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A combination of first person shooter and real time strategy. There is a large map and balanced units on each side. Each round, a team commander is chosen rando

A combination of first person shooter and real time strategy. There is a large map and balanced units on each side. Each round, a team commander is chosen randomly from each team. During play, the commander sees a bird’s eye view of the current battle and directs player objectives, waypoints, etc. while everyone else is playing COD-style first person (trying to take advantage of the intelligence and goal setting from the commander). “The game” is sustained over many rounds, teams taking and losing ground as individual battles are won and lost. I haven’t thought deeply about how much RTS complexity would be appropriate - but you would want to keep the action symmetrical so nobody is ‘waiting’ around for decisions to be made.

generj 4y ago
Reminds me a bit of the old Battlefront Galaxy Conquest modes, though the overview mode would need a lot more work. I think the overview position would need complicating factors to make it hard - otherwise they would just be frustrated at the grunt soldiers not taking objectives.
CrazyStat 4y ago
Red Orchestra 2 is something like this, though not quite what you describe. The commander can call in artillery strikes and recon planes that show where enemy troops are on the map and set waypoints for different squads. It can be quite satisfying with an organized group, or frustrating if you're just playing with randoms. RO2 is fairly old now but I imagine the newer games (Rising Storm/RS2) have similar mechanics.
swilliamsio 4y ago
That has kind of already been done in the 2010 PS3 game MAG: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAG_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAG_(video_game)
SwetDrems 4y ago
Hell Let Loose does something similar. Each team of 50 has one commander, and multiple squads with infantry (all human players). The squad leads communicate with the commander, their squad, and other squad leads in order to accomplish plans set by the commander. The commander can call in recon plans, artillery, tanks. Good communication and coordination can win games. It is a rather brutal game though.
ed312 4y ago
Natural Selection (2) is close on a round-by-round basis, but isn't an RPG. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4920/Natural_Selection_2/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/4920/Natural_Selection_2/
- Atreiden 4y ago
  Game is so incredibly fun but so difficult. The people who play it regularly are just Really, Really Good. Even after 40 or so hours I was still getting absolutely destroyed, chasing the high of kill streaks I'd gotten early on (against other new players). Is it still active? Part of me wants to give it another try, though I know only pain and suffering awaits.
  - Spellman 4y ago
    It's death spiraled at this point with the only players left being the god-like skilled. So not especially newbie friendly, which just means the community shrinks more. Plus Unknown Worlds has moved on to Subnautica, so all updates are Community Driven now. Which is pretty neat tbh.
  - barrysteve 4y ago
    The mid-game lerk and fade gameplay versus shotgun marines favours skilled players a lot. A good lerk can soften up marines forever and a good fade has little reason to die while continually getting kills everytime it leaves the hive. A good shotgun or rifle marine can cancel out 2-3 alien skulk players every wave. The skilled dominate midgame. The end-game onos stomp and xeno ganeplay versus exo and jetpacks levels out the skill required across players and becomes more enjoyable for everyone. Though games rarely get there without demoralizing everyone midgame. It's strange to me that the skill required peaks midgame and endgame is full of stunlock mechanics, tanky units and suicide tactics. I would put the highest skill mechanics on display in the end game so everyone has a good time before the domination of skill kicks in. It's still active, 4-5 servers in the US full every night and a bunch of UK, Euro and chinese servers. One aussie server.
qfwfq_ 4y ago
This also sounds a bit like Planetside 2 [1], which had a similar structure. A relatively large open world where small "provinces" were contested by factions in FPS King-of-the-Hill combat. This meant that any one province action was a part of a larger "front," across which factions would often mass & press offensives. Capturing the entire map led to some kind of reward, and then a reset iirc. Nothing like rolling up in an APC with 12 people in voice chat on the tip of the spear, or coordinating an entire battery of MAXs keeping the skies clear. Some of the best gaming in general I've ever experienced. Gradually, though, pay to win mechanics pushed me away, and I've not played since 2014. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetSide_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetSide_2
- wellthisisgreat 4y ago
  Planetside is incredible. Battle royales came and go, Battlefield franchise deteriorated, but Planetside 2 is on it's 12th year and still delivers.
NortySpock 4y ago
I felt like PlanetSide 2 gets close to this (at least I think the game is still active), though commanders and squad-leads were self-selecting.
rc-1140 4y ago
These have existed already: Natural Selection, its sequel Natural Selection 2, and Nuclear Dawn. The idea is nice but the actual gameplay isn't fun or sustainable because there's too much interdependence on having a top-notch commander AND having a team of exceptional FPS players; you can't really find two teams of 12 people who can all carve out time to play. The gameplay is sustainable for a little bit in terms of randoms joining servers but all that's left of NS1 and 2 are extremely niche competitive scenes that don't reach the scale of what you want and Nuclear Dawn has no playerbase. It's a nice idea and NS1 produced some of the best competitive FPS players for a few games (Quake 3/CPMA/Live, Team Fortress 2) but ultimately it lacks the fun factor needed to keep a substantial amount of people playing.
- Sinidir 4y ago
  Huh? Natural Selection was insanely fun for me. Either as player or commander. Only reason i stopped playing was because the community shrank too much after a while. Most matches felt nicely balanced and enjoyable even if i lost.
Pilottwave 4y ago
natural selection 2 is still great to play, and alive on steam still recieving updates; highly recommend it. savage 2 is a bit older, but a true classic in this niche gente, it's still played on weekends
Sinidir 4y ago
Natural Selection 1/2 is literally this. Space Marines vs Aliens and you have a commander and can build building, research tech, etc.
nightowl_games 4y ago
Squad, Planetside 2 and Natural Selection 2 are all kinda like this.
- comrh 4y ago
  As well as "Hell Let Loose" which is basically WW2 Squad but also uses the Commander position.
  - wellthisisgreat 4y ago
    Hell Let Loose is the best social FPS. Being/having a true leader as a squad leader makes all the difference in the battle.
ookdatnog 4y ago
Savage XR and Savage 2 are a bit like that, but I don't think either have very active communities these days.
- Spellman 4y ago
  Savage really went hard on the RTS aspect. Congrats, you go punch this resource like a worker! You're contributing!
  - ookdatnog 4y ago
    Yea, I feel Savage 1 really wanted to be almost "Warcraft/AoE, but your friends are the units," which is why it includes some rather dull mechanics. I think Savage 2 got rid of some of the tedium, but it also introduced more specialization which made it even harder to get a game going, as you can't even really play the game with less than ~8 people in a server (and the game really only gets fun with many, many more players).
    - Spellman 4y ago
      Hitting critical mass was definitely the weakness for Savage. Natural Selection worked much better in that regard. About 6v6 was the sweet spot, but it worked alright on lower player counts and was absolute fun chaos at higher counts. It was a fixture at our LANs for many years! One the best parts of these games though is that new players are always incentivized to contribute and aren't a net drag (in casual play). Sure you might be terrible, but your death still meant less damage on your teammates, and there was always something helpful to do whether it was helping build or repair things or scouting and harassing the enemy.
Spellman 4y ago
NS/NS2 and Savage have already been mentioned. Natural Selection being my particular jam. But does anyone else remember the Sourcemod Empires? FPS/RTS with TANKS! And a Tech Tree! Unfortunately the Source Engine really doesn't like tank physics.
quadcore 4y ago
I made a demo of such a game before that had some traction on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQLiANnRPBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQLiANnRPBU
s_dev 4y ago
Commmand & Conquer Renegade was the start of this 'genre'.
- narf33 4y ago
  In the Freeware Remake Renegade-X people can actually choose a commander https://totemarts.games/games/renegade-x/ https://totemarts.games/games/renegade-x/
- remram 4y ago
  Battlezone came 4 years before...
Der_Einzige 4y ago
Battlezone and Battlezone 2 are kind of like this - and they are GREAT games that recently had soft remakes https://store.steampowered.com/app/624970/Battlezone_Combat_Commander/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/624970/Battlezone_Combat_... https://store.steampowered.com/app/301650/Battlezone_98_Redux/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/301650/Battlezone_98_Redu...

generj 4y ago

Reminds me a bit of the old Battlefront Galaxy Conquest modes, though the overview mode would need a lot more work. I think the overview position would need complicating factors to make it hard - otherwise they would just be frustrated at the grunt soldiers not taking objectives.

CrazyStat 4y ago

Red Orchestra 2 is something like this, though not quite what you describe. The commander can call in artillery strikes and recon planes that show where enemy troops are on the map and set waypoints for different squads. It can be quite satisfying with an organized group, or frustrating if you're just playing with randoms. RO2 is fairly old now but I imagine the newer games (Rising Storm/RS2) have similar mechanics.

swilliamsio 4y ago

That has kind of already been done in the 2010 PS3 game MAG: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAG_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAG_(video_game)

SwetDrems 4y ago

Hell Let Loose does something similar. Each team of 50 has one commander, and multiple squads with infantry (all human players). The squad leads communicate with the commander, their squad, and other squad leads in order to accomplish plans set by the commander. The commander can call in recon plans, artillery, tanks. Good communication and coordination can win games. It is a rather brutal game though.

ed312 4y ago

Natural Selection (2) is close on a round-by-round basis, but isn't an RPG. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4920/Natural_Selection_2/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/4920/Natural_Selection_2/

Atreiden 4y ago
Game is so incredibly fun but so difficult. The people who play it regularly are just Really, Really Good. Even after 40 or so hours I was still getting absolutely destroyed, chasing the high of kill streaks I'd gotten early on (against other new players). Is it still active? Part of me wants to give it another try, though I know only pain and suffering awaits.
- Spellman 4y ago
  It's death spiraled at this point with the only players left being the god-like skilled. So not especially newbie friendly, which just means the community shrinks more. Plus Unknown Worlds has moved on to Subnautica, so all updates are Community Driven now. Which is pretty neat tbh.
- barrysteve 4y ago
  The mid-game lerk and fade gameplay versus shotgun marines favours skilled players a lot. A good lerk can soften up marines forever and a good fade has little reason to die while continually getting kills everytime it leaves the hive. A good shotgun or rifle marine can cancel out 2-3 alien skulk players every wave. The skilled dominate midgame. The end-game onos stomp and xeno ganeplay versus exo and jetpacks levels out the skill required across players and becomes more enjoyable for everyone. Though games rarely get there without demoralizing everyone midgame. It's strange to me that the skill required peaks midgame and endgame is full of stunlock mechanics, tanky units and suicide tactics. I would put the highest skill mechanics on display in the end game so everyone has a good time before the domination of skill kicks in. It's still active, 4-5 servers in the US full every night and a bunch of UK, Euro and chinese servers. One aussie server.

qfwfq_ 4y ago

This also sounds a bit like Planetside 2 [1], which had a similar structure. A relatively large open world where small "provinces" were contested by factions in FPS King-of-the-Hill combat. This meant that any one province action was a part of a larger "front," across which factions would often mass & press offensives. Capturing the entire map led to some kind of reward, and then a reset iirc. Nothing like rolling up in an APC with 12 people in voice chat on the tip of the spear, or coordinating an entire battery of MAXs keeping the skies clear. Some of the best gaming in general I've ever experienced. Gradually, though, pay to win mechanics pushed me away, and I've not played since 2014. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetSide_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlanetSide_2

wellthisisgreat 4y ago
Planetside is incredible. Battle royales came and go, Battlefield franchise deteriorated, but Planetside 2 is on it's 12th year and still delivers.

NortySpock 4y ago

I felt like PlanetSide 2 gets close to this (at least I think the game is still active), though commanders and squad-leads were self-selecting.

rc-1140 4y ago

These have existed already: Natural Selection, its sequel Natural Selection 2, and Nuclear Dawn. The idea is nice but the actual gameplay isn't fun or sustainable because there's too much interdependence on having a top-notch commander AND having a team of exceptional FPS players; you can't really find two teams of 12 people who can all carve out time to play. The gameplay is sustainable for a little bit in terms of randoms joining servers but all that's left of NS1 and 2 are extremely niche competitive scenes that don't reach the scale of what you want and Nuclear Dawn has no playerbase. It's a nice idea and NS1 produced some of the best competitive FPS players for a few games (Quake 3/CPMA/Live, Team Fortress 2) but ultimately it lacks the fun factor needed to keep a substantial amount of people playing.

Sinidir 4y ago
Huh? Natural Selection was insanely fun for me. Either as player or commander. Only reason i stopped playing was because the community shrank too much after a while. Most matches felt nicely balanced and enjoyable even if i lost.

Pilottwave 4y ago

natural selection 2 is still great to play, and alive on steam still recieving updates; highly recommend it. savage 2 is a bit older, but a true classic in this niche gente, it's still played on weekends

Sinidir 4y ago

Natural Selection 1/2 is literally this. Space Marines vs Aliens and you have a commander and can build building, research tech, etc.

nightowl_games 4y ago

Squad, Planetside 2 and Natural Selection 2 are all kinda like this.

comrh 4y ago
As well as "Hell Let Loose" which is basically WW2 Squad but also uses the Commander position.
- wellthisisgreat 4y ago
  Hell Let Loose is the best social FPS. Being/having a true leader as a squad leader makes all the difference in the battle.

ookdatnog 4y ago

Savage XR and Savage 2 are a bit like that, but I don't think either have very active communities these days.

Spellman 4y ago
Savage really went hard on the RTS aspect. Congrats, you go punch this resource like a worker! You're contributing!
- ookdatnog 4y ago
  Yea, I feel Savage 1 really wanted to be almost "Warcraft/AoE, but your friends are the units," which is why it includes some rather dull mechanics. I think Savage 2 got rid of some of the tedium, but it also introduced more specialization which made it even harder to get a game going, as you can't even really play the game with less than ~8 people in a server (and the game really only gets fun with many, many more players).
  - Spellman 4y ago
    Hitting critical mass was definitely the weakness for Savage. Natural Selection worked much better in that regard. About 6v6 was the sweet spot, but it worked alright on lower player counts and was absolute fun chaos at higher counts. It was a fixture at our LANs for many years! One the best parts of these games though is that new players are always incentivized to contribute and aren't a net drag (in casual play). Sure you might be terrible, but your death still meant less damage on your teammates, and there was always something helpful to do whether it was helping build or repair things or scouting and harassing the enemy.

Spellman 4y ago

NS/NS2 and Savage have already been mentioned. Natural Selection being my particular jam. But does anyone else remember the Sourcemod Empires? FPS/RTS with TANKS! And a Tech Tree! Unfortunately the Source Engine really doesn't like tank physics.

quadcore 4y ago

I made a demo of such a game before that had some traction on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQLiANnRPBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQLiANnRPBU

s_dev 4y ago

Commmand & Conquer Renegade was the start of this 'genre'.

narf33 4y ago
In the Freeware Remake Renegade-X people can actually choose a commander https://totemarts.games/games/renegade-x/ https://totemarts.games/games/renegade-x/
remram 4y ago
Battlezone came 4 years before...

Der_Einzige 4y ago

Battlezone and Battlezone 2 are kind of like this - and they are GREAT games that recently had soft remakes https://store.steampowered.com/app/624970/Battlezone_Combat_Commander/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/624970/Battlezone_Combat_... https://store.steampowered.com/app/301650/Battlezone_98_Redux/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/301650/Battlezone_98_Redu...