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San Andreas: The New Frontier


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My name is Jay C. I've only been an mta gamer for about a week now, and I'm already a very enthusiastic fan of this illustrious program. Ive been playing a borrowed copy of vice city and I intend on buying a ten dollar copy of GTA3, due to my enourmous preference of the grim city liberty over the neon eighties vice. It reminds me of the old days. My fandom of the GTA series began when I got a PS2, GTA3 and GTA Vice City one Christmas. I loved Liberty for its gritty dark feel and I loved Vice for its motorcycles and helicopters. However, switching back and forth between worlds became tedious. I got tired of seeing palm trees all the time in vice and the dark feel of liberty made me depressed.

San Andreas was my salvation. Taking place in a familiar era of time, not too long ago but not too close to home, San Andreas took the best of both worlds and made the best damn game I've ever played. And now I hear that there's a pc version coming out. Now, I dont have nearly the patience to beat the entire storyline of the game AGAIN, but I am almost hesitant to dismiss buying the game all over again just to see where Multi Theft Auto is going to take this grand new world.

Now, I'm a 56k gamer, and I don't get no love from the broadbanders. However, I must say that MTA runs the more smoothly on 56k than any other game I've ever played. The game has ZERO lag when you arent nearby other players, and even then it only slows down to about a bullet-time like pace, which is almost fitting. It sounds wonderful to think that if blue adds npc coordination, the sounds of the street could be instantly inturupted by gunfire between two players who by chance caught eyes at a street crossing.

Now, keeping this in mind, San Andreas is absolutely huge. So, in theory, you could have a very large number of players occupying the city at one time, seeing as very few will ever be in the same place at the same time anyway. I've always dreamt of a massively multiplayer GTA, but knowing that there are upwards of twenty other players occupying the city at the same time would still be mind blowing.

In addition, character customization is going to make player personality a lot more interesting, especially if theres a way to allow players the choice of a skin before customizing their character. I personally own all of the clothes in San Andreas, and I know that there is a wide variety of options when it comes to character customization.

This isn't as much of a suggestion post as it is a thread for people to post their suggestions on the subject. Please, if you have any thoughts on the San An project, share them. I'm glad to be a part of this community and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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Im a broadbander, I dont hate 56kers.. But in my mind I think, Cheap or I think not available in there area and i feel bad for them. Since San Andreas is about 5 times Vice City we need about 64 players into a server, This is a must. SA is HUGE compared to vice city. Sure it will lag at 64 people on a shitty server, but each company will realize that there box sucks and buy more.

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i just got banned from a server for being 56k

you may not hate 56kers, but the world sure does

That's a bit excessive. Oh well, that sounds like the sort of server you wouldn't want to play on even if you have broadband.

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I remember when I used to be on a 56k *sniff* man those where harrrd times. At that time I had a slllllow comp and connection. Then I got a faster connection (verizon dsl) and now a faster comp :D ) Verizon dsl is like 5 dollars more then Aol over here in USA. In any case I know of some servers in other games that will kick you automatically if you have a certain ping.

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Oh well, these are hard times for us poo folk, they aint no denyin that

Regardless, I'd like to make a few more suggestions for MTA:SA.

You say that San Andreas could likely hold up to 60 players at a time? Now that makes things a bit more interesting. It seems like this would mean a lot fewer servers, maybe four official MTA servers tou house the majority of players, much like an mmo works. Sure, there would still be servers run by individuals, but the majority of game traffic would go to the official ones.

I've noticed that in MTAVC there can only be one passenger, even if there are four seats. It shouldn't be much of a problem to fix this in the San Andreas version, since you can fill a bus with gang members. it should be easy to carry this game mechanic into mta and allow as many player passengers as there are seats.

I've also noticed that in the PS2 versionof San Andreas, for some reason, Jets like the Harrier, Leer, and the Jumbo can only hold one person. This I know from two player, where my friend would have to stand on the back of the plane in order to travel alongside me. This would of course lead to the passenger falling off and tugging the invisible dog-chain until the Jumbo is pulled into the Earth. If possible, these values should be altered so that a harrier can hold two people, a leer like six people, and a jumbo about as many as a bus. Also, if possible, it would be cool if passengers on leer and Jumbo jets could walk around inside the plane, much like the mission where you have to jump the bike inside the jumbo or the mission where you have to jack that leer mid air. Each leer and jumbo would be assigned to an exterior room, maybe. Whenever a passenger entered one of these planes, they would be transported to the corresponding room, much like the interior of a building. Since the small enclosed space of the leer might create camera issues, it could use the first person perspective used in the latter mission mentioned. Hell, what if you could shoot out the windows at other planes? Ok, that last thing might be taking it too far, but I'm not just blindly asking for acts of god here. I'm familiar with game development, and though I'm sure game modification is very different, it is probably very similar as well. Achieving the things mentioned above would probably be hell to program, so it's understandable if some of these things can't be done. Regardless, allowing multiple passengers to a leer or jumbo is just expected, and though having multiple players surfing the back of a plane sounds fun, it shouldn't be the only way to do it.

Given the amount of space there is in San Andreas, it might be interesting to create multiple levels of chat. There would still be a public channel for speaking with all of the players at once, but also a local channel. In this channel, only those within 20 feet with(or in the same vehicle as) of the speaking player would recieve the message. If typed in Caps, the range of the message would be greater. Typing an exclamation point at the beginning of the message could allow it to be viewed in the public channel. Also, I think it might be a nice touch to attach the cell phone animation to private messages. Sending a whisper would acess the animation used when CJ answers his cell phone. The recieving player would react with the same animation. If another private message isn't sent or recieved within a certain amount of time or the player fires a weapon, the character would hang up the phone.

Also, I'm curious about character creation. Since San Andreas has a built-in system of clothing customization, it would change the way a player spawns. Much like other single player games with multiplayer modes, your single player character's appearance would be carried over into multiplayer. However, while in multiplayer, all of the clothes in the game would be made available if the player enters a closet. Rather than choosing a character and a spawn point when entering a server, a player could choose any of the properties in the game to spawn at, or possibly just spawn wherever they last saved (What if you could save in game?). Spawning with the weapons from your last save, however, is out of the question, since it would be too easy to cheat, so all weapons and armor would be removed at the point of entry. Players would not enter the game totally defenseless, though, since most safe houses have weapons nearby, and if they dont, individual weapons sets would be placed in each safe house.

I don't see why you don't spawn at a hospital when you die in MTA. It just seems to make sense to spawn at a hospital rather than returning to the spawn point select screen. In Vice City, this leads to a lot of never-ending firefights at the robber spawn point due to the repeating die-spawn-die-spawn pattern. Respawning at a hospital would free players from this constant firefight and make it more difficult to rack up the points like that. Also, if pedestrian synchronization is perfected in Blue, it might be possible to get busted in MTA. You think about that. I'll have more on that later.

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You say that San Andreas could likely hold up to 60 players at a time? Now that makes things a bit more interesting.

The game itself could probably hold 60 players but it's unknown whether the Blue core could hold this amount of players and what the requirements for a 60-player server would be.

I've noticed that in MTAVC there can only be one passenger, even if there are four seats. It shouldn't be much of a problem to fix this in the San Andreas version, since you can fill a bus with gang members. it should be easy to carry this game mechanic into mta and allow as many player passengers as there are seats.

I've seen cars with multiple passengers :?

I've also noticed that in the PS2 versionof San Andreas, for some reason, Jets like the Harrier, Leer, and the Jumbo can only hold one person. This I know from two player, where my friend would have to stand on the back of the plane in order to travel alongside me.

Maybe this could be achieved in MTA:SA by destroying the passenger and then respawning them when the exit the plane. Or perhaps Blue has an even better method.

Given the amount of space there is in San Andreas, it might be interesting to create multiple levels of chat. There would still be a public channel for speaking with all of the players at once, but also a local channel. In this channel, only those within 20 feet with(or in the same vehicle as) of the speaking player would recieve the message. If typed in Caps, the range of the message would be greater. Typing an exclamation point at the beginning of the message could allow it to be viewed in the public channel. Also, I think it might be a nice touch to attach the cell phone animation to private messages. Sending a whisper would acess the animation used when CJ answers his cell phone. The recieving player would react with the same animation. If another private message isn't sent or recieved within a certain amount of time or the player fires a weapon, the character would hang up the phone.

Those are good ideas but they're more likely to be third-party add-ons than built-in features of MTA:SA.

Also, I'm curious about character creation. Since San Andreas has a built-in system of clothing customization, it would change the way a player spawns. Much like other single player games with multiplayer modes, your single player character's appearance would be carried over into multiplayer.

I haven't played SA yet but don't you have RPG-like stats relating to fitness and strength etc? If so, someone further in the game is likely to have better stats. Also, I've heard some people say that they've played it on the PS2 and they can't be bothered to go through the single player game again on PC but they'll buy it for the multiplayer.

I think a better way would be to have a set of credits or money when you start a multiplayer game and pick out your skills and appearance beforehand, much like when you start a new single player Deus Ex game.

I don't see why you don't spawn at a hospital when you die in MTA. It just seems to make sense to spawn at a hospital rather than returning to the spawn point select screen. In Vice City, this leads to a lot of never-ending firefights at the robber spawn point due to the repeating die-spawn-die-spawn pattern. Respawning at a hospital would free players from this constant firefight and make it more difficult to rack up the points like that.

Respawning at a hospital would be more "GTA-like", but this would just lead to hospital spawn wars instead of robber spawn wars.

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I've noticed that in MTAVC there can only be one passenger, even if there are four seats. It shouldn't be much of a problem to fix this in the San Andreas version, since you can fill a bus with gang members. it should be easy to carry this game mechanic into mta and allow as many player passengers as there are seats.

I've seen cars with multiple passengers :?

Well that sucks. i can never get in the backseat for some reason if theres already a guy in there. maybe im doing something wrong.

Also, I'm curious about character creation. Since San Andreas has a built-in system of clothing customization, it would change the way a player spawns. Much like other single player games with multiplayer modes, your single player character's appearance would be carried over into multiplayer.

I haven't played SA yet but don't you have RPG-like stats relating to fitness and strength etc? If so, someone further in the game is likely to have better stats. Also, I've heard some people say that they've played it on the PS2 and they can't be bothered to go through the single player game again on PC but they'll buy it for the multiplayer.

I think a better way would be to have a set of credits or money when you start a multiplayer game and pick out your skills and appearance beforehand, much like when you start a new single player Deus Ex game.

I had forgotten about that. I myself have maxed out all of my stuff on the ps2 version. Because I have experienced the advantages of having all of your stats maxed, I think that it would be best to just give every player maxed stats when they enter the game. Either that, or increase the speed at which you gain stats so that after maybe ten in-game kills with the pistols you've maxed out your pistol skill, ect.

As for getting busted.

If blue is going have npc synchronization, including cops might make things a little too chaotic. I mean, things are hectic enough with sixteen people in vice city by themselves, but with the combined forces of the San Fierro, Los Santos, and Las Venturas Police Forces trying to contain the mayhem of sixty armed criminals fighting in the streets, I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle it. Plus, it would just get annoying, trying to fight someone when the police pull up and try and coax you to put down your weapon. It's just not polite. Maybe you could make it so that in the safehouse select screen you can spawn at a police station wearing the cop uniform and outfitted with a lot of weapons. That would be cool. Or even still, carry over the vigilante mission some how, so that players with wanted levels show up on the radar, whereas players without a wanted are invisible to radar. But I'm not sure if that's really necessary.

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As for getting busted.

If blue is going have npc synchronization, including cops might make things a little too chaotic. I mean, things are hectic enough with sixteen people in vice city by themselves, but with the combined forces of the San Fierro, Los Santos, and Las Venturas Police Forces trying to contain the mayhem of sixty armed criminals fighting in the streets, I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle it. Plus, it would just get annoying, trying to fight someone when the police pull up and try and coax you to put down your weapon. It's just not polite. Maybe you could make it so that in the safehouse select screen you can spawn at a police station wearing the cop uniform and outfitted with a lot of weapons. That would be cool. Or even still, carry over the vigilante mission some how, so that players with wanted levels show up on the radar, whereas players without a wanted are invisible to radar. But I'm not sure if that's really necessary.

Blue will not ship with synchronised NPCs. That will come in a later version, if it comes at all. I think the idea was just to have pedestrians and cars (no police) in order to breathe life into the city and so that people would not have to run far in order to find a car.

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Blue will not ship with synchronised NPCs.

oops

I think the idea was just to have pedestrians and cars (no police) in order to breathe life into the city and so that people would not have to run far in order to find a car.

right. thats what i thought.

Well, I'm excited about this, even if I probably wont be shelling out 50 bucks for a game I already own.

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I think the idea was just to have pedestrians and cars (no police) in order to breathe life into the city and so that people would not have to run far in order to find a car.

Please note we have no firm plans to do so. This is just something that has been wanted, discussed and speculated upon since mta's inception.

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Peds and npc traffic has got to be a must-have. It's the one thing that is really missing from MTA at the moment. Would at a greater Plaver vs Environment aspect rather than just Deathmatch. But if they were unsynchronised (as previously stated) does that mean they don't appear the same on 2 peoples computers i.e. 2 players can't aim at the same pedestrian as they're client specific?

Would love to see multiplayer missions e.g. 4 man bank robberies. Basically get 3 other players into a car, tool up with guns and drive to a bank. Park in the circle marker outside to start the mission. Go inside, take out npc guards, crack the vault (via a minigame?) and escape to a marked location/safehouse avoiding the cops. Once complete you're given a score based on shot accuracy, damage dealt/taken and cops killed - this would add longevity as teams try for a top score.

Surely there's a file the game writes to to record CJs stats/clothes/money. If this could be adapted for MTA players could keep their character indefinitely and progress the more they play online. Might be open to Haxxors though.

Better communication would be good, as would a full map (as in the singleplayer). Plus maybe the ability to form groups in game, much-like a lot of mmorpgs. Waypoints could be set for everyone in your group using the in game map and marker. On screen indicators would show the direction and distance to anyone in the group who's wandered off screen.

That's all I can think of right now.

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Peds and npc traffic has got to be a must-have. It's the one thing that is really missing from MTA at the moment. Would at a greater Plaver vs Environment aspect rather than just Deathmatch. But if they were unsynchronised (as previously stated) does that mean they don't appear the same on 2 peoples computers i.e. 2 players can't aim at the same pedestrian as they're client specific?

Yeah, and you get all kinds of problems if a pedestrian blocks a bullet on someone else's screen.

Would love to see multiplayer missions e.g. 4 man bank robberies. Basically get 3 other players into a car, tool up with guns and drive to a bank. Park in the circle marker outside to start the mission. Go inside, take out npc guards, crack the vault (via a minigame?) and escape to a marked location/safehouse avoiding the cops. Once complete you're given a score based on shot accuracy, damage dealt/taken and cops killed - this would add longevity as teams try for a top score.

You do get missions (sort of) in GTA3 Shoreside Vale at the moment by purchasing them at the Ammunation. It will be interesting to see if this idea is used in Vice City in 0.5.1.

Edit: I've just seen that the name's been changed to 0.5.5 so it must be a fairly hefty update.

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I've never played the GTA3 servers, but I'm considering buying GTA3 now, since its only 10 bucks. Besides, I dont actually own Vice City anyway. I borrowed it and installed it, and am currently waiting for a burned play disk.

It would be cool, if possible, to arrange Co-Op Mission servers, so that people could help each other out in the missions somehow. Of course, this would probably be complicated, since certain players would have acess to different missions than other players, but it would be cool to have a kind of mutual gain from co-operating on certain missions so that all of the players would beat the mission in the single player mode.

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These aren't single player missions. These are ones designed for multiplayer such as one one where someone has to drive the bus to a destination and if its speed drops, it explodes (a la "Speed") whilst others try their best to stop it by blocking and ramming it. There are others as well which I can't remember.

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These aren't single player missions. These are ones designed for multiplayer such as one one where someone has to drive the bus to a destination and if its speed drops, it explodes (a la "Speed") whilst others try their best to stop it by blocking and ramming it. There are others as well which I can't remember.

:D I remember that movie// maybe MTA should make the player jump out of the bus and let it fly into an airplane or something... j/k :P

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dont actually own Vice City anyway. I borrowed it and installed it, and am currently waiting for a burned play disk.

OMG no warez!!!! :shock:

If I understood that I would probably still be confused by it.

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I got a little idea for NPC´s:

I think it would be possible to synch peds same way as time/weather its.

Theoretically you would create an 24 hour multi-ped path, this path would consists in lots of peds with pre-stablished routes arround the city inside an 24 hour clock, bassically as time/weather actually works.

Gta usses to autogenerate them, u cant see the same person in same place at same hour today, tomorrow and so on.. so the autogeneration fact makes me dubt about this possibility. I need to document myslef about this, but what do you think? :?

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These aren't single player missions. These are ones designed for multiplayer such as one one where someone has to drive the bus to a destination and if its speed drops, it explodes (a la "Speed") whilst others try their best to stop it by blocking and ramming it. There are others as well which I can't remember.

Speed: "If the bus drops below 50, it will explode..." nuff said.. ;) Rewards Individuals only, and up to 1 passenger. And I don't think it has a destination, only a timer.

Grand Theft Auto: Steal a Rival Gang leader's car. You'll get radar blips of the other gang cars, go steal one and take it back to your drop off point (Which is different for each team). Rewards entire team (I think. Could have sworn I picked up after someone else stole one sucessfully)

Ransack: (??? I don't know the name of it, don't play it much): Go to the warehouse which will be highlighted in blue on your map. Pick up as many crates as you can, avoid Flame, Dark Gas Clouds and other players. Use the white gas cloud to refresh your oxygen supply. Survive long enough for the timer to run out and you get paid. Game switches to top down mode. Rewards individuals only.

Van Heist: (My personal favorite) Steal the Securicar from the Airport and drive it back to your drop off point and avoid it being damaged to the point of explosion. You'll see a damage meter. Rewards entire team.

AND NO, MIKE, YOU MAY NOT SMOOSH MY SECURICAR WITH A DODO!

:x

P.S. These are only currently available in SSV games, they don't exist anywhere else. SSV is designed as a team-based game.

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