Game Idea for Doom 3

[Guest DaveNHB]

I have come up with some ideas for the new game doom3. Here they are...

Basic Overview:

The story is that the legions of hell have opened a portal linking to earth and prepare to commence a mass war on earth(like doom2). This time though, the humans of earth create a huge army and go into the portal (cue awesome FMV) then land in a huge cave. The humans set up a base with tanks, artillery guns, etc. in the mouth of the cave in hell.

This would be the intro of the game. Levels could be setup like the nine levels of hell, with each level having less monsters, but becoming more powerful and cunning. For example, the first level would be an all out war in hells surface. The player emerges from the other side of the portal and sees a battle. You can have NPC's manning artillery guns firing away at demons and stuff like that. This objective of the level would be to go to the 2nd level of hell, conviently located on the demons side inside a large mountain where all the demons are emerging from. To make the story non-linear, you can have the player do this in several ways:

1) He is ordered by a squad commander to do several duties like manning a artillery gun to kill cacodemons or to protect the artillery gunners from demons approaching on ground or conquering a hill, etc.

2) He steals a gun from one the fallen and charges bezerkly to the other side.

3) The more creative way, have a river flowing through the battle field (river styx of forgetfullness) and the player must devise a float of some kind so he doesn't touch the water (like a floating dead body).

Depending on his choice, NPC's in lower levels will react differently. For example in choice 3, the player would be alone in level 2. If he picked 1, he would have a squad with him. I think with level 1 being a bunker battle would be the coolest level ever created. The 2nd level would be less chaotic. Specific monsters can only be in each level, (sort of a progession: grade school, middle,high,college, etc.) and depending on what type, they might appear in groups or by themselves. The only exception would be level 1, which should have almost of the monsters in there (demon dogs, barons, cacodemons, etc.) Level 2 might have imps and smaller demons, coming in groups of 6, etc. Each level should have a theme, and all the monsters should be related to it. To progress levels, the player could drop in a hole or, maybe jump into a pit of flames, through a mirror, etc. The deeper they go, the more puzzles their should be. Level 4 could be a hall of mirrors (ala conan) and have monsters jumping from what appears in front but is actually on your side. Level 6 could be a large abyss filled with flying monsters and some unfortunates clinging on to the only land in the level, land platforms floating in mid air. The player would have to jump from platform to platform while fighting monsters trying to push him off. Platforms could be moving, or he might have to jump on a demon to get from one platform to the other. These are examples of the things you could do. Level 9 would be a battle with almighty Satan. He can be accompanied by several boss demons and the player depending on what he did might have several npc's.

This would be the first game that would be very fun playing cooperative. Imagine making a server. Ten players jump in a fight together in a squad, making it through several levels. Let's say in level 7 their is a dilema of sacrificing a player in order to pacify a large monster, otherwise a hard battle would be fought. Let's say the rules on this server says if you die you have to restart on level 1. At level 7 there is 6 players left. Imagine the debate of who would be sacrified to the monster. All the players might say the weakest player be sacrificed, he gets angry and starts blasting everyone, kills one guy and then gets killed. Now four left, the cycle repeats. These type of things would be great in a co-op game.

As far as deathmatch goes, you guys already know that well enough:) The only thing I could suggest as perhaps different modes such as co-op, ctf, deathmatch (the regular stuff). A new mode to add would be survival. Give each player a limit of how many times they can die lets say 10. If he dies ten times, hes out. So the strategy of get rocket launcher at all costs would change. Another mode can be monster battle. Give players or teams control of their choice of monsters to fight along his side in a ctf type of game or dm style.

Intro:

It has been 200 years since the hero from Doom saved the Earth from damnation. His legend only exists as a myth spoken by space marines. Science has continued to bring religion and myth to extinction. Everything is certain now, no mystery. The thought of hell has been long vanished from society. Things are about to change...

[Que FMV]

[Silicon Valley] At the center of an intersection, zooming in from the clouds to about 60 feet above. Its sunset and traffic flows through it, people walking on the sidewalk. Boom! A huge column of fire blasts from the earth rising up to the sky, destroying everything in its path. The flame then slows and collapses upon itself, forming a small rift in the crater left behind. Then, a hoard of monsters begin to pour out and begin to wreak havoc. Scatter shots of monsters tearing people up, etc.

[Pentagon] A quick council is called upon to assess the situation. They decide that its a complete loss, and to firebomb it. After the explosion, a team of troops clear out the dregs and secure the rift. For now, the situation has been secured. Research in mythical disasters has brought to the attention of the Pentagon that the rift can only be destroyed from the fall of Satan. The structure of hell is uncertain and the chance of victory is slim. After some debating, it is decided that a International force is to be assembled to launch a attack on hell itself.

[Rift] The town is flattened with bodies scattered everywhere. Troops are everywhere with tanks, humvees, entering the rift. Then the camera goes first person into our character as he begins to step into the rift. A scene similar to that of Spawn mixed with Stargate as the soldiers begin their one way trip.

[Hell] Our hero finds himself in a cave with fellow soldiers preparing for battle. In the distance, guns are blazing, explosions are shaking the earth, howls and crys, etc. You quickly sprint to the mouth of the cave determined to die in a blaze of glory. You reach the mouth and stop dead in your tracks. The sky is blood red, filled with various monstrousities attacking your comrades, the land is a moving flesh with blood almost everywhere. There is no direction you can look without seeing a demon. AAAAAHHHH! Someone next to you is sliced in two and you quickly blast a demon with your trusty shotgun. You look forward and see another mountain on the other side. It appears all the monsters are coming from it. You start to make your way across....

[End FMV]


First Level :

Now to the game:

You start out at the mouth of the cave and a commander approaches you. He gives you and a bunch of soldiers a quick briefing on your assignment. He tells you to either man the artillery guns and shoot down cacodemons and other flying monsters, or to protect the gunners from land monsters. [note: this scene would be very taxing on a computer] You could also ditch his orders and make a run for it on your own. NPC friendlys would be everywhere in the form of soldiers. It would be possible to get some psychotic soldiers to follow you in a kamikazi run for the other mountain.

Your starting inventory would be as follows: [combate knife, Machine gun, shotgun, 4 grenades, flashlight, medkit good for 20 health, infravision googles, radio]. Additional weapons will be given to you if you follow your orders, or if you pick them up from dead bodies.

If you become a gunner or a turret protector, you would have a time limit in which you have to stay alive and blast as many caco demons that you can, with the occasional imp jumping at you missed by your cover. The artillery gun would be a plasma type weapon.

If you survive the time limit, you are given the go to cross the field and secure a large hill in the middle of the battle field. Several ways to do it:

1 - Go in a humvee and be the driver or the gunner (machine gun turret on humvee). Humvee can be destroyed by bad driving or by damage.

2 - Go on top a tank and keep monsters from climbing in and equipped with a grenade launcher. Tank can get destroyed if monsters get inside.

3 - By foot with a large squad and you are equipped with a plasma gun. You can get killed in many ways:)

All are traveling to same place. Humvee is in the front of pack, troops in back, tank in middle. On your way there you see old friends: hell barons accompanied by smaller imps, demons, etc. Surface of hell is very bumpy with many hills (where hell barons stand upon) and the occaisonal ditch (where demons will try to lure you in). The hill you are trying to reach is pretty tall but not steep. It has a flat area at the top where you are trying to set camp. Getting up the hill will be the hardest part, many demons will jump at you is you try to make your way up.

Once you make your way up, you have a new mission. At the top of the hill, you see the other mountain. However, the way there is blocked by monsters, trees, rocks, etc. You must clear a way for the tank. You can either:

1 - Go by foot and clear the monsters out and are given pipe bombs.

2 - Get a rocket launcher and blast from the top of the hill.

3 - Give cover for the rocket men and give a electro gun.

The targets to blow up would be hives where monsters are coming from and other debree. Once all of the targets are destroyed you reach the final mission for this level.

Enter the other mountain. This time, you go by foot and are accompanied by the tank. The cave is very dark and you can't see anything inside w/o flashlight (tank has lights). Tank occasionally fires away to help you out. Once inside, you find there is no exit. You sit idly for a while in the dark until, KAPOW! A huge centiped like demon erupts from the floor from under the tank. You must battle the centiped with your surviving comrades our try to lure it out of the floor and jump in the hole it left. Once you jump into the floor, you advance to the 2nd level of hell.

I rushed through with the first level but the best way I could describe it would be like the movie "Starship Troopers." Monsters everywhere, explosions from all sides, demons coming at you from the sky, etc. It would be a thrill ride.

I know this first level sounds very linear and ordered, but I think it would be cool for one level. The rest of the levels would be very different in structure. Once your in level 2, there is no more orders from a commander, your on your own with whatever soldiers you came in with. It would be slower paced, with more surprises than all out brawls. The occaisonally puzzle, or dilema tossed in for good measure.

This is a lot but I feel it would rock. Any mod authors/programmers interested please email me. I think this would be a great mod for the game Serious Sam. Any takers?

[Psyonisis]

You expect me to read all that?!

[deadnail]

Whoa whoa whoa there buddy you're thinking way too hard. As always with iD's games the story line is an afterthought, certainly nothing focused on or aimed at.

Doom = Hell and Futuristic Base, all they focused on
Quake = Brown and boring, all they focused on
Quake 2 = Alien Futuristic Base, all they focused on
Quake 3 = Everything was focused on except single player and story line. The graphics and textures are great, but what the hell is the deal? It's like a new motif every 4 levels.

As for your little walkthrough of level 1... well, sounds nice. I'm just curious, though, that's a lot of firepower in the first level. You mean to say we get to have the Plasma Rifle the whole game?

[Lord FlatHead]

Wow, an actual post about Doom 3 ! The intro sounds pretty cool - starting the game as one of many soldiers in a heated battle, then being chosen to descend to the deeper levels of Hell alone.

It's pretty certain though that the game won't be set on Earth (well, not all of it anyway) since Paul Jacquays made clear that it will be set on Mars.

I also like the multiple ways of solving problems - reminds me of Deus Ex, which is always a good thing.

[Guest DaveNHB]

deadnail said:

Whoa whoa whoa there buddy you're thinking way too hard. As always with iD's games the story line is an afterthought, certainly nothing focused on or aimed at.

Doom = Hell and Futuristic Base, all they focused on
Quake = Brown and boring, all they focused on
Quake 2 = Alien Futuristic Base, all they focused on
Quake 3 = Everything was focused on except single player and story line. The graphics and textures are great, but what the hell is the deal? It's like a new motif every 4 levels.

As for your little walkthrough of level 1... well, sounds nice. I'm just curious, though, that's a lot of firepower in the first level. You mean to say we get to have the Plasma Rifle the whole game?

Im doing the opposite that most games do. Im almost every game, you start with nothing, and at the end you get all the big weapons. The way I would like to do it is that you start with everything and at the end have nothing. The way I told it above, once your out of the first level, your on your own. The only weapons you will find will be off dead bodies and that will be mostly ammo. So the emphasis will be a conservation of ammo and picking your shots carefully. Like in resident evil, you get most of the weapons early, but at then end, you have about 4 bullets left and your shitting your pants trying to stay alive. Thats the experience I would like to have (granted I have some diapers on me) when I'm playing a game. Of course, there will be some new weapons in the higher levels, but again, very little ammo for them.

[MaCvILeWhOrE]

Cool dave, a new arrival who actually makes sense.

AWESOME POST!

Here friend have some coffee, it'll get them juices flowin
( though what juices my coffee gets flowin i shudder at the thought)

:)

[deadnail]

Sumatta Mac, you no 200% tranny free male no more?

[MaCvILeWhOrE]

Nope, though I am all COFFEE-PISSING-IN-MAN but i ain't no tranny thats for damn sure. I took that out because it made my posts seem 2 times larger than they really are, also it was stupid, but i am still the ASS SUB WOOFER ( guitar riff ) ASS SUB WOOFER OH YEAH!!! ( drum roll )

[deadnail]

Thanks for the motivation. I've decided to change my sig again, now it's down another line. :)

So you piss in our coffee and you're an ass sub woofer. Congratulations you silly little bastard.

[MaCvILeWhOrE]

:)

[Zaldron]

You´re a pen&paper roleplayer, right? You just wrote that in the GM´s interactive-ish format.

[Guest DaveNHB]

Was a long time ago when computers were used for word processing :)

[DiSTuRBeD]

Oh, yeah, i heard of those times, my great-great-great grandpa told me about it once. I didn't believe it was true tho :P

[DiSTuRBeD]

MACVILEWHORE said:

:)

He's was pissing in coffe while you were still sucking on your mom's tit.

[Guest Relajo]

Psyonisis said:

You expect me to read all that?!

Well, I read all of it, it was cool.

You gotta send THAT to ID software, it seems they've run out of good game writters.

I would add that, at the momment the battle begins the soldiers start to panic, and try to escape, but they just make it worse for them, also, I'd like to see more panic on the soldiers something like in Saving Private Ryan (Omaha Beach)

[Guest DaveNHB]

Thanks. I sent this to ID, the first part, when the where making quake3. They said they won't look at any ideas from out of there circle.

By the way, I love the idea of soldiers panicing. That would bring some definite coolness and fear into the game. Perhaps NPC's would have a set courage that if they are weak in health, lacking ammo, etc. they panic. That would make the game more chaotic. Thanks for the idea.

It would be cool if a major game producer like ID would develop it, but that probably won't happen. I do however believe that this can be developed by the mod community. I don't really have the know-how to develop a mod, but if I could contribute my ideas to a talented team of programmers/artists, it would be great. Does anybody know if anyone with the skills to do this or where to find them? Currently, I know the perfect game that this mod could be created with, Serious Sam. The engine is capable of running outdoor/indoor environments with 50+entities no problem. This would be perfect for the first level. Furthermore, from what I have heard, the game Serious Sam is only going to cost $20. If that's true, it would be a cheap purchase and a great game to build the mod with. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Guest DaveNHB]

Alright time to add level 2. In level 1 I showed mass warfare and team tactics with a semi-linear progression. Level 2 will break off from that trend.


[Mood Setter]
Your fall from the hole seems to have warped you from one plane to the next. However, your comrades have disappeared. Where they are, is a mystery to you. You seem to have entered a cavern under the mountain of Hell's surface. The cave walls smell of sulfur and the roof leaks of blood. The floor covered by bones that you can't identify. The chaos of the surface is devoid in this lair. Peace and quiet rule here, too quiet. Your mission awakens you from your wondering as you venture for a way down to the next level.

[Notes on Level Design]
This level is a maze of deception. Things are not what they seem. The player will meet nothing for two minutes. No monsters or puzzles. Just loneliness. After one minute, the maze will start to play many ambient sounds, such as growls, shrieks, footsteps, etc. The maze will have many secret doors which will open up after a minute of the sounds, in such a way that the player will not hear or see them open. I think this would be a great way to f**k with someones head (player goes to a room and finds nothing, returns and then finds an opening).

After the player passes through the newly opened passages, he will hear loud, thumping foot steps for a couple of seconds, then BAM, he meets a comrade, who tells a similar story. However, little do the two know that they are being surrounded by shadow demons. The demons only leave shadows on the wall, no visual warning besides that. Only the observant player will realize his danger. But there will be no time to assess that, for they will be confronted by several beholders. (NOTE: If a player does notice them and attacks, they will retreat, and come back later)

During the battle, the NPC will suddenly disappear. The player will realize this after the battle and find a conspicuous blood trail. The blood trail leads the player to hear a shot and a growl. Then finally the sight of his comrade victorious over a demon dog. He explains himself and continues to follow. What the player doesn't know as that the NPC has died and become prey of a doppleganger. The doppleganger will not attack the player until the player's energy is low. He will continue to fight and aid the player until that moment comes. The doppleganger doesn't get injured by monsters. (NOTE: If the player somehow identifies the doppleganger and fires at it, he will reveal himself and attack the player for a short moment, then retreat. Then continues as below)

Now the action starts to pick up. The player meets some more NPC's (3 more. If player attacked doppleganger above, he will appear as an extra NPC with a different appearance) who are battling against a mix of beholders and demonic spiders who fall from the roof. After the battle, the NPC's join up with you and begin to look for a way out. (NOTE: If player still suspects a Doppleganger and attacks the correct NPC, a battle will ensue and the doppleganger will battle to the death as described below. If player attacks the incorrect NPC, he will be attacked by his comrades considering him a traitor).

After 20 seconds from the joining, the team will finally be ambushed by the ever elusive shadow demons. The shadow demons will come by fives, in random periods ranging from 10-30 seconds. After a couple of encounters, the players will feel overwhelmed and their desperation will increase. Right about when the player hits 30 health or very low ammo, BAM the doppleganger goes apesh1t!

The Dopplerganger will be a very powerful monster. His first attack will be with his most powerful gun as a surprise attack on an NPC. Then he will explode out of his human body into a dark ghastly creature with huge claws. He will attack with his claws and rake for heavy damage and moves very quickly (occasionaly blending into the background after taking some damage).

After the dopplerganger is slayed, his head will be left behind to pick up as an item. The dopplerganger head is an item that works like a gem of trueseeing (D&D reference, reveals illusions). So now all the shadow demons will be revealed, and chaos returns. Demons will start to pour in one by one at the players from all angles. The player must use the head to find the exit, a secret wall that can be walked through where the end portal lies. The head evaporates as he transfers to the next level.


Thats the basic idea for Level 2. I would like to add more encounters and of course some ammo,health,etc to replenish player in an appropriate way, as well as some rooms that are very distinguishable from the maze with some eyecandy. Still a little rough, but it has the essence of the level, illusions. What do you guys think?