Movement first - Fighting second. Thread

How about a UE3 mod where the key gameplay element is movement, with fighting and shooting second?

Way back when Half-Life 2 first came out, I really wanted to make a Parkour mod, because I myself am an avid freerunner.  I've always wanted to bring that feeling of 'no limits to your movement except your imagination' to people with a game.  Unfortunately though, having no experience in the modding community, and with little to no idea of what I actually wanted to accomplish, the mod never happened.  Excitement for the game fell away as I joined up on other HL2 Mod projects, and began to see the enormous amounts of work required.  Not to mention the limited flexibility with some game engine...

But, all that changed recently.  I'm back to thinking up ideas and concepts for this mod, and getting pretty damn excited about it too.  With 5 years of modding under my belt now, I'm feel like I could lead a team to make it as well... Only catch is, do people want this kind of game like I do?  (And here we come to the point of my post.)  Would people be willing to put their twitchy aiming skills aside and try a new game pushing a new idea?

Here's a bit of what I've got envisioned:
Two (Or Three. (Or Eight.) teams.  One goal.  Get to the finish line with all your teammates before the other team.

Both teams are placed in a city, and at ten seconds into the round, a location is randomly picked somewhere inside the city.  (On a roof top, in a sewer, in a building, on a scaffold, in the street, etc.)  Both teams must get their entire team on the spot before the other team.  Movement isn't "Stunt X moves you in X direction" but rather a physics based system with momentum, inertia, and gravity determining how you move and where you move.  (Obviously, I'll need a coder with a lot of patience for my ambitious ideas, same as any other mod.)  Running, vaulting, sliding, jumping, and tons of other possibilities let you move through the city however you want.  Climb a ladder, or boost your buddy up and have him help you up.  Slide under the obstacle, or jump over it.  Leap between rooftops, or run through the streets. 

I want all secondary elements (Huds, interfaces, guns, and fighting in general) to be really minimal when playing the game.  Obviously there's plenty of room for other game plays, more features, and the like... But I wanted to give you a general idea of what I'm reaching for here. 

Is it something you'd like to see?

Yea, this sounds like a sick idea for a mod, if only I had UE3.

I'm sure it would be challenging to go through with, but conceptually it's really interesting. I love free running games; Mirror's Edge is on my most wanted list and games like Assassin's Creed, despite their flaws, have demonstrated to me the potential of a good movement-focused game.

I would definitely play such a mod if it was completed. However, a worry I would have is that having one or two inexperienced players on a team would really drag the entire team down. On one hand, the "getting the entire team there" idea works well to promote team work, but it's very vulnerable to people who cannot play well or do not want to contribute to the team.

Hey guys, just to update on the thread, I've officially kicked the mod off, and have started to recruit team members.

PUSH Mod :: Unreal Engine 3 :: Movement First, Fighting Second Thread - Mod DB

This sounds like a great idea, and I think we need more mods/games that involve the use of parkour or free running into the game mechanics. My only questions is: Will the game take place in 1st person view or 3rd person? For example, Assassin's Creed took place in 3rd person, and Mirrors Edge is taking place in 1st person.

Personally, I would love to see this mod happen. But one thing I want clarification on, is that the concept of move and then fight could be applied to defense and offense?

Eg. Move as fast as you can with your teammates to said point, and defend it from the other team that have similar capabilities as you? Lots of tactics and different environmental considerations.

Edited by: Peccavi

Peccavi: You'll see all that and more.

Stubby:  How is 'Mirror's Edge is using that engine, so don't use it' any sort of justification?  I couldn't care less about Mirror's Edge, or what engine it's using.  DICE has openly said it's not going to be free roaming, which in my opinion, ruins the whole point of making a freerunning/parkour game.  I'm not just making the game I've been wanting for Four years, but I'm also going to bring everyone the game they thought they we're being when they finish Mirror's Edge.

I've worked with Source more than I would like, and am very glad to leave it behind.

Yes, there are openings for level designers, but you'll have to contact me through my email to get a bit more info on that.

clockworkmind@gmail.com

multiplatform development and an actual thought-out sdk and an engine that's not as horribly frankensteined and slow.

Edited by: leilei

Source can't handle the kind of map he's talking about from what I hear anyways, Unreal is pretty suitable for giant maps like that. Which is a pretty cool idea I think. If you guys ever need help figuring out how to import animations into Unreal let me know, it's a bit of an awkward system sometimes.

Well okay, so I don't KNOW whether or not it can. But I heard some one say some where that Source didn't like doing giant maps, and this sounds like he just wants to make one giant city map with randomly spawned places for people to fight over.

And yes, I am full of BS =D

Source can do pretty big maps. Far larger than the ones for HL1. Also, you can scale down your characters a lot, but according to some release notes from Valve, that will result in collision bugs. But seriously, screw Source. It does not even let you mod it if you are disconnected from the web. Unreal3 has a more friendly SDK. Also, screw Mirror's Edge. The guy wants his mod, let him make it now, while the iron is hot and can be forged. Later he might get tired of the idea, and lose the interest.

Great idea.