HZ: Concept Ideas
Here are some of the brainstorm/ideas I've had along the way.
Thoughts on bases:
Here are some of the base ideas I've had. These are obviously just
ideas, use or discard as you like:
1) have the unit available for pickup actually visible and
spinning on the base. (In fact, we could have bases which look
VERY much like the original, and just have that dome in the
center rotatate to open and reveal a unit in the center.)
2) Have some animation which visualizes the infantry units actually
taking their spot in the base. (ex. if the bases looked exactly
like the original, the unit could 'climb' the side and drop
into the slit. I have a concept sketch where the infantry
indicators are on the sides and look like 'little men'. When
the man walked up he would walk into the indicator, and the
enemy unit on the other side would flame or fry or something
like that.)
This next brainstorm is a little more complicated.
3) Consider the possible concept of placing new mini-bases. I
was thinking that (like the original game) the central look of
the minibase would be like the central look of the main base.
What if you could do something to "pick up" the small round
center of the main base and go drop it somewhere else to make
a new minibase? The main base would take a while to regenerate
the center, and while you were flying you would be carrying a
very large object. When you dropped it, it could look like the
small circle center and slowly unfold/create the rest of the
minibase. Requiring you to pick up a minibase at the main base
would make sure that you will have to incrementally add minibases
out from your main base (i.e. you won't be able to just drop a
minibase right next to the enemy because you'll run out of
fuel). In this mode of play, you would generate resources based
on how much of the map you 'owned' by having it closer to your
minibase than his, but each minibase would 'cost' something to
operate. This would provide an interesting balance where owning
more territory (and thus getting more resources) is risky.
Obviously more of a future thought, as the first goal is just to
reproduce the original gameplay. However, if you like the idea
see if you can add it to the artwork.
Thoughts on the console UI:
We should really worry about the console much later, but I also have a
bunch of thoughts about that. I doubt the current console graphics
will "fit in" with anything. :) As an aside, I like the dark console
graphics of Dark Reign.
I would like to make the console a bit more of a "minimal pop-in" type
of console. Intead of taking up the entire right side, I'd like to
have pieces show up and take up some of the screen only when
necessary. For example, when you pick up a unit, I want to show info
about the unit you're carrying in a small pane which slides in,
possibly from the lower right corner.
I was planning to offer the option to either have players see a
traditional mini-map, or in classic HZ style, a 'mini-render' of the
screen the opponent is actually seeing. It would be just like playing
split screen. If you have a 4 player game, they might take up the
three corners which don't handle the pop-in pane, or they might just
take up the right side.
I also want to avoid the separate 'production screen'. I have two
ideas about this:
1) Each unit would have a "default" command. We would show a list
of unit/command combos and let you buy them by pressing 1-6.
When you pick up a unit and the little "carry info" window slides
in, these numers would change to allow you to reprogram that unit.
If you wanted to make a tank to head for the enemy mainbase, you
would hit "3" for tank, and after picking up the tank you would
hit "6" for 'attack the enemy mainbase". This keeps you in the
game action all the time.
2) In a future version of the game, I'd like to experiement with doing
a Battlezone I/II (i.e. the 3d version) like 'command menu'. They
had this neat command menu using the numbers 1-9 which worked
REALLY well. This might allow us to do more complicated unit
commanding than just choosing a program. Things such as telling
an infantry unit exactly WHICH minibase it should head for, instead
of it just going to the nearest unoccupied one.
Older mostly OBSOLETE thoughts on the console UI and artwork:
From: David Jeske
Date: Tue Jul 28, 1998 3:35 pm
Subject: Artwork concepts/deliverables...
Okay, here we go: I see the following categories of artwork necessary:
1) generic GUI elements
- window borders (top, bottom, left, right, corners)
- button (left, repeatable center, right)
- slider
- font
2) specific GUI screens
- menu tree (load/save/configure/new game)
- main view
- production view
- unit command view
3) in world items
- tiles
- dirt, sand, grass, rock
- water (animated?)
- lava
- sprites
- terrain features (rocks, trees, bushes)
- buildings (mainbase, minibase, suppily waypoint)
- projectiles (bullet, missile)
- units
- dropship
- infantry (rotations, walking, shooting)
- light tank (fixed gun, rotations, driving, shooting)
- heavy tank (separate rotating turret, rotations, driving, shooting)
- hovercraft (fixed gun, rotations, shooting)
- stationary turret (fixed base, turret rotations, shooting)
- suppily truck (rotations, driving)
- explosions
- bullet contacting object (non-fatal, small, white dust)
- missle contacting object (non-fatal, larger, red/yellow)
- object explosion (fatal, different sizes for different objects)
Now I'm going to describe my concept artwork. This is all just an
idea, so take it as such.
MAIN UI:
While you are piloting your dropship around, there is a 'main
viewport' which shows you a view of the world. Along the top of the
screen there are a set of 'tabs' (main, production, unit
command). Along the right side of the viewport, there is a strip of
status displays. There are three square sections of the status
display. Something like this:
+-------------------------------------------------+
|/ MAIN \ / production \ / unit command \_________|
|| | |
|| | |
|| | A |
|| | |
|| +-----------+
|| main view port | |
|| | |
|| | B |
|| | |
|| +-----------+
|| | |
|| | C |
|| | |
|| | |
++------------------------------------+-----------+
The lines between status regions A,B and C don't have to be distinct
lines.
Region A: a reduced version of the opponents screen (like playing
split screen, but the opponents screen is shrunk)
Region B: Base damage, and progress on the unit currently being built
Region C: Information about the unit we are currently carrying, or an
indication of the unit which we will pickup right now if we hit the
'pickup' button.
Text 'status' messages will appear in the bottom section of the main
view port. (HUD).
The dropship's fuel, damage, and ammo 'power bars' will be at the top
of the main view port (HUD).
PRODUCTION MENU UI:
The production menu will overlay the mainviewport. There will be a
'reduced' version of the main view port visible while you are in the
production menu. (i.e. the same size as the 'opponents' viewport in
region A above)
The production viewport will include three items, stacked
vertically. The top item will be a 'unit'/'program' quicklist. The
quicklist serves as a cache of recently purchased items. Next there
will be a unit selection pane, and finally there will be a program
selection pane.
The rough look will be like this:
|/ main \ / PRODUCTION \ / unit command \
|+_______/ \________________
||
|| Quicklist
|| +------+------+------+
|| | tank | inf | tank |
|| | img | img | img |
|| +------+------+------+
|| | def | att | att |
|| | img | img | img |
|| +------+------+------+
|| \____/
|| ** ----------+ <-- the asterisk's are the cursor
||
|| ___________
|| Unit \ _____ /
|| \| |/
|| +--+--+--+ +--+--+ <-- the little boxes have small images
|| | | | | | | | <-- the big box is the selected unit
|| +--+--+--+ +--+--+
|| /| |\
|| / ----- \
|| -----------
||
|| ___________
|| Program \ _____ /
|| \| |/
|| +--+--+--+ +--+--+
|| | | | | | | |
|| +--+--+--+ +--+--+
|| /| |\
|| / ----- \
|| -----------
+--------------------------------
On Tutor UI:
From: Barry Gillhespy
Date: Sat Aug 1, 1998 5:22 am
Subject: Re: Artwork concepts/deliverables...
>David Jeske wrote:
>*** Tutor UI:
>
>There also needs to be some concept UI for the 'tutor interface'. I
>planned to make it so that during tutor sessions, you will hear voice
>and see on-screen HUD prompts. The plan is for the important item to
>be highlighted with a [ ] style box, and then a line drawn to a text
>box which describes the instructions. I was thinking we could do all
>of this with line drawing... no complex graphics would be necessary.
>
>+----------------
>+
>+ [ + ] <- say this was your ship and we were teaching you
>+ / how to use it.
>+ /
>+ +---------+
>+ | ...... |
>+ +---------+
>+---------------
>
>I was also thinking that we could have a picture of basic controllers
>like keyboards, misc, gamepad, and joysticks. So that we could overlay
>the picture of the input device in the lower-right, and highlight the
>item on the input device which the user is supposed to press. In the
>case of a keyboard, because there isn't really room for a whole
>keyboard, we could just show a mini-keyboard, and use a 'closeup' box
>of a part of the keyboard which would have a letter in it. Something
>like this:
>
>
> +---+ ________________________
> | K |\ | . .... .... .... .... |
> +---+ \________............ .... |
> \____________......... .... |
> |________________________|
>
>
>Where the key names on the keyboard would not be visible, it would
>just be a rough picture. Then when you needed to press a key, the
>'zoom stalk' thing would be shown, with the key the user was supposed
>to press in the middle.
>
One effect I saw once that was quite good was a scrollbar at the bottom
that had system messages like 'experiment with switches for bonsuses'.
These should be employed heavily at the beginning of the game.
Sprite composition for thursters:
>> How do you want me do draw the flames? Do you want a seperate set of
>> sprites for each thruster (one for every direction etc) which you overlay
>> as and when required.?
>
>Yeah. I was thinking something like this:
>
> _____
> / \
> **| |** <- front side thrust, sequences A,B
> | |
> _____/ \______
> / \
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
> | |
>**| _________ |** <- rear side thrust, sequences C,D
> | / \ |
> |______ _______|
>
> ***** ***** <- rear thrust, sequences E,F
>
>
>If you can find some way to reuse A,B as C,D, that's cool too...
>
>If you want to render it together with the ship that's cool. Because
>then you could have the thruster cast light onto the side of the ship
>while it's doing it. I'm going to write a tool which will 'difference'
>images and come up with overlay frames based on the original set.
>
>For example, if you render the whole ship like you already sent it to
>me as the 'original' set, and then you render a set which has
>'thrusters on turning right' and another set 'thrusters on turning
>left' and then another set 'thrusters on going forward' and then
>perhaps another few sets with 'blinking lights 1,2,3', then I can
>process them so that it'll come up with 'difference rectangles' for
>each of the animations vs. the original set.
>
>When I render, I would always render the original set first, and then
>the optional layers on top of that.
>
>For the side-thrusters I'm talking about above, if you let the
>thruster light the side of the ship, then the 'difference rectangle'
>hopefully will be constrained to the whole 'thrust flame' and a small
>part of the ship right near the thruster.
Console status pane concept:
-----------------------------------
| _______ __ _____________ |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | 3 | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | 1 | | 2| |_____________| |
| | | | | /
| | | | | --------------/
| | | | | |____________//
| | | | | CASH /
| |_______| |__| /
| /
| ***** ** /
|___________________________/
/\ /\
| + There would be the embossed 'wrench' icon.
|
|
\- where the stars are should be an embossed icon which resembles
the main base.
- 1 is a vertical bar of your base health
it shrinks as your base is damaged
- 2 is a vertical bar of construction completion when you are creating a unit
it grows as the unit is built, and it flashes when the unit is done
- 3 an xload style history of you income... for example, every second, move
the contents one pixel to the left, then plot your current income
generation rate as a vertical line of pixels in the rightmost column.
You'll have a bar graph of your income generation rate over time.
Regardless of whether we decide to have the bars horizontal with text
titles like they are now, or make them vertical with icons, I still
think the #3 idea is cool.
Storyboard idea for opening animation:
1) the HZ logo (splash screen) begins to shake, and then the camera
pans away to show that it was the logo on a huge rocket headed
for a nearby planet
2) sunset in the desert, watching sun on horizon
3) pan up to a bright light in the sky (falling object) (moon visible)
4) large object impacts into the sand while thrusters slow it's descent
(camera shakes because of ground impact)
5) falling object unfolds into mainbase
6) a satelite dish unfolds
7) a beam of light (uplink) shoots in the air from dish
8) the camera points up and starts to follow the uplink
9) (in space) the uplink terminates at a satelite orbiting overhead
(satelite in foreground, planet in background, uplink to surface
visible)
10) the satelite beams another uplink off into space
11) again the camera follows the uplink, a little bit of bob and weave
around the uplink. The uplink texture and the surrounding starfield
should give a sense of motion, accelerating...
12) decelerating... as the uplink hits the dish of a massive spaceship,
from the rear...
13) the camera pans around slowly, and then starts to descend on the bridge
window (visible from the front of the spacecraft).
14) it goes inside the bridge window, and pans around once, finally resting
on a console which has a small image which looks like the HZ overlay
15) the camera zooms in, and the HZ overlay fills the screen, then slowly
solidifies from the grainy movie playback compression thing, into a
solid image... the HZ game. :)
I really liked the effect of tying in real game images with the movies
which was used in Mechwarrior. An alternate #1 would be to have the
HZ logo shake a few times, and then drop out from under us, as if we
were looking out of the bomb-bay doors of a bomber, and the HZ logo
was attached to the cargo which just fell out. The 'bomber' in this
case would be the spaceship which appears later in #12. The 'payload'
with the HZ logo would fall out into space, and then rocket away out
of our camera's view.
I've also though that in the beginning the desert scenes could be
interspersed with people watching a console and conversing about the
mainbase/probe's progress, but cryptic enough you can't tell what they
are talking about yet. However, human animation is much harder to pull
off. :)