Arena Ideas

[DanMarshall]

Hi guys-

Here's a quicky: my game is a deathmatch title like Unreal Tournament, played out over several different arenas. I'm on map 24 of 27, and I'm running out of fresh ideas for maps.

I've done everything from gritty urban to futuristic, alien innards, factory, hospital, alien worlds, atop speeding trains and of course the Inevitable Slippy Slidey Ice Level.

Just wondering if anyone could throw me some ideas to play around with. Anywhere you'd love to have a deathmatch?!

Many thanks,

Dan

[Ricardo Vladimiro]

( I was keeping this one for myself, but I won't be doing any FPS or arena soon, so... )

Have you seen the movie "The Cube"? What about a big cube made of interconnecting smaller cubes? Each cube would have series of stairs, pathways, etc with door, wholes, windows to look inside other cubes. It's a bit of a maze, giving the player a weird bit of cat/mouse feel since they can have a glance at other cubes.

The small cubes walls would not be touching, but corridors would join each other. Throw some diferent ambient on each cube, diferent door, corridor, pathway and ladders. Make the top cubes like trenchs (sp?) so they can snipe each other...

Hope this helps.

edit: the one I had sketched had 27 cubes, 9 cubes per "floor" making it a perfect 3x3x3 cube.

[DanMarshall]

Man, I love Cube. In fact, I've been bouncing this idea around myself for about a year, now. Unfortunately, as the game is 2D, it doesn't really work... but thanks for the input. I'll keep trying it...!

All the best,

Dan

[Sol_HSA]

Hi guys-
Just wondering if anyone could throw me some ideas to play around with. Anywhere you'd love to have a deathmatch?!


Try the Yellow Pages. You'd be surprised how many good setting ideas you can find there =)

[Sharkbait]

Here are some themes for you: Caves and Lava, Aztec Temple, Atlantis, Underwater Complex, Jungle, Egypt

[DanMarshall]

Here are some themes for you: Caves and Lava, Aztec Temple, Atlantis, Underwater Complex, Jungle, Egypt


Sadly, I've done all of those...! But many thanks. I've also done:

run-down theatre; crazy funfair; swamp; hell; cutesy blue sky/ green fields;

you names it, I've dones it...! Aaaaargh!

d

[Vorax]

Inside the inner workings of a gigantic robot sent back in time to destory humanity and host a little death match :D

[Sega]

A few off the top of my head: 50's suburban neighborhood, department/grocery store, midieval castle, modern mansion, dance club, American Gladiatorsish arena, a major sport's arena (this would probably work best for a top-down view. I'm not sure what view you have), zoo, race track, cubicle filled office (again, the previous two would mainly work with a top-down view), a bar with a live band on stage, construction site, feng shuied-out asian garden...

[Bmc]

sewers, prison, underground cavern, cemetary, funhouse, office, department store, santa's workshop, fairytale land, amusement park, meat cutting factory/slaughterhouse, old movie studio (with set pieces from cheesy b-movies strewn about)

[Screwball]

Here is some more for you:

Old Western Style Set (With Spagetti Western Style Music :-P)
Icehockey Style Game Show Rink (Think Running Man)
Roman Style Ruined Arena (Collisuem with lots of off shoot buildings)
School Yard
Oil Rig
Hovering / Moving Platforms (Eg Water Pontoons or some sort of aerial platforms)

[ManuelFLara]

Here are some themes for you: Caves and Lava, Aztec Temple, Atlantis, Underwater Complex, Jungle, Egypt

Good ideas! Where (http://www.popcap.com/launchpage.php?theGame=zuma&src=big8) did (http://www.bigkahunareef.com/) you (http://www.funpause.com/atlantis/) got (http://www.mumbojumbo.com/luxor.html) them (http://www.bigfishgames.com/downloads/mauiwowee/)? Casual games are really hurting our creativity! :D

[Sharkbait]

Ahem... must stop thinking as a portal whore... :rolleyes:

[Nauris]

Soul asylum
Bank vault full of money
Rooftops
River with moving barges connecting time to time
Post office
The Matrix, man

[terin]

Inside a human colon has my vote.

Go colon!

-Joe

[electronicStar]

Other ideas:
-a spaceship flying through hyperspace (with exterior battle areas)
-a sewer full of radioactive stuff
-industrial factory with lots of conveyor belts and some radioactive goo in some huge vats
-a castle with radioactive goo
-a level located in hell, with spikes everywhere, skelettons and radioactive goo
-experimental lab with test subjects
-weapon range with a command that can trigger an aerial attack somewhere


If you run out of ideas, just make a very standard arena and put one incongruous object that stand out in the middle, like for example a statue of a pelican...And let the players think out the theme for themselves.

[DanMarshall]

Ha ha! Thanks for all these, guys, they're much appreciated.

It's actually quite interesting how we all think alike. Great though all these ideas are, there are very few that I haven't either done, or done a variation of in my game...! There are one or two that have piqued my interest, and I'll concentrate my creative juices all over them. Here's a full list of my maps thus far, so you can all see how close all our ideas are!

Urban Streets/ Sewers
Inside a giant alien's innards
Aztec/ Jungle/ Monkey
Disused Army Base
Hell
Space Station/ low Gravity
Atop a speeding train
Green Hill Zone/ Cutesy
Freezer
London
Belfry/ Tower
Disused Hospital overrun with Zombies
Desert/ Secret Military Base
Cavern/ underwater
Alien Planet about to explode
Ancient Greece/ Erupting Volcano
Cutest Autumnal/ Tree tops
Inside a packed nightclub
Ice Palace
Robot Factory
Futuristic City
Swamp
Funfair
Theatre littered with props.

I've also got a crashing spaceship level planned, but I'm gonna do that one last. I've also going to do a BBC Micro homage map.

Many thanks,

D

[electronicStar]

What type of maps are we talking about? is this a 3D game?
I assume you are not aiming for the same level of detail than the standard deathmatch games because I can't imagine the huge amount of work that would have required you for all these maps (more than a year?).

Can you include interactions with objects in the level? if not maybe it would be worth trying to implement that because that would multiply the gameplayability tenfold.

Okay another idea: hockey arena.

[DanMarshall]

It's a 2D game, but there's a twist to the gameplay in that it's not straight DM. Production time has been a little over a year thus far, and I'm hoping to release in a couple of months (I'm doing 100% of the design, coding and artwork... it's my baby...!). There's a fine balance between detailed and cartoony to the maps, and I'm proud of all of them.

There's interaction to a degree, but not so much as 'every object is movable'. I've tried to make sure that there are some 'vanilla' maps (ie no special features), but most have a unique (usually physics/ NPC-based) hook - be it slippy slidey ice, boiling hot lava, zombies, water or low gravity.

It's an ace game called 'Gibbage'-- UK residents should all rush out and buy a copy of next month's PCZone (out early january), as the demo will be on the coverdisk. Once I've got a website up and running, the demo will be downloadable from there, and I'll let you all know...

Cheers,

Dan

[Sega]

What view is it? side? top? I too can't really imagine the amount of detail you're going for, if you can create something with this much variety in little time. I look forward to the release.

[DanMarshall]

It's side view, cartoony. Sort of a deathmatch platform game. It's best described as a cross between Unreal Tournament, Worms and Bomberman.

It's the game I've always wanted to make, and I've loved writing it. It's never a chore. Ok, I lied. The AI for player 2 was a chore. But other than that it's been a delight...!

D

[AnthemAudio]

Kinda like Smash Brothers? Anyways...

How about...

-On the palm of a hand (or other appendage) with a huge (alien?) EYE watching.
-Clock Tower
-New Building (Skyscraper?) under construction with scaffolding, ladders, etc
-Gigantic Waterfall
-Museum! (artwork, dinosaurs, old planes whatever)
-Church!
-Large outdoor playground
-On stage at a rock concert
-inner city rooftops
-Beach/pier

I could do this all day.
Good luck!

Tony

[Chozabu]

how about anything at a very unusual scale?

[Pyabo]

My mom's basement... very scary! :)

Didn't see a dungeon on the list... or other fantasy-themed areas. Would that not work with the game?

Also, out of curiosity... why 27? Twenty-four maps is already quite a lot. Is there a reason you're set on that number?

[DanMarshall]

Twenty seven is an odd number, you're right...

But that's how many thumbnails (+1 'random' option) fit nicely on my title screen (which looks sweeeeet), and it's the number I set myself all those months ago. So I need to do it, now. It's like a personal challenge...!

Odd you should say dungeon -- I'm thinking of doing a Prince of Persia (original, obviously) style map. Garish palace on top, dungeon below. Google Images it is, then....!

[DrWilloughby]

An Xbox game I worked on, Whacked!, had some really fun, creative arenas:
http://screenshots.teamxbox.com/gallery/305/Whacked/p1/
-Back of a speeding El Camino filled with empty beer cans being chased by a cop car (I think Dan Paladin, who did Alien Hominid came up with this one)
-Underneath a Christmas tree, including a model train (that could run you over) and all sorts of twisted presents
-A Space Station that would periodically lose gravity
-Good side/bad side of the street (the bad side was a trailer park, the good side looked like beverly hills)
-Kitchen countertop complete with garbage disposal and a camel-mascotted cereal named Dry Humps

By the way, Dan Paladin did a number of "advertisements" that would play between levels that were hilarious and totally overlooked at the time. I found one on IGN here:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/372/372293p1.html (look for the Watch the Commercial link)

He also made this actual commercial for the game which only had a short run before MSoft decided to take it down. It's still posted here:
http://www.drennor.com/flash/comedy/misc/whacked.htm Frickin funny.

[soniCron]

By the way, Dan Paladin did a number of "advertisements" that would play between levels that were hilarious and totally overlooked at the time. I found one on IGN here:
http://xfersf07.ign.com/^921344711/movies/xboxmovies.ign.com/docroot/xbox/video/mysterycom1.mov?position=front "Billy, would you like a battery?"
*THUD!*
(Demonic voice) "I will crush you!"

My wife and I get a kick out of that game! Great level design! (Especially love the kitchen sink!) I totally forgot you worked on that! *runs off to brag*

[DrWilloughby]

"Billy, would you like a battery?"
*THUD!*
(Demonic voice) "I will crush you!"

My wife and I get a kick out of that game! Great level design! (Especially love the kitchen sink!) I totally forgot you worked on that! *runs off to brag*
That battery one is my favorite. Better every time you watch it.

Yeah I did the Xbox Live front end and the AI for the bots. Probably the most fun I've ever had working on *someone else's* game.

But, not to get too far off topic here, it also had some great levels for arena combat. Worth buying for 9.99 if you can find it.

[Bmc]

so is your game going to be anything like Stick Arena http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/stickarena/ ? I'm so addicted to it right now, it's just not funny.

[AnthemAudio]

Stick Arena is a blast! Though I think he said view is from the side.

Are you gonna use any level ideas we came up with?

[Aldacron]

The Opera House!

[DanMarshall]

so is your game going to be anything like Stick Arena http://www.xgenstudios.com/play/stickarena/ ? I'm so addicted to it right now, it's just not funny.

No, they're very different games, actually. Mine's not straight DM, and side-on. And better...!

Not sure if I'll use any of these Arena Ideas -- they're all good, but I've either done them, done something very similar, or they're unworkable with my engine... but many thanks anyway -- this thread has certainly gotten my creative juices flowing again...