Inspired by the forum laws page (well, I have had this idea for longer, but this gave me the final push to just do it) I started writing a page about FPS game clichés. Any additional ideas are welcome:
http://warp.povusers.org/fpscliches.html
It's neat that Deus Ex breaks most of those rules. No limited invulnerabilty, no assumed weapon training. Body armor is temporary. Enemies have ammo.
Most enemies will run right towards you, no matter how much you are firing at them (although there are some exceptions to this).
I think that's the exception rather than the rule. Consider Quake- even the canned meat will zig-zag toward you rather than charging head-on.
Maybe replace that with the Law of Gibbing- deal enough damage to a living thing, and it will magically explode into chunks, even if you hit it with a crowbar.
I love how in half life you can be at 1 health after a firefight and then back to 100 health / 100 armor about 10 seconds later from pickups, making multiplayer matches dangerously one-sided.
Borg Collective wrote:
Negotiation is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. You will be assimilated.
here's one.
when you reload a gun using magazines, even if the one you remove is not empty yet, you won't have to worry of what it will become. the magazines in your backpack are always full (except the last one).
even if you fire only one bullet from every magazine, a magic elf will always transvase bullets between magazines to ensure they're as full as possible.
I never sleep, 'cause sleep is the cousin of death - NAS
It's neat that Deus Ex breaks most of those rules.
Well, Deus Ex never was a shooter to begin with, so these rules don't apply to it.
Warp wrote:
If a weapon is fixed to the ground and cannot be taken (but can be used), it has an infinite source of ammo. This is because it's an enemy weapon and thus subject to the above law.
Actually, the same could be applied to the allies' weapons (both stationary and mobile) as well, so there must be one more corollary about them as well.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Joined: 4/11/2006
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Location: North of Russia :[
It's not like player brings many weapons with him, in fact he has only ONE. It's a shapeshifter, like pokemon DITTO. Once you show other weapon to it, it can morph into it. Having shown some weapon to it, you are free to take ammo from it and toss it away =)
Law of infinite enemy ammunition
Even though you can run out of ammunition, your enemies can't. They have a magical infinite ammunition supply.
Corollary: Sometimes one of your own weapons has infinite ammo. Usually this weapon is the least powerful and least useful, though.
Corollary 2: If a weapon is fixed to the ground and cannot be taken (but can be used), it has an infinite source of ammo. This is because it's an enemy weapon and thus subject to the above law.
This can be rewritten as
Upthorn wrote:
Law of infinite enemy ammunition
A creature's least powerful weapon has unlimited ammunition.
Corollary: If a weapon is fixed to the ground and cannot be taken (but can be used), it counts as a creature for purposes of the above law.
How fleeting are all human passions compared with the massive continuity of ducks.
Joined: 4/8/2005
Posts: 1573
Location: Gone for a year, just for varietyyyyyyyyy!!
The first level always has a one-way entrance.
Switches activate objects immediately from any distance.
Sound travels at infinite speed in all environments.
Joined: 4/30/2006
Posts: 480
Location: the secret cow level
Aqfaq wrote:
Sound travels at infinite speed in all environments.
The one exception to that I've seen (seen? heard?) is in Half-Life 2, if you launch a rollermine into the water, the sound of the explosion seems to be delayed.
Also, I've got another one for you- why is it, if your gun holds, say, 30 rounds, whenever you replace the magazine, you always top out at 30 rounds? What if you reload before you empty the magazine? What happens to the bullet still in the chamber?
The one exception to that I've seen (seen? heard?) is in Half-Life 2
Half-Life actually does a good job addressing some of those laws. Now that I've seen all the Episode 2 gameplay demos, I can say for sure that I'm thoroughly impressed. After the easy and inside-out scripted Episode 1, this one looks especially cool in every sense.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
Law of Mapping Intricacy (Or the Law of Secrets): There are always switches or invisible tripcords on the floor in nonsensical locations that inexplicably activate things like pillars, statues, staircases, and hidden/camouflaged doors in the walls- all which would have absolutely no reason to be there in the first place if you're supposed to take the map design seriously.
Corollary- The Law of Traps: If an item is sitting on a pedestal (or sitting in an otherwise symmetrical manner to the room's walls) in an otherwise empty room, picking it up or stepping on the pedestal it stands on will activate a trap, usually inexplicably opening closets in the walls with enemies or causing enemies to appear in an adjacent room.
Clone Principle: No matter how long a game is, or how many different environments it spans, The different types of enemies you face will all be perfect clones of each other.
"My Hands are Full" Law: Your main character can never, ever, ever unhand his gun, even if he could catch himself on the edge of a bottomless pit or take a shortcut and climb a platform in front of him. The only way available for the character to traverse said obstacles is jumping, and the only things he can climb are ladders. Even when climbing a ladder, he will not unhand his gun and will climb only with his feet.
Standalone law (Or "Protect The F*****g Queen" Law): A boss room, usually the innermost heart of the enemy's stronghold, is likely to be completely empty except for the boss, a couple pathetic bodyguards (if any), and any underlings that are summoned during the battle.
Compensation Law: Boss rooms are always ridiculously big.
Rock Steady Law (Named after the SSBM Bonus): No matter how much you get pummled, blasted by rockets, knocked off ledges, or dropped from great heights, you will always land on your feet and your body will always stay perfectly vertical- you will never fall down. The only exception, of course, is death.
That's all I could think of a the moment.
>Most enemies will run right towards you, no matter how much you are firing at them (although there are some exceptions to this).
If they are melee-only enemies, maybe. Otherwise they will generally act stupid:
* walk around aimlessly and occasionally shoot
* not dodging or taking cover when under fire
* not coordinating their attacks in any way
>On the other hand, how massless bullets cause damage is unexplained.
Massless particles also have momentum. Solar wind can push objects just like any force.
Okay, bad example. I was under the illusion that solar wind consisted mostly of photons.
What I wrote about massless particles having momentum still applies. A massless bullet made of photons can therefore strike an object and cause damage.
Purely theoretical of course, we both know this phenomenon appears in FPSs because of hitscan calculations and not because the bullets are made of massless particles.
I would say that if you have enough photons packed in such a small volume that it might cause some damage because of its momentum, its more likely to burn its way through simply because of the radiation energy it has (which has basically nothing to do with momentum). In other words, it would be much easier to burn your enemies with a laser than it would be to try to cause any damage with light momentum.
Joined: 11/18/2006
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All 4 Turok N64 games involve climbing without holding a weapon.
Also: The law of Strafe-running. Anytime your character needs to go faster, and you're already moving forward at a maximum velocity of x, you can get a boost of x times the square root of 2, by running sideways and forwards at the same time at a 45 degree angle.
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
laughing_gas wrote:
Straferunning doesn't work for all fpses, it's been fixed in most of the newer ones.
Ah, good. I'm not up on games like HL2 or the newest ones because of lack of spare time (and hardware to play it on), but it's nice to know some programmers finally pulled their heads out and made it realistic to run around.
Remember that these are clichés so they don't have to be true all the time, just "too much" of the time.
Corollary: The delayed inverse stormtrooper effect
Corollary: If a game has a boss monster, and is for the PC, it is inevitable that somebody will make a mod putting upwards of 10 of them in one room. :P
Being a little more serious:
Law of Efficacious Armor: If a game has an armor item, it doesn't matter where on your body you supposedly wear this armor, it will always protect all parts of your body at once. Similarly, getting hit anywhere on your body (for example, areas of exposed skin) will cause this armor to become damaged.
Appearance Corollary: When you wear armor, it will not alter your physical appearance in any way, especially in a multiplayer game where it will allow you to have an extra element of surprise.
Monster Corollary: Unlike a player, specific parts of a monster's body will be covered in armor which you must aim around in order to damage it effectively.
I brought this up in an IRC channel, and here are the responses I got. These aren't really suggestions for the list, but you can read them for a laugh if you want.
The Matrix Principle: The main character can both save the world and kill hundreds, maybe thousands, of bad guys. Singlehandedly.
Hostile Strategizing Law: Enemy AI is superhuman. Neutral AI is infuriating. And don't get me started on Friendly AI.
Friend-or-Foe Ordnance: Your mines do not discriminate between you and your opponents. Your enemies' mines, naturally, do.
The Infighting Prohibition: Enemies of the same type usually cannot damage each other with their weapons, even if enemies of different types can.
Isaac Newton's Second Law of Gravitation: Items can float. No, really, they can!!!
Law of Chivalrous Demise: Self-destructs always have countdowns. Why? To give you a chance to escape, of course! Enemies have honor too!
Alcatraz Overhaul Project: No prison is inescapable. Sometimes all it takes is five minutes and an item left conveniently lying around.
Law of the Spiderman: If it can scale walls, ceilings or other normally inacessable surfaces it's melee only.
Guilty Confessionals: Enemies bigwigs often have journals or archives which reveal either a tortured conscience seeking redemption or indelible evil lurking in their hearts.
Law of the Livejournal: Dead people stayed with their notes till death, regardless of any chances of escape.
Virology 101: If a game is based on a contagion which converts people into mindless beasts or zombies it will not infect you, regardless of how much you are exposed to - although, in theory, you should be not only a viable target but a prime one.
The Guy Machine: There is a high probability that a boss battle will involve infinitely spawning enemies.
Law of firearm regulation: You will never, EVER be dispatched anywhere with much more than a pistol, no matter how big your agency/army/government's budget is, or how highly trained you are.
Counterstrike Compensator: If you kill ten people in Halo, you're pretty good. If you kill ten people in Doom, nice going! If you kill ten people in Quake, totally awesome! If you kill ten people in Counterstrike, [kicked by console].
Law of the Mexican Mouse: Players can turn around in a fraction of a second, regardless of the weapons they're holding or the amount of equipment they're carrying.
Law of Perpetual Motion: No matter how long you've been travelling through the levels, you'll always be able to run at constant high speed without the need for pause.
Law of Personal Thermodynamics: Somehow, the thermal energy of this constant movement is stored somewhere and released when necessary. Icy water, chilly snow fields and cold weather have no effect, which is especially beneficial to the female protagonists.
