I want to create a mod/mission where the goal is heavily related to crates. I would like to know if you have any resources, examples or ideas related to it. I think about a mission where the goal is to move a number of crates from a place to another one. I also think about medi-station, ammo-station, armor-station reloaded by putting crates in given emplacements.

I'm already learning entities and scripts tutorials about this subject, but any help or specific link is welcome. Any existing map or mod that do funny things with crate is welcome too.

Domain of interest:

Moving crate by pushing -> boring and could be blocked, any way of pulling or grab a crate?
Moving crate using a crane
Moving crate using a monorail
Moving crate using a treadmill
Trigger something by putting a crate on a specific place
Anything that is fun and involve a crate

eazy -use RoE with the grapple gun
or code a mod that lets you carry a phys odject a-la HL2

Speedy wrote:

eazy -use RoE with the grapple gun
or code a mod that lets you carry a phys odject a-la HL2

Take a look through the SDK for g_dragEntity (base or d3xp, it is in them both). This lets you drag physics objects around in game. I'm sure this could form the basis of your "crate carrying".

there's the gravity gun mod for base Doom 3, that could be used as a starting point if you're allowed access to the source.

I wanted to try the same thing a few years ago. I didn't get to the test phase, but my idea was you collect an object, it's added to your inventory & then when you move to a certain area it's removed & considered a "reload". Sounds like you've got a cooler idea though.

Something that could be done w/o any SDK work & just level scripting is a conveyor belt that you shove boxes on to. The belt delivers the boxes. For added fun, put you on one side of the belt & baddies on the other, so the boxes are in the cross fire & can be knocked off.

You can use moveables with triggers with "trigger_once_entityname"

Plenty of implementation pointers above so I'll throw in a couple of design musings:

It basically boils down to the choice of the player moving the crate all the way or having some other method move the crate.

If it's the latter then you want to make sure it has enough 'coolness' factor/feedback to make up for the lesser 'face-time'/interaction time you have compared to the player moving the crate themselves.

Having the player move the crate is a more generic solution that can be used across maps, while the -something- to move the crate would be designed per map.

Some of this depends on how big a part of the overall gameplay you want to make it.

From your description (simply 'crates') and one of your suggested uses (using it to load up different stations) the crate is basically a 'resource', in of itself it does nothing, but can be moved to other objects that can use that resource.

For my etqw mod I'm using smaller 'packs' which are implemented as giving ammo for an inventory item that represents the player holding that pack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEh_YPJH9a0 (this is two of a 15 minute play through, shows most pack interactions).

They can be picked up, dropped/thrown, stowed, used, given (the last two being dependent on what type of resource the pack is and who/what the recipient is), as well as moved (as a combination of player pick up, move themselves, drop).
Basically following the game design guide of it's better to have fewer gameplay 'tokens' that have many 'verbs' than more tokens with few verbs.
In this case I adapted etqws existing packs which only had drop and use (with use being automatic on walking over them).

I currently have 4 resource pack types, currently only one type (ammo) can be used for more than one token (player and vehicle) so I want to increase that.
The more tokens that can use a resource means the more considered the players decision has to be about allocating that resource.

Having drop usually means you run physics on the object which is pleasing feedback for the player (people love throwing things).

I have got plans to implement a more generic object carry for larger non stowable objects using something similar to g_dragentity/grav gun (whether I'll ever get to that part of my design is another matter

.

PS. Nice to see you trying out the d3 engine Pat, I enjoyed coop or die the few times I've played it and there's some real cool features behind it.

Excuse me for the late answer, and thank you for all these pertinent messages. Finally I have hacked the g_dragEntity, now it works only at short distance when the current weapon is "fist". It is OK for testing the gameplay. In fact it is boring to carry a crate, monorail and treadmill are definitively a way to explore...

You could experiment with adding pressure on the player while carrying. Combat and time being the classic ones.
In the case of combat you can have the crate double as a shield or portable cover when they set it down.
In the case of time you'd likely build navigational challenges for the player to the drop off point.

Bonus: Think about Portals use of crates.

I've recently got a private message about this g_dragEntity hack, so in case it could interest somebody else, the two modified source files are here.

It is really a small hack and it works only if g_dragEntity is set to 1. The main drawback is that the carried crate interfere with the character movement, you will need to strafe or backpedal :mrgreen:

What about that crane puzzle at the toxic waste barrels room from the original game (I think it was one of the Alpha Labs levels)? You could use this as base to create a different or more complex crate puzzle.

I want to create a mod/mission where the goal is heavily related to crates. I would like to know if you have any resources, examples or ideas related to it. I think about a mission where the goal is to move a number of crates from a place to another one. I also think about medi-station, ammo-station, armor-station reloaded by putting crates in given emplacements.

I'm already learning entities and scripts tutorials about this subject, but any help or specific link is welcome. Any existing map or mod that do funny things with crate is welcome too.

Domain of interest:

Moving crate by pushing -> boring and could be blocked, any way of pulling or grab a crate?
Moving crate using a crane
Moving crate using a monorail
Moving crate using a treadmill
Trigger something by putting a crate on a specific place
Anything that is fun and involve a crate

eazy -use RoE with the grapple gun
or code a mod that lets you carry a phys odject a-la HL2

Speedy wrote:

eazy -use RoE with the grapple gun
or code a mod that lets you carry a phys odject a-la HL2

Take a look through the SDK for g_dragEntity (base or d3xp, it is in them both). This lets you drag physics objects around in game. I'm sure this could form the basis of your "crate carrying".

there's the gravity gun mod for base Doom 3, that could be used as a starting point if you're allowed access to the source.

I wanted to try the same thing a few years ago. I didn't get to the test phase, but my idea was you collect an object, it's added to your inventory & then when you move to a certain area it's removed & considered a "reload". Sounds like you've got a cooler idea though.

Something that could be done w/o any SDK work & just level scripting is a conveyor belt that you shove boxes on to. The belt delivers the boxes. For added fun, put you on one side of the belt & baddies on the other, so the boxes are in the cross fire & can be knocked off.

You can use moveables with triggers with "trigger_once_entityname"

Plenty of implementation pointers above so I'll throw in a couple of design musings:

It basically boils down to the choice of the player moving the crate all the way or having some other method move the crate.

If it's the latter then you want to make sure it has enough 'coolness' factor/feedback to make up for the lesser 'face-time'/interaction time you have compared to the player moving the crate themselves.

Having the player move the crate is a more generic solution that can be used across maps, while the -something- to move the crate would be designed per map.

Some of this depends on how big a part of the overall gameplay you want to make it.

From your description (simply 'crates') and one of your suggested uses (using it to load up different stations) the crate is basically a 'resource', in of itself it does nothing, but can be moved to other objects that can use that resource.

For my etqw mod I'm using smaller 'packs' which are implemented as giving ammo for an inventory item that represents the player holding that pack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEh_YPJH9a0 (this is two of a 15 minute play through, shows most pack interactions).

They can be picked up, dropped/thrown, stowed, used, given (the last two being dependent on what type of resource the pack is and who/what the recipient is), as well as moved (as a combination of player pick up, move themselves, drop).
Basically following the game design guide of it's better to have fewer gameplay 'tokens' that have many 'verbs' than more tokens with few verbs.
In this case I adapted etqws existing packs which only had drop and use (with use being automatic on walking over them).

I currently have 4 resource pack types, currently only one type (ammo) can be used for more than one token (player and vehicle) so I want to increase that.
The more tokens that can use a resource means the more considered the players decision has to be about allocating that resource.

Having drop usually means you run physics on the object which is pleasing feedback for the player (people love throwing things).

I have got plans to implement a more generic object carry for larger non stowable objects using something similar to g_dragentity/grav gun (whether I'll ever get to that part of my design is another matter

.

PS. Nice to see you trying out the d3 engine Pat, I enjoyed coop or die the few times I've played it and there's some real cool features behind it.

Excuse me for the late answer, and thank you for all these pertinent messages. Finally I have hacked the g_dragEntity, now it works only at short distance when the current weapon is "fist". It is OK for testing the gameplay. In fact it is boring to carry a crate, monorail and treadmill are definitively a way to explore...

You could experiment with adding pressure on the player while carrying. Combat and time being the classic ones.
In the case of combat you can have the crate double as a shield or portable cover when they set it down.
In the case of time you'd likely build navigational challenges for the player to the drop off point.

Bonus: Think about Portals use of crates.

I've recently got a private message about this g_dragEntity hack, so in case it could interest somebody else, the two modified source files are here.

It is really a small hack and it works only if g_dragEntity is set to 1. The main drawback is that the carried crate interfere with the character movement, you will need to strafe or backpedal :mrgreen:

What about that crane puzzle at the toxic waste barrels room from the original game (I think it was one of the Alpha Labs levels)? You could use this as base to create a different or more complex crate puzzle.