Im gonna try and cram in all I can for the PoW design before I go so you guys have something to work with incase I dont have much time. Im starting simple with some HUD work. I redesigned the jail icon to a lil cleaner look. I’ll be adding more shots. Let me know if you like it, or if i should try a different approach. If you have any screenshots of an ingame view with weapon/hud on the screen let me know as that would help alot.
The current Quake 4 Scoreboards already contain all the info we have in our personal scoreboards so the only thing that would need to be added to them would be info such as freed / defense scores. I also don’t think we need to do a whole new HUD at this point and time so Im just going to try and add this to fit into the current theme.
This could also double as a simple mod logo as well considering we never had one.
Riot Gear - Instantly Gives the player 200 (or 100 if 200 is too much) armor for 30seconds. Armor does not decrease when being hit, but health will go down at the same decreased rate it would if the player had 200 armor. After 30 seconds players armor would decrease down to 100 like normal. Players can also not gain more armor while powerup is active.
This would be useful for rushing to free your team, or defending the jail button. Players glow a light blue colour while it is active and particles circle the players chest in an X pattern.
By making the button structure a little larger it will be easier to see/find in maps for the casual player trying the mod out. It does not restrict movement but players will still have to press the button in the center and not just run over a part of the structure.
I think this would be interesting to combine with current PoW game-play.
At round start both teams are armed.
– General weapons; no BFGs.
Weapons are stripped upon entering jail.
– With the exception being a machine gun / default
When you escape you have your machine gun / default.
Weapons / Ammo are still placed to ensure balance throughout the map.
– For the players who have escaped and/or those running low on ammo.
I think this would pick up the pace exponentially. Also it would place the burden-to-win on skill rather than who-can-get-what quicker. Just something I always enjoyed about various other modifications.
I think the prison release you designed is an excellent idea. If we incorporate a standard look to the button across all maps, not only will it allow new players to get into the gameplay a little more quickly, it will create a sense of continuity between the maps, and therefore give the mod a more visual identity. When people see that button, they will immeditely think of JB, since it is essentially the button itself that defines the gameplay.
Also, and I’m sure everyone knows this, I believe an early and professional release is KEY to success. In the first version, let’s keep it basic. Add nothing that doesn’t need to be added to simply grab a playerbase. There will be a large bunch of enthusiastic players to Q4, and these are what we need to cultivate early on in the lifespan of the game. Let’s start with 4-6 fun, straightforward maps to develop a playerbase. Version 1.0 should be nothing more than the JB gameplay as we’ve known it for all these years. Then, once we have created a loyal and interested playerbase, begin to expand the JB gameplay with the powerups, the flashy lighting feature, clanmode, etc. Always keep in mind that clans can and will function without a clanmode, and that they will especially be more tolerant of the lack of a clanmode early on in. You need interested clans before clanmode should be a priority.
I think these principals should be kept in mind for the development of Q4JB in order for it to be an early and lasting success. As we all know, there’s great potential to the unique gameplay offered by the mod; we just have to make sure we’re ready to sell it when the time comes.
What do you guys think about starting a topic in the q4 pow section something like “What would you like to see in Q4 PoW” ? just to get some random ideas from the community.
What do you think about bringing back the jail games like in q2 jb? Or maybe just start something new. It’s sill hard to say so far though, have to see what the engine can do.
Expanding on your idea for the mod logo, why not take what you have and overlay something on top of it relating to a jailbreak? Something gimmicky, like a bomb with a lit fuse for the red team, and a shovel for the blue team. Any kind of items along those lines (hacksaw, broken handcuffs, dynamite, etc etc), you get the idea. I know threewave and/or other CTF mods have had things like this in the past. Just an image to differentiate the teams and their flags other than simple colors.
Didn’t they have custom jb icons in q2jb? I remember something cool about the flags in that one.
Also, that logo is more fitting for q3 than q4 i think. It has only 3 vertical lines going up from the bottom of the q (yes i know the 4th one is the one going down).
Yeah it looks kinda funky with the Q3 logo. Im liking the simple one more, it could be used as a mod logo. Then do something like what DM said for team logos ingame. In JBPoW for quake 3 we used the Bio hazard symbol bs radioactive. Not very jailbreak like, UTJB uses handcuffs and I dont wanna have any reactions from them damn europeans about ripping their gay logo. We could wait and see if Q3 has standard Strogg vs Human logos and try to incoroprate them into the simple logo design.
