UFO: Aftershock

[toofless]

Hi. I think of making a tribute to one of the best PC games I have ever played; the UFO series. It seems to be that no one knows this game which is odd as I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. Is there anyone who knows these games????
As I'm pretty new at map-making and I really want to do this game justice it would be good if anyone who knows these games, enjoyed them as much as me and who is a more experienced map maker could contribute.

My idea was to keep it very similar to the games. 1 squad of maybe 6-8 are based on a ship orbiting earth and are sent on missions, to earth, to recover items, save civilians and assassinate/capture enemies to gain territory and resources. Each player chooses from three races: human, psyonic or cyborg each with different ad/disadvantages as in like the game. Red would be the commander capable of building structures for weapon/ammo production and also be in control of choosing missions. Only red would gain an income and it would be up to him to provide the team with the ammo they require.

The map would be set up with the area of the ship and then the rest devoted to a few settings for missions where the squad would be teleported to. These mission settings would randomize things like the goals and the enemy spawn points and types of enemies depending on the duration of the game.

The enemies would also be based on those found in the game and be capable of threatening the survival of the squad if they fail to implement strategy and intelligence in their mission.

Most of the resources are already out there such as weapons and terrain items. One thing needed would be models for the 3 races, each capable of going prone (a very important aspect).

I believe this is a very reachable goal and the mechanics of the game could easily be translated into warcraft. As I am a mega noob at the present it may take a while so this post is simply for me to see if there is anyone else who have actually played this game and can understand where I'm coming from ^^ and possibly note any willing to help toward the map in the future and/or provide some ideas such as translating the awesomeness from these games into warcraft for an online community xD

Thanks

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Systems I want to include:

-Particle system to include damage from ally attacks

-Change hero HP and and Mana to Conscious health (hp becomes empty and you fall unconscious) and actual health (mana becomes empty and you die)

-EXP is gained on completion of a mission and will be based on how many enemies killed in the mission. Some missions will be required suffering a penalty on failure to complete.

-Skillpoints are spent on attributes which will be passive and will include strength, dexterity, agility, willpower, intelligence and perception. Improving these attributes will improve overall performance based on another set of attributes governing your skill over the different things such as; weapon skill, speed, perception e.t.c.

-Training courses will take a substantial amount of time but will allow the soldier to use different weapons and items. For example the scouts training will allow the use of scanners and will improve his stealth while further training may allow him to view enemy armor and weapon stats etc.

-All equipment will be supplied on the home ship and will be the responsibility of the commander (red, host or chosen by host/vote i haven't decided) to produce. Some equipment will be dropped by enemies which is a requirement to obtain for some researches into reproducing these weapons for your team.

-Custom damage types: explosive, bullets, anti-personnel rounds, incendiary and plasma. Different enemies will have different armors depending on mission and difficulty.

-3 races including Humans, Psionics and Cyborgs. Humans being all-rounders, Psionics being intelligence based and specialising in manipulation of enemies and surroundings and Cyborgs being the 'big-men' capable of attaching implants to improve physical attributes.

-A wide range of weapons. This is because of the lack of 'hero abilities' thus gameplay will come from your skill in using the weapons available at the time.


I wrote this for the people who are interested in the idea but don't know the game. If you really are interested I believe there is a demo out there which may give an idea of what I want to achieve. Really you can get most of this information just from their manual. As I said before, I believe the mechanics of this game are sound and can fit into warcraft. The only problems for me is that it's my first map so it is taking a while to get to know triggers and even JASS, which I only really need for the particle system. This reminds me, I'd better ask the authors permission before I get too far and he declines ^^

EDIT: The particular game I'm basing it from is 'UFO: Aftershock' from their UFO trilogy.

Anyway thanks for reading I can't wait till I've got something to attach to these posts.

 

[Moontraveler]

You're trying to make X-COM in Warcraft 3? Good luck.

 

[toofless]

Lol yes! Thank you.
Obviously there are a lot of things I can't include but hopefully it will be worthwhile.
I'm still relatively new at map-making so I'm not familiar with warcraft's limitations and such so are there any problems you foresee?

 

[TheDanish]

I'd love to see this map made. I never played the UFO series, but I am familiar with it.

 

[Moontraveler]

Lol yes! Thank you.
Obviously there are a lot of things I can't include but hopefully it will be worthwhile.
I'm still relatively new at map-making so I'm not familiar with warcraft's limitations and such so are there any problems you foresee?

Well it really depends on how close to the original source you want make you map within.

Custom damage types: Easy (Can be done with the given GUI.)
Skillpoints: Medium.
Health: That's more easily done if you switch mana and health. So mana is your active hitpoints, and health is your unconscious hitpoints.
Particle System: Medium/hard. (The missing, and hitting another object would make it hard.)
Exp: Easy.
World Map: It's going to have to be 2D.
3D buildings (Not listed.): Impossible.
Turned based combat (Not listed.): Medium/going to be a pain if this is going to be multiplayer.

 

[toofless]

Of course! Switching the health/mana would work a lot easier. Just give a passive ability with similar effects of mana shield but unit takes some actual health damage also depending on type of attack. GJ

As for the world map I think it would be reworked completely so that all players are doing something between missions so they don't get bored waiting for the commander. Probably in between missions they will be on their ship resupplying, starting training, building droids and stuff while the commander is building/researching. Maybe also I will allocate a section for each player to build a few buildings so all are not completely dependent on the commander. I'm thinking of making the ship relatively large so possibly a mission can take place there. Maybe even two levels and using teleporters to create an almost labyrinth effect for the ship. Also instead of buildings selling items i would like to see their build time quite slow and when ready dump the items into a storeroom, would look cool.

I'm thinking to simulate the terrain gain of the game create maybe like 4 different 'trees' of missions. For example there are 4 missions when you start the game each displaying lvl 1, on completion of a lvl the next will be available but there are 4 branches like directions across the globe. 1 each for america, europe, asia and africa. Certain lvls of missions will be like 'base grabbing' missions which will award more build points to commander/players. There you would have the choice of gaining exp quicker by doing many easier missions or researching quicker by completing a harder mission.

I agree about buildings. Terrain is important in creating the need for tactics and giving depth to a mission but I believe with some clever pathing and good use of objects and custom models (i dont want to use loads of models, just a few like walls and a few buildings and 'non interactable' objects for cover) a decent effect can be achieved. In any case, there will also be forest missions and mountainous missions to add variety. One thing warcraft does have is destructables. Using a doorway is boring, why not blow up the wall and damage the unit behind it also ^^

I wouldn't say UFO: Aftershock's combat system is turn based. The big advantage the player has is the fact he can pause/slow allowing them to carefully choose tactics before entering combat. I suppose a way to simulate this in warcraft is not to make combat too fast so make movement speed almost slow (for low levels) and aiming take a while for both players and a.i. I want the effect that a player should choose carefully what actions they do be it whether they should shoot, retreat to a more advantageous position or use any other means of survival available to them as, unlike 'mass enemy killing' maps, the enemy will be just as, if not more powerful than you. Defeating even a single enemy should give a satisfaction that you applied your tactics well and were able to survive the encounter.

Particles system. Hmm. Not a lot I can say about it until I get my head round JASS and start messing about with it.

@ TheDanish - Get me a good Jasser with knowledge of particle systems and you may get your map sooner

 

[toofless]

I have an idea!
*uses magical device*
*convert text to triggers*
Viola! Map made.
Hehe I wish.

EDIT:
Good news. There was a team of modders trying to make UFO open source. They only got part way but the good news is they managed to convert their model files so they can open in milkshake 3D. Maybe I can rip them from the game, simplify them a bit for warcraft and export in .mdx so I dont have to do much model work xD

If I can do this it will be awesome as I'll also have all the weapon models i need too.

EDIT:
I wonder if it's possible to create a more complex stealth/awareness system :-

-Create a radius (or several graded radius) around a player who shoots (radius size dependent on type of weapon/ammunition) all enemies have an awareness value which checks whether enemy unit hears it and investigates.

-Being spotted depends on your lvl of stealth + any bonus from items/abilities(training effects) - (your speed of movement + your stance (crouching/prone/standing)) vs enemy awareness - enemy action(watching/walking/idle); make this check upon playerunit entering line of sight of a unit + maybe at intervals while he is in LoS
(if one sees then <play sound 'enemy exclamation' all in vicinity see)

When I have time I'll be terraining and making a few of these systems so all can see (if user_awareness > system_intelligence then reveal system_awesomeness) xD jk.

 

[toofless]

Since I posted this I've still been planning to achieve what I've stated. I've also messed around with triggers and feel a lot closer to being able to achieve this.

Observation system:
I have found a way to implement an observation system which includes using Fairy Fire which gives vision of a unit. This way I can give 0 vision to the enemies and simply cast fairy fire whenever I wish the enemy to see the players. Checks will be made periodically between units in technical range of being seen by an enemy.
Fairy Fire will really make this simpler as I can give all units an innate invisibility to counteract the default warcraft vision while it also provides a fixed duration for you're hero to be seen by an enemy.

Combat system:
This is slightly more complex. The difficulty lies in creating the accuracy modifiers which depend on a number of factors in the original game.
I'll probably use a psuedo particle system as I believe it's difficult to get AI to use a particle system effectively.
What I have in mind is a process like:
-Unit attacks with a dummy attack
-set the level of 'curse' on the dummy to the calculated accuracy of the player
-the heroes attack triggers thye 'cursed' dummy with who will attack the target for a number of times depending no the weapons firing mode (single, burst)
-meanwhile i will have to check what is in the path of the attack and calculate any friendly fire chances and attack deviation

I will include in the system a function that displays the accuracy of your shot over the enemies head for each player.

Turn based system:
Well, I really didn't understand why someone called UFO: Aftershock turn based but now I understand. There is really little I can do for this. What I plan is to show a countdown timer for all actions above the player's hero. This will allow you to see accurately when your hero will be available for the next action.

There are a lot of factors I haven't mentioned and I'm likely not to. This will create depth for player's to explore :>

 

[Gausslander]

I absolutely hated this series. That being said, good luck.

 

[Nelisje85]

for the weapon accuracy, wouldnt it be easier to use the pandaren breath of fire ability to fire a missile at a point?

you can set the point by using some accuracy modifiers to offset it from the attacked unit.

not sure if this is what you want and how to stop the missele after it hits something but i think this would be the easiest way to go

 

[Moontraveler]

I absolutely hated this series. That being said, good luck.

Heretic.

 

[Nelisje85]

Hehe,
I loved the series as well but I dont have a clue about as to make it, maybe it would be doable if u made it a campaign but that would give too many load times i think..

ah well i will read your post again

As for the buildings.. sounds nearly impossible to do well. 1 story buildings are no problem but to make them have multiple stories...

i guess you could work with the same sytem as in Xcom.. u click a buton and you cut off an level, but u'd have to make all walls and such of height x hide when the button is clicked. then make them appear again when the level becomes visible.

change units height when they walk on stairs and such, but you still have to make collisions etc work. and i think thats gonna be HARD