Thread: My Gauntlet mod idea.

Also posted at swarmarmory.com

An idea for those with more skill than me.

Gauntlet was a game for the NES and a ton of other systems (everything from commodore 64 to sega cd) that had a similar top down or isometric view and hordes of monsters to fight as you busted through levels. Some systems allowed for four players like the actual arcade game did and had four distinct classes; the warrior, an elf, a valkyrie or a wizard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauntlet_%28arcade_game%29

The gameplay was fast paced and levels were randomly generated each time you played which was a real breakthrough for it's time.



My thought is that this would be a great mod for Alien Swarm. Change the four Marine classes with the four Gauntlet classes and have many class specific 'weapons' that the gauntlet classes could choose from.

Special Weapons to Warrior - This guy would get a very strong melee attack like a powerfist or more as standard as well as getting something like huge throwing axes that he/she could hurl at the enemies. An armor item to give them more protection than the other classes might do well too.

Medic to Priest - This guy/gal would now have the same healing powers but obviously instead of a medigun it would be some sort of holy healing spell and the box would transform into an aura or holy symbol. A melee attack with a mace and possibly a holy water grenade type weapon would round them out.

Officer to Elf - This class would have some long range single shot abilities similar to a sniper but obviously with a bow instead of a rifle. A speed increase akin to the female medic in the standard game as well as possibly some sort of slowing trap (tesla?) might be another neat ability. I am also wondering if this would be easier to model if using the TF2 sniper character with the bow.

Tech to Wizard - This would be the weakest class as far as standing toe to toe with the enemies but would have some good offensive powers like a flamethrower and possibly a tesla gun ability named lightning jolt. Akin to the tech he would have the only means of opening 'magically sealed' doors in the dungeons. Perhaps instead of a turret there would be a summons sort of like the old diablo spell which summoned dragon-like heads out of the floor to shoot fireballs in all directions.

Aliens to Undead - to simulate the same effect as the aliens popping up all over undead would be used with skeletons being the default alien and perhaps zombies, mummies, etc being other types of undead. Vampire bats or flying skulls as the flying aliens and maybe undead ogres or large creatures as some of the others.

Scenery would be standard stone dungeons but could include hell, tombs, forest or anything else folks could think of as environments.

This is all just an idea of course and I have little ability to see it happen right now beyond making tilesets or levels for the mod. Just thought someone might take it up or adapt the idea to some other mod.

What's wrong with keeping the setting? There are already enough swords and sorcery games out there. Why would anyone want to use silly magic when they can just whip out a rocket launcher?

Originally Posted by PizzaSHARK!

What's wrong with keeping the setting? There are already enough swords and sorcery games out there. Why would anyone want to use silly magic when they can just whip out a rocket launcher?

Because you can...?

Originally Posted by PizzaSHARK!

What's wrong with keeping the setting? There are already enough swords and sorcery games out there. Why would anyone want to use silly magic when they can just whip out a rocket launcher?

Mostly because there already are and will be a ton of mods that keep the setting but expand upon it. The view in AS is the same as it was in Gauntlet and although it is a 'sword and sorcery' game it still has the same elements, just with different skins. Gauntlet was a very popular game in its day and could do well as a mod.

There is nothing wrong with keeping the setting, but there is nothing wrong with mods either. Without mods we wouldn't have CS:S, TF2 and a host of other games.

This game is based on a mod of Unreal Tournament. Why would you want an alien shooter when you could play UT?

Originally Posted by Blakeman

Mostly because there already are and will be a ton of mods that keep the setting but expand upon it. The view in AS is the same as it was in Gauntlet and although it is a 'sword and sorcery' game it still has the same elements, just with different skins. Gauntlet was a very popular game in its day and could do well as a mod.

There is nothing wrong with keeping the setting, but there is nothing wrong with mods either. Without mods we wouldn't have CS:S, TF2 and a host of other games.

This game is based on a mod of Unreal Tournament. Why would you want an alien shooter when you could play UT?

Because there weren't any aliens dumb enough in the UT universe to fill the role? The Skaarj are supposed to be pretty intelligent, not just the kind of alien that mindlessly trudges towards you while they get mowed down.

I can pick dozens and dozens of games to get my swords and sorcery crap, even with the "Gauntlet clone" subtype. Why can't we have a Gauntlet clone that uses plasma rifles and rocket launchers instead of dumb magic missiles and arrows?

Originally Posted by PizzaSHARK!

Because there weren't any aliens dumb enough in the UT universe to fill the role? The Skaarj are supposed to be pretty intelligent, not just the kind of alien that mindlessly trudges towards you while they get mowed down.

I can pick dozens and dozens of games to get my swords and sorcery crap, even with the "Gauntlet clone" subtype. Why can't we have a Gauntlet clone that uses plasma rifles and rocket launchers instead of dumb magic missiles and arrows?

And here, you have answered your own question.
"l4d2 with aliens?...."

You have a Gauntlet clone with that stuff. Its called Alien Swarm.

I like the idea Blake, reminds me of Dungeon Explorer on the TurboGraphics(still got that laying around, actually here it is on the shelf next to me). If done right a lot of people would be into it. Especially since the tilegen is so easy to use.

Originally Posted by Adretheon

You have a Gauntlet clone with that stuff. Its called Alien Swarm.

I know, right?

Why waste time getting new textures, models, and meshes to make a swords and sorcery Gauntlet clone to not look like crap when you could instead invest that effort into polishing and improving a version that already makes use of assets already present? A space marine shooting plasma bolts at a bug is no different from a warrior throwing axes at a ghost, but it's a hell of a lot of effort saved by not having to make new models, textures, and meshes for the ghost and warrior (and the axe, too.) That effort could instead be used to create (and playtest, and balance) new weapons, new classes, or new bugs in the existing game.

I have to agree with pizza here on this topic. If the scenario was that alien swarm was a full game with a large amount content I'd say do what you want. That's not the case we only have one campaign, and Big has already said if the content isn't there our servers will be cut. We need focus our energy on things that will make this game grow content wise before we talk about full on mods. I'd say use all that time for making a campaign for us before you think about adding a mod to the mix.

And that's all fine. I can understand that. So where are all the people complaining about his idea doing anything for the game?

To my knowledge the only ones doing anything are Blake, Soviet, and myself. I mean it's not hard to release content for the game, hence why I've been doing my tutorials.