Hungerbattles
- 1. We’ll be starting shortly! (16:00 CET) www.kalbuir.com
- 2. Introduction • Gamer for 14 years • Streaming: Shooters, MOBA’s & MMORPGS • Full time developer for financial applications • Aspiring game designer / community management • This started as a presentation for regulars: “Hey let’s post it on Reddit what could go wrong!?” www.kalbuir.com
- 3. The current team • tr4st (@tr4st) • Kalbuir (@defianceKal) • Mephistonx – Art • Suage – Art • And you! (Stream Community)
- 4. Origin of the Mod • Community & Interaction heavy stream • Motivations for streaming • Love for Arma 3 • Lack of interaction with viewers • Can only play with 2/3 viewers at a time www.kalbuir.com
- 5. Design Goals • Support a larger amount of viewers per game • Game with clear start and end • Rotation of new players / viewers • Competition among friends and the community • Action oriented, less running simulation • Scalable solution • Eventually replace art (weapons) with our own • Coded from scratch www.kalbuir.com
- 6. Challenges of the project • Arma III beta stage, API still heavily evolving and improving. • Our code is breaking out under us at times • Main reason we want to code from scratch, as we know exactly where we can optimize based on new API features • Code is our own and we know it well, so adding future features becomes easier. (i.e. Food) www.kalbuir.com
- 8. The setting • You’ve been chosen to participate in the biggest blood sport event ever created • Players are dropped by helicopter into the arena which is blocked off by a dome. • 20 players enter (currently), only one leaves • Survivor is picked up by helicopter www.kalbuir.com
- 9. The Basics - Battles are played in rounds - Currently 20 players per round - Each round starts with a "circle of death" - Player faced with 2 options: Loot or Run (Risk vs Reward) - Scavenge to survive - Melee & ranged combat - Last man standing wins - No 3rd person camera - Realistic jumping www.kalbuir.com
- 10. The Basics - Direct communication (VON) enabled - Chat disabled - No Death messages in chat, UI indicates amount of players left www.kalbuir.com
- 11. The start of the round www.kalbuir.com - Players spawn with a small selection of loot at their feet - Faster you pick it up, the faster you can grab a weapon at the middle
- 12. Play the game or die! www.kalbuir.com • Players don’t know which area to expect • Actively hunt other players, or wait it out • Camping isn’t really possible, more on this later • Team up with players, or play lone wolf • But at the end only 1 survives
- 13. www.kalbuir.com • Current size: 1000m x 1000m. • We can move it around freely, to any map or area. • Providing two key things: – A dynamic and non static experience. – A way newer players aren’t overwhelmed by the amount of terrain. The arena
- 15. Example of moving area around www.kalbuir.com
- 16. The Loot www.kalbuir.com - Guns, attachments and ammo come separate - Different weapon types - Different throw able objects - Different types of food - Medicine to counter different conditions - Clothing, armor & protection - Range of traps - Range of tools (implemented later)
- 17. Weapons • Gun – Attachments fully working. – Arma 3 Base Weapons. – Custom weapons and attachments. • Melee Weapons – Knife – Machete – Katana – Hatchet • Bows and Crossbows www.kalbuir.com
- 19. Guns & Modern Gear • Considered leaving modern gear out • Essential part of Arma 3 gameplay • Currently using R3F ARMES (team-r3f.org) & RH Pistol pack • Use pre-existing community made art to jumpstart our development process www.kalbuir.com
- 20. Melee Combat • Everyone loves melee combat! • Easy to swap to melee, independent of gun setup. • Challenges: “Knife to a gunfight” • Silent take downs • Solution: Additional weapon slots! • “Gentlemen’s way” / Dueling www.kalbuir.com
- 22. Key Features #1 “The usual suspects” • Food & water is sparse: hunting, scavenging or stealing • Health: Stay healthy, medicine are a rare commodity. However a stranger might help you out! (hint) • But most of all, you have to stay warm! www.kalbuir.com Hunger, Thirst, Heat & Health
- 23. Key Features #1 “The usual suspects” • Not moving decreases your body temperature • When hypothermia sets in you take damage • There is a point of no return, only meds can save you then • Other means of staying warm besides moving: – Buildings and shelter – Clothing – Items – Fire www.kalbuir.com Staying warm
- 24. Key Features #2: Armor • Not just cosmetically • Armor points • Better survival chances • Better protection against environment • Carrying more has consequences www.kalbuir.com Gear matters Meet Charlie!
- 25. Key Features #3: UI • Arma 3 offers amazing new possibilities for UI development • Streamline gameplay experience by offering other means of interaction besides the scroll wheel www.kalbuir.com New UI / Action Menu
- 26. Key Features #4: Dead Zones Dead Zones www.kalbuir.com
- 27. Key Features #5 “Sneaking” Sneak peak through doors www.kalbuir.com
- 28. Key Features #6 Trapping • Traps can found and set in the world • Traps have different effects: bleeding, poison or slowing their prey • Traps can be detected by other players • Traps can be disarmed www.kalbuir.com
- 29. Key Feature #7: Spectating • When a player dies he/she can choose to spectate the rest of the game • Multiple camera options, follow person, free control & specific locations • Spectate cheating not an issue, more on this later www.kalbuir.com
- 30. That was the boring stuff What we will work on after the basics www.kalbuir.com
- 31. Wildlife • Passive and active wildlife • Wildlife can be as much of a threat as other players • A means of food, or indication where players are www.kalbuir.com
- 32. Viewer Score • Currently already in beta on channel, gain points by watching stream and participating in chat • Kalbuir points • Impact what games we will be streaming. • What we do in games (MOBA Hero’s /Champions) www.kalbuir.com
- 33. Tournament • Hunger Battle isn’t just one round, we want to make certain aspects besides gear persist • Gain points for winning and rise in the ranking, automatically gaining another invite www.kalbuir.com
- 34. Complete website Integration • Gain entree into a Hunger Battle through points. (obtained through viewer score) • Spectate players on an interactive map while rounds are being played • Inspect their gear, health situation • Support your favorite with care packages • Leader boards & ranking www.kalbuir.com
- 35. Viewer Score directly impact Hunger Battles • Buy care-packages (food, water, medicine, ammo) • Bet on the outcome and gain more points www.kalbuir.com
- 36. Ranking and Leaderboards • Multiple leaderboards • “Winning isn’t everything” • Killing counts, dogtags www.kalbuir.com
- 37. Cheating • Hot topic in Arma • Hunger Battles are invite only or obtained through viewer points • This makes blacklisting easier • Track players movement and record it for review • This allows us to not fear stream sniping and spectator abuse. www.kalbuir.com
- 38. The “Crazy Stuff” Stuff we would really like to do down the line www.kalbuir.com
- 39. A small list • Fishing for food • Crafting (arrows, food, traps, etc.) • Persistent experience, make your character more powerful • A video feed for each of the 21 players, tied directly into the interactive map www.kalbuir.com
- 41. Milestones • Closed invite only alpha tests (starts this week) • After a few successful Alpha playtests closed beta, featured on Stream (Timeframe undecided) • Open beta any viewer can get in (Timeframe undecided) www.kalbuir.com
- 42. What is next! • We aim to have video footage up next week • Open Development, we welcome your suggestions change logs freely available. • Give us your feedback on our forums at www.kalbuir.com • Q&A Session coming up! www.kalbuir.com
- 43. Q&A Questions?