New Game Mode Idea

[DDD113]

I just thought of an idea for a new game mode for SSGX last night. It's a fairly simple concept and shouldn't be that hard to program/set up either. I call it the Precision Run. It's basically an extension of single player TT & SL. The way it works, you would start of with an unlimited number of laps in a certain speed class, and a lap time to beat for the first lap that is extremely easy to obtain. Then, each lap for the next 10 laps (11 total), your target lap time would decrease by 0.5 seconds, ultimately reducing your target time by 5 seconds after 11 laps. Then, for the next 10 laps, your target time decreases by 0.3 seconds, ultimately reducing 3 extra seconds off the lap time, for a total deduction of 0.8 seconds. Finally, your target lap time will decrease by 0.1 seconds until the game is over (the ending will be explained in a moment), and there is no limit to the number of laps run. Also, the lap is considered passed even if the time is tied exactly (I think the final game should score down to the thousandths: 0.001).

The mode ends when the player runs out of energy, however, just like in TT and SL, you don't lose energy by hitting walls, but you lose 20 integrity points with each lap that you fail to meet the target lap time. On the contrary, unless your integrity is full, you gain 10 of those points back for each lap that you meet or exceed the target, kind of like Zone mode's regeneration. Once the player's energy reaches zero, they do not explode, but it is their final chance to meet the new target, or face elimination. If the player has 10 integrity and fails to meet the target, they are eliminated. The target still decreases whether it is met or not.

So for example, lets say on X track, the lap target starts out at 45 seconds. Your session summary could look like this:

Lap 1: 45.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 2: 44.50 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 3: 44.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 4: 43.50 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 5: 43.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 6: 42.50 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 7: 42.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 8: 41.50 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 9: 41.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 10: 40.50 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 11: 40.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 12: 39.70 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 13: 39.40 sec. Fail 80 integrity
Lap 14: 39.10 sec. Pass 90 integrity
Lap 15: 38.80 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 16: 38.50 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 17: 38.20 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 18: 37.90 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 19: 37.60 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 20: 37.30 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 21: 37.00 sec. Pass 100 integrity
Lap 22: 36.90 sec. Fail 80 integrity
Lap 23: 36.80 sec. Pass 90 integrity
Lap 24: 36.70 sec. Fail 70 integrity
Lap 25: 36.60 sec. Fail 50 integrity
Lap 26: 36.50 sec. Pass 60 integrity
Lap 27: 36.40 sec. Fail 40 integrity
Lap 28: 36.30 sec. Fail 20 integrity
Lap 29: 36.20 sec. Fail 0 integrity
Lap 30: 36.10 sec. Pass 10 integrity
Lap 31: 36.00 sec. Pass 20 integrity
Lap 32: 35.90 sec. Fail 0 integrity
Lap 33: 35.80 sec. Fail XX integrity
Session Over.
Laps: 33
Best time: 36.00

[docfo4r]

Hey there. Sorry for the late reply and also thanks alot for this long post. Always feels nice to see people are seriously considering some stuff.

I want to be honest with you, my personal opinion: The idea of the mode itself is cool. But even you have the integrity being part of the concept, it all goes very close to some sort of advanced Speed Lap for my taste. We already have two time-based race modes [Speed Lap and Time Trial].
But we were discussing your idea and zero3growlithe had a great idea, which was based on the things you wrote there. We can't go completely "Zone" like you know it from Wipeout, I guess you know that already. But what we like to have is that automatic speed increasing.
So zero3growlithe had the idea of having this feature + an automatic integrity decrease. And it would fill up a bit again every time you complete a lap. Then TypeProton made an addition that people can also recover some automatically drained ship energy by passing speed pads [which of course is boung to certain risks on higher "Zones"].

So, lets join the ideas, and brainstorm this "Zone" mode out already, since I am already working on the visual effects during the races :D

[DDD113]

OK, so you're saying, your speed is constantly increasing, your energy is constantly decreasing, but you regain some of your energy by completing laps and hitting speed pads. I like the idea, maybe you could gain energy from successful barrel rolls too (I know that's going against tradition). On the terms of energy gain from lap completion, if you wanted to combine the ideas, you could incorporate the target lap time for each lap and add energy only if you meet this time, and continuing to let it drain if you don't. It would be a really interesting idea, maybe every few laps you could have an option to complete a Precision Run (not the same idea as mentioned in the above post), which would be something like the fan run idea from the game Blur, where you have to run through a temporary gate on the track, and if you do run through it, another one appears ahead. Then, a sequence of gates follows, and if you completed them all, you could gain energy. Just an idea to consider, please tell me your thoughts on these ideas and we can tweak and change things to create an awesome game mode!

P.S. I think we could call this mode "Velocity Challenge" since that's basically what it is, and it still sounds cool, but if you have a better name let me know. ;)

[Richochet]

Regaining energy with BR sounds good for this kind of mode. Of course, like going over speed pads, there is a risk when you BR but if you gain handle it then you are rewarded.

[docfo4r]

The idea of combining this target lap times and only refreshing energy when you meet the target time is very cool!!
But I dunno what exactly you mean with this gates... Is it like an alternate route is opening up [which might be hard to do coding-wise in terms of nodes & checkpoints], or is it like you have tiny gates on the existing route that you need to hit?

Oh and for the name... How about "Velociraptor"? :D :D xd

[DDD113]

The gate idea came from this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrYjE_8iHMw It's just an idea, if it doesn't make it, it won't be that big of a deal, just wanted you to consider it. The route is on the main course, it just may be tricky to navigate while staying inside the gates. Overall, I like the idea that difficulty = survival in this mode, I think it would be really cool, and great for elite pilots looking for a challenge. ;)

As far as the names go, I love them both, now I'm so conflicted! :) I guess we could take a public opinion poll if you wanted to, but really I'm fine with either.

Edit: 100th Post! :D

[DDD113]

I also liked the idea of someone, I don't remember who, who had the idea for "Green Races" with only the self-use (green) pickups. I really like this idea, it would be a nice twist on regular weapons on racing. Also, you could have races using only the defensive or offensive weapons as well, which I think would really fit the game and give it some depth that WipEout never had, because you would have to use very different skill sets to win in each of these disciplines. It wouldn't have to be used all the time, but the option would be nice, as SSGX seems to be a very tactical, intelligent, and skill-oriented game, it would give players a unique and intuitive chance to create new skill sets and hone them in these new racing disciplines.

Also as a sidenote, maybe you could have a weapon selector for custom races (keep that option locked in career obviously), but allow you to race with any combination of weapons that you wanted. I know it may sound strange, but imagine just how hard it would be to win a race where you could only use tractortraps. It would be so difficult, but yet so fun, because not everyone would have to do it, only those who wanted to in custom race mode (unless it was in the campaign). I think one area where you guys could really beat WipEout is in the availability of as many options as possible in custom races, i.e. number of ships, weapon selector, maybe even have a custom lap selector if you choose a custom race. I'm not saying eliminate the names "Single Race" and "Endurance", but I'm saying to keep those modes and just add in a "Custom Race" selection with all of these options. I really hope you guys consider this, as it would make it for me and for many a game that we would never stop playing, as there would always be some option that we hadn't tried, and it would keep the game very interesting and even more fun! (if that's possible :))

Thanks for reading, and I really hope you consider the Custom Race with all of the options idea, as it would be an utterly fantastic addition to the game.

Cheers,

DDD113

[Cipher]

hmm, green races only sounds too powerful, instead, 1 turbo each lap is recieved and weapon pads will recharge your ship, so you still have to make the choice between speed pad or weapon pad, if it's green only, everyone would go for weaps and ope for a turbo, would be kinda meeh i think

an the custom race is a good idea, but i would make it separate from single race/ tournament/... as in an actual separate game mode :)

As something else, i've been missing in wipeout, wishing it was there, is to select a portion of the track you want to practice (select range from point A to point B) allowing you to practice a difficult part or just to perfect it, wanted this for my speed laps on TJR, but had to do full laps all the time in order to do so, also wanted to use it to see which method was faster for that piece of the track ;-)

When arriving in point B you'd just respawn in point A

Cipher

[DDD113]

Yeah, the custom race would be separate from the other modes, but I think the Green Races would still be interesting, because the Teleporter gives you a distance boost, and the Atom reduces friction, essentially giving you a boost, and the Phantomizer would be kinda pointless, but that's why I suggested at the end of my post just to let people select what weapons and how many ships from the list, it can be any combination they want, just goes for a good challenge, wouldn't have to be in Campaign, but it would be fun to experiment with, like I said, it gives you something new to explore, and that's a good thing. A race with only cannons would be loud and slow, while a race with only impulse blasts would be wacky and crazy. I'm not saying they all have to be equally balanced or tame, I would just like to have the option, because if I ever got bored with Single Race, an impulse only race would sure be a way to add interest! :P

The only thing I don't like about the track segment selector is that it almost makes learning the hard parts too easy. That's the challenging and frustrating part of WipEout, waiting a lap to correct a single corner or two, but that's why only the elite persevere, and it makes them better pilots along the way. If you had a segment selector, some people who don't really want to put too much time into the game can figure out a track segment by segment somewhat quickly, against the tradition of patience, trial and error. Just my 2 cents. :)

[Cipher]

mind you, i did 2000+ speed laps on TJR testing and fiddling with the corners….. would've really loved that option LOL
maybe give it a minimum length then or something, but, if the devs agree with ya, then fine :p

Cipher

[DDD113]

Exactly my point, you should have to do that many laps to perfect it, it's just a part of the sport. Anyway, hopefully the devs will evaluate both ideas so we can see what they think. ;)

[docfo4r]

Even we don't directly reply, we are reading and thinking about all the ideas that come up. But sometimes we don't wanna interrupt the wonderful & creative discussion :D

[DDD113]

Alrighty then, happy reading to all! :)

[Mike458]

Apologies if this is a bump:

I have an idea for a new game mode: Overtaking Battle.

(Note: You have infinite shield energy in this mode)

In this mode, you have a target ship that you must catch up to and stay in front of for 10 seconds. However, you are timed and to extend your timer, you must do two things (The track must be randomly generated, point-to-point, not loop form):

Pass other craft: There are two types of craft, normal craft and Rivals. Normal craft will travel at variable speeds, ranging from really slow to fairly fast. They will add a random amount from 2 to 10 seconds to your time. Rivals on the other hand, are very fast craft that will require skill to overtake, but they will add anywhere from 7-20 seconds. If you are overtaken by a craft, then you will lose the time that you gained for that craft.

Pass checkpoints: Passing a checkpoint will always add 20 seconds to your time.

Overtaking the Target ship: Once you overtake the Target ship, the clock will freeze, and it will be replaced by a 10 second countdown timer. If you are overtaken by the Target, then the countdown timer resets and the clock unfreezes.

The game ends if you run out of time or if you overtake the Target craft and stay ahead for 10 seconds.

[DDD113]

Interesting thought there, Mike, it reminds me of Survival mode from Split Second (except in that you were trying to overtake trucks spewing ballistic barrels all over the track). I'm curious to see what the team thinks of it.

[Cipher]

I haven't been able to check it yet, but is there a basic checkpoint one yet?, like 2097 had, but you'd make the required time for the next checkpoint shorter and shorter ;)
Zombie mode sounds sweet btw, kinda sad it didn't make it in 2048

Cipher

[DDD113]

No checkpoint system has been announced yet, as far as I know, and I agree about Zombie mode, would have been pretty badass, same for splitscreen detonator. :D Would it even be possible to run splitscreen on a PC game...?

Edit: 200th post!!!!

[Mike458]

No checkpoint system has been announced yet, as far as I know, and I agree about Zombie mode, would have been pretty badass, same for splitscreen detonator. :D Would it even be possible to run splitscreen on a PC game...?

Edit: 200th post!!!!

I think it would be possible to run splitscreen on this game, but it would be really inefficient considering that you have to use so many keys for one player for all the controls. However, I think that Zombie mode sounds quite good. Why not have upgrades like in Fusion (For Zombie mode) every 5 or so rounds? (You'll gain points for each Zombie ship you kill, and you can spend those points on upgrades for your ship such as top speed, handling, shield, thrust, firepower, increasing the chance of getting more powerful weapons, and also getting permanent weapons, not to mention repairing your ship and gaining perks as well) Also, why not make open arenas for Zombie mode (and possibly Eliminator mode if that's possible)?

New "sort of" game modes:

Team Eliminator: 4 on 4, or 8 on 8 Eliminator. The game goes on a track or an arena. Work together to eliminate enemy craft. Friendly fire can be on or not. It works the same way as Eliminator, but there are some added bonuses:

Assist: 5 points
Betrayal: -20 points
Double Tractor Beam hit: +2 points per second
Every teammate on your team hits the same enemy craft: +35 points (Double points for the kill)

____________________________

Escort (Restoring integrity works the same as Eliminator does, cross the start/finish to restore 20 integrity, weapons deal damage than in races):

There are two teams ([noted as Escorting vs. Destroying] 4 V 6 or 8 V 12). One team has to escort a random craft on their team around a course for a number of laps. The escorted craft cannot use weapons or restore integrity by crossing the start/finish line. If the escorting team escorts the escorted ship around the track for the number of laps set at the start of the race, then the escorting team wins. If the other team eliminates the escorted ship, then the escorting team loses.

The other team must destroy the escorted ship as fast as possible. If the destroying team eliminates the escorted craft, then they win. If they fail to do this, or all of their ships are destroyed, then the destroying team loses.

Every craft except the escorted craft has 2 lives. If a craft gets eliminated, they lose a life. Once a craft has no lives remaining, they are out of the race.

The game can either be a best of 3 or a best of 5, and the teams swap every round.

[DDD113]

Try to avoid quoting the post directly above yours, unless it is a long post and you're only quoting part of it. Otherwise, more interesting concepts, and some strategic ideas there, I like 'em! :)

Also, on the topic of Zombie mode, I have designed a concept ship that could be used for your Zombie opponents if this mode is approved (and I think everyone hopes it is :D)

8209 8210 8211 8212

I went for a sleek yet dangerous, threatening look to the design, and I know I'm not as good of a ship drawer as Xpand, he's just downright amazing, but if you guys like the idea, feel free to take it and play with it, modify it, whatever, as you definitely have the upper hand to me in the art department. I really like the split and toothed nose and the deadly wings that are attached to the hull by two arc shaped bars. The body could be changed around quite a bit, but the front and rear are definitely the defining factors. The top view came out better than the side view, but I think you get what I was going for, I just wanted to provide an idea for you to play around with. Anyway, I was thinking that there could be three different skins for this ship, the color scheme consisting of army green, black, and red (maybe a small bit of gray here and there). Therefore, you could have a primarily green skin with black and red accents, a primarily black skin with green and red highlights, and a primarily red skin with black and green highlights. This would give more visual interest to your opponents than if they were all the same color.

I included the negative photos because they might be easier to see, depending on your computer's brightness settings. :P Just tell me what you think of my design, and make any changes you like to it, anything I post here is all yours!

On another side of the Zombie mode topic, I think it would be best in the end to run it on the current track and to have 3 checkpoints around the track that are equal distances apart from each other (one being the start/finish line), and having those three checkpoints be the zombie ship spawning point. You could have ghosts of the zombie ships waiting at each checkpoint with no mass or anything, but then make them become real after you've passed, adding to the pack. You could receive a cannon at each checkpoint, and then it is your choice whether to absorb it to replenish your health or to use it to thin out the mob of zombie ships that are ramming you, adding strategy to the mix. Also, I think the three segment zombie ship generation is better than generation by lap because it would constantly keep zombies on your tail, making the mode more exciting. In the end, you are scored by how many segments you complete before your death, with kill stats, absorb stats, shots fired stats, and near-death-experience stats. All in all I think this would become a very complete and extremely addictive game mode that could add a lot of popularity to the game. Please tell me if you have any suggestions on this section, too, I want to hear everyone's thoughts. :)

And thanks if you actually read the whole thing! :P

[docfo4r]

I have read the whole thing and I really like your ideas, also the ship concept. But as for the color, I'd go with maybe just one metal-ish color setup and have some sort variety in red blood decals or something like this.

The tracks can indeed be the current ones. OR what do you think of a more open run at the Sao Paulo city [where the underground races will happen?].

I am also thinking about making this thing a bit more special by combining the Zombie idea with the idea from Mike: You have to face the Zombies all alone but after a "wave" of Zombies, there is a buddy waiting for you [same ship that the player has] who could fill you up with some energy. This means you can't absorb at all. How about this buddy would SOMETIMES even join in for a Zombie wave?

[DDD113]

Could you have a silver metal and a brown metal then with some color accents? I'm just looking for a little more variety there, since you guys seem to roll out ship skins pretty fast. How about including the Sao Paulo city as the main Zombie course but being able to unlock the rest anyway, just to have more tracks to run on. I do like the buddy idea, although I'm going to personally call him the Mysterious Stranger simply because I play too much Fallout :P If you would do that, then I think the best thing to do would be to have the Zombies continue to spawn in group each sector, until they reach the limit of that wave, and then, once they're all killed, you have a free lap to meet up with the Mysterious Stranger, and then you could do a leech beam like effect when he transfers energy to you. I think it would be cool to have a Boss Wave every handful of waves, and have your buddy join in for that wave. Now I would suggest that the boss be coated in an all out badass red skin, that would be cool ;)

[docfo4r]

That's a pretty sick idea. I really like it.
I picked the Sao Paulo location since over there you have more free room to hide & destroy single Zombies but actually, for variety's sake it would be nice to have em on the official tracks aswell.

How about this mysterious stranger is actually Carlos? And you are just diving into the sick phantasy of Carlos :D

For ppl who dunno who Carlos is: He organizes underground races in Sao Paulo and also guides the player in the Tutorial, he is like your underground buddy - A rough type of a guy. He is also controlling a modified version of the Thruster.

[Mike458]

I think it would be cool to have a Boss Wave every handful of waves, and have your buddy join in for that wave. Now I would suggest that the boss be coated in an all out badass red skin, that would be cool ;)

I second this. For boss waves, why not have one big boss ship (With 500 - 100% shield energy and special weaponry) and some minions guarding it?

Also, can you give me a screenshot or a track plan of the Sao Paulo track (If it exists)?

[docfo4r]

Sorry, the plan doesn't exist yet [btw it will be a city layout firstly^^]

[DDD113]

How about this mysterious stranger is actually Carlos? And you are just diving into the sick phantasy of Carlos :D

Yes. This I like alot. I'm familiar with Carlos, and I think this is a very cool idea. It's funny that you would suggest a modified Thruster, as I was thinking of having both you and he fly in a sort of pimped-out Thruster, almost what you would imagine the "Thruster Prototype" to be. You could even have a story behind the mode, like, for example, a gang was after Carlos for something, so they're trying to kill both he and you since you're associated with him. Then it would actually make sense, and his last sentence in the Zombie mode tutorial could be "They're gonna be chasin' you like zombies straight outta hell." or something like that, giving the mode its name! :D Also if you have the existing track layouts, I could make the checkpoint markings and maybe do some other work with them too.

Edit: I still like the idea of getting a cannon pickup at every checkpoint, even if you can't absorb it. I think this cannon should have larger shots and almost look more like short laser beams, like the proton cannon from Fusion. Also, since the number of Zombies increases with each wave, so should your cannon rounds per checkpoint.

[Mike458]

Hmm.. Sounds quite interesting. Why not have the Thruster as an unlockable ship after you do certain things in Zombies mode, such as: Kill 4 zombies in 1 clip of a cannon, run 5 perfect laps in a row, etc.

Also, why not have just a single barrel cannon that can be upgraded by a perk to double or triple-barreled, or make Zombies in the later rounds have weapons too?

__________

Different perks that might want to be added:

Extended Ammo: For every Cannon pickup you get, you get 45 rounds instead of 30.

Battering Ram: Your rams deal 4 times as much damage.

Juggernaut: For 15 seconds, all weapons deal double damage.

Lucky Draw: Have a chance for a Zombie to give you a random weapon or a random upgrade every time you kill one.

Double Down: You can have 2 weapons at once (Use a key to swap weapons?)

Second Wind: After you die, you can respawn with 30 integrity remaining (1 time use).

Deep Pockets: Gain a random amount of extra cash every time you start a wave or when you kill a zombie.

Double-Barrel: Your cannon shots are now double-barreled rather than single barreled.

Triple-Barrel: Your cannon shots are now triple-barreled rather than single or double-barreled (Requires "Double-Barrel" perk).

Detonator: Your cannons turn into very powerful miniguns (Like on the Qirex Prototype, but reloadable like the Detonator ship) that can reload. Lasts for 30 seconds. (One time use!)

Last Stand: Your craft is packed with explosives that will explode when your craft is destroyed, earning you some last-second points.

Any of these sound good?

[DDD113]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the "perk" idea, because you would have to pause the game to choose upgrades and perks, etc. This just interrupts it and would make it less fun in my opinion, I think a flowing, comprehensive mode would be more entertaining. I think that your proton cannon clip should be replenished at each checkpoint, but you can't absorb it; it can only be used to shoot the zombies. Also it would make sense to only have eight total ships on the track at one point, so for example if the wave has a total of 15 opponents, 7 would spawn, and when you kill one, another one would spawn at the next checkpoint, keeping the limit at 8 until the total 15 are destroyed. I will come up with a more comprehensive plan later today, so keep posted! :D

[Mike458]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the "perk" idea, because you would have to pause the game to choose upgrades and perks, etc. This just interrupts it and would make it less fun in my opinion, I think a flowing, comprehensive mode would be more entertaining.

Why not make the perks and upgrades scattered around the track so you would have to find them, and then pay with your points to upgrade? (This can be done mid-wave) Personally, I think that the zombies should have no limit, so it would be completely unpredictable on what their spawn pattern would be. For example, the zombies could spawn in a pack to take you out with brute force, or they could spread out and then attack by stealth or ranged attacks. I think it could work either way.

[DDD113]

It would still be rather interesting, and wouldn't make a whole lot of logical sense as to how to upgrade your ship while flying because of random things on the track. I don't think the Zombies are going to have weapons either, at least if it's based off the one from 2048, they will just ram you to take you out. I think it's just more of a brute force mode by concept, and I am basing the spawning to a certain number idea off of Call of Duty's Zombie mode. I like the simple concept of this mode, it's just the survivial of barrages from enemy ships, no confusing perks and such. Also wondering how there would be different waves if the zombies were unlimited? I would suggest unlimited waves with short breaks in between for cooldown.

[Mike458]

Well, think back to the Black Ops II Zombies mode. They had rounds, where a set number of zombies would spawn every round. Those would be the waves in this game. Also, this is a video game. You really don't need a whole lot of logic to make a good game (Slightly off topic).

So, I might have a better idea: Why not combine Detonator mode with Zombie mode and design a new ship for this mode (Unlockable) that can reload on the spot?

[DDD113]

Yes, I know it's a video game, but all you have to do is look at just how much detail we put into the environments and sponsors, considering what society might be like and the logical functions of it. Plus it's inspired by WipEout and we don't make "the sky toxic orange with 10 moons flying around it." We try to make it as believable as conceivably possible.

The Black Ops II Zombie example you gave is exactly what I based my model off of. They did have a set number, but if that number was higher than the number of zombies allowed on the map at one time, they would continue to spawn as the existing ones were killed. I think you have to have enough time with your single cannon pickup to make you ration it and use it strategically, i.e. reloading at every checkpoint, which was my original concept.

[Mike458]

Hmm... You do have a point. I guess you've won this argument. ;)

[DDD113]

Well, I hate to argue with you, I've liked you ever since you joined here and I still do, I just have a more "rough" vision of this mode, just a battle between machines, trying to survive, in a simple concept form. We'll see what Kai (docfo4r) says tomorrow and go from there. I am happy you care about this project too, and I'm not saying your ideas are bad, they just don't fit with the game the way they are, but like I said, we'll see, it's all good, mate :)

Anyway, my concept. I've set up a spreadsheet that shows the number of zombies in each wave and the number of Bosses and regular zombies in boss waves, which are every five waves. Carlos will come to assist you in boss waves, he will have a cannon as well. He will also come to replenish your energy after every five zombies you kill, even if he comes in during the wave, he just recharges your energy, does not fight, and drops back. However, Carlos does not assist you on boss waves 110 and 115, you are on your own, but he will still replenish your energy after the wave. I doubt anyone would even make it there, no one is supposed to ;). I'm thinking of adding an extra zombie every two rounds instead of every one, to make the mode take less time, but what are your thoughts on this idea?

Edit: Wow, forgot to even link it, that was dumb! :P
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmvYkHSOnIAxdEY3dHdRYi1JRVhEUXBKWTF3ZVR1V VE&usp=sharing

[Mike458]

I think that would be awesome. If you could put a download link to the spreadsheet by PM. Energy replenishing after every 5 kills? Well, that may be something to ask for as depending on the strength of the cannon you are given, I think that the Zombies should have about 75-90% of your health, and maybe have a power ram attack to ram, slow, and destabilize your craft. So, I think a good start is 10 Zombies. The thing is, the game would get fairly boring if the AI behaved exactly the same if only a maximum of 7 zombies were attacking you at the same time, as eventually you would develop a strategy to just kill all of the zombies, and just do it over and over again. So, if the AI would change every wave or so, or add more zombies to the mix, that might make things more interesting. Arenas (Not circuits) would probably make things also more strategic with obstacles and such. Also, how would Carlos behave during the boss waves?

[DDD113]

I debated between 5 and 10, and it would depend on the strength of the cannons, shields, etc. which will be up to the devs. I think the AI could have varying levels of strategy and aggression, but the only reason that I limit it to 8 ships on track at one time is simply because of game performance. Even my quad-core computer with Nvidia GeForce card stumbles every once in awhile with the current 8 ships in a race, and I have a feeling that too many more would make the game perform badly. I think it would be cool to have more, but it just may not be possible for hardware reasons. Arenas would be interesting, but environment design is one of the most time consuming parts of this project, and I don't know if it would be worth the time if you could run it on circuits.

As for Carlos, I imagined him going Rambo with proton cannon bolts flying from the front of his ship in every direction, but we'll see what Kai thinks ;)

And I will modify the zombie numbers in the spreadsheet. :)

[Mike458]

Well, the game just immediately crashes for me (I'm on a Mac btw), so I don't know how the game will perform on my laptop, but we'll just have to see how the devs react to our discussion.

[DDD113]

Yeah, we'll see what they like and what they don't, good discussion anyway though, we covered a lot of ground. :)

As for your laptop, the first problem is that it's a Mac (I'm a Windows guy), and maybe it just doesn't have the processing power to play it. My laptop runs it, but only at about 5 fps on the lowest settings possible.

[docfo4r]

Hey Mike, try to use Stuffit Expander to unpack the thing on Mac instead of UnrarX, which destroys the package by unpacking for unknown reasons.

As for the Zombie mode: Well, I don't really want it to be too complicated, considering pickups and pause-menu tuning. It needs to be one "flow". Like in the Zone mode: If I hit pause and continue later on I most likely loose because I am out of the flow for that session.
No matter how many Zombie ships we use, when Carlos appear, what weapons are used etc. there is one key thing that I didn't figure out yet: You gotta destroy the Zombies using the Cannon, right? And the Zombies ram you. What I don't want is to take away the speed of the mode. So you gotta have to move forward constantly, at least if you are racing on a circuit rather than Sao Paulo. And for a Cannon to be effective, the Zombies need to be infront of you. So I am not really sure how we can solve this problem...

[DDD113]

Good point, Kai, I agree with everything you said. Maybe you could have two weapons, one activated by the fire button and one activated by the absorb button. One of the weapons could be a sort of mini-impulse blast, where there is just a small disruption and a little damage done. The other could be a minigun mounted on a swivel on the back of the ship that locks on to a ship and shoot it until it is destroyed or out of range, basically a lock on cannon. Each of these could be replenished at checkpoints and only reloaded to a certain amount of ammunition, making you ration it and use both weapons wisely. The cannon could have much more ammo than the impulse, making the impulse most useful in a tight pack. Basically, it would keep the same idea of a forward cannon, except it would be facing backward naturally and able to rotate 360* to fire on locked opponents. That's my best idea so far, but I may come up with something else later, so stay tuned. :D

Edit: I digitalized my Zombie ship concept for a more clean and smooth look, to give you an even better idea of what I envision it to be. :)

8218 8219

[Mike458]

Or, why not have a "Flip" button like in Eliminator that could allow us to fire backwards?

Good ideas so far though. The locking minigun seems a bit overpowered though, so why not give it less ammo than your main cannons (If they exist with the small impulse blast)? Also, nice Zombie ship design so far, looks like the FEISAR Prototype from 2048. If you want to have a sense of speed in this game mode, why not make Sao Paulo a fairly open track with some techinical sections to break it up somewhat?

Those are just some of my ideas (Quite exhausted, so I couldn't come up with more ATM).

Happy Thanksgiving / Hanukkah to all.

~Mike

[DDD113]

I always liked the flip button, the only thing I would worry about is copyright issues with Sony. That's the only way that a main cannon would work though, although that might interrupt the speed flow of the game. I guess the minigun could just be a locking cannon, so it would be less powerful. Also, just because it's "locking" doesn't necessarily mean that every shot hits. It could be programmed to where it can't turn very fast so the Zombie ships can avoid some of the bullets to make it more fair.

My concept really does look like the FEISAR Prototype, doesn't it? :) I never really noticed that, but once you said it, I see exactly what you said, it does have a lot of resemblance. I've always been a fan of the 2048 style ships, so I guess that's shining through. :P

I like your ideas for Sao Paulo, that's what I would guess that they are planning to do, maybe with some skillcuts, narrow sections, and stuff like the 2048 tracks. Overall I think we have a good start on this mode, with some work to do, but we'll get there! :D

[Mike458]

I highly doubt that Sony would copyright the "Flip" button, otherwise they would have shut down the entire project already. It's still a good idea, and I highly doubt that Sony gives a crap about the Wipeout series anyway (even though that they still keep the servers going), so no troubles there (not certain, just most likely).

Anyways, with the minigun, why not make it user controlled (like World of Tanks where you control how you rotate your weapon and where you rotate it)? Also, with the Sao Paulo sections, why not make some of them underground like Subway from 2048, as that was quite fun. (I don't actually own 2048, but I have played it on my friend's Vita) Also, what about the boss concept ship? Have you gotten started on that? I think that it should be based off of a triple or dual-hulled ship, or possibly one of the Fighter Class ships from 2048.

We're getting there to making this game a reality, and it's just only going to be a matter of time until we get there!

[DDD113]

They wouldn't copyright the flip button, but they copyrighted WipEout, therefore ALL intellectual property is copyrighted. We already worry about barrel rolls and sideshifts, it would just be best nod to add to many more, plus like interrupt the flow of the mode to be flipping around all the time. It was good for eliminator, but I don't know how well it would work for this.

And about Sony, I must disagree. I think they always cared about WipEout, and still regard it as important, just look at the heritage video they posted recently, it's chalked full of WipEout references. It may not have been their favorite franchise, but I think they always cared about it, even if their decisions may not have been the best for it.

The problem with making the minigun user controlled is that you would then have to be using both airbrakes, turn buttons, cannon control buttons, and fire buttons all at the same time. I don't know about you but I couldn't do it. It would be too hard to try to evade the zombies and shoot them accurately while controlling a cannon at the same time. It would make it more fair, but way too hard to do.

I like the idea of an underground section in Sao Paulo, that would be cool. And for the Boss ship, I actually didn't think about it, I always just thought of having a different skin on the Zombie ship. It just depends on if the devs want to model a third new ship for one game mode. If they do, I would be happy to submit ideas, but we'll have to see what they say first.

Also as a sidenote to the devs, have you guys worked out how the barrel roll system will work yet? I have some ideas if you haven't, so keep me posted! :D

[docfo4r]

We will have multirolls, the more rolls you do, the higher the boost, but the more integrity you loose. It is actually implemented into the latest demo already, but fine-tuning will always happen ;)

And yeah, the Flip-button would kill the speed of the mode. After all, you gotta remind yourself that we might not have a Zone mode, and that this mode MIGHT be a replacement. So I'd go with something that doesn't kill the speed. And yeah, the whole concept with the cannon is rather difficult, maybe we need to think about something completely different when it comes to attacking.

Do you guys know games like Slender? It is somewhat scary and challenging cuz you are haunted by a creature and you have nothing more than a flashlight. You can't defent yourself, you can only run. Maybe we could do something like this, you only need to get away from the Zombies as your primary goal. Now that would destroy the checkpoint & Zombie respawn thingy we have talked about, but maybe we can find some new ideas. Just wanna say that we don't HAVE to include weapons, or at least it doesn't have to be a Cannon if it won't work out for that mode...

[Mike458]

TBH, I think that gamemode you described could grow into another mode alltogether as sort of a Cops and Robbers mode. What I think that we're doing is to keep as close to the 2048 variant of Zombie mode as possible, so removing the cannon would just destroy the mode. However, I don't know a better option to help the speed of the mode along with keeping it in-line with the style of 2048.

Anyone have any other ideas?

[DDD113]

We're not just stealing 2048's Zombie mode, we're creating something of our own. Plus, their the developers, and their say is final, we're just brainstormers here. I'm perfectly fine with having a sort of Survival mode, maybe you could have an option for cannon on or off. What do you think about that?

[Mike458]

Great idea. However, I think that we should lower the amount of zombies if you select the cannon to be off so that you don't die instantly as soon as you spawn. The checkpoint idea might be a good idea for both modes because the zombies can just wait for you to pass and then they will join pursuit. With Sao Paulo, I think that it would also be a good idea if we include open sections like in Fusion to allow you to lure zombies to smash into obstacles, allowing you some breathing room.

Also, is there going to be rubber - band AI for both cannon on and off? I honestly hope not, as there should be an acomplishment to actually outrun the zombies rather than just getting beaten the crap out of.

[DDD113]

There would have to be a rubber banding system, otherwise you could just lag behind the zombies, the mode would have to be extremely rubber banded, so players of all skill levels could play it. Of course, the AI wouldn't react instantly, and agile and fast flying would help you avoid them and survive longer, which is the point of the game. You could program the Zombies so they are not quite as agile as the player, to keep the mode interesting when it comes to evasion.

I don't think the open sections would work in a city layout, there's just no way to implement it logically, in a tight, cosmopolitan city, the streets would not open up much. Keep in mind that it will also be a racing circuit, not just a zombie circuit, so it will have to work smoothly for both.

The mode itself would have to be altered if there was a on/off option; from what Kai says it sounds like the Zombies would not die if weapons were off, so your score would be measured by time of survival. (Am I interpreting that right?) I also was wondering if you would accept concept sketches for the Sao Paulo circuit, just to provide some ideas as far as scenery, corner layouts, skillcuts, etc.

As for the BRs, how does the energy/boost system of the multiroll work? Does the energy cost and the boost decrease after the first roll, or does it stay constant? I know you guys were playing with ideas earlier, and I'm eager to know what you came up with. ;)

[docfo4r]

We have some slight rubber-banding in our demo already. Damian can provide more details about the strength.

I can see both points. There should be some rubber banding or skilled people will get bored with that race mode. But on the other hand you also gotta give the player some reward for running from the Zombies. This whole idea is going a bit complicated, but that is perfectly cool since we are going deeper into the details of the racemode.
To be honest, up to this point I don't see any good way to have circuit tracks available for the Zombie mode. If the Sao Paulo city really provides some open-world [even it will be very limited anyways], you could run from them, face single ones, hide and refresh energy or work out a plan or have fast paced chase races... It works nice there, and you can even use the cannon the way the cannon works right now, because you have the possibility to approach the Zombies from behind, from side streets, bridges, shortcuts etc.

It all depends on how exactly the city layout will look and how opened it will be for the player. And the reference persons for that are Ric & Theo [Xpand & Oryx Crake]. So maybe we gotta wait for their reply.

For the BR's: Currently it is like this: You roll one time, energy gets drained and a boost charges. If you still have airtime, you can try to execute a second roll. If it is successful, even more energy got drained [but not as much as the first time] and the boost charges even more. Same with the third roll. So a triple-roll would really make sense on places where there is a long straight ahead, or at least no technical section.

[DDD113]

Well I'm not opposed to only running it on the Sao Paulo circuit, it sounds pretty amazing from what you've said about it. If that's our best option, then let's go for it, and if we only have the forward cannon, it kind of incorporates the defenseless part when the zombies are behind you and the attacking part when they are ahead of you, like the best of both. I still think the best way to work the rubber banding is to just have a delay between when you get away from the zombies, and when they react to speed up to you. Therefore you would have a short break and not lose energy during that time. The BRs sound good too, I was just wondering how you ended up configuring that, sounds like it will be fun to try to cram a few BRs into the Nazca skillcut! ;)

On a sidenote while we are talking about difficulty and rubber banding, I would suggest a harder yet difficulty for the single race and endurance modes, either that or to reduce the difference between the ship stats, because with iFreet, ATLAS, LOGOS, and Solaris, I can easily win any race even on Cassandra, which seems to have harder AI than Draco Cavernae. It would be cool (and challenging) to have a super hard mode, where you can never guarantee your victory, or something to even the ships. If I were to rank the ships as far as ease-of-winning goes, it would be:

Easiest to Hardest:

iFreet
ATLAS
LOGOS
Solaris
CEN-R
Amphithere
Zepher
Helios

[docfo4r]

Well the current AI difficulty level will be expanded. I think we haven't really lost a word about it yet so let me catch up with that!

Damian and I have worked out a concept for the AI. Each game has a more or less unique AI, or even a certain system of AI behind it. SSGX will be no difference. Next to the normal difficulty setup, you can also activate certain modules for the AI. We call this system 'TMRS'. Each letter represents an unique module. So weakest AI would be without TMRS, and strongest AI would be with TMRS fully activated, while a medium AI could have only TS for example.

[T]actics = AI drops Mines etc. on technical & narrow sections, absorbs front assault weapons when racing on 1st place rather than firing them, drops Mines etc. if a ship is directly behind.
[M]isjudgement = Going away from making the AI too robot-alike by introducing flight/tactics mistakes randomly. This also helps in making the AI unpredictable.
[R]age = Everyone of us raged before, right? So the AI should do that aswell. If you aim for one and the same ship all the time, that dude will take it personal and will focus on putting some fire under your a** rather than winning the race.
[S]kills = Giving the AI the ability to drive skillcuts, perform barrelrolls, perform sideshift-barrelrolls etc.

Of course those are all just some examples. And it will also take a while to implement all of this feature but we are looking forward to do so since you have the ability to modify the intelligence of the AI with a much deeper setup rather than "easy, medium & hard". Due to the time-consuming progress, the TMRS wasn't available in the October demo.

[DDD113]

Okay, cool, I like the "Rage" feature, good work there. :P Overall, good ideas, I think those are things that some good racing games lack (especially the rage!)

[Mike458]

Amazing. Will we have advanced settings as well (where TMRS should be located)? As DDD said, most racing games like GT5 and Forza 4 just have a simple AI that you can outsmart. However, with TMRS (which I think that it may be really hard to code :P), this shouldn't really be a problem. I think it may feel that you're actually in a real online multiplayer game providing you get it correct!

EDIT: New game modes!

Survival Racing: All you have to do is to beat a certain race time. However, there is a catch! All of your opponents are in very large and heavy ships (Similar to the Helios 1C, or the Hummer H1), and they are going the opposite direction! If you have a big crash with one of them, your craft will be instantly eliminated. Other than having a big crash with one of the oncoming ships, then you will not take integrity damage, even for barrel rolling. If you fail to beat the target time, then you will also be instantly eliminated.

The extension to this is Infinite Survival. The basic concept is the same. However, instead of trying to beat a time, you have to survive as long as you can. You start with only one oncoming ship, but every 10 seconds, another ship joins in. You get 2 heavy crashes this time instead of 1.

Scores will be worked on later.

____________________________

Not really a game mode, but an idea: Simulation Damage

This might not be included in the game, but it might be an idea to consider. I'm pretty shaky to see this in the game, but I think that this idea is worth sharing.

Your ship will not only take integrity damage when hit, but it will also start to suffer mechanical problems. The only way to fix these problems is to absorb weapons. Each weapon absorbed will repair all damaged systems by 15%.

For example...

If you got hit in the front, you will possibly suffer:

[Damage: Effects]
Front Aero Damage: If your Rear Aero is not damaged/destroyed, your craft will understeer a lot more depending on the damage through the corners, and your top speed will be hampered depending on the damage of your Front Aero.

Weapon System Damage: Your weapon pickups will be restricted depending on the damage of your Weapon System. If it is destroyed, you will only be able to pick up Mines, but only 2 mines will be deployed. Your own weapon damaging effects will be also reduced depending on the damage of your Weapon Systems.

If you got hit in the sides, you will suffer:

Steering Damage: Your craft will be harder to turn and will steer to one side naturally. This is varied depending on the damage of your steering.

Anti-Grav System Damage: Depending on the damage of this system's damage, your craft will bounce, becoming harder to control, and sink lower to the ground. This causes the craft to scrape along the ground, which will lose you speed.

Side Aero Damage: The least important thing to get damaged. Your Anti-Grav System, your Weapons System, and your Steering are completely safe until one of these are fully damaged (Only hits from the destroyed Aero will count for other damage, the other does not until it is destroyed also). These cannot be repaired unless you complete a lap. Once you do complete a lap, these will both be repaired by 10 percent.

Finally, if you get hit from the rear, you will suffer:

Rear Aero Damage: Your craft's back end will come out more often, making it harder to control through the corners. Your Engine and Airbrakes are safe until the Rear Aero is destroyed. (You can absorb collected weaponry to repair this, but it will only repair 10% of your damage) Your craft will also suffer a drop in top speed as well.

Airbrake Damage: Possibly the second worst type of damage possible. When this system is damaged, your airbrakes will function slower and eventually, not work at all. As always, this varies on the damage level of your Airbrake system.

Engine Damage: The worst kind of damage of the lot. Your thrust and top speed will drop dramatically. Once your engine is destroyed, you will be barely able to sustain 200 Km/h on Gamma class.

In conclusion, Simulation Damage does seem very overkill, but I think it's worth sharing. Comments?

________________

Hot Potato/Timebomb:

This is a Last Man Standing/Tag cross. At the start of a race, 2 random ships (except the race leader, who is immune to having a bomb), have bombs. The bombs have a fuse set for 60 seconds. The 2 ships have to ram (tag) other ships to pass the bomb to them. If a bomb-carrying ship tags another ship, then the tagged ship gets the bomb and cannot tag anyone else for 2 seconds. Meanwhile, the previous bomb-carrier loses the bomb. If a bomb-carrying ship takes the lead, then the previous leader immediately gets the bomb and cannot tag anyone for 2 seconds. After the fuses go on the bombs (After 60 seconds), the bombs will go off and the ships with the bombs are eliminated. Once 3 ships remain, one bomb is taken away, leaving one bomb to destroy one ship. Once 2 ships are left, the race leader loses his/her's immunity to getting bombs and it is an all-out battle to avoiding getting the last bomb. The winner is the last man standing. Weapons are off, and you have infinite ship integrity.

Any comments?

If you read all of this, you get a cookie. :P

[DDD113]

I've updated my Zombie ship concept. It now looks sharper, more deadly, with the nose wings being attached by brackets as well as the rear wings. I also changed the body shape a little bit, and I envision it having a raised section running down the middle, similar to Solaris, but less tall. Side views are WIP. :)

8254

There are air intakes at the corners of the main hull, at the start of the detached rear wings, and one at the very nose of the ship. The airbrakes are at the back of the rear wings. It almost has a Logos/Solaris mixture style with the unique sharpness that makes it the Zombie ship. I think I'm going to tag it the Reaper for now, so say hello to the Reaper MkII! :D

[Mike458]

Awesome. Looks more like a drag ship now! I can see some of the LOGOS and Solaris mixture styles, but it mainly looks like a drag ship to me. Any ideas on color schemes?

[DDD113]

I'm thinking some metallic colors, maybe part silver, and part a sort of silver-bronze mix, with some color highlights (red, black, maybe green?). I'll work on that later. ;) As for your ideas, Survival sounds extremely violent, I could see lots of wild collisions there! :P Not sure exactly how that one would work, but this Time Bomb idea does interest me, seems like a very frantic, adrenaline-filled mode.

I do think the Simulation Damage is overkill, it would kind of make it a crapshoot race, with the winners sustaining the least severe damage. I never was a fan of that Fusion "damage-makes-your-ship-stats-worse" thing, I think it's geared for more combat oriented races (which is why it was in Fusion ;))

The Time Bomb idea is interesting though. My suggestions would be to start the player with the bomb (maybe it could be a sort of super-magnet, easily transferable between ships, but still deadly), and have a 30 second timer before detonation. All 8 ships would be on track for the start of the race, and be programmed to stay in somewhat of a pack formation (relatively close together). Contact passes the bomb, and when it detonates, it eliminates the ship it was on, and a new bomb attaches to the ship at the rear of the pack. This way, if you could outrun the pack, you would be rewarded by eliminating the bomb threat (although the mode would have to be programmed so this is very hard to do.) What are your thoughts on these ideas?

[Mike458]

I like your ideas! The player and one other ship would be starting with the bomb, and the other ships would not. I like that. And yes, Survival is intended to cause some really big crashes.

I'll get back to you tomorrow on that.

P.S. Good color scheme choices!

[DDD113]

Okay, so you still want to have the two simultaneous bombs. Maybe we could have one bomb go off after 30 seconds, and the other after 60, but you don't know which bomb is which, so you just have to try to get rid of it if you have it. That would be unpredictable and exciting. I think Survival might be too violent, especially for an amateur racing league, they wouldn't want to be destroying ships constantly (big $$$ loss there). I guess that would apply to the Time Bomb mode too.... hmmm, maybe we could just make the bomb an EMP Magnet, so if it attaches to your ship and detonates, it just kills your thruster and AG device, leaving you stationary on the track surface (but still 'eliminated' as far as gameplay goes). That would make a little more sense with the storyline and the amateur league, and I don't think it would take too much away from the mode itself.

[Mike458]

I think that those are very good ideas for Time Bomb. However, for Survival, how can we "destroy" the ship while not actually destroying it? It is a good game mode, but that's the one problem that I didn't take into consideration when I made this game mode. I think that the ship would just immediately shut down and fly through the air before landing again after a heavy collision. Or, we can have the pilot eject out of the ship as the ship is being hit.

Any thoughts on that?

EDIT: Scoring system for Survival complete:

For every lap completed: 1000 points
For every ship dodged: 500 points
Near Miss bonus: 500 points
3 Near Miss Chain: 2000 points
5 Near Miss Chain: 4000 points
10 Near Miss Chain: 10000 points and a X2 Multiplier for 60 seconds

Chain bonuses must be consecutive ship near misses, each one performed within 3 seconds of each other. If you fail to near-miss a ship, then your chain ends instantly.

Completing a perfect lap: 1250 points
Barrel Roll: 100 points per barrel roll
Failed Barrel Roll: -50 points
Scraping a ship: -100 points

Comments on this?

[docfo4r]

Hey guys, I just got back from my exams and am just flying over the posts so plz don't kill me if I miss some details.

For the Zombie ship: Nice design, I like it. Would be interesting to see it with colors, and do you think you can do a side-view aswell?

For your ideas, Mike:
Survival: Screw u :D :D This will not be a mode per se but you will have such a race in a key event in the campaign. Remember my post about how the campaign mode is constructed? Every team has certain key events which might interact with other teams. The thing is that this race setting is very unique and does not belong to a game mode. Other key events are for example escorting, sneak-missions like in Metal Gear Solid, Low-Energy Zone simulation etc. but I don't wanna spoiler too many details there. Once we get to the actual programming of those, we can experient if some of those would be worth a whole race mode, but actually I'd like them to be an exclusive key event idea, and your survival mode is actually describing one of those events pretty well :D

Hot potato/Time bomb: Something that Damon [dreadofmondays] also suggested. Could be interesting, I remember I played such a mode in Destruction Derby Raw, next to "Skyscraper" [my fav. mode]. But for this it would be best to have an area rather than a race track. Seems like it all goes down to Sao Paulo :D

Simulation Damage: Ummm, here I am not sure because programming such a thing would take ages, considering you want reasonable behaviour for the ships which means to give an unique behaviour for each ship if it should be done correctly and I highly doubt we would have power and ressources to program such a thing. We already considered damage-based mesh-deforming but that is also not so easy... Unity Pro is the key word, and then I am still not sure if we can work it out correctly so I'd put this idea to the backburner, at least as of now...

[DDD113]

I like the idea of having a Survival like race as an exclusive event, it makes it more, well, exclusive, for lack of a better word. I don't know if it would work as a full game mode, but like Kai said, with further development, we will see. As for Time Bomb, again, I'm cool with only the Sao Paulo run, if we make it as cool as what it sounds like from what I've heard, I think this would work very well. ;)

As for the Zombie ship, I should be able to get it colored and I will get a side view done sometime in the near future, this week is going to be busy though. Doesn't help that we've got a snowstorm moving in, I guess in that case I may have a lot of time for sketches! :P

[Mike458]

Well, possibly a rivalry between 2 teams, such as CEN-R and Zepher? That might work as an exclusive event for both.

[DDD113]

I think I'm going to talk to the dev team about rivalries, I have some ideas as far as that goes, but we'll see how they work out! :D

[Mike458]

So, special events might go with certain rivalries, such as a Survival Race with one of the teams, Zombie mode for another, and possibly Timebomb for another?

[docfo4r]

Hm no they aren't connected to actual game modes. It is rather a unique race setup. Also not all key events are about rivalries. Some others are for example training missions or friendly face-offs, rescue and escort missions. They can't be cathegorized into certain game modes.

[Mike458]

So, they'll just be like campaign events? I'm fine with that, but I think it would enhance the experience if you could play it in free play at any time. Just saying...

*hops back in his Helios and flies away, eventually exploding into a Zepher*

EDIT: New (Sort of) game mode! (This was from Fugitive Takedown 2)

Street Race

Race against 7 or 11 opponents in a 3, 4, or 5 lap race (depending on speed class, of course). However, cops appear randomly at times and will bust (eliminate) the last-place pilot. Weapon pads can be replaced with repair pads, which restore 10% integrity every time you run over one. This is because if a cop hits you, you'll either be instantly eliminated, or dealt 95 damage to your craft and receive a small slowdown.

When there are only three racers left, 2 cops will come out and pursue the player, randomly ramming craft and the player, dealing small amounts of damage (about 10%) each ram. However, these cops are outrunnable, and if you get out of sight of the cops, the cops won't pursue you anymore. The winner is the first craft to cross the finish line (if there are going to be any :P).

EDIT EDIT: Another new game mode: Refuel!

You are the only craft on the track (needs to be randomly generated, point to point, endless), and your shield energy is constantly decreasing. The goal is to cover the most distance possible before your craft is destroyed by running out of vital integrity. The only way to restore shield energy is to go over speed pads, which will restore some of your shield energy. You are also on a time limit, and you must pass checkpoints within a certain amount of time. Your time will also slightly be frozen for about half a second every time you hit a speed pad. The question is though: How far can you fly before you are inevitably destroyed?

And finally, possibly an extreme game mode that shouldn't be implemented (but could be released as DLC [won't be part of the ARC-150 because of the high numbers of casualties involved]: Destruction Mode!

The goal of this mode is to cause as much damage as possible by destroying your craft at a junction of some sort. Your craft is armed with a self-destruct bomb that will automatically activate after one minute. You can also manually activate it as well. You gain points for every other craft you destroy and also for collateral damage, and you can get cannon pickups that can help you cause more damage too (other craft have very weak shields that can be broken through with about four shots. On destruction of your craft, your craft will send out a blast radius (like the Bomb from Wipeout games), and you can control your craft in mid air whilst it is destroyed, allowing you to cause more damage. You get two attempts to get as many points as possible.

I know that Destruction is not a really good game mode like Simulation Damage, but I feel like it's worth putting out there. Any thoughts on these game modes?

[DDD113]

We need to revive this thread and finish the game ideas we've started, namely Zombie mode and possibly Time Bomb. First off, I actually do like the idea of being unarmed in Zombie mode, basically making it a run-and-survive mode. That way the focus would be solely on precision piloting skills instead of combat, which also fits better into the storyline since the ARC-150 is just coming off the violent and now-hated F9000, so you would think violence would be limited (i.e. no eliminator, no Zombie weapons, I'm not saying change the AI aggression, that's some good stuff! :D). Since rubber banding cannot kick in instantly, if you jumped out ahead of the Zombie ships, you would have a short little break before they caught up to you, which they would since this mode would have to be extremely rubber banded. That's my thoughts there, on making it a precision battle. But we can still have Carlos come and replenish your energy. ;)

As for Time Bomb, first of all I have to say I'm curious as to how far Damon got with this idea when he brought it up, and what he can add that we may have missed. For what we do have, though, I think it would make the most sense to have two bombs at a time, one starting with the player and one with another ship. If you like, the the bombs could be made Plasma Bombs for extra interest, and explode in a bright color with a blast radius for visual effect (and sentimental inclusion of plasma :)) Also, one of these bombs will detonate after 20 seconds (close to one lap in Gamma class) and the other after 40 seconds (close to two laps in Gamma class), and you don't know which one is which. Note: the detonation time will be adjusted for each speed class so that the bombs detonate slightly under one and slightly under two laps, respectively, but all further data will refer to the Gamma version of the mode. The bombs cause an automatic elimination on whoever's ship they sit on as they detonate, and they attach to the ships like magnets, and transfer rapidly by contact with another ship.

After both of the first two bombs have detonated, as the field comes to the start of their third lap, two more bombs will be waiting on the ground at the start finish line, in the middle of the track. They will gravitate to the first two ships that pass by them, and still detonate 20 and 40 seconds after they are picked up, not after they are spawned. So then the cycle starts again, and by the end of lap 4, only four ships remain, so at the start of lap 5, the sequence starts again in the same fashion. Then, at the start of Lap 7, as only two pilots remain, a single bomb will lie in wait at the finish line, causing a battle for the finish. This bomb may detonate after 20 or 40 seconds, that is unknown.

If the bomb is in ship transfer when it is supposed to detonate, it will wait to detonate when it's attached to the ship it is currently in the process of attaching to. The bombs cannot be dropped by the ships, and when the new set of bombs sits on the ground they are guaranteed to attach to the first two players that pass by, regardless of how close they are to the bombs. Also, if the player attempts to go backwards in this mode, they will proceed to the results screen as the AI computer takes over their ship and Blocky says, "Ship Decommissioned." Also as a sidenote I think this mode could be run on all tracks including Sao Paulo, the narrower ones would just make it more interesting. Also, the AI would have to be heavily rubber banded around the player again and coded to stay in a relative pack-like formation.

And here's a delayed response to your ideas above, Mike: For Street Race, the first problem is that's what we'll be doing in the first few events of the campaign, so the name would have to be changed, but anyway, I'm not a big fan of the cops vs. robbers style modes, especially in AG racing, that just seems odd to me. I think Zombie mode is enough of a pursuit, without bringing the 21st century influence of cops and robbers in.

For Refuel, some of the aspects you talked about are likely to be used in Velocity Challenge mode (see thread here: http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9451-Velocity-Challenge-Development&p=232048#post232048) The frozen time when you hit a speed pad will not, however, it would make the gameplay too choppy, keep in mind, a flowing experience is the goal. :)

And yeah, for Destruction, far too violent, terroristic, etc. Doesn't fit the ideals of the ARC-150, especially following the F9000.

Anyway, hopefully some of you guys (dev team and others) will evaluate my refined Zombie and Time Bomb (or maybe Plasma Bomb? :D) ideas, and give me some feedback on them, so we can work further toward finalizing our mode lineup and then refining the modes themselves. :)

[Mike458]

I agree with all of your points there, and I just thought that Destruction would be worth sharing anyway...

I was about to say in the Velocity thread: "Hey! You took some of my ideas from Refuel mode! :P"

Anyway, I have another game mode to share, something on the simpler side of life:

Free Run: The track is randomly generated, and it is endless. You have infinite integrity, and the goal is just to simply have a nice cruise and have fun. You are given the options to set the difficulty of the track generated (and the track is randomly generated, not a closed loop), and whether to have AI opponents or not.

And for Time Bomb, should there be a no-transfer period after the bomb has been transferred (2-3 seconds?)?

[DDD113]

WE WILL HAVE NO FUN!!!!!

Just kidding, lol :P We had thought about random generation for Velocity mode, but kinda left it because it didn't fit the constant acceleration idea, you kinda have to know where you're going there. Interesting thought though, just for a joyride, I'm just not sure about the work input vs. reward, though, in my opinion I might play it every once in awhile but I would mostly stick to the race and time modes (including Velocity Challenge, and all the other modes with AI). Nice to see new ideas popping up again.

Also for Time Bomb, what exactly are you referring to with the transfer period? Like how long it takes to go from ship to ship?

P.S. Can't believe you read that far in the wall of text that is the Velocity Challenge thread. :P

[docfo4r]

First of all, I think we should continue discussing new race modes in one thread, otherwise ideas and critics get mixed up, even if threads are about a totally new idea. I won't merge the Velocity thread into here as of yet for a simple overlook but I'd like to ask you guys to keep any further discussion about race modes in this thread. For those who don't know the Velocity mode/thread, please read here:
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9451-Velocity-Challenge-Development

I for myself still like the Zombie mode the most. Especially your idea with not giving the player any kinds of weapons, Davy. Kinda reminds me on that indy-horror game Slender: If you have no way to defend yourself and all you can do is run, it's an even more thrilling experience to stay alive.

Time bomb sounds also ok. I know this race modes from Destruction Derby, Crashday and Flatout - typical "destruction" modes so to say. But I never really enjoyed this modes, maybe it's just me - doesn't mean we won't include em :) Lets wait and see what the others think.

As for the overal violence. You both made some good points:
- Story-wise it would make sense to not put too many violence/weapon based modes into SSGX.
- Otherwise we could say "screw the story, I want to have fun"

Now we can discuss which of this two points makes more sense cuz I have no idea :D

[DDD113]

I think a merger of those two points goes best. I talked to Damon yesterday and he (finally) remembered bringing up the Time Bomb idea, and also a game mode called Tag, where players basically play tag with their AG ships using weapons and rams. All in all, I think if we have one or both of these modes and no eliminator, I think it still fits the "not-all-out-death" motto but still allows us to have fun in aggression-filled races. I also think that Time Bomb and Tag fit the feeling of the game, because overall, SSGX is a very technical game, and requires tactics and intelligence to succeed at. These two modes take the aggression from eliminator mode, but add a tactical twist, something the brute-force raw eliminator didn't really have save for shielding tactics. It just feels like a more intelligent way to play to me, and that goes with the game, so I think we can stick to the less-violent ideals of the ARC-150 and still include these modes.

Sorry about the Velocity thread, I just decided to form it because I knew I was going to go very much into detail and thought people may be deterred from this thread by the massive wall of text that met their eyes upon viewing it. :P You can merge it if you want, it's not critical to be kept separate.

P.S. Kai if you like scary indie-horror games, you should definitely get Outlast: http://www.ign.com/games/outlast/pc-145344 http://store.steampowered.com/app/238320/ It has a great story throughout the campaign, and at some points, if you play alone and in a dark room, can be downright terrifying. :D I played through the whole thing in one long night and have no regrets. :)

[Mike458]

Also for Time Bomb, what exactly are you referring to with the transfer period? Like how long it takes to go from ship to ship?

P.S. Can't believe you read that far in the wall of text that is the Velocity Challenge thread. :P

Yes, I read the entire wall of text :P; took me a while!

And the transfer period is basically the "no tag-back period" of sending the bomb to someone else right after a ship gets a timebomb.


WE WILL HAVE NO FUN!!!!!

Lolwut. :P

[DDD113]

Now that's a smart point with the no-tagback period (lol, we sound immature! :D) We really should have some sort of short time period to give the player handing off the bomb time to escape again, very good point there. That would have been a costly oversight! :P

- Imagines two ships bouncing off one another endlessly until the bomb detonates and destroys one of them -

[Mike458]

I was imagining the same exact thing when I made that post.

Anyway, should Sao Paulo also have an open variant where the whole city is yours to explore or play tag in? I think it may be interesting for outsmarting other players by blocking off corridors, trapping them inside to tag them. If that's the case, should there be Infection tag? (From Forza Horizon, 1 person starts off at it, that person has to tag all of the other players, and if you get tagged, you get infected with the other player. The last person not infected when all the others are infected wins. This helps with tactics and teamwork!)

Also, if the open variant is allowed, maybe we could do some easter eggs (platformers, secret areas, falling off the map :P, the possibilities are endless!)?

Thoughts on this?

[DDD113]

Only thought is that the entire city of Sao Paulo fully modelled and rendered to SSGX standards would not be able to run on any normal computer, the city is simply too large for that. From my understanding there may be skillcuts and alternate routes, but the main route will be the same, and although all the streets will be open, they will not be able to be traveled down for a distance. That's a cool idea, but would only work with a console game. On the infection standpoint, it made me think awhile, but overall I think the problem is that the 'infected' would become too powerful toward the end for just one or two players to avoid six or seven of them. Plus I like the idea of a two ship mano-a-mano battle at the end of the round, it adds to the appeal and tactical nature of the game. Plus it puts a very 'final' nature to the mood of the mode with the result of the bomb detonating as an elimination. :D :D :D

[Xpand]

.... and although all the streets will be open, they will not be able to be traveled down for a distance...

You already know more than I do and I'm the one preparing the track, lol.

[DDD113]

I thought that's what you said when we were talking about not making it a closed circuit, so the streets would be open but you couldn't travel down them without respawning on the main course unless they were specialized split paths. Maybe that's just the way I interpreted it, lol :D Point in fact, there's still a lot of modelling to go, so I guess not much is really set in stone at this point. :)

[Mike458]

True, true, and possibly who knows what might come out of it?

New "sort of" game mode!

Cone Challenges (or whatever):

This is an extension to Time Trial, but this time the track is littered with cones. Your goal in this mode is to knock down every cone placed randomly on the track. If you miss a cone, you will get a 5 second time penalty at the end of the race for each cone you missed. Cones that hit and knocked down also count as hit. The number of cones spawned is multiplied varied on speed class. Barrel rolling also releases a small blast from your craft, knocking down all cones in the radius.

So for the multipliers:

Alpha: 100% of cones
Beta: 150% of cones
Gamma: 200% of cones

The first extension is basically a reversed version of Cone Challenge. In this mode, your job is to avoid as many cones as possible. At the end of the race, you get a 5 second time penalty for each cone that you hit. Barrel rolling this time around activates a Phantomizer for about one second, as well as giving the speed boost that BRs normally give. However, the number of cones spawned for each speed class is the same.

The other extension to this game mode is in an open area against 7 other ships. Your goal is to knock down as many cones as possible in the open area as you can before time runs out. Cones will periodically spawn in patterns or dispersed in bunches all over the area for you to hit and score points. Once time runs out, the ship that hit the most cones wins. You can choose whether to use weapons or not. You have infinite shield energy in all of these variants except this one. Being eliminated will cause you to lose and drop 10 cones that can be hit by other ships.

Thoughts on these modes?

[DDD113]

I'm not a huge fan of the whole cone idea. I mean, why place a hundred random cones on a racetrack and have a TT with them when you can have a regular TT on the open track, with speed pads that make you move out of your racing line anyway. Once upon a time a sort of gate idea was brought up, but dropped because of the already technical challenges of the courses. For example, many times on Cassandra or Draco Cavernae on Gamma class, you're lucky to run a perfect lap in an iFreet (which has a handling stat of 90/100 by the way) let alone dodge a bunch of cones. This mode might have worked physically in a game like Pure that turned really fast and was really slidey, but SSGX is more like WO3 where every corner demands F1-like perfection and some corners push a good ship to it's limit. (Cassandra turn 3, anyone? :D) However, if I remember right (check me on this Ric) there will be an early part of the campaign that involves dodging obstacles, but mostly just for the practice of doing so.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I had an idea for not necessarily a mode, but rather a configuration menu, for custom races: Mutators. I got the idea from Unreal Tournament and Super Smash Bros.

Basically, you can configure all kinds of stuff for mutators, be it:
- No Shields (race like in WipEout Classic)
- Automatic Acceleration
- Max/Min Stats
- Regenerating Health (incompatible with No Shields)
- Weapon-Swapping (when you get hit and do not have a weapon, you will copy the weapon that hit you)
- Enable Super Weapons
- Etc

I also came up with an ACTUAL gamemode:
Handicap Race
Basically like a normal race, except those who are more likely to win will receive a penalty to their various stats, what weapons they can pick up, their maximum speedclass, etc. Meanwhile, those who are losing will get buffs to their stats, their maximum speedclass, or what weapons they can pick up. If possible, this could be turned into a mutator that could be applied to any competitive mode.

Flagrun (did somebody already suggest this?)
There is a flag on the map, and whoever picks it up becomes the flag carrier. Depending on how long they can hold it, they will gain points. If they get eliminated, they will respawn but lose the flag. A team version could also be available.

Juggernaut
There is one ship, and everyone else is teamed up against them. There is only one objective for the Juggernaut: Survive as long as possible. There is only one objective for everyone else: Beat the Juggernaut. Whoever delivers the killing blow to the Juggernaut becomes the Juggernaut. But what exactly is the Juggernaut? The Juggernaut is a ship with maximum possible stats (or perhaps even higher), and possibly a few unique abilities inspired by the Prototype ships in 2048. The Juggernaut isn't at an unfair advantage however, since EVERYONE is teamed up against them.

[Mike458]

Nice game modes that you've created! However, I think that many of them are too Eliminator-esque, as that doesn't fit with the storyline of the ARC 150.


For example, many times on Cassandra or Draco Cavernae on Gamma class, you're lucky to run a perfect lap in an iFreet (which has a handling stat of 90/100 by the way)

Yes, but you're more likely to get eliminated (thanks to the crappy shielding) rather than actually complete a lap. :P

What material did they use to make those shields? Random christmas cards lying around the iFreet HQ? :P

[DDD113]

@Amaroq - I too hope that we will have single race modifiers that will allow you to tweak weapon usage and maybe some other, more standard options, but that will all be decided the closer we get to completion. As to Handicap Race, I'm not a huge fan of this mode as it destroys the element of ship choice if everything is changed, and wouldn't make too much sense for a competitive league. Flagrun is interesting though, I don't know if it has been proposed yet or not, but it ties in with the time bomb idea, just kind of the opposite, so good thought there. We have also discussed a Marked Man type event which is similar to a standardized Juggernaut mode, so there is a chance for inclusion there.

@Mike - You don't need good shielding if you never hit walls and outrun the pack, which is why iFreet is the best ship for a careful and precise pilot, and why it holds both Gamma TT world records on the October 2013 demo. :D

And as a sidenote for anyone on the outside brainstorming modes: You can feel free to propose modes condoning violence and eliminator-like qualities. We have done the same here at AirTime, but so far we have tried to keep a tactical twist on all of those type of modes, instead of just straight eliminator. We try to have more class than WipEout by including different motives and objectives with violent modes instead of just straight destruction-for-points, so do keep that in mind if you want to create a mode that includes violence.

[Mike458]

And as a sidenote for anyone on the outside brainstorming modes: You can feel free to propose modes condoning violence and eliminator-like qualities. We have done the same here at AirTime, but so far we have tried to keep a tactical twist on all of those type of modes, instead of just straight eliminator. We try to have more class than WipEout by including different motives and objectives with violent modes instead of just straight destruction-for-points, so do keep that in mind if you want to create a mode that includes violence.

That sounds like a plan. New game modes incoming!

New game mode: Basewar!

The goal of this game mode is to destroy the opposing team's base before they destroy yours. Every ship is equipped with a cannon (like the Detonator ship) which holds 15 rounds. However, you no longer have infinite ammo to reload yourself with, so make every shot count. Going over weapon pads will restore your reserve ammo (how many spare bullets you have remaining) instead of giving you weapons. All cannon shots deal increased damage. The only way to restore shield energy in this mode is to pick up the Recharge pickup (scattered around the arena).

Each base has three power generators that need to be destroyed by shooting them or ramming them. Those power generators power an invincible force field that makes the base invunerable to all damage. Once all three power generators are destroyed, you can then proceed to damage the base by shooting at it. Each base has 1000 shield energy (Helios power shielding), and cannon fire from either team will damage it if it gets hit. However, you can bring the shield back online by repairing the power generators (by stopping near or on the destroyed power generator). You need to repair two power generators to get the shield back?

The game ends when one team's base runs out of shield energy and their base is destroyed. The winner is the team with the surviving base.

Comments?

[DDD113]

First, it wouldn't really work on any type of circuit, even São Paulo, so then a new area would have to be modeled. Second, it doesn't fit a racing game, it's basically just a point A to point B scramble, stopping to shoot in the process. Keep in mind what has been stressed in this game: flowing game modes with constant forward motion, not vehicular arena death matches. Try to work on modes more like race/eliminator hybrid modes with tactical twists, and not too many extra features (like new models) to have to include.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Nice game modes that you've created! However, I think that many of them are too Eliminator-esque, as that doesn't fit with the storyline of the ARC 150.

You consider Mutators (settings which can be applied to any mode) and Handicap Races as being eliminator-esque? That's not what I had in mind. Speaking of which, the mutators I listed are just examples, if they were to be implemented then they could be literally anything.

Thank you for your honesty however, I appreciate it.

@Amaroq - I too hope that we will have single race modifiers that will allow you to tweak weapon usage and maybe some other, more standard options, but that will all be decided the closer we get to completion. As to Handicap Race, I'm not a huge fan of this mode as it destroys the element of ship choice if everything is changed, and wouldn't make too much sense for a competitive league. Flagrun is interesting though, I don't know if it has been proposed yet or not, but it ties in with the time bomb idea, just kind of the opposite, so good thought there. We have also discussed a Marked Man type event which is similar to a standardized Juggernaut mode, so there is a chance for inclusion there.

Thanks for the feedback. Flagrun is actually an idea I had for a long time; Back when I first started playing WipEout HD, I had an idea for a capture-the-flag type mode, and when I heard 2048 was in development I sent an email to Studio Liverpool requesting some features, Flagrun being among them. Sadly, it never made it in...

As for Handicap race, the changes to stats could be minor, and would only kick in if you were doing really poorly or really well. And after giving it some thought, I felt it would be way better as a mutator than an actual mode. Eh, I guess it wouldn't be worth the effort in the end, in terms of the developer-effort/player-enjoyment ratio.

[DDD113]

Well I'm glad people are here thinking about SSGX, and especially people who can take constructive criticism well. :P Flagrun interests me, I'm definitely not writing it off yet. :)

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Like a newb, I responded to the wrong post... I can't believe I didn't realize it until now...

I had a kinda-idea earlier... A sandbox mode. Imagine something sorta like the GMod of AG Raciing.

[zero3growlithe]

A sandbox? Sounds like fun. Lemme see what I can put together to make it happen :g

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

----- REDACTEDa-----

[DDD113]

I actually don't like the idea; a race about "beating the hell out of everybody with balls" is not really, er, logical, and it also doesn't fit the style of the game as far as not having 'dumb-fire shoot-em-up modes.' I'm not saying we won't have violent modes, I'm just saying that they will likely have a tactical twist instead of the bull-headed "beat the hell out of everybody" mentality. So overall, too violent, would be too much work, etc. If you're going to think of modes, try to make them somewhat standardized similar to the modes we are familiar with in AG racing with different, yet logical tactical twists.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Aww... But my brother was really fond of that one. I was gonna call it Catch because of the gravity manipulation and everything...

Fine, I'll try something else.

[docfo4r]

Storywise, SSGX happens after the Temtech Disaster. To keep things solid and logical, you would now expect race modes with few to zero violence. Think of something with tactics, something that maybe doesn't involve weapons at all, and sure as hell no new weapons!

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Okay, okay, I'll play by your rules. It was supposed to be a virtual mode though.

----- EDIT -----

Marathon
Marathon functions like a cross between a normal race and a speed lap; everyone has infinite health and gets a free turbo on each lap. However, there is a twist: The objective is not to complete a set number of laps before everyone else does, but to see how many laps you can complete before a set time expires. Also, acceleration is automatic, and the "Thruster" button is changed to a "Both-Airbrakes" button, which behaves similarly to the "single-airbrake" control schemes of Pure and Pulse (and the "Racer" control scheme of 2048.)

Whoever completes the most laps before time expires wins the Marathon.

[DDD113]

I think Endurance races pretty well cover the lengthy race area in SSGX.

[BrunoDG]

Well, inspired on the non-weapon mode, we could make a mode resembling F-Zero: No weapons at all, only turbo pads and falling off the track would lend to an automatic retirement. Oh, and speed wise it's a Gamma-only mode.

I really don't know if this would fit, but imo it would give the players a tough time keeping the ship all time on tracks, since they're way narrower than F-Zero's tracks. :)

[Austinutiy]

How about special goals for a certain event, such as try to win without using any boost pads, or without using any weapons?

[docfo4r]

Those things come with special key events during the campaign :)

[Mike458]

New game mode: Obstacle Run!

If a track like Temtesh Bay (the caves section) is included in this game, then this game mode could be applied there. Basically, it is a point to point time trial (randomized every race), with a twist. There would be several AI ships trying to activate obstacles to screw you over, and you have to dodge obstacles that can destroy your ship or severely damage it. AI ships can also come in the form of attackers, where the ships are like the Power Swarm drones (from EG-r's superweapon) with small cannons on them. You can ram to destroy these ships attacking your ship, and you can regain some shield energy by destroying these ships. You cannot regain shield energy any other way. Once your ship crosses the line, you will now be on the side of the attackers (activating obstacles by flying to switches to activate obstacles) while an AI ship (your rival) attempts to complete the same course. The ship that either went the farthest or the ship that finished in the quicker time wins.

Sorry for the bad explanation, couldn't explain it better.

P.S: I'M BACK.

[docfo4r]

Hehe, ok. Let me get one thing straight here:
At the moment we are not in a desperate seek of a new game mode. You guys can of course post some ideas that you had but try to relate it to existing things in SSGX. Or keep the concept simple and fun. You guys remember the Skyscraper mode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x286MBZXSQ) of "Destruction Derby RAW"? This was a very simple yet great mode to have some fun in between of serious campaign races. It would be good if a new game mode does not contain completely new weapons and mechanics but rather use what is already there. "Fatal Inertia" has the Magnet Mayhem mode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBiJdcvvRQM)... Basically a weapon pad to spawn only one certain weapon.
Of course, a new game mode can be close to existing modes, it can also be totally different visually [like Zone in WipEout] or it can have another goal than completing laps. I for example once had the idea of a game mode where the ships are in an area. Everybody who leaves the area looses. And there are weapon pads that only spawn Impulses... Of course this is just a very flat concept and there is no need to develop on it, but to give you some idea of what we are looking for.