Level ideas & concepts

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gooplieslime
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Level ideas & concepts

Post by gooplieslime »

Started to make this a separate topic since I dont wanna say all of this in the canned level + release topic. So here I go.

This topic has levels ideas and concepts I have in mind that I may happen in the future or not.

The Undergrowth
Description; A jungle level with vast and wide landscapes sorta like the gallimimus herd scene from the original Jurassic Park movie.

Story; I only have a simple plot line, dont have a name for the player so they'll be named " Anne " for now

Anne gets in a plane crash in private property of Biosyn, she'll be exploring the area, finding abandon temples built by the ancients who roamed the land before. She is very unaware that she'll be facing dinosaurs during her exploration and her need to escape the area.

Progress; level is in a major placeholder state at the moment. Currently the dinosaurs are borrowed from other levels and the retail foliage objects are being used which I like to use the MegaJungle assets provided from TI for the Trescom community. The area and layout are at the beginning stages soo only the spawn area is finished.

Heres idea's for the level so they may or may not appear in the level.
1. Thinking of having a herbivore in the level eating a carcass of another dinosaur in order to obtain specific proteins.
2. Having a dinosaur follow the player later in the level using the Staynear feature and the player would probably use the dino as a weapon for any dinosaurs that are in the players way.
3. Having an eerie & silent part of the level which can include a camouflaging dino that isnt the Carnotaurus.
4. Include a dinosaur statue puzzle with a few ambushes from small dinos.
5. Have a small dinosaur pack hunting in the level somewhere.
6. Have a few dinosaur carcasses in the level have hiding Megapnosaurus that are hiding from a nearby predator, they will quickly lash out at the player if they get too close to the carcass.
7. Have a few temples that give the player something to benefit from like weaponry.
8. Have very few attack area's in closed spaces.

The Plains

Description; This is a simple recreation of the planned plains level for Trespasser although it was scrapped and have only a few remnants of it left in Trespasser and the Trescom community like the object placement except the terrain and full level. Also I don't know if I should use the retail CAnimals or the community made CAnimals.

Story; This takes place right after Anne left the Ingen town and she would enter " The Plains " a vast and wide area she would need to travel and find away to leave and get to pine valley.

Ideas
1. Have like 3 or 5 Dinosaurs with tracking gear that have their own difficulties like running away from Anne although she's not even near them or having to lure them to a trap in order to obtain the batteries to activate the gate opener.
Last edited by gooplieslime on Tue Feb 14, 2023 1:29 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by TheIdiot »

This sounds like a good concept. Clever ideas as well.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 1. Thinking of having a herbivore in the level eating a carcass of another dinosaur in order to obtain specific proteins.
The only thing with this from a game design perspective is that seeing this might result in the player thinking said dinosaur is a herbivore, or being confused and wondering why a herbivourous dinosaur is eating another dinosaur.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 2. Having a dinosaur follow the player later in the level using the Staynear feature and the player would probably use the dino as a weapon for any dinosaurs that are in the players way.
Very fun and original idea. Just be sure to give it high hitpoints so it doesn't die too easily as Tres dinos are infamous for being one-shotted by each other under the right/wrong circumstances.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by gooplieslime »

TheIdiot wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 7:02 pm This sounds like a good concept. Clever ideas as well.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 1. Thinking of having a herbivore in the level eating a carcass of another dinosaur in order to obtain specific proteins.
The only thing with this from a game design perspective is that seeing this might result in the player thinking said dinosaur is a herbivore, or being confused and wondering why a herbivourous dinosaur is eating another dinosaur.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 2. Having a dinosaur follow the player later in the level using the Staynear feature and the player would probably use the dino as a weapon for any dinosaurs that are in the players way.

Very fun and original idea. Just be sure to give it high hitpoints so it doesn't die too easily as Tres dinos are infamous for being one-shotted by each other under the right/wrong circumstances.
1. I may need to do a voice over that explains how sometimes herbivores will take a chance and consume a carcass of an animal in order to obtain proteins and ect. I think I should place voice overs around the level for some info on the jungle and its inhabitants, and maybe some lore pieces.

2. I may need to make sure the dino has to have a large amount of health in order to sustain multiple hits. Like if its gonna be your pet dino, its gotta survive the level with a large amount of health or it will be decimated within seconds from another dinosaur.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 2. Having a dinosaur follow the player later in the level using the Staynear feature and the player would probably use the dino as a weapon for any dinosaurs that are in the players way.
I've had the same idea a few months ago. I was thinking of a Jurassic World level where you play as Owen and Blue follows you around and helps you fight hostile dinosaurs, maybe Atrociraptors.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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Nick3069 wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:54 pm
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 2. Having a dinosaur follow the player later in the level using the Staynear feature and the player would probably use the dino as a weapon for any dinosaurs that are in the players way.
I've had the same idea a few months ago. I was thinking of a Jurassic World level where you play as Owen and Blue follows you around and helps you fight hostile dinosaurs, maybe Atrociraptors.
Yeah I'm doing that idea but it seems like applying it on a dino staying near to Anne crashes the game-
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by Nick3069 »

Try setting it to "Player" instead of "Anne".
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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Nick3069 wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:56 am Try setting it to "Player" instead of "Anne".
How do I do that?
Still trying to figure that out.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by Rebel »

gooplieslime wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:30 pm
Nick3069 wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:56 am Try setting it to "Player" instead of "Anne".
How do I do that?
Still trying to figure that out.
StayNearTarget = "Player"

That's it. Just add staynearmin & max values along with bool ActStayNear = true
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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Rebel wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:54 pm
gooplieslime wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:30 pm
Nick3069 wrote: Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:56 am Try setting it to "Player" instead of "Anne".
How do I do that?
Still trying to figure that out.
StayNearTarget = "Player"

That's it. Just add staynearmin & max values along with bool ActStayNear = true
It kind of works, I'm trying to find away to give the dino enough distance away from the player so It wont attack them.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by Rebel »

Well, if you look at the raptor in the retail's testscene, note that you can have a dino act like it loves you instead of hates you. It doesn't get mean until you hurt it. You may want to check that out.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by gooplieslime »

Got the dino working. It defends the player from any attacking dino, Need to set the dinos team to be with the non-aggressive dinos.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

Post by gooplieslime »

Included a few more new idea's in the post.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 6. Have a few dinosaur carcasses in the level have hiding Megapnosaurus that are hiding from a nearby predator, they will quickly lash out at the player if they get too close to the carcass.
You mean they're hiding inside of the carcass? Or just near it? The former would require a fair bit of scripting, probably including animations and trick/fake CAnimal models. But that would be cool, if not a bit disgusting.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 7. Have a few temples that give the player something to benefit from like weaponry.
I always recommend that if you're going to have weapons in a level, especially guns, there should be some difficulty in getting them. Maybe some traps or puzzles in the temples could make it harder to get inside. Of course if you're going in a building, I would recommend having a trigger set so your dino-companion stays by an anchor outside, so he doesn't end up getting stuck or killing himself.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 8. Have very few attack area's in closed spaces.
One thing to note is that CAnimals suck at navigating in small spaces. They tend to run into everything. If you're going to have a dino attack in a closed area, make sure the area is relatively large so it can move around, and use AI objects (which are large, invisible boxes that tell the AI were it can't go) around the perimeter of the room to try and prevent it from running into the walls.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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TheIdiot wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 5:52 pm
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 6. Have a few dinosaur carcasses in the level have hiding Megapnosaurus that are hiding from a nearby predator, they will quickly lash out at the player if they get too close to the carcass.
You mean they're hiding inside of the carcass? Or just near it? The former would require a fair bit of scripting, probably including animations and trick/fake CAnimal models. But that would be cool, if not a bit disgusting.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 7. Have a few temples that give the player something to benefit from like weaponry.
I always recommend that if you're going to have weapons in a level, especially guns, there should be some difficulty in getting them. Maybe some traps or puzzles in the temples could make it harder to get inside. Of course if you're going in a building, I would recommend having a trigger set so your dino-companion stays by an anchor outside, so he doesn't end up getting stuck or killing himself.
gooplieslime wrote: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:58 pm 8. Have very few attack area's in closed spaces.
One thing to note is that CAnimals suck at navigating in small spaces. They tend to run into everything. If you're going to have a dino attack in a closed area, make sure the area is relatively large so it can move around, and use AI objects (which are large, invisible boxes that tell the AI were it can't go) around the perimeter of the room to try and prevent it from running into the walls.
1. So the dinosaur is actually inside the carcass like how hyena's hide inside elephant carcasses to get away from lions or from a rival hyena clan. They basically lash out at the player to get away from them to not have the nearby predator to notice both of them, maybe I should have a trigger that occurs when the Megapnosaurus leaves the carcass it triggers the predator to go to an anchor thats close to the carcass, enough to make it attempt to attack the player and the Megapnosaurus. Also yeah I do agree its kinda gross to see a living animal come out of a carcass.

2. I think the idea of including traps in the temple wasn't in my mind, but also I do agree there should be an anchor outside for the players dino-companion to stay outside instead of attempting to enter the temple and possibly die.

3. Havent really thought about that maybe, I should try to make the area's a bit open enough for the CAnimal to easily navigate in and not get stuck on something or run into. Along with including AI objects to tell the AI where it can't go.
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Re: Undergrowth level development.

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gooplieslime wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:21 pm 1. So the dinosaur is actually inside the carcass like how hyena's hide inside elephant carcasses to get away from lions or from a rival hyena clan. They basically lash out at the player to get away from them to not have the nearby predator to notice both of them, maybe I should have a trigger that occurs when the Megapnosaurus leaves the carcass it triggers the predator to go to an anchor thats close to the carcass, enough to make it attempt to attack the player and the Megapnosaurus. Also yeah I do agree its kinda gross to see a living animal come out of a carcass.
Interesting, I did not know about that behaviour. In that case you'd probably have to make the carcass rather large for your CAnimal to fit inside. My suggestion would be to make your carcass model, and then take the model of the megapnosaurus in Max and adjust it into a static position that looks like its hiding inside. If the player gets near, you could make the "hiding" model invisible and replace it with an "attacking" model, which you could animate using the ASA system to "reach" out and attack the player. This is some fairly complex scripting. Alternatively, you would just make the carcass large enough to actually get the CAnimal inside of, and disable all of its behaviours using a Start Trigger other than ActNothing so it stays in place until you need it to move, which you would then execute by doing exactly what you described with anchors.
gooplieslime wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 6:21 pm 2. I think the idea of including traps in the temple wasn't in my mind
Take a look at the Mayan ruins in AS1. They have functioning dead-drop traps when you step underneath them. You could do something like that in your temple.
I remember when I was first modding this game back in like 2008-'09ish, I converted the interior of one of those temples into a recreation of the Peruvian temple from the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, complete with a golden Raptor idol you could take if you managed to get across a tiled floor that fired darts if you stepped on the wrong ones. :wink: I wish I still had those early levels of mine...
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