Joking aside, I *am* curious about what direction the game is going in.

What a coincidence! Me, too.

Hmm. Ever tried making a paper aeroplane, wetting it (without hurting structural integrity... or shape as it were), freezing them, THEN throwing them at people? I'm gonna go try that.

 

EDIT: Easiest way to maintain structural integrity during the freezing process may be to place the aeorplane in a dish of water, let osmotic pressure wet the plane, then take it out and place in the freezer on a new, dry plate. Let me test this.

 

It would most likely become too heavy to actually fly effectively unless you got the design exectly right, at which point it would just become a dart with 1d2 bonus cold damage.

Well I left it overnight but the osmotic pressure wasn't enough to saturate the entire paper. It's actally quite well water-proofed. I've since moved on to freezing scrunched up balls of paper, and throwing them at unsuspecting passers by.

 

Oh, a helpful hint: if you ever build an orange cannon, freeze the oranges before loading for extra lethaily.

Note: lethality is a bad thing.

Maybe. But it's quite awesome to fire it at a wall and place bets on which one will break.

The technical term for that is "Raaaagh! BIG SMASH!", not lethality. Raaagh, BIG SMASH! is good.

Joking aside, I *am* curious about what direction the game is going in.

The direction of Radsylvania.

I'm more a fan of Coolsville, but I wouldn't mind spending a weekend in Radsylvania. Wouldn't want to live there, of course.

I'm more a fan of Coolsville, but I wouldn't mind spending a weekend in Radsylvania. Wouldn't want to live there, of course.

 

You should try a weekend break in Raaagh BIG SMASH!

Wasn't there a galaxy full of boobs somewhere near too? That's my place of choice.

Joking aside, I *am* curious about what direction the game is going in.

The direction of Radsylvania.

That sounds sort of Falloutish, doesn't it? I mean, it has the word "Rads" in it

 

(hey, it was worth a try)

 

*wanders off, checking if radsylvania.net is taken..*

I'd rather be in Funky Town.

To turn this topic to something less focused on general game design discussion and more toward Aliens, I would like people to describe what they would expect from the action of an Aliens RPG -- everything ranging from perspective to the use of weapons to sneaking to using computers, etc. I have found that a lot of people simply can't reconcile the idea of an RPG in the Aliens universe, and it often comes down to a disconnect between the association of fast-paced action with the Aliens universe and slow-paced gameplay with the RPG genre. This is a conversation in which I won't participate for obvious reasons, but it's very interesting to see what people say.

 

Take a look at Alien Swarm mod for UT2004. They have implemented both RPG and fast paced action, heavily based on the alien universe.

 

Its a very satisfying game to play, even though it has its lacks and cracks.

 

You can go on with satisfying hits or misses, visual vs background. But one of the things I've felt with the last few games I've played is that only the main story line gives something back... one of the things i liked with Baldur's gate II was that when you went on out on a side quest, you're party had its say it in, you got to know them through such missions. Mass effect had some new dialogs after a side mission, but most of the time you'd have the same dialogs options and I felt that I didn't really accomplish anything doing side missions.

 

Mass Effect had okay storyline which I though was great. You know shephard's going to save the universe... its okay. I'll get him there, no worries... Its just not me, I am not shephard. He's just a character I have to play to get the story line delivered to me. Character development was fun at times when the characters actually had something new to say... It would be boring to live in this world if like my girlfriend said the same things everytime and to actually get her to say something new, I had to like get a new job.... and she go like "Great, you're the man" and then go back to the previous option of the same dialog speech tree. It doesn't really feel alive.

 

I can accept a blade that hits it target visually but misses in the game rule. Its okay, I am used to it... I've seen it before, it works. You want to change that so it feels that you are in the moment doing it visually with the rule agreeing on what i do visually, great... but its not important. But I like to see it, if it gives me something, because combat is just a way to stall the game from telling the story, or so I've felt with the last few games.

 

Games are like a good visual, interactive book. Each chapter should have a cliffhanger end but still build expectations for the grand finale... but also leave room for an epilogue, not just leave the character hanging in a cliffhanger state, unless one has already the next installment by next week.

I'm suffering an ungodly hangover, but it occurs to me that an RPG survival horror actually is quite logical. We feel fear and anxiety on the behalf of characters we identify with. What better way to identify than by making them ourselves?

That's great on one end, Walsh, but it's the character development as pertains to player choice that makes it tough. It's hard to keep the fear/supsense going when you know your character will be able to take on any of the lower level monsters with absolute ease by the end of the game. It's that "pointdexter" aspect that our "pointdexter" friend cites from the very beginning.

The more and more I think about Aliens, RPGs, etc. I think that an Aliens RPG would be perfect in FPS - like Bloodlines, Deus Ex and Half-Life and AvP2. Thinking about elements from each of these games, I can see how you'd be able to make the ultimate scary, atmospheric Aliens RPG. I guess that a lot of stuff is possible in 3rd person 3D but why would you settle for an inferior medium?

That's great on one end, Walsh, but it's the character development as pertains to player choice that makes it tough. It's hard to keep the fear/supsense going when you know your character will be able to take on any of the lower level monsters with absolute ease by the end of the game. It's that "pointdexter" aspect that our "pointdexter" friend cites from the very beginning.

 

I don't know if I'm arguing with you as such. But that woudl apply only if the character development is in the DnD "I'm more experienced and therefore 100 times more powerful" sense. As opposed to character development in the 'softer' emotional sense.

The more and more I think about Aliens, RPGs, etc. I think that an Aliens RPG would be perfect in FPS - like Bloodlines, Deus Ex and Half-Life and AvP2. Thinking about elements from each of these games, I can see how you'd be able to make the ultimate scary, atmospheric Aliens RPG. I guess that a lot of stuff is possible in 3rd person 3D but why would you settle for an inferior medium?

Because Gearbox is making an fps. I doubt they want people to mix the two.

 

Now that might sound far-fetched, but this really could be an issue.

The more and more I think about Aliens, RPGs, etc. I think that an Aliens RPG would be perfect in FPS - like Bloodlines, Deus Ex and Half-Life and AvP2. Thinking about elements from each of these games, I can see how you'd be able to make the ultimate scary, atmospheric Aliens RPG. I guess that a lot of stuff is possible in 3rd person 3D but why would you settle for an inferior medium?

Because Gearbox is making an fps. I doubt they want people to mix the two.

Why not? Think of mutual marketing. The FPS is most likely to go kick ass (considering it's from Gearbox), so people will perceive everything that stands for "Alien" generally positive.

When the game is finally finished, I doubt Obsidian wants for anyone to mix the result of their long and hard work with someone else's fps. Especially since the products will likely be out in time to promote the upcoming movie(Fox hired Gearbox and Obs for that) and be out simultaneously.

Well I'm both disappointed and excited.

 

It's a horrible reason not to make the game FPS, since it would fit so nicely... but it would also be stupid to make it FPS in light of Gearbox making an Aliens FPS. Bah! On the other hand, Gearbox is making an Aliens FPS. Woo!

When the game is finally finished, I doubt Obsidian wants for anyone to mix the result of their long and hard work with someone else's fps. Especially since the products will likely be out in time to promote the upcoming movie(Fox hired Gearbox and Obs for that) and be out simultaneously.

 

Actually, I don't think Fox has got anything to do with it aside from selling their Aliens license to Sega which Sega decided to offer Obsidian to make an RPG game out of it. Curiously in the interview I read, Obsidian was Sega's first choice as a developer to make the RPG game.

 

I agree its best not to make an FPS game which will inevitably create a direct competition with GearBox's action game amongst the gamers. A third person action game can be equally immersive with examples good examples being Resident Evil 4, Splinter Cell, Gears Of War, the old Alone in the Dark Games ect. With a great third person camera and gameplay(Splinter Cell has alot of interactivity with the environment. Resident Evil 4 has great enemies. Gears of War has a gun reloading mini game.) design in mind by picking out the best from each of these games, pick a theme for the atmosphere (Horror eg) and you can begin building the RPG gameplay rule system behind it.

I would get rid of the idea of a single protagonist entirely. Instead, you start out with a squad of six or eight characters. Whichever character makes it to the end without dying is anointed protagonist.

 

"You are the chosen one. You were chosen by the aliens not killing you. Go forth and not die."

I would get rid of the idea of a single protagonist entirely. Instead, you start out with a squad of six or eight characters. Whichever character makes it to the end without dying is anointed protagonist.

 

"You are the chosen one. You were chosen by the aliens not killing you. Go forth and not die."

 

Neat idea. I also love the username. It's very Garrison Keillor.

When the game is finally finished, I doubt Obsidian wants for anyone to mix the result of their long and hard work with someone else's fps. Especially since the products will likely be out in time to promote the upcoming movie(Fox hired Gearbox and Obs for that) and be out simultaneously.

 

I haven