Balloonists Build Royale [More than meets the eye, trust me.]

[Morpheus]

Tested this out a few days ago, was really fun.

[Ad Bot]

[DYLANzzz]

Update tomorrow on the status of the project at 6:00pm EST
Cmon guys, post some content. I need challenge and island ideas! I've had a few but I can't rack my brain forever... :(
This is literally the biggest thing standing between me and the beta testing right now. There's still a few things that need to be added (leaderboard, better spectating), but once that's done, the content is the biggest thing. If you wanna help, my server's passworded but I'm usually on IRC and you can always PM me.

If you guys want more recent updates take a look at
temporalharbinger.tumblr.com

Video update is coming tomorrow, so try not to get on my case too much. It's 2:46am and I got work tomorrow :P

[DYLANzzz]

Video update! (Is anyone even interested in this gamemode anymore? ;_;)
http://youtu.be/zIrI6JsWiTY

[Conan]

omg better than i expected

ideas:
-boundary: players must stay within x # of bricks near each other for the whole round
-rain: shield the island from rain (or cannon fire?) using x # of bricks
-Weakening fog: certain zones between the islands you're building across to weakens bricks in the area so that they break when they're stepped on. Basically the unstable bricks but limited to unknown zones which push you to build quickly and identify safe passage routes/create workable structures within the time limit
-Brick limitation: limited to certain bricks. Probably should be integrated to individual challenges rather than as a standalone
-Tower: Building to the other island except in this case you're building up rather than sideways
-Descent: opposite of tower. fall damage on, ofc.
-Accuracy: Use an object (modified sports ball) to land goals/w/e to progressively build up a bridge across.
-Event: One brick, get across using velocity events on that one brick. Dummy bots will be available for testing purposes.
-Target zone: Cross to the other island, but you must cross through a randomly placed zone in between before stepping on the other side.
-Gravity Gun: Toss vehicles to the other side to break a target.
-Life Islands: Once stepping off an island you get a timer that runs down but resets once you touch an island. The time wouldn't be enough to simply just walk across a bridge.
-Rocketjump?
-Survivor crossing: (stationary) Enemy bots on the other side attempt to attack you using ranged weapons while you cross meaning you have to build barricades to block them first before crossing.

[Ephialtes]

While this looks cool and all, it just seems to me like it's going to be a race between 20 players to spam bricks to get to the next island, then repeat. Are there any gameplay mechanics beyond that?

[DYLANzzz]

omg better than i expected

ideas:
-snip-

Thanks! I'll definitely use these. Brick limitation and the event one are actually already made (called Random Build and One and one). I love some of these ideas :D

While this looks cool and all, it just seems to me like it's going to be a race between 20 players to spam bricks to get to the next island, then repeat. Are there any gameplay mechanics beyond that?

Well, there's a few things that'll keep this from happening.
First, the challenges. Many of the challenges aren't just building, There's a lot more that can make some of the modes more cooperative or competitive than other ones.
Second, the game gives points based on whos the first across, which means it's competitive because everyone wants to get across first. The points increase with subsequent levels as it gets harder. The thing is though, if the whole server dies, the server restarts at level 1, so everyone loses the point multiplier, which makes it cooperative, albiet subtly. I might make some pther mechanism to give more points for cooperation somehow. Every five levels though, everyone respawns, so as to give everyone a chance to keep playing, the server to get farther, and more fun to be had.
Lastly, I havent fully decide yet, but people will be able to build on other peoples bricks and maybe even break them. Ill figure this one out though.

I suppose at times it could still be compareable to what you mentioned and i may remove older challenges (like the one just called build) from the rotation ecause they're almost boring.

[Ephialtes]

I think build challenges can be fun but only with the proper framework in place to make it clearly goal-oriented and to encourage collaboration. Something like providing a template of something that needs to be built which people then need to replicate to win.

For example, maybe some elaborate tower needs to be built in order to reach an upper level. At the beginning of the round you'd spawn a 'ghost' of the tower (much like how the duplorcator looks) so that players know what it's meant to look like and have a template to build within. Maybe not all of the players are given all of the bricks required to finish the structure forcing it to be a team effort.

Each time a brick is planted correctly, that bit of the ghost would turn green or disappear or something. That immediately provides you with necessary constraints and a clear and easy way for players to work together to accomplish the same goal while providing clear feedback on progress.

I can't think of a gamemode where building has actually been a focus which is pretty dire given it's a building game. If you can pull something off that successfully incorporates collaborative building into objective-based gamemodes then that'd be pretty sweet.

[Ipquarx]

Mocheeze would be proud.

[Kqgqn]

Thanks for the feedback Ephialtes!

[Conan]

-snip-

so for a summary you just suggested a challenge where you need to replicate a structure to get across rather than just cobble together a simple path.

this brings up the idea: of the people alive, each get a certain brick to build with, and they need to work together to get across efficiently within the timespan. To prevent spam, a brick plant delay would be in place, as well as certain obstacles between the two islands that force the collaborative aspect.

an example would be to give one player a 2x2x5 and another player a 1x8 brick, but in between the two islands is a large translucent wall. The players using 1x8 bricks will ahve to depend on a teammate with 2x2x5 bricks to help them efficiently get over the wall while the teammate with the tall brick needs the player with the 1x8 brick to create a path across faster.
another would be that one guy is given a long brick while another is given a lever. the wall between the two islands would have a specific area where a lever needs to be placed and activated to make the wall break so the guy with the long bricks can finish building across.

another idea i just thought up of is that you're given a limited spot on your island that you can build on, and every brick must be supported by one that's connected to it. obstacles would also be in the way so its not just a variation on spambridging. probably would do best as a secondary aspect of a certain challenge rather than standalone.

and really I think that the fact that everyone needs to get on the next island before you can progress (or otherwise wait out a minute) is enough to push people to create something that allows everyone across.

[Kqgqn]

You sprouted a lot of ideas Conan, thanks!

[Ephialtes]

You absolutely have to take into consideration uncooperative or "troll" players though. You can't make a feature where everyone has to be somewhere in order for the group to progress without some kind of fallback mechanism otherwise you're immediately requiring there to be an active admin on the server at all times for the game to run smoothly. Similarly you can't only give a certain type of brick to one player because the group may be screwed if they decide to be a jerk about it. Give a lot of thought to this.

[Kqgqn]

Yes, we've been discussing that. Still wondering how we would do it but we're working on it! We've also been coming up with great ideas to bring players together to cooperate more. I don't really know what Coburn has in mind as I'm still in Turkey but once I get back tomorrow we will have a big discussion about things.

The support coming from all of you is a great motivational booster! Keep up the suggestions and requests, too. Thanks!

[firestorm]

Username:Firestorm
BL_ID:14149
Have you beta tested before? (If so, where?):Operation Infiltration, Cakethecat's TF2 stuff,  and Zalot's North.

[Conan]

You absolutely have to take into consideration uncooperative or "troll" players though. You can't make a feature where everyone has to be somewhere in order for the group to progress without some kind of fallback mechanism otherwise you're immediately requiring there to be an active admin on the server at all times for the game to run smoothly. Similarly you can't only give a certain type of brick to one player because the group may be screwed if they decide to be a jerk about it. Give a lot of thought to this.

Maybe at 20 seconds left it could autogrant everyone the bricks needed and lower the brick placement delay.

and I'd think that this mod wouldn't really work as a dedicated server anyways due to the fact that well, no matter how many restriction systems you put in place there's going to be some exploit or way for troll players to screw up the game. And plus, the basic concept wouldn't work very well as dedicated because the goal is to emphasize cooperation. dedicated servers generally stay pretty empty most of the time.


and yet more ideas:
-pong puzzle: pong projectile needs to hit this specific brick within a 2d "playing field". pong puzzle would be out in the air in front of the start island, with derendered walls bordering each side and "smooth" plates on the top and bottom, and building on the islands would be disabled. bricks thus can only be built in the puzzle section itself. 1x1 ramps would be available for players to use to redirect the projectile. for added challenge don't make the inside of the "playing field" a zone, forcing players to support their bricks.
-Event targeting: Use events to create bricks that fire projectiles that hit targets.
-Jump challenge: standard stuff, just for variation from building and eventing.
-jet challenge: a tunnel exists between the two islands, but the problem is the tunnel sides all teleport the player back to the start island if you touch them. or, optionally, make players have to jet through hoops before touching the end island or else they die on contact with it.
-Reflection gun: A pong spawner on the end island spawns pong projectiles towards the start island at regular intervals, and you have to use a reflector gun to reflect them into targets.