Tips for making an fps game.

News & General Discussion
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Some of you may have seen me bashing on fps games made with unity. Well my team ( which is currently 2 people ) have decided to make an fps. We’ve been only working on it for a couple days and I have already noticed the dullness of alot of fps games in unity. Im trying to try an pin down what it is that is making alot of unity fps games so dull. I believe that it is the simple absence of shaders and realistic movement. I will experiment when I purchase unity pro, but until then does anyone have any tips to making a decent unity fps game that would be helpful?

Thanks,
Dusk

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Since you are making an FPS game, I must therefore automatically bash you.

Jokes aside,

In short:

  • Don’t make a similiar Call of Duty/Military/Haloish FPS game.

Detailed answer:

Make an FPS game where the levels are not as linear as a bull running through a straight line(cough call of lamey). Make a game level that doesnt go from point A to point B killing boss C, but give the player the choice of freedom to choose the lane where he would want to go. Make parts of the lanes diversed so the player could choose the style of play that he would like to initiate combat against the enemy, be it sniping on the rooftop, sneak up on them from a sewer duct, or just charge them head on. For example, overlooking in an enemy compound, you have basically many choices to approach your attack, be it charging through the armoury, grabbing the heavy weapons and making a stand while the remaining enemies charge at you aimlessly, snipe the enemies from an abandoned tower one by one, or fling grenades over the high wall onto the enemy before making your approach.

FPS games are dull because you cant drink that can of soda lying around a dead corpse in call of dooty. Make objects in the game world interactable. The player can drink water from a fountain to gain some energy, shoot explosive barrels lying around(cliche but fun), and also read a book lying on the table. These might not seem much, but it does give life to the idea that its not a shooter, but a virtual reality that makes it so interesting.

Difficulty balance is what I can think of you should focus on. FPS are so easy nowadays they’re quite laughable, the least, not by the idea of a difficulty concept, but how the game mechanics work. Sure, it’s convinent to have regen health and lots of ammo when you’re in a tough firefight, but there lacks the tension of consequence, without any sort of danger involved in the mind of the player, there would be no sense of accomplishment when you survived a gruelling mission.

Of course, it shouldn’t be the opposite, where the enemy is extremely brutal to the player with cheat aiming and jaggernaut health. You have to strike a balance somewhere where it does feel right when you can take some hits with only a few minor risks and still are well equipped and be dead in seconds if you want to be a dick and rambo it all.

Well, here are a few pointers, I cant say if they’re entirely correct, but it should explain why FPS games are so ->dull in modern day society.

1 Like
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Somebody has been playing Deus Ex :wink:

IMO: because they focus too much on the realism and that takes the fun away. Whatever happened to fighinting 20ft pig aliens with clown makup while you dual wield rocket launchers??? :frowning:

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Don’t make it realistic, make it fun and stylish dammit

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They are still here: Doom and Serious Sam but we could use few more . :wink:

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Doom 3 was released in 2004.

I hear Serious Sam 3 is close to that but it seems to start with a very modern FPS feel (perhaps intentionally though.)

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Just my tip: “Be original”.

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God, yes. You know the most fun FPS I’ve played lately? Prey. Because of the mechanics involved. The shooting was just okay, but the other stuff made that game.

I’m fine with cartoon-shaded FPS’s so long as they are fun and interesting. Graphics really don’t matter.

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I dont know where has this bashing on FPS games come from. Really i have no idea. Many responses on FPS recruitment or question topics are the same as those on MMORPG topics, while the difficulty of development is on completly different levels. FPS games were representedi n biggest number since 3d games existed (besides platformers), with right tools FPS game, depending on what you want is not that hard to do, and you can achieve interesting multiplayer game with minimal work provided.

Just becouse you hate Cod it doesnt mean that you have to bash his questions down.

Making similar game to Battlefield, Cod, Halo could be good call, becouse there is mass of players already waiting for your game, but the hardest part is that you actually need to provide quallity and polished game if you want to compete with those. It isnt impossible for indie, but it is very hardly possible in any huge singleplayer scope such as any of those games have. You just need to pick right platform, game mode and thats it.

Now to reply on that. FPS games and RPG games mechanic is different, and it should not be crossed too much becouse it just doesnt belong together. FPS games are usually fast peaced and very adrenalistic in gameplay, this is working well for the most of FPS games, on other hand there are completly different FPS games that have slow gameplay like Arma, but the point here is that those slow FPS attract only 10% of FPS player and you emidently decrease your player base on start if you dont know what you are doing.
With placing dozens onf objects on ground that can be read, used and what not is slowing down gameplay, who wants to read freaking book where there is 10 soldiers shooting at you?
If you want properly realistic gameplay with features you described you need huge world with tons of assets where time is realisticly measured, which means that it could easily become boring to many players. It just doesnt work out.
Before bashing on Call of Duty think before why does it have such mechanic, and why is one of the most sold game franchises in the world.
Sure if you want to spend 10 years of development for game that only you will play go ahead, otherwise maybe think otherwise.

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Borderlands, Fallout and Deus Ex would like to have a word with you!

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Doesnt every game use atleast some rpg elements these days?

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You really don’t understand sarcasm, do you, even the obvious joke word doesnt tingle your senses one bit?

Fast paced, definitely on most FPS games, but doesnt mean that fast paced games are the way to go. Games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R (yes an RPG too, go figure) arent exactly the type that you would run-and-gun, but rather plan your approach and take out the enemies with precision or tactics. Red orchestra 2 is a realistic game, but being a rambo would mean certain death out there, you dont have nine lives, you have very limited stamina, and minimal HUD means that you have to take it slow and steady. Games like these have a huge player base, and doesnt deter people playing.

Ever played SiN? It’s just like a fast paced shooter like Call of Duty, but it is praised by its high interactivity around the environment that makes the game more interesting than your typical run-of-the-mill shooter.
Clearly you dont understand safepoints in level design, breaks where the player needs to cool down before his next big fight. It’s repetitive if all you do is just gun and run and gun. Of course, there are other methods like stealth and rails-on mission design, but high envionmental interactivity is one of them too.

Let’s see, blatant superb budget on hype and marketing, cinematic explosions and thrills to attract the masses, easy to pick up play controls that doesnt need any sort of tutorial to play. Tasteless cutscenes as in “kill civillian A in City B with weapon C” to generate controversy and popularity with the media. One release per year of the same game with the same ol’ gameplay forumla that is not innovative or special compared to indie games and yet injected with high res graphics and cinematic cutscenes to wow the crowds.

Is there anything else you would like to share?. :slight_smile:

Well, not just Deus Ex, Freedom Fighters, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Farcry, Sandbox games are also one of many games that ofter more replay value than what you would have expected.

But yes, I love Deus Ex. :smile:

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If i wasnt clear enough…that was my whole points. Games like this are centred to attract masses and are much easier to make in smaller scope than those mixed with RPG elements considering AAA stuff that has been already released. It is easier to indie, thats why i gave suggestion that game like this for indie is quite good idea, as long as the team knows what to do.

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Mass appeal stuff goes nowhere without mass market budget, though.

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For people who make games, some of you have very narrow views that only contain gameplay mechanics that you personally enjoy. Try getting off your “im smarter/better than these cod/halo players” soap box and attempt to actually understand why these games are fun (even if only for other people). There is a reason these games sell, and your explanations are very oversimplified.

The answer the original question, I feel like many of unity’s FPS’s (the ones ive seen in showcase anyway) seem to lack polish. The gameplay is glitchy, the graphics are a bad mix of basic and realistic, the enemies are simple are not dynamic. These factors all combine to form a dull FPS.

If doesn’t really matter if you choose to re-hash another FPS or create some new innovative shooter, what matters is doing it well.

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Ah, then I should rephrase that statement “easy to pick up play controls like an interactive movie”.

Dont be so sure that making a game similiar to Modern games would definitely allow you to stand a chance in the market. Why would a player buy an indie game that plays so familiar to shooters today and that he would be better off rather buy off call of Duty for $60 because he knows how the game would play out, rather than taking chances with the indie game.

And mind you, just because you have a dislike of RPGFPS doesnt mean that they are complicated to make. E.Y.E divine cybermancy is an FPSRPG shooter from a small indie studio that is currently being sold on steam.

Innovation and orginality, not Generalization and derativeness, is what games should be made today, and definitely proof that it also attracts a crowd of its own. See Overgrowth for instance, it’s a unique marital arts physics game of its own, and yet it seem more advanced, gameplay design wise, than most modern games that are made today.

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Thanks alot for all the pointers.

The game is actually no where near call of dooty, and it’s not militaristic at all. It’s a zombie survival ( So original, right? ).

I will keep in mind the whole creativity factor though. I will do my best to integrate some awesome things into the game.

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+1

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Ok, but make sure its not just a zombie game. There are enough normal zombie games out there already.

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could go for a cute fps.