Lost In Space

[Rispetto]

Introduction
Lost In Space is an action-based RPG based heavily around the Warcraft III map; Metastasis. Let me just start off by saying that by no way will this be an exact imitation of the map itself; that would be a complete waste of time.
However I will state that I am a lover of the Metastasis-era type map. In early '06/'07, I was a major fan of Parasite as well. However the sheer difference of the two maps is rather staggering. I like the kind of gameplay that allows full control over almost every detail of everything you do. To me, this allows complete customization of a person's gameplay, and this is ideal in my maps.
I started creating this (kind) of map in Starcraft II's early beta stages. Although I never published any of my work, the idea stuck with me throughout. Realizing that my mapping skills were nowhere near good enough to make such a (potential) ground-breaking game, I simply gave up instead of attempting to continue.
Sometime last September, however, I started up again with a clean map. Through trial and error I learned a lot about general map-making logic and style of creation. However I became extremely busy with work and school and was not able to put a lot of time into it as I had hoped. Throughout October I began experimenting with new ways of triggering in order to reduce the amount of triggers I had, as well as general ease of use (in short I started using a lot of variables, with 1 being true and 0 being false, instead of creating 2 or 3 triggers for true/false scenario, plus the action). Having already created half the triggers for this new game, but wanting to change them all, in late October I once again deleted the map and started fresh.
Throughout Oct/Nov I worked away at this new map, labeled Lost In Space but again fell prey to work and school. The map was shoved deep into my files where dust began to settle on it.
However after stabilizing my life a bit and freeing up some time for myself, I am able to continue with my creation. At this point in time I am serious about completing it, and for the past week or so have been striving towards this. This realization has urged me to create a forum/thread based on my game. This thread is to share with the public my ideas, show them what I have done so far, and to potentially gain the assistance of others.

Game Name
The name "Lost In Space" is exactly what the title means; all players are currently lost in a vast area of space, cut off from all civilization (there is a story as to why, but you'll have to wait and find out for yourself!), and must fend for themselves.

Gameplay
My hope is to create a "who is the Alien" style map, but with some exceptions. My intent is not to make it a "do A, then B, find C, kill D, end game" kind of map, but instead a game of randomly generated scenarios and lots of third-party (trigger) interactions with players. I want it to be a new experience every time.
Players will start off with a locked camera, zoomed in on a unit, and have the ability to view other units they are able to select. This part of the game is so-far 90% completed (I simply need to work on having the viewable units unselectable, seeing as how players start off with a "Hero Selection" unit, which has the ability to both view and select capable units). Currently the view and select character feature works. The available units will be listed below at a later time.
After selecting one of the numerous characters they are able to choose from, they will be sent to a seemingly random place on the map (one of the many space stations, ships, or planets) and will be given a random military/career-enthusiastic rank. Some examples being Captain of a certain ship, Civilian Engineer, Warrant Officer, Ensign, Combat Pilot, etc. Players will be reminded of their rank/career by a passive ability located on an un-important area of their unit's command card.
Lost In Space, as I said before, will be a game of total and complete control of everything; it will be as realistic as I can possibly make it. An example being; once a player has gained control of a said ship, they will have multiple command interfaces in which they can use, such as (but not limited to): Shields on/off, console password protection (Captain only), Red Alert feature on/off, primary/secondary power systems on/off, weapon system power re-routing, door locking, on-board security systems on/off (as well as whom to target), ship speed control, etc.
To start off players must locate themselves with other players around them. Once they have secured their positions and are convinced they are in no danger (by equipping themselves with better weapons and devices) they can begin searching for the Alien/AI/Parasite, etc, by using the immense power of tools set before them (scanners, ships, planets, sub-nuclear bombs, grenades, motion trackers, personal shields, blood testers, etc).
Once the Aliens/Parasites have been located and identified, they can begin their mission of extermination. As the game progresses and the Aliens/Parasites get stronger, they will find this increasingly difficult to do.

Terrain
The idea is to have a very large open-world gameplay concept that will allow players to explore and fight in large portions of the map, thus increasing interest. As of 24/2/11 I have 55% of the stations, 85% of the ships, 0% of the planets, and 5% of the vessels basic terrain completed (please note I will not be updating these statistics. If you want to see an up-to-date one, look at the bottom under the Progress hidden table). All of the current stations/ships/vessels have completely customized textures ranging from multiple styles of maps. Images of what I have completed can be seen at the bottom in the Screenshots hidden table. My intent is to have one or two planets, and at least one moon, all surrounding one sun.

Ships and Stations
Lost In Space will (obviously) contain many ships in which players can control, destroy, upgrade and/or sabotage. Each and every single ship looks different (size, shape, model, etc). Each ship will have very specific roles (combat, technological, swiftness, etc) and each one will have pros/cons, as well as strong points/weak points. For example, the U.S.S Loki is the largest of the 'battlecruiser' type, and will have superior weapons, shields, and speed, but will lack in devices (ex: blood tester), perks, turn rate, warp-drive, maximum targets, weapon variation, etc; it is essentially a power-house, but is useless outside of such roles. On the other hand, the U.S.S Loki is the weakest of the 'battlecruiser' type ships, but will have far more options in terms of devices, perks, turn rate, etc.
One unique ship I have already added to the game is the U.S.S Geo, which itself has no attacking capabilities, but has a large number of health points and shield points. It also has the ability to have three Drones patrolling its airspace at all times, which protect the ship from harm. If the ship is attacked, all players on the ship will experience the loud and very annoying Red Alert (which can be toggled at the console), their screens will shake, and it will be their sign to act immediately or face destruction. On the event that something attacks the U.S.S Geo, the Drones (usually constantly on the move, patrolling around the mobile station) will immediately attack the aggressor. On the event the aggressor goes out of range, the Drones will return; however they will not stop attacking an in-range aggressor unless manually ordered to from the station console. On the event a drone dies, a 60-second internal timer will begin, and after such time, another Drone will be produced. However only one Drone can be in 'queue' to be produced at any given time. The drones can also be ordered to attack a target at any given time manually, but be warned that they will ignore the proximity law which enforces them to return to the ship once they reach a certain distance.
Because the U.S.S Geo lacks in attack/defense capabilities significantly, it will make up in other fields significantly as well. For example it has the ability to control un-manned vessels from space, create warp-conduits for other ships, increase solar activity in the sun, change or alter gravitation pulls from planets and other large masses, create short-range (single use) teleportation devices, generate any weapon known to man, etc. These are only a few things it can do.
By default all stations and ships are equipped with escape pods. Like Metastasis, escape pods are quick and easily accessible, however they are easily killed and have a cooldown period before you can use another one. I am currently debating as to whether there should be a maximum number of escape pods per ship/station. All-in-all, I intend Lost In Space to be quite a unique gem in terms of vehicles and mechanical usability.
Stations will have a similar idea in their creation, though I have no specifics at this time.

Alien/AI/Parasite
At the start of the game, the Alien is chosen via triggers, however they will not know it at first. Throughout the first few minutes of gameplay, players will be given slight hints that they will be soon become such entities.
For example; the Alien will begin to black out, and at one point will have a split-second vision of another 'home planet', in which there are many others of its race. The idea behind this effect is that this life-form as been planted in this sector of space to observe and report, and has been given memory-blockers in order to keep the Alien believing he/she is human. This way the Alien will not act strangely, and will not stick out in a crowd.
The AI will have smaller hints toward being an Android. There will be a small cut-scene where he/she cuts his/her hand, simply to discover that he/she does not bleed red blood, but instead leaks cyan-colored fluids.
The cut-scenes and hints will be randomized in a large pool of possibilities, to keep the game fresh and entertaining (for example in one game the Alien will black out and remember, in another game he/she may accidentally transform at any given moment in time, while in another game he/she may gain some sort of increased vision, leading them to believe they are not human).
I may even get creative and give humans small hints to make the player think that he/she may indeed be the Alien or AI, but then give some rational explanation at a later time. We'll have to wait and see.

Characters
The character selection is relatively basic. So far I have the ideal heroes available from the campaign (Tychus, James, Nova etc), and also some of the unique units from the campaign (War Pig, other mercenaries, etc). And last but certainly not least I have the basic units available from a normal game type (Marine, Marauder, Ghost, etc).
Currently I am satisfied with the character selection I have. The only thing I need to improve on in terms of characters are the abilities that they have. Read "Assistants" tab for more information.

Assistants
I have recently changed my mind and am now looking for more people to assist me with the map. In particular I am looking for people to design some abilities for all the characters (I need about 1-2 unique abilities for each character, and about 1-2 global abilities). Also I need someone to create items (health packs, fusion bombs, etc).
Terraining and such can be done by myself. If you think you would be best suited to improve terrain, feel free to tell me. At this time all that's really left for terraining is making everything square (no jagged lines, everything straight, square and symmetrical). Also I'd like to create a planet if possible, but seeing as how I am very limited to the amount of different textures I can use I'm not 100% sure that is possible at this stage.
I am always looking for ways to improve and better my game. I will not be arrogant and think that I know everything, and what everyone wants to play. I am always open to suggestions as well.
If you are interested in joining my little 'team', or simply want to throw in some suggestions or a quick 2D icon image, feel free to shoot me a PM or an email ([email protected]).

Conclusion
Let me start by saying thank you for reading this entire post (if you did) and I appreciate you having interest in my game. So far I have put a lot of work into it, and I intend to make it an amazing experience. Do not think for a single second that I intend to 'let this slide', just to be another random thread at the bottom of the list, and map never published. I want this to be a great success, and to even keep my game unlocked at a certain point in time (I believe in open maps, but for early versions I will keep it locked for confidential reasons).
I will keep the Progress hidden table updated at the bottom (every couple of days) in hopes that people who are sincerely interested in my game will know of what is exactly going on in the world of Lost In Space.
Let me thank you all ahead of time for (hopefully) the good comments you leave below and good suggestions you all intend to send me.

Thanks again,
Austin

Screenshots

Progress

Static Locations
Planet 1: 0%
Planet 2: 0%
Moon 1: 0%
Sun: 0%
Drydock: 0%

Un-Static Locations
U.S.S Loki: 30%
U.S.S Remington: 35%
U.S.S Kaliber: 35%
U.S.S Geo: 45%

Units:
Selection: 100%
Types: 90%
Customization: 10%

Triggers:
Characters: 100%
Abilities (Char.): 0%
Abilities (Ships): 5%
Custom UI: 20%
Events (Global) 0%
Events (Local) 0%

Known Unsolved Bugs:
-U.S.S Geo spawns more than three (max) Drones at any given point in time.

Completion:
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll (15%)

Note: I've decided to scrap the map and work on a similar one. You can download it and finish if you like. It's in the attachments.

 

[Rispetto]

Please note, map scrapped.