Dibs! mod for Unreal Tournament

Dibs is a new gametype for Unreal Tournament that emphasizes hunter-hunted
gameplay. IT is also somewhat related to the game of "Dibs", often played
during the childhood years (which can continue into adulthood :) ). While
playing Dibs, you can only hurt the person that you have called dibs on, and
you can only be hurt by yourself and the person that has called dibs on you.

PLEASE NOTE that this is a gametype for UNREAL TOURNAMENT, and NOT FOR
UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2003/2004. Any e-mails inquiring what game this gametype
is for will be met by sarcasm.

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Installation

If you have the UMOD version, simply doubl-click the UMOD and follow the directions
on-screen.

If you have the non-UMOD version, place the "Dibs.u" and "Dibs.int" files in your
Unreal Tournament System directory.

To play Dibs, select "Dibs" from the list of gametypes.

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Gameplay

To claim dibs on somebody, just shoot them. You cannot call dibs on somebody
if someone else has already called dibs on them. To score points, you must
hunt down and kill the person you have called dibs on. After killing your
dibs, you can then claim dibs on a new person. Avoid the person that has
dibs on you. Scoring after these conditions is tallied by Deathmatch defaults.

During the game, HUD messages will tell you who you have dibs on and who has
dibs on you. When you try to claim dibs on somebody that cannot be claimed,
a message will appear notifying you of who already has dibs on that person.

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Variations

As of Version 1 (this release), there is only one other variation of Dibs
available called Power Dibs. In Power Dibs, you can hurt the person you
have dibs on, AND also the person who has dibs on you! You score a point
for killing your dibs AND killing whoever has dibs on you. Be careful,
though, as that person will continue to have dibs on you until they kill
you. Power Dibs is generally more fast-paced than regular Dibs.

To play Power Dibs, check the box marked "Power Dibs" on the Settings tab
in the game start dialog.

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Bot Support

Bots play dibs well. As with any mod (and even the retail game), they will
not always act as expected, attacking somebody they do not have dibs on.
However, sometimes their attack is desired, as it may keep the person that has
dibs on them from killing them. Other times, it's a mistake, but they rarely
continuously attack in error. Also, the Impact Hammer may cause them to attack
when they should run away.

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Review

Being the developer of this gametype, I know that I have some bias towards
how fun the game is. However, I really must stress that this game can be
fun for anyone, whether you want a more relaxed game or something a little
faster, or even something a little more strategic.

It took me about three hours to make this, but I can say the effort is more
than multiplied by the fun I've had with it. My favorite is playing Power
Dibs with a lot of high-skill bots. It keeps the pace fast, and it's very
difficult to find somebody that hasn't already had dibs called on them.

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Known Issues

There are isolated incidents (during Power Dibs) where you cannot hurt the
person that has dibs on you. However, this condition doesn't last long
enough (in my opinion) to hinder gameplay. Also, since teleporters can
instantly kill anyone, it is possible to score points on anyone by telefragging
them. Again, this is only isolated, as intentional telefrags are few and
far between (unless you are exceptionally skilled with the translocator).

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Future Versions...?

For future versions, there will most likely be more variations. Hopefully I
can clean up bot support a little more, but it's not a priority since they
play pretty well already. Don't know when I'll get back to this, since Dibs
was only intended as a short break from the Perfect Dark mod...

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This gametype is a project of the Zero Hour Productions Developer Network. You can find Dibs' project page on ZHP here