HL2 - The Balance of Power Thread

ok i have this written on a word document and will email it to you if you want a copy. just put your email address down

Balance of Power

Introduction: It is the year 2005 and New York, Sydney, London and many other large cities have come under the grip of the Valentas. The Valentas are a gang of criminals which specialise in highly organised crime. They have virtually wiped out the mafia and other major crime syndicates. The only thing standing in the way of their total domination is the Police.

The Balance of Power is a first person shooter modification for the Half – Life 2 engine. It is a teamplay game between the Police and the Valentas. On the streets of all the maps there will be AI controlled peds each with their own personality. They may drive vehicles or just walk down the street. All react differently to gunfire or violence but if a pedestrian is hurt a flashing signal will show on the police team’s radar, so the Valentas better watch their fire or risk giving up there position or alternatively they could lure the Police into an ambush. The vehicles they drive will be accessible to both teams but they ma not enjoy giving up their car. Both teams also have there team specific vehicles which are accessible to both sides. Expect fast paced vehicular action and tight street gun battles. The second aim of this mod is to provide many different gameplay modes to keep it exciting and varied at all times.

Gameplay
There are several modes of gameplay planned including:

Bank Robbery: There are at least two banks on the map which the Valentas must rob before the time limit is up. There are two bags of money in each bank and the Valentas must get the money back to their hideout. The Police start from the station

Assassination: The Police must escort the VIP safely from one side of the map to the other. Once you die you do not respawn. The Valentas must try to kill the VIP. Each round a new Police player is randomly selected as the VIP

Extermination: The reverse to assassination where the Police are trying to kill a gang boss. Once you die you do not respawn and each round a new Valenta’s player is randomly selected to be the boss.

Round Em Up: All the Valentas start scattered across the map and have to be rounded up by the police and put back in jail. Alternatively the police can be caught by the Valentas and taken back to the hideout. The team who has the most players in their lockup when the time runs out wins and a new round starts. When you die you respawn and yes you can try to escape or be rescued by your teammates.

Bombing Run: The Valentas must bomb one of the specified bomb locations and only one randomly selected player carry’s the bomb. The Police must prevent the Valentas from planting the bomb or defuse it before it blows.

Police Escort: The police must escort the VIP’s car to the drop zone on the map. The VIP can change cars but he must arrive in the zone inside a car to win the round. The Valentas must try to kill him before he reaches his destination. There is no time limit and unlimited respawns.

Team Deathmatch: Both teams battle for a specific amount of time and the winner is the team with the most kills after the elapsed time. Unlimited respawns.

Team Battle: The same as team deathmatch but the winner is the team with the last surviving member or the most kills after the elapsed time. Once you die your dead till the new round.

Area Control: Similar to the Day of Defeat capture the flags but you take over areas. When one side owns all areas it’s all over. Some areas may need more than one person to take. Unlimited respawns with a set time limit if there is no winner then the team with most kills wins.

King of the Hill: In the middle of each map is a warehouse or landmark which the teams must battle for. Whichever teams has the most points at the end wins. One point for every 20 seconds the hill is owned. You take over the hill by eliminating all enemy forces on, around or inside it. Kills are not worth points but are still recorded for bragging rights.

Hostage Situation: The Police must try and rescue the hostages within a time limit. The same as counter strike.

The Teams
First up we take a look at the police

The Police

Classes
The Police have 6 classes each with its own unique weapons and abilities.
Ok heres the stuff every class has:
 Badge (this is used to wave over traffic to use there vehicles)
 Keys (used to lock and unlock handcuffs, jail cells and door of paddy wagon may be picked up and used by the Valentas)
 Fists (used to hit people and alternate is used to lead a handcuffed enemy)

1. Policeman “Walking the Beat”
Ok this guy is your standard street cop
 Nightstick (used to whack bad guys)
 Colt 45 (used to shoot bad guys and alternate to whack them)
 Capsicum Spray (renders an opponent blind for 10 seconds for each spray)
 Handcuffs (get close enough and you can lock up an enemy making him harmless the only way he can get out is by you or an enemy with a set of keys unlocking him)

2. Riot Police “I’ll Break it Up”
This is the guy you send into hostile situations
 Nightstick
 Tactical Shield/Colt 45 (works same way as condition zero shields)
 Tear Gas (makes everyone’s screen in the fog go teary and blurry for 10 seconds)

3. Sniper “In my Sights”
Can pick off that gang boss from three blocks away
 Sniper Rifle
 Colt 45
 Knife (used to cut people)

4. Tactical Ops “That’ll Teach them”
This is the guy with the gadgets
 SMG (shoots people)
 Tyre Spikes (set them up to make driving quite difficult)
 Remote Bomb (set it up and wait until they are standing near it then boom!)
 Knife
 Smoke Grenade (provide a cover for your buddies)
 Flashbang (blind you opponents for 10 secs)
 Defusal Kit (defuses bombs)

5. Spy “Like the Wind”
Silent but deadly
 Tranquiliser Darts (make an opponent very dizzy, works like in perfect dark if anyone has played it)
 Knife
 Silenced 45
 Nightvision (turn off the lights and surprise them)
 Droid (tiny robot used to explore dangerous areas)
 Surveillance Cams (plant tiny surveillance cameras which appear on the screen and you can scroll though, great for keeping an eye on the enemy)

6. Undercover Cop “I Swear I Ain’t No cop”
Has two uniforms, one of a ped and one of a Valenta. He loses his disguise if he fires his gun
 Knife
 Colt 45
 Beacon (emits a signal on all police radars)
 Time Bomb (set it and run)

Police Vehicles
The Police have many vehicles to help them carry out their tasks they are accessible to both sides and take damage like the vehicles in gta series. Windows can be shot out and tyres blown etc. Once a tyre is blown you cannot repair it meaning that you will have to arrange another vehicle.

1. Police Helicopter
Ok the police helicopter is your average helicopter with a cargo hold in it to carry troops (kinda like a Blackhawk) and house the minigun.
Seats: 1 pilot, 1 gunner, many passengers standing in cargo hold

Other Features
 Minigun
 Ropes (to slide down and climb up)
 Autopilot button (toggle to have helicopter hover at point without pilot)

2. Mini - Bird
This is a tiny helicopter with two seats on each side to carry troops. Small, quick and agile used to drop off troops and pick them up.
Seats: 1 pilot, 4 passengers

3. Police Car
This your average police car complete with siren.
Seats: 1 driver, 1 front seat, 2 back seats

Other Features
 Cannot transport handcuffed enemies
 Passengers can shoot out window with certain guns
 Siren (cars will move out of your way)

4. Paddy Wagon
This is the thing you use to transport criminals
Seats: 1 driver, 1 front seat, 4 criminals in back

Other Features
 Lockable back door (this is how you keep the crims in)
 Siren
 Passenger can shoot out window

5. Undercover Car
Looks just like a ped vehicle but starts out at police station
Seats: 1 driver, 1 front seat, 2 back seats

Other Features
 Siren

The Valentas
The Valentas have a different selection system as they do not have classes.
First up you pick your appearance, all Valentas dress the same but you can change the face and hat/hair. Then you proceed by picking your weapons. You can only pick one from each category. The categories labelled by the numbers.

General All Valentas Have these
 Fists

1. Primary

Single means it is too large to dual wield
Single
 AK – 47 (alternate slight zoom)
 RPG (alternate scope)
 Sniper Rifle (alternate scope)

These are the weapons you can dual wield or Mix N Match. Primary fires Left hand weapon and secondary fires Right hand. These weapons do not have alternate attacks
Left Hand
 UZI
 Shotgun
 Colt 45

Right Hand
 UZI
 Shotgun
 Colt 45

2. Secondary
These cannot be dual wielded
 Colt 45
 Magnum
 Desert Eagle
 Nail Gun

3. Melee
These are a last resort
 Knife
 Baseball Bat
 Machete
 Meat Cleaver
 Chainsaw

4. Special
Every gangster gets something special
 Remote Bomb (to blow up tyre spikes)
 Time Bomb (to blow up anything)
 Grenades
 Molotov Cocktail
 Rope (used to tie up police, the equivalent to handcuffs

Valenta Vehicles
The Valentas have only two team specific vehicles but can hijack any pedestrian vehicle or even a police vehicle.

1. Gang Ute
Works the same as the paddy wagon used to transport tied up police.
Seats: 1 driver, 1 passenger, 4 prisoners

2. Gang Car
This is the Valenta workhorse used for transport and drive – bys
Seats: 1 driver, 1 front seat, 1 back seat

Pedestrians
Ok just a word about the pedestrians there will be three types of peds
Normal: Acts normally
Good Samaritan: Helps the police eg won’t give up his vehicle easily to the Valentas
Badass: This guy is the reverse of the Good Samaritan

They do not carry weapons and there will be a variety of vehicles driving around which both teams will be able to use.

Other points of interest
 No this is not the finished list this is the first draft and will most likely be subject to change
 Balancing could force changes to weapons available
 I have no prior experience in the modding field but am trying to learn
 Feel free to tell me your ideas what you like and what you don’t like
 I do not want to be a team leader as I have no idea what I am doing but I will maybe be a co-leader and help out as much as my abilities will let me
 Contact me at bradleym06@hotmail.com

Hey just a question... is this your first mod attempt? It seems like quite a big step from nothing to this. I mean it sounds pretty in depth and cool and stuff but, that soudns like alot of work for a first try. I dunno, most people as mentioned on most other mod ideas dont want to take a mod under their wing unless its just an incredible idea, you may be able to pull it off but not likely :s good idea though.

well i am gunna definately try and give it a go
how do i post pictures cause i have the night stick modelled

[img][/img] tags will work. Put the link to the image between them

there's the problem its on my computer

Have it hosted at www.photobucket.com and then get the link from there

[IMAGE]

this is the nightstick for the police

looks simple... but it is a nightstick so

It's a stick... not entirely impressive, but I guess we'll see what else you can do in the future. You need something that really shows off your ability so we can take you seriously, alright

that was my first model ever

is there a website or modd profile?

No, that's why this is under Mod Ideas. This was posted today, so it takes about 24 hours for a mod to be accepted. He's going to have to wait a while

i think it is a good idea, but i think you have too many game modes, it will take too long to make that many

Do you plan to contribute to the mod in any other way? Have you gathered any other team members yet? Starting the story with "Its the year ...." is a bad idea. Its messy, and if its going to be 2005 in 2 weeks, not really needed at all.

ahh no ihavent got a website i was planning to but i wanted to get something done so that it wasnt empty

Well its good to take it one step at a time, for starters you may want to tone down the mod a little bit it seems a little intense to me :s start small man. Inform people of your mod. Work on your modding skillz. Get a team. Dedicate your life basically to the mod.

brad: great start, but take a look at this first. Moddb.com

ok thanks great link itachi_

Fine, if we're pimping mod-making guides: Moddb.com

Yeah that is a nice newb guid

Which one? There are two of them. Using singular terms hurts my head

Yours... its got some good info in it (even helps me a little )