On Weaponized Earthworms

Alternate Title:
A Tribute to the NinjaRope

Preface :
+ Show Spoiler +

Why is this here? Well, I've enjoyed procrastinating on TL since early WoL Beta but I've never contributed. Contributing can be just posting constructively in the current threads but I thought if I'm set on posting this somewhere it might as well be here and as a first post. Hopefully some of you will find this interesting.

Disclaimer :
+ Show Spoiler +

It so happens that this turned out to be quite the dry wall of text. I would like to apologize for the dryness and lack of style/quality to this writing. There was also a comedic chapter on tactics parodying medieval fighting manuals but that was redacted do to self imposed time constraints (this is basically like drawing a comic). Instead there is a weapon spotlight.
Things I am NOT: a programmer, an artist, a designer, a writer, an earthworm, a robot, a chicken, the brain specialist, smart, a scientist, a full-time employee.

Introduction
      Liero is an MS-DOS game featuring 2D real time combat between two worms. To get the game for modern systems go here. It can be played vs an AI but it is unrepresentative of the “true 1vs1 experience”. For a more historical/trivia point of view of the game I defer you to the (short) wikipedia article. Here I'd rather discuss the mechanics and design of the game.
      To talk about the gameplay of Liero requires reference to a “standard way of playing”. Liero doesn't have net play so many interpretations of the game can form from the discrete local communities that play the game. I'll make a few assumptions like “prefered mode is deathmatch on an open map”, “the game is unmodded” and “there is a meaningful loading time” (I like 50% loading time). There are probably many who prefere it otherwise. If you've never played Liero, you may not be familiar with some of these terms but they will be clarified later.
      I've linked here a reference gameplay video. After each unclear section you may return to this video to (hopefully) see the discussed topic in game.

With that in mind, I want to first describe the mechanics and core elements of Liero, and then discuss their possible applications outside of Liero.

A Worm is You

Mechanics of Liero

A reasonable configuration for two players

      Controls
      The right hand will generally use a WASD-like(1) configuration with left/right moving the player and up/down raising and lowering the aim of the weapon. Moving in the left/right direction and tapping the right/left key will result in digging left/right threw dirt.
On the left hand side there is the Fire key (2) to shoot, the Jump key (4) to jump and the Change key (3). The Change key can only be used with other keys. Change + left/right will result in scrolling through the weapon list. Change + Jump will launch the rope. Change + up/down will tighten or loosen the existing rope (rarely used). Jumping will release an existing rope.

      Weapon Mechanics
      In Liero, each player has five weapons which they can preselect or randomize. While in game, weapon crates spawn randomly on the map in a quantity determined by the game settings. Weapons have a clip size and upon depletion of said clip they enter a Loading mode for a certain amount of time. Thus Loading Time is an elementary resource in Liero. In the Options menu, enable "Change while Loading" to allow changing weapons during Loading Time but you must still have a weapon selected to continue loading it.
The three main behavior characteristics of a projectile weapon are (1) does the projectile hit the player, (2) does the projectile explode upon collision with terrain (as opposed to bouncing), (3) does the projectile explode on a timer. Exploding projectiles can release shrapnel that can also be described in this manner.
      Examples:
      - Weapons like Shotgun, Bazooka, Gaussgun, can be described by (true, true, false).
      - Weapons like Grenade, Chiquita Bomb can be described by (false, false, true) that spawn shrapnel/clusters (true, true, false).
      - A Mini Nuke is a (false, false, true) that spawns nukelings (true, false, true) that release shrapnel (true, true, false).
      More complex weapons can have unique characteristics like continuous spawning of sub-projectiles, laser scopes (kind of useless), remote control, and more.
Weapons are used in conjunction with the Rope (aka Ninjarope, grappling hook…). Only the hook of the rope interacts with the environment.

“Force Map"

      Movement Mechanics
      One of the defining aspects of Liero is the way the player moves around the map. Keeping on the move is the key to staying alive and getting positioning and pickup advantages over your opponent. To better understand the movement, one can observe the above figure detailing the forces that can move the player:
      (1) Pulling force from the rope. The rope can be seen as an ethereal spring (a conservative force). This is the main source of mobility for the player.
      (2) Movement force from left/right input (aka air control). This can be used when off the ground but cannot increase the players speed past the standard walk speed relative to the map's frame of reference.
      (3) Gravity. Standard. It's worth noting that most weapons are affected by gravity.
      (4) Explosions and projectiles push the player.
      (5) Weapon Recoil. Along with the rope, a key feature of movement in liero. Weapon recoil can be significant and can be used to propel the player backwards.
      (6) Friction (and collisions). No notable drag while in the air.

      Aiming
      Aiming in Liero is difficult. The up/down aiming is done at a constant speed which can seem too slow to react quickly or too fast to make small angle adjustments. Furthermore, do to the pixelated nature of the game there are relatively few possible angles of aim. Also, the lowest aim angle is 45 degrees from the downward direction.
      To overcome these difficulties, the player must learn certain techniques.
      - The player must be able to adjust aim with position as well as pointing angle.
      - The player must learn how to properly alter the path of their projectiles with their velocity. They might want to speed/slow their projectile or just know where to aim to while moving.
      - If the minimap is enabled (why would you disable this?) the player should use it to aim offscreen. Combined with the previous techniques it can be surprisingly effective.
      There are also things to keep in mind to undermine the aiming of the opponent like moving below the minimum angle of the opponent or generally moving to positions that are hard for the opponent to aim at.

      A Word on Splitscreen
      It must be noted that the multiplayer in Liero is via splitscreen. Therefore both players have complete information of each other's position, weapons, firing. When both players are close to the edge of the map, one player's screen may offer superior view for engagement and both players will focus on one half-screen. When engaging from a distance, it is easy to fall into the trap of looking at the opponents screen between shots to see if a shot has hit. Often, this information is unusable and the focus could have been used to evade shots from the opponent (similar to looking at the battle and not macroing in starcraft).

Gameplay

In Gauss we trust

      Combat and Engagements
      After the preceding exposition we can now talk about how a game of liero looks. In a standard game, the map will be relatively clear (to allow fast movement). As the game starts, both players will spawn randomly on the map. After reviewing their weapons (if random) the players engage in three primary ways:
      Bind / Close Range:
            Both players engage head on with weapons suitable for close range. The players will "dance" in close quarters, either around a terrain feature or just around each other.
      Long Range:
            An entrenchment-like situation where the players attack with long range weapons and are generally off-screen of each other. They may prefer to attack from afar to get the most of their weapon set, to secure a superior map position or buy time. This usually doesn't last too long as soon enough one player has succeeded or failed their goal and presses the attack more directly.
      Chase:
             When it is beneficial for one player to keep a distance but not the other, they initiate a chase. The chased player will generally use space-controlling weapons while the chaser will try to dodge those and engage with more direct weapons. There will be vigorous usage of the ninja-rope. If the chased player wishes, they can entrench themselves in a defensible position where they can easily intercept the chaser (similar to "camping").
      At the start, assuming flexible weapon sets for both players, they will usually reciprocate and default to a bind or long ranged engagement. The player to draw first blood will generally take some damage and would like to play defensively, while the slain player will want to engage directly to press the health advantage and equalize the score. Thus begins a chase until the chased player is cornered and forced into a bind or one of the players slays the other during the chase. When one of the players dies again the process repeats itself. A chase can also be terminated by a pickup. A player with low health can get a med kit and a weapon pickup can give a player the opportunity to change play style.
      Do to the health dynamic, the score (life count) is kept close for players of close skill level. As the game comes to an end, a player with an advantage will play a more aggressive and risky style to capitalize on their life count advantage. A player with a disadvantage will play defensively even if their health is higher as they need to conserve lives.

      Weapon Spotlight
      Gaussgun: The Gaussgun is a feared weapon. This is probably do to its sound and projectile speed, considering it takes 3 shots to frag an opponent on full health (more damage than a Bazooka hit, less than a direct SuperShotgun hit). This is not to say that it is a weak weapon. It has minimal projectile drop and transfers significant momentum when it hits. Attacking someone with a Gaussgun head on means the risk of getting hit for considerable damage and being thrown off aim. A Gaussgun has only one shot per clip, therefore one can bait a shot from an opponent and then have a short time window to attack with great wrath. The Gaussgun has a medium recoil strength, just small enough to not be useful for mobility. Fun fact - The Gaussgun behaves much more like a railgun. Its projectile is actually several shots fired together and it is very noisy.

      Mininuke: The Mininuke is one of the most tactical weapons in the game. In its unarmed phase, it is just a bouncy sphere that passes through the opponent. In the armed phase, it remains bouncy but detonates on contact with the opponent or after a set time. Its intuitive use is assault and zone control at long range. It must be aimed well as it has a small explosion radius. In short range, one must find creative ways to bounce it around such that it will be armed when it hits the opponent. For example when being chased towards a wall, the cornered player can fire a Mininuke at the wall, it will then bounce back and pass through the cornered player before armed phase when it will hit the opponent.

      Greenball: This is an automatic weapon that spawns tiny patches of green dirt. It does no actual damage but it can "detonate" on the other player and block them. Most of the time it is used in a taunting manner, occasionally trapping the opponent. Greenball in quite fun to use even without aggrevating the opponent. It makes for a good "jetpack" through its dirt spawning supplemented by the recoil. One can also aim downwards and walk forward + fire from an elevated position and spawn a green bridge underneath them as the go.

      Zimm: Goes well with the Doom Song. Zimm is a fast bouncy projectile with no drop. It flies in its strait hellish path until it expires or it hits a worm for about 49.9% of its health. There are two Zimms per clip. If used sparingly, it can be a tactical weapon that controls space or hits close up for lots of damage. More commonly though, it is used hastily with the player trusting in their ability to dodge. There is no winner in a Zimm fight, only a "technical victory".

      Spiked Balls: The testies of Satan, surely. This shoots a handful of bouncy spiked abominations, once per clip. Like most bouncy weapons, one must be careful when using them lest they conspire against you. Getting hit by all the Spiked Balls removes more than 60% worm life. After several seconds of not tasting blood, they will fizzle away in anger. They can be unskillfuly thrown at the opponent, forcing them to skillfully engage in vigorous dodging. Playing with the Spiked Balls will lead to a near infinite amount of puns and vulgarities.

3D Experimentation

      More Preface
      Considering the appeal of the core mechanics described above, it is natural to ask: Could they be applied to other game types like FPS? To help investigate this, I've scrambled together a shoddy sandbox in Unity as a 3D adaptation of sorts. You can check it out here or continue to the discussion.

Manual
download: http://www.mediafire.com/?dfeifcg180a94g6
Movement : WASD
Weapon switching: 1 2 3 4 5
Fire: Lmb
Rope: Rmb
Jump / detach rope: Space
Toggle View: V
Exit: Esc
If it sparkles it is interactable
Does not contain vampires
There is no sound
Screenshots:+ Show Spoiler +

      Discussion
      First lets discuss the mechanics that don't work well in 3D. Slow aiming is not enjoyable here as aiming controls your view and there are more directions to dodge projectiles in, making aiming even harder. It just feels like a contrived mechanic to put in an FPS. The digging mechanics could probably work but they aren't crucial and hard to implement (these deformation features seem to exist in games like Starforge, Yogventures, etc). The view distance and information mechanics of Liero also feel a bit contrived in an FPS (perhaps should also be experimented with).
      So we are left with things like the Rope, Air control, and weapon recoil. Getting the Rope and Air control to work for the first time was very exciting. Even with the first person view and an extra dimension, as a long-time player of Liero I felt right at home. The movements of a liero game translate easily and there is a great feeling of freedom. Adding recoil enabled shotgun jumps and chaingun jetpacks.
      I also left in the loading mechanic, even though I think the traditional timed weapon/powerup spawn mechanics would work well. There is not much to test this in the single player sandbox anyway.

      Further implementation
      Currently, it might be hard to popularize a 3D game with the Rope as a core mechanic, but by implementing the rope as an option and putting together more experiments / mods it can become an appreciated movement mechanic like jetpacks and jump pads (and now skiing?).
      Still there is more testing to be done before “marketability” is a concern. Testing includes: how to tweak the Rope and air control mechanics, what is good map design for this, is it even fun in multiplayer? If required, I can make some adjustments to test or upload the whole project folder. I could also try to hack together some multiplayer but it would require some time to figure out (no promises).
      Summary of my testing so far:
      - After the short initial learning period, using the Rope becomes intuitive and comfortable. Results may vary for people with no liero or FPS experience.
      - Recoil doesn't offer the risk of health loss like rocket jumping but is still interesting in that it is “always on” and it is the opposite direction to the player. Even if its not a “hardcore competitive feature” it feels unique.
      - Including slow/physics based projectiles is cool/interesting. This was never really in question though (see Tribes, Quake, etc.).

"Continue testing..."

Tools Used:
- GIMP : All the pictures here were done with gimp, a laptop mouse pad and the tears of real artists.
- UNITY engine : Funnily enough because I once saw Day[9] plug it in a tweet. The power of social media and all that. If learning to script in Unreal3 wasn't so infuriating (can haz documentation!?) I'd try to tinker with that as well.
- Wings3d : For 3d meshes. Nice and light on the computer. No animation functions though. Heard about it way back when I used to read the Mount&Blade modding forum.

On Weaponized Earthworms

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