Hey folks,

I was thinking of ways we can help out the creators of interstellar marines, and then this idea came to me: Let's make something the Interstellar Marines team can use for a reference for ideas, recommendations, etc.

This thread will be a list of possibilities/ideas to promote a cooperative environment throughout the game. Post your ideas and discuss them with other marines. I will add them to this post as well as the general pros/cons discussed with each one. I'll start with one:

1. Protection

This can be due to one player absolutely needing to not be interrupted by an attack of any kind. The marine could be operating on something vital to the mission, like hacking the circuits on a door the marines need to get past, or closing something, disarming a bomb, etc. During this time the other players must prevent any threat from interrupting the completely vulnerable player.

An example:

Players 1-4 have reached a door that is locked and they need to open it in some way to progress. This can be approached in a multitude of ways (hacking the door, setting an explosive charge, etc.)

Along with this, the players are besieged by a constant threat of some kind. This could be swarms of monsters coming from every direction, threatening all players. Fire spreading towards them. Ceiling is falling, whatever situation or combination you want.

Player 1 begins working on the door to open it. While doing this Player 1 is completely vulnerable to attack. If the player is hit, his work is interrupted or set back for being hit.

Players 2-4 defend Player 1 as well as themselves (as the threat affects all of them) as the team relies on Player 1's efforts on the obstacle for their survival/progression.

2. Character Customization

This can be something like improving effectiveness with certain weapons, or gaining new abilities entirely. A suggestion by Weirdoo was for one specialization that can modify electronics to serve the marines instead of the enemy.

3. AI Encourages Teamwork

This refers to the team having to adjust their strategy according to enemies which will adjust as well.

Some enemies could always focus their attacks on weaker or wounded targets (those bastards!)

A threat system could be established for certain enemies to focus on the greatest (or least) danger.

Some very dangerous enemies could have a random AI that can put the entire team at risk if they don't work together.

For the love of the game,

Aebonka

How about if we have to disarm a bomb in the game, we can then later wire it to explode on impact, BAM! a new and more powerful!

How about if we have to disarm a bomb in the game, we can then later wire it to explode on impact, BAM! a new and more powerful!

This sounds like an idea for character customization weirdoo :]. Let's add that to the list, as different characters definitely add a dynamic to a group of players.

Sweeet, also, between "a new and more powerful" i ment "a new and more powerful grenade!" ;D

Although your mentioning of being able to see limbs (try out Monolith's games like F.E.A.R. or Condemned: Criminal Origins. Seeing your limbs is a trademark of theirs) and other such effects is interesting, however, that is not really what this thread is for. This thread is for ideas that promote cooperation in the game and the pros/cons of each idea.

Hey folks,

I was thinking of ways we can help out the creators of interstellar marines, and then this idea came to me: Let's make something the Interstellar Marines team can use for a reference for ideas, recommendations, etc.

This thread will be a list of possibilities/ideas to promote a cooperative environment throughout the game. Post your ideas and discuss them with other marines. I will add them to this post as well as the general pros/cons discussed with each one. I'll start with one:

1. Protection

This can be due to one player absolutely needing to not be interrupted by an attack of any kind. The marine could be operating on something vital to the mission, like hacking the circuits on a door the marines need to get past, or closing something, disarming a bomb, etc.

I look forward to seeing and discussing your ideas!

For the love of the game,

Aebonka

With all due respect.

No protection!

If this is going to be "realistic" no phoney time outs. The amount of tension and feeling of urgency you get when using the environment while still vulnarable to attack is a great thing. Makes the game more challenging and rewarding when one does complete the task.

Protection is for Console Kiddies who cry cause the game is to hard!

To be honest Jackmayhoffer, I don't quite understand. Are you saying that _the entire team should be incredibly easy to kill? _

That sounds like an easy fix if all you want is the players to be very easily killed, that can be set by a difficulty level to fit for every different group of players.

As for a clarification to the idea of protection, picture this:

Players 1-4 have reached a door that is locked and they need to open it in some way to progress. This can be approached in a multitude of ways (hacking the door, setting an explosive charge, etc.)

Along with this, the players are besieged by a constant threat of some kind. This could be swarms of monsters coming from every direction, threatening all players. Fire spreading towards them. Ceiling is falling, whatever situation or combination you want.

Player 1 begins working on the door to open it. While doing this Player 1 is completely vulnerable to attack. If the player is hit, his work is interrupted or set back for being hit.

Players 2-4 defend Player 1 as well as themselves (as the threat affects all of them) as the team relies on Player 1's efforts on the obstacle for their survival/progression.

To be honest Jackmayhoffer, I don't quite understand. Are you saying that _the entire team should be incredibly easy to kill? _

That sounds like an easy fix if all you want is the players to be very easily killed, that can be set by a difficulty level to fit for every different group of players.

As for a clarification to the idea of protection, picture this:

Players 1-4 have reached a door that is locked and they need to open it in some way to progress. This can be approached in a multitude of ways (hacking the door, setting an explosive charge, etc.)

Along with this, the players are besieged by a constant threat of some kind. This could be swarms of monsters coming from every direction, threatening all players. Fire spreading towards them. Ceiling is falling, whatever situation or combination you want.

Player 1 begins working on the door to open it. While doing this Player 1 is completely vulnerable to attack. If the player is hit, his work is interrupted or set back for being hit.

Players 2-4 defend Player 1 as well as themselves (as the threat affects all of them) as the team relies on Player 1's efforts on the obstacle for their survival/progression.

Might have misunderstood what you meant by "protection" . Thought you meant when character is interacting with environment the game does not allow enemy to damage character until finished interaction. What you say above is what I meant.

No worries about that, it's always good to clarify, I'll copy the example situation I've given to the top post :]

I see a lot of possibilities as far as co-op opportunities go with this game. I would say it depends on how much functionality they are going to give to that little screen on your marine's wrist. Here's hoping we can do things like see what our friends are seeing through it.

How's this for a co-op idea, a missile launcher with a guidance system (like a futuristic javelin, perhaps) that your team mates can feed you targeting info for. You can fire it around a corner, or from so far away you cant even see your target and it will still make it there. Kind of like how apache helicopters do with their missiles.

Hey folks,

I was thinking of ways we can help out the creators of interstellar marines, and then this idea came to me: Let's make something the Interstellar Marines team can use for a reference for ideas, recommendations, etc.

This thread will be a list of possibilities/ideas to promote a cooperative environment throughout the game. Post your ideas and discuss them with other marines. I will add them to this post as well as the general pros/cons discussed with each one. I'll start with one:

2. Character Customization

This can be something like improving effectiveness with certain weapons, or gaining new abilities entirely. A suggestion by Weirdoo was for one specialization that can modify electronics to serve the marines instead of the enemy.

I look forward to seeing and discussing your ideas!

For the love of the game,

Aebonka

My humble opinion....

The characters (assume) are all trained soldiers and now in elite team. So they all pretty handy with the weapons they trained with. I would not like an "accuracy bar" that spend points on to make character more "accurate".

In "reality" a trained warrior is not going to get much more accurate after several days/ weeks using the same weapon they have used for the past years.

I have found in many games with "accuracy bar" type character development by the end of the game I am shooting the wings off flies while jump dodging with my hand gun from 100 feet away:) Game loses challenge and "believability".

I have also found that in games where ballistics of weapons are modeled well I the actual player get better at aiming and hitting as I get better feel for the type of weapon.

Maybe don't need this kind of accuracy bar since the actual player actually gets better with weapons the more they use and understand their advantages and weaknesses.

How's this for a co-op idea, a missile launcher with a guidance system (like a futuristic javelin, perhaps) that your team mates can feed you targeting info for. You can fire it around a corner, or from so far away you cant even see your target and it will still make it there. Kind of like how apache helicopters do with their missiles.

That sounds pretty sweet to me Tacticalspoon! To add on to your idea, how about a more general idea of "painting" targets in some way. Perhaps some players after specializing can expose weaknesses in enemies to the rest of the team, or make them more visible in dark places some way for other players to use to their advantage.

Also, on the note of how much they are going to put into the game, we don't know. They don't know either, other than that they will do what they can with their budget and timeframe. They won't promise that everything on the list will be put into the game, but this is a reference for inspiration and ideas that the developers can use bits and pieces of to work on the game. Keep em comin, guys! :]

My humble opinion....

The characters (assume) are all trained soldiers and now in elite team. So they all pretty handy with the weapons they trained with. I would not like an "accuracy bar" that spend points on to make character more "accurate".

Actually, as you'll see in this section of the site,, "In the game the characters will enter the solar system as rookies, " so hence they develop over time. I was a little broad with the term "effectiveness with weapons", which could refer to damage or inherent accuracy. On top of that, specializing in certain weaponry could do all sorts of stuff. Increased clip size, different ammunition types, etc.

How about developing our own weapons? I do have an idea for that, very simple plan! ;D

My humble opinion....

The characters (assume) are all trained soldiers and now in elite team. So they all pretty handy with the weapons they trained with. I would not like an "accuracy bar" that spend points on to make character more "accurate".

In "reality" a trained warrior is not going to get much more accurate after several days/ weeks using the same weapon they have used for the past years.

I have found in many games with "accuracy bar" type character development by the end of the game I am shooting the wings off flies while jump dodging with my hand gun from 100 feet away:) Game loses challenge and "believability".

I have also found that in games where ballistics of weapons are modeled well I the actual player get better at aiming and hitting as I get better feel for the type of weapon.

Maybe don't need this kind of accuracy bar since the actual player actually gets better with weapons the more they use and understand their advantages and weaknesses.

I am going to both agree and disagree with you here. I wholeheartedly agree that in games where you can train accuracy, a lot of them go overboard by endgame and you are just much too accurate. As for the "trained soldier" thing, I disagree. There is a reason militaries around the world continue training nonstop. Skills and training need to be constantly reinforced or they will deteriorate. When I was in the military, I was considered "trained", but my marksmanship continued to improve throughout my career, so I disagree and say even trained, there is always room for improvement.

How about developing our own weapons? I do have an idea for that, very simple plan! ;D

Although that does sound pretty cool, I'm not sure what that would contribute to a cooperative environment Weirdoo. If different character specializations could assist in creating different weapons with other players, that does sound cool; However, I think that adds a layer of complexity that may detract from cooperative gameplay (any players of MMORPGs will be familiar with 'crafting' systems and their pitfalls for a more instantaneous form of play that an FPS is)

Wow great ideas from most people.

Wow...lots of ideas so far and the forums haven't been up that long xD. You guys must have been just sitting around drooling and waiting. good stuff.

Just would like to note, that a lot of the ideas on here are pretty good.

And I would have to agree. "Leveling up, or modifying" certain attributes like accuracy is probably not a good idea. I would leave accuracy alone and put it at the control of the player. So the player will have to physically learn the intricacies of each weapon. For every weapon, they should have a set of statistics (Similar to Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon), that effects how that weapon is "handled" when fired. IE: Weight, Recoil, Barrel Lift, Bullet Spread, Velocity, Bullet Drop, etc etc. Every weapons values would be different, so every weapon should fire, and handle differently.

So you use a system similar to rainbow/ghost recon that shows your cross-hairs reacting to your movement. So you're only "MOST" accurate when standing still, etc etc And when moving, the cross-hair points are all over the screen. It still requires skill from the player, but these factors would vary from weapon to weapon, meaning you would have to adjust and learn to adapt/utilize the different platforms.

Eh, if anything - that expands a bit more on the Accuracy thing.