1. #1
    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    Default Proposed Ideas for Hacknet

    Neocron Hacknet Idea Outline

    -Player
    -Add in the ability to control the look of your cyberspace avatar
    +Perhaps make this a hacknet program, that you activate while in hacknet. It sets up the external view camera (like alt+e does) but views them from the front. Freezes movement, and lets you select models for use on hacknet. More advanced programs requiring greater hack skill allow more options and models, with more and more detail
    -Give the ability to control the look of weapons programs if custom made
    +If at all possible, detect if a program was made by a user versus bought in a store. If bought in a store, lock it in to a general appearance. If custom made, allow the maker to set the weapon appearance of the program for use in cyberspace.

    -Add in support of implants in cyberspace.
    +Certain implants should have an effect in cyberspace, such as neural CPU's which would improve calculations or data transmissions. These factors may not necessarily appear relevant yet, but perhaps could come about in GAMEPLAY or ENVIRONMENT features later on
    +Certain implants should have no effect in cyberspace, for example, eyes, bone enforcements. Considering the lack of these, and that the Law Enforcer works in Hacknet, perhaps code the specific implants that work in hacknet to work like the law enforcer, some good ideas come of this:
    ++If you set it up so that these certain implants -only work- like the law enforcer on hacknet, a hacker can "disable" certain implants by removing it, or enable them by putting them back in. This could be combined with a chat message to show that they're turning it off or on, for themselves, so they know.
    +Ideas for implants:
    ++Bio monitor: tells you if your body is getting damaged in the real world
    ++Vocal bridge: Lets anything you say in local in cyberspace be parroted locally at your bodies location
    ++Emergency Jack: Lets a poker jack you out of the hacknet by force if there's an emergency and you need to be taken to safety.

    -Allow an emergency jack-out from cyberspace
    +If you add some manner of command to disconnect from cyberspace immediately, have it give a synaptic dampening effect like dying, just, don't go through the death screen, and return the player back to the generep they logged in on. Consider giving the jack out effect a delay, to suggest the hackers mind is still locked in on the hacknet when disconnecting. Also consider giving them a hefty load of damage to the head region to cover the concept of the cortex burning from the jack-out.

    -Do not remove the player's body from the position at the genrep they were at
    +Make an NPC that looks just like the player, with their health, and their disposition to other factions, if someone kills it, the player is dumped from hacknet and killed in the location they were at. I don't know if this can be done gracefully, but this would be an excellent check and balance, as well as keep up with how hacking locks and stuff leaves you vulnerable.
    +Why would this make sense?
    ++Consider for a moment, that your body can get sucked into the genrep, but without knowing where to go due to hacking in, what if your consciousness went into the network ahead of your body, to try and plan out the route where you were going to go through the genrep network. Canonically speaking, that could make sense, and allow for a system of checks and balances against pvp players, or against a player on a GM run who doesn't have a compadre to watch out for them.

    -Environment
    -Add in different kinds of hacknet areas
    +I know different color hacknets can exist, so you have the general green hacknet for normal. You have the blue hacknet for, perhaps, I don't know, high security or protected systems? What about a red hacknet, for damaged network areas. They have gaps and holes you need to jump over, and non working or nonsensical lift streams, or perhaps even environmental damage effects
    ++You can use neat effects like the blood effect on screen to flash the screen red and the intoxication effect to make things seem blurry or hazy with a white-noise effect to show damage or problems with an environment, making it harder to see and navigate the red environment

    -Change what DNS you log into depending on where you log in
    +if you enter hacknet from a genrep in any of the city sections, have a link in hacknet for that general area, Vis, PP, Plaza, ect. You can repeat this process in other locations. Just link it to the Mainframe for the city respective to where the thing is happening in, so you don't have to make all new areas overall.

    -Keep the homogenized, repetitive look of hacknet.
    +While it seems unappealing, hacking isn't supposed to be glamorous, it's repetitive, and mind-numbing. If you want colors, vivid changes, and reality, you don't jack in .

    -Give more purpose to places.
    + If a player attacks a DNS and causes significant damage, perhaps set up an automated system to put a message out on the in-game forums, or using the neocronicle system to put out news reports of something happening. I'd like there to be a real world crunch when I go and break into Biotech's DNS and start beating up their firewall software! This will offset the repetitive features by giving a purpose to be had in each location

    -Perhaps change some of the names of the enemies?
    +Corrupted packets wouldn't really attack people, packets are pieces of information going from one point to another, essentially, you're firing packets of data at these Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics. These virtual entities could take the name of various programs, so perhaps consider calling some of them, like the security protocols, GATE_GUARDIAN v.1.0. Calling them infected is kind of weird, they're operating as they're supposed to, so perhaps consider removing that from the name, or changing it to hostile.

    -Paydata:
    +there's a lot of valuable data running around on hacknet, downloading some data fragments from destroyed programs and eventually processing it using your hack skill and hack tool, can lead to paydata that requires you to find a seedy seller in a given amount of time, based on a hint given. Basically, when processed, the pay data tells you to find a data broker in a particular location, and gives you a short amount of time to get it there. The data should be limited to people in the general area you can get to in that time period.

    -Cooperative running environments
    +with broad systems like a hacknet terminal inside of an office building, leading into the security system, to disable alarms, unlock doors, or disable certain turrets or robots inside the game world, would be a great way to improve the usefulness of a hacker, but also have them dependent on the other classes for protection. Or getting the hacker into a secured environment off site so that he can soften up security for the physical team to go in with their street samurais and Psi-monks to do the wet work. Use broadcast daemons to pipe through what the hacker says to the outside environment, and vice versa. Or allow the hacker to use cameras which basically will spawn the hacker temporarily in the game environment but modify their camera settings until they try to move, which brings them back to the network.


    -Gameplay
    -We need more programs!
    -Offensive
    -Melee Offensive Program
    -For the more physically minded hacker, reaching out and manipulating the code of a program could be a valuable way to do a lot of damage to a less mobile program quickly, while also exposing the hacker to get damaged more frequently. This might be useful in situations when cornered, or if perhaps a hacker is themeing their avatar after something, say a knight with a sword, or a thief with a knife in the night!
    -Check: Quick, good DPS, low hack-point cost
    -Balance: Low range, some enemies fly.


    -Basic Ranged Offensive Program
    -Like what we have now, their effectiveness varies widely based on hacker's ability and intelligence, their range and rate of fire improved by whatever the best hacktool the player has in their belt, as they had to use a hacktool on their belt in order to enter the hacknet
    -Check: Powerful, damage based on intelligence and hackskill, ranged, commonplace
    -Balance: Performance tied to hardware used to hack into hacknet, hackpoint cost based on the level of the software run


    -Complex Ranged Offensive Program
    -These are unique ranged programs with special effects, either a blast radius or hitting multiple targets in field of view, these would replace faulty multilink attacks
    -Check: Very Powerful, damage standard, but special effect modified by intelligence and hackskill. Ranged.
    -Balance: Slower than basic ranged programs, Rare, should only be sold in certain discrete places or found in unique circumstances.


    -Virus
    -Attack program based on weakening a target's defenses, and causing damage over time, will -never kill the program- but will leave it with almost no health, if it lasts long enough.
    -Check: Useful for system sabotage, and augmenting attack power against strong ICE, duration is based on your hack skill, and intelligence. Works on any friendly or non-friendly software without alerting them to your attack.
    -Balance: Heavy hack point cost, slow to fire, only damages, does not crash the ICE/Program/Hacker, rare


    -Denial of Service
    -Attacks a program based on preventing the program from reacting as quickly, in both movement and action. Deals no direct damage to the program.
    -Check: Useful for system sabotage, helps fight pesky fliers that run away or come back and swarm. Duration based on hack skill and intelligence. Common
    -Balance: Slow to fire, deals no direct damage to the target

    -Defensive
    -Basic Barrier
    -This is like the current hacknet program that puts up a shield, change no behavior from it, works great, maybe make hack skill and intelligence change duration and efficiency of the barrier

    -Proxy: This makes an illusory copy of the hacker that follows them directly behind, it sometimes will take hits from enemy ICE if the Proxy is between the player and the ICE, health and duration, while limited, are improved by hack and intelligence. Added bonus: the proxy will defeat any attempt to use PING or TRACEROUTE on the hacker. (See Elucidary section below)
    -Check: Can take damage for the player, protects from Ping and Traceroute
    -Balance: Considerable hack point cost, limited duration, players can see right through it unless both aren't moving


    -Sympathic Recursive Damage Loop
    -Advancement of the Basic Barrier, when attacked, portion of damage is returned to attacker, depending on intelligence and hack skill
    -Check: Behaves just like normal shield, damages attacking ICE based on their own effectiveness
    -Balance: heavy hack point cost, slow to fire, lower duration than normal barrier


    -Restorative
    -Gradual Cortex Regeneration
    -Behaves just like original healing program, no changes needed

    -Neuronal Reconstruction Charge
    -Heals health more directly in smaller increments than the entire regeneration process would have healed overall, however, it's immediate, which can be very important in dangerous situations.
    -Check: Instant heal instead of Heal over Time. Modify total healing amount based on software level and hack and intelligence level
    -Balance: Stamina drain for use, Heavy Hackpoint cost, heals less overall than waiting for regen to finish up, however, does an immediate heal.


    -Antivirus
    -Stops the effects of a virus and/or a denial of service attack, but heals no health lost from either affect
    -Check: Stops the DoT of the virus, and the debilitating effects of the Denial of Service attack
    -Balance: Heals no damage from either effect. Rare


    -Cycle IP Address
    -Stops the effects of a ping or a traceroute attempt
    -Check: Duration lasts a while, based on hack and intelligence, also prevents both a ping and traceroute
    -Balance: Resets entire hack point pool to zero, as it's essentially like reconnecting, but without teleporting away, it takes time for the system to catch up to you.


    -Obfuscatory: The whole purpose of these hacknet softs is to make the player a smooth operator, rather than a raging death-inferno. It's entirely designed around the concept of avoiding the conflict, which may be important for setting up tactics or plans of attack, or just easily going through a system to gather intelligence.

    -Sleaze
    -For a duration of time in minutes based on intelligence / 4, what was once a hostile ICE becomes passive if their level is lower than your hack skill.
    -Check: Allows for discrete play in a system, by turning what was once a hostile ICE into a passive one. Takes a moderate amount of hack points, higher levels of the software take less hack points to use and fire faster.
    -Balance: Only can work on one piece of software at a time, must be cast subsequent times for each piece of software being attacked. Any penalties for attacking something friendly that may occur in the hacknet environment will occur if you attack a sleazed program. Only difference is that Virus works normally and does not alert the program to your intention to infect it.


    -Disguise
    -For a duration of time in minutes based on intelligence / 4, an entire hacknet region's hostile enemies identify you as a friend. However, activating a part of the system will cause the remaining duration to divide in half.
    -Check: Very powerful, can allow for unmitigated system access
    -Balance: Requires entire hack pool, prevents hack pool point regeneration for twenty seconds, extremely rare, available to high level hackers only.


    -ARP Rerouting
    -For a short duration, you've rerouted the attack protocol of the targeted ICE to attack anything -but- you. This might include sensitive datastores, or other runners, but anything that is not you has become fair game.
    -Check: Allows temporary havock to take place, allowing the hacker to control the cyber battlefield
    -Balance: Risky, may hurt allied hackers in hacknet with you, may also damage important features, heavy hack pool cost, somewhat uncommon


    -Elucidary: Elucidary programs have a purpose in revealing information about the target they're being run against, giving information about health, about location, about the version of the software they've loaded up on their avatar

    -Ping
    -Tells you what active hacksoft the hacker is using, each level of software can tell you more about it. checks your hack and your software level versus their hack and their software level. If they're in a friendly system you are affiliated to, and they are sleazing or Disguised, and your software level and hack skill beats theirs, they are no longer sleazed/disguised.
    -Check: Tells you what you're up against, can reveal a sleazed hacker, enabling defenses
    -Balance: Can be defeated easily, requires close contact, heavy hack point cost, common


    -Traceroute
    -Tells you where a hacker had actually connected into the Hacknet, be it from their apartment, or from a specific in world location. If we keep a hacker's body at a location, this can be a seriously dangerous tool to use. You could send a physical fighter to the location and have them kill the hacker, which naturally would cause them to crash. To do this, a small version of a basic ICE is spawned, and slowly it begins to make its way to the hacker it's targeted. If the hacker doesn't notice the tracer, and it comes close enough to attack, the trace goes through. The trace has to be very, very close in order to attack, unlike other monsters. A hacker can only run one single trace at a time. If used on a normal ICE, the trace returns what faction the ICE belongs to, if any, unless it's destroyed before coming close enough.
    -Check: Tells you where the hacker you've targeted is located physically, at least until they come through at another locations Uplink to the physical world through a generep. Can also take some agro off of you so the target attacks the trace
    -Balance: Slow moving, relatively weak, takes a great deal of hack pool to cast, can only have one out at a time.


    -New Feature
    -Using your hack tool in hacknet can open up a cityterm wherever you are, allowing you to email to the outside world when deep in a hack, or if you suspect your body is in trouble.

  2. #2
    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    I'd like to make an addendum to my suggestions. I would love, love, love to see quests in the cityterm for using hacknet, as I love running in hacknet and an added purpose would be grand. If it would spawn a special npc in hacknet to chase down, or target a specific hacknet logon point in one of the sectors needing to be cleaned out, all of that would be super duper!

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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    So guys, I totally had a really cool idea for new hacknet content, so I figured I'd add it to my suggestion thread. Just like with the others, I'm hopeful for some interest to build up and to hear some constructive dialogue on the topic, so here's the latest idea.

    I was infiltrating a storage system recently, and I thought, how interesting would it be above to combine the concept of sleaze or stealth like listed above, with a mechanic that includes alarm and lockdown. If a system becomes aware of a hacker inside, based on visual range of the Intrusion Countermeasures and their ability to communicate with the system itself, what if certain high-security systems could lock down, preventing movement between areas or leaving by conventional means, except for an emergency jack-out, like I had suggested up above? So under lock-down, the teleport junctions would possibly turn red, as a simple means of showing they were locked out. You could either destroy all the ICE in the area to open it back up, or in areas where this could happen, if you find the alarm ICE, you can sleaze it to make it believe you belong here or that it was a false alarm. Or you could make it crash, which would allow the system to open back up, if say your sleaze attempt wasn't successful. They wouldn't move, like the security ICE which you encounter on hacknet, unlike the countermeasure ICE which move/fly around.

  4. #4
    freedom for neocron! Torg's Avatar
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    all those ideas sound very good to me. even as hacknet probably has to wait until the main part of the game has been rebalanced, fixed and expanded, please keep developing new ideas for you favourite playground. i mean - the NC hacknet is such a beautiful and interesting place, it needs some attention, too.

  5. #5

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    Everything you came with could be really cool for me as an upgrade of the hacknet
    except the part about the hacker's body, as hacknet is now, it's a no-no to let it where it is,
    (because entering the hacknet is like using a gr as usual but with no destination,
    you choose your way (and yes, you can do some other little things aside ^^))
    BUT, if the devs give us the possibility to hack something else than grs to log into the hacknet,
    like home-terms that doesn't have the same capability as grs (teleport), it'll be ok.

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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    Oh, I totally understand how the system has gone so far, and looking at it from a development standpoint, I think it was more a happy coincidence that it had an in-game explanation as the entire body being brought into hacknet, due to how the gene replicator works. I think the initial decision--without talking to the people who originally developed Neocron's hacknet--was more around technical limitations of the system. See, personally, I think that if hacking locks keeps the body where it is, I'd almost imagine that you could explain the same thing by keeping the body there while in hacknet. The reason why is because, it's just like using the GUI in the generep to pick where you're going, except you're using your consciousness as the interface, rather than just selecting something off of a hud.

    So why I want to do that is, I think you have an awesome opportunity for more interpersonal relationships between characters, if the hacker is vulnerable in all instances, like the rigger/droner, "doing their thing" it rebalances gameplay a bit, it offers PVP players a chance to do something about the hacker unless their people are actively defending them. A sniper would be very valuable in this case, as angling the shot around a street samurai protecting the hacker would be a great way to "kill the fight" so to speak.

    That idea was for the sake of opening up the system to everybody, to give others a reason to be excited about hacknet improvements, a sort of check and balance, so to speak. Granted, people with their LE in won't have to worry, but with the current system, clans that have players in that are hackers will have another element to the situation to take part in.

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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    So guys, I don't know what you can do to import resources into the game, or how much experience the team has with 3d models, but you know, there's a model out there which is -perfect- for the hackers body in hacknet. The game REZ has the main character as a set of plates in their first form, kind of like how mobs are set up in hacknet now. If you can import the mesh from that game--some people spend their time doing just that--and see if it can be rigged with the armature that the models in Neocron uses, it should mesh up nicely. Since the game is free to play, you could always cite fair use!

    I've included a picture of the form here

    level_01.gif

    Edit: I know this kind of goes in juxtaposition to my idea to make the hacker in hacknet more fancy by giving players the option to adjust their look in hacknet, but I also thought perhaps the team might want to look at a simpler idea also, if they didn't like the customization idea or if it wasn't practical.

  8. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by saadow View Post
    Since the game is free to play, you could always cite fair use!
    Sorry but... Dafuq you been smoking? That argumentation is just lol. "Hey, dis is free, we take your assets bcuz fair use, kthxbai."
    I doubt that would work that way that easy.
    Not to mention i didn't find a hint on the game being free.
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  9. #9
    NC For Free!
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    Really great ideas. But like someone said above the main game needs a lot of work first and I can't see any of this getting into the game anytime soon as in ever unfortunately. But if it were to happen I really like your thinking.
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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kane View Post
    Really great ideas. But like someone said above the main game needs a lot of work first and I can't see any of this getting into the game anytime soon as in ever unfortunately. But if it were to happen I really like your thinking.
    You aren't the only person to say that, and I have it on good word from administration they want to take care of other things first.

    I won't lie, I may not stay with the game long enough to see these changes, that's a possibility I've had to take into account. What I can say is, I love Neocron, it's basically everything I've wanted packed into a game, and I'm really enjoying it. I want to see it become even better, especially in the areas I care about, but also in the areas I don't care about, because the game really can and does cater to all walks of gameplay and interests, and I think that is very important to execute well. So while they handle the important stuff, I'm going to do what I do best. Be A) Hopeful that some day, I'll see a hacknet like what I'm thinking, B) See a hacknet that will make me want to take out that LE, but also make it more accessible for other players to do something about that and affect it, and C) I want to see the game improve in any way I can, because more players will come as features are fixed and touched up. I think that's a really important thing to think about.

    Any idea thread I come up with, whether on my own or from talking, is a chance for staff to look in, say "Wow, that's a great idea" and use it to expedite the process of getting to the meat of fixing and improving the game, rather than spending time on the creative aspect. Granted, perhaps my ideas aren't what they or what the playerbase would like, but, then it also speeds up the development time, by checking a possibility off of the list.

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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drachenpaladin View Post
    Sorry but... Dafuq you been smoking? That argumentation is just lol. "Hey, dis is free, we take your assets bcuz fair use, kthxbai."
    I doubt that would work that way that easy.
    Not to mention i didn't find a hint on the game being free.
    Yep, it really does work this easily. You give attribution, and cite you're using it for non-profit purposes, or for educational use (if you're in a school) and that's how a bunch of my college projects got done.

    Fair point though, if the game is not free to play, they couldn't do that. In that case, they would have to make the model at least 20-30% different from the original work, which includes vertex placement, coloration, and hey, a new armature to work with the game's bone placement.

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    Saadow, you seem to have a lot of knowledge about the technical and creative side of game development.

    Maybe you should give it a serious thought to join the NST and strengthen their efforts from the inside. The NST can always use some help and applications have been possible for a long time now. This way your suggestions could be more precise for the development of Neocron in its current state.

    I think it is a good start to have a vision of how something should be ideally and without being bound by resources this can be quite easy. However, it is even better to see reality the way it is and to engage in improving the current situation. The experience gained by this approach is more valuable.

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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ivan Eres View Post
    Saadow, you seem to have a lot of knowledge about the technical and creative side of game development.

    Maybe you should give it a serious thought to join the NST and strengthen their efforts from the inside. The NST can always use some help and applications have been possible for a long time now. This way your suggestions could be more precise for the development of Neocron in its current state.

    I think it is a good start to have a vision of how something should be ideally and without being bound by resources this can be quite easy. However, it is even better to see reality the way it is and to engage in improving the current situation. The experience gained by this approach is more valuable.
    I've expressed some interests in this publicly, though I didn't know there were applications. I'll take a closer look at the website and forums and see if I can't locate those. I do have a broad array of experience, I worked for over five years for a company on Second Life producing animations, though I had an armature and IDE already prepared for me in those cases, I've also taken game design and game programming courses at college. They weren't impressive--it was towards an associates degree--but I would love to leverage what I know to help the team. I do work though, I work during the week on daytime hours and on the weekends at night, but I'm Eastern Standard Time.

  14. #14

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    We are always looking forward to new applications:

    http://www.neocron-game.com/jobs
    Baldur
    Management - Content Development
    Neocron Support Team
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    Registered User saadow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baldur View Post
    We are always looking forward to new applications:

    http://www.neocron-game.com/jobs
    Hey Baldur, great to run into you here! I'll read the page, and send in an application. I just hope I can help in some small way

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