#Arena FPS

[luxlightly]

I talked about it with two different people lately and I really think that Quake as a series has the potential to be a far more popular franchise in today's market than it currently is, but if it is, it has to be from a shift in focus on the story and lore elements. 

Back when Quake came out, multiplayer games were not the norm. A built in arena mode at the scale Quake had was a huge draw. Now, not only is that the norm, it's completely consumed the market. People have tons of other multi-player shooters to choose from, out there. For many players interested in story and lore, it's even a turn off, suggesting that the devs might not care about their single player experience. 

I truly believe that the rich lore of the world of Quake is something that would be extremely appealing to modern audiences. Between the Lovecraftian old gods and the blending of the machine and the flesh with the Strogg, it has elements that are highly popular right now, more than ever. It’s truly “Call of Cthulhu meets Mass Effect”. This should be catnip to half the internet.

But the story and lore of Quake is fractured from a history fraught with leadership disputes, brand confusion, and passing back and forth between developers. It's a series in parts with no clear connection between them. Any benefit having two genres might provide is totally lost due to the fact there’s no attempts to organically blend them. There’s also not a lot of ways to really get at that lore, even in the single player campaigns that do exist. The protagonists are stiff and not fleshed out and focus on characters is largely nonexistent.

Now, obviously, the number of fanfictions something has on AO3 is not indicative of its success, but it is a way to gauge how much audiences are engaging with the story or world of a game. Quake, as a whole, has about 30, only a handful of which are actually centered on Quake itself. (For reference, Undertale has 62k) Despite the fascinating lore, people aren’t engaging with it.

If Quake is going to regain its cultural relevance and popularity, it has to be through a focus on story, characters, and the exploration of the lore and world building. And it has to do so in a space in which new players feel comfortable which, presently, it absolutely is not.

The retro fps/arena shooter genres are EXTREMELY hostile towards new players. All multiplayer games have toxic playerbases, but the retro fps/arena shooter genre is particularly bad. These games have been deified to the point where, for many, “protecting” what they see as the purity of those games is far more important than playing them. 

As much as I adore QC, it could never have achieved the mainstream popularity necessary to save the genre or franchise. A purely multiplayer game just reinforces the idea for prospective players that this isn't something that focuses on its non gameplay elements. Which, in fairness, it largely does not. It’s not meant to. But that’s exactly why it can’t do what the genre desperately needed it to. The depth of worldbuilding is there! A frankly shocking amount of consideration of worldbuilding went into every decision about mechanics and design, but it’s hidden in locked scrolls and character bios that take months of playing to unlock and have no real bearing on the game itself.

From there, the players who carried over from previous games are extremely experienced and aggressive towards people they see as entering “their” space. It can take weeks of playing before a new player is able to really engage in matches enough to fully enjoy them. And that time can be downright miserable.People don't want to put in that work for things they have no existing attachment to and the games continue to give them less and less to get attached to in pursuit of recapturing the feeling of being the one big pvp fps on campus, so to speak . 

This means that, with each iteration, it distills more and more into just the people who have been playing since the beginning and ignore or contribute to the toxicity, which further drives away more players. It's a cycle of decay that can't be broken without a huge refresh in the playerbase. New players need someone besides 30 year vets to play against and that only happens if there’s enough new players all at once. 

Since new players can’t get into the multiplayer aspects unless new players are already getting into the multiplayer, the initial interest has to be sparked from outside those elements. Which mean it has to come from a focus on cleaning up and heavily promoting the story aspects of the games. 

Solidify the timeline. Bridge the fantasy and sci-fi plotlines. Allow your protagonists to have personalities and engage meaningfully with other characters and the world around them. Give people characters and settings they can really care about. 

Give people a reason to believe they can get attached to these things without them being abandoned or discarded for the sake of multiplayer microtransactions. Give them something to think about, to write about, and to make art of, even when they're not playing. 

(And, on a personal note, please maybe not have the Strogg symbols be all literal nazi symbols; it makes it really hard to have a Strogg mug or t-shirt, etc.) 

Add single player content that actually translates to the multiplayer. Add some story objectives to multiplayer modes. Give new players something to do and to fall in love with before asking them to throw themselves into the arena. Make some tweaks to gameplay that allows newer players to not be hopelessly disadvantaged. 

Really, the main issue that the developers of Quake and all similar games face is that many existing fans will VEHEMENTLY oppose any changes to what they see as “their” games. They WILL see it as a betrayal from a game they've supported for 30 years. They no longer see these as artistic works belonging to the artists that created them. They see them as THEIRS. That those artists no longer have the right to make decisions that go against their interpretation of what they game is and they will aggressively protect that interpretation.

But the game they are “protecting” never existed. They are trying to preserve the feeling of being a child experiencing this genre for the first time. A version of the experience that only existed to them at that time because of who and where they were in their lives at that time. Ironically, by preventing kids like they were from doing the same, now.

If you made Quake, now, it would not match this perceived idea of what a Quake game should be, to them. If their childhood self started playing Quake, now, they would believe they did not belong there. In fairness, it wouldn't be Quake. Because part of what made it what it was was the fact it was unique. But setting the standard means that much of what made you unique then makes you run-of-the-mill, now.

Obviously, for true fans of the real experience of the genre and not just the nostalgia or “forum cred” of it, it’s expected and appreciated when things are done to keep the genre around and relevant as time passes. They want to have more people playing and enjoying the games more than they want to preserve their own status within a gatekept elite. But for a large number of these self appointed elites, it is more important to them to preserve that imagined version of the game and the status it grants them than it is for either the game or the genre itself to continue to exist.

As companies, the creators of these games will have to ask themselves if that's what's more important to them, too. And are they willing to risk losing what little fanbase they still have in order keep the franchises alive and to pursue their own artistic vision, as opposed to those of people 30 years ago? 

If not, then this spiral either ends with the total death of the genre, or with someone who is willing to take those risks taking the spot they once held, leaving them behind, and a beautiful part of the history of video games as an art form being lost in the pursuit of preserving it.

[devileaterjaek]

QUAKE III ARENA

Major skins

[patchoulii-2hu-144p]

2am quakelive freezetag match

[mantacid]

A probably bad idea:

Wii Are Violence:

A wii-themed arena shooter with a single player campaign.

Default miis show up as bosses/mini bosses/NPCs

Abby is an agile boss that can catch player projectiles, but can’t do the same for hitscan weapons.

Insane movement tech that becomes funny when you remember that the miis don’t technically have legs.

Beating the story mode allows You to use miis from the mini channel as characters, with custom stats.

A fake player rank (which maybe could help determine stats) that looks just like the skill level display in wii sports, graph and all.

Servers are community-run, and can decide if they want to allow custom characters and/or stats. Or if they want to ONLY use custom characters.

Matt is the final boss and mostly deals in close-range combat (a combination of fast-paced meele and shotguns)

Enemies caught in a rocket launcher’s Back Blast will react as if you threw the bowling ball backwards in wii sports bowling. A useful way to stun players for a split second, but would be balanced by the slow reload rate of the rocket launcher.

The sniper weapon would either work the exact same as it does in the wii sports resort archery gamemode, or it would be something you could utilize on the fly.

Meele weapons get some love too, with bats dealing more knock back damage, and wii sports resort swords behaving like the swords in MGR: Revengeance.

Miis look just like they would normally but with the option to enable gore when gibbing them.

Funny ragdolls, but since they don’t have limbs it takes the form of a soft body simulation.

I mean we already have a turn-based rpg with miis (miitopia). The only thing keeping this from being a reality is Nintendo’s cowardice.

[n64retro]

Perfect Dark Rareware Nintendo 64 2000

[thatspacepirate]

"Welcome to the Amazing Digital Arena" by Ephsiss Art

[colfy-wolfy]

i cant sleep because of downpour. I'm filled with so much emotion.

i fucking love rain world.

[dimalink]

Winter season Red Orchestra Killing Floor

For last month I do not play a lot. Mainly it was two games from Tripware. Red Orchestra and Killing Floor. I take this games in steams on sales. It is two games from one developer. Two of them are network battles. In both of them you can play single player maps. And I was doing this. I play in free time. About to play half an hour or about 10-15 min.

Games are about the same idea from one side - they are about maps. And you run them and shoot. But in different stylization settings. And different dynamic tempo.

Red Orchestra – it is was released earlier. There are about maps about second world war. There are lots of maps here. Every map is playing the different ways.  There are locations at the field. There is like city. And they are playing very different. There are even maps about vehicles. For example, tank. I more prefer maps like field. And city too. Depending on the map you feel the game different.

There are different weapons. Pistil. Machinegun. Automatic rifle, automatic, machinegun, sub machine gun. Different rifles. Weapons from ww2. So here you need to select a different soldiers. Rifleman, automatic gun soldiers. And two sides USSR and German side. I am for USSR only try to play. Every soldier has its own weapon pack. For example, automatic gun or rifle. There is grenade.

It is playing like a game with a big scale. Scale is big. I played with bots. So, first go to console with tilda. And write addbots 20. I can add onlky20 bots ingame. So it is more fun. Maps are big so by the idea, the more players – more fun it is.

 For example, we play as a soldier with rifle. Ussr. Map at the field. For example, summer. And there are maps with winter. They are feels as very different. And, it is summer. Rifle. Run forward. Maps are big, locations is wide. Field, river. Open space. With us also running another soldiers. They are different. It is starting a shooting. You cannot see - what side it goes. Somewhere from a far. You need to sit and find a cover.

And next – to move a point, where you can see enemies. And fire at him. It is good to lay on earth. Do not forget to move.

 Game for action is not absolutely dynamically. It is not a super fast quake with fast jumping. But everything is rather realistically. But instead of this, this is like a simulation. Crawl, lay down, go, run. Shoot. Rifle need to be reloaded. This is not a sub machinegun. But instead of this you can have a good aiming.

Automatic weapons are excellent about more closer distance. You rush from a side and start to fire.

Maps are very different. There are maps in winter. Trenches. Trees. And snow. And again start a fire. And you cannot see what place it is fire. Who. Where. Need to move forward. To enemy lines. Or in another case, enemy will control your points. It is about a controlling points to define everything. Absolutely new game looks at winter maps. I think all that goes here, is very realistically.

There is a map like blood forest. Or forest of blood. So, it has a big lines of trenches. And you need to rush into them. And it is going all the time shooting there. It is very fast and so unpredictable. There is a moment of luck or no luck. So here automatic weapon is a good thing. Narrow space. Lots of enemies. And you cannot know where is enemy. You can watch in a wrong direction.

There are cities. In ruins. Destroyed buildings. Whole buildings. Open spaces. City streets. Every type of a map feels unique and each map it is interesting to try out. You don’t know what to expect next time. In a memory these scenes. Winter.  You are with automatic rifle is going by snow. Walking though ruins of buildings. And a little further – it is a railway and open space. And just from there, immediately, they start to shoot at you.  Enemy is there - behind the wagons. And he is shooting a lot from that position. There are lots of theme.

There is a map with even more destroyed city. There is a map and trenches. And it is summer already. There are different maps for your choice. In a mountains, in field.

Second game – it is Killing Floor. And it is the same format. By network as idea. But you can play alone. And here it is another idea. You are alone or in team. I play it with brother too, by network. And you are against waves of enemies. So here it is about another game. Some dark locations. Zombies and monsters. Experimental some mutants are raging out. And dark as in a horror movie. Locations are waving horror. True horror. Style of Resident Evil, there is something. And here it is more dynamical action.

In this horror it is goes action about shooting enemies. Enemies are different zombies. Big and casual. You are running the map.  As by labyrinth. You can buy weapons between the waves of enemies. So here you have also different weapons. And you can find something interesting. Shotguns, automatic rifles, AK47, all of these there are here, pistols exists. Cold weapons also exist. You have a list to select.

It is playing as a cool horror and action. I think this way can be a DOOM. As a main idea. If it will have a story and typical maps. But game is main about a shooting, crossfires. And waves of enemies. In the final it will be a boss. You are inside of a horror movie about zombies and mutants. But with lots of weapons. It can be scary. At some places. But you need to move. You need to shoot.

 There are lots of maps too. They are different. There are several game mods. About maps with waves of enemies and mode with small tasks, it looks like tasks. There are also a maps for this mode. It is various, different and good horror action.

There are absolutely scary locations. As some laboratories with black metal around the walls. It is very dark. And rooms are destroyed. And lots of monsters. It is so uncomfortable in a such places.

There locations – oppositive. Like farm. Field. Road. And somewhere in a field the are – zombies and mutants, unholy. It is night also.

Weapons you need to buy for money you get from killed monsters. Between waves of enemies. You can have some pause between next wave. And this way you can try very different weapon. It is very interesting. And there are good pistols and shotguns. So, you start with something simple and next you get something very progressive into your hands. You can take with yourself several types of weapons.

I remember how I play this game with brother for a New Year about several hours. It is very cool and dynamical. Hurricane. Trash. Horror. Shooting. So, we played very normal. Game is rather trasher style. Like Doom, about stylization. Darkness thing. And ocean of shooting. Running a corridors, which are dark. And shoot the monsters. It is happening, that we wait for them for some time. Sit and wait. What side they will go.

Here you can to manage enemy waves, what enemies it will be. Long time of waves with enemies. I do not try this options a lot. But there are some settings. So, it is also rather good game. And you alone also can cool to shake zombies heads. With a pistol with good aiming. First. Second. Everyone straight in a head. With aiming.

There is a game mode like a network – with maps and just enemy waves. And also, there are tasks, you get some tasks. Also, its own maps. Go there. Find a in container something.  First you need to open this container. And there are lots of them. In a certain one it will be a required item. Later you will need to go next. And there is a place you need to do also something. To move forward. Location has a normal size. So, you need some time to find. There is a place to put a tactics. And all the time enemies to appear. You need to shoot all the time.

These two games I played in a winter. So now I think I will try something new. And these games I will play with pleasure also!

Playing little games. From time to time i like to play videogames. And write about it. Dima Link is making retro videogames, apps, a little of music, write stories, and some retro more.

WEBSITE: http://www.dimalink.tv-games.ru/home_eng.html ITCHIO: https://dimalink.itch.io/ GAMEJOLT: https://gamejolt.com/@DimaLink/games

BLOGGER: https://dimalinkeng.blogspot.com/

[alertarchitect]

So, as anyone who has followed me here for a bit and saw one of my rant posts a while back knows, one of my special interests (not calling it a hyperfixation because I have been at least mildly obsessed with this series since I was a kid) is the Halo franchise. I've been reading up on the lore again for fun, and since I've kinda also been getting interested in gun stuff from the specific angle of the visual design, functionality, and the in-universe lore of fictional weapons, I was reading up on the UNSC weaponry featured in the franchise. This lead to me reading something that hurt my soul.

So, for reference, in terms of visual design and the in-lore effectiveness and usefulness of the weapon, my favorite UNSC weapon is the MA-series assault rifles, with my favored designs being the ones used in Halo: Combat Evolved, 3, 3: ODST, 4, and 5, with that general design (though there are some minor differences between the games mentioned) shown here:

So, visually, you can kinda tell why I like it. It's just a clean-looking sci-fi weapon that looks like something that would actually function without issue if you took away the crutch of gameplay / lore necessity making it work, unlike a few other weapon designs I could mention in various sci-fi and fantasy works. However, you've probably noticed that I specifically said that it's my favorite in terms of the design and its function in the lore of the franchise, but not in gameplay. You may be wondering the reason for that. It's simple - due to the Halo series being arena shooters, where you (usually) don't have the luxury of player-made loadouts, a lot of work must be done to keep the gameplay balance. One of these is making it so your main starter weapons aren't too good compared to what you can pick up on the map in a multiplayer game, to incentivize players to actually try and use weapons that aren't just their starter weapons or a power weapon. The problem comes in when you realize that, for most of the games the MA-series rifles are in, this AR is your usual multiplayer starter weapon that tends to fill a specific role in the sandbox of a reliable, but not too good, weapon that you can use at short-to-medium range to take down your opponent's shield before killing them with a quick melee or precision headshot from your other weapon, provided your other weapon is capable of doing so. This generally means that these ARs are fully automatic, best fired in bursts to maintain any level of accuracy when your enemy is more than 10 feet away from you, and tends to have the fastest melee animations in the game to facilitate the "wear down shields, finish off with a melee" gameplay for when your second weapon isn't the best option for finishing off your opponent.

This leads to my problem, a problem I understand is based in a necessary lore/gameplay mismatch to keep up the quality of the series' gameplay. In game, this AR platform is known as the "kinda shit, fairly inaccurate short-to-medium range starter weapons." This is to the degree that its effective range is only about 40 meters. In the lore, however, it is exactly what I wish it could be in gameplay - the default service rifle for the UNSC, with automatic, burst fire, and semi-automatic firing modes, accurate and effective at a range of 500 meters. It just hurts me that a weapon known for its effectiveness and accuracy at basically any range an infantry member will be engaging in has to be nerfed so hard for the gameplay, even though I understand and accept the reasons why.

[lancecharleson]

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN

QUAKECON 2024 IS UPON US! Starting in roughly half an hour from now!

And here's the stream schedule!

[fuzz-hound]

Love that trope in video games where they turn something you can buy at a hardware store into a primary weapon.

Quake’s nailgun, Doomguy’s chainsaw, Gordon Freeman’s crowbar…

Love that shit every fucking time.

It’s just another aspect of putting yourself into the character through diegetic stuff. You can go buy that nailgun, you can get a crowbar at your local hardware store and be that guy.

These aren’t just hard-ass dudes. Their original purpose, in these games inceptions, were that they were meant to be you. YOU, the player, are slaying monsters.

[patchoulii-2hu-144p]

just finished playing quakelive for a few hours and i don't feel like going though the demos to upload the ones i liked. maybe tomorrow or never idk.

also has anyone played urban terror? played it roughly six years ago on my old windows 7 pc but got bullied by my teammates for camping at the flag i think.

[rexuiz]

🎇Rexuiz-2.5.4-240915 update published🎇

💠 Bugs fixes and code improvements. 💠 Game engine updated.

[byhmfgaming]

Minecraft Castle, Minecraft Arena. #minecraft #castle #arena #survival #byHMF #tüfblokları #build #inşaa #kendinyap

[yourcrazyboyokris]

I agree with the people who say The Watcher is Nightcat, but there’s also the dating sim dialogue which confirms the same thing. This confirms that an iterator is cloning slugcats and we are not doing a single thing about it. Absolutely sadistic. A tragedy. Horrifying. The culprit will be identified in tags