Roots, multiplayer topdown shooter [official thread]

This is a progressive thread, some posts maybe out of date, please look at later posts to see the actual progress.

latest video [out of date, no longer represents the games quality]:

Welcome to the official thread for Roots content, Roots is our topdown multiplayer shooter, from the start, Roots was designed to focus only on fun, unscripted action, the game will assist the player in no way, just a player, his guns, his controls and the world around him, we want this game to play as fluid as possible. Despite it being a topdown shooter, we haven't allowed that to reduce the quality of the core mechanics. We assure you, roots systems are alot more detailed than alot of games you think might be bigger. Alot of people will assume that the game is simpler because of its top down view but we can assure you that's not the case, bodies, vehicles and explosions are fully physics driven. Check out our youtube channel, subscribe, rate and comment, this is more your game than it is ours and your feedback is NEEDED.

[features]

• Compliment your playstyle with 4 unique suit packages:
  - camo makes you invisible
  - shield reduces incoming damage
  - impulse pushes away incoming projectiles
  - speed gives you a fast dash across the map
• Wide variety of weapon, each fine-tuned for specific useage.
• Your choice matters, tired of being forced to play the same game-modes every match you play? At the end of the match, Roots' lobby will randomize a list of weapons, maps and game-modes that players then vote on to determine the next match;
• Customize your game-types, no re-spawns, no suicide penalties, weapons on map, starting and secondary weapon, its your game, why should we tell you how to play it? Our job is to make it not break.
• People assume the game is simpler because its a top-down shooter, well, No! Melee with any weapon, sprint, jump, aim up and down, toss grenades and items, this isn't just a 2d shooter with 3d skin.
• Unscripted gameplay, nothing is canned, we don't influence any epic scenario you may see, you'll probably never see it again the same way.
• Physics driven gameplay, grenades, bullets, explosions, vehicles, players and environment all affect each other.
• Play your own way, the game is physics driven so we're sure players will learn how to do stuff that even we can't do, such as rocket/grenade jumping.
• There is no campaign but there is a story, so you'll experience our unique ways of story-telling.

Head over to our youtube channel to track videos, feel free to subscribe by following this link: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=teamINOV

We want to start public alpha tests soon also so add us on youtube for a chance for that, youtube is our easiest way of getting a message out to subscribers easily.

You can also track us on indieDB:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/roots

[most recent screens]

 

The first iteration of the ROOTS menu, this video is mostly to showcase features and does not reflect what the final menus will look like;

 

Alpha 0.0.5 full match gameplay

 

Ci-2 50cal sniper rifle



The Colonial sniper rifle iteration 2 was sent into field use shortly after the colonial army was established in 2515. The primary focus in its design was to create a snipe rifle that guaranteed 100% on target shots. Regardless of the range, the self-guided bullet always hits center cross-hair by tracking a laser, taking several atmospheric conditions into consideration, its major downfall is the trail left by such a bullet, making the weapon only used for extremely high priority targets where missing a shot isn't an option, this flaw is counteracted by the immense range a shot can be taken[over 2,000meters], where seeing a trail would only put enemies in a state of panic;

More info will be available in-game;

 

Seems like the game will be dominated by constant jumping. Also how is shooting up and down handled? If youre on the second floor and someone is under you, I assume you can only shoot people on your plane.

 

No, shooting is not limited to a plane, watch the video and see if you can get the idea, it works flawlessly, its been an idea I've had for some time, am aware of the jumping but i'm not sure if I want to limit it yet, its actually easy enough to shoot a player while he's in the air.

The non2d shooting is one of the main design focuses of the game.

 

Looks great! What networking did you use?

 

Unity's standard networking was used.

 

Roots has been updated
In this video we showcase testing our team extraction gamemode

extraction
A smoke beacon is placed in the center of the map, players/teams must take this beacon and hold on to it as long as they can, player/team that hits the set time limit or that held it the longest when time runs out, wins the match;
Killing does not give points in this gamemode;

leave feedback here on http://www.reddit.com/r/shooterROOTS/

 

Roots has been updated
In this video we showcase testing our team extraction gamemode

extraction
A smoke beacon is placed in the center of the map, players/teams must take this beacon and hold on to it as long as they can, player/team that hits the set time limit or that held it the longest when time runs out, wins the match;
Killing does not give points in this gamemode;

leave feedback here or on http://www.reddit.com/r/shooterROOTS/

 

The game has been updated, functionalities here are not final but should give an idea of the direction we're heading:

 

Thermal grenade types added:

 

Working on a new map, ruins:


The map, citadel was fleshed out some more, added portals, jumppads and more:


The character was fully reworked to match the actual setting of the world, introducing the ROOTS hazard suit:

 

Some gameplay from our most recent alpha build of Roots

 

You are getting along, looks amazing!
The multi-plane-aiming you use, how is it composed, do you do a ScreenPointToRay (hitting the ground) using the hit.point+offset(e.g. chestheight) as the position you point the weapons at?
i struggled with the decision to introduce multiplane in my top-down shooter, but i scrapped it for the trueLineOfSight which only seems feasible in 2D.

one suggestion,
The playerName-font still seems very pixelated, the rest has been polished a bit i guess.
-I overcame this with this little trick: Set the fontSize very high but scale the textTransform down to keep same size. The Resolution of the font increases. The only problem i have is that i get border-artefacts if antialiasing is enabled

 

Looks good. I noticed though that the names on the soldiers are fuzzy. You should increase the font size and scale it down to fit right. The font size you have now is far too small and as a result the lines aren't crisp.

 

Thanks guys, I'm aware of that font issue but it wasn't something I could fix in time for video session, Its not fixed however.

 

You people really need to join in on the playtests! I've been giving Tahir feedback since the development of the first map. Game is loads and loads of fun! I love the hats too, my character gets that little extra sexyness. I wish I could just buy it already, hurry up and get it on Steam!

P.S.(I always have the most kills)

Cheers
Khelton

 

it's looking really good. When I see this after seeing yet another slenderman thread, I weep tears of salvation, knowing that there are still game developers trying to make something good and decent in the world.

 

Thanks for the support.

Roots has been renamed to Broken Earth, we apologize for any confusion this process may have caused:

The game has also been updated:

 

Fun game with full of action pack. Excellent.