"The Assassins" is my latest project. It's a multiplayer map based off of the multiplayer in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Players take control of a single unit and attempt to kill their assigned target without getting killed themselves.
When is the map coming out?
The map is currently in Alpha phase. It's not quite ready for a full blown beta test yet, but it's almost there. Most of the core gameplay systems are finished and working in the game. There are just a few more things that must be finished up before the map can enter beta.
Gameplay Details
The game takes place in a populated city. There are 10 different characters in the game. They all work the same, but have different models. Each player will have a different character, and will be given a contract to kill a certain player. The catch is that the city is full of AI controlled civilians that look like the players. You are given a compass that points to the location of your target, but it's not very accurate and will stop working if you get close to your target. This is when you must use your observation skills, trying to figure out who your target is, and then kill them without being spotted. You could just run around the map like a crazy person, but you are also being hunted by another player. So you must attempt to remain stealthy, blending in with the crowd, and avoiding any high-profile actions. Take a look at the screenshot below . I'm playing as the hydralisk, and I've been told to kill the Dark Templar. The compass in the corner shows that he's somewhere in a North East direction.
Players can blend in with the crowds to make it harder for other players to find them. While inside a crowd, the compass of players hunting you will stop working a much greater distance. In addition to stealth tactics, players can also choose from a variety of equipment when they spawn. Smoke bombs, cloaking modules, tracking devices, explosives, stim packs, and more will be available for use. These come with a cost, though, because using any of them will instantly give you away to anybody watching.
When is the map going to be released?
I can't give you a date at the current time. I'm getting pretty close to a beta-ready state, but there's still a few more systems that must be completed. You can take a look at the list at the bottom of the page to see how close I am. From the stress tests so far, the lag is pretty minimal (under 0.5 seconds) but I can't know for sure until everything is done and we can do a full scale test.
So...yeah... let me know what you guys think, this is my first "big" project (lol....2200 posts and 1 project). I'll try to get a developer diary up soon as well as a batch of freshly baked screenshots. I appreciate any feedback, even if it's negative. ;)
Update : Gameplay preview is being uploaded right now. Should be done in about 20 minutes. Update : Video is up. Thoughts, questions, or suggestions? Lemme hear!
This looks and seems quite interesting, and I would love to try and help with it :)
Just a few VERY small suggestions:
-Perhaps the camera could be a bit closer, or make it so that you can control the distance with the scrollwheel.
-Maybe those two dialogs (Target/target direction) could be slightly transparent? Having one part of the UI being transparent and others not annoys me. Not much, just I would prefer it if they were more consistent.
I do plan on playing with the zoom settings or allowing players to modify it. It's just not at the top of my priority list (finishing the map is ;) ) And I do agree with the transparent ability dialog looking out of place. I just put those in before the video, so I haven't had much of a chance to mess with them. I will probably make them solid as well.
That's my problem..Which is why I'm doing the beta ;) But I'm pretty sure it will be okay for a few reasons:
bounty's WASD shooters have all been fine (under 0.5 seconds key lag)
I had a chat with bounty and asked him about his system, so I'm using pretty much the same system to do my WASD movement
I've tested it with 1 other person and lag was still below 0.5 seconds, never messed with gameplay at all
Although one person that spams the keyboard can kill the map, unfortunately. I'm planning on implementing a system that will warn players who spam keys and then kicks them if they keep it up. (When I say spam, I mean smash your finger into the keybaord as fast as possible. Normal movement won't be a problem.) Additionally, I find myself using the A, S, and D keys less and just the W key more. Because you can just turn your view and hold down W to move smoothy, you don't need A, S, or D that much. Which means less keys.
And the other thing is that this isn't a fast paced shooter where 1/16 of a second can make or break a kill. If your pursuer gets in close and you don't notice, you're pretty much screwed no matter what. So 1/2 second delay is totally reasonable, and even if the delay was up to 1 full second with all 10 people, it still wouldn't ruin the game.
In fact, I actually made a top down version of this map a long time ago that used mouse for movement, but it was really bad. How do you sneak up on somebody if they have a birds eye view? Lol....I abandoned that one and then started fresh with this one.
Will there be an ability to change who you look like? I remember in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood there was a video that showed someone just morph into a civilian when they were walking with a crowd or something. Like you take a turn at a corner and then morph into another person and blend in and they don't know where you went.
Yup, that's a planned ability (although it's not implemented yet). Here's the current list of abilities (I'm aiming for 6 to 10 abilities): ...*activates fancy post formatting skills*
Ability
Description
Status
Morph
Changes the model of the player unit for a few seconds
Finished
Cloaking Module
Cloaks the player for a short time; long cooldown
Finished
Stim
Speeds up the player for a short time
Finished
SmokeBomb
Slows down any units caught in the explosion
Finished
Hologram Projector
Sends a hologram of yourself running forward to distract enemies
NYI
Flashbang grenade
Sends AI civilians running in the opposite direction
NYI
Group Morph
Makes any nearby civilians have the same model as you
Finished
NYI = Will be made at some point, but it's not done yet
Finished = It's done and in-game
? = May be created, but it may be scrapped due to balance issues
WASD is, unfortunately, the only this map can exist. Like I said before, I tried a top down version of this with mouse moment..Trying to sneak up on people when they have a birds eye view...Is not fun. The lag should not be too bad though. Anybody who has played bounty's maps will know that they are not too laggy at all. It's only if somebody spam clicks the keybaord. I'm planning on implementing a feature that will count your key presses per 5 seconds and if they go way to high (meaning your spamming) it will warn you, and then kick you if you continue.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Feel free to Send me a PM if you have any questions/concerns!
I want this to have a better terrain, more evolved "populated city system" and maybe something done with camera, dislike having camera vision being blocked by a doodad.. And some silly things like chasing someone and then being hit by passing car, cause that would be just silly :p
This said I'm looking forward to see what will this grow into, also WASD movement is of interest to me too, eagerly awaiting for full-house multiplayer game tests.
Better terrain is a goal I have right now, too. I'm not great at terrain. But I'm planning on finishing an "okay but not great" terrain to do the beta with. And then if I confirm the map actually works I will try to get a terrainer to give it a makeover.
I actually had some plans to make the city feel more populated & alive. I was planning on setting up a bunch of scripted events (a ship lands,drops off some marines, who build some bunkers, then some zerg attack, etc....). And then every, say. 2 minutes, one of the scripted events would happen. So it makes it feel like things are actually happening. Some zerg might break a fence, which causes a mule team to be created and repair. Or stuff like that. I'm not planning on making if actually affect gameplay. Just add to the feeling that you are in a living, populated city.
I agree that the camera needs work. But it getting blocked by a doodad. There's not much I can think of for that one, because making the doodads have occlusion (transparent when they block something) lets you see through to the other side of the map, because all the doodads will do that (since there are units all over)
Thanks for the feedback, everybody! I really appreciate it.
Not sure if it has enough flare to have alot re-playability just being honest? This is something I'd imagine would be say better suited as a minigame combined with lots of others. Hopefully thou you can keep it entertaining enough.
I thought I'd also mention, the camera thing will irritate alot of players and put them off, highly probably myself included. Alot of people will leave or not want to play it again simply because of this, please bare that in mind. Standard camera, perhaps zoomed in a tiny bit would be more catering to the general pubbies, but completely up to you.
You mean top down camera, zoomed in a bit? It's really not fun if you can look top down at everybody coming towards you. :( I do want to work on the camera a bit, I agree that the doodads getting in the way are annoying. I just added in the option for players to zoom in/out on the hero. The distance in the video is the 'midpoint' distance, and you can zoom in or out by 50% either way.
Replayability... I am thinking about a leveling / unlockable system like in call of duty or something like that. The problem is the only real unlockables I can give are abilities. And that might frustrate new players, because they wont get the 'cool' abilities. I also plan to add more characters. Say there's 15-20 characters. The first 10 would be unlocked by default, and the other ones can be unlocked by leveling. I may also add more game types (I can steal some more from AC brotherhood.). Maybe add a "protect the VIP" mode. Where there is a VIP is on both teams. And everybody's compass points to that VIP. And if the VIP dies, then that team can no longer re spawn. Might be an interesting way to spice it up every now and then. But this game type (the FFA mode I demoed in the video) will be the "main" mode that the game is built around.
And I just made a nice signature banner for the map! I <3 photoshop. Probably should work on the actual map though.
zelda occlusion should only work within distance. I never tested it with other players but in my map it seems to work this way even with extra units but on walls i want to make certian i will put another doodad behind it a bit farther.( Set the doodads too occlusion, and set a smaller far clip. This should work just fine )
Or mess around with it a bit :( but i bet you could get it
Looks great. Hope we'll see this map released soon :D.
1 Idea: There should be a punishment if you kill the wrong target. HIghligth the murderer for 2 seconds and/or -x% healt for y seconds. Locking the radar and your target isnt a real punishment if nobody was looking.
Welcome to sc2mapster, & Thanks a bunch for the input! :D
The punishment prevents you from getting a new target for 10 seconds at first. And that increases by 5 second each time you kill another wrong target. So if you kill the wrong target for the 3rd time, your waiting 20 seconds. It means that you can't kill anybody, and you will therefore fall behind in the ranks (because the other players are still earning points).
As for loosing health over time...There isn't really a health system in the game, either. Right now, attacks are all insta-kill (stabbing people in the face tends to do that). I may change that in the future, but at most it would take 2 or 3 hits. The idea is to not get located. It's not a hack and slash game. I do agree that the punishment should be a bit more severe, though. I don't want to outright kill the player. Maybe I will do as you suggested; lock the compass + take away the target for increasing amount of time (the way it is now) but also stick some kind of symbol over your head for a few seconds.
I want to implement a line of sight system. So if your target is within LoS and you do something like run around too much, both of you will enter a chase. In the chase, the target gets a big warning message and, if they manage to break your line of sight for 10 seconds, they escape and you loose the contract. Not sure how practical that is. I'd have to run a detection trigger every second or so to see if you are being non-stealthy. And I already have more periodic trigger events than I want. >.<
What is this? I don't even....
"The Assassins" is my latest project. It's a multiplayer map based off of the multiplayer in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Players take control of a single unit and attempt to kill their assigned target without getting killed themselves.
When is the map coming out?
The map is currently in Alpha phase. It's not quite ready for a full blown beta test yet, but it's almost there. Most of the core gameplay systems are finished and working in the game. There are just a few more things that must be finished up before the map can enter beta.
Gameplay Details
The game takes place in a populated city. There are 10 different characters in the game. They all work the same, but have different models. Each player will have a different character, and will be given a contract to kill a certain player. The catch is that the city is full of AI controlled civilians that look like the players. You are given a compass that points to the location of your target, but it's not very accurate and will stop working if you get close to your target. This is when you must use your observation skills, trying to figure out who your target is, and then kill them without being spotted. You could just run around the map like a crazy person, but you are also being hunted by another player. So you must attempt to remain stealthy, blending in with the crowd, and avoiding any high-profile actions. Take a look at the screenshot below . I'm playing as the hydralisk, and I've been told to kill the Dark Templar. The compass in the corner shows that he's somewhere in a North East direction.
Players can blend in with the crowds to make it harder for other players to find them. While inside a crowd, the compass of players hunting you will stop working a much greater distance. In addition to stealth tactics, players can also choose from a variety of equipment when they spawn. Smoke bombs, cloaking modules, tracking devices, explosives, stim packs, and more will be available for use. These come with a cost, though, because using any of them will instantly give you away to anybody watching.
When is the map going to be released?
I can't give you a date at the current time. I'm getting pretty close to a beta-ready state, but there's still a few more systems that must be completed. You can take a look at the list at the bottom of the page to see how close I am. From the stress tests so far, the lag is pretty minimal (under 0.5 seconds) but I can't know for sure until everything is done and we can do a full scale test.
Media
To-do before open beta
Planned Features (After Launch)
TL;DR
Well go back and read it then.
So...yeah... let me know what you guys think, this is my first "big" project (lol....2200 posts and 1 project). I'll try to get a developer diary up soon as well as a batch of freshly baked screenshots. I appreciate any feedback, even if it's negative. ;)
Reserved space
Update : Gameplay preview is being uploaded right now. Should be done in about 20 minutes.
Update : Video is up. Thoughts, questions, or suggestions? Lemme hear!
Would love to participate it the beta. I remember talking about this during one of the sc2streamster sessions.
@zeldarules28: Go
This looks and seems quite interesting, and I would love to try and help with it :)
Just a few VERY small suggestions:
-Perhaps the camera could be a bit closer, or make it so that you can control the distance with the scrollwheel.
-Maybe those two dialogs (Target/target direction) could be slightly transparent? Having one part of the UI being transparent and others not annoys me. Not much, just I would prefer it if they were more consistent.
Okay, video is finally uploaded! Let me hear what you guys think!
@Keyeszx: Go
Gotcha ;)
@Nebuli2: Go
I do plan on playing with the zoom settings or allowing players to modify it. It's just not at the top of my priority list (finishing the map is ;) ) And I do agree with the transparent ability dialog looking out of place. I just put those in before the video, so I haven't had much of a chance to mess with them. I will probably make them solid as well.
Looks pretty cool, just one question; what assurance do you have that WASD-lag will not completely kill this map?
@Mozared: Go
That's my problem..Which is why I'm doing the beta ;) But I'm pretty sure it will be okay for a few reasons:
Although one person that spams the keyboard can kill the map, unfortunately. I'm planning on implementing a system that will warn players who spam keys and then kicks them if they keep it up. (When I say spam, I mean smash your finger into the keybaord as fast as possible. Normal movement won't be a problem.) Additionally, I find myself using the A, S, and D keys less and just the W key more. Because you can just turn your view and hold down W to move smoothy, you don't need A, S, or D that much. Which means less keys.
And the other thing is that this isn't a fast paced shooter where 1/16 of a second can make or break a kill. If your pursuer gets in close and you don't notice, you're pretty much screwed no matter what. So 1/2 second delay is totally reasonable, and even if the delay was up to 1 full second with all 10 people, it still wouldn't ruin the game.
In fact, I actually made a top down version of this map a long time ago that used mouse for movement, but it was really bad. How do you sneak up on somebody if they have a birds eye view? Lol....I abandoned that one and then started fresh with this one.
@zeldarules28: Go
Looks cool! I'm always up to testing maps.
Will there be an ability to change who you look like? I remember in Assassin's Creed Brotherhood there was a video that showed someone just morph into a civilian when they were walking with a crowd or something. Like you take a turn at a corner and then morph into another person and blend in and they don't know where you went.
@Keyeszx: Go
Yup, that's a planned ability (although it's not implemented yet). Here's the current list of abilities (I'm aiming for 6 to 10 abilities):
...*activates fancy post formatting skills*
NYI = Will be made at some point, but it's not done yet
Finished = It's done and in-game
? = May be created, but it may be scrapped due to balance issues
Looking good... I am still not sure of WASD :).. But I can test for sure.
I like the idea it seems like it could work well in sc2.
@Ash4meD:
WASD is, unfortunately, the only this map can exist. Like I said before, I tried a top down version of this with mouse moment..Trying to sneak up on people when they have a birds eye view...Is not fun. The lag should not be too bad though. Anybody who has played bounty's maps will know that they are not too laggy at all. It's only if somebody spam clicks the keybaord. I'm planning on implementing a feature that will count your key presses per 5 seconds and if they go way to high (meaning your spamming) it will warn you, and then kick you if you continue.
I want this to have a better terrain, more evolved "populated city system" and maybe something done with camera, dislike having camera vision being blocked by a doodad.. And some silly things like chasing someone and then being hit by passing car, cause that would be just silly :p
This said I'm looking forward to see what will this grow into, also WASD movement is of interest to me too, eagerly awaiting for full-house multiplayer game tests.
@DuckyTheDuck: Go
Better terrain is a goal I have right now, too. I'm not great at terrain. But I'm planning on finishing an "okay but not great" terrain to do the beta with. And then if I confirm the map actually works I will try to get a terrainer to give it a makeover.
I actually had some plans to make the city feel more populated & alive. I was planning on setting up a bunch of scripted events (a ship lands,drops off some marines, who build some bunkers, then some zerg attack, etc....). And then every, say. 2 minutes, one of the scripted events would happen. So it makes it feel like things are actually happening. Some zerg might break a fence, which causes a mule team to be created and repair. Or stuff like that. I'm not planning on making if actually affect gameplay. Just add to the feeling that you are in a living, populated city.
I agree that the camera needs work. But it getting blocked by a doodad. There's not much I can think of for that one, because making the doodads have occlusion (transparent when they block something) lets you see through to the other side of the map, because all the doodads will do that (since there are units all over)
Thanks for the feedback, everybody! I really appreciate it.
Looks very interesting!
Not sure if it has enough flare to have alot re-playability just being honest? This is something I'd imagine would be say better suited as a minigame combined with lots of others. Hopefully thou you can keep it entertaining enough.
I thought I'd also mention, the camera thing will irritate alot of players and put them off, highly probably myself included. Alot of people will leave or not want to play it again simply because of this, please bare that in mind. Standard camera, perhaps zoomed in a tiny bit would be more catering to the general pubbies, but completely up to you.
@Fullachain: Go
You mean top down camera, zoomed in a bit? It's really not fun if you can look top down at everybody coming towards you. :( I do want to work on the camera a bit, I agree that the doodads getting in the way are annoying. I just added in the option for players to zoom in/out on the hero. The distance in the video is the 'midpoint' distance, and you can zoom in or out by 50% either way.
Replayability... I am thinking about a leveling / unlockable system like in call of duty or something like that. The problem is the only real unlockables I can give are abilities. And that might frustrate new players, because they wont get the 'cool' abilities. I also plan to add more characters. Say there's 15-20 characters. The first 10 would be unlocked by default, and the other ones can be unlocked by leveling. I may also add more game types (I can steal some more from AC brotherhood.). Maybe add a "protect the VIP" mode. Where there is a VIP is on both teams. And everybody's compass points to that VIP. And if the VIP dies, then that team can no longer re spawn. Might be an interesting way to spice it up every now and then. But this game type (the FFA mode I demoed in the video) will be the "main" mode that the game is built around.
And I just made a nice signature banner for the map! I <3 photoshop. Probably should work on the actual map though.
zelda occlusion should only work within distance. I never tested it with other players but in my map it seems to work this way even with extra units but on walls i want to make certian i will put another doodad behind it a bit farther.( Set the doodads too occlusion, and set a smaller far clip. This should work just fine ) Or mess around with it a bit :( but i bet you could get it
Looks great. Hope we'll see this map released soon :D. 1 Idea: There should be a punishment if you kill the wrong target. HIghligth the murderer for 2 seconds and/or -x% healt for y seconds. Locking the radar and your target isnt a real punishment if nobody was looking.
@Normaron: Go
Welcome to sc2mapster, & Thanks a bunch for the input! :D
The punishment prevents you from getting a new target for 10 seconds at first. And that increases by 5 second each time you kill another wrong target. So if you kill the wrong target for the 3rd time, your waiting 20 seconds. It means that you can't kill anybody, and you will therefore fall behind in the ranks (because the other players are still earning points).
As for loosing health over time...There isn't really a health system in the game, either. Right now, attacks are all insta-kill (stabbing people in the face tends to do that). I may change that in the future, but at most it would take 2 or 3 hits. The idea is to not get located. It's not a hack and slash game. I do agree that the punishment should be a bit more severe, though. I don't want to outright kill the player. Maybe I will do as you suggested; lock the compass + take away the target for increasing amount of time (the way it is now) but also stick some kind of symbol over your head for a few seconds.
I want to implement a line of sight system. So if your target is within LoS and you do something like run around too much, both of you will enter a chase. In the chase, the target gets a big warning message and, if they manage to break your line of sight for 10 seconds, they escape and you loose the contract. Not sure how practical that is. I'd have to run a detection trigger every second or so to see if you are being non-stealthy. And I already have more periodic trigger events than I want. >.<
You could ask dogmai to give your triggers a look over to see what can be improved :)