I have a bunch of ideas for what could be done next as far as new game modes. After seeing TDM in pyspades and what it can do - it was the test for making modes other than CTF - I think we're ready for the next step, which is to try to make game modes that elaborate on the AoS gameplay. Here are some concepts I've been collecting, feel free to comment or add your own. No copies of generic FPS game modes please, they have to include building and destroying blocks.

Tower of Babel
In this mode each team tries to build the highest tower in a certain grid location of the map, and knock down the other team's tower. Own-team griefing in that grid area is simply impossible. The win condition is to reach a certain score - the game scores your structure, where blocks placed higher are worth more than low ones, and solid columns are worth more than overhangs.

Alternatively: Each team starts with a structure that they can't touch at all, and score goes downwards until a loser is declared.

Economy
In this mode, every block your team built(not including the prebuilt ones on the map) earns a point at regular time intervals; destroying the other team's blocks, instead of earning points, contributes to a second "destruction" score. When the destruction score hits a certain limit it's reset and the opposing team is temporarily unable to place blocks(their economy is shut down).

This mode is made to reward pure builders, but it doesn't have a solution for griefing yet. (At first I thought only awarding points for new blocks would work, but then you can just sit at spawn adding and removing the same block forever.)

Territory Control
In this mode, you control grid squares by (of course) building on them. As long as you have more blocks than the other team in that grid square, you own the square.

Out of curiousity, where do you get your drugs?

Building in AoS is about providing a strategic advantage for your team by making cover, good vantage points, and safe routes to the front lines. This sort of stuff isn't like that at all.

Wouldn't this mean that we would have to track who built what, making for messy code and slower dl times. Economy just sucks. Tower of babel sounds interesting, and territory control sounds like a better idea than the conventional "hurr durr i sit in square to get point".

But what if the chinese mafia comes and takes over your Autistic Houses in Territory control? They still have to delete every block? How would they know which blocks is theirs? One false move and BAM, vote kick. Poor Chinese Mafia, they're confused.

I'd like to see more game modes that rewarded combat & teamwork, not "Autism" :P

I can't really see Economy working, but I had an idea similar to the Tower of Babel one a while back, though I changed it in the end. This is how it was originally:

I'd love to see something like that though, where there's a flag in the middle, and the first team to touch it wins the point. The thing is, the flag is suspended in the air 50 voxels above ground level. Does your team try to build a tower to get to the flag and win, warding off the enemy? Or do you let the enemy do the building, then swoop in to massacre them and take the prize? Do you build your tower on the carcass of the enemy's, or start your own? Do you bring their tower down by undermining, or do you let it stay so that you can use it for your own ends later on? Or do you make a deliberately weak tower to lure the enemy onto, so that you can destroy it and-take-out-the entire-enemy-team-in-one-go? Winning is impossible without soldiers AND builders, and builders would have a better incentive than ever to help the team out.

I've since decided that it would be too chaotic if there was only one flag though, so I'd suggest instead there'd be two flags, maybe 20-30 blocks apart, still both high above the landscape. That way the teams can decide which flag they want to build under, and builders would at least have a chance of being able to build without getting killed point-blank, although that strategy would still be possible to those who seek it out.

As for Territory Control, you remind me of a very simple but fun little game called Battle Painters. In it, you control brushes that move around the screen leaving coloured paint behind them. The game keeps track of how much of each player's paint is showing, and the player with the most exposed paint when the time is up wins.

Now imagine if AOS could track via the radar what colour stands out the most. Teams could start covering the landscape in either Green or Blue blocks, or replacing them outright. Blues may undermine a green hilltop to remove all the exposed green colour. Greens may place green blocks directly on top of a level blue field to change what the map sees. Naturally being out in the open with blocks equipped is pretty suicidal, so teams would need to be on high alert whenever being anywhere near the middle. Some way of knowing the current percentages on the tab screen would be essential, but it's a mode that plays directly into AOS's building/shooting mindset.

Even better, a colour based mode would be perfectly suited to the current Gen Maps.

economy sounds the most logical advancement actually. Think about that on a <s>slightly</s> heavily modified "pinpoint"

Reduce player block outputs, increase spawn time slightly and suddenly maps like Island have a little more to give you.

I see this working on very minute fractions for each block and reducing player capacity to twenty.

if we can, making it a "Deuce of the Hill" mode to restrict point-tally to certain grids on the map (defined by CP or some crap at server start) would reduce the retardation of the game. which essentially wraps up the whole OP into one drop-down selection game mode.

+1 for ideas flowing in this thread, i say. thanks for posting.

133071, Reverend Brown, this is not "just an FPS" and people clearly want to ascribe more value to the blocks than already exists. Conventional game modes do not do that.

EggyLv999, these modes won't affect the client at all. It might be more burden on the server, but it's well within the realm of possibility.

Beret, we can do something like Battle Painters easily. And I think that's probably the best and most straightforward idea because it doesn't involve filtering through some scoring mechanic.

Exile, thanks for the feedback. You ninja'd me :)

<3

Nice ideas. The alternative version of Tower of Babel would be pretty good I reckon. Some sort of Territory Control is definately my favourite.
I would probably do it something like this. A map spawns with a number of towers that are indestructable and 3x3 blocks base.

To capture it, a team must climb up and cover the top with green or blue. Like this:
https://picasaweb.google.com/107536748300240967058/MyPictures#5632929655579789010

What do you think of that for starters?

Really like this idea and with Territory control there should be one team attacking and one team defend and then swap and it should be based on how long the player stayed in the area for all added up to make a total score :)

Yes, an attack/defend gamemode using nothings map generator named Incomplete Fortress http://ace-spades.com/forums/topic.php?id=803
could be adapted to directly encourage building/sabotage.

(scroll down to find Incomplete Fortress or use search because it is not in the op)

Edit: Im going to sleep on everyones ideas, lots of great suggestions so far!

Edit2: (Sorry, Im a little tired, went to bed late.)
There is also this thread http://ace-spades.com/forums/topic.php?id=2482 detailing a build/sabotage gamemode.
It gave me the idea of this:
Each team has a red block next to their tent. It can only be destroyed by using the smg. However, the game is modified so that smg users cannot autoclimb and cannot jump. Therefore teams must clear a path through the terrain allowing a machine gun player to reach the other side of the map.

How awesome would that be!
Lastly, http://ace-spades.com/forums/topic.php?id=2646

After pondering on these for a bit, I really like Berets hovering flags idea. I think its probably my favourite of all the ideas listed in this thread so far. To build on the idea, I think the gamemode could be fun if;
Each team has to make 4 caps. The initial intels spawn at the top and bottom of the map in grid square D1 and E8. Then when one of them is captured, it respawns one gridsquare closer to the centre of the map. So either grid square D2 or E7.

Then it spawns in D3 or E6, and finally D4/E5. Therefore, at the start of the game, it is slightly easier to cap the intel than at the end, leading to a tense and focused finale.

I really like this tower of Babel with flags idea, but I feel it could easily be won by cheesy tactics
(like a few players jumping and putting blocks under them at the same time)

There should be a 5 or 10 second "cap" delay on the flag, and it should warn the other team when it happens. so that way you have to build a solid tower, with some cover to be able to grab it.

I like your idea Dozer, it would be great for extended play among a map with towers aready around, but I think the two intels/flags should spawn randomly in the neutral zone, always -just- within sight of one another. It would keep the fighting more centrally placed so that you don't feel like you're only fighting half the battle while a completely seperate fight is happening on the other side of the map.

Verdant, you've got a good point there. Perhaps if it was higher than a player's block reserves allowed... or if players began with no blocks and had to accumulate them before building?

Hell- maybe players should start with no blocks by default all the time- it would certainly make them think more carefully about how they build...