Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

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James
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Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Thu Oct 09, 2014 11:43 am

Hi there H&D fans! In the recent months I've spent playing Hidden & Dangerous 2, I've decided on bringing the title back to life. While I'm personally in no position to actually carry out any form of game development, I can prepare game designs, both graphic and script. The software and development I'll leave to someone more qualified. But the reason I've come here, is because there's no point in designing a game based on your personal vision. I'd like to know what the H&D fans would want to see in a new Hidden & Dangerous title. After all, the game is for the fans. I'm also considering seamless gaming, your thoughts on this would be appreciated. Leave replies listing the feature(s) you'd want to see.

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jacobston
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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by jacobston » Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:04 pm

This is going to be a big project, i'm interested to see how it is going to turn out thup01

If it does go anywhere, keep the proper inventory and the mouse wheel to adjust the speed. What would be interesting would be a German Fallschirmjäger campaign, maybe including missions like storming Eben Emael or Crete.

I would love to help, although I have no experience with actual game design, apart from some amateur texture design. I could, however, do some writing (missions, soldier bios) if you like.

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by betteryouthanme » Sun Oct 12, 2014 8:07 am

Sorry about my scepticism but this was planned already one or two times and never realised :sad:
Hope for the best though :mrgreen:

In case of coop
  • good AI
  • jumping should be disabled (or at least to turn of by server setting), also for other gamestyles
  • kind of briefing feature before a mission starts
  • teamleader function (turn on/off, server setting)
  • advanced ingame map with special option for a team leader (marking tanks/enemies, lines what way your team members should take)
  • Voice Chat
  • Map Editor

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:35 am

Sorry for the absence gentlemen.

I'm glad to see you've gotten back to me. Yes jacobston, this is a big project, but I'm busy sorting through some future plans to get it under way. It may take a few years but I'm certain I'll see it through.

The inventory will stay the same, but with some minor modifications to make it more realistic and up to date. The mouse wheel control for the speed adjustment will also stay the same.

I've also already thought of a good campaign against the Fallschirmjäger in Crete, 1941, and another in Lithuania, 1943, so that should be taken care of. I've also got some other campaigns were a player would be likely to encounter Fallschirmjäger.

If you want help out with writing soldier biographies and mission story lines, you're welcome. Put together some scripts (they don't have to be professional or any thing) and send them to me at this email address: jmanning709@gmail.com

betteryouthanme, your scepticism is forgiven, just remember, I have no intentions of failing, as I said, I'm sorting through some future plans.

A good AI is mandatory, that's sorted. I don't know exactly what you mean by jumping, you see,the jump control on my copy of the game doesn't work. A briefing will be included at the beginning of each mission. Team leader is something I'm still thinking about, some details of what you think it should be like would help. An advanced tactical map (not tactical mode) is going to be designed, your suggestions will definitely be incorporated. Voice chat and map editor will be mandatory for multiplayer and custom campaigns.

Something I'd like to get your thoughts on, (everyone) is seamless gaming, meaning no loading screen, and no interruption in the action during campaigns. I'm thinking of a huge campaign map for all the mission in the campaign and using check points and in game briefings as cross over points to unlock new objectives and a new section of the map, thus making the game more realistic.

Remember, none of these things are final and are subject to change according to what you guys would like to see in a new game. :grin:

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by jacobston » Thu Oct 16, 2014 10:23 pm

Seamless gaming sounds like a great Idea,actually one which I've been thinking of for a while now. What I would like to add to it though, is the ability to radio HQ and request reinforcements and new supplies, similar to what it is like in H&D2, except more seamless. So, what I mean is a window or something that pops up when you use a radio transmitter, and it shows you what equipment is available, as well as what troops can be flown in, and they reach a drop zone after a few minutes. You could also have the checkpoints set up that you have to radio HQ for new objectives, or you rendezvous with resistance fighters and they give you tasks. If you don't understand, I'll do up some sketches to show what I mean.

One other thing that may be cool, is if the inter-campaign menu was replaced with a military base you could walk around freely in. You could go to the briefing hut to begin the mission, or to the barracks to look at the potential squad-members, go to seminar rooms to learn about equipment or tactics, or the firing range to get a feel for some of the weapons.

And I'll get started soon on writing thup01

EDIT: I'm wondering what Jason has to say about this, I know he mentioned 'prototyping' something a while ago but as far as I know it could just be snakes and ladders :lol:

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:57 am

jacobston, you share my vision! It seems me and you have the same ideas for a new Hidden & Dangerous! We should collaborate to make this the greatest tactical shooter of all time. Another thing I had in mind was combining all the missions from Hidden & Dangerous, Devil's Bridge and Hidden & Dangerous 2 as well as Sabre Squadron, into one huge game, plus all our new campaigns. My brother has dug up an excellent game engine for us to use, so things are starting to take shape already. I like what you suggested for the seamless gaming, it's actually exactly what I was thinking, as they say, great minds think alike. I'm looking forward to those mission scripts you said you'd start writing. We'll discuss more things over the course of the future. :mrgreen:

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by betteryouthanme » Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:53 am

With jumping i mean the ability of players to jump (by default it's the center mouse key i guess)
It's just stupid and has no real use ingame.

I thought the teamleader could explain what he is planning and has the ability to drawn symbols/lines/arrows/...
on the map. Everyone has this map and it is not possible to change if the game once started. Of course there should be the possibility to see the clear map as well, in case a teamleader loves painting and you can't see shit anymore :lol: .. You easily should be able to switch between the tactical and clear (physical) map.

Another few points:
  • Maybe we can make the fuel system work for vehicles (at least in MP it is not working)
  • Stealth Mode - There should be the possibilty to take enemy uniforms so you can go stealth for some time.
  • Adapt soldier skills, meaning if there is one with good stealth skills he should not be very good in shooting e.g, so if you take this soldier you have to compromise.
  • Compass for MP
And in general i would love to see the game as flexible as possible, meaning you can turn on/off nearly any option as server host like stealth mode, fuels system, team leader...

So far, keep posting if something else comes to mind grin01

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Tue Oct 21, 2014 8:39 am

So that's what you mean by jumping. I'm thinking of getting rid of jumping and replacing it with vaulting (a player can run up to a low wall or fence and hit the vault key while running and just fly over it, like in real life).

The team leader can plan how to carry out the attack, the brief is only to give the team leader and squad the lay of the land what their objectives are. I think allowing team leaders to mark maps is a good idea. It can allow them to remember their strategies before attacking. Of course, you can't edit the map while in the middle of a firefight. A key can also be assigned as a default for switching between tactical and clear map, but of course, all controls can be customized.

I thought of a fuel system a while ago. It should be included as part of making the game more realistic, but can turned on or off for multiplayer. Stealth mode, of course. How does this sound, players can equip themselves during inventory selection with a British Army stun baton or knuckle dusters, useful for knocking out an unsuspecting victim. I also think we should include dart guns, traqeulizers and crossbows, all are historical Special Forces weapons utilized by British Special Forces during World War II. Also, I've learnt of a De Lisle Commando Carbine with optics, as well as a silenced German carbine called the SDK that could also have a scope and could shoot a sinide tipped bullet!

As for soldier adapt skills, I think there's no need for it. I'm thinking of customisable characters. Using a software platform, a player can insert a picture of his own face into the game and create a fully customized character according to his own height, weight, eye and hair color etc. To be reasonable, all character skills start at 10% and increase as the player goes through the game.

There are certain features that can't be adjusted in games, but this game will as flexible as possible.

More suggestions, anyone?

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by jacobston » Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:43 pm

I personally think you should keep the skill points. You can still be allowed to create you own people, but you would need stock soldiers in the game, and they would have specific skill sets.

What you could do is skill points. So, when you make your own soldier, you start off with 100 points, and each category is out of 25. This way, you can fill their endurance, but you wont have enough points to fill stealth and in the end it is balanced.

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Wed Oct 22, 2014 12:04 pm

If working on a percentage, whenever a player creates a new soldier, that character starts with all skills at say 25%, and must develop them by playing the game, i.e. picking locks will increase the characters lock picking skills, doing long range sniping will increase shooting, etc. Does that sound good?

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by jacobston » Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:33 am

That might be good, but giving the player the chance to customize it would give the player more freedom. Plus, very few people have the exact same stamina as their lock-piking skill.

What I, personally, think would work best is:
Skill Points Available: 100
-------------------------------
Strength:0/25
Endurance: 0/25
Shooting: 0/25
First Aid: 0/25
Eyesight(?): 0/25
Stealth: 0/25
But, on the other hand, I'm not going to be the one programming this, and I really have no idea how much work it would take to work properly. no_01

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Thu Oct 30, 2014 9:12 am

Don't worry about programming or development, that will only come once we've finalized our general game plan. Another thing has arisen that I'd like your thoughts on. In the event, if players can customize their characters, and we still want to keep the "recruiting new squad members" element, that would mean the player will be unable to control the rest of the squad during missions, which I feel may reduce the game from it's "tactical squad shooter" to just another ordinary "tactical shooter" game. Do you guys think we should rather leave customizable characters and stick with a more classic feel?

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by jacobston » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:38 pm

It actually is something I have been thinking about as well. While it is in the style of H&D to control each team member, Making a new game like this is a chance for you to take what was great about the Hidden and Dangerous titles, but also to make your own, unique game that even better.

I suppose that, ultimately, only controlling the group leader would take something away from the Hidden and Dangerous Spirit, but it would also open up your options. In my opinion, only controlling one character would make the inter-mission 'menu' I mentioned better, and would make the 'campaign' more of a 'career', which I have always preferred.

But, if you were to get rid of the ability to directly control the other squad members during the mission, you would need to make sure that the AI is up to par, and that the command system is functional enough.

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by James » Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:36 am

If you're in agreement, then we can go with it. as to address your last paragraph, I repeat that AI and command system will be far superior to what it is right now. thup01

And just in passing, I'm looking forward to seeing those soldier bios and mission scripts you said you'd be writing.

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Re: Recreating Hidden & Dangerous

Unread post by jacobston » Sun Nov 02, 2014 2:19 pm

I'm in agreement, though I don't speak for everybody.

Soldier Bios I've been working on, and i have some good ideas for. Mission scripts I will begin working on once I know the engine you're planing on using. nods01

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