Aaron Curley

Game Overview Multiplayer. Team-deathmatch type game. Players control either a human or alien character. Players board light spaceship craft and pilot the ships against enemy ships (space combat). If two ships are close by, the crew onboard one ship may transport (teleport) to the other.

Board a ship and take it over from the inside?

Combines space combat with FPS.

Storyline Abstract Takes place in 2170

To properly fit into the Star Trek timeline. Before TOS (the Original Series).

With the invention of Zefram Cochrane’s warp engine, humanity has begun exploration of the Milky Way Galaxy. Recently, Starbase 7 (which is conveniently located on the fringes of explored territory) was attacked by unknown aliens. Although the aliens were initially repelled, Starfleet dispatched a fleet of ships to defend the Starbase. Right after the fleet arrives, another fleet of alien ships appears on long-range sensors.

Appearance Starfleet ships/facilities – Clean, well-lit environment. Alien ships/facilities – Dimly-lit, “murky” environment.

Starfleet Soldier – Human. Alien Soldier – Humanoid, but different.

Suggestions as to specific appearance? Should this be a “new” race or one that Star Trek has previously encountered?

Player Roles and Actions Players teleport to a ship. Onboard the ship:

Pilot the ship. Fire ship’s weapons. Make repairs (use repair tool when next to damaged system). Transport to nearby ship. Defend the ship from enemy soldiers that have “beamed” aboard.

Any player may take on any role/station. For instance, anyone may pilot a ship, as long as the pilot station is not occupied.

Strategies and Motivations Blasting enemy ships from a distance – Avoid having to fight hand-to-hand. Boarding damaged enemy ships to “steal” them. Using the warp drive for “quick strikes” – Warping in, attacking, and warping away before the enemy reacts. Different ship types – Different abilities/tradeoffs.

Fighter – Little armor; high maneuverability; automatic maintenance; only one room interior. Frigate – More armor; 3-4 person; less maneuverable; requires crew to perform repairs. Heavy cruiser – Larger; slow maneuvering; requires large crew.

Repair critical systems first? Have to disable shields before transporting?

Level Summary Fighter ships – Single room. Larger ships – Multi-room:

Bridge/command center. Engineering. Weapons room. Transporter room. Short corridors connecting things together.

Development Specification - 1 Game Hardware Requirements – UT2004 Requirements:

Pentium III or AMD Athlon 1.0 GHz processor (Pentium® or AMD 1.2GHz or greater recommended) 128MB RAM (256MB RAM or greater recommended) 6.0GB HDD space REQUIRED - Increased from 5.5 to ensure space for MOD files. 8X CD-ROM or DVD Windows® compatible sound card 32 MB video card required (64 MB NVIDIA or ATI hardware T&L card recommended) DirectX® version 9.0b (included on game disc) Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. Internet play requires a 33.6 kbps or faster modem (broadband recommended)

Development Specification - 2 Additional hardware required for development:

A number of computers on a LAN (for multiplayer testing).

Development Software: Unreal 2004 (obviously) Maya (or other 3D modeling software) – For 3D models. Version control software – CVS / WinCVS. Google groups – To assist in team coordination.

Possible Implementation - 1 Implemented as one large “map”.

Interiors of ships will be “carved out” in one corner/area of the map. Rest of the map will be “space” and be mostly empty.

○ Will include some objects: Planets Stars Space station?

The players will exist entirely in the “ship interior” area. When “using” the pilot controls, the players will control “vehicles” (the space ships) that are located in the “space” area of the map.

○ Players will not actually be “on” the vehicles, but will only control the ships remotely, though they will “appear” to be onboard.

○ This presents a problem (see next slide).

Possible Implementation - 2 Design problem:

What if two people want to be on two different ships of the same “class”? Crew would both be in the same “section” of the map. Possible fixes:

○ Limit number of ships existing concurrently AND○ Duplicate ship interiors – They won’t be THAT huge, there is probably

room to make copies.

○ Eliminate “interiors” of ships and instead allow “beaming down” to different planets.

This leads to my list of other possibilities for the game.

Design Alternatives Eliminate ability to control individual soldiers – Pilot ships only?

My original idea, but then, as Professor Maxim pointed out, there may not be much for the CCS artists to do.

Add “planets” as a possible teleport location – take focus of fighting onboard ships?

Allow capture of strategic locations on planets? Capture enemy’s base to win?

Eliminate “interiors” of ships? - In-person fighting only on planet surface. Eliminate space battle entirely? - Then again, it’s really not the same game anymore.

Problems - 1 Is “space battle” even feasible; too much work?

Calculating weapon damage to various systems? Repair rates? Weapon effects? Need pilot GUI features such as:

○ Sensors○ Ship status○ Targeting of enemy ship – weapons lock.

Is the map large enough? Difficulty of synchronization of ship’s “state”.

Problems - 2 I think it can be done, but it is difficult to say at this point, without more information.

Could eliminate space battle entirely, but then the game’s really not different from a “normal” FPS.

Questions?Comments?Suggestions?

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