Chaos Faction 2

As most of you will have gathered, we're putting the CF:A idea on hold since it's currently just not feasible. However, we ARE working on a single-player sequel to CF.

Below are the updates to the original CF game:

Things which are planned to be included:

New Characters
New Levels
New Weapons
New Powerups
Advanced Level Editor - walls, hazards, objects, maybe even custom backgrounds (uploadable)
Offline Multiplayer - one player controls with one set of keys, the other with a different set
Audio Options - control music, sound effects
Weapon Rebalancing - sorry, but the cannon IS just overpowered. Don't worry though, we'll be including some even more powerful and fun weapons.
Decent Music - *EON* I'll be employing Geier, who also did the music for Epsilon, to do the ingame music and theme/menu music. He's asking for quite a lot but the budget for CF2 will be way higher this time.
Decent Graphics - *EON* I've now got Michael Swain, creator of Blockhead, Master Mind etc. to help out with graphics and some level design. He's already sent me some sketches, and they're awesome. They'll go really well with the style of CF.
Multiple enemies in Campaign mode - Because Chaos Faction works way better as a melee game
Tactical Moves - to make h2h combat more exciting and add some advanced gameplay, there will be new moves like barge, roll and dive, and maybe some h2h combos.
MOAR BLOOD

Things which might be included if possible:

Character Naming - ability to edit at least the player's character name to something other than the default
Advanced Character Editor - customize features beyond the normal character mix - hair, accessories, pigmentation etc
Special Weapons - an option to select a particular weapon as your special weapon, which you'll get whenever you collect a 'special weapon' crate. All campaign enemies will have their home weapon as special by default.
More 'challenge' levels like survival, with highscores.
Option to store personal stats online and log in from any copy of the game
Intro sequences for the characters or game intro animation
Friendly Fire Option - cos sometimes you just don't want to kill your friends
Better Levels - I'm still not sure about this, but we might be able to make things like sloped or even curved platforms.
AI updates - Not sure about this one, but since eon's AIs basically just work by a bunch of conditionals, we should just be able to bung in a few more for more complex behaviour.

Things which will NOT be included:

Online Multiplayer - see above
Character Stats - too complicated
Copyrighted Characters - we've been over this

We're still in the process of deciding which new characters and levels to include. I should mention that while we have received a lot of suggestions, most of them are really stupid. Some of them are feasible, but a bit dull. Ideally, we're looking for things which are quite generic and recognizable and have a corresponding terrain (like in the first game, army guy, swamp guy, aeroplane guy, city guy). The easiest way to do this (the way we did it) is to think of a generic setting and make up the kind of character that would fit in there (or to come up with a weapon you think would be cool and think about who might use it)

The following is a list of ideas I'd consider feasible. We may use all, some or none of these, it all depends.

Possible New Levels (Level : Character : Weapon)
(a1/a2 = primary attack / secondary attack)

Likely:

Easy
-Medieval (castle/battlefield maybe hails of arrows) : Knight/King : Broadsword (slower and stronger than the katana, a2: power blow)
-Farm : Farmer : Pitchfork (a2: impale opponent, fling over shoulder?)
-Jungle (health-replenishing fruit) : Monkey : Banana (does damage on impact, leaves banana-peel, a2: restores health)
-Egypt (crocodiles/traps) : Pharaoh / Mummy : Flail + Crook (a2 restores health)
-Graveyard : Zombie (spawn randomly?) : Abomination (h2h attacks have a chance to infect and steal health)

Medium
-Alien space station on Mars : Martian/Grey : Ray Gun (chance to burn or paralyze)
-Laboratory (Infection/electrocution/warp) : Scientist : Phase Device (ranged, warps opponent causing damage and random status effects. if damage kills or random chance, opponent is not warped back)
-Mine (mine carts) : Miner : Shovel (a2: dig underground, pop up somewhere else in the level)
-Safari (stampede/tourist busses) : Lion/Poacher : Tranq dart/Hunting Rifle
-Haunted Mansion (Spooky goings on) : Ghost/Vampire : Invisibility, and something else

Hard
-Construction Site (falling girders, heavy machinery) : Workman : Nail gun (sticks opponents to walls)
-Factory (conveyor belt/machinery) : Robot (maybe similar to the walk-smash-walk one) : Circular saw (similar to chainsaw)
-Dungeon : 'Igor' : Mace
-Norse : Viking : Axes (a2 throws?)
-Future Warzone (electrocution, radiation, bombardment) :'Terminator ' style Cyborg (clones himself?) : Repeating Blaster (blasts randomly reflected by walls, plats, shields, a2: multiple shots fired at once)

"Maybe" pile:
Heaven : Angel : Divine (gives player halo, a1: lightning strikes nearest opponent a2: heals self and allies)
Hell : (cute lil') Demon : Curse (gives player glowing eyes and claws, a1: powerful h2h attacks, a2: causes nearest opponent to burst into flames)
Night Forest (level darkens occasionally?) : Werewolf : Lycanthropy, i guess (player looks like werewolf, strong melee)
Prison (guard dogs) : Prisoner : maybe a shank or something (weapon-stealer?)
Underwater (slow moving, maybe sharks) : Merman/Pressure-suit guy : Harpoon
Football (english or american, i don't care) : Football... guy : Football (didn't see that coming, did you?)
Olympics : Athlete : Javelin
Nursery : Baby : i dunno, milk bottle or something
Disco : Disco dude : Boombox (does minor pulsing damage to all enemies in range)
Schoolyard : Schoolmaster : Cane (breaks shields?)
Mystic Tower : Wizard : Arcane (a1: maybe a fireball, a2: teleporting)
Burning Building (lots of fire) : Fireman : Water Hose
Chemical Plant (chemical vats, explosives) : Hazard Suit Guy : Acid gun (ranged damage, leaves hazardous spill, chance to poison)
Cave : Dragon : Fire-breath (like flamethrower, diff. graphics and a2: fireball)
Circus : Clown / Lion Tamer : Pie (a1: melee attack, a2: projectile attack leaving slippery area) / Whip (a2 disarms)
Asylum : Maniac : Mania (straitjacket graphic, hyper, a1: bite, a2: wild flailing, multi-directional damage with knockback)
Alleyway : Mugger : Switchblade (a1: quick slash rate, a2: power thrust)
North Pole : Santa/Elves : Presents (thrown projectiles, explode on impact, some drop health in the form of sweets)
Butchery/Slaughterhouse : Butcher : Cleaver (wounds)
Ancient Greece (thunderbolts, siege weapons) : Hoplite : Spear (and shield)
Lair : Vampire : Health Drain
Labyrinth : Minotaur : Axe (Slow but breaks shield)
Creepy Mansion : Ghost : Ectoplasm (a1 hits for damage, a2 goes intangible)
Hockey Rink : Hockey player : Hockey Stick (a1: hits a2: pucks)
Hospital (spawning health packs, infection risk) : Doctor : Syringe (a1 hurts and poisons, a2 heals)
Desk (ruler that works like trampoline) : Bug? : ?
Crime Scene : Policeman/Burglar : Truncheon/Weapon-stealer
Ancient Tomb : Archaeologist : Machete

Other weapons:

Weapon stealer - Shoot other players to steal their weapon
Grenades - explosives with bounce and countdown
Fan - a1: damaging air-blasts, a2: sends opponent into the air and backwards
Self-Destruct - a1: explode doing massive damage in a radius (too terrorist-y?)
Whip - a1: damaging strike, a2: grab opponent and drag them to you
Grapple - a1: fire ahead, a2: fire diagonally up. once fired: either key reels in, if grapple is in wall, player is dragged, if grapple is in opponent, opponent is dragged. pressing either button again releases grapple and player retains momentum.
Pump - a1: opponent inflated and slowed, jumping increased, damage resistance lowered. deflates slowly. inflation over a certain degree kills, causing radius damage. Death when inflated causes explosion.
Tear Gas - a1: pepper spray, a2: gas grenade
Balloon harpoon - Attaches a balloon to the player, suspends them above the ground for a bit/until someone pops it.
Decoy crates - Deploy a fake crate that explodes when it is collected.

Personally I'd like to see more cool secondary moves for a more tactical and fun game, like 2nd move for a banana would eat it instead, broadsword would be a cleaving strike that immobilizes you for a moment but deals a 1-hit KO to anyone that gets hit, the acid gun or something could have a secondary toggle that made you move slower but deals more damage. We could even add more secondary moves to existing weapons. Also, more bouncing.

Possible Weapon Upgrades

Flamethrower - a1: pure damage, chance of fire, a2: napalm (uses more fuel, sets foe strongly on fire)
also, damages shield? We should get around the shoot/block cycles the AI gets into.
Sniper rifle - Maybe locks on to the closest player, but targets slowly so there is some chance of avoiding it.
Mouse Traps - Could contain cheese that players could steal if skillful.
Stick Bomb - Possibly to be replaced by a sticky bomb, a1: thrown explosive sticks to walls/floor/enemies, a2: detonate all explosives

Possible New Powerups

Warp - randomly teleports your character
Invisibility - temporary invisibility to AI characters and seeking weapons
Shrink/Grow - resizes your character, changes your physics and maybe hand-to-hand damage
Jetpack - fly instead of jump, similar to the worms jetpack
Berzerker - increases hand-to-hand and maybe melee damage, but lowers defense
Self-Destruct - adds a timer and you explode doing massive damage unless you get a health-pack
Adrenaline - slows down everything except the player (clicheariffic)

Possible New Status Effects (in addition to those implied above)

Burning - Burning graphic, limited duration, player loses health, nearby players have a chance to catch fire, water and cold decrease duration.
Infected - Like poison, but nearby players may contract, and no jump penalty
Stunned - Temporary immobilization, button-mashing decreases duration
Disorientated - Randomized controls
Hyper - Speed and jump increased, but player cannot shield for the duration
Wounded - Bleeds health and sprays blood. Speed decreased.

Possible Body Parts

For more personalized/interesting characters. Also I was thinking the best way to change character appearance in-game would be to modify body parts depending on certain equipped weapons and status effects, and for status effects which add effects rather than changing the body (such as fire etc), include each in its own movieclip which is either on or off, allowing for multiple simultanious status effects.
Face - things like masks, glasses, sunglasses, goggles. could be split into eyewear and mouthwear.
Headgear - hats. you know what i'm talkin' 'bout. maybe get some ears in there too.
Accessory - stuff that doesn't fit in the other categories, like wings or what have you.
Tail - just an idea, quite easily combined with body but i think it would be cool.
Colour Scheme - again just an idea. We could do this with a hue filter, or with multiple recolours of each part, and a 2-axis selector.

*UPDATE* - [EON]

Greg's pretty much covered everything to be included, but here's a list of changes to the original game people have been asking for that we might include:

Changes to the current game

- Rebalancing

Homing missile - Always goes for the closest player, doesn't change if you block. Also will explode when it hits a shield. (are you sure? this will make it useless except at point-blank range, kind of spoiling the point - greg)
Magic - The most controversial weapon of the game - this will be modified to be less powerful.
A-bomb - Either remove or make less powerful. This was another vastly unbalanced and slightly boring weapon. (i liked the idea, but yeah, bit boring - greg)
Cannon - easily scores 3 1-hit KOs if timed correctly. overpowered for a simple weapon. (maybe have a timed fuse?)

- Gameplay

Variable jump height - You can vary your jump height depending on how long you hold the jump button
Hand-to-Hand Combat - Will be made better. This had the biggest number of complaints. We'll make h2h combat easier and more fun to do, and maybe add a few more moves. (combos?)
Droppable weapons - Weapons will be droppable at the touch of a key. (possible toggle between h2h and equipped weapon? - greg)
Re-collectable weapons? - After a player is killed, their weapon is left behind for anyone to collect to use the last of the ammo. Just a possibility.
Appropriate death sounds - Death sounds that correspond more accurately to the cause of death. Might get some decent voice actors for this.
Players collide - Instead of being able to walk past another player, you bump into them. This should make h2h combat a lot easier, plus it will encourage you to jump over/punch/generally barrage yourself past people to get to where you want to be.
H2H while holding weapons - You will be able to use hand-to-hand combat while holding weapons

- Bugs to be Fixed:

Metropolis elevator - The bug where if two players enter the elevator at the same time, only one comes out
Universe City plats - If something lands on one of the disappearing plats which then disappears, it stays floating in the air
Game crashes - If you and an opponent die at the same time on a last life, the game sometimes freezes
Chainsaw mask - Sometimes stays when you get another weapon
Punch bug - AI players sometimes execute a series of aerial h2h moves much faster than they should be able to in a way that's impossible to counter, making them unfairly difficult to fight in h2h.

*More to come...*