Paul’s Ramblings

Perhaps absence has made this heart grow fonder, or caused the mind to wander, but it’s my opinion that Sega Lock-On is a decent game that was dropped before it’s time. On a few occassions some of us have discussed a DIY version of Lock-On but that’s as far as things went. Now that summer holidays are here my mind has had time to wander even further than usual and this time it has turned to the lofty subject of building a better Lock-On.

What makes Lock-On so good?

• Simplicity
• Durability
• Fun!!!

Why build your own Lock-On?

• Because Lock-On rules!
• Sega discontinued production long ago
• Sega Lock-On is great, but not perfect
• Because Lock-On rules!

How do you make a better Lock-On?

Of course you could get carried away with all sorts of computerised wizardry, but hey, who has the brain power, time and money for that?! Simplicity, durability and fun need to be the guiding factors here. It’s all about the game play.

The Gun:

The gun should have just one signal to transmit, a single shot; thus eliminating the need for crazy computational power. The rate, and modes, of fire (semi-auto / full-auto) would be hard wired into the particular model of gun. The accuracy, or inaccuracy, of a gun would be determined via the optics (lense size and positioning, barrel length etc.). A basic reload / cartridge feature would determine the number of rounds that could be fired before reloading is needed, this would just be a button that resets the counter and suspends shooting for a set period of time (5-15 seconds depending on the model of gun).

Some examples of gun designs

• Glock Pistol - Semi-auto, Short range optics with high accuracy, 10 rounds
• MP5 Sub Machine Gun - Semi-auto or Burst Mode, Close range optics with moderate accuracy, 15 rounds
• F88 Austeyr - Semi-auto or Burst Mode, Mid range optics with moderate accuracy, 30 rounds
• Minimi machine gun - Burst Mode or Full Auto, Mid range optics with low accuracy, 200 rounds
• Barrett M82 50 cal sniper - Semi-Auto mode, Long range optics with high accuracy, 10 rounds

The physical design would naturally be inspired by the real weapon it emulates, so as to add some manual realism, but most important is that the casing be sturdy and not prone to breakage. Items such as laser pointers and mag lights could naturally be added to certain models.

A bright LED should provide a muzzle flash (as I plan to remove lights from headsets) and it would be really cool if the sound quality could be improved somehow. Weapons such as the Minimi should have a louder volume than say a Glock pistol.

The Sensors:

There should be at least 3 sensors, on an elastic strap, that could be worn around the head, or over any hat or headdress. The head sensors would connect to a belt pack via a stretchy cable. The belt pack would have three main features: an on / off key switch (PC style), a team selector (A or B) and a two way game mode switch. The head sensors should be laced with some bright LEDs which flash for kills and death, accompanied by a buzzer in the belt pack. But this all leads me onto the all-important …

Gameplay:

The gameplay is many ways would be very similar to regular Lock-On (as we currently play it). The regular mode would be a a silent match (no radar pings) with each player having nine lives. The key difference would be that the hit / damage delay would be removed. In regular Lock-On an ambush is dangerous because the hunted can only get hit once (in a 3 second period) but can simultaneously hit back at all his attackers causing disproportionate damage. This new system means that if you gang up on someone you can really give them a pounding, which is good for the flow of the game and gives some additional reward to team work.

The new game mode would be Sudden-Death (well, almost sudden death). In this new mode players would get only 3 lives, but in return their sensors would be less sensitive meaning that only good, or direct, hits would register. In addition, the key switch on the belt pack means that one player could be given the role of medic (AKA bearer of the key) to use for resetting team mates (provided they have some lives) until they themselves are topped. This game mode could be played for either it’s realism or simply for good quick fun.

Conclusion:

I think the changes to the equipment and the gameplay would result in a more natural style of competition, resembling the familiar flow of computer games, like Battlefield, and create more scope for role based play and team work. At the same time, these changes won’t stop anyone who just wants run around like a wild-thing and shoot people. As for constructing the sets, the electronics have been kept simple so it should be possible to work with someone that has such expertise to develop a prototype.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 3:55 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.