Convergence (Map Concept)

[Electric Jesus]

CONVERGENCE

Ok, I posted a gameplay mechanic idea a while ago, and I was really proud of it so I figured it deserved its own fully developed map concept. Also despite not having posted many, map concepts are what brought me here and are one of my favorite things to write up (alongside Wonder Weapon concepts.) I might start doing them frequently like my homies @Stop mocking me0 and@Black Hand Smith. but I digress.

If you haven't read the thread on the Mechanic I am referring to, I suggest you do so before reading this.

Timeline Shifts

Anyway onto the actual map. I'm basing this somewhat off of the example I used in that thread. I'm going to color code a little later. BOLD means Richtofen, and ORANGE meens Maxis. Let me know if this is too obnoxious or hard on the eyes.

Convergence

"Lost in the heart of a desolate wasteland, an abandoned group 935 facility lies untouched for decades. The once lush landscape and heart of development are now barren and filled with the silence of death. Had different events come to pass, could it have had a chance at life?"

-Level Description.

If you read the thread I linked above you'll know that there are two "versions" of the map that can be switched back and forth along the lines of the Shangri-La eclipse mode. Upon spawning in, the player finds them self in the Maxis timeline in the facility's entrance hall. In this timeline the color scheme is muted and has lots of greys and oranges, and your range of view is somewhat restricted by the amount of sand and dust in the air. It is harder to see at a distance (but nowhere near on the level of Call of the Dead or TranZit fog.) The interior is somewhat dark, but it is day outside, and several holes in the walls / ceiling have beams of sunlight shining through the sand to illuminate the area. The level of darkness is purely aesthetic and doesn't actually hinder visibility. In this Maxis timeline, all of the wall weapons are a mix of weapons from either the world war 2 or cold war era. They are left there from when the facility was active. The mystery box also only contains weapons from the past eras.

(I'm not going to go into specific detail about room layouts, just the features of the map. Where you buy debris to progress or the location of a staircase matter very little relative to what is actually contained in the map.)

This Maxis timeline contains the power switch, and most of the perks, including Juggernog. The perks Double Tap 2 and Vulture Aid are accessible but cannot be used because they are half buried in sand. Pack a Punch is also accessible but buried in sand and unusable as well.

There is a room containing the Temporal displacement device, accessible only a few rooms after the power switch room. Activating it triggers the transition to the Richtofen timeline. This is an alternate version of the same location, as it would be if Richtofen was in control, with only a few layout differences. Visually visibility is much improved, and the color scheme is generally more vibrant. Despite still being somewhat dark, there are actual working electrical light sources, which give it high contrast rather than the dull monochromatic feeling of the Maxis timeline. There is now water flowing through a certain area, no trace of sand, and short grass in a few outdoorsy areas. Instead of the dead silence of the Maxis timeline there is a constant whirring / hum / chugging of the now operating machines.

In this timeline, the perks that were accessible in the Maxis timeline are no longer available, with the exception of Quick Revive. The two aforementioned perks and Pack a punch are no longer covered in sand and can be used. The wall weapons in this timeline are 2025 weapons, as well as the mystery box. Each wall weapon is in the same location as one from the Maxis timeline, and is the 2025 equivalent of its past counterpart. However they are generally of slightly better to make up for them taking longer to access. Like the M14 might be replaced with the proper MK14 from BO2, with a larger magazine size, or the olympia replaced with the Remington.

If you read the original thread you'll know that this map incorporates temporal displacement spheres, which are portable items that shift all items within a certain short range to their alternate timeline condition. This can only be obtained in the Richtofen timeline by completing a series of events along the lines of acquiring a staff in Origins. You need to assemble all of the 3 parts of the sphere on a pedestal, then return to the Maxis timeline. Return to the (now empty) pedestal and kill 20 zombies within range of it, and it absorbs their souls. Once it's charged up, the orb will synchronize to both timelines, and the orb will appear and a radius around the pedestal will swap to the Richtofen state. Now you've got the timeshift sphere in the Maxis timeline and can take it back with you to the Richtofen timeline. (The sphere is "optional" in the sense that you don't "need" it to do anything, but it makes a lot of things easier. It is "optional" in the same way that building the plane is optional, or buying the first door in the spawn on any map is optional.)

Ok now that you have a gist of the map and core features, I'll move onto some specific features. Note that the Maxis side is supposed to embody a dull, slow, dead feeling compared to the active, sporadic behavior of the Richtofen side, which mirrors their personalities. This is further shown through the weapons, bosses, and features exclusive to each zone. Even aesthetically each side is supposed to personify the respective ruler.

BOSSES

There are two bosses, each specific to a timeline. However, each only ever appears in the timeline that the player is NOT in. If you are in the Richtofen timeline when the Maxis boss appears, it will look like an orange cloud like the Pentagon Thief when he is invisible. It can still attack you, but you can't damage it unless you are in its timeline. So hurry up and swap over, or chuck a timeshift stone at it! The Maxis enemy itself is slow and strong, taking a long time to reach you. However you REALLY don't want it to reach you, because it grabs you and teleports you dealing critical damage like the astronaut, but when it does this it corrupts your character's temporal position, causing random blackness to appear in some parts of your vision, certain objects visually flashing in and out of existence, or even a few seconds of black screen. The thing itself looks like a tall, broad humanoid figure made of sand. It has glowing orange eyes and constantly has sand pouring off of it, almost denoting an hourglass.

The Richtofen timeline boss is weaker but much much faster. It has a blue electrical effect visible when you are in the Maxis timeline. When you actually face it, it flies toward you crazy fast, and simply passes through you. This causes a similar effect to the Maxis variant, hurting you a small almost negligible amount, but making you have crazy temporal hallucinations. They are much more intense but for a shorter duration. It will cause random visual effects like the random images seen when teleporting on Kino. Visually the creature is similar to "Him" from TranZit but with an actual human body, except for lightning coming from the hands and feet.

Only one will ever appear at a time.

WONDER WEAPONS

Apart from the standard Raygun and Monkeys (each available in both mystery boxes) there are 3 originals.

There is one new special grenade, called the PLuCK. It looks like a smaller, grenade-sized version of the timeshift sphere. This was an attempt at making the timeshift stone more portable, but it failed horribly, causing it to send anyone in the radius to a void between timelines. Throwing it causes a radius around it to become outlined (like the timeshift stone) pulling in zombies like a gersch device. Then after about 7 seconds, the entire interior of the affected sphere of space turns pitch black. Like it literally looks like a hole in your screen. Then it gradually fades back to color, and all the zombies that were in its affected area are gone. This can only be obtained in the Richtofen Timeline Mystery Box.

There is another Richtofen exclusive wonder weapon. This is also only obtainable by taking parts from the Maxis timeline to a workbench in the Richtofen timeline. This is made easier through clever use of the timeshift sphere. However you don't just pick the parts up; you have to complete a small task to get each one. Once you assemble it, you have to kill 20 zombies within its range to power it up before picking it up. When you finally do pick it up, you get the Revitalizer. It has a sleek black appearance with blue electrical pattern moving around on it, like one of those plasma lamps. Its shape is comparable to that of the MP40 but with the magazine being smaller and inserted from the top, flush with the top of the gun. Upon firing, there is a second or two pause where you hear a high pitched electronic whine, denoting the sound of a defibrillator. It then rapid fires balls of electricity in a burst of 10, and this burst cannot be interrupted, so if you want to fire, you HAVE TO fire 10. Those 10 shots are fired in less than 2 seconds though. You can't move your feet while firing, but you can turn. So you will be immobilized for a total of about 2 seconds whenever you pull the trigger. Each shot is always an insta-kill. It has a 30 round magazine and has 60 shots in reserve.

There is a Maxis exclusive wonder weapon as well, obtained in the same way, but with the timelines swapped obviously. It is known as the Desolator. This weapon is huge, resembling an RPD, but without the belt of bullets. It has perforated metal grating along the side with orange glow coming from the inside. It has a 1 shot magazine and 15 reserve. Pulling the trigger will make an electronic whine like the Richtofen variant, except much deeper, and longer lasting. After about 4 seconds a massive thick orange continuous laser shoots out for about 5 seconds. Any zombie hit has no visible effect on their body, but the light of their eyes simply flickers and goes out and they stumble to the ground from their own momentum. This can insta-kill a full train on any round.

Upgraded these each do typical things. More ammo, faster "warm up" time before each shot, etc.

WALL WEAPONS

Maxis Timeline:

M14

Olympia

M1 Carbine

Double Barrel Shotgun

M16

MPL

Type 100

STG-44

Trench Gun

BAR

Bowie Knife

Richtofen Timeline:

MK14

Remington 870 MCS

SVU

M1216

AN-94

MSMC

Skorpion

Type 25

KSG

LSAT

GalvaKnuckles

EASTER EGGS

I might update this with an actual Main Easter Egg, but for now I just want to go over what I'd expect the outcome to be. Upon completion the Timeshift Mechanism gets overloaded and causes the two timelines to Converge. Now you can no longer swap the timeline over, as the timelines have combined. All the features that were previously exclusive to one timeline are now available together in this new neutral timeline. This isn't a utopian timeline though; all the newly combined features overlap and flicker like the MotD perk machines, because they are all out of place. However this is still beneficial, because there is now one Mystery box with all weapons in it, and all perks are accessible, and the bosses are never invisible.

I will most definitely add to this later. This hardly a complete idea. But complete enough to post? Sure.

[Lenne]

Dem Tags. >xP

 

The blue font is kinda hard to read for me may I suggest that you change them?

[Electric Jesus]

Yessir, I will just change it to bold white if that's ok.

[Guest]

I really like the idea of the bosses ni the two timelines, I can actually imagine play against them. Who are the characters you play as?

[Black Hand Smith]

I really enjoy reading concepts. I love it. Great Job

[Stop Mocking Me0]

I do too! Fantastic job Electric!