Urban siege - tactical cyberpunk tc in pre-prod.

[TheCaptain 0]

Everyone has mixed feelings on 'science fiction' modifications to Operation Flashpoint. However, I for one, am all for any modification that's bold and strives to think outside the box.

I've got one in pre-production. It's got a lengthy and rather quirky design, and it'll take a lot of work, but both of those hurdles are nothing new to me. I wouldn't mind help in the map making, web site administrating, scripting, modeling, texturing, and sound areas, because though I can do all of those tasks, it's a bit draining for one person to focus on everything at once, and quality does suffer. However, I have a wonderful concept artist on hand, and I should be showing some of his work on the under construction website shortly...

So, what is cyberpunk? Cyberpunk is both a style and a rather dismal interpretation of the future. The corporations are huge, the governments are weak, and technology and finances are divided between the ultra-poor refugees, the lucid middle class suburbanite, and the ultra-powerful elite. Computers are extremely advanced, with a virtual relity evolution of the internet called 'cyberspace', cybernetics and body modifications are in common practice, and violence is prevalent, though unseen by the billions of unseeing citizens, blinded by mind altering 'CHiPs' that make the world seem a much nicer and fluffier place than it actually is. For a sense of style, think of the movies "The Matrix" and "Blade Runner", books "Snow Crash" and "Neuromancer", and games "Syndicate" and "Deus Ex".

I've always liked the 'cyberpunk' style/setting. Some say it began and died in the 80's with literary greats such as Gibson and Stephenson. However, I was exposed to it later in life, thanks to an addictive little game called "Syndicate". Peter Molyneux did some fantastic work in his time, and I'd have to say that his best was "Syndicate", a wonderful 2d top-down tactical action game set in a futuristic world where corporations ruled all. I know, I know, I'm simplifying the design and not giving it the space it deserves. Basically, the game employed two main components: 1) A 'virtual office', where the player, a high level executive in a globalized corporation, purchased equipment, performed research and development, decided which portion of the world to conquer next, and tinkered with his quartet of heavily modified cybernetic enforcers. Next, there was the atctical mode, where he'd unleash his four cybernetic agents upon little living breathing futuristic cities, where they'd strive for a goal... and blow the living crap out of EVERYTHING in their way.

It was fun.

And addictive.

The only thing that slightly bugged me about Syndicate, is that I was having all this fun commanding the action from up above, slaughtering everythign in my way and laying waste to an urban landscape, but what I *really* wanted was to get down and dirty on the ground with my agents.

For a while I'd searched for an engine and outlet to make my own mod based in a cyberpunk universe, having already tired myself out of the Aliens vs. Predator franchise after spending over two years developing a Starcraft>AvP mod. After lots of searching and tinkering with many games, I finally happened on OFP.

Needless to say, it took me a while, but I've come up with a tight (as in 'contained' and 'refined') design for a wonderful total conversion set in the flashpoint engine. I have the design doc in various stages of completion on my hard drive, but my connection is mussed and will only let me upload about 8k before it dies...

Myself, I'm a mod developer, I have my own studio, Privateer Studios, which has been around for about 3 years, I know how to manage, develop and complete a project. (The golden rule being, if you want to get something done, f--king do it yourself!). I'm very familiar with the flashpoint engine, having been playing with it since summer 2001. I have experience with image editing, web site construction and maintainance, 3d animation, 3d modeling, 3d texturing, 2d sprite compilation and animation, public relations, human resources, technical writing, all manner of scripting, game design, sound editing, music editing and compliation, and ripping game engines into their tiny little working parts, and then duct taping them back together. I have, however, rather limited coding and programming experience.

I'm kicking Urban Siege into full development gear on Friday, June 14th, once I get my new home office squared away and my beautiful new development rig/server up and running. I plan to have a working prototype by the summer's end, and enough of the product to be completed to tote at next year's E3.

I know this is a rather winded topic, but any feedback or aid would be appreciated, and there are always open slots in the Privateer Studios staff for talented individuals. A limited web site for Urban Siege is in the works, and will be uploaded when my f--king FTP program shows me some love...

[TheCaptain 0]

Here's the good ol' design doc, just for fun. It's long, though... =)

This will be posted on the temporary site soon, when it is, I'll replace this document with a link..

The concept is rather simple. Urban Siege is a single player experience where the player acts as the 'Public Relations' executive (Hearby referred to as "the executive") for a large corporation circa 2081. Directing the action high in the clouds from his 'virtual office' in his plush executive airship, the executive manages all aspects of his corporation's operations on the island of Zion, including purchase of equipment, training of Agents, research and development, and full scale intercorporate urban warfare. In commanding the combat, the executive can either issue orders from his airship, while using a zoomed camera to view the action, or jacking directly into the brains of his agents, and controlling their every violent move. Death of an executive controlled agent results in a loss of connection, virtual 'transport' back to the plush confines of the executive's airship, and a noteworthy financial setback.

His new assignment is to take over the urban areas of a war torn island off the coast of California, for they contain the only remnants of a revolutionary CHIP technology. The game takes place upon a single island, and is a continuous experience: The 'mission' so to speak never ends until the executive is fired, or he completes his goal. The game lasts a single night, from sundown to sunrise. (time compression is included)

The CHIP's are a device surgically implanted into a buyer's skull, which favorably alters their perception of reality. Not exactly a drug, more of a dynamically mind altering experience. The hitch, is that the corporation who controls those chips and their uplinks, has just about complete control over those citizens.

The island (tentatively named "Zion") contains about a dozen cities, and will be based upon the island in OFP: Resistance, due to it's partial urban nature. Each city is very dense, but small, only containing a few hundred civilians and a dozen vehicles. The cities are divided into sectors, each sector with a 'headquarters' in the center. Only one corporation can posess a headquarters, and each HQ gives them total control over the citizens in that sector.

That translates directly into steady income. It's a lesson learned by infomercial creators and televangelists: Brainwash them, and they will give you money. The income per sector is directly proportional to how many people are in the sector, and these people do not respawn. As the violence in the game escalates, and people and property are destroyed, those war torn city sectors become less valuable.

Outside of the industrial and built up cities lies a decaying urban jungle, with a destroyed, almost 'post apocalyptic' atmosphere. Refugees and wandering cyberpunk biker gangs patrol the wastes, out of reach of the dedicated and well armed urban police force.

The island's denizens are controlled via arrays. When the executive is not active in a zone, the arrays shut off all AI for the concerned residents, preserving CPU functionality and reducing lag.

The game is, in essence, a massive capture and hold game. Each headquarters is designated a specialty, and is not alterable in game. The major HQ type is an all encompassing building, that can serve many functions but not do all of them terribly well. It can be used for buying and selling equipment, research, agent upgrades and training, and vehicle storage to name a few, but for specialized facilities, the executive must seek out and capture them. The larger sectors with larger populations are more desirable, but if combat dwindles their populations, suddenly other sectors may seem more attractive. Capture of a sector is attained when an "executive" unit enters the HQ and converts it, much like Command and Conquer Engineers. However, the executive is still limited to having 11 units besides himself active at any time, though others can be placed in cryogenic storage.

There are three types of units in Urban Siege: Vehicles, which can either be purchased or produced from specific factories and only take up one 'number' slot in the command interface and can be controlled directly by the executive, operatives, which are expendable flesh and bones troops of varying skill and loadout, who can be any size though only still take up one 'number' slot and *cannot* be directly controlled, and the Agents.

Agents are trenchcoated enforcers who have a cybernetic uplink jacked into the rear of their skull and a partial lobotomy. This allows them to be directly controlled by the Executive. They operate like 'vehicles' in the OFP engine, where they have specific weapons, and a 'driver' unit. This driver is the agent's brain, and the brain can be easily swapped at designated facilities for another cybernetic body. This allows agents to retain experience and statistics while they can swap damaged bodies for fresh ones, and upgrade their loadouts accordingly in game. This also allows in game triggers to temporarily remove the agent's 'driver' and replace it with the executive's. However, it's debatable whether these 'vehicle' agents can themselves use vehicles... more testing is required... This limiting of the executive's tactical resources is extended to his computer opponents as well: Each of the opposing corporations will use no more than 11 groups of operatives, vehicles, or agents at any time across the globe. Keep in mind that each headquarters can hold only one operative group for defensive purposes, and is not directly controllable by the player once stationed, but can be transferred between HQ's or brought into active duty.

The weapons in the game come in three main forms, those mounted on vehicles (which are upgradable), those on agent bodies (which are both upgradable and can be swapped for other bodies), and those carried by operatives (which operate much like normal OFP weapons). Hopes are to include three distinct weapons in each category of Pistol, Shotgun, SMG, Assault Rifle, Sniper, Machine Gun, Incendiary, Explosive, and Experimental, but time constraints exist as usual in project development. Expect to see a modified AR-15, P90, an over under shotgun/(taser/emp)slug launcher for police, an M41 pulse rifle for the military, akimbo handguns for operatives that aspire to be Chow Yun Fat, and miniguns for select agents. If anyone remembers "Satellite Rain" from Syndicate Wars, they'll be pleased to note that it makes an appearance, along with suitcase nukes...

As proposed, there will be a number of vehicles and characters in the game, with a fair number of models having different textures applied to make them seem fresh. Both hover cars for the rich and ground cars for the poorer will be used, hovercars acting like OFP helicopters, flitting around the cityscapes at will.

The cyberpunks are roving gangs of anarchists, tied together by a loose goal of freedom from governmental and corporate oppression, high acceptance and utilization of technology, retro 'punk' style, and acts of wonton terrorism.. Whoops, I mean liberation...

The Corporate look and feel is basically surmised by describing functional, and vicious looking weapons and equipment manned by operatives in suits and combat gear, and cybernetic agents blistering heavy weaponry from beneath their billowing trenchcoats. The agents, being heavily modified, are able to take a lot more punishment than expendable operatives, at very high cost. Vehicles are extremely expensive and often useful for purposes of suppression, assault, and transport. Operatives range from low level 'rent-a-cops' to executive security details to heavily armed infiltration commandos. Just don't expect them to take much punishment.

There will be four corporations in game. More were proposed, but if included, each one would lose personality to quantity of factions. Each one will have roughly the same base units, but will be able to utilize the specialized HQ's for creation of certain technologies. For example, a vehicle factory HQ may allow three types of vehicles to be built, rather than bought. Opponents would be forced to buy using their own means two of those vehicles at a higher price, but the current owner of said HQ would be able to create them at lower cost. If the owner of the HQ has a certain specialty, it will be able to utilize the facility to create assets that no other corporation can develop, even if they reclaim the headquarters. For example, if the corporation that excels in cybernetics took control of a specialized cybernetics HQ, it would be able to produce cybernetics upgrades that no other corporation could.

The first corporation is one that excels in cybernetics and Agent related areas, allowing them to train/clone slightly better agents than the rest, and develop new cybernetic technologies. The second is a computer and internet related corporation who has access to vast research capabilities, making all of their research quicker and more efficient. The third is a vehicle corporation, who excels in vehicle creation and design. The fourth is a security firm, who has more powerful weapons than the rest, and much more advanced and streamlined operative teams. Names pending.

The military is an interesting topic. I've always been a fan of the Colonial Marines from the Aliens universe. Basically, I really wanted to include their M41a Pulse Rifle in Urban Siege, and I eventually decided to have the entire US Military arm look and act much as the USCM did in Aliens. Expect the pulse rifle, smart gun, flamers, motion trackers, APC's and dropships to make an appearance, time permitting.

The police are employed in the various cities as peacekeepers, and will attempt to arrest, and then fire upon anyone who commits violent acts in their vicinity. The executive will find the police to be essential for keeping order in his own sectors, and a nuisance in opposing ones. Police aggression is curbed through either bribes or the destruction of sector police stations. Police resources range from lone officers on hoverbikes, to two/four man squads in hovercars, to special gunships and armed SWAT vans.

Missions are given at points during the game by both the executive's home corporation and allies/rivals, as well as the cyberpunks and government. The accepting and completion of these missions determines the executive's alliances and enemies during the game. Most missions will be randomized, often falling under the categories of 'blow up building/vehicle' to 'steal equipment/vehicle' to 'capture person' to 'assassinate person', with a few interesting wildcards to be thrown in. There will also be more specific, one time only, plot driven missions, though much of the executive's interactions with the story and information will come through messages and updates, not 'RPG-like' interactions on the ground. Missions provide an alternative means of funding.

Buildings in Urban Siege are fully modeled, ranging from industrial warehouses to high-rise skyscrapers. However, due to the limitations of the engine, only the first floors and roofs of these buildings will be enterable and usable, with the roofs only useable as vehicle landing platforms and sniper posts. This decision was made to keep the action fast and furious at street level, help out the engine by not taking advantage of multiple floors, which are often a hinderance to OFP gameplay, and to keep down development time by not having to model too much of a building.

The economic model in Urban Siege is limited, but functional. All assets (agents, operatives, vehicles, research, headquarters buildings) cost cash (or, 'liquid assets') to be bought or created. (Creation costs less, but requires a specialized HQ). All resources also require constant cash for upkeep and maintenance. Cash flow goes in and out at regular intervals, tentatively being five minutes. Thus, every five minutes, the player will gain his profit from sector control and lose expenses to upkeep. Mission bonuses and cash allocated for production/research/development/training are added or subtracted instantly. Thus, budget management is necessary.

Time for a little dabbling in Plot. It's yet to be fleshed out, but here goes... In the mid 21st century, a large seismic event rocks Southern California, and it is dubbed The Big One, the huge earthquake the state has been waiting for for over half a century. Rumor has it that it is, yes, a shadowy government experiment. The results are so powerful, that Southern California actually separates from her northern sister. In between the two plates as they drift apart exist a number of islands, which are home to decayed urban rubbish, destroyed during the split, and thousands of refugees, seeking shelter from their deluded and oppressive lives. The government, who desperately wants to reclaim the islands, is faced with an interesting dilemma: Reclaim their U.S. soil through massive, violent military action, or pursue other options... Thus the government persuades a small technological firm, Microtech (name pending) to run an experiment in societal pacification. The corporation offer 'free' CHIPs to the American populace, and truck them over to built up, walled cities on one of the islands, Zion. These CHIPs give these people amazing lives, where their perception of reality is altered more than any drug could hope to provide... permanently. Microtech creates a vast network on the island, and control of Zion is restored to the US of A. Microtech relocates their corporate headquarters The government, pleased with the progress, contracts Microtech to work their magic on the rest of contested Southern California. However, just as the golden age seems to appear (and Microtech has the sole rights to CHIP technology, suggesting future world domination), disaster strikes. A low yield nuclear device is detonated at the Microtech corporate HQ on the island of Zion.

It is not known who detonated the device, all sides point fingers at the others. Corporations suggest their competitors, the cyberpunks point at the government, and the government wails 'terrorism'. However, on the very eve that Microtech's control disappears, and their pacification networks are all in place, four corporations come sniffing to the island to claim control of the technology for themselves, for the faction with control of the CHIP technology for themselves, could easily innoculate the planet and have world domination. The four corporations immediately begin their quest to gather the dissolved Microtech network for their own. However, later that evening, the cyberpunks begin to raid the island's sectors and free the populace from the bounds of CHIP technology. When the terrorist situation gets out of hand, the government declares Martial Law and sends its hardcore United States Marine Corps to clean up the mess. When the night departs and early morning arrives, one faction very well may be the victor.

The Executive, public relations director for his chosen corporation, has complete and utter control over his operations on Zion. He must have the economic savvy of a fortune 500 businessman, the battle tactics of a general, and the heartlessness of a convicted criminal.

All right, that plot needs a bit of work, so any ideas are appreciated.

It must be noted that the government and cyberpunks are not playable factions, and time compression is fully controllable while the executive is active in his airship. Everything from pause to 4x time is supported, but the game cannot be paused or slowed down while the executive is actively controlling an Agent or vehicle; all unit commands and administrative actions can be fully utilized while the game is paused. I'll probably think up more notes later... That's the design as is, but I can guarantee the specifics will be altered or trimmed down. Right now, everything up there is a wish list. However, the game will be completed with the core design elements fully intact. These are:

1) Two game modes, 'virtual office' in airship, and direct tactical combat

2) Game dynamics focused on control of sectors in island cities

3) Income based on population of non-respawning civilians in sectors

4) Persistent gameplay; the map doesn't end until the game does

5) The Agents wear trenchcoats

[Scorpio 0]

wow.....how long did it take you to write all that? :

[spiderman6999 0]

dude, that took a while to read.

spidey.

[Miles 0]

sounds like a f**king hard job, but if you pull it off it will be very good

[TheCaptain 0]

I'm just now putting together an orgnaized quasi-website for PR purposes, as well as reconstructing the Privateer Studios website. I still wouldn't mind a little help or feedback. It should be easier to contact me once our forums are up and the website is fully constructed...

[digitalcenturion 20]

Hmm sure did take alot of time to read suprises me i read it all.. you must be a good writer

Very nice design and well tought out. You are the first "come-join-my-project" dude that has convinced me, and ive seen a few. One point caught my interest: The post-apoc landscapes between the cities. I love post-apoc. Favorite RPG: Fallout1/2. I dont know much about cyberpunk but it would be nice if the anarchist gangs would have low tech stuff more or less imported straight from plain vanilla OFP with new rusty textures ofcourse

I can make basic texture addons so i might be interested to do post-apoc stuff.. well cya around gotta go take a dump now