A game proposal by:

Ennis Lynch
Dale Rabon
Russell Smith
Abbey Sparrow

I.Description

Myth Engine vs Traditional RTS

When Blizzard started the current RTS wave with Warcraft:Humans vs Orcs the focus was on making a combat simulation game with village micromanagement, somewhere inbetween Sim-City and Herzog Zwei. However as multi-player became more prevalent player's optimizing their strategies began to focus on resource management to win, since resources could fuel mass, and there wasn't any combat bonus for good placement or good unit management. The developers at Bungie decided to target the other extreme of RTS player when they developed Myth. It was developed with continuous 3-D terrain, and at the heart of the game: unit placement and placement in relation to neighboring units has a direct affect on combat. Thus archers shoot further from higher points, doing more damage and attacks moving uphill are at a disadvantage. For multiplayer there were many modes of play involving capturing flags, which gave each map a lot of replay value. Many players will only play a certain few types, while others play a wide range. This sort of play is also well suited to tournaments which became very common in on bungie.net.

When Myth II was developed Bungie developed a comprehensive toolkit for map and unit making and a huge mod community sprung up, with everything from WWII to a Wild West mod to car-to-car parking lot combat. New features to the engine were environmental effects, animated 3-D terrain features, an internal ranking system, and many other enhancements in terms of display quality, and scripting complexity. All units continued to be a series of bit-mpped faces however. With the release of Myth III the engine is, at last, fully 3-D.

Urban Combat

The advanced combat physics of the Myth engine seems ideal for an urban environment where there is a lot of cover, not only for combat, but for ambushes and escapes as well. Our game Gang Warfare will be a squad based gang combat game set in an urban environment, with areas of the map which will include suburban neighborhoods, urban neighborhoods, and commercial districts. It will include all major netplay gametypes, and support between 8 and 16 player start locations. An overhead conception of the game board is provided.



All of the natural terrian features will be models built into the game, as well the suburban housing will be the village houses from the Myth III single player campaign. There will, however, be three scenery models which we will create.

The Townhouse The townhouse will be the most common feature in the dowtown area. It will be flammable, and some will be explodable. If time allows variants will be made in multiple colors to increase realism. This building will also be flammable from incendiary weapons, and destructable by explosives.

The Strip Mall The Strip Mall serves as a good cover spot with it's 'L' shape. Some Strip Malls will be flammable, while others will not (depending on stragecic advantage on the map).

The Office Building The office building will be the largest of the 3 initial models, taking up 1/4 of a block. This building is not destructable or flammable

1. Controversial Material Promotes Itself

   By putting the player in an environment based on popular culture we create an environment where the player already has some kind of investment in the characters. The fact our game contains graphic violence, gang violence, obscenities, and references to sex and drugs it will, by nature, offend some people. This should however, be offset by the trend of controversial media to attract users who just want to see the game and are then drawn into it due to it's unique style of play.

2. Gang Micromanagement

   Each Group Consists of; a Unit or combination of units that can draw a crowd, a unit who may recruit members from a receptive crowd, a Takmaster unit who controls the passive herd, A Passive Herd unit with weak defences, and a weak power, an Active Herd unit who's loyalty is based on the Passive Herd (for example, if there aren't enough Bitches, some Homies will eventually leave (see units below)), and whose primary purpose is combat. This relationship persists throughout the game, thus if a players passive herd is attacked and reduced, the players active herd would slowly revert back to civilians until a state of equilibrium is again reached. Player recruit gang members by drawing a crowd of civilians (who wander across the board), which converts civilians to a receptive state, they may then convert the unit which randomly switches into a gang member (which is a herd unit 90% of the time). The low occurance of taskmasters and slowness of the crowd drawer's energy recouperation prevents the game from degenerating into a resource grabbing game.

   The Homies The Homie is the active herd for the hip-hop gang, and may use any weapon.

   The Bitches The Bitch is the passive herd unit for the hip-hop gang. this unit is incapable of self-defense. Bitches prevent Homies from leaving the gang on a one-to-one basis.

   The Pimp The Pimp is the Taskmaster for the hip-hop gang, and is able to watch over a small group of bitches to keep them from leaving the gang(6). The Pimp may use any gun, or any thrown weapon.

   The DJ The DJ is one of the two Crowd drawers for the hip-hop gang, but is not capable of drawing one alone, coupled with the DJ they can draw a large crowd(10-30 people). The DJ may use any gun, however his "creative juices" rebuild rather slowly. A player will recieve only one DJ during the course of a game.

   The Dealer The Dealer can convince receptive civilians to join his gang. He may also use any gun.

   The Civilian The Civilian walks randomly around the board in an unreceptive state, untill it is drawn into a crowd, at which point it becomes receptive. It may then be converted into a gang member by a dealer unit. it has a 90% chance of becoming a Homie or Bitch, otherwise they have an equal chance of becoming a Dealer, an MC, or a Pimp.

II.Schedule

1. Phase Time Periods

   Phase 1 : Febuary 1 - Febuary 18

   Phase 2 : Febuary 19 - March 7

   Phase 3 : March 8 - March 24

   Phase 4 : March 25 - April 10

   Unit Components

   	Animation 1	Animation 2	Animation 3	Animation 4	Animation 5	Animation 6	Actions
   Civilian	standing	walking	receptive	dying			crowding, transform
   DJ	standing	walking	shooting	entertaining	dying		shoot/throw, entertain
   MC	standing	walking	shooting	throwing	entertaining	dying	shoot/throw, entertain
   Homies	standing	walking	shooting	throwing	punching	dying	shoot/throw, HERD
   Bitches	standing	walking	dying				shoot/throw, HERD
   Dealer	standing	walking	shooting	convincing	dying		shoot/throw, convert
   Pimp	standing	walking	shooting	dying			shoot/throw, HERD

   Group Tasks and Deliverables

   	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4
   Abbey Sparrow	map Civilian model Civilian animations 1, 2, 4 Pimp model	crowding action Bitches model Bitches animation 1-3	herd action DJ model DJ animations 1-3	police patrol action civilian alert action reinforcements action Police Car model
   Dale Rabon		convince action civilian animation 3 Homies Model	herd action DJ animation 4 Pimp animation 1-3
   Ennis Lynch	office building model MC model	Townhouse model MC animations 1-6	Strip Mall model Homie animations 1-6	Scenery Burning actions Scenery Burning models
   Russell Smith	transform action shoot/throw action	entertain action Dealer Model	Dealer Animations 1-5 Cop model	Cop Animations(5) (same as homie)
   Milestone Deliverables	Playable map with built-in scenery already placed, as well as the office building model. The civilian should be able to transform into another type of unit (probably an existing myth unit).	Near complete map with netgame flags already placed, and townhouses placed as well. MCs should be ble to perform for the civilians who may then use their special ability to change into an MC.	Final Map has all units and NPC civilians placed, now the units are attracted by entertainment, and may then be converted by a dealer. When this conversion happens they are most likely a homie or bitch, but there is a small chance of converting to another unit. All herd behaviors are in place.	Townhouses and certian stripmalls will now be burnable or demolishable. The major addition is police and civilian alerts. If a civilian sees a gang member commit a crime, they alert the police. The nearest patrolling unit will come to the scene. If these Cops are killed, many larger squads come in from off-board (infinitely).

   Group Oversight Responsibilities

• Abbey Sparrow: Map
• Dale Rabon: Scripting
• Ennis Lynch: Models
• Russell Smith: Animation

III.Assessment

What is the game's main strength?

The game's most pronounced feature is the unique herding gameplay which reintroduces resource management into the tactically oriented Myth III engine.

Who does the game appeal to?

This game is amied at males ages 18 - 30 who are immersed in TV culture. It also should appeal to current owners of MythIII since it introduces new features to their game.

What do you do in the game?

A player builds a gang through recruitment and combats other players with a few small units of men ideally played out through a series of small skirmishes

What virtual world should the system simulate?

Our game simulates a highly exaggerated media stereotype of gang life and street violence. It is designed to imitate the hierchichal power structure of a gang through the herding and recruiting process.

What criteria do you judge the success of your game by?

The only criterion by which a multiplayer mod should be judged is on balance in terms of gameplay over series of actual games on the Gamespy network. We also want to make the recruiting and herding system intuitive enough players use it without being coached.