What exciting experiences do you envision while "playing" IM in your mind?

The exciting experiences I envision in the IM is when your team of marines are walking through cramped hallways in the genetic research labs hunting down shark creatures, but you only find yourself surrounded by silence and the occasional noise that makes you jump, then all hell is unleashed. When battling other humans and/or aliens I envision being put in an overwhelming situation where you have a couple a choices that will affect the outcome of the mission. But I also prefer quiet stealth mission were you snipe people with a silenced sniper rifle as you team advances to the objective. But what would be really cool is if you had a firefight with multiple enemies who also will fight each other, such as having to battle shark creatures and aliens, but the shark creatures are also attacking the aliens, I love situations where your enemy is not only just fighting you, it adds a bit of a twist to the fight and makes you change your strategy.

I remembering dreaming about IM right after we had all figured out that the slice after bullseye would be movement. I remembering dreaming of 4 people, moving in a highly coordinate way trough a training facility (aka, running man!) shouting voice commands, firing small controlled burst at the enemies while constantly keeping an eye on the timer, hoping we could beat our last run!

It is very hard for us to have realistic expectations because we know so little of the actual gameplay but what I am really hoping for is the type of experience i described above. Natually I hope to be totally immersed which i am more and more confident will happen at release ;)

(btw, good choice of new frontpage video!)

Uh, you do know the GDC 08 30 second preview is up on the front page?

On topic:

I'm with a buddy, getting ready to breach a room. He has hacking skills so we can now enter this room from two doors, with the other two members of the team preparing to breach through the other doorway. I'm carrying a bolt action sniper rifle and my buddy is carrying a pump action shotgun, with the other two carrying a grenade launcher and an assault rifle.

Click. The door lock has been disengaged. My buddy kicks the door open and catches a patrolling guard by suprise, who is quickly shot in the back as he tumbles down towards the metal floor. I quickly catch a glimpse of another 5 guards and two ceiling mounted turrets on the right and left side of the room. I'm still at the door and fire a shot that splatters another guard's brain matter all over the clean wall on the opposide end of the room, just as he was about to fire on my buddy. As we crouch behind a pretty bulky lab table I shout out, giving the signal for my buddies to commence their breach from the left as I draw the enemies' attention.

Due to our disabling of the automatic systems for the turrets earlier in the mission, one of the guards is manually controlling the turrets, which makes for a much easier time for my team. My mate with the grenade launcher risks launching one behind the wall nearest two guards. He has equipped grenades that focus on propelling shrapnel in all directions and the screams of agony of both guards are clearly heard, one even running towards us with multiple holes in his back. Unfortunately one of the turrets hits my buddy and he goes down, forcing my other mate who was trying to help suppress the guards with heavy assault rifle fire to rush to drag him to safety. However, I'm the medic on the team and I can't get to my teammate to bandage him up, so we're left with only one assault rifle, a shotgun and my sniper rifle to suppress the enemy. My buddy with the shotgun is hit in the shoulder by the other turret on the left, but not seriously hurt.

The odds are not in our favour. I shout "Cover me", giving my teammates just enough time to lay down some suppressing fire before I start running on the right side.

"I need an EMP!" I cry. My hacking buddy sets his grenade to stick and lobs it at the turret on the right as precisely as he can. Fortunately it lands just perfectly, disabling the turret by frying its internal systems. As I move to the next cover point I spot the guy controlling the turrets. He's still focused on laying down heavy turret fire from the remaining turret, so I shout out to our rifleman to lob a grenade. This one isn't quite as accurate, as he barely has enough time to throw it before being forced behind cover again, but it's all the distraction I need as it lands in front of the guard's cover position and sends shockwaves that make him pause his fire and hold onto his ears. I take this opportunity and line up a shot that goes through the guard's head and into the side of the guy next to him.

I quickly retreat to cover again as heavy fire pins me down, but the damage is done. My hacking buddy takes his chance and rushes to the left of the guard while my rifleman pins him down.

Finally, with a fatal shotgun blast to the head, the last guard is down.

I rush to the side of our wounded teammate, who remarks that he could've cooked a martian breakfast in the time it took me to get over there, and prop him back up.

Leaving behind a devastated room, we walk slowly to the elevator, getting ready for the next grueling firefight.

My vision of play in IM involves waves of action, where the team has a short time to recon and plan, followed by fast paced action of attack/being attacked, followed by recovery and assessment time. Then repeat. The team should be constantly talking to each other to get status updates and identify new features and threats. True down time, where the players can relax and sit back, should be rare and valued because of it. Most lulls should take the form of gearing up for the next action to complete the mission or heading to a specific point while safety in transit is not necessarily guaranteed.

The situation the team is in should be fluid to a degree. If nothing changes once an area is cleared of enemies, then the game can get a bit

A specific scenario I've considered:

Prep: the team is on a drop ship to a location where a person of interest is located (top level scientist in lockdown while the land sharks are roaming the facilities). The status of the landing point is unknown or known hostile.

Action: The ship lands, and the team clears the landing point, with land sharks or perhaps corrupted guards entrenched or counter-attacking the team.

Assessment: the local hostiles are neutralized, and the marines take stock of the condition of the facility

Prep: Maps are consulted or the building is assessed, and a quick plan to accomplish the rescue/retrieval is made

Action: The team moves out, encountering resistance of one form or another until a problem occurs where the facility will be destroyed in a set time period, or a specific group of attackers is discovered and must be neutralized or they threaten the rescue operation, such as a saboteur force

Assessment: the team coordinates a response, involving one or two members either preventing the destruction of the facility or addressing the opposition force

Prep: Team A continues on the rescue mission while Team B takes off for a new location to stop the destruction or setups up attack/defensive positions

Action: Team A encounters rescues the person of interest. Team B stops the destruction or holds off attackers. Perhaps an additional twist for one or the other team means they have to rendezvous along a new path back to the drop ship.

Assessment: The team communicates via radio to plan a rendezvous point and heads back.

Prep: The team coordinates the approach back to the ship.

Action: Resistance is met at the drop ship point and the team has to fight, sneak or otherwise accomplish a way in.

Assessment/Downtime: The team piles into the ship, takes off and talks about the mission.

I don't envision any thumb twiddling time, for instance where you're just plodding across the barren terrain or empty building because you need to get all the way across the huge map, and nothing goes on. That's an annoying factor in games like Fallout 3, where at least Fast Travel can mitigate the boredom.

The "Oh yeah, now I see" experience, from discoveries in a twisted enough plot. Unpredictable things, definitely unusual turns for a video game.

Also, my personal "I love it how there's zero bullshit in it" experience. I'm usually all about it when no obvious shortcuts are taken in some design (any kind of design). When I truly know the person behind it, the creator, has put thought into it, even when he/she could have taken the easy path by coming up with some BS solution ("Oh, not again", "REALLY?", ...) like so many do.

I would very much have a "dick radar" where we can rate how much of dicks they are in the MP games, no joke, i'm serious. Would be nice to know which people are good and bad!

I would very much have a "dick radar"

That sounds so wrong.

I imagine a world on the fringe of space.. dark as hell with some good people here and there. I rely on my teammates and hightech gadgets to pull through in rough spaces. Im exploring caves over run by smugglers and aliens and a mix of other animals/humanoids. I would imagine i could have alliances with certin people that would assist me if i need them. and some people who would help me then stab me in the back then i spray there brain juice on the wall. i also imagine exploreing remote bases that are over run with odd creatures and left over AI robot's...

I imagine this world is filled with dead heros, heros gone bad, and heros that still have enough good left to talk to to locate a remote place or target.. theres also the other side to that there bad gone good, and bad guys that just never learn.I also imagine i can board derelict craft cause im on the fringes of space..I imagine also i could find robots to help me if needed. I would also like the choice to join the underbelly of space if i wished..I also imagine i can color and skin custom armor however i choosed..

trade would be a nice feature to make money off looted equipment from dead animals/soliders...custom add-on hack equipment from dead soliders animals... would love TO SEE A SHARKBEAST MUTATION edition and also a hacked shark beast with some borg type addon in the head maybe a headlight edition aswell that turns on the light hacked into is head to blind you while he eats you or his pack hit you from the sides....the borg sharkbeast i should somehow be able to take control of with hitech interface and also would imagine that some enemys will have sharkbeats they control as-well..

I would very much have a "dick radar" where we can rate how much of dicks they are in the MP games, no joke, i'm serious. Would be nice to know which people are good and bad!

Lol.

But seriously, I hope to be playing with people I don't know, though I really hope I play with all the Spearheads that post a lot; Tacticalspoon, Siepher, weirdoo, thib, Astalano, teddybear123, forgefire, and many others. I see me playing cooperatively with ALL of them, whispering in hushed voices about what's around the next corner, and having a blast.

I also hope the story has a few twists and turns, like "WTF?!" moments. Things that are unexpected. First contact will be made. Making first contact in an unexpected way would be awesome. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! Don't just do some Independence Day style first contact. Create a more surprising and engaging story that entertains me along with the gameplay, even after I've beat the game 5 times. (Mirror's Edge does this pretty well.)

In formation, we creep down the corridor. The sound of metal against our boots, and the distant dripping of water is all we hear. I can see our check point up ahead. This entrance is our quickest way to get to the elevator that will take us down to the secondary test center. We reach the juction. Our pointman checks left and right. "seems clear" he steps out and activates the door.
" &*#% it's locked" i laugh, and my mate shoulders his weapon and steps to the panel. As he hacks the door, we check our sectors.
" so stupid" pointman says "why the hell did they put this in the game, it's so much quicker just blowing it up" "For my health. who knows what's behind it" says roger." plus it's cool" "AND we agreed to do this one quietly" i answer."remember roger almost got his ass bitten off by one of those landsharks last time we blew one open" he grumbles to himself. we all laugh to ourselves. Shortly there's a click. " and.....i'm done" replies my mate. he does a little dance as he heads back to my position. pointman gets up to activate the door. they start to open slowly... we prepare to move out. "movement "comes a shout from roger. we all spin about to that corridor. "whiirriririrrrrr!" it's the sound of a sentry gun spinning up...

I pop a smoke down roger's corridor as a hail of bullets come flying down it. I take cover back to the corridor we came from as my friend follows suit. "looks like you get to blow something up after all!" my friend jokes to pointman. "shut up!" shouts pointman "roger's down. we need to patch him up asap!" the alarms are now going off. "intruders detected C27 accessing lower level D. security detail to detain immedietely" I see the entrance door starting to close. We're gonna be cut -off... "we're totally pinned down, no way we're going to make it across there in one piece!" i relay. " can't you blow it up already?" " i have to sort roger out first" pointman grunts " you'll have to handle it yourself" I see pointman drag roger into the entrance hallway. The entrance is nearly closed...

An intercom suddenly comes alive with an unknown voice. " Helllooo...anyone still alive up there? I really hope there is. let's see...hmm...subject E67. yes. make sure it's the full works this time. To any one still up there. good luck! ahahhaaaa!"

this doesn't sound too good. there's going to be an army of security here any second now, with some 'subject E67' coming up to us. Is there enough time to get the door open again? or will we just have to find an alternate route and meet up later? While thinking it through you hear multiple footsteps clanging towards us. Getting behind cover, you scope your sights up the corridor toward the oncoming footsteps. "fs...what should we do now?"

My vision for playing interstellar marines... Probably that it does right what so many first person shooters do wrong. Stealth that works well causing the enemies to reach different stages of alert, enemies that work together as a squad sending unit to attempt to flank the enemy all the while having a survival instinct.

A story which unfolds like an ongoing mystery that your squad attempts to piece together, until a large mind bending reveal occurs. A cooperative experience that leaves my team completely drained yet giving a sense of accomplishment. Puzzling sections requiring wit, combat requiring leadership, weapon skills and wit. Most of all I want to see the game made which revolutionizes the entire way that FPSs are looked at, not one that simply claims innovation, but one that is innovation (which you guys are already well on your way to doing.)

No matter the direction the game goes, I just want see a game made truly as a labor of love. Keep it up guys.

For the love of the game.

What exciting experiences do you envision while "playing" IM in your mind?

Mine would be Horror/Thrilling experiences while walking down the hall and places.

What exciting experiences do you envision while "playing" IM in your mind?

Mine would be Horror/Thrilling experiences while walking down the hall and places.

Boo!

What exciting experiences do you envision while "playing" IM in your mind?

Mine would be Horror/Thrilling experiences while walking down the hall and places.

Boo!

OMG! Whats that!?

What exciting experiences do you envision while "playing" IM in your mind?

Mine would be Horror/Thrilling experiences while walking down the hall and places.

Boo!

OMG! Whats that!?

A duck!

Pretty much what everyone else has already wrote up is what I imagine IM to be in my head. If I were to write up my own It'll just be a repeat of what is posted above. Except dick radars, I have yet to in vision dick radars in IM.

(Or ducks)

What exciting experiences do you envision while "playing" IM in your mind?

Mine would be Horror/Thrilling experiences while walking down the hall and places.

Boo!

OMG! Whats that!?

A duck!

Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?

I imagine a long corridor. It's pitch black, the only light comes from our flashlights. We are in an old military base, the mission is to deliver a fuel cell to backup generators, required for restoring basic functionality of the main systems and gaining access to the command centre. After reaching the centre, we are supposed to download content stored in the "black box", data buffer containing all technical information about the complex, personal mail and daily data reports for the ITO command. Under normal circumstances, the data would be transmitted every 12 hours. Even with main power generators offline, the station would be able to run without any restrictions for 11 days while maintaining basic funcionality and life support for at least another 115 days. Accidents are being reported automatically by the system AI. According to ITO command, the last transmission was mentioning failure on one of the main power generators and an incomplete analysis of the accident written by senior engineer. It has been almost 2 weeks since that transmission and the probability of simultaneous backup systems failure is almost zero. It is possible that this accident was caused by a sabotage, any survivors are to be threated as a potential security risk and to be put under quarantine. Long range observation indicates no singns of activity and either minimum energy consumption mode or no energy at all, resulting into limited or no life support. Considering the limited informations we have, our tam decided to take the longer route through service tunnels as blowing up one of the reinforced doors might cause unpredictable structural damage.

1: Goddamit this tunnel is long.

2: I told you :-)

3: Can you guys see anything? Because I can't see shit.

2: Yes, I see... shit.

3: :-)

1: Everyone stick to the left side. Three, stick to the right side. In case we run into something, you'll fire the mg while we move.

3: Ok.

4: Is this the level with the shark creatures?

1: I don't know, never played this before. Maybe, it definitely looks creepy in here.

2: Yes, the fog, I can't see anything through the bloody fog.

3: I actually like this, it adds to the atmosphere.

2: You meant the I'm gonna crap my pants kind of atmosphere?

3: Yes, that's the one :-)

1: Watch out, there should be a junction 20 meters ahead.

2: There it is.

1: Three, check the front, two, you take left, I'll check the right side.

2: Clear!

1: Ok, follow me.

3: Roger!

1: I think we should have 3 more crossroads ahead, let me check the map.

4: I think we got a tail.

2: What?

4: Something is following us since the last junction.

1: Any ideas what that might be?

4: No, it just.. makes some kind of noise every now and then. It's has to be quite far behind us.

1: Ok, everyone keep your eyes peeled. Two, you take point. Left, left, then right. Let's go.

3: Fuck! I saw it! I saw it and it ain't human, that's sure!

1: Where, where is it?

3: 10 by 0, end of the passage. It was moving from the right to the left and it's fast as hell. Should I fire?

1: Negative, we need these cables and who knows what runs through those pipes. Go, go, go!

4: Don't move so fast, I'm loosing you.

2: Where now?

1: Right, go right!

2: This should be the place, taking plasma cutter.

1: No, we need to seal this hatch behind us. We still have some power in the portable energy cell, connect it and run an override!

2: Roger!

4: Aaaa! (fires smg)

1: What?

4: I saw it too, it's just behind the corner, 4 by 0, close!

1: What's the situation with the bloody hatch?

2: 10 seconds.

1: 4, you'll go first, 3, you'll cover 2. When he unplugs the cell you'll both move up the ladder and cover me.

4,3,2 Copy.

2: Done!

4: Moving!

3: In position, go!

2: One, it's behind you. Someone shoot the bastard!

3: (Fires mg)

2: (Fires smg)

end of transmisson :-)

Epic teamwork. Epic PvP action. Realistic weapon handling/damage (i.e. not emptying an entire magazine into someones head to put them down. One shot in the head=death. Even modern vests can only stop so many bullets.) Balanced classes. No reason to go for sniper (insane damage or something) vs. mg. They are all equally appealing in some way). True tactical gameplay, reminiscant of old Clancy games.

Please forgive my appaling spelling in this post, I'm super tired.