After extensively playing Quake TF (as sniper), and more recently Delta Force: Land Warrior, I''ve reached the conclusion that it is really fun to shoot people from really far away So, I was hoping I could get some ideas on how to make a multiplayer sniper game work well. My thoughts so far... - In addition to shooting people from far away, it is cool when they''re totally oblivious to you. - In Quake TF, playing as the sniper, gameplay relies on having lots of non-snipers (soldiers, etc.) running around, oblivious to you... that game does not work well, IMO, when *everyone* is a sniper. In my game, I want everyone to be snipers. - In Delta Force, everyone is a sniper, and it seems to work well... you respawn in a poor tactical position (low ground, center of map), and as you try to scramble to a better position (high ground, perimeter of map), you''re the ideal, oblivious target for the guys who''ve already made it. - The gameplay needs to discourage people from running up and getting into up-close strafing shoot-outs. In Delta Force... --- The terrain is *huge* (thanks to their voxel system), so you rarely encounter other players up-close. --- The players can''t run very fast. I guess this is equivalent to having a large map. --- Your weapon is more accurate when you are standing still. --- The scoring/ranking system penalizes you for getting killed (Although I think scoring is bad/crude way to enforce a particular style of gameplay). Also, if you know of any other good sniper games, please let me know.

Maybe you could make it a stealth game rather than just a sniper game. That way you could have a lot more weapons and possibilities for playing styles, and if there were other weapons that sufficiently balanced against sniping then it wouldn't turn into a camp match.

And perhaps you could have some kind of device that lets people know where you are more accurately the longer you stay in the same place, which would encourage you to move about more and make the gameplay more intense.

Edited by - Mechasam on December 12, 2000 12:36:16 PM

Sniper games are intresting, when i was playing R6 sniping was far more effective and for me fun than the close combat. Partly because i was on a modem, and sniping was less finicky about latency. Basicly because the other players are so far away, and the limitation of their running/walking speed, when you are in sniper mode, it becomes much like a 2d game. That and they are usually unware of being watched, they move in straight lines, so you only have to compensate for that. If they however knew you were watching,then they would use cover much more or not move at all (which sometime happened). In a sniper game only, it would be virtually impossible for a newbie to establish himself in a new arena already populated by snipers, without some sort of equalizer. Sniping is much like hunting, long periods of waiting, watching, and brief momements of intense concentration ultimately climaxing to a point of resolution or faiulre based upon a few well placed rounds.

On that point, i suggest you make an online multiplayer hunting game. To attract the hardcore as well as the casual gammer, make the setting some fantastic offworld place. The prey can be any and all virtual animals (exclude other hunters ofcourse). Each prey has a specific method for attracting, kill points (must be shot there to take em down) and hazard (could be location or inherently dangerous themselves). It has all the appeal of a sniper game and is much more user friendly (ie you dont die in the first 5 secs of entering a game).

Good Luck

-ddn

Ok, I think I want to shift the main focus from the too-specific "killing people from really far away" to the more general "killing people while they're oblivious to you". I want to introduce some stealth element like Mechasam suggested -- I totally forgot about the spy in Quake TF, who was a good opponent for the sniper.

ddn, Your suggestion about a fantasy setting is actually just what I had in mind. In particular, I don't want to be limited to earth-like terrain, plus animation/artwork for fictional creatures is easier to do than for humans.

Mechasam, that is a good point about gradually revealing someone's camping spot. Hmmm... I would like for this to somehow happen naturally/logically, rather then just arbitrarily putting a spotlight on them or making them glow. Similar to this, I was thinking that, when you get killed, the 3rd-person camera will sort of swing around to frame your own (dead) guy in the foreground along with your killer in the background, even tracking him if you want to wait a bit before respawning. Also, this might lessen the newbie frustration of getting their head blown off out of nowhere (or suddenly getting stabbed in the back).

ddn, hunting is a great idea. I agree that its gameplay has the same appeal as sniping, w/out the drawback of getting killed... however, I think it would be better just as a supplement to player-killing; I want there to be player interaction, and I don't know how else to do this, other then having them kill each other. By "supplement", I mean having AI prey wandering around in the deathmatch, being some kind of secondary objective. Maybe I'll have some birds that are fun to snipe, plus they'll reveal camping players by circling them like buzzards.

Edited by - Eric on December 12, 2000 5:29:42 PM