I think this game would be awesome for multiplayer!
I guess it would need to be networked, because you can't have 2 independant mice on 1 computer, unless you had a keyboard input mode or something.
But multiplayer would be AWESOME for this game, I think. It would be so much fun!
Who's with me on this?
Multiplayer!
Re: Multiplayer!
I'm with you on that one!
Re: Multiplayer!
i second that one, i already picture 2 different gamemodes,
one would be to have a huge playing field with both normal motes and 2 (or 16
) players scattered around the corners, so at first it's like single player, but eventually, the one who grows the quickest can be the winner (unless he spends all his mass chasing the others
)
the other could be that a fairly large amount of players (like 16) start out equally, and then trying to absorb eachother, though there will (almost) never be a 1:1 absorption, as players spend different amounts of mass on flying
one would be to have a huge playing field with both normal motes and 2 (or 16
![Surprised :o](./images/smilies/icon_e_surprised.gif)
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
the other could be that a fairly large amount of players (like 16) start out equally, and then trying to absorb eachother, though there will (almost) never be a 1:1 absorption, as players spend different amounts of mass on flying
-
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Re: Multiplayer!
For an immersion factor each player's mote could have a foetus navigating its mote by paddling. If a feotus loses' his mote, then he could obscure the view of another mote by clinging to it and snarling inwards like a gremlin. You shouldn't use tiger shark foetuses, though, since they are known to attack and eat each other in utero. Watchathink?
- Meal Worms
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Re: Multiplayer!
lol @ tiger shark foetuses
But seriously: multiplayer (MP) -- yes, we've thought alot about it. Step #1 for us was getting the game out there, and we were a bit concerned that MP might break into the ambient atmosphere of the game too much for initial release. Believe me though -- it's on our 'sweet stuff to add to Osmos' list![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Cheers all!
Dave
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
But seriously: multiplayer (MP) -- yes, we've thought alot about it. Step #1 for us was getting the game out there, and we were a bit concerned that MP might break into the ambient atmosphere of the game too much for initial release. Believe me though -- it's on our 'sweet stuff to add to Osmos' list
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Cheers all!
Dave
-
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Re: Multiplayer!
Hm, as for MP controls, a gamepad/joystick would be plenty for each player, and in implementing that, you'd have controls set for console ports. Point the joystick the direction you want to shoot, and press a button to fire.
I can see plenty of interesting modes for multiplayer unique to the Osmos theme.
First idea: Take a random scattering of motes, assign each a size and vector. take a copy of that, rotate it 180 degrees and paste is down again with a different texture (for more people, rotate and place the configuration 360/p degrees, p times) . Each player can only absorb their own flavour, opposites simply bounce apart. The winner is whoever lives longer, collects more than half of their motes first, creates an opponent mote larger than half (making the previous goal impossible), or the bigger at the end of a time limit. The result is a perfectly fair map with plenty of strategies. It's frictionless pool where your opponent is the ball, and bigger motes that would eat him are the holes. Or it's a race in an obstacle course, depending on how aggressive you feel. :
Another, inspired by hours of 'meditation' on F1-1 to eat the sun, forgive the astronomical terms. Each player is a satellite moon, around a binary system of huge attractor motes. one is clearly marked as the 'property' of each player, and the match starts with each player in medium low orbit in a large dust cloud. The goal isn't to eat the other player though, it's to make the stars collide, and have yours the bigger at the time. Gather, spit at your star. If you're in the lead, you'll want to do it when you're ahead of your star, slowing the orbit even more in the process. If you're behind, do it where you can give more speed to your star, and hopefully buy enough time to catch up before the gravity pulls them together anyway. Mote rules could be the same though, feel free to take a dangerous (and expensive, masswise!) close or far orbit to catch up or be caught up to, and bring the fight to them. Even if you destroy them utterly though, you still may not win, if they did their job well. This would even work with two teams of two! An optional setting to speed up apon one player/teams death would give a human element to the game as well. If you're way behind, it'll make you think twice about eliminating the compitition. If you're way ahead, give yourself to the sun, and watch your opponent frantically try to survive a universe slowly speeding up on them. Yeah, slowly, at the instant of death, even I'd want to give the opponent time to adjust, and have the accelleration slow down over time. for example, if he gets 180 seconds before becoming inert and allowing the final speedy collapse of the system, 15 seconds to 2x, another 30 to 3x, 45 to 4x, and 60 to hit 5x.
And that's just ignoring typical multiplayer modes! You've got random deathmatch, king of the hill, (Make random map, designate a small area near the middle. the more mass you have inside the area, the faster your 'win bar' fills. (More accurately, [your enclosed mass]-[every other player's enclosed mass]=[speed of win]. or make the area small, and if disputed at all, no one gets points.).
Another misc. idea: Put (weak?) repulsers, attractors, or whatever in, and if you absorb it, you briefly become one, until you metabolize it all and it fades away naturally. This would require motes being able to support more than one variable in their mass. The default motemass, the metaboliser, determines how fast special motemass is negated. the active special motemass, the more the stronger the effect, and the inert special motemass, which does nothing. You don't want to make it into default mass, or you have an exponential digestion, when a linear drop in power is more logical. inert to normal is fine, but at a slower rate.
I can see plenty of interesting modes for multiplayer unique to the Osmos theme.
First idea: Take a random scattering of motes, assign each a size and vector. take a copy of that, rotate it 180 degrees and paste is down again with a different texture (for more people, rotate and place the configuration 360/p degrees, p times) . Each player can only absorb their own flavour, opposites simply bounce apart. The winner is whoever lives longer, collects more than half of their motes first, creates an opponent mote larger than half (making the previous goal impossible), or the bigger at the end of a time limit. The result is a perfectly fair map with plenty of strategies. It's frictionless pool where your opponent is the ball, and bigger motes that would eat him are the holes. Or it's a race in an obstacle course, depending on how aggressive you feel. :
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Another, inspired by hours of 'meditation' on F1-1 to eat the sun, forgive the astronomical terms. Each player is a satellite moon, around a binary system of huge attractor motes. one is clearly marked as the 'property' of each player, and the match starts with each player in medium low orbit in a large dust cloud. The goal isn't to eat the other player though, it's to make the stars collide, and have yours the bigger at the time. Gather, spit at your star. If you're in the lead, you'll want to do it when you're ahead of your star, slowing the orbit even more in the process. If you're behind, do it where you can give more speed to your star, and hopefully buy enough time to catch up before the gravity pulls them together anyway. Mote rules could be the same though, feel free to take a dangerous (and expensive, masswise!) close or far orbit to catch up or be caught up to, and bring the fight to them. Even if you destroy them utterly though, you still may not win, if they did their job well. This would even work with two teams of two! An optional setting to speed up apon one player/teams death would give a human element to the game as well. If you're way behind, it'll make you think twice about eliminating the compitition. If you're way ahead, give yourself to the sun, and watch your opponent frantically try to survive a universe slowly speeding up on them. Yeah, slowly, at the instant of death, even I'd want to give the opponent time to adjust, and have the accelleration slow down over time. for example, if he gets 180 seconds before becoming inert and allowing the final speedy collapse of the system, 15 seconds to 2x, another 30 to 3x, 45 to 4x, and 60 to hit 5x.
And that's just ignoring typical multiplayer modes! You've got random deathmatch, king of the hill, (Make random map, designate a small area near the middle. the more mass you have inside the area, the faster your 'win bar' fills. (More accurately, [your enclosed mass]-[every other player's enclosed mass]=[speed of win]. or make the area small, and if disputed at all, no one gets points.).
Another misc. idea: Put (weak?) repulsers, attractors, or whatever in, and if you absorb it, you briefly become one, until you metabolize it all and it fades away naturally. This would require motes being able to support more than one variable in their mass. The default motemass, the metaboliser, determines how fast special motemass is negated. the active special motemass, the more the stronger the effect, and the inert special motemass, which does nothing. You don't want to make it into default mass, or you have an exponential digestion, when a linear drop in power is more logical. inert to normal is fine, but at a slower rate.
Re: Multiplayer!
nice ideas!
i got another one,
how bout, there would be players playing as "The Mote" and others are other organisms like attactors, repulsors or biophobes
it could even be that when one "Mote" player sees a biophobe player, that Biophobe player sees the other player as a Repulsor on his screen, and thus applying the "fleeing" behaviour without removing controll from the player
playtesting would have to decide though what happens to the rest of the "dead" motes
oooor.....
CTF, with the "flag" just being a special mote organism that makes the player glow in their teamcolours, and that whenever it gets absorbed by a enemy mote (killed) that mote absorbs the flag with it and thus stealing the flag from the enemy!
and capturing/homing the flag could be like getting (partially) absorbed by some large stationary team base mote (wich could also grow from each flag, eventually absorbing the losers base)
i got another one,
how bout, there would be players playing as "The Mote" and others are other organisms like attactors, repulsors or biophobes
it could even be that when one "Mote" player sees a biophobe player, that Biophobe player sees the other player as a Repulsor on his screen, and thus applying the "fleeing" behaviour without removing controll from the player
playtesting would have to decide though what happens to the rest of the "dead" motes
oooor.....
CTF, with the "flag" just being a special mote organism that makes the player glow in their teamcolours, and that whenever it gets absorbed by a enemy mote (killed) that mote absorbs the flag with it and thus stealing the flag from the enemy!
and capturing/homing the flag could be like getting (partially) absorbed by some large stationary team base mote (wich could also grow from each flag, eventually absorbing the losers base)
Re: Multiplayer!
As far as time control goes (meaning right+click).. me thinks that the smaller or the larger player should control it, dunno which one is more fair.. (i think the smaller)
Re: Multiplayer!
I think a simple multiplayer option would expand the lifelife of Osmos significantly. I am all for it.
- Battlesnake
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- Contact:
Re: Multiplayer!
You can have several independent mice and keyboards on one computer, via
USB, but you have to make your program HID aware - I used something similar
a while ago to abstract my graphics tablet so that it could be used to do
various other things for example, a Continuum Fingerboard -style on-screen
musical instrument. The tablet (with pressure) controlled the MIDI parameters
(note to play, amount of effect, velocity) whilst the mouse buttons could
be used to step through different fx profiles
I seem to remember it being quite simple to do too (in Delphi), via
a 3rd party package (USBHID or something like that).
[edit:]
Xbox 360 controllers plugged into a PC via USB can also present as
joysticks, accessible via even the old Win95 API (which I think was
just a slightly upgraded version of the old MS-DOS ways?). Using
DirectInput provides complete access to all of the controller's
features, but if you just want two sticks and over half a dozen
buttons, then you can use the old methods very nicely.
I seem to remember joyGetDevCaps being one function in the
group - if that helps to narrow it down at all.
-Mark
USB, but you have to make your program HID aware - I used something similar
a while ago to abstract my graphics tablet so that it could be used to do
various other things for example, a Continuum Fingerboard -style on-screen
musical instrument. The tablet (with pressure) controlled the MIDI parameters
(note to play, amount of effect, velocity) whilst the mouse buttons could
be used to step through different fx profiles
I seem to remember it being quite simple to do too (in Delphi), via
a 3rd party package (USBHID or something like that).
[edit:]
Xbox 360 controllers plugged into a PC via USB can also present as
joysticks, accessible via even the old Win95 API (which I think was
just a slightly upgraded version of the old MS-DOS ways?). Using
DirectInput provides complete access to all of the controller's
features, but if you just want two sticks and over half a dozen
buttons, then you can use the old methods very nicely.
I seem to remember joyGetDevCaps being one function in the
group - if that helps to narrow it down at all.
-Mark
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