SC2Mapster

Reaper Arena

Sidescroller Arena Battle

Heya, a couple of the people on here may have already seen this as I posted it about a week or so ago, but I'm in the process of creating what I think is a very unique and entertaining game for SC2. Essentially, I've rotated a Reaper unit on it's side facing to the left or right and panned the camera down directly on that reaper. Then, with some clever triggers and assorted shenanigans, I've changed the direction of gravity so the reaper treats all unpathable areas, such as the edges of the walls, as the ground, walls, and ceiling. This creates the illusion that the regular ground has become the backdrop and creates a really impressive looking sidescrolling game.

Reaper Arena is my attempt to make a fully functioning game using this idea. Two teams of four players each battle in a multi-leveled arena using a wide variety of different and unique weapons in various different game modes such as Team Deathmatch or Capture the Flag.

The progress so far is still pretty early. I have the physics for the Reaper flying around pretty smooth and intuitive, and I've finished a few of the weapons already. The link to the game is right here:

http://www.sc2mapster.com/maps/reaper-arena/

So if you feel like trying it out then go ahead, the controls are in the link and are fairly intuitive. I'll keep this and the other link updated as I make more progress in the future. The main point of posting this here so early in development is so other people can have a role in shaping the game to come. Find a bug? Please tell me about it. Got a suggestion? I'd love to hear it. Any and all comments, complaints, ideas, and really anything you'd like to say is appreciated.

Here's some youtube, cuz it was requested and it makes sense to have a youtube video, lol.

Change Log

Uploaded v.0.2.0

• Added UI: Pregame menu added. Single Player Modes "Speed Trial" and "Dodge the Seeker Drone" added to menu (Neither are completely finished, but you can do speed trials still). Multiplayer modes Team Deathmatch, FFA Deathmatch, CTF, Zone Control, Juggernaut, and King of the Beacon all added (Only viewable if you are playing multiplayer...)
• Multiplayer Functionalities: Added Game Variants Team Deathmatch, FFA Deathmatch, CTF, Zone Control, Juggernaut, King of the Beacon. Only Team Deathmatch currently works, however, and it's pretty barebone.
• Many other various improvements...

Uploaded v.0.1.9

• Fixes: Molotovs repaired, Healing Shield model changed, Cloaking fixed, Reaper Pistol and Taser repaired, Odd doodads on bottom of map have been removed, Decal on center of map removed, Dialogs are positioned correctly again, Seeker Drone fixed, item halos restored.
• Modified Weapons: Grenades now deal 75 damage instead of 100, but their AoE has been increased to 2 (from 1). Flamethrower now deals slightly less damage per second.

Uploaded v.0.1.8

• Added Powerups: Healing Shield, Fury, and Personal Cloaking. Healing Shield offers 30 seconds of invulnerability and heals you to full health. Fury doubles your movement and attack speeds for 30 seconds. Personal Cloaking cloaks you for 30 seconds and makes you more difficult to hit.
• Changed the dialog display for ammunition on the Taser and Flamethrower (Label is switched with a progress bar when these items are picked up).
• Added a team kills dialog to track team kills.
• Various other minor technical upgrades.

Uploaded v.0.1.7

• Added Weapons: Reaper Pistols
• Modified Weapons: Rocket Launcher now fires slower.
• Improved collision detection. Weapons now only check for collision in the direction they are moving.
• Added an ammunition display underneath the health bar (only displayed while holding a weapon).

Uploaded v.0.1.6

• Added Weapons: Flamethrower
• Controls have been changed. WASD is now arrow keys. Firing Primary Weapons is now Z, Secondary Weapons is X, and picking up new weapons is C. Please comment on which control system you preferred, or suggest a new one if you have one.
• Holding shift now severely decreases horizontal movement, allowing for more precise movements when necessary. Releasing Shift will return the reaper to normal movement speed.
• Halved the force of gravity and the force exerted by the upward movement of the jetpacks. This is a tradeoff, on one hand, the controls will feel smoother and less jerky. On the other hand, it will also make the controls feel somewhat more sluggish and movements will often record slower. (Think of it as decreasing the sensitivity of a joystick on a FPS).
• Added a kill screen, which records when and how a player has died.
• Replaced the start and end game text information with message dialogs (when they were chat messages, they would sometimes get lost at the end, causing players to not be able to know how quickly they finished.)
• Added a Best Time achievement to the Demonstration Mode.

Uploaded v.0.1.5

• Introduced the Item System! Players can hold one primary weapon and one secondary weapon at a time. Space is to fire the primary weapon, while B is to fire the secondary weapon.
• Added Demonstration mode, which is just a very early demonstration of the game. Kill the 20 spawned reapers on the arena as fast as possible to hone your skills.
• Various other minor improvements.

Uploaded v.0.1.4

• Added Weapons: Molotov (Not entirely done yet visually, but the effect works, thanks a bunch to Slypoos for the help here) (5)
• Added a health bar

Uploaded v.0.1.3

• Added Weapons: Taser (4)

Uploaded v.0.1.2

• Added Weapons: Missile (3)
• Improved Collision Detection System

Uploaded v.0.1.1

• Changed Hotkeys: Grenade (1)
• Added Weapons: Hunter Seeker Drone (2)
• Improved Movement System

Uploaded v.0.1

• Weapons: Grenade (B)

Important Information

CURRENTLY KNOWN PROBLEMS: Controls may still behave unusually. A visual glitch concerning the remaining dead pieces of a reaper floating back up to the point where the reaper has died has happened multiple times. The beginning and end game dialogs do not function (The trigger that created them is broken as of beta part 2.)

TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ACTUAL GAME: (Both for your information and my organization)

• Weapons: Missile Launcher, Taser Gun, EMP, Hunter Seeker Drone, Minigun, Molotov, Reaper Pistols, Flamethrower, Grenades
• Powerups: 20 second healing boost, 20 second speed boost, and 20 second invisibility.
• Weapons and Powerups will be spawned on the small beacons, and will have actual ammunition.
• Game Modes: Team Deathmatch, FFA, CTF, Zone Control, and others if I think of them.
• Hopefully trigger optimization to prevent lag issues.

CURRENTLY WORKING ON: More Game Modes, also likely either the Minigun or EMP.

Uploaded v.0.1.4

• Added Weapons: Molotov (Not entirely done yet visually, but the effect works, thanks a bunch to Slypoos for the help here) (5)
• Added a health bar

You should implement Mines and defensive weapons/items.

Not bad, a couple suggestions:

• Avoid using any floor textures and units on the "walls", it breaks the illusion. That siege tank for example is just disorienting because it reminds me I'm looking at a floor.

• The physics feel extremely weird, it seems like you sort of hacked it together to act vaguely like gravity. Really you need to do it properly with some basic physics equations for acceleration from gravity and the jetpack.

• Maybe use a different button to hover, being stuck against a ceiling I instinctively want to press down to go lower.

• Upload Youtube videos as you work, nobody likes downloading maps blind to see what they are and it makes it look like a more professional project.

I'm pretty happy with the weapons I have planned, and I don't really plan on adding too many new ones until after release. I might add mines later, but I kind of want to focus on having a working game up before SC2 comes out.

I added the doodads and stuff because the map looked really quite plain without them. It was just gray and bluish and there really wasn't much to keep the player interested.

The physics are weird because there is literally no way to use the reaper jetpack to affect gravity in any way whatsoever. I'm repeatedly telling the reaper to move based on some physics triggered multiple times per second. It's really the best that can be done. Even if I were to attempt to go back through and redo it all, it would waste a lot of time for not very much improvement, and I definitely wouldn't hit my deadline.

I rather like how the controls are set up actually, as if I change it too much it will feel like just another topdown shooter, and the sidescrolling illusion I have set up will be damaged even further than it already is. I really think it's as it should be right now.

I'll definitely start uploading some videos, that idea makes a lot of sense.

I really don't think that's true - it's not about affecting gravity, it's about adding a second source of directional acceleration based on which key is being held down. Gravity is a constant acceleration downwards, and the jetpack is a constant acceleration in whichever direction is being held, and those combine into one effective vector of acceleration. So at any given time the unit is moving at a certain velocity in a certain direction, and you modify that at a regular interval based on the current net acceleration. In a game about flying around with a jetpack, the physics feeling smooth is the most important part.

@Zek23: Go

That is literally exactly how the trigger is set up. Nearly word - for - word. The only reason it feels off is that I don't have physical control over the reaper's location, I can only tell it to go places on a regular interval, and mess with it's various acceleration and other movement speeds. It's actually a pretty close replication, and trying to get the controls smoother at this point in time is a major setback. If you feel you can do better, I'd love to see what you come up with.

Uploaded v.0.1.5

• Introduced the Item System! Players can hold one primary weapon and one secondary weapon at a time. Space is to fire the primary weapon, while B is to fire the secondary weapon.
• Added Demonstration mode, which is just a very early demonstration of the game. Kill the 20 spawned reapers on the arena as fast as possible to hone your skills.
• Various other minor improvements.

Quote from Timthetoolman: Go

Essentially, I've rotated a Reaper unit on it's side facing to the left or right and panned the camera down directly on that reaper. Then, with some clever triggers and assorted shenanigans, I've changed the direction of gravity so the reaper treats all unpathable areas, such as the edges of the walls, as the ground, walls, and ceiling.

Sick twist :D I love it... Brings me back to the days of Dukenukem 1-2 and the C64

Mind if at some point I pinch the idea for a minigame in a map of mine? (full credit ofc) Its just nuts!

Edit: Ooh and ever thought of putting windows into it? (Spaceplatform cliff level 0 style)? I think it would REALY jell with your camera angle... ill link a map tonight as an example.

@UmbraLamina: Go

Yah sure you can use it. Just make sure the games aren't too similar or it would be a little odd seeing them on BNet at the same time. But yah you can use the concept.

Something I was working on although was trying to use marines, my only problem we I couldnt get them to stop rotating their whole body when they went up and down and such

Woot, made the first page. :)

This is amazing, great work.

Wow I got a lot done in the last three days. Here's v.0.1.6, its a biggie.

Uploaded v.0.1.6

• Added Weapons: Flamethrower
• Controls have been changed. WASD is now arrow keys. Firing Primary Weapons is now Z, Secondary Weapons is X, and picking up new weapons is C. Please comment on which control system you preferred, or suggest a new one if you have one.
• Holding shift now severely decreases horizontal movement, allowing for more precise movements when necessary. Releasing Shift will return the reaper to normal movement speed.
• Halved the force of gravity and the force exerted by the upward movement of the jetpacks. This is a tradeoff, on one hand, the controls will feel smoother and less jerky. On the other hand, it will also make the controls feel somewhat more sluggish and movements will often record slower. (Think of it as decreasing the sensitivity of a joystick on a FPS).
• Added a kill screen, which records when and how a player has died.
• Replaced the start and end game text information with message dialogs (when they were chat messages, they would sometimes get lost at the end, causing players to not be able to know how quickly they finished.)
• Added a Best Time achievement to the Demonstration Mode.

A lot changed with this one, and I'd like feedback on the new setup. the reduction in the vertical forces makes the game play a lot smoother, but at the same time it will take longer to change direction and reach top speed.

@Timthetoolman:

Lol this game is sweet

@Slypoos: Go

lol, thanks.

You should try to beat my highscore. Its 1:18, lol.

Just tried out the newest version

I like the new set up better (Z X C). I noticed with the grenades (at least) I picked them up with out having to press C I could be wrong about that though, I'm not 100% sure

The old gravity felt more jet pack like but the new set up offers more control i think you just need to increase gravity a bit and it'll feel balanced, just my preference, it was still fun

when you press down i think you hover too fast, there's no de-acceleration, it feels a bit odd not sure if this is intended or not

I would like to see those tanks removed t would be cool to have walls that would kill you if you ran into them or like a fire "vent" or something that would go off every so many seconds

possible weapon suggestions would be a machine gun or some sort of rapid bullet gun that is weak

or a gun that makes a turret

or a gun that shoots a giant web slowing all enemys

if you could pick up extra health or a shield or invisibility support items that would be cool

Sorry for the long period without updates, but I went on a vacation in Florida and didn't have much time to work on the map. Regular updates should return soon.

Any upcoming features that anyone wants to see in particular with the next patch?

@GiveMeCake: Go You picked up the grenades automatically because they are a secondary weapon and you weren't already carrying one. You auto pickup weapons if you are already holding the same type or if its a secondary and you don't have a secondary yet. (The reason primaries don't auto pick up is that the default primary weapon will end up being the reaper pistol when I finally get around to doing that weapon, lol)

The down key is for a greater level of control, and it's supposed to be really quite fast so its more useful.

I suggest you wait until I set up the tanks before you critique them, as I think they will add a new level of gameplay to the game once I've got the triggers for them set up correctly. (Fly up to the decal to control the tank. Slow rotation upward and downward. Pretty slow fire rate that hits the target it is aimed at instantly)

Machine gun is already on the planned weapon list. Other one is the EMP.

I don't particularly want to add too many weapons at the moment, want to focus more on getting the game all set up correctly before I start adding any new features.

There are 3 support powerup items planned however, a 20 second shield that also restores you to full health, a 20 second speed boost that increases your attack speed and movement speed, and a 20 second cloak that makes you much more difficult to see and hit.

Uploaded v.0.1.7

• Added Weapons: Reaper Pistols
• Modified Weapons: Rocket Launcher now fires slower.
• Improved collision detection. Weapons now only check for collision in the direction they are moving.
• Added an ammunition display underneath the health bar (only displayed while holding a weapon).

Wow, two days with no complaints, I must be doing something right... lol.

Anyways, here's v.0.1.8.

Uploaded v.0.1.8

• Added Powerups: Healing Shield, Fury, and Personal Cloaking. Healing Shield offers 30 seconds of invulnerability and heals you to full health. Fury doubles your movement and attack speeds for 30 seconds. Personal Cloaking cloaks you for 30 seconds and makes you more difficult to hit.
• Changed the dialog display for ammunition on the Taser and Flamethrower (Label is switched with a progress bar when these items are picked up).
• Added a team kills dialog to track team kills.
• Various other minor technical upgrades.