Topic: Crowd-source level building

[-<WillyP>-]

This is an idea I have, to build a level, or maybe even a level set, by crowd-sourcing.   If you are not familiar with the term crowd-sourcing, it just means everybody who wants to participate, can, and a vote is taken for various questions that come up.  Including how this would all go down.  What do you think... can this be done, and does anybody want to?

[Darkflamewolf]

well something similar to that was tried and resulted in The Enemy Within.

[Scyphi]

I tried a similar tactic with Project Pavilion, but as we should all know, it didn't work out, so apparently it's a hit-and-miss tactic. Depends on how you do it, I suppose.

[Babylon]

It's an awsome idea in theory.  The only hitch is finding people dedicated enough to spend their time chipping in towards the project.  It seems most ideas such as this die because everyone is all talk, and no work.

I, for one, would be willing to contribute.

[-<WillyP>-]

Ok, here are some questions that need to be answered: D1, 2 or 3?  Multiplayer or single?  Gametype if multiplayer? Name?  Feel free to add more questions, but let's stick to general questions for now.

There is commitment required.  If we answer these questions and that's as far as it goes, so be it.  If anyone wants to take the time to discuss these issues, then after some time I'll put up a poll.

I have some ideas for a D3 Multiplayer, robo anarchy that would play kinda like a string of d1/2 levels.  Players would start out at one end of the level and have to fight hoards of bots and turrets, as well as each other, and then destroy a reactor.  This would be in a small section of the level.  Destroying the reactor would open the next section, and fill the first section with a radioactive, toxic fog.  So the players would move from one section to the next, but still respawn in the first.  There would be maybe three sections like this, with the last reactor forcing the player to find an exit, ending the level.

[Scyphi]

I like that idea.

Although if I were to participate, I would more likely produce results if it was a D1/D2 level, because I know how to build levels for that like the back of my hand.

D3, on the other hand...I'm slowly getting the hang of it, but not only am I not the best at it, it also requires significantly more time and effort than I can dedicate for the moment. 

[Babylon]

May I suggest Descent 3, because it supports team building better?  Level designers could build their respective pieces which would be easy to import into a collective feature.  I don't think Descent 2 supports importing/exporting parts?  I'd also like to point out my extreme bias because of my experience with D3. ;p

I'm really indifferent to the game type, though a single-player might be enjoyed more than a multiplayer in the long run.

@WillyP  That's a very interesting scenario.  Would it play out as a 1 v 1 tug-of-war with players starting on opposite ends trying to destroy one another's personal reactor?

[Kaiaatzl]

I don't think Descent 2 supports importing/exporting parts?

It does actually (block files) but it's not as simple as saving a room when it's finished anyway.

[Scyphi]

I'd also like to point out my extreme bias because of my experience with D3.

That's okay. To be fair, I'm extremely bias too, but that's because of my experience with D1/D2 editing, so in short, the opposite from your case.

That, and the fact that I can actually wrap my mind around D1/D2 editing. After years of experimenting with D3 editing, I still can't figure out some of it's quirks.

It does actually (block files) but it's not as simple as saving a room when it's finished anyway.

Furthermore, in my mind, because building D1/D2 levels tend to be much simpler, there's almost no point doing it that way. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard of anybody doing it that way before for a D1/D2 level.

[-<WillyP>-]

May I suggest Descent 3, because it supports team building better?  Level designers could build their respective pieces which would be easy to import into a collective feature.  I don't think Descent 2 supports importing/exporting parts?  I'd also like to point out my extreme bias because of my experience with D3. ;p

I'm really indifferent to the game type, though a single-player might be enjoyed more than a multiplayer in the long run.

@WillyP  That's a very interesting scenario.  Would it play out as a 1 v 1 tug-of-war with players starting on opposite ends trying to destroy one another's personal reactor?

The way I envisioned it, players would start out in an area, let's call it blue.  All the players spawn in blue.  At the other end of blue, there is a blue reactor. Players fight their way through blue, battling bots and each other for the honor, and maybe some points, of destroying blue reactor.
Once Blue reactor is destroyed, a door to area yellow opens, and blue begins to flood with a blue radioactive fog.  The fog does some damage to any ship in blue area.  So all the players move to yellow, and repeat the scenario with tougher bots and a more well protected reactor.  Players still spawn in blue area, and must move quickly to yellow.

After the yellow reactor succumbs, again the area is flooded with radio active fog, this time yellow, a door opens and now players move to red area.  Players still re-spawn in blue area and must now battle through blue area and yellow area to rejoin the battle.

Conquering the red reactor opens an emergency escape route, a red fog forms, and the players fight to escape and the level ends.

[Kaiaatzl]

I like that idea, except for the spawning in blue part.  I can see serious gameplay problems coming up if the exits aren't placed just right.  Especially if, for example, a player has to leave to use the bathroom.  It will count as a suicide when the level kills you (lava, robots, etc) I believe.  If you get into a fight while going to the current area, even if you win the fight you'll probably just die afterward so there's no net gain in points.
Also the damage you'd take trying to get out of the blue and yellow areas would mean you'd die and end up back in there that much faster.
And with this type of level building it wouldn't be very likely that you could arrange it so the exits are placed just right.
I think there should be multiple waypoints in each area for player starts.

[Foil]

It sounds quite a bit like the existing "Assault" 2-team mod for Descent3.

The source code for that mod is available.  Might not take much work to adjust it to work for the above idea.

[-<WillyP>-]

I don't believe my idea needs any mod other than robo-anarchy.  It only needs to trigger doors, fog and room-damage when a reactor is blown, and end the level when a player reaches the end of the escape tunnel.  I believe that is all doable in any gametype.  But I could be wrong.

The damage done in each area would be slight, just enough to encourage players to move along.  Presumably most of the bots would be destroyed by then anyway.  But maybe spawn points could be turned on for only the area currently at play, not sure about that.

I don't know what you mean by 'And with this type of level building it wouldn't be very likely that you could arrange it so the exits are placed just right.', since we have not discussed level design or how it would be built yet.

[-<WillyP>-]

First poll up!

[Kaiaatzl]

I meant if you are recieving rooms/level structures from other people you don't have as much control over what goes where .
I think doing this for a singleplayer level/campaign would be awesome- oh wait that's what we're doing with Army of Haloon .