Ceiu

That's an interesting point of view on the matter. What makes you say that? Personally, I'm inclined to believe the opposite (or perhaps that there are more variables that aren't being taken into account).

It's a Java-based client. There's really no such thing as "closed source." Java decompiles very nicely, even after being run through enterprise-level obfuscators. The best I've seen is one that purposefully generates class names that conflict on Windows and other such case-insensitive file systems (ie: aaa.class and Aaa.class), and even that is defeated by doing any modification in a linux vm (which are trivial to setup these days). You're better off implementing actual security techniques.

You guys are getting ahead of yourselves. I'm not even going to think about planning/designing the item system until the game type is done. Let's try to focus on that first.

Wrong forum? Feels like you made an event for Starcraft.

Thing is, there's not much reason to keep the current system around. Many players (myself included) are bored with it, as much of the gameplay boils down to spamming guns, repels and suiciding to push the opposing teams around. Additionally, the fact private teams were removed in favor of the only-two-public-teams system makes it virtually impossible to play with people of your choosing. So, there's really no point in starting a squad, since whether or not you get to play with them is a crapshoot anyway. Additionally, the existing major problems require exceedingly complex systems to fix (hopping, balance) and, to date, no one has even come up with a plan to solve either that doesn't itself introduce a number of other, equally large, problems. That said, I ask you this: What is the advantage in spending time repeatedly patching up the current system (which is quite dated in itself), when a new system could potentially fix the problems while providing something new in the process? As far as stacking goes: a given team will be able to be "stacked" and hold a single point no problem, but that still leaves five control points uncontested. If a team is proving to be too difficult, your team could opt to simple hold another point (or two) elsewhere and build up resources to take them out later. I want to start designing this next week, so unless you think I'll be making a major system overhaul by seeing this zone, I'm not terribly concerned with seeing what other zones have done (nor am I interested in dealing with the almost-definite politics/drama that would come along with that). If this picks up, I will work on the new item system to go with it. Though, if this doesn't take off, there's no item set. You're doing exactly what annoyed me in game: not reading. I don't care that you copy/pasted my text, I care that you're hand picking lines and taking them out of context. It's a silly manipulation tactic used to make your point stronger while omitting any point my statements -- not matter how vulgar/snobby -- would have made. To reiterate, again, a conversation requires you to both listen as well as talk. My frustration comes from repeatedly expecting you guys to have an adult conversation despite perpetual degeneration into childish whining about problems that don't even exist. Also: In my experience, people that blindly attack ideas for changing what they like about the zone are going to be impossible to please anyway -- and that's exactly what Ray was doing.

I have no problem with doing such a thing. However, with the way some modules are designed, I see this being a fair amount of work in itself just to get the modules required for both gametypes to play nicely together. Lives isn't a bad idea, but you need to remember that this is intended to replace pub. If it's setup in such a way that prevents players from playing for any length of time, they're more likely to leave than to hang around for the next game. This is even more likely when we take into account the item system and the fact newbies are outclassed by that alone. Additionally, we don't want to punish a team for having new people who may or may not realize that lives are important. In short, for a league version of this, lives would be great to prevent teams from suiciding as a primary tactic. For pub, probs not.

That's exactly what I said would happen (and Brain reiterated in his post). :/ Around three weeks, maybe slightly longer. Preferably before the next semester starts. Yes. Take a long hard look at what the current flag games actually entail. There is no squad activity, no true sense of teammates or even working together. Not to mention, it's several years old now. Time for something new. I've never even heard of Tri-Sector until now. Is that another zone? Again, I already stated that this is only a change to the gameplay for now, not the ships. I find it quite insulting that you've spent the time to copy/paste only my lines, removing their context. Discussion in-game or this forum are fine so long as you guys actually read/listen to what other people are saying. The bit of the conversation you're leaving out is that Ray kept repeatedly asking about the ships, despite me telling him several times over that this is only in regards to the game play. Again: participating in a conversation rather than just repeating the same thing over and over is the key -- not the medium. What? I don't even understand the question fully. Are you suggesting that this be developed completely in secret and then suddenly swapped out? The point is to get input now before I get a week into the design/development and realize that something doesn't work or that something else works better. And, as I said, I'm not even entirely sure on the rules myself yet, so I want to discuss it with people to see if it can be fleshed out more.

So, I've been slowly planning this game type for a few months. I plan to fire this out over the next few weeks in an effort to replace the aging public arenas. It's similar to Domination from UT and Brain's Conquest idea (and apparently also Dominion from LoL), but with my own spin aimed at making pub more perpetual. My current rough draft of the game type is as follows: Gameplay The game will consist of players in a team free-for-all environment with a number of control points. The object is to own the control points and collect power. The first team to acquire a targeted amount of power will win. Control Points Control points are the backbone of this game type. The map will have a number of control points spread around the map. Teams will battle for control of these points, as each control point generates power -- a resource required for victory. Controlling more points earns the team more power. Anatomy of a Control Point Control points consist of an inner radius and an outer radius. They can be contested by entering the outer radius and controlled by entering the inner radius. Control points have an ownership level represented by a percentage from 0-100% and can have one of three states: Unowned, Contested and Owned. Taking a Control Point Control points begin the game unowned. To take control of a control point, a team must have at least one player within the inner radius while no opposing players reside within the outer radius. Control points will gain ownership at a rate of n%/tick, where n is the number of allied players within the inner radius. When the control point reaches an ownership level of 100%, it becomes owned by the controlling team. If the team vacates the inner radius before fully controlling the point, its ownership level will decay to 0 at a rate of 6.5%/tick. When a player enters the inner radius of a control point owned by another team, it becomes contested. A contested control point produces no power and does not contribute to the power capacity. A contested control point's ownership level decays at a rate of (n+1.5)%/tick, where n is equal to the number of opposing players within the inner radius. A contested control point that reaches an ownership level of 0 will become unowned. Power Power is a team resource as well as a requirement for victory. Power can be used for special abilities to help defend or attack other control points and for crafting items (when the item set supports it). Teams earn power at a rate of n power/tick, up to a maximum of c, where n is the number of control points owned by the team and c is the sum of the capacity of all controlled points. A team with power that exceeds their capacity will lose power at a rate of n power/tick, down to their capacity of c, where n is equal to the difference in team-owned and opposing control points. Examples: A team controlling three points will earn 3 power/tick, up to the capacity of 150. A team with 200 power and two control points will lose 4 power/tick, down to the capacity of 100. Planned Public Settings Teams Size of 5 Private teams allowed Respawn at most recently controlled point (or center if team controls no points). Control Points 6 Control points Power Capacity: 50/ea. Rewards Every 300 seconds Upon controlling a new point Upon reaching 150 power Upon reaching 300 power Victory Conditions Victory @ 300 Power Misc Tick: 1 second This is still a rough draft, so feel free to suggest improvements or changes. The full plan involves a new item system as well, but that will come later.