Beta 1 (Antlion demo) Gameplay Info

[Ennui]

Beta 1 Gameplay Info
Since we’ve been talking about our upcoming Beta 1 release, which is the Antlion demo we keep pimping in our newsposts, I figured I might as well make a sticky explaining the basic gameplay and features you should expect. Bear in mind that pretty much any of this is subject to change; we still have a lot of testing and revising to do. Beta 1 is the Antlion demo, with only Antlion gameplay. Future releases of HLW will have full Resistance vs Combine Half-Life 2 gameplay.

The Basics

Beta 1 is called the “Antlion demo” for a reason: the only playable race will be Antlions. Why, you ask? Since we’ve redeveloped the code for NPCs and made a lot of other major deviations from the HL2 code in order to optimize it for RTS, we’re essentially having to rebuild all the units into the game under the new set of rules. We decided to focus on Antlions for a playable demo because it is a lot simpler and therefore much faster than the full Resistance and Combine rosters, and we wanted to get something out as a public release as soon as possible. Subsequent releases will have the “full version” of HLW gameplay.

Gameplay

Beta 1 is only a multiplayer release. You will be able to do singleplayer skirmishes so you can play with the units and features offline, but the current strategic AI is pretty lacking so you won’t have much of an opponent, and there are no singleplayer missions like in Beta 0.5. Some features, like direct unit control, can only be used with cheats on.

There is only one gamemode: Antlion Wars. In this gamemode, each player is the leader of an independent colony of Antlions and starts with an Antlion Hive. If their hive is destroyed, they lose; it cannot be rebuilt. Luckily, it has a ton of HP and can be repaired by Antlion Workers. The hive produces all units and is the only building in the game. The player who destroys all of the enemy hives wins.

Players compete over territory and food in order to get Antlion Grubs, the only resource in this gametype. Grubs are produced at each player’s hive, and at Pheromone Markers scattered around the map. Once captured, a pheromone marker produces grubs for the controlling player, which can be harvested by workers and taken to the hive to be added to the resource pool. Grubs in the hive’s resource pool can be used to build more units. Grubs can also be stolen from enemy hives.

Units

The antlions are a simple species, and as such don’t have many units. Numbers and micromanagement are a much greater factor than unit diversity and counters. Each player has access to only three units, all of which are produced in the Hive.

Antlion: Your basic, run-of-the-mill Antlion. Intended for use in large numbers, the antlion is melee-only and has the ability “Ambush”, which allows it to burrow beneath the sand, invisible, and lie in wait to ambush enemy forces.
Antlion Worker: A tougher, more capable (and more expensive) form of antlion, the worker has a ranged acid spit attack. Its abilities are repairing the hive, harvesting grubs from Pheromone Markers, and stealing grubs from enemy hives.
Antlion Guard: The tank antlion. The antlion guard is very expensive and formidable, and poses a serious threat to enemy units and hives. If not quickly countered with focus fire or another Guard, it can quickly shift the balance of a match.

Other Stuff

Some other general features you can expect to see are team colors, a dev vgui allowing you to spawn units and modify their stats ingame (cheats only), direct control allowing you to control a single unit in third person (cheats only), improved line of sight and fog of war shader, and a lot more. We have no official timeframe or deadline for this release other than when it’s done, but hopefully it will see a release sometime late in 2010.

To check out the development build yourself, read this thread

[DAIT]

Late 2010? D:
I was hoping for sometime like June or sumtin. Oh well, I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas

I noticed that in the unit list they'res no Antlion Guardion, but there was one in the dev video? Has it been taken out?

[BiotecVirus]

Its still there but you only get one of them at the begining, they are not buildable.

[DAIT]

Ah okay, makes sense, so the Antlion Guardion is the Antlion hero...

Will we be seeing thy all powerfull Gordon for the Rebs, and Advisor for the Combine? I understand that both of these don't actually have NPC coding, which could make it a pain in the ass. Let alone as far as I know a Gordon Freeman model not even being in HL2.

But yeah that would be insane. One more thing, will the Reb/Combine version of the Antlion Guard (if its a soldier or "humanoid") have third person direct control or first person?

[Ennui]

We're not sure if we will attempt to incorporate direct control into the demo or not. If we can make it a meaningful part of gameplay we will, but it might make it hard to balance, or make the learning curve / skill ceiling too high for this game mode since the AI is way more basic than a human player. Either way you can do it, just not necessarily in a normal match.

[BiotecVirus]

Ah okay, makes sense, so the Antlion Guardion is the Antlion hero...

Will we be seeing thy all powerfull Gordon for the Rebs, and Advisor for the Combine? I understand that both of these don't actually have NPC coding, which could make it a pain in the ass. Let alone as far as I know a Gordon Freeman model not even being in HL2.

But yeah that would be insane. One more thing, will the Reb/Combine version of the Antlion Guard (if its a soldier or "humanoid") have third person direct control or first person?

We ain't having heros, myself and others have explained this many times before, no gordon freeman or whatever becuase 1 its generally stupid, and 2 if gordon freeman dies thats it, hes dead and thats the end of it. Elite units is a much better term.

[DAIT]

Okay so no Gordon or Breen, but Advisors? Does the "new" HL2: Wars still base the stuff off of NPCs?

[Discrate]

Okay so no Gordon or Breen, but Advisors?

No heroes means no advisors anything remotely that could be considered a hero lol.

[Ennui]

Until Advisors actually have some Valve-defined gameplay (so far they are only scripted) you certainly won't see them in HLW. We do not use the HL2 npc class anymore, just the requisite data/materials

[pandango]

another thing about the advisors, how the hell are you going to kill them if they can take over your whole body!

its to overpowered, i mean 1 advisor vs 100 antlions advisor would win cuz it flies and takes over bodys.
i dont like the idea of them in-game.

[DAIT]

another thing about the advisors, how the hell are you going to kill them if they can take over your whole body!

its to overpowered, i mean 1 advisor vs 100 antlions advisor would win cuz it flies and takes over bodys.
i dont like the idea of them in-game.

Thats the entire idead of these 1 in a match units, if used right you can win the whole game just by using them, but of course they need a down side, like maximum amount of controlable bodies at a time or make the really weak. Maybe even die after a while if you dont eat anything/one's brain after a while. Advisors cant at all be considered a hero, infact the Antlion Guardion is more a hero then the Advisor, there's only 1 Guardion, there are at least 3 Advisors, not including the 20+ flying away when Gordon and Alyx are in the train.

EDIT: No npc based movement aye? Hmm, the units automatically running in the opposite direction was a bit of a pain, but them taking realistic cover and all that was just so awesome.

[ultradude25]

Until Advisors actually have some Valve-defined gameplay (so far they are only scripted)

They do have AI. If you spawn one with some props around you it will pickup and throw the props at you.

And I think it slashes at you when you get near it.

[Sudazima]

they dont have AI, that throwing and slashing anim is just some random stuff.

[Firmache]

i can't wait for the demo,i wil spawn 200 antilons.

[Ennui]

they dont have AI, that throwing and slashing anim is just some random stuff.

On top of that, Valve hasn't established how or if they can be defeated by human weapons.