans, an ultraviolet that sees xenomorphs and another that sees light sources like flash lights but each of these is mutually exclusive, if you have it set to see humans via infrared they will easily stand out, but your ability to see everything else, especially xenomorphs will be compromised.

Humans, the physically weakest of the group but with the largest array of weaponry from handguns to rocket launchers and they aren't hindered by a lack of ammo for these weapons like the Yautja is, they even have guns like the smart gun that auto aims for them, you'd think they'd stand a chance?

I plan on checking out the AvP series as well as nuclear dawn and see if there's anything interesting in those games.

kivada wrote:

Also, you need an idiot friendly mods and addons system much like Half-Life and Never Winter Nights had to breed and retain an actual community around the game of non programmers to build off your game.

I honestly have no idea how to implement something like that. There was a fairly strong modding scene around Tremulous so hopefully that carries over to Unvanquished.

Well at least you are open to suggestion unlike most of the game devs that lurk Phoronix.

We're actually very open to suggestions. We've been looking for ways to diversify our game, to continue our divergence from Tremulous, and to come up with novel gameplay mechanics to give a unique game experience in comparison to the majority of other FPS games out there.

That's more or less the reason why we have so much activity on our feedback board. Of course, at the same time, we're pretty selective. Ideas are liable to be shot down if they make no sense or cannot possibly be implemented. Even then, some gameplay changes from the community have already been added into the game.