Infection The Cave

Scottash · 2 Weeks Ago

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Story

You wake slowly to the faint sound of dripping. Something cold lands on your forehead, jolting your senses, as you wearily try to sit upright. A sudden burst of pain shoots through your body and everything goes white. Your entire body aches, you feel almost too weak to move. The sides of your head throb violently as you try to remember what happened. Lightheaded, you feel the back of your head. Matted with blood, your hair seems to recede to one spot on the back of your skull. Your hands follow the path of your hair as it curves evermore inward towards a small pool of blood. You arrive to the tenderest spot which sends agony streaking through your body at the lightest touch. You feel the wound open again, sending warm blood running through your hands. You pull them back to examine the sticky residue left on them. You wonder how much blood you have lost and how long you’ve been out for. Bleakly, you know that it doesn’t matter. In a few minutes you will be dead, probably from lack of blood or sheer exhaustion. You know that there is no way out of this cave. This cave... Slowly, memories begin to come back to you. Ghostly visions of the past. Faint at first, they begin to become clearer as you try to piece everything together.

The expedition. The strange readings. Abseiling down into the darkness. Down. Down. Down. A rope. SNAP! Then falling. Falling. Falling. And then blackness. Nothing but blackness.

You look up to try and see where you came from, straining your eyes against the darkness, but your vision falters. After a few minutes you open your eyes again. You can’t see anything. You wonder if this is what death is like, nothingness. You look at what you think is down, over the edge of the surface you are lying on. The surface is soaked with moisture and blood and you feel yourself slip forward, plunging once more into the shadows. A claw wraps itself around your right ankle, digging itself into your flesh. Too exhausted to cry out, you close your eyes and accept your fate. You feel yourself being pulled back up to the platform with incredible strength, closer to the being. Then suddenly your ankle is released and your leg falls onto the surface where your body is now lying. You hear the sound of something sit down across from you and let out a weary sigh. Summoning up your remaining strength you sit up to see what had saved you from falling. You make out very faint outlines of things lying around you, and straining your ears you hear them taking in short shallow breaths. It’s freezing, your clothes stick to you, drenched in liquid, and you feel a chill run through you, down to the bone. A sudden flash of light blinds you, causing your hand to shoot up to protect your eyes. Your other arm isn’t strong enough to support your weight and you collapse once more, dazed.

The light moves about overhead and becomes clearer the longer you lie there, entranced by its movement. It moves about like a spotlight in a night sky, never once touching an object or wall. You look for the source of the light and see that it is coming from a torch held by someone. You can’t see who it is until they sweep the light around in an arc, briefly illuminating their face. Although you recognise the face, you can’t remember who they are. Then suddenly it comes to you, his name was Harry. He was the new recruit for the expedition. You attempt to call out to him, but your tongue won’t move. You open your mouth, but the only sound which comes out is the chattering of your teeth. Suddenly the torch goes spinning out of his hands as you hear a deafening sound of air rushing past. With a clatter which reverberates across the cave walls, the torch lands only a foot away from you. Driven by a sudden rush of adrenaline and fear, you slowly reach out for it. Air rushes past you again, closer this time, almost knocking you off your feet as your hand crawls towards the torch. Your fingertips are now on it and you begin to slowly roll it back into your palm. You hear the sound of wings flapping. Gigantic wings. The sound is getting closer. Frantically you grasp the torch and shine it upwards. The last thing you hear is a piercing screech echoing around the cave as you are torn off the surface and dropped down, once more, into the darkness.

Just in time for Halloween I've finally finished my latest map, "The Cave". What was originally going to be a small project soon turned into one of my largest ones yet, and by the time I realised how long it was going to take me to complete it I'd come too far to stop. Anyway, I hope all the time spent on this map will be worth it and without further ado, I present "The Cave".

map overview

Forged in the Sky Bubble on Sandbox, "The Cave" is essentially an enclosed circle [with eight entrances and a platform in the middle of it] surrounded by a ring with eight separate paths leading from the ring into the "cave". The Bats (zombies) spawn in the eight tube corners around the ring, from where they get into a Ghost and drive around the ring until they wish to enter the cave and hopefully catch the Humans off-guard. The Humans spawn on the platform in the centre of the cave and can either attempt to hide on it or try to repel the attacking Bats with what little weapons they have.

Fly-Through Video

YouTube - The Cave Fly-Through

You are an eight-foot mutant bat whose slumber has been disturbed by these intruders to your home. You are fast and powerfull, the only drawback is that you're also blind. Having lived in these caves for so long you have memorised every hole, every distance between the walls, and can therefore visualise the map. These humans, however, are new, alien. You cannot see them unless they reveal themselves to you by making a noise (by using their torch [plasma pistol] or throwing rocks [spike grenades]), so therefore you fly around without being able to see them and hope to catch them. You do know their rough whereabouts however [enhanced radar], so will be able to tell where they could be on your next pass over or if any of them have gone astray [leaving the platform will be discussed later]. Without your wings [Ghost] though, you are next to useless. You cannot hurt the humans unless you fly into them and drop them down into the chasm below. Be sure to take your time and not rush into the centre, move around the ring, keep the humans guessing where you're going to come in from...

Bat Traits

You are disorientated, lost, and most importantly, scared. Armed solely with a torch and stones on the platform around you, you don't stand much chance of survival. In the darkness, you know that you could hide from these creatures on the slopes of the platform, hoping that they pass straight over you. Or you could fight them, using your torch to blind and temporarily stun them, you could then throw rocks at their delicate bodies (they haven't come in contact with anything from the outside world in years, and spend most of their lives dormant in their caves) and hopefully kill them. Be wary, however, the brighter you shine your torch, the more power you use, and your battery won't last forever. You are weak, exhausted and your muscles ache, so you cannot take much of a beating and cannot move very quickly. Avoiding these monsters won't be easy; failure to do so will result in certain death.

Human Traits

You have survived when all those around you have perished, but it is small consolation to die with pride. The effort of staying alive this far and seeing your friends die before you has weakened you even more. You know that death is inevitable, it's just a matter of how long you can delay it now...

Last Man Standing Traits

Number of Rounds: 7
Time Limit: 5 Minutes
Zombie Kill Points: 1

Infection Points: 1
Last Man Standing Points: 3
Suicide Points: -1
Betrayal Points: -1

Zombies:

1. You may NOT shoot with the Ghost or with the Spartan Laser. You can't do any damage to humans unless you splatter them or hit them off the platform, but shooting them will give away their position and is annoying.
2. Don't get out of your Ghost.
3. Don't assasinate Humans.

Humans:

1. You have to remain on the central platform for the entire duration of the game. If by some strange accident you are hit off the platform and land near the ramps, you must kill yourself by jumping down into the pit.
2. It's not so much an honour rule as it is common courtesy. Don't deliberately shoot your teammates. This will give their position away, as well as your own, and generally makes the game less fun. Also, remember that friendly fire is ON, and you will be penalised for team-killing.

Gameplay

I'll explain the following bit with pictures, because I know how much many of you like your pictures...

1 Bat spawns at the beginning of the round, the other players will be human and spawn on the central platform in the middle of the cave (pictured below)

Human Spawn Platform. Notice the Power Drain [30 second respawn, does not spawn at start] and 4 spike grenades [10 second respawn, always 1 on map]

[NOTE: I recorded the Fly-Through video before I added the equipment present in the final version of "The Cave"]

The Cave with the roof removed

The Bat then gets onto his Ghost and begins to drive around the ring.

Circling the Cave.

Eventually, the Bat chooses an entrance and goes down a ramp.

Bat coming down the ramp, as seen from inside the Cave (Human's POV)

The Bat "flies" across the platform and hopes to hit a Human.

If the Bat manages to hit a Human and knock them off the platform, they then become Bats themselves and help to infect more Humans until either 5 minutes has passed or everyone has been infected. If the Bat does not hit a single Human on its way across the cave, it will land on the opposite side and can go up the ramp back onto the ring and begin lurking again until it chooses another entrance to attack from. As previously mentionned, Humans can either hide from the zombies as they have Good Camo; or they can fight them. An overcharged plasma pistol shot will take a Bat down in midflight and hopefully cause them to fall down into the pit; and can also stun them while they are going down the ramp. Followed up by a spike grenade or two stuck to the Ghost, they will be killed. Humans can also try to stick the Bats as they fly overhead if they run out of Plasma Pistol ammo.

Gameplay video will be up soon...

Incase you missed the links at the top:

DOWNLOAD "BAT ATTACK!"
DOWNLOAD "THE CAVE"

Thanks for taking the time to read this fairly lengthy thread, I hope that you'll give "Bat Attack" a shot, I'd recommend 5-13(MAX) Players as any less can be a bit boring. Feedback + Constructive Criticism would be greatly appreciated. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

stoyben · 2 Weeks Ago

Hey man got to say this is a great map from what i can see, from my experience this is the fist of its kind, awesome concept it reminds me of that tv show survivor for some reason, 10/10 for me look forward to playing it with my friend and im also looking foward to see more of oyu maps in the future

Scottash · 2 Weeks Ago

Action Shots

xItZ JENKiNSx · 2 Weeks Ago

So if you fall into that pit in the middle structure, you fall to your death?

Scottash · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by xItZ JENKiNSx

So if you fall into that pit in the middle structure, you fall to your death?

Yup, that is correct. This video shows someone falling to their death after being hit off the platform:

YouTube - Fall To Your Death

(I will be adding the complete gameplay video sometime tomorrow)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay Rockin Weezy

Is it dark, sorry if you posted it on top. Didnt catch it while reading.

It has the Gloomy filter on, if that's what you're asking. When playing on the map it is pretty dark, but the cave is well lit at the same time; I haven't noticed any visibility problems.

MetaWaddleDee · 2 Weeks Ago

if you wanted to keep the humans off of the platforms that the ghosts come from, couldn't you make some teleporters to ensure that only ghosts survive there?

Scottash · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetaWaddleDee

if you wanted to keep the humans off of the platforms that the ghosts come from, couldn't you make some teleporters to ensure that only ghosts survive there?

That idea had crossed my mind, place a teleporter sender across each ramp and a reciever underneath the central platform so that anyone not in a Ghost who tried to go through it would be essentially teleported to their death and therefore punished for trying to "cheat". However, in the end due to the OLN and Budget, I have something like $9 and can place no more items. IMO, the teleporters would also look strange and not go with the map's overall theme. From testing the game, I have never had a Human get off the central platform alive, but there's always a first for everything and I'm sure several people will manage it, but at the momment I think that it's rare enough to not need to be prevented at the sake of the map's cave theme, and unless I delete 8 or more $5 items I won't be able to place any teleporters at all. Please let me know if humans getting off the platform becomes a problem for anyone and I will try to adress it as best I can.

MetaWaddleDee · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottash

That idea had crossed my mind, place a teleporter sender across each ramp and a reciever underneath the central platform so that anyone not in a Ghost who tried to go through it would be essentially teleported to their death and therefore punished for trying to "cheat". However, in the end due to the OLN and Budget, I have something like $9 and can place no more items. IMO, the teleporters would also look strange and not go with the map's overall theme. From testing the game, I have never had a Human get off the central platform alive, but there's always a first for everything and I'm sure several people will manage it, but at the momment I think that it's rare enough to not need to be prevented at the sake of the map's cave theme, and unless I delete 8 or more $5 items I won't be able to place any teleporters at all. Please let me know if humans getting off the platform becomes a problem for anyone and I will try to adress it as best I can.

I played the game, and I agree 100%, the map has its own theme that it pulls off really well, teleporters would look out of place. However, I do have a few suggestions, the zombies should not have swords, I got assassinated by a zombie twice because he lunged the gap, and when you got infected, it was hard to find a ghost. Overall this game was good, real good. 9/10

Scottash · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by MetaWaddleDee

I played the game, and I agree 100%, the map has its own theme that it pulls off really well, teleporters would look out of place. However, I do have a few suggestions, the zombies should not have swords, I got assassinated by a zombie twice because he lunged the gap, and when you got infected, it was hard to find a ghost. Overall this game was good, real good. 9/10

Thanks for playing, it's really helpfull to hear from people who've actually played on it rather than "looks cool, 5/5 will DL"... As for the zombie lunging the gap, I've given them maximum gravity to try and prevent them from jumping onto the platform, but as you say they can lunge at you if you become visible. The only problem is I don't know what other weapon to give them. Even though they do 0% damage, giving them a weapon which shoots bullets would allow them to find humans on the platform by randomly shooting. Originally, they were given plasma pistols but due to this problem I gave them swords instead of a shooting weapon. Hammers would be even worse as they could easily get onto the platform and smack Humans off. I suppose in the end it's a case of a) letting the zombies shoot the Humans to find out where they are on the platform; or b) giving them swords which they can only use at close range and maybe get a lucky assasination. If I remember rightly, it only takes one punch from a Human to kill a Bat if they manage to get on the platform, so long as you don't expose your back you should be fine. I do appreciate that this is a problem which needs fixing, but hopefully it's rare enough to not ruin the gameplay too much.

As for the Ghosts, this has always been a bit of a pain. Having to walk to find a new one if you spawn in a tube corner without one can get rather annoying, especially when you move so slowly (zombies' speed is reduced to try and prevent them getting onto the platform). I was going to have two-way teleporters connecting all of the Ghost spawning points, but alas OLN had thwarted my plans yet again... I have set the respawn timing for all Ghosts to 10 seconds (the lowest), and put the "minimum amount on map" all the way up to 8 so there's not much that I can do about Ghosts not spawning all the time I'm afraid. Getting killed on the ramp without your Ghost exploding is also a right pain as they take longer to respawn, but you can chance getting in it and attempting to either drive back up the ramp or go across the Cave if the Humans are distracted.

Whilst I can fix the sword lunging problem by giving the zombies a weapon such as a plasma pistol (at the sake of ruining the hiding aspect of gameplay), I'm afraid that there's not much that I can do about the Ghost spawning problem. Thanks again for playing on the map and providing constructive criticism, if you find any more problems with the game or ways to solve any problems you find please let me know :)

MetaWaddleDee · 2 Weeks Ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottash

Thanks for playing, it's really helpfull to hear from people who've actually played on it rather than "looks cool, 5/5 will DL"... As for the zombie lunging the gap, I've given them maximum gravity to try and prevent them from jumping onto the platform, but as you say they can lunge at you if you become visible. The only problem is I don't know what other weapon to give them. Even though they do 0% damage, giving them a weapon which shoots bullets would allow them to find humans on the platform by randomly shooting. Originally, they were given plasma pistols but due to this problem I gave them swords instead of a shooting weapon. Hammers would be even worse as they could easily get onto the platform and smack Humans off. I suppose in the end it's a case of a) letting the zombies shoot the Humans to find out where they are on the platform; or b) giving them swords which they can only use at close range and maybe get a lucky assasination. If I remember rightly, it only takes one punch from a Human to kill a Bat if they manage to get on the platform, so long as you don't expose your back you should be fine. I do appreciate that this is a problem which needs fixing, but hopefully it's rare enough to not ruin the gameplay too much.

As for the Ghosts, this has always been a bit of a pain. Having to walk to find a new one if you spawn in a tube corner without one can get rather annoying, especially when you move so slowly (zombies' speed is reduced to try and prevent them getting onto the platform). I was going to have two-way teleporters connecting all of the Ghost spawning points, but alas OLN had thwarted my plans yet again... I have set the respawn timing for all Ghosts to 10 seconds (the lowest), and put the "minimum amount on map" all the way up to 8 so there's not much that I can do about Ghosts not spawning all the time I'm afraid. Getting killed on the ramp without your Ghost exploding is also a right pain as they take longer to respawn, but you can chance getting in it and attempting to either drive back up the ramp or go across the Cave if the Humans are distracted.

Whilst I can fix the sword lunging problem by giving the zombies a weapon such as a plasma pistol (at the sake of ruining the hiding aspect of gameplay), I'm afraid that there's not much that I can do about the Ghost spawning problem. Thanks again for playing on the map and providing constructive criticism, if you find any more problems with the game or ways to solve any problems you find please let me know :)

Perhaps giving them a spartan laser would allow the humans to see where the zombies are before they shoot, and due to its low fire rate it would be terrible at finding humans...

There's really no way to fix this, but I think that assassinations are worse than seeing the humans.