Hey guys,
Just thought I would post a new image as its been a few weeks since I last posted any kind of update. I have been busy working on a few projects so I haven't got as much done as I would have liked but progress is progress :)
One thing I am interested in hearing is what kind of story you guys think would be suitable for the mod to have. I had a story but scrapped it based on community feedback. I'm in the process of writing a new story at the moment so I would like to hear your opinions are and get feedback from the community regarding what you guys would like to see in the mod, I don't want to put out a half assed mod with a rushed story.. Thats why I want peoples thoughts :D
The new image I uploaded is outside the store from the video where your in the shop taking cover from the dust and debris caused by the monster.
I look forward to hearing your ideas!
(By the way there is now a forum section should you want to discuss the mod in depth or make and suggestions regarding what you would like to see in the mod.)
-Adam / Bunion
I thought this mod was like your playing the main character in cloverfield. i thought this was like a movie based mod. :( and if it wasnt it would be really cool if you could do that. like just base it off of the cloverfield movie, but like with some your cusotm stuff, like cut out some stuff from the movie you thought was unessary and add some your own stuff to make it unquie!
Yeah that's a good idea thanks for the comment, I want to see what people think I should do with it so I don't disappoint anyone :D
I disagree. I think it would be far cooler to have an original storyline. For example, you could take the point of view of another of the characters at Rob's party and follow their journey if you wanted to have some link to the film.
Alternatively, you could have a completely independent storyline. There are a lot of people in Manhattan, you can make the story whatever you want it to be, which gives you much more developmental freedom. This route might also help you avoid issues of copyright etc. If you wanted to, you could have a few crossover moments, where you come across the characters from the film too.
We've all seen the film, I think it's much better to have people enjoy a new adventure in the Cloverfield universe. People know what happens to Rob and friends, you'll be able to get a much better feel to the mod if it's brand new with respect to the goals, problems and scares.
IMHO, I think it’s important to decide what you want your characters’ aim to be. Are they just escaping the city or do they have something that they must do first? There are tons of possibilities. Imagine it for yourself, if you were there, what would your reaction be?
I think the aspect of problem solving would be great in this mod too, in a sort of puzzle capacity. Sure, there are the little parasites to worry about, but I found that the movie presented more of a feeling of ‘how can we improvise to get past this obstacle?’ I think this mod could make great use of a style of play that does revolve around shooting up monsters but rather just staying alive by avoiding danger and dealing with regular person issues. For example, how about a thirst feature, navigation, tending to injured friends. Sure, you can bash monsters with a piece of metal too, but I think this mod can go in a very different direction very well.
Just my thoughts and opinions, but I hope that they helped give you some ideas of your own!
Thanks a lot man, that's such a helpful response and hope to hear more suggestions!
"I think it would be far cooler to have an original storyline. For example, you could take the point of view of another of the characters at Rob's party and follow their journey if you wanted to have some link to the film."
My friend also suggested this earlier and sounds like a very good idea to me but serously, thanks for the feedback :)
Go with your own, original story. Please. I can't understand why anyone would want to play a game with the exact same story as the movie. Cloverfield was a great movie, but the characters were god awful. Who the heck would want to play as those whiny, yuppie kids? Make up an original story with your own original character. Someone who has nothing to do with the movie characters. A random person who's stuck in the same situation, only they're able to find weapons to defend themselves. (At least from the parasites anyway.) At any rate, I'm still looking forward to this mod. Good luck.
Thanks for the feedback man, really helps :)
I really disagree on the weapons point. Cloverfield was cool IMHO because the characters didn't run around blasting the monsters with guns for the whole movie. If you do want weapons, make them things like pipes, hammers, axes, whatever. It will make any combat more intense as well as more believable. It's ridiculous that so many mods have characters who are just 'normal people', yet who are as good marksmen as a veteran soldier, it just doesn't make sense. Sure, some average people are bloody good at shooting, but plenty are not and this is especially true in a city like New York.
I know I made a typo in my original post by saying that this mod could 'revolve around shooting', I meant to write that it shouldn't. I think it would be way better to have simple, improvised weapons. Personally, I think that is more exciting than big guns, not less. If you want to have new, interesting combat, you could use things like molotov cocktails, throwing rocks (could be useful for puzzles/problems) etc.
On top of that, I think it would be great to make use of a variety of non-combat items, such as finding and using items like flashlights, water bottles, bandages, cell phones, radios, maps, tools. The items could be almost anything. Sure, combat is exciting in games, but so are games that also have a wide variety of other tasks and objectives other than to just kill everything. If you ask me, it would be a big mistake to try to turn this into some sort of Cloverfield and parasite hunting mod. Trying to escape and avoid monsters and danger with no way to just run around wiping everything out is much more intense, not to mention realistic.
I also still think that it as long as you don't use the original characters, it doesn't really matter who they are and that this is best left to the developers.
".Werewolf"
Really good post, good points. The certain route this mod will take now is that you wont be having guns every 10 seconds. This is what i wanted to do initially.. This being said - you may run into a few soldiers that have died where you can use their guns but this is only going to be temporary.. you may have a clip and that's it - no ammo boxes just bare minimum bullets. Guns will not be a big part of the game it will be more about using your surroundings to your advantage. Using tons of weapons with bullets reduces the fear that is generated by parasites and monsters.. If you can shoot them and kill them the fear and feel is gone all together. Its about getting that fine balance that works well and can be enjoyed by all.
Keep the ideas coming guys, working with a minimal team results in pretty bias opinions but with community input I can get something final that we can all enjoy playing,
Thanks again guys!
-Adam/Bunion
Glad I copuld help!
Just a few other things that came to me. It might be cool to have some sort of vehicle involvement. I'm not saying stuff like cars, which have kind of been done, although that would still be cool, but it could be almost anything like a bicycle or moped, stuff like that. You might be able to run down some parasites! Hey, you could even have a section where you try to use a small boat to escape Manhattan across the river. This kind of leads into my question, will you be alone or part of a group of other survivors?
I think having a group would be pretty cool, but it might be hard to code, so I don't know if it's something that you would be interested in. If you did have a group there are a lot of cool things you could do though. For example, you could have others in the group help to boost you over obstacles or drag you up once they have climbed over. It would also be cool to have a lot of voice acting between the characters to have a stronger storyline.
You could even have areas where the player teams up with a lost or stranded soldier or police officer who would help to shoot some of the parasites, making shooting areas more plausible. If you did get a gun, it could be one given to you by such a character, maybe they would even give you some instructions.
I also don't know if this is something you'd be interested in doing, but you could have an inventory screen. You might start the game with just your pockets but be able to find a backpack or something later on. I don't know, I'm just throwing ideas out there to give you some stuff to think about!
Yeah sounds good :D
I'm looking to expand the team, on my official Blog page I posted about getting more people involved because the reality of it is I cant do everything I want to the MOD on my own :/
Hope to get a few more people working with me to make progress faster and be more ambitious with what i want to achieve with the MOD.
-Adam/Bunion
I'd love to contribute to this mod, I think it could be great, but the problem is that I only have a macbook at the moment. That limits me to doing just about nothing for any mod, which is a bummer!
I hope my comments have helped though!
ETA- I might be able to help with voice work if I am suitable, although I have a British accent so...
Ah ok man thanks :D
Hmm I'm not sure what to do yet, Really wanted American accents and stuff as its set there :)
Thanks a lot for your feedback though, its really helped!
-Ad
Sure, makes sense with the accents!