Blackout (Sci-Fi Platformer)

[Tickles]

Briefing:

The United States, China and Russia headed the hostilities leading to World War 3 in 2021. In the aftermath of the chemical onslaught between each country and their respective allies, the result left a monstrous cloud covering the majority of the globe which blocked out the sun and sky.

Due to the hazardous levels of chemicals polluting the air and causing various defects to living organisms, both internal and external, many healthy human survivors, still unaffected, were forced underground. However, there was no conclusive solution to clear up Earth's atmosphere anytime soon, and the affected population quickly began to lose their sanity. Death became a blessing to many, but murder, rape and cannibalism became commonplace for those left above ground.

It has been 10 years since you were cryogenically frozen in an underground facility along with a group of selected individuals to ride out the catastrophic event. You have been automatically awakened to survey the complex and procure necessary resources, but it will soon become obvious that something else... something sinister is lurking within the shadows of the facility.

Features

• Arrow key-based platform movement
• F Key interaction (F1 to fire weapon, F5 to change weapon, etc.)
• Multiboard inventory/status display
• Progressive futuristic storyline and terrain
• Estimation of 20 different levels to travel through, each with increasing difficulty
• Computer interface which actually talks and interacts with you
• Variety of enemies & enemy combat types
• Eerie music to go along with a dark and shadowy atmosphere
• Multiple weapons types (pistol, rifle, grenades, etc.)
• Various puzzles to solve with numerous outcomes

Halcyon Computer:

The newest feature I've never used in a map before is an interactive computer implanted into the character's brain which speaks to the player as they progress through the game. Here's a sample of what it will sound like:

Halcyon Neural Interface

I've been compressing each file used, so the map's file size shouldn't be too ridiculously large. Still, even demo maps may be a bit large when uploaded. The voice was created using IVONA software.

Level 1 Screenshots

Q&A Notes:

• Is there a demo, or will there be one soon?
  No, and probably not. I just started it early this August and have just completed the first level, physics, movement and weapon systems. Maybe after I get a few more levels done and some other features added/polished.
  
  
• Is this multiplayer, or will there be any multiplayer versions?
  Nope. Platforming for single player is hard enough to work with as it is.
  
  
• Do you need help with the map?
  Yup, I need someone willing to create YouTube gameplay videos of alpha/beta tests. Being able to create effect-filled teaser videos would be even more awesome, but not necessary. Any ideas for sci-fi puzzles or other game-related concepts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Codric]

If you want a beta tester mabey i can help.
This sound really cool the idea of looking wrom the side.

 

[claptomanic]

the idea itself sounds really nice

the only thing i have to mention is that even though the massive green is wanted i have to say it looks strange and somehow i dislike it. if you want it to look like night vision i would recommend to make a light green overlay over the screen instead of green fog.

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

Awesome. Love Halycon. Good luck here.

 

[AL0NE]

Cool looking project. =) How about try to remove the UI, making it black? and adding a cinematic fade filter called "dream" or something like that, that's already in the editor? make the filter black and with suitable transparency. I think these might help improve the atmosphere, but I can't guarantee since I'm not able to see it in action. When you're free, try them out. Well, we can never let go any possiblities in making a great project. I do wan to apologize if it doesn't turn out better and wasted you time. Peace. Good luck on the project. Reminds me of XANID that used to be in the Map Development as well. =)

 

[Da Fist]

Very impressive. And, I heard you would like to see ideas on puzzles:

- PICKLOCKING = Hmm. It seems to be a good idea. The Last Guardian ( or maybe something close ) using Arrow Keys to picklock treasure chests.

- TELEPUZZLE = Like Sabrina's Gym at Pokemon, could you make a teleportation puzzles, and clues on a specific Tele-Pad?

- MIRROR ROOM = In this puzzle, you should be able to direct the laser to the *sensor* and open a door by using mirrors in different angles.

- BOMB DODGE = In a specific room, you must press right or left arrow to move in a 5 Squared Floor. Every interval there will be bombs that will explode randomly, but of course a clue where.

-Da Fist-

 

[Tickles]

Good ideas about fade filters. I'll experiment with them to try to improve the atmosphere, but unfortunately the fog is necessary to make the black objects show.

- PICKLOCKING = Hmm. It seems to be a good idea. The Last Guardian ( or maybe something close ) using Arrow Keys to picklock treasure chests.

- TELEPUZZLE = Like Sabrina's Gym at Pokemon, could you make a teleportation puzzles, and clues on a specific Tele-Pad?

- MIRROR ROOM = In this puzzle, you should be able to direct the laser to the *sensor* and open a door by using mirrors in different angles.

- BOMB DODGE = In a specific room, you must press right or left arrow to move in a 5 Squared Floor. Every interval there will be bombs that will explode randomly, but of course a clue where.

Whoa, awesome puzzle concepts. The teleportation and mirror room ideas were very inspiring. Now that I think about it, Pokemon had a lot of cool puzzles that people took for granted.

Thanks guys

 

[Lordkoon]

Another great platform game by Tickles. I can't wait to see it.
I do however think that this green choice is a bit ugly. Perhaps it's time to use game textures rather than shadows in a light background ^^. Perhaps soften the green a bit and let a hint of the enviroment and the hero's own colors appear.


p.s. Take aaaall the time you need. Make it atleast 40-50 minutes of gameplay.

+rep and subscribe

 

[Tickles]

Is this looking any better? There's a faint green filter over the screen now, and certain (especially closer) objects have a slight hint of their color.

Screenshots

I also added a mirror reflection system where the mirror image of the character mimics your movements (seen in the first picture). It's basically just for scenery at the moment

 

[Lordkoon]

I guess it's green because it is supposed to be night vision? Wouldn't you consider making it extremely dark instead and giving a flashlight system. Perhaps an item ingame later can give full night vision and make it green like that. Maybe it's just me but my eyes hurt when I watch it longer.

 

[claptomanic]

the green is much too massive in my opinion.

 

[Codric]

Well i fully suport this.
I just realy hope you will see this to the end.

 

[Tickles]

I was trying something new with the night vision thing, but it seems to have failed. I'll just stick with what I did for Aegaeus since night vision is too difficult to mimic in Warcraft. Thanks for the constructive criticism.

Well i fully suport this.
I just realy hope you will see this to the end.

I always do if I post a map up I'm aiming big for this one because I've always done short games and want more of an adventure-type feel to a map.

 

[aarcaa]

Cool. Although its not complete, +rep for idea and screenshots.

 

[Tickles]

My poor baby had to get a full facial reconstruction, but I think it looks a lot more realistic now. What do you guys think?

Screenshot

I still have to add a floor in and adjust some of the black tinting and lighting (probably too dark right now), but I think I'll be sticking with this concept. It's still pretty easy to work with, and it shouldn't give you a headache like the green fog would.

 

[Vengeancekael]

Oh so this is what you told me about ^.^
Looks awesome!

Yeah that looks a lot better actually

 

[Da Fist]

What you said Tickles

My poor baby had to get a full facial reconstruction, but I think it looks a lot more realistic now. What do you guys think?

Screenshot

I still have to add a floor in and adjust some of the black tinting and lighting (probably too dark right now), but I think I'll be sticking with this concept. It's still pretty easy to work with, and it shouldn't give you a headache like the green fog would.

Heh. Looks ALOT better.

Just curious, how many floors are you planning to make?

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

Looks a lot better. Just stick the light a little bit in front of the dude.

 

[Lordkoon]

That looks waaay better. Just aim the light a bit further infront of the hero or we wont be able to see the enemies popping out at some points.

 

[Tickles]

Oh so this is what you told me about ^.^

Yep 2D Mania!

Just curious, how many floors are you planning to make?

Oh, I meant a floor as in the path the character walks on. I'm aiming for 15-20 different levels/stages, but it could be more or less depending on how long I can keep ideas flowing. The first 5 will be pretty quick to basically learn the game features.

Just stick the light a little bit in front of the dude.

Just aim the light a bit further infront of the hero or we wont be able to see the enemies popping out at some points.

Yeah, it's aimed like a flashlight now and leaves the character's rear view fairly darkened with the frontal view well-lit. The lighting in the screenshot earlier was just made from a torch thrown inside the character to test a light in the environment I made a custom light which works much better.


So... I figured out a use for mirrors/reflections. I'm thinking of making an invisible or cloaked enemy which you can only see in a mirror, and you have to use your reflection to survive it.

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

That reflection thing is awesome. You can also make one shadow based, since your back is not much lit.

 

[Lordkoon]

Hey Tickles I have an idea for a system.



to display your hero's health use haze and fog advanced filter with diffrent color like green,yellow,red etc. In the advanced filter menu you can imput numbers like 25% red, 100 % green 25% blue that fades over 0.5 secs to 0% red 100% green 0% blue. The filter will look like it's a pulse.
When the hero gets to lower health another trigger makes the same thing with yellow and red colors and perhaps the fade timer will be less than 0.5 to make it look like faster pulse. Ofcorse add a heartbeat sound too.

 

[Da Fist]

^ and if he dies a flat *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep* sound will be heard.

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

Yeah, it seems cool. Maybe you could make it disappear once in a while.
You could make something like that for adrenaline too.

 

[Tickles]

Nice ideas. I already had a heartbeat sound for HP getting low, but having a filter display whenever hit or healed would make it much more interactive. Adrenaline is also a great idea for getting away from (nearly) impossible groups of enemies or sudden traps.

Edit: Due to the mini-mapping contest starting up within the next day or so, I probably won't be working on this map much until closer to the contest's deadline or whenever I get an intense sci-fi inspiration. The main post has been updated with more recent screenshots (without "night vision"). The first level has been completely remade except for the first room.

 

[GhostThruster]

wow i really liek that odst model the person that made it must rely be handsume

 

[Tickles]

wow i really liek that odst model the person that made it must rely be handsume

Yes, yes he is Thanks for making awesome models, and I say models because I'm also using your Assault Rifle as the second weapon in the game. I just have to find a good projectile model for it.

 

[Jazztastic]

Nearly 15 years ago, a solar eclipse shut off the world's electricity and cast the planet into a monstrous shadow. The resulting cold climate and never-ending darkness caused most of the population to lose their sanity. Death became a blessing to many, while murder, rape, and cannibalism became commonplace for those that chose to survive. When it was clear that there was nothing the remaining governments could do at the time, valuable assets to a future civilization were cryogenically frozen in secured facilities.

You were one of the security guards for this procedure and therefore earned the opportunity to be frozen along with the others. A recent attempt to break into the facility has caused you to awaken from your slumber. However, there is no telling what awaits in the shadows after all these years.

Yeeeeaaah you're gonna have to explain this one to me. So a solar eclipse somehow made all electrical power collapse? This solar eclipse has lasted for a straight 15 years?

I would highly suggest reworking the backstory. It just doesn't make sense. Even if somehow a celestial body hung in a position of eclipse for 15 years (yeaaaaaah no that doesn't happen), how exactly would it impact coal power, nuclear power, kinetic energy, and all that? Atm solar power is not only one of the least effective sources of energy, it's also one of the most costly to create and sustain.

Next, how would living in prolonged darkness and cold climate drive people to insanity? For entire seasons at a time people in Alaska have 3 hours of sunlight per day, and I'm pretty sure that climate is incredibly cold. Even in a state of total darkness the general populace would not go batshit insane and start raping and cannablizing other people.

How could the governments cryogenically freeze someone without electricity?

If there were systems to track life forms inside the compound why would there be no automated security systems? After buying cryogenic equipment would the government really skimp on the safety measures?

Sorry your backstory just isn't doing it for me. From everything else I've seen the project looks promising but your story is full of holes in the first two paragraphs alone. If it's like your other one Dark Vestige (if I remember its name correctly) it'll be bueno, but you have to take some things into consideration. A sci-fi game has to be firmly ground in science after all.

 

[Tickles]

True that the story is a mixture of ideas I was trying to piece together and ended up being more fantasy than sci-fi, but whether it's sci-fi or not, this is still just a Warcraft map.

I'll rework the story to make more sense on a scientific level over time. You seem very passionate about sci-fi, so feel free to PM me a revised version of the story, or at least revised concepts about how elements in the story could make more sense.

 

[Lordkoon]

True that the story is a mixture of ideas I was trying to piece together and ended up being more fantasy than sci-fi, but whether it's sci-fi or not, this is still just a Warcraft map.

I'll rework the story to make more sense on a scientific level over time. You seem very passionate about sci-fi, so feel free to PM me a revised version of the story, or at least revised concepts about how elements in the story could make more sense.

Nukes. Everything makes sense when using nukes. The 3rd world war left an infected, polluted and radiated planet. Survivors are deep underground.

 

[Tickles]

Kind of overused for post-apocalyptic scenarios, but something along those lines makes the most sense for rapid changes in behavior and power mainly being used by survivors in secured areas underground. Yeah, I like it. I'll see if I can rework the story based on that and still have it sounding somewhat unique (and theoretically possible ).

 

[GhostThruster]

i personally would like the story more if the player was more emotionally involved, rather than being a hired gun lucky enough to escape some random apocalyptic event.

 

[Da Fist]

^ Like, his family were killed by *insert here what race*, and he sought to avenge his family. To do that, he took part at a job in the government. * then insert part where he was frozen *. He opened his eyes, and he thought it was time, to take revenge to the *race* that killed his family.

 

[claptomanic]

wow...i have to say now without the massive green it looks much better really nice now. +rep man just for the nice work ^^

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

Family massacre is too generic. I would prefer controlling a deuteragonist.
Maybe someone who does it for his own personal gains/beliefs.

 

[GhostThruster]

^ Like, his family were killed by *insert here what race*, and he sought to avenge his family. To do that, he took part at a job in the government. * then insert part where he was frozen *. He opened his eyes, and he thought it was time, to take revenge to the *race* that killed his family.

that is the most cliche and uninspired story ever.
still a better love story than twilight

 

[Tickles]

So basically you guys think he should be helping someone rather than being a lone wolf after the apocalypse hit? Maybe he's part of a group that banned together after the apocalypse and got separated from them or is in search of a lost member? I suppose the lost member being related to him would make breaking away from the group to search by himself would give the character an emotional tie to the goal.

still a better love story than twilight

So true Hey, maybe I should make my character shimmer in the light with glitter sprinkled head to toe!

 

[sonofjay]

If you want a better sci-fi back story, try to consult Ken-E

 

[GhostThruster]

So basically you guys think he should be helping someone rather than being a lone wolf after the apocalypse hit? Maybe he's part of a group that banned together after the apocalypse and got separated from them or is in search of a lost member? I suppose the lost member being related to him would make breaking away from the group to search by himself would give the character an emotional tie to the goal.

no, i think he shouldnt be there for the sake of a character to control. you should tell a story about him. he doesn't need to be a good guy looking for his family, or a hero trying to save the world (he may even not save it, he may just run away or something). we should just be able to connect with him

 

[Drunken_Jackal]

Again - deuteragonist. Someone who takes a bad and good role.
Maybe he could be one?

 

[Tickles]

Again - deuteragonist. Someone who takes a bad and good role.
Maybe he could be one?

Yeah, but he would still need a subject to be for or against, and vice versa at a turning point in the game. The background story is more what I'm trying to fix up, and then everything will be able to fall into place from that so I don't add in anything I'll have to take out later, or leave anything huge out that I'll have to cram in later. I'm definitely going to have to watch some sci-fi movies, or movies with epic twists for inspiration now.


And before I start working on my map for the contest, I'm now finishing up a plasma system for weapons in this map where it shows a gauge like weapon cooldowns in Aegaeus. But for this, each time your equipped weapon is fired, the plasma goes down a certain amount and slowly recharges. Using your plasma energy too quickly or unwisely risks not being able to fire your weapon fast enough to kill things in dangerous situations. Obviously rapid-fire weapons will use up less energy each shot. Side weapons like grenades will be limited and in a separate F key slot.

 

[Lordkoon]

Don't consider such in-depth story tho. Focus on the lenght of the game.

^ Like, his family were killed by *insert here what race*, and he sought to avenge his family. To do that, he took part at a job in the government. * then insert part where he was frozen *. He opened his eyes, and he thought it was time, to take revenge to the *race* that killed his family.

A perfect script for a new movie with Steven Seagal - the lord of dead family revenges.

 

[claptomanic]

A perfect script for a new movie with Steven Seagal - the lord of dead family revenges.

forced me to smile xDD

+rep for that ^^

 

[Jazztastic]

Nukes is a no-no. Not only is it a tired concept, it wouldn't make sense. In whichever situation you choose, there has to be remaining power. Could you imagine running a single cryogenic freezer for 15 years? That would take so much power, and having hundreds if not thousands of them in this compound would be a huge drain on power.

That's why I propose chemical warfare.

Hundreds of thousands of people die. It's impossible to live a normal life so the government froze all its assests to simply wait out the aftermath. A toxic cloud hangs in the air and blocks out the sun, or at least creates a huge ever-present shadow (wouldn't be pitch black). It's dangerous to go outside without the proper equipment. Survivors have their lungs burned from beathingin toxic air. People suffer horrible acid burns on their face, scarring them and making them hideous, and they usually lose their eyes. You can barely scavenge enough food to survive, since all production is shut down. Everything around you is blighted and dead. If those conditions wouldn't drive people to depravity and insanity I would be suprised.

The protaganist of the story is woken up because it's his shift on guard duty. With any compound of this kind you'd need active guards to combat any scavengers or wild animals, and maintenance people to monitor active systems and such. To his horror, the protaganist discovers the other guard(s) horribly slain, with only brutally mutilated corpse(s) left. In such a scenario he'd obviously want to investigate the compound, at which point he might discover whatever monster was lurking.

 

[Tickles]

There we go. That's a very suitable setting, and it all ties in together to make sense. I'll form those concepts into a story and update the main post within the next couple days. Thanks.

 

[Lordkoon]

Nukes is a no-no. Not only is it a tired concept, it wouldn't make sense. In whichever situation you choose, there has to be remaining power.

Any power plant when left unattended by staff will eventually seize to work. Radiation is a bitch. If the underground complex was a city of survivors it makes sense that something happens and power is turned off there so the main character wakes up. He might be prisoner, a coma guy or whatever in stasis.

 

[Jazztastic]

A dam (power being generated by a water turbine) could be left to sit for a long time without requiring maintenance. So can windmills. So can geothermal energy.

 

[Jazztastic]

Aaaaaaaany progress on this? Bump for interest.

 

[Nightblade]

This looks amazing, hope it doesnt die..

 

[Tickles]

I'm continuing it after the mini-mapping contest is over, and that should be within a week from now.