[achtung]

I know there have been one or two projects that attempted to create an FPS based on the Freespace Universe, and I don't come here intending to try it myself.  I am curious though.

What elements would you consider key in a good FS Universe based FPS?  What engine would you suggest it be created in?  What type of missions would you want to see?  Any other suggestions you have?

Answer these questions on a reasonable level.  Remember this would be on a user-made mod level.  So don't suggest things you would expect from a full-blown commercial FPS with a full dev team.

[Bobboau]

a few good character models of terran and vasudan ground troops, a few good shivan models, fights in instalations, fights in huge bottomless cities, FS ships zipping about.

[Water]

I know there have been one or two projects that attempted to create an FPS based on the Freespace Universe, and I don't come here intending to try it myself.  I am curious though.

What elements would you consider key in a good FS Universe based FPS?  What engine would you suggest it be created in?  What type of missions would you want to see?  Any other suggestions you have?

Answer these questions on a reasonable level.  Remember this would be on a user-made mod level.  So don't suggest things you would expect from a full-blown commercial FPS with a full dev team.

Capture a Shivan ship level. Where the troopers start shooting instead of gawking. Based on the cut scene.

[S-99]

Well, the thing about freespace is that it's in space. Missions where you capture shivan ships getting offloaded from transports. Of course installations, destroyers, corvettes, etc.

[jr2]

Capture a Shivan ship level. Where the troopers start shooting instead of gawking. Based on the cut scene.

Indeed, I was always wondering why they never unleashed any grenades (thermal?  woot!).

[Colonol Dekker]

Something akin to Jedio night demo mission 1, where you see fighters fighting, or MAce griffin where you see fighters fighting.



srsly though, You'd need to make a FPS that reflects the game style of the SCS, i mean, you could go for a serious sam/timesplitters style but that would hardly in my opinion capture the moody atmosphere of FreeSPace, likewise a Splinter cell slow, drawn out limited path shooter would just have no replayability.

Before asking what is needed think about [not a flame]refining the concept[/not a flame]

[Wobble73]

Capture a Shivan ship level. Where the troopers start shooting instead of gawking. Based on the cut scene.

Remember that for a level like that, you're manouverability would be seriously limited due to zero g atmosphere and magnetic boots.

As for which engine it should use...............  Howabout the Alien Versus Predator engine?? That's nice and moody and you could play as either Terran, Vasudan, or Shivan! 

[achtung]

[not a flame]refining the concept[/not a flame]

What do you mean?

I'm just wanting to see ideas thrown around a bit.

[HermeZ]

UT2k4 is also modable And you can fly fighters

[Black Wolf]

I don't think Freespace would work too well as an all out guns a-blazing shoot 'em up. Maybe a stealth game? Or at least in some engine which has the capability for some degree of stealthiness - not neccesarily Metal Gear Solid levels of sneakyness, but some degree. Sneaking around vasudan ships and whatnot during the TV War would be awesome and freespacey, whereas, say, taking out all 300000 troops that landed in Deneb by your self would... not.

You know what would be cool though? Playing as an NTF commando. You'd get to fight against the GTVA, so both Terrans and Vasudans, play terrorist (Missions where you plant bombs on Vasudan planets, steal ships to supply the rebellion, capture freighters or cruisers that you get dumped onto. etc etc.) and then, when Bosch goes through the knossos, you could have a whole big closing mission where you have to fight a losing battle against Shivans boarding the Iceni, and then, err, I dunno... a grand finale?

[Flipside]

It would probably have to be stealth-based, the fact is that Huamns vs Shivans would pretty much a slaughter of the humans without some increible firepower.

You'd probably do better as something along the lines of Space Hulk, where you have squads of marines for each enemy.

[Polpolion]

stealth/horror based gameplay is must.

[Flipside]

Just read my last post, I seem to have contracted keyboard dyslexia

[achtung]

Actually, here's another neat question.

Although it would almost purely be speculation for the Vasudans, and still be lots of speculation for the Terrans, what kind of weapons do you see each race wielding?

[Mustang19]

Terrans: In FS1 Weapons.tbl, the Flail is referred to as the Flail "rifle". It'd be an excellent weapon against Shivans or Vasudans. No need to kill them if you can send them 10 feet into the air.

Vasudans: Some kind of light, fast-firing weapon, like the Mekhu HL-7 philsophy.

[TrashMan]

That big gun that kileld teh shivan and some minigun or something for terrans.

Shivans? They don't need no stinkin weapons..They ARE the stinkin weapon!

[Agent_Koopa]

Capture a Shivan ship level. Where the troopers start shooting instead of gawking. Based on the cut scene.

Indeed, I was always wondering why they never unleashed any grenades (thermal?  woot!).

Zero-G + flying fragments = dead everyone.

[jr2]

Don't use frag grenades then.  Use concussion grenades.  Actually, your logic could be used with projectile rifles, too. 

[Alikchi]

I've been thinking about this for a long while actually.. if Aliens versus Predator 3 ever came out, it'd be the perfect engine to mod it on. But AvP2 is too old and difficult to mod as it is. I think HL2 would be the best platform available right now.

I really like the NTF commando idea BlackWolf.

Here's a bit of fluff I wrote a couple days ago..

...in large part, the reason Terran weapons have in defeating Shivans is their projectile design. Standard Terran calibre is the 5.7mm "needlepoint" bullet (evolved from the FN designs of the late 20th century). When fighting in a low-gravity and/or nonatmospheric environment the most efficient way to kill an Terran is usually to simply pierce his suit and expose him to the elements (sometimes leading to the grisly death of explosive decompression). Even a minor penetration to the suit in a zero-G environment is potentially deadly, due to the possibility of losing gravboot power or control. In essence, to cause casualties in personell-scale space combat operations, you need only to penetrate or damage the enemy's suit and armour. The needlepoint bullet has little stopping power but extremely high muzzle velocity and good penetration. The 9mm bullets used in squad combat weapons are of similar design, although somewhat more effective against unarmoured targets.

The advantages of these weapons against Terran or Vasudan enemies are completely nullified against Shivan targets. Shivans, of course, have no need of any atmosphere (pressurized or otherwise) and are speculated to have evolved in a zero-g environment. Their tough external carapace and thick musculature minimizes the impact of thin-nosed, low-calibre projectiles like the needlepoint. Combat experience suggests that the "joints" between limb and main body structure are vulnerable, but this has yet to be definitively proven. The only man-portable weapon capable of bringing down a Shivan in one hit is the rocket-propelled grenade, and instances of this having happened are few. The RPG is also unwieldly and dangerous to use in a pressurized atmosphere (ie aboard Vasudan and Terran vessels and installations).

I think energy weapons are still too big to be carried by more than one man. Think of them as the equivalent of WWII heavy machine guns - bulky, require two men to operate (in this case, a gunner and someone else to carry the power pack) and tending to overheat quickly. But still more effective than rifles.

As for Vasudan weaponry.. they're very bony, have strong bodies, and what doesn't appear to be much tissue. They're tough enough (I'd imagine) to withstand the sort of sandstorm on Vasuda Prime that would eat a human to the bone. So the Vasudan weapons are going to be less focused on traditional Terran-style rifles and projectile weaponry and more exotic. Acidic weapons, railguns, flechette launchers.. I'd imagine a focus on some kind of gas weaponry as well - chlorine etc. The traditional weapons Vasudans do carry will be larger and heavier than comparable Terran types, and fire a significantly larger calibre bullet (say 14mm) with lots of stopping power to shatter bone.

[Unknown Target]

Why is HL2 the best platform available? There are dozens of other, more capable, easier to mod engines. Your best bets would probably be Unreal Tournament 2004 (which you can then port some or most of the stuff over to Unreal Tournament 3), or Doom 3/Quake 4 (same engine, good, dark graphics). Half Life 2 is overrated as a mod platform.