Open-Source Instagib Project

[Eli]

Hey, I'm an amateur mapper and artist, and I've wanted to do my own project for some time now. All of my ideas however were far to ambitious and impossible to pull off without the necessary expertise or budget. So I decided to settle on an idea which was both simple to create but also a good vessel to show off skill and gain attention in the mod community. Beyond making a basic zombie mod or counterstrike clone, the best idea that came to me was a purely instagib mod. Instagib is one of the oldest, and most enjoyed modified gametypes around, and its been around for quite some time, appearing in almost every FPS in some form. In my mind all it would take to create an awesome open-source instagib game would be stylized art, good presentation, great level design, and an easily accessible menu to alter game settings, much like that found in nexuiz. Content-wise this project would also be extremely basic, as all you really need for instagib is two models (a weapon and a character), a menu, sounds, and the levels themselves.

Anyway I have a more in-depth, but still pre-production level concept document here, which also includes some early concept sketches which should hopefully amplify the games overall art style as I see it. All I need as far as help really is a modeler and skin artist to create the two primary models at around quake one or two tech level, the models themselves are fairly simple geometry-wise and really depend more on style then polycount to look awesome. A texture artist would be a plus because though I intend to really just use evillair's DSI texture set for the game it'd be nice if someone could alter the colors of this set to turn the primary blue and gray pack into a full color palette which could be used by mappers to create a variety of looks in their levels but still have a collected style for the whole project. I already have a sound and music artist who is capable and can create great and fitting music for the project. I can draw concept art and intend to make a lot more before the project is finished but an artist to create clean and stylized menu's and HUD content for the game is necessary for sure. I can also do maps but any number of mappers would be nice and probably easy to attain sense theres a million mappers and instagib is pretty easy to make fun levels for. A coder or just coding advisor would be nice too even though I can probably implement all the necessary code for instagib but it'd still be nice to have extra features at some later point.

If anyone wants to help just post or email me, any and all help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I have hosting at quakeone.com and will soon put up a site and forum section there as well as more concept work.

Thanks,
-Eli

[Baker]

Really you should be able to find everything you need in Nexuiz and OpenArena (player models, sounds, weapon models, etc.)

Most or all of it could be used with DarkPlaces.

Nexuiz and OpenArena are GPL license projects, your project would almost certainly need to be GPL license to use that content.

http://www.nexuiz.com
http://www.openarena.ws/

If you used DarkPlaces, you could decide on whether you want to use the Quake .bsp format or the Q3 bsp format and probably use the instagib code Rook said he was willing to provide.

If you go with Q1 bsp, you could use id Software map sources and GPL textures. If you go with Q3 bsp, you could use the maps in OpenArena or Nexuiz.

[Sajt]

Or both... they're just the maps :p

[xaGe]

You could also take the Quake 1 map sources and compile them into the Q3A BSP format... Darkplaces does support both formats as well as the Half-life 1 map format... There is no harm in using any or all the formats with in your project...

If you go with Q1 bsp, you could use id Software map sources and GPL textures. If you go with Q3 bsp, you could use the maps in OpenArena or Nexuiz.

[Urre]

You could also take the Quake 1 map sources and compile them into the Q3A BSP format... Darkplaces does support both formats as well as the Half-life 1 map format... There is no harm in using any or all the formats with in your project...

There is the harm of not being able to use custom hulls in q1bsp...

[Sajt]

There is the harm of not being able to use custom hulls in q1bsp...

It's just instagib

[scar3crow]

Yeah, custom hulls is only really useful for multiple player positions (crouching, prone/crawling) in most situations. And anyone who crouches in instagib deserves to get shot. And thusly gibbed.

I would say go with DarkPlaces, use whatever map format you want, and just make sure the movement feels natural, the fire rate is good and the weapon feedback is great.

Other than that, just good simple maps are fun... As you already know. My favorite map for InstaGib could be found in UT2k3, I don't recall the name but it had a dirty metal/slime waste theme with a figure 8 layout with a z axis, using fast lifts and slopes, leading to two large atriums with 3.5 levels active for gameplay and 2 full routes across the map and 1 half route or so. Tight maps like that are good.

Dammit now I want to play some InstaGib.

[Eli]

Yeah I agree UT2k3's instagib is great, the maps are almost perfect and the smooth, almost slippery gameplay of UT which normally pisses me off works great for it.

Multiple player positions might actually be useful, IDK if double jumping, leap dodging, and sliding would count, but those might be nice additions to an instagib game.

Dammit now I want to play some InstaGib.

So help me then! All I need our some models and particle effects!

[Supa]

So help me then! All I need our some models and particle effects!

Unfortunately I3D is more of a QCVM coder community: We only really have one modeler (Hi Chillo!) and wish we had more. =)
[Edit: Well, actually two. Hi, CheapAlert.]

As to particle effects: If you use DarkPlaces for your game, you can use the Nexuiz beam effect which is pretty much a perfect fit for an instagib game. When I get free time I also intend to document DP's effectinfo.txt, so if you don't like the Nexbeam you could replace it with almost any particle effect you could want.

IDK if double jumping, leap dodging, and sliding would count

Seriously, if you're doing an instagib game you should add as many movement tricks as possible to keep the gameplay deep enough. By removing any aspects of map control the gameplay becomes much simpler, but with less depth it'll be hard to keep people playing for any length of time. By adding in additional depth to the movement end of things you add something else to develop as a skill, and thusly you'll keep people playing longer.

[Quake Matt]

In my opinion, you've got to be careful with movement tricks - they can work well, but double-jumping and the bouncy combat mostly ruined UT2k4 for me. I much prefer the grounded fights of UT and Quake (if you ignore bunnyhopping for a moment).

Also, have you ever played the People Can Fly gametype in Painkiller? The idea is that people can only be hurt while they're in the air, which could probably translate fairly well into instagib if you gave the guns enough kick!

[leileilol]

there's an "Instant Gib" cvar in OA btw

[Urre]

CheapAlert: many games have instagib, he wants to make his own because it's a simple gamemode to make.

[leileilol]

can't be that hard. The big plus about this is that you dont' have to model any items or powerups since players have everything they need.

Only hard part is in the mapping

[Electro]

Supa: I'm a modeler, and so is CheapAlert

[Sajt]

I used to be a modeler