Xenoforge : An experiment in experimental FPS design

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Sarevok
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Xenoforge : An experiment in experimental FPS design

Post by Sarevok »

So I have completed a playable demo of my game. I have decided to call it "Xenoforge". Xenoforge is basically a Quake 2 style arcade shooter. It involves fighting aliens that were ripped off inspired by Halo Covenant. Right now I got the Elite and Grunt equivalents done. Some of you may have seen my earlier post in testing. This is what the game looks like now.



Still crappy graphics but in a better color scheme I hope ! I am trying to emulate a LEGO style look actually. So expect graphics to improve better in that direction rather than vain attempts at becoming photorealistic.

Anyway the game can be found in Sourceforge now. Search for Xenoforge. You can get the latest version from it's download page herehttps://sourceforge.net/projects/xenofo ... aytesting/.

Please play it and tell me what you think. Your comments on what worked and what did not and/or sucked are invaluable to me. :)
I have to tell you something everything I wrote above is a lie.
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Drooling Iguana
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Re: Xenoforge : An experiment in experimental FPS design

Post by Drooling Iguana »

I thought SourceForge only hosted open source projects. I was going to see if I could compile the game in Linux, but the download appears to be (Windows) binaries-only.
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Sarevok
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Re: Xenoforge : An experiment in experimental FPS design

Post by Sarevok »

Sorry about that. I had been making heavy changes to the code and would make a commit once I can sort and document it properly.

As for linux the game I welcome efforts to port the game to that OS. It's been developed with windows in mind and uses directx based shaders but I think you easily develop linux equivalent solutions to that.
I have to tell you something everything I wrote above is a lie.
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Sarevok
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Re: Xenoforge : An experiment in experimental FPS design

Post by Sarevok »

As promised source code uploaded.

I have also made some improvements to game concept based on suggestions I have been receiving. Here is a repost on how it is moving from a post I already made at Spacebattles about this =>

Since the original thread I have polished the idea more thoroughly. I have also opensourced the project and put it up on Sourceforge. The project is in it's incubation but with some help it could become a nice single player game that is free for anyone to play. Not to mention the opensource nature makes it very easy to port it to linux and mac where there are few single player FPS games available at all.


Here is the download link http://sourceforge.net/projects/xenofor ... r/download

To start playing just download and unrar the archive. Select "Ringworld.exe" to launch the game. You will be greeted with a rather shabby looking menu (any artists out there who wish to lend help ?). Select newgame, there is only one level available called "Concrete Jungle".

Now onto gameplay.

Image

This is what you will see when the game begins. The game plays a bit differently from your typicap FPS. Think of Tribes or AvP to get used to it faster.

First of all targeting. This game does not use "conefire" or "hitscan" weapons. Instead targeting is handled by a laser system like Predators. That laser is actually there in the world. It calculates impact point and weapons are aimed accoridngly. 99 % of the time it does not matter and you can just point and shoot but keep this in mind should sometimes your shots miss. Understanding how the fire control works helps you be more accurate.

Next is the shield,health and energy bars. Shield recharges and provides Master Chief like protection. Health does not and nor can it be fixed by magical medkits. So be careful !

Energy fuels your powerarmors special abilities.

The first is the built in plasmagun. Press Q to fire it.

The next one is the deflector. It is a Halo jackal like shield. Use R to activate it. But your hand must be free to use it. If you have a weapon armed press H to holster it first before activating deflector.

Another ability you have is the tractor beam. With weapon holstered (via pressing H) target any enemy and press F to push him away and G to pull him in.

Next ability is "maximum speed". Hold down tab while moving forward to activate this. You can also do "maximum jumps" by pressing tab while jumping.

The game can also be played in third person view by pressing V to toggle viewpoints.
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Be advised toggling between viewpoints has a bug ! If you are stuck in one viewpoint be patient and press V after 3-4 seconds. Sorry about that. :(

Anyway here is the complete keylayout

Movement = WASD
Jump = Space
Crouch = there is no crouch :p
Maximum move = Hold tab
Shoot = Left button
Pick up weapon = target a dropped weapon by an enemy and press U
Change weapon = Press 1 or 2. You can carry only two weapons at a time.
Drop weapon = J.
I have to tell you something everything I wrote above is a lie.
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