GAME PLAY

Here aspiring creators can lay down some basic ideas of what they are going to do before submitting a finalized form for the viewing public. A good place to get some help from your fellows.
Post Reply
User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY

Post by Jericho Veronus » Wed Jul 03, 2013 12:18 am

It seemed stereotypical, the way it started. It was originally used as a new-aged type of training for the military, allowing soldiers to experience as close to real combat as possible without any of the risk. I don't know what they called it, but when it finally became public, it was known as simply as VR. Of course, it stood for Virtual Reality, but apparently some marketing agent thought that all they needed to accomplish a catchy name that would grab attention would be to shorten it. The available VR unit for the public to purchase was basically a massive computer with wires running to this reclined chair that had a shell like structure with wires draped from it. The wires attached to a suit that the occupant would wear, electrodes attached to every major muscle group of the body. The suit could restrict or loosen, apply pressure to any part of the body, while at the same time the electrodes required specific stimulus from muscles in order for the occupant to actually do anything "physical" within the VR. A mask was worn over the eyes, nose, and mouth. The mask contained a visor that allowed the occupant to see the scenario uploaded in the system, while the rest of the mask acted as a respirator capable of simulating whatever environment was present. No expense was spared with nit-picking the details. The mask could change temperature of the air being pumped in, differentiate based on how thick or thin the atmosphere was, even pump in chemicals to represent breathing fog, steam, even toxic fumes (not to mention every single loaded object in the environment was even given a decoded smell. It can down to simply this, you're limited in the VR, only to what you're limited to in real life. Just looking at it made you feel like you just stepped into some low-grade science-fiction flick.

Now when I say it became public, that by no means meant that the general populace would manage to acquire one. The cost of the private unit itself required the someone with a seven figure income, but that was nothing compared to the cost of running one. The energy consumption of just booting it up immediately tripled the monthly electric bill of those lucky enough to have one. Even now, twenty-three years after the VR first coming out on the open market, it's still difficult for most private citizens to afford their own, which is why large enterprises began recruiting and sponsoring their own players. Fortune 500 companies began setting up facilities to train and compete with their players. Thus pandora's box was opened. Almost over-night, VR began broadcasting over every major television station; professional sports, reality television, game shows all became a thing of the past. Even news stations began reporting on the VR events as it seemed, that's really anyone cared about anymore. The larger companies created "Realm," a competitive, mostly team-based event where players would compete in death matches that varied in rules and 'patches'.

Before I go further, allow me to explain patches. Patches are objects, other than the players themselves, that obtain a physical form within the Realm. These can be anything from the smallest plant or rock, to the weapons and equipment, to a pre-programmed environment as a whole. Everything that the players could touch within the Realm, was called a 'patch'. Which actually leads into how I became involved with the Realm.

Most companies recruited players from private security firms, professional soldiers, professional martial artists, even eventually opening it up to former professional sports stars and celebrities (these of course were simply for ratings). Now even though I had served in the military, I was nothing out of the ordinary, no special-forces training, no high ranks, no combat medals. The one thing I did have going for me was that I was the body-guard and childhood friend of one of the patch engineers for a little company called 'U-tech Unlimited'. U-tech originally started out making exercise equipment and weights, and did fairly well off, though it was the luck of managing a contract with the Olympic Games committee a decade or so earlier that launched them. Since then they became a powerhouse in energy, computers, even organic food industries. So when they began recruiting for their own team, as luck would have it, Max Francios, a guy I grew up with, was top of their list for patchers. And one stipulation he had added to his contract, was my contract as a player for the U-tech Realm team. One of the only two players not to be a top draft pick or buy my way in. The other player who made it out of pure luck was a body-builder who won some U-tech contest that involved a competition using their newest work-out routines.

So here I was, a high-school graduate with four years as a grunt and two years as a body-guard for a buddy of mine, who happened to be a computer wonder-kin, sitting as one of the players for the U-tech Titans, the number six ranked team in the American Conference in Realm.
Last edited by Jericho Veronus on Mon Jul 08, 2013 3:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 2

Post by Jericho Veronus » Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:54 am

My name's Johnathan Slade by the way, or ROOK as my Realm tag goes. I sort of just got inspired to chronicle my rise to fame, or at least what I hope to be, and failed to make any type of introduction to these entries. If you want more on actual game play or Realm events, I suggest you skip to Entry 5, because these never two will be just more facts and history of the Realm in order to create a basis, for those not fully immersed in the sport. And I know it's difficult to follow everything since I enter it as it pops into my head, so I'll do my best to organize these thoughts.

The American Conference (AC): One of the twelve national conferences worldwide (Ranked third behind only the East-Asia Conference and UK Conference, it's the oldest at five years since its official start)
In the American conference runs for ten months (the remaining two reserved for international events) with official Realm matches scheduled for every team, twice a month, all culminating, with the the title match on October 31st, usually a themed match. Of course, there are plenty of unofficial matches in which two or more sponsors simply agree to certain patches and match rules and launch them even sometimes within hours. Yet somehow, they manage to set up the link, fill advertisement time and broadcast before some of the players are even aware.

For most players that's not normally a problem as the facilities of the larger companies aren't just for housing the VR units. A good number of them house the players there as well, providing them with anything they could need for training or even recreational use. Of course, that's not the case for teams like Walmart, ranked 28 out of 28 in the league. I've heard talk that they only reason they still exist is to take pay-offs to boost statistics.

U-tech Titans: Sixth in the American Conference, based out of Seattle, originated during the second expanse of the AC when the teams grew from 16 to 20.
The team Captain, Realm tag: Zeus, is a retired mustang Colonel, who spent a majority of his career in MARSOC. He's one of the two ex-military, other than myself, the other was some Army Ranger, Realm tag: Gator, with more time spent on deployments than actually spent in the States. As far as celebrities go, we have a hall-of-fame NFL linebacker, Realm tag: Steam Engine, the three-time UFC woman's light-weight champion, Realm tag: Lust, and an alleged hit-man, whose trials went on for three years with full media coverage, though none of the charges ended up sticking, Realm Tag: Agent. Then, the nobody's: myself and the contest winning body-builder, Realm Tag: Moose. In my eyes, in was pretty much a patch-work team, but someone upstairs must have thought it a good idea, with the amount of money dished out to keep us around. The first four had been with the team since the start of the first season last year, though myself and Moose didn't gain our spots until the current one, since two previous players for the team left; Venom left because he managed a better deal with some team in Australia who managed to keep him out of the reaches of legal repercussions for breach of contract, and Death's Door, who ironically enough had a brain embolism pop in his head and has been holding on for dear life in a coma for the past six months. This season, our record thus far is 3-1.
Last edited by Jericho Veronus on Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 3

Post by Jericho Veronus » Sat Jul 06, 2013 12:53 am

Patches: "If you can dream it, you can wield it!" -One of the more well known product slogans of a patching company. This one specifically from Prod Inc. Very few patching companies were responsible for anything glamorous, mostly generic samples and levels, all the tedious stuff that required an insane amount of time but was in one way or another, a necessity for making the Realm as detailed and eye catching as possible. Nearly all the sponsors have their own private teams of patchers to specialize on whatever they thought would give their players an advantage in the next match, so they didn't have time to waste on the weight, color, and dispersal of dirt particles or physics behind countless stone walls when hit with countless types of explosive devices. So when it comes to actual level building, most sponsors turn to patching companies for whatever specifications they need. Of course, they do get their own to do any final tweaks and fine tuning, again, to give whatever advantages they could to their own players.

Players themselves, at least in U-tech, don't exactly have much influence with the patchers, that is unless one of them happens to be an old friend. But that's not to say the players are then limited, the selection of clothing, armor, weapons, vehicles, gadgets, miscellaneous items, and so on and so on, is quite vast, to say the very least. On a daily basis I enjoy perusing through the available options, mostly because after being in the U-tech employment for approximately six months, I still have yet to reach the end of any of the various patch lists. There's a good chance that even the small requests I make to Max, already exist somewhere down the list.

My starting match attire, which is easily subject to change even as I make this entry since I have been scrolling down a patching list of just gloves for the past hour, is easily designed for theatrics more than protection; that way I can move faster, and with someone my size, you want to be able to move. A pair of light-weight boots, tactical pants, and simple bullet proof vest are all that I wear beneath a french high-way man's cloak, something I saw in a film once, all dyed a dark brown, as is the wide brimmed hat. Even though the cloak's high collar covers a good portion of my face, my nose down to shoulders are wrapped in a black cloth, thin enough to easily breathe while still thick enough to prevent me from choking on smoke and dust that might get kicked up in battle.

From my side I have a Hand Cannon slung, an auto-load firearm patch based in design off a Colt Python revolver, though .357 rounds might as well be pellets compared to the hollow point projectiles this thing unloads. This of course is my basic side arm, allowed as a starter in most matches. Then my primary weapon: a GSG 522 SD semi-auto long rifle with a few minor alterations. However, I could pretty much add anything on it, but as long as I keep it semi-auto, I'll never have to worry about unlocking it in a match. In the basic Realm match every player starts with bare minimum body protection, one primary weapon, and one secondary weapon, no more or less, but as the match progresses, other items, weapons, etc can be found, unlocked, or picked off dead bodies. Then the starting rules differ for specialized matches such as Death Rallies in which every player starts in a vehicle; or gladiator which limits weaponry to bladed and blunt weapons only; or Heavy Metal in which players have mechanized exo-suits.

Weapons, attire, equipment: Prod Inc.'s slogan is for the most part accurate, just as long as the player patch meets certain criteria:
1) It requires at least one player to operate any function that it does
2) It agrees with the physics of the Realm match (i.e. weight, trajectory, durability)
3) It could hypothetically be built and operated in reality
4) It is not a 'kill-all' item (the definition of which changes per match, but is agreed upon prior by both sides)
5) It has no intelligence of its own
Last edited by Jericho Veronus on Mon Jul 08, 2013 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 4

Post by Jericho Veronus » Sun Jul 07, 2013 1:54 pm

This will be a short entry as I'm due in Realm in about ten minutes. Unfortunately nothing exciting, just some training in 'Ghost Town', a level patch of a whole city, completely void of any noise or life, basically used for target practice and reaction time. We walk down a main street, grouped at first but soon separate into groups and then alone, as targets pop from absolutely anywhere with a laser sight that attempts to hone in on us before we can shoot it. So he's some stuff on training itself. (I promise my next entry will involve actual matches, for those of you waiting for that)

Out-of Realm: : Anything that involves physically building ones body, strength and endurance, is done outside of the Realm, in reality (those training resources within the facility that I talked about earlier) The facilities training grounds include an Olympic size pool, a mile long circuit track with flooring that can be raised and lowered in sections to simulate free-running and hills, and a weight room, consisting of any machine imaginable, some of which I still don’t understand exactly what muscle they’re supposed to work. All of this is under a sealed dome, for privacy and to keep a controlled environment. There are also a series of matted areas with trampolines and various equipment I’d only ever seen on television back when the Olympics included gymnastics. I tend to avoid those sections, though I have spent plenty of time next to them, pretending to practice on the melee sparring mats while watching – do her thing on the equipment. Though I’m pretty sure she’s catching on since I’m the only one who spars out-of-realm and it’s never with anyone.

In-Realm Training: While the physical building takes place in real-life, mental building takes place in the Realm. Simulated levels can be produced providing firing ranges in order to become more proficient with any of a number of firearms, obstacle tracks and aerial paths for practice in driving or manning weapons within a vehicle, dojos in order to learn and memorize technique with melee combat. And even for the very small chance of a match that it could be utilized, there are even patches to teach you skills like lock-picking or tracking.

And for both in and out of Realm, while we tend to learn from and train with the team, U-tech also has a series of trainers whose soul-purpose is to be masters of particular skills and be able to teach. It’s not at all a bad job. Many of them are hardly ever utilized but kept on retainer with a sizable paycheck in the event that they are ever needed. It's ridiculous how many jobs and fortune 500 companies were created and are still expanding, all due to the ever evolving entity that is Realm.
Last edited by Jericho Veronus on Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 5

Post by Jericho Veronus » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:20 pm

Audio Cues: Another booming business with heavy ties to the Realm. And one I’m entirely guilty of spending way too much time with. Sure, big record labels have always done well, they didn't really need the Realm in order to expand, but the realm saved some of the smaller ones, and opened up a whole new media for their use. It took a little while to catch on, because a good number of sponsors thought it was a low-level gimmick that took away from “the raw entertainment of warfare”, which at the time was the sound effects of guns, explosives, and the ‘comms’ talk between players of a team. It was the smaller sponsor teams that actually got in on it at ground level, paying nearly nothing and adding music and various sound effects to their matches. Of course, the Realm fan-base ate it up, and for those who preferred the “entertainment of warfare”, Realm subscribers have the option of match event channels without Audio Cues.

Once audio cues did become a major part of the Realm, players were no longer limited to patches that customized what they and their equipment looked like, audio patches now allowed them to have the latest songs or sound effects play whenever they wanted, triggered by keywords they spoke, timed to occur at a specific point, or even whenever they performed a certain action. And of course, this also led to the sabotaging sound patches of players on your own team, for example having the sound of a child’s voice say “Bang bang” every time your team captain pulled the trigger on his MK46, hypothetically of course.

First Match(sorta): My first match using audio cues was a simple scrimmage match 3v3 of myself, Moose, and Steam Engine against Gator, Lust and Agent. It was a simple game of capture the flag in which a single flag stood on top a tower located at the center of the level and all we had to do to win was bring it back to our spawn point. Easy enough, however, the level itself was the furthest thing from simple. It consisted of two glass domes on either end, the spawn point for each team. The domes over-looked the entire playing field, a labyrinth of walls built nearly thirty meters high and a clearing in the center at which there was an old stone tower stretching upwards of an additional twenty meters. The labyrinth walls were of a massive grey stone, rough looking though intentionally given a very sleek and almost slippery plastic feel, so that it was impossible to get any type of traction and climb above them. The sky was filled with black clouds and while there was no sun or moon, an area illumination was in the level that allowed one to easily see any distance. The level was used specifically for training, so not as much work was put into as most level patches. No vehicles allowed, and it was nearly two miles between dome and tower, that’s if you took a straight line and not the twists and turns of the maze.

Now it would have benefited me, in the time leading up to the match, to study a map of the level, try to memorize the quickest route to the tower, so I did…for about five minutes. The rest of the time I was busy choosing my audio cues. So start of the match, all of us hooked into the VR, Zeus talking to us through a microphone, observing from a station within the same room. As we spawn, Zeus instructs us, though myself and my teammates miss the first few things as my first audio cue blasts. A voice from no where in particular, just surrounding the three of us, shouts: “Let’s get ready to rumble!” While the other two didn't find it as amusing, while they glared at me, I wore a shit-eating grin from ear to ear.

“Five minutes to match start.” It was Zeus, the first audible thing we were able to hear from him. We were allowed a strategy phase before the dome opened to the maze and began the match. Steam Engine took lead and provided a plan in which he would drop all gear with the exception of a side arm and sprint to the flag having memorized the quickest route, Moose would take an over-watch position at the dome entrance, since it was raised above most of the level, and I was to follow behind Steam Engine’s tracks with his primary in hand, to a choke point and set up a defensive position for him to lead anyone on his heels into a kill zone as he ran back with the flag. He had a lot of confidence in his plan, and being unprepared as I was, I really had nothing better to offer, so we went with it.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 6

Post by Jericho Veronus » Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:29 pm

Audio Match (continued):A buzzer rang and the dome entrances opened to the rest of the level. Steam Engine took off with me in slow tow and Moose staying back, looking for a good vantage point. By the time I was amongst the walls and out of sight of Moose, Steam Engine was already a good ways away and only getting further; I decided it wouldn’t hurt if I slowed to a trot and saved my energy, after all the enemy could pounce on me at any moment and I had to be ready. “Computer.”

Another audio cue was triggered, a voice recording from an old television show about a Genie responded, “Yes, Master?” And without missing a beat, I then replied, “Playlist One.” Of course I wasn’t actually talking to anything, but like I said, I spend WAY too much time with audio cues. A heavy rock song faded in and leveled out, staying low enough so that I’d be able to hear anything that might happen around me. I continued onward, occasionally singing along with the song, since the audio cue was about a half-hour long, as soon as one song ended, another started up. About ten minutes into it though, I realized I hadn’t seen one of Steam Engines flares for some time now. I had to admit, I was completely lost. I stopped and stood there for a few moments when Zeus’ voice chimed, like a thunderous voice from the heavens. “Steam Engine has acquired the flag.”

I had to think fast, there was a good chance that I was nowhere near the path he’d be taking back to the dome. I was partially right, quickly pointed out by an explosion over the wall directly behind me quickly followed by a voice over the team comms, “Rook, got two on my ass, you ready?” “Bring em’ to me.” Regardless of the fact that I had neither a solid beat on Steam Engine or any of the other team, so I simply responded like I had a clue. I dropped Steam Engine’s primary that I had been lugging and sprinted as fast as I could along the wall, looking for an opening into the next lane. I could part of a dome over the maze, it had to be ours, since there was no way I’d made it all the way to the other side of the map. Another explosion went off, this one still on the other side of the wall but closer to the dome than I was. “Where the twink are you?” Again, Steam Engine’s voice broke over the comms, following the explosion, and again, I replied as if everything was as it should have been. “At your six, got em’ in my sights.”

Another partially accurate thought, as I came up to a break in the wall and caught a glimpse of someone’s heel as they ran past and out of sight. Dropping my own primary I drew my hand cannon and pushed as hard as I could towards the break and towards the dome. Turning a corner the long stretch ahead brought Lust and Gator in view about forty yards with Moose, not far ahead. I stopped, took a few deep breathes to ease into it as I raised the hand cannon and took aim. I pulled the trigger smoothly and then again ensuring to take aim both times. The rounds screamed through the air, one hitting Lust in the leg, the other going wide and missing both completely. Gator kept going after Steam Engine, but Lust tumbled and went face first into the ground. I knew the shot wouldn’t have killed her so I unloaded three more rounds, two which hit her and one which hit the ground to the left of her head. It didn’t matter though, yet again, another audio cue verified her death. The recording from a film, “Hail to the king, baby,” triggered when I kill female players.

By this time, Steam Engine had turned a corner with Gator hot on his heels. I was just about to continue on after them, when Zeus’ voice chimed in once again, “Gator has acquired the flag.” I could only assume that also meant Steam Engine was out of the game. I quickly reloaded my weapon, though kept my eyes fixed on the corner that I’d expect Gator to be coming around any second.

Now the reason no one else has bothered with audio cues of half-hour sound tracks is because once you trigger one, it goes until it runs out. So there’s a very good chance that had I not had Playlist One still going, I might have heard the footsteps behind me as I reloaded. I might have heard the blade drawn as I raised the hand cannon towards the corner. And I might not have had to hear Agent say “Game Over” as he slit my throat and take me out of the game.

Moose did manage to get some shots off at Gator, winging him though nothing to slow him down and there was no chance for him to do anything as Agent and Gator made their way back to their dome with the flag, winning the game.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 7

Post by Jericho Veronus » Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:03 am

Truth be told, I got chewed out pretty good after that match, and I really couldn't complain since it was fully justified, but the thing of it is, it was just some random training patch used for them to fill time when we didn't have any real training to do. It was a joke, so why they hell should I have taken it seriously.

After it, all of my audio cues were removed for any matches that followed, both training and event, as well as given double training regiments, it was sort of a restriction period as a penalty for my less than standard performance. It lasted for about two months, eventually ending approximately 12 hours prior to the first official event match of the season, and my first official event match of ever. Now I’d like to say I had saved an auto-patch of my audio cues in which I was able to immediately upload in time for the event, unfortunately I hadn't thought that far ahead. So in this match, any my audio cues that I trigger, and more or less the sounds in my head that I wish I could have heard out loud.

Twisted Metal (U-Tech vs Mac Conglomerate): The Mac Machines were ranked number three in the American Conference and number ten in the world. However, when considering the rankings, one must consider that Death Rallies only make up 1% of ranked matches. The first official match of the year, and the higher-up Conference Gurus felt that for subscriber ratings, it would be best to throw in a wild-card. The objective of the match was to score points by completed laps around the level track, rather than simply killing the other team. It was a rarely used match type in the Realm, and because of that, rarely practiced type as well. Each team had three cars with two players in each, a ‘runner’ and a ‘gunner’. The runner, drove the vehicle, their only focus was to ensure the vehicle completed the lap, scoring 5 points each time. The car’s gunner controlled the vehicle’s offensive weapons, if it had any, or even his/her own weapons in order to slow down, stop, or kill the opposing team, destroying another vehicle only awarded a single point, and would re-spawn immediately back at the starting line, killing a player on the opposing team awarded no points but did create a five second re-spawn delay, which compounded every time that that player died. While six players battled on the track, the last player assumed the role of ‘Pit-Chief’. Unable to score any points themselves, the pit-chiefs had a bird’s eye view of the entire track, able to follow the vehicles of his own team as well as the enemy. He also saw first hand any time the track might change, i.e. short-cuts, traps, barriers, explosive barrels, all of which at any point in time could instantly appear. The Pit-Chief would have to feed this information to his team in order to give them a fighting chance of getting through the course. As an added bonus to high-level subscribers, for just a slightly higher price, you would be awarded the chance of voting on Pit-Chief. Sometimes to keep interest, they felt it was required to make the viewers feel as if they somehow inter-acted with the match itself, so the player from each team that would sit Pit-Chief was voted on. If your team had the larger number of subscribers, you were sure to have a capable player placed in the seat. However, it works just the other way in that the masses of fans for the more popular, higher-ranked team, could vote to put, for example, me into our Pit-Chief seat. And that’s exactly how that shit went down.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 8

Post by Jericho Veronus » Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:33 pm

Twisted Metal (Only more build-up):The Pit-Chief seat was in fact that, a seat. In a small dark room, two chairs sat, one on either side of a 10 foot, square grid table. I sat in one while the enemy Pit-Chief sat in the other. The walls, if there were any were completely dark and the only light came from the illumination of the table itself, though it was easily enough to see the features of my opponent. She was most likely in her mid to late twenties, shoulder length blonde hair and very soft facial features. A heavy amount of dark makeup around her eyes made their bright blue color pop. She wore a very tight tank top and equally tight shorts, with dual sub-machine guns strapped to her waist, though I didn't see the point as they were useless here. She was bent over the table working on the personal screen directly in front of her, I had one as one, though my attention was focused mostly on the view she gave by the way she stood. I received a reality check though as Zeus’s voice cut in. “Rook, send a comms check.”

“Copy that.” My eyes finally shifted downward towards my own devices as I replied. While although just merely feet from each other, any sounds I made were inaudible to the opposing Pit-Chief and vice-versa. It would have probably been even more cost effective to have actually had us in a room like this rather then been in this patch. Making my way through a couple screens, I brought up visuals that only I could see of each of my team’s players. “This is Pit-chief, comms check.”

“Rover, comms clear.” Rover was an urban assault vehicle with a rather large reinforced battering ram in front. It runs across on six wheels, due to the amount of armor it bears. The schematics for the patch had weight distribution that if it was real and only had four wheels, the belly of this beast would drag across the ground. Steam Engine was driving this one, well piloting is probably the more fitting term, considering the driver’s seat looks like a jet cockpit was ripped out of a plane and simply inserted there. To avoid argument, considering he also wasn't physically even there, as he was hooked into the VR in a reclined chair, we’ll just say, Steam Engine controlled Rover; while Gator manned its dual 50-cal rotating turret.

“Arrow-head, comms clear.” Lust drove Arrow-Head, a sleek design, modeled after an early McLaren F1, with nearly no armor, it relied on its speed and maneuverability to protect it. It had several weapon systems, though all for defensive purposes, which were controlled by Agent. These consisted mainly of various explosives, liquids, or other equipment that could be planted or dropped to ‘deter’ any vehicles behind it.

“This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm-” Moose was cut short as Zeus’s voice came over the line. “Darkside, comms clear.” Darkside was a big-rig being driven by Moose, towing a low riding metal flat bed, upon which rested what is affectionately referred to as ‘the God’s Throne’. Zeus sits in the rotating armored cage like frame with two 30mm auto cannons on each side.

“Copy that, Titans. Comms clear across the board.” Like many of my early matches, I’ll be like a broken record in repeating that I really had no idea what I was doing, but I couldn't make that obvious. Sure we trained on this stuff, but it practices, scrimmages, unofficial matches, official events. One just felt more real than the one before it, no matter how many times you went through the steps. I looked up to see the other Pit Chief busy on her screen, though I couldn't even guess what she was doing because the track had yet to be phased-in for us and we had no idea what to expect. That of course was when the ever present ominous announcer voice came over everyone’s comm.

“Ladies and Gentleman, are you ready to grind gears and burn rubber. We have our first match of the season, an all-out Death Rally race between the U-tech Titans and Mac Machines. Who will rack up those laps and who will be left as smoldering, twisted scraps in their dust. The only way to find out is to tune in as we start the carnage in just a few minutes. But before that, a word from our sponsors over at Circuit Mega-city.” The announcer would be tuned out of our comms as soon as the match officially started. The message was the advertisement before the match sent out on all advertisements and subscriber channels for both teams and the official league. The match itself for us is only thirty minutes long, though for viewers, with sponsorship messages, replays, highlights, and instant coverage of the whole track, it stretches out to about two and a half hours.

A low level light emitted from the grid table between us as a three dimensional depiction of the track rose from it. The track was just over ten miles long on the street level. It was a desolate metropolitan design, though very alien-like architecture, something like what science fiction writers from 50 years ago, might have thought the future would look like, domes and towering sloped buildings with rings around them. As well as a two mile stretch that exited the large glass dome that encased the city and stretched out into the barren, crater filled landscape with two moons. And among what looked to be what was once some sort of sports stadium were six little blinking dots showed the location of the vehicles. I now had something to do, enlarging the dots on my own screen I viewed the opposing team’s racers. A drag-racer with some sort of miniature side-winder missiles that appeared to only fire ahead, a hmmwv with a large caliber auto-turret on top, and an eighteen-wheeler, which did not have any weapon systems of any kind apparent, though I had no doubt hidden within the long covered bed it pulled, there was something big. They were all lined up alongside the Titan vehicles. “Match start in 5…4…3…2…1”
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 9

Post by Jericho Veronus » Fri Jul 19, 2013 3:04 pm

Twisted Metal, the Death Race Itself: “Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes, the flags go up. Churning and burning-” “Rook, unless you’re feeding intel, clear the goddamn channel!” So unbeknownst to me the song I was singing in my head, since I had my audio patch privileges revoked, was actually being sung out loud into my comms and it took Zeus’s ‘instructions’ to bring me to this realization. But just so you know, had I had audio patches, The Distance, by Cake, would probably be played several times during the match.

The match had since started and all racers were on the track, one from each team starting at five minute increments. The match by this time was already half over, though only two of the vehicles had made it a full lap, Arrow-head for us and the drag racer for them, both of which were at this time in the lead and speeding to both score an additional five points. At this time, the score was 8-11, the Macs being ahead. While the two speed vehicles were working on their second laps, Darkside was close behind pretty much acting as a buffer, since he wasn't fast enough to get into front of the dragster, and while the God’s throne is a very devastating weapon, it has no clearance to fire at anything directly ahead. The other three vehicles, Rover, the hmmwv, and the eighteen-wheeler (which as it turned out was a weapons platform itself) had not yet made it a mile past the starting point, they simply kept blowing each other up and causing themselves to delay and respawn at the start point.

I hadn't been doing too bad as Pit-Chief, warning the vehicles of enemy locations, informing of weak-barriers that led to some minor short-cuts, but all in all, I wasn’t exactly playing any type of crucial role. Every so often a rumbling near the outskirts of the city caused some buildings to crumble or fall altogether, causing blockages of streets or even the coincidental formation of ramps that led to raised roadways and such, so that track had some constant changes to it. After one particular rumble, I noticed a black spot appear further on the track, focusing my display I found it was a hole leading to a short-cut under the city, through some sort of subway. “Arrow-head, sharp right in 500 meters.” As I said this another rumble caused the ring around a skyscraper to slip, it was falling towards the hole. “You’re gonna need to turbo-boost to make it, now!” Fortunately Lust answered without question, hitting her limited nitro supply and creating a gap between her and the enemy. It was going to be close, but she could make it. I focused all attention on the hole as, the ring smashed down on it and the arrow-head was gone, although not destroyed, it made it to the tunnel. I looked up to see the other Pit-chief with a look of both anger and surprise on her face, though she immediately started moving her hands quickly over her own display and talking to her comms.

“Good call!” Zeus chimed in having seen the vehicle disappear from view and leaving only the dragster with them. “What’s the forty on Rover?” I switched my view to the other side of the city to the stadium and a great deal of explosions. “He’s still trading fire with the enemy. Though the big-rig’s just sittin there.” I noticed that both Rover and the hmmwv had made it further down the track but still continued simply trying to destroy each other. The eighteen wheeler though was just north of the stadium, and stopped. Zeus replied “Just keep an eye on him.” I kept an angle in a small screen of my display focused on the big-rig while the rest of my attention went back to arrow-head. She was coming to the end of the subway tunnel which put her out at least two miles ahead of the dragster and only about one mile from the lap marker. She blasted out and straightened on the road, just charging down the home stretch, though it was a long narrow road and while still someway back, right in the dragsters sights, which makes sense as to why it fired the sidewinder missile. “Arrow-head, you got incoming.” The missile was gaining, though it was still a single-missile. I focused on it, which is why I failed to see the sides and roof blow off the enemy big-rig. Lust tried to dodge the missile, but it made impact, exploding at the vehicle’s rear. However, while it did damage, not enough to stop them. We were going to score another lap.

Now, had I paid extremely close attention to even little million details that had been occurring simultaneously as well as had knowledge of the enemy’s entire arsenal and their game-plans. Then , I would have known what was about to happen. Apparently, after I had snuck arrow-head into the subway, the enemy Pit-Chief had gone to work figuring out where the tunnel let out. And apparently, the sidewinder missile that the dragster had fired, was not intended to be used to destroy Arrow-head, but rather to give a higher burning heat signature leading to Arrow-head. And APPARENTLY, the enemy big-rig happened to actually be a M65 artillery piece who couldn't fire while moving because it’d blow it’s own chassis, while the round it fired, followed the heat signature of a sidewinder missile and produced a massive crater in the ground where Arrow-head had been.

Long story short, the dragster scored that lap and another. Even though we scored another lap as well we didn't recover, losing 15-21. Although I was still impressed with my own work, even figuring out the origin of the rumbling along the city outskirts. When Arrow-head respawned, the dragster had already passed the lap marker and was a mile or so ahead. As they both approached the exit of the dome which led to the part of the track outside the city, I noticed movement in the outer terrain that coincided with the rumbling. There was a super highway outside of the city, which was a much smoother ride, though it added an additional mile and a half onto the track. This being said, it was understandable that Lust argued a bit when I told her to take the highway. From the height though, she learned a minute later, when the ground shook more violently than it had before and a large worm like creature exploded from the ground, almost sailing through the air. It came down directly on the dragster, presumably swallowing it as the worm monster burrowed back into the ground. It gave Arrow-head a massive lead, when the highway joined the main track again, but not enough to match them lap for lap before time ran out.

(Side note) Since I didn't have my audio cues. Another one bites the dust would have played any time one of our players got a kill streak. "God damn, that's a big biscuit" would have been said when the worm monster popped out (had I known about it)
Being in the Pit-Chief seat, not a whole lot would have been triggered. But just wait until my first official team death match, now that was a good one for audio patches.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 10

Post by Jericho Veronus » Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:29 pm

Quick Side note: It was only a matter of time, after all, even the bottom of the barrel players have them. Now I may be new to the playing field and have yet to make any type of name for myself, but I am not at all what the general population call the noob players. But as I was saying, today I received my first load of fan mail. Some of it had even been sent as far back as a few months ago, before I even played my first match, and my bio ads were the only face the public new. Apparently, and I didn't learn this until now, the screening process for mail and package delivery for players is quite extensive. Everything is opened, scanned, tested, and then lumped in a large containment area for a quarantine period until the Team Managers feel that there is a long enough period of downtime for us to receive it. Mine was no where near as large as the other players, but it was quite a few letters from over the past months. But attached to this entry I provided the link of an artistic rendition of myself that a fan did some time after my Zombie Run charity match (which I will write about in a future entry) Of course, if you wish to find out about it before then, the full match is probably available on several media sites.

Death Race Fallout: There weren't exactly high stakes going into the Death Race, at least not for the players. For sponsors however, a lost seemed like the end of the world for them. It didn't matter who it was against, it didn't matter the match type, the winner of the season's first official match event launches the entire year with the most coverage and sponsor advertisement time. The team could lose every other match that whole year, but if they win the very first, it guarantees them the getting their products and services to the subscriber masses. So of course, U-tech management and agents had to deal with some serious fallout, but it faded, by the time it trickled down to the players. Not to mention, Zeus hates the entire sponsorship run of the teams, so if it ever did get down to us, he definitely wouldn't put up with it or let his players have to.

Event match Two: So after the Death Race, being the losers, we didn't get much extra coverage or requests for face time, which was fine with me, because while although I did want to get my name out there, I haven't exactly had a lot of experience doing interviews. So it was back to the normal training regiment, chances were especially having the Death Race already that our next official event would be the generic Team Deathmatch which makes up a good 60-70% of official matches. And as it turned out, a Team Deathmatch it was. It was only a week after the Death Rally that we found out we had a little over four weeks to prepare for an official match against the Chrome Crusaders. About six years ago Chrome came to be after the Google merger with a both Yahoo and Bing, more or less creating a monopoly on web search engines. Although, they were still considerably business oriented and only had a team in order to widen their demographic. So it wasn't implausible that such a huge corporation would only have a team ranked 19th in the conference.

Team Deathmatch- U-tech: 0-1 vs Chrome 0-1: While not exactly a clash of the titans per se, the match would still bring in a pretty wide subscriber base, so it did get some good mention as time drew nearer. Every time advertisements were aired, more and more information was revealed to grab attention, even faster then we as players were told ourselves. There could be times that fans would know the teams, type of match, stated rules, allowed patches, possible handicaps, betting odds, and level patch before the players even knew the date of the match. So inform you though, it would be a Team Deathmatch, foot traffic only (meaning no vehicles or equipment to enhance movement), standard weapon and tactical equipment patches, 7 on 7, and we were favored to win at 10:1, only because the team recently signed former Team Captain of the Sony Sonics, ID: Crypt. (otherwise the odds would be much higher in out favor) And the level would be the Airship.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 11

Post by Jericho Veronus » Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:28 am

The Airship: The level patch “Airship” is quite an anomaly. Unlike most levels which have borders that prevent the players from proceeding past a certain point, the Airship patch loops. When I player reaches an end, proceeding further causing the player to come from the opposite end of the level. Though the actual airship, the ‘Highwind’ as it’s Captain calls it, takes up only about 75% of between where the theoretical borders would be. Beyond the ship is empty airspace and clouds, of course to represent the airship actually flying. While when players are killed by other players, they respawn somewhere on the ship after a delay, if a player happens to fall into this open airspace they’re gone from the match. This makes staying below decks in the tight quarters preferable; it’s been a rather rare occurrence for a player to manage to safely return to the ship and continue gameplay. This alone is reason enough to consider taking the ship’s bridge a top priority. I’ll explain the bridge later in this entry as the match itself progresses. As far back as I personally can remember, the closest any player has come to regaining footing on the airship is a video I’ve saved in my own library. The clip is from a match two years ago when one of the Konami Kamikazes managed to wrap a grappling hook around a solid object on the main deck, as he was failing. It was bitter sweet, in that the solid object wasn’t nailed down so it went with him, however the object happened to be the other team’s player who knocked him off in the first place. A replay of that clip played for weeks following the match.

The airship itself is approximately 300 meters long and resembled an old U.S. Lexington class carrier, only with the additional four disk shaped pieces of metal on either side emitting a green glow of some type. I’m sure somewhere, someone has some sort of explanation as to exactly why eight giant Frisbees with neon lighting allow however many 100,000 tons to fly, but it’s beyond me, so I never bothered to ask. Questionable physics aside, the rest of the airship, in its bowels or on deck, follows all the rules of reality, like gravity or the consistent pain of hitting your head every time you pass through a doorway since their tops are only about six feet off the ground.

We stood in a circle, around a crate in some sort of cargo bay. Zeus was talking, giving us a last minute review of the match’s strategy over, tracing his finger through a holographic layout of the airship. He was taking Gator and Steam Engine to make a dash for the bridge, while Agent and Moose made their way to the high grounds of the main bay that stood open in the middle of the airship’s lower level. For the most part the levels consist of a series of hallways and small rooms, though in the center, stretching nearly 100 meters and taking up six of the twelve levels in a large open hangar bay. So while Agent and Moose were to take overwatch positions on the bay catwalks, Lust and I got the easiest jobs, walking out to the hangar bay floor and wait for someone to shoot at us.

The cargo bay was approximately twenty meters long and wide and just about three high, with a single door, a red light hung on the wall above it. Other than ourselves and the artificial crates to simulate the caro bay contents, the only other thing in the room was a blinking blue light. This blue light wouldn’t appear to any viewer, instead it would most likely look like another cargo crate to them. Players saw the blue light to identify patch loaders.

Patch loaders: A patch loader is an in game active system for players to interact with in order to load patches into the match. Depending on whatever the rules of the match may be, these patches rely on a buyer/seller system of points. For example, in the case of our current match, everyone was given starting points, to make their starting match attire. Anything left over can be used at one of these blinking lights in-game. As well, a separate set of points, unrelated to match score are accumulated by players during the match, which as you’ve probably guessed from my thus far lengthy explanation, can be used further on patch loaders.

Headed to Cloud City: So returning to the actual match, Zeus finished his brief before the match start and it can down to what felt like a lifetime waiting for the remaining few minutes to pass. Though, the restlessness was ended when an intercom voice broke the air. ”Highwind passengers, this is your Captain speaking.” It wasn’t the normal generic announcer voice, but as I’ve stipulated in posts already, every match is different, usually because someone who gets paid more than me for doing less than me, decided they could increase profits by changing even the most minute details. I found later that the Captain speaking rather than the generic announcer was only heard by the players and high level subscibers. ”We have reached our cruising altitude and expect smooth sailing to our destination. We shall do our best to avoid any air pirates, haha.” While the voice was simply created on a computer somewhere, the laugh given to it definitely seemed forced, like the ‘Captain’ had flown this a hundred times, telling the same joke with each flight. I had to give props to whoever created it to run so smooth. During the whole time, I had my eyes trained on the red light above the door; it now turned green and the door slid open. The Captain’s voice continued. ”You are now free to move about the airship. Enjoy your flight.”

The bridge team went first, rushing straight for a ladder well down the immediate hallway from the bay. Lust and I were to follow directly behind Agent and Moose, only for the slight problem, only Agent was at the door way. Everyone’s attention had either been on the door or the now green light above it, that no one noticed Moose still standing at the blue light. I don’t know if I was the first one to see him, but I was the first one to say anything: “Any time you want to go, we’re good.” He seemed rather involved with his patch load selection, which is somewhat expected, since when activated, the patch loader creates an inventory selection list that only the player can see, but this close to the start of the match, Moose should have known better. Lust stepped past me and right next to him, just in case he couldn’t hear her otherwise. "WHAT’S SO GOD DAMN IMPORTANT THAT YOU NEED NOW?”

Moose didn’t reply but he turned to face us, now having completed his patch load, the only noticeable difference in his equipment was a length of rope tied and slung over one shoulder and across his chest. Lust had an almost look of disgust on her face. ”You and your f---ing rope. Just get moving.” Moose simply shrugged his shoulders and made his way through the door, picking up speed and staying right behind Agent. Lust and I followed a few paces behind, separating from them a minute or two later as we headed down deeper into the bowels of the ship.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

User avatar
Jericho Veronus
Blasphemer
Posts: 284
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:32 am
Location: Camp Pendleton
Contact:

GAME PLAY: Entry 12

Post by Jericho Veronus » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:35 pm

Highwind Bowels: We had been over the path time and time again, until I could have actually done it even if the lights all went out, so I knew exactly where I was going as I led Lust through the winding bowels of the airship. I can’t say for certain why Lust had me lead, especially since she was definitely faster than me, and the pace we were going was even slowed down some for me. I like to feel though that it was because even though I had been through several successful matches with the team, in her eyes I was still a rookie and she didn’t trust me to watch her back, well at first. Something I feel, although again can’t say for utmost certainty, I rectified in this match.

Now for those of you who actually watch the matches for entertainment or the love of the sport, unlike individuals who have nothing better to do that nip-pick details and criticize everything from strategy to a player’s set attire, you may not have noticed at first glance that I was not wielding my hand cannon at my side for this match. This was because I had to trade it for points so I could start with a much simpler, yet more beneficial piece of patch equipment, straight from the digital workshop of Max Francois. A series of almost ‘primitive’ motion sensors, that when activated, transmit a frequency to a receiver I wore on my belt. Each emitted on a separate frequency, and when the light sensor is interrupted it stops sending. I had been placing these as we went throughout the halls.

Personal touches: For those nip-pickers, yes they have a limited range and yes realistically this range would be further hindered by the fact that we’re winding through a hundred iron tunnels inside an airship, but in addition to sending the signal, they are all also repeaters, bouncing the signal of all others in range so even when I’m out of range I will still receive until the sensor is interrupted. Yes, there are of course, countless other methods and ways that sensors could operate, but I needed something of the simplest patch architecture; didn’t have a whole lot of points to spend, especially with the ammunition I already used points on. So when the signal reaches the receiver, a visual screen on the receiver monitors the signal strength, however, someone like me just doesn’t have the time to constantly stop, unhook the receiver and see if any of the sensors have stopped transmitting; I had something a little different planned.

Building Trust: Now that the minor details of my starting equipment are out of the way; there I was, trotting down the passage way of a navy aircraft-carrier inspired air-ship, leaving small radio transmitting motion sensors, a veteran player with next to no faith in me, if any, as we headed towards an open shooting gallery in which we were to act as targets and hope we didn’t get hit. The game match was about 15 minutes in, and there had yet to be any mention of contact, but wouldn’t you have guessed, we would be the first to face the enemy. Nothing dramatic, a simple gun fire as we turned a corner, the enemy player was quickly dispatched when we returned fire with no casualties on our part.
I only mention it in part as it was the first kill, to explain a little bit of the tactics of the Crusaders. Unbeknownst (I know, big word for me) to us, the Chrome Crusaders also hunt in pairs, though one is bait while the other goes for the kill. So while we took care of the scrawny, bald male in infra-red goggles, sporting an assault rifle of some sort, we had come to the conclusion that he was alone since we saw no one else as we passed by his body.

It wasn’t discovered until soon after that the enemy player we shot to shit, was there to distract us while his hunting partner made his way behind us. And a few minutes later is when we discovered such. And I have to say, I love it when a plan comes together. We were already out of sight of the body, when a forced Austrian accented voice shouted “GET DOWN!” Now I can’t say for sure if it was the audio patch, or me immediately turning to the rear and flagging lust with my weapon, but something caused her to drop, and a good thing too because my finger was pulling the trigger before I saw what was behind her. As I said earlier, I didn’t have time to constantly watch my receiver, so I set a different audio patch, all short quotes from classic action films. So when I lost the signal from the sensor I had placed right after the first kill, the patch told me to open up fire. I did so, and the headless armored body still with a sword drawn to cut down lust, fell to its knees and folded on the ground. And in one moment, I uncovered a basic idea of Chrome Crusader tactics, eliminated an enemy hunting party, and proved myself as a viable player, to Lust. Well, atleast I think I did, she didn’t say anything, but when she stood up, she smiled, nodded at me and took the lead herself.
Image
May God have mercy on your soul, for you shall find none here!

Post Reply

Return to “The Construct”