Beta testing is now open for the new base, Neo Zone.
During this process, I'll be spectating everybody testing out the new basing experience, as well as playing it myself.
This process gives us the opportunity to see the base in action, and make any changes necessary to enhance the experience on everything from the base design, to the new capture system, to the unique features of this base (such as gmap, disabled healing, and grenade timer).
As a result of this beta testing, we'll have a more polished base upon official release.
I'll be taking notes on improvements that could be made, as well as accepting constructive criticism from anybody who thinks of a possible improvement.
Any bugs you may have noticed, any thing you think could be improved on, or if you just want to express satisfaction, please do so here.
Since the base will be located in South Ridge,
the temporary beta-testing warp has been placed in the lobby of South Ridge Hospital:
Enjoy; and thanks for participating in this process!
-Meph
NEO ZONE: DESCRIPTION
[BASE LAYOUT]
The first thing you'll notice about the interior layout is that it's a GMAP.
This means that multiple levels are connected to one-another, and navigating between them is seamless.
Alltogether, the base GMAP is 3 levels wide, by 2 levels high, for a total of 6 connected levels.
If you include the elevator, that puts the number of levels inside this base at 7.
That being said, there's noticably more room to move around in this base.
My goal was to give plenty of room to dodge bullets, and put lower the effectiveness of mindless spamming.
At the same time, though, there are obstacles throughout the base to allow gangs to take a strategic approach in both raiding and defending.
There are three entrances to this base. A front entrance, a garage entrance, and an elevator entrance on the roof.
[CAPTURING]
Capturing will be done a little different in this base than in the other bases.
Instead of a melee chest, there's a flag with a circle around it.
You'll notice, over top of the flag, there is text done in this format: "Gang 20/20"
This text represents the current status of the base.
"Gang" is the gang that is currently controlling it, and "20/20" represents the health of the base.
The first digit is the current health, and the second is the MAX health.
To capture the base, you must stand within the circle until the health goes down to 0/20.
The key to capture/defending is being in the capture zone unopposed (Nobody but your gang).
For an individual raiding, it goes down by 1 health per second.
For each additional gang member within the circle, the rate increases by 11% of the current health.
This percent increase also applies to the Defending gang, when they're healing the flag back up to 20.
Let it be noted though, that the rate increments stop after the 6th member is within the capture zone.
This is to prevent gangs with 20+ people from capturing the base in 2 seconds.
And while multiple gangs are within the circle, the timer starts to count down.
Once it reaches 5/20, it freezes until there is only 1 gang remaining.
That way, once the others are cleared out, the winning gang can capture within 5 seconds.
If the capture point gets below 5/20, and another gang(including allies) comes within the circle, the timer will start to count back up to 5.
Once again, after other gangs have been killed or chased off, time will be resume in favor of the winning gang.
In the same scenario, if Defenders are the ones who win, it'll start to count back up to 20 once they're the only gang in the capture area.
Again, the rate of heal will depend on how many members are inside the capture zone.
[OTHER FEATURES OF NEOZONE]
Healing:
All healing food, and the healing properties on all weapons been disabled in this base.
If you need to heal, use one of the beds or medkits provided.
Grenades:
In this base, there is a 20 second timer between using all grenades, gas, or explosives.
Meaning, if you throw 1 Nitro Grenade, you must wait 15 seconds to before you can throw another.
"Base Blow-Up":
Upon capture, there's an area surrounding the capture point that will be blown up.
Meaning, everybody(including allies) that is within this area that is NOT part of the capturing gang will be killed and sent to the respawn point.
Respawn:
Upon dying in the base, your respawn location will be pending on whether or not you have the instant revive.
- If you have instant revive purchased, you'll be warped to the respawn point, which is about a 10 second commute to the base entrance.
- If you do not have instant revive, you'll be warped to a bed in SouthRidge Hospital, which is a 30+ second commute to the base entrance.
[FAQ's:]
Q: "
When will it be officially released?"
A: It'll be released once it is polished.
Now that the bulk of the work is completed, the process goes as follows:
BETA TEST > FIX STUFF > BETA TEST > FIX STUFF > BETA TEST > FIX STUFF...
The cycle repeats until there is nothing more to fix.
Then it'll be released.
Q:
"Where will it be located?
A: Southridge.
To the left of the Zoo, and right above Aim Point.
Q:
"Why isn't the respawn in front of the base like the other bases?"
A:
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Posted by Meph
Because respawning at the front of the base doesn't give enough of a penalty for dying to take deaths seriously.
Let's paint this scenario.
First off, it takes a minimum of 12 seconds to go from base entrance to the flag area.
If I had front-door respawning, this would mean that, when somebody dies, they'd be back in the action within 15 seconds.
People who get their asses kicked deserve a penalty of at least 25 seconds before they get the reward of coming back to the fight at full health.
It's not fair for the people putting in work to stay alive, if they have to fight somebody who they just killed, 15 seconds later, at full health.
You multiply that by 3 or more people, and it's almost as if they're getting rewarded for dying.
This gives them the easy tactic of constantly rushing until they achieve victory.
15 seconds simply isn't enough of a penalty to constitute a real 'defeat', nor is it enough award for the victors to savor any sort of victory.
Instead, I've chosen to have people respawn in a remote location, adding about 10 seconds to the commute.
This makes it a total of 25 seconds between dying and fighting again.
For gangs that win a battle, this would give them time to breathe after defeating a gang, as well as time to capture the flag, savor victory, heal, and prepare for counter-attack. For gangs that lose the battle, they'll have time to reassess how they'll capture/recapture the base, what entrance they're going to use, and employ regrouping tactics if necessary.
It puts more of a focus on gang leadership; as this sort of organization doesn't just happen.
The problem is that people nowadays are soft.
This "auto respawn" thing that people are buying has caused them to think that they're entitled to a lesser punishment for sucking.
25 seconds to wait is nothing.
Years ago, upon dying, everybody went to the hospital at 10 health.
You then had to sit in a bed, wait 30 seconds heal up, then walk to the base.
This was plenty of time for you to sit and think about how you just got the **** beat out of you.
To go back to the base and have it happen again; talk about mind games.
Nobody complained back then; nobody questioned it.
It made dying more bitter, and winning more sweeter.
We all understood that this was conditioning. It was encouragement to get better.
We appreciated that, in the fights that we did win, we were the ones who had a lengthy break between enemies.
Bringing it back to that mentality is my goal.
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