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#1
10-19-2009, 12:52 AM
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The Ultimate Game Mode
So here is my pitch for what I think would be an interesting game mode. Some of my ideas derive from an old mod I used to play in Quake 3.
The mod would be called Aerial Freeze Tag (aft_ prefix for short). The idea is simple: there are two teams just like in the Team Death Match mode except when a plane is "shot down" it won't die like a regular plane does in Altitude. Instead the plane will freeze in place (it should have some kind of graphically overlay like an icy blue, obviously the more icy the better, icicles, etc but at the same time you won't be able to "run into" the plane, so it should be clear enough that it's not an obstacle.) The game won't be based on kills but rather a point system. If you "freeze" the entire team, your team scores a point, and then all of those planes "thaw" and respawn for the next round. Ideally when a plane "thaws" there will be an explosion of many small ice chunks everywhere (could be one generic ice explosion for everything). However, the planes that are frozen on the team that just scored the point STAY frozen. That way it gives an advantage to the team that just lost a point and got a fresh spawn. Now, my idea for "thawing" a teammate are like this: every plane that is frozen will have a "status bar" above it. The same bar that is used when defusing a bomb (but a longer timer). Whenever a friendly plane flies over a frozen teammate it will begin the "thawing" process. Just like it takes flying over an enemy bomb to defuse it, you will have to fly over a teammate for a certain period of time to "thaw" them. However, if you fly off of them and didn't finish the thaw time, then you must fly over then again and start the thaw timer again. That is to say that flying over them really fast back and forth does not cumulatively add up to a "thaw." Ideally it will be long enough that you have to slow down and really try to stay on their plane and not just "fly through them" like what happens when defusing a bomb. The time would have to be tweaked so that it's not so short you can just fly over, but also not so long that you stall trying to thaw someone. Now, to prevent people from being frozen endlessly while the other team member duke it out or run away (or maybe you are frozen in a really bad spot that not one can get to) there will be an AUTO THAW time. That means that when you are frozen then your plane will automatically thaw if the other team hasn't scored a point in a certain amount of time (this time will need to be tweaked but probably like 20-30 seconds). Autothaw means you still explode in an icy mess, but then respawn near your team (as in TDM). Never do you thaw in the place you were frozen and just start flying again. So the idea will be an ebb and flow of trying to score points but also keeping as many of your teammate "thawed" at all times. The auto thaw function will prevent long drawn out battles and will promote interaction because otherwise people will keep auto-thawing and points won't be scored. I think that this type of mode plays well for a lot of reasons. It is similar to the DM mode because it's about points and not about kills. That way really bad players can't bring you totally down by dying a bunch of times (like can happen in TDM). Also, it helps promote teamwork and allows players who are less adept at killing to be good at other things such as thawing teammates. (A worse player can feel more useful if they are thawing their teams best killer). So it creates a lot of depth and at the same time doesn't focus on being the best at killing. There are a lot of aspects that a player can be good at that can make lesser players feel more useful, etc. (defending frozen planes, thawing teammates, etc). Anyway, that's my idea. Go go Aerial Freeze Tag! -Maimer Last edited by nesnl; 10-19-2009 at 02:19 AM. Reason: clarified autothawing 
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#2
10-19-2009, 01:01 AM
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This is almost definitely the best defended and most viable game mode suggestion I've seen as of yet. You could even go so far as to put in aesthetics such as a reward for "Most players thawed" or something on the reward screen.
The one thing I can see at the moment that might need some consideration: When a player auto-thaws, do they just start from where they were frozen? If so, you might need to think of some solution to having a few planes just "puppy-guard" that one and keep killing it whenever it respawns. Maybe when the auto-thaw timer runs out, the plane's ice cracks and it respawns somewhere near it's teammates like in tdm? All in all, a mode that I'd love to see become reality, and that seems generally pretty well balanced (though it of course would have to be tested first).
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#3
10-19-2009, 01:07 AM
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This would also prevent, unwanted or bad crash sites. Let's say you died crashing into a little alcove and when you respawn you instantly crash because you can't get yourself out of that place. As well as what Pieface said about guarding the frozen plane. If I were to throw an idea up, have the status bar guage refill according to the planes HP. For bigger planes it would take a bit longer to defrost. I'm not sure what this idea might lead to, but might as well throw up stuff. I'm sort of worried about people trying to defrost teammates, sometimes some real jerks will just leave the frozen, and them themselves try to go out and get kills and better ratios. Sort of like when a team is going to block a bomb, and the only person there to block it is the person who spawned. But they pay no attention to the bomb and avoid it, just to save their own hide as well as their ratio. Overall, I like this idea and how you incorporate more teamwork type styles that are enjoyable to all. Amen, Maimer. Edit: I'm not quite sure if what I'm saying is making sense. :\ Last edited by Loli.ta; 10-19-2009 at 01:10 AM.
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#4
10-19-2009, 01:36 AM
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In response to Pieface and Lolita's comments. Whenever you thaw, whether by a teammate or by autothaw, you always explode (well like an icy explosion) and then respawn. So whenever you get frozen you never just thaw and start flying again. The spawning would be the same as in TDM as in spawn near your alive teammates and away from enemy planes.
I don't personally like the idea of thaw times based on plane size. In fact I think the autothaw time should be server configurable. That way if people want faster games with faster action they set the autothaw time lower. Or for a game with more tactics and defense then a longer autothaw time. And thanks for supporting my idea! Let's put the pressure on the big wigs and get it done!
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#5
10-19-2009, 02:02 AM
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Reminds me of my schoolgirl days on the playground *nostalgic moment*. In all seriousness this is the first game mode that would be unique from cod4 and it sounds like a blast +1 from me.
-Will edit with suggestions when I have time to look over it a few more times. Last edited by Kuja900; 10-19-2009 at 08:42 PM.
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#6
10-19-2009, 02:14 AM
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Liking the idea for the most part. One thing I'd change is that I feel both teams should start with a fresh spawn at the start of the next round. I think it would be rather lame if it came down to 1v1 and the whole enemy team spawned and yours didn't. At the very least I would add a timer until the next match so they have a chance to unfreeze people (even if it's only 1).
Secondly, I would like to see the defuse re-done. As it is one can fly over a bomb (or warp through it) and defuse it without having to be on it. It should prolly have a defuse timer (maybe something that can be set by admin). Perhaps there should be a wider circle though for planes like explodet that would have a hard time circling in a small area around their comrade. Third, and I'm unsure about this one, perhaps some radar to denote where your team is so they don't have to type and describe where they are. I realize the maps are small but it would be nice to have some direction as to where they were. Fourth, a new weapon could be added it that's called the unfreezer or something (unsure on this idea as well). Basically this item would spawn randomly and if someone picked it up and shot a team-mate who was frozen it would be an auto-unfreeze (the catch is if they shot and missed and it hit the enemy team it would unfreeze them). Overall I really love this idea and would love to see this implemented. Great job Maimer 
Last edited by mikesol; 10-19-2009 at 02:16 AM.
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#8
10-19-2009, 02:59 AM
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maimer this sounds awesome!
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#11
10-19-2009, 09:26 AM
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Instead of having some kind of weapon to unfreeze (what mikesol said) maybe when
some of the planes killed/freeze a plane for a certain limit the plane would be on a fire for a certain amt of time (10 sec?) and ur speed will increase as well. Being on fire, whenever it passes a frozen plane you can free them whether they are the enemies or allies. Also when on fire it increases the speed really high so if you just slightly touch a wall or something u automatically die. This idea is something I am unsure off but with this I think there will be some more "fiery" action. 
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#12
10-19-2009, 09:34 AM
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#13
10-19-2009, 05:23 PM
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Sounds interesting. There are other things I'd rather have, but this sounds incredibly cheap, so **** it - why not?
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#14
10-21-2009, 01:45 PM
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they did this in subspace too. sounds like a good idea.
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#16
11-07-2009, 03:10 AM
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Here is a screenshot from a freeze tag mod from Quake 3. I think it is good because it shows all the pertinent information and it also applies to the "team overlay" thread.
Also, on the scoreboard in this mod there is no list for deaths, nor is there is a list for just kills. There is merely "points" listed. A point is either an enemy freeze, or a friendly thaw. That way someone who kill whores but doesn't thaw can have the same or worse score than someone who does more teamwork oriented things of freezing and thawing. 
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#18
11-07-2009, 04:00 AM
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Guess I never actually posted in here.
I support this idea. It seems like a nice change from standard deathmatch with a solid hook that changes gameplay in a very positive way by making location control matter in a dynamic way.
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#19
11-07-2009, 05:38 AM
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Here is another image while someone is frozen. Another added benefit to this type of game mode is there is more incentive to stay in the combat zone. One of the problems with the current DM mode is there is not a lot of incentive to stay in battle. Planes like the Miranda can just indefinitely run away with repair drone and pick when they want to fight. However, with this type of mode, if you run, the other team will just thaw their teammates. So you will see a better battle flow and less draw out 1v1 battles where everyone else is waiting around.
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#20
11-07-2009, 09:22 AM
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Awesome idea! The only bad thing about it is that this mod would make the game even more addictive which is bad for my dissertation work
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#21
11-07-2009, 07:41 PM
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Sounds Great!
Maimer, I can't believe you are not on the Altitude payroll yet!  Good luck! I would like to see this mode become a reality.
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#23
11-22-2009, 03:24 AM
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This is definitely a feasible game mode!
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#25
11-24-2009, 10:58 PM
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I just have a problem with the points system.
You get 2 points for freezing someone and 1 point for freezing. 10 points for freezing a whole team. Vet bars for freeze.
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#26
11-24-2009, 10:59 PM
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#29
07-02-2010, 05:01 AM
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Heh I need to start looking more into the deep dark abyss of the altitude forums. This is an excellent idea and well thought out too. I am not so much of a fan of KOTH right now. It is not what I expected to be. Anyways, I would love if this was made real.
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#30
07-02-2010, 10:38 AM
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#31
07-06-2010, 03:40 AM
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awesome
probably the only game mode that could pull me from coop ;D
great idea btw
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#32
07-06-2010, 01:32 PM
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Good idea, but the "being killed and then frozen" idea seems it wouldn't be that smooth. How about a special weapon created for freezing only in that game mode? But then it would be one shot freezage which would make for quick games.
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#36
07-07-2010, 04:57 AM
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I don't know how many hours I spent playing Freeze Tag in Quake 3. Man I wish I could go back to those times...
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#38
07-07-2010, 06:34 AM
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#39
07-08-2010, 01:49 AM
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I still want mini-golf.
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Linear Mode
