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Ideas for an Outlaws Sequel
Paleface's 'lil wish list fer Outlaws 2

Do We Need a Sequel?

I've been thinkin' a bit lately; an odd thing for a gamer to do, I know, but wait, it gets stranger. I've been thinking: who cares about an Outlaws sequel? Why should we want one?

Most people just pretty much assume that a good game should get a sequel, and that the sequel would be an improvement upon th' original. But working as a tester with the "latest and greatest" games with cutting-edge graphics engines has lead me to question that assumption.

Yes, Outlaws' graphics engine isn't th' greatest. But you know what? It does th' job. It can present old Western settings in a believable, if slightly cartoonish way. And right now its main attribute is speed. On an ol' voodoo card I average about 70-80 frames per second. Without a 3dfx card you kin still get fast framerates usin' th' MGL video drivers. That makes fer some mighty smooth deathmatchin'. When yer movin' that fast, ya don't care too much fer looks anyhow. Ya ain't got time ta gawk at scenery. Comparatively, th' latest games run at somethin' like 10-20 fps on a similar system. Gee, which game do YOU think will be more fun to play?

Besides eye-candy, in what other way can new games even TRY to compete with Outlaws? Outlaws is smoother, faster and more stable. It's less laggy and more intense. Th' movement is quicker and more responsive than any other first person shooter out there, period. Th' variety of character and weapons are interesting and make for great variety in multiplayer action, while at the same time requiring skill and practice to master. This isn't a game where you get th' BIG gun an' blow everyone ta hell from a nice cozy camping spot.

So sure, it'd be nice ta see a sequel that kept all those good things an' wrapped 'em up in a nice shiny new graphics engine. But how likely is it that a sequel could repeat th' magical performance of Outlaws? It's difficult to quantify many things about th' game an' it seems ta me folks would be hard-pressed to replicate Outlaws' unique feel. In th' brief time since Outlaws came out PC games have become HUGE business, and development an expensive undertaking where almost all of th' money goes to th' multimedia effects. Th' developer invests huge amounts of $ in th' game an' has ta recoup its investment as quickly as possible by gettin' th' game into stores in a hurry. Th' bigger money games nowadays may spend several years in development but less than a week in play-testing with a feature-complete build. Can you really fine-tune a good game that quickly? Well, you can, but th' gameplay suffers. I'll bet ya Outlaws was play tested fer a bit longer than that. That was back when people had TIME ta make a game jus' right.

There are really only two things I would love to see added to Outlaws; if these were in there I have no doubt Outlaws would last "forever" -- not that it won't but these'd cinch it. Th' first would be Direct3D or OpenGL support. Th' Glide acceleration is great, but who knows how long 3dfx will be around? They're inevitably losing market share to other hardware companies who are finally catching up to their level of performance. Once nobody had Glide-compatible hardware anymore, interest in Outlaws would probably wane. It's hard to go back to software after you get used to hardware accelerated graphics.

The second thing would be some kind of in-game indicator of your ping to the other players. Lag sucks, and I and others have had times where we become downright dispirited about laggin' all th' time. An in-game indicator would let us know who's laggin' so we don't live in that horrible realm of doubt. You'd learn who you could play good games with, and who to avoid because of a bad connection. This would make multiplayer quite a bit more enjoyable and would put an end to the incessant arguments you see about lag.

But, on the other hand, hardware is improving all th' time. In a few years most people will have computers that can run Outlaws in software mode at high resolution and high framerates, so mebbe hardware acceleration will be a moot point. On a similar note, high-bandwidth solutions are gradually becoming available to home users so bad lag will be less of an issue as time goes on. An all DSL match, for instance, might be able to support up to 100 players without lag -- provided everyone's CPU and RAM were up to th' task. Faster computers will mean people can handle more players and more complex levels. Can you imagine what a 50 player match on a level that replicated a small Western city would be like? Wow. Meanwhile, other "cutting-edge" games will continue to add features that hog more bandwidth and processing power. While they stay roughly the same speed, Outlaws will only get faster!

Yes, the future for Outlaws is bright indeed. Let's not worry too much about a sequel. The game we love is here, now and for the forseeable future, and will only get better and better as time goes on.


But what would we do if we could?

Check the Outlaws Sequel Petition that ran on this site.

Okay, if we're gonna do this we've gotta at least begin realistically. First, there probably won't be an Outlaws sequel. Th' cold hard facts of th' matter are that Outlaws, while I think it's done pretty well in th' marketplace, has sold nowhere near th' number of units as Quake, Quake II or even Lucasart's own Jedi Knight. Whenever I log onto th' Zone I see about four times as many people in th' Jedi Knight section as in th' Outlaws section. Now even if, as I suspect, a higher percentage of JK owners play online, that still means that JK sold over three times as many copies as Outlaws. Now if yer a marketing person at Lucasarts, which game are you gonna tell them ta start makin' a sequel for?

An' even if they do go ahead with a sequel fer this lower-selling title, we've gotta realize that they won't be able to put in every single feature we can dream up. Frankly I'd be perfectly happy if they used th' Jedi Knight engine fer an Outlaws sequel; it'd save a lot of development time (ie money), it runs great in Direct 3D, an' it'd only be appropriate considerin' they used th' engine from JK's prequel, Dark Forces, fer Outlaws. Anyway Outlaws isn't about th' game engine, it's about th' gameplay.

My suggestions fer changes in an Outlaws sequel fall inta th' followin' categories:


Story and Mood

Outlaws is all about one man tryin' ta rescue his daughter an' avenge his wife's death at th' same time. It's a romantic, personalized story that works pretty well fer th' game.

I'd like to see th' sequel get closer to th' spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone that inspired so much of Outlaws. Granted, th' fourth one, Once Upon a Time in the West, was about a man seeking to avenge th' murder of his brother. But we don't actually figger that out until most of th' way through th' movie. In th' bulk of that movie, an' in th' others like Fistful of Dollars, th' main character is a mystery man. Clint Eastwood an' Charles Bronson's characters are basically men in the West with guns and no job skills during or after th' Civil War.

Playin' a gunman fer hire rather than an ex-Marshal seeking justice opens up a whole lotta gameplay possibilities. I'd like to see th' sequel a lot more open ended; more like a simulation of mercenary life in th' West in th' late 1800's than th' linear story of Outlaws. In keepin' with this more realistic approach I'd trade in th' cartoonish characters for grittier types. An' in th' graphic design as a whole I'd go for th' raw, harsh look of Sergio Leone's opening title sequences that featured words ripping or exploding across high-contrast tinted still shots.

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Graphics Engine

Like I said an Outlaws sequel would be perfectly well off with th' Jedi Knight engine. It'd save LEC th' time an' money of makin' a new engine an' it's very fast in Direct 3D which every single graphics card supports.

Now I know th' latest engines have multicolored lights an' lens flares an' so forth. Well th' JK engine has everything we need fer Outlaws: lighting, flexibility, polygon-based characters, a true 3D environment, support an' speed speed speed.

Well okay there's one thing I'd like fer Outlaws but I really don't see any engine capable of it yet, an' we're tryin' ta be realistic here. What I'd really like ta see would be an engine that could do both landscape an' buildings. JK's does buildings. I haven't seen any first-person shooter engine that can do landscapes too. So we'll jus' hafta be satisfied with th' rather simplistic, flat landscapes possible with th' current generation of graphics engines.

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Character Generation

Outlaw's characters, rather than it's graphics engine, are th' real key to it's playability. Havin' six very different models ta choose from really makes multiplayer exciting and varied. An' th' enemies in th' single-player game are quite well done, even if they're a bit cartoonish.

If we're usin' th' JK engine then we'll have polygon-based character models fer th' sequel. Now th' first computer game I can really remember playin' with polygonal characters wuz an' ol' game called 4D Sports Boxing. Th' great thing about this game wuz that you design yer own boxer an' completely customize his look, changin' heads, shorts, an' even height an' build. It wuz jus' a matter of alterin' th' size an' color of th' polygons that made up the boxer. An' it even affected gameplay: a taller character had more reach but wuz a bit more awkward than a shorter character, an' a heavier character wuz slower but had more power than a lighter character. There wuz an infinite variety of combinations ta create, an' some 50 or so very unique opponents.

Here are some screenshots of 4D Sports Boxing:
Shot 1 - You could change your character's attributes and see the changes made to the character model in real time.
Shot 2 - Here I've put the weight slider all the way up, fattening up the polygons to go from featherweight to super-heavyweight.
Shot 3 - You could also select from a variety of faces.
Shot 4 - Here's a different face. Oo now I look mean!
Shot 5 - You could also control the level of model detail on the fly to get the perfect balance between looks and framerate; here's maximum detail.
Shot 6 - Get a load of minimum detail: pretty sparse but it flew on even the slowest system. You could also select "AUTO" to have the computer adjust the detail on the fly to keep your framerate high at all times. We're only just recently beginning to see games like Shogo that are re-introducing this type of LOD (Level Of Detail) control.

Nowadays all th' first person shooters use polygon characters but I still haven't seen one that takes advantage of th' flexibility of polygons like 4D Sports Boxing did. I'd like Outlaw's sequel to be th' first.

One complaint that ya could level against Outlaws is that there aren't very many different bad guys; not th' bosses but th' meat-an'-potatoes cannon fodder types ya gun down by th' trainload. Well, if they're polygonal you could make each guy (or gal) different. Different height, different builds, different clothes, an' different weapons. I'd also like ta see this variability extend ta their AI, so that different baddies could be meaner, tougher, slower, stupider or whatever than others. So basically each fella you'd encounter would be an individual, unpredictable an' unique. You'd even come to recognize some of 'em, so at some point you might be thinkin' somethin' like "alright I'd better get my shotgun ready 'cause ol' Lefty's around th' bend here." Outlaws wuz different from all other shooters in that th' enemies were humans, not animals, mutants, monsters or aliens. This in itself made gameplay more intruiging, and giving each man a distinctive personality would take this depth ta an unprecedented level.

Now you could say that that level already exists in multiplayer Outlaws in that each person plays differently an' you learn ta adapt ta yer opponent's playing styles as you play with them more an' more. But in Outlaws th' external manifestation of a player's individuality is limited ta 6 characters. With polygonal characters this limitation would disappear. In JK you can select from a few complete character models, and change th' color of your lightsaber, but that's about it. I think we could make a more flexible method. You could design a specific, recognizeable character, altering your sex, build, facial type and color and style of clothes. I'd also like to be able to choose between right or left handedness (4D Sports Boxing could do that!).

So we really get to generating a unique character. Build should affect gameplay, so that shorter characters are harder to hit, thinner characters are quicker, beefier types are more durable, an' so forth so that you could tailor a character to suit your playing style and personality. "Bad guy" types could wear all black, hotshots could wear a bandolier or poncho, and so on. Maybe you could even choose to wear your holster in different positions.

I'd also like to have a point allocation system so that you could further customize your character by assigning a certain set number of "points" to boosting his or her speed, strength or whatever, or selecting items to begin with like more rifle ammo or medical kits.

In fact I'd like to be able to select from a wide variety of specific weapons. There were countless variations on th' plain pistol, so why not be able to choose which type your character would carry, some costing more character "points" to acquire than others because of their inherent superiority in range, accuracy, firepower, speed and so on. Th' JK engine lets others see th' weapon yer sportin', an' this would add another layer to character variation. Posses could choose coordinating colors or weapons. I'd like a character with a bandanna, black bowler hat an' a pearl-handled derringer...

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Gameplay

The free flowing, simulator rather than story style that I began to elaborate on in th' Story an' Mood section would greatly impact gameplay. In single player mode, instead of just taking on a linear sequence of levels, our sequel could be much more open ended allowing you to forge your own life on th' rough Western frontier.

You would begin as a new mercenary by choosing th' territory ta start yer career in. I kin think of a few, ie th' Yukon, California, th' western plains, Texas, th' Southwest an' so forth. Each territory would have a main city or town that'd serve as yer base of operations. So a game would begin with you generatin' a character, pickin' a region on th' frontier an' ridin' inta town with a gun, a horse an' a little spendin' money ta yer name.

I suppose th' game would hafta be financially driven, so yer motive fer doin' anything is usually gonna be money. Anyhow ya wander inta town an' from there what ya do is up ta you. This part of th' game would take on many RPG elements, where you could meet th' local characters an' figger out what ta do with yerself. Whereas in Outlaws yer restricted ta a hunt of vengeance, in this game ya could do whatever struck yer fancy. If ya wanted ta make money legally ya could go ta th' sheriff's office, or th' post office, an' check th' wanted posters fer rewards on Outlaws that you could bring ta justice. If ya wanted ta establish yerself as a big man in town ya could go ta th' local waterin' hole ta put yer gun up fer hire ta th' highest bidder (biddin' wouldn't be too high at th' beginnin' as ya haven't yet proven yer worth) or ta find someone ta pick a fight with. An' if less respectable deeds were on yer agenda ya could go check th' back alleys an' seedy dives fer word on upcoming money transfers, local rich men an' so forth.

There would be many more characters an' civilians around ta talk to (or shoot at). Some of these would want ta help you, an' some of 'em would come ta be yer worst enemy. In any event there would have to be a dialogue system where you can talk and interact with them in a simple way. I'm thinkin' here of an ol' western game that a friend had on his Apple called "Law of th' West." I can't find any IBM versions an' that's a darned shame 'cause it was a great game; basically ya went around town talkin' ta people, an' if ya wanted ta start a fight you'd pick from a list of witty insults an' th' lead would fly. Of course they could also insult you! That game really had character, an' we spent many a gleeful hour firin' off inflammatory remarks at everyone in town, from th' local hayseeds ta th' local prostitutes an' th' sheriff. It really gave you a sense of choosing yer own destiny.

So once ya find somethin' worth doin', th' shootin' starts. If yer mission takes ya outside of town ya saddle up yer horse an' ride off. If th' shootin' is gonna take place in town ya loosen yer pistol in yer holster an' get ready fer action. Each town could be split up into a number of actual levels, so if you were robbin' (or guardin') th' bank you'd head fer th' bank part of town an' that level would load. If yer vocation took ya out ta th' local lumbermill, you'd ride outta town an' th' mill level would load. These levels would be reusable fer different situations, with enemies an' civilians placed accordin' to th' current event. So if once you went ta th' mill ta scare off th' local mill owner, later ya might end up in th' mill again ta defend yerself against th' local sheriff an' his deputies.

As I mentioned before characters would be completely unique, some faster or smarter or taller than others. Their appearance and reactions might be randomly generated or, if they were a major character, pre-scripted. Actually I would like ta see randomly generated major antagonists, so that if ya go ta th' Yukon a second time with a different character you'll cross ways with a different "boss" character.

An' as I jus' alluded to yer actions in each mission would impact what happened next, so that raisin' heck at th' mill would bring th' sheriff down on ya, or bringin' an Outlaw ta justice would get th' sheriff ta offer ya further employ (mebbe you could even become sheriff yerself one day). An' if ya got too unpopular or too rich or too bored ya could saddle up an' ride off inta th' sunset, choosin' another territory ta explore.

As far as th' actual shootin' goes, Outlaws was revolutionary in makin' ya reload an' get tired. Now that we've got a polygon generated character we can add even more realistic factors ta gunfights. I'd like ta see physical reactions ta handlin' different weapons, so that a big gun like a double-barreled shotgun would be more cumbersome an' harder ta aim than a pistol, 'cause its weight would tend ta make ya overaim if ya tried pivoting it quickly. I'd like ta see recoil knock yer aim off, much as gettin' shot does in Outlaws. Right now fannin' yer pistol simulates th' effect of recoil as it ain't as accurate as shootin' it regularly, but in th' sequel we could simulate this more realistically, so that each shot actually moves th' barrel of yer gun more an' more off target an' ya hafta readjust yer aim on' th' fly. Of course th' pistol's recoil would be piddlin' compared th' th' recoil of, say, a sawed-off shotgun.

Yer character's chosen physique an' attributes would also affect yer gun handlin', so that weaker characters couldn't handle a heavy shotgun as well as a stronger character, an' would suffer more from recoil. This might be offset by their increased speed with a pistol an' faster reflexes in general.

Also with polygonic characters we could implement specific wound areas, so that gettin' shot in th' leg wouldn't be as critical as gettin' hit, say, in th' head, but it would slow ya down. A hit ta yer gun arm would decrease yer accuracy an' rate of fire. It'd be neat ta see hits reflected on a character's model, so ya could tell if a guy wuz sufferin' from a suckin' chest wound. Ah, gory details.

Th' one other thing besides horseback ridin' that I really missed in Outlaws wuz th' classic one-on-one pistol duel. Granted ya could simulate that in a pistol fight but what I wanna see is th' kinda fight that relies on yer icy concentration an' split-second reaction, where th' opponents stand stock still, starin' each other down, each waitin' fer th' other ta make a move fer his gunbelt. I want ta be able ta pick a fight or get challenged to one of these formal duels. You'd enter a sorta "dueling mode" where you couldn't move an' were stuck lookin' straight at yer opponent. Instead of movin' ya yer keys or mouse would control yer hand, so ya hafta move yer hand ta yer gun, grab it, draw, aim an' fire, all hopefully more quickly and/or more precisely than yer opponent. This would be a fantastic (an' mebbe final) way ta finally tell once an' fer all who's th' fastest gun in th' West.

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Multiplayer

Gameplay in multiplayer Outlaws is fantastic: fast, fun an' furious. I'd leave it pretty much th' same, with jus' th' additions of weapons physics mentioned in th' previous section, an' th' ability ta make yer own character as discussed under th' Character Generation section. Oh yes I'd also like ta be able ta have th' quick-draw duels I talked about in th' last paragraph. Mebbe these could be activated by each player typin' in a special command ta enter th' "dueling mode" that you'd be able ta see by th' player's stance. So ta start a duel two players would both enter "dueling mode" an' then throw down!

Oh mebbe one other thing deserves special note: badges. In Outlaws they totally unbalance th' game, so that someone with a badge is pretty much gonna kill ya no matter what ya do unless they really don't know what they're doin'. Th' really sucky thing about this is that you can't TELL if someone has a badge, at least not until they kill you. Well, since we've got polygonal characters it should be pretty easy ta indicate when a character is sportin' a badge by, say, havin' a big blinkin' badge appear on their chest. Actually I suppose if it were up ta me I'd leave badges out entirely, but some people seem ta like 'em.

So th' gameplay is pretty good an' shouldn't be messed with too much. What needs work is th' multiplayer interface an' controls.

Th' current official multiplayer interface is Microsoft's Zone. Ya kin real all about th' issues I have with this interface on th' Zone page in the domain section. What Lucasarts really needs ta do is ta incorporate th' multiplayer interface inta th' game itself so ya don't hafta run Outlaws sessions through another program. They should also set up their own servers specifically for th' game.

So I envision somethin' like this: Ya select multiplayer. Then th' territory map comes up, with each location representin' a different Outlaws server. So I click on, say, th' Texas server. Th' game starts as I ride inta town. I want th' multiplayer interface ta take place THROUGH THE 3D ENGINE. So you walk inta town, an' there are all th' players logged inta that server walkin' around, carousin', talkin' or jus' hangin' out. Since we aren't gonna be shootin' at each other there's no need fer a whole lotta data ta transfer fer each player, jus' their rough position an' facing. So we should be able ta get a good number of Outlaws inta each server without too much lag.

Also, you'd only hear th' conversation of those people close to you, that is to say only those people within a certain proximity to you in th' server's "town" would see what you type appear on their screen as chat dialogue. You'd be able ta call up a list of everyone in town, but if ya wanted ta find someone in particular you'd hafta search around town fer 'em. Now once you'd played a while you'd get th' feel of where folks liked ta hang out. I imagine those searchin' fer players fer a game would run around on "main street" while others would know where ta look fer their specific gang. You could sorta stake out yer own territory, an' I kin see bar brawls breakin' out over people "sittin' at the wrong table." If ya got really outta hand a server monitor, in th' guise of a sheriff or deputy, could come along an' throw ya in jail until ya cooled off some.

So how would a game start? Well, when ya enter town ya gotta tie yer horse up somewhere. Yer horse should be recognizeable somehow, like mebbe havin' yer name "branded" on their flank. Ta host a game you jus' have people gather 'round yer horse an' grab it's reins or somethin'.

Hosts need ta be able ta configure their games a lot more than is currently possible with Outlaws. A host should be able to enable or disable certain cheat codes, weapons an' items. So you could start a game that had, say, automap an' crosshairs enabled but sawed-off shotguns disabled. This would save us from a lotta th' bickerin' that arises from fellers not obeyin' th' declared rules of a Marshal Law game, fer instance. There'd be no occasion fer argument 'cause no cheatin' would be possible.

In a multiplayer game you should be able ta see everyone's ping time an' packet loss ta th' server so ya kin tell who is slowin' th' game down, or whether or not someone's complaints of lag are valid. There are a bunch've other little things, like bein' able ta whisper ta jus' one person, or jus' yer teammates. Speakin' of which, a host should have th' option of assignin' an' re-assignin' players ta teams ta keep th' sides even (or uneven, whatever they want ta do). There are other little things that I think I'll jus' add ta th' next section, Sauce, as they occur ta me.

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Sauce

Every good batch of spaghetti western needs th' right spices in th' sauce ta form a fully satisfyin' meal. Here are other ideas ta fer th' sequel, small details that'd spice it up jus' right...

  • tumbleweeds!
  • two pistols at once?
  • cows, dogs
  • more ripped-off Ennio Morricone music
  • built-in cooperative multiplay
  • customizeable chat fonts ala Kali
  • rain
  • tequila
  • hear other people's footsteps
  • ability ta see how many times you've been killed, an' by whom
  • built-in mouse acceleration
  • NT support (D3D only under NT 5, I guess)
  • single-key talk command
  • spent shell casings
  • bow & arrows
  • AI deathmatch or team players (ie "bots")
  • "squad" AI
  • moving and rideable horses
  • boilerplates that LOOK like boilerplates
  • mouse control in windowed mode
  • artillery
  • cattle rustlin'!
  • lightning
  • mud
  • fog/dust/sandstorms
  • domain name support for winsock games
  • weight of boilerplate slows movement
  • Davrolero's ideas:
    • bear traps that you could set ala Duke Nukem's laser trip mines, but these would immobilize you temporarily
    • different play levels with more skill points to allocate ala Jedi Knight
  • BeelzyBob came ta me with a veritable trainload of sequel ideas. He thought a lot more than I did about addin' th' crunchy grit of realism ta th' game. But why am I goin' on about it when I pasted his note onta this here page?
  • Luke_Sky's idea: other player's lamps illuminate your surroundings
  • SOD_Badger's idea: being able to break a window by hurling yourself through it which might hurt a bit but hey it'd be worth if fer makin' a dramatic entrance
  • zhki's ideas:
    • Mission based team games, like fer instance a train mission where one side played th' bandits, th' other train defenders
    • Being able to drop items like ammo or weapons so ya could most effectively share resources amongst team members
  • KaReFree's ideas:
    • Th' story: Dr. Death didn't die from his fall an' returned ta wreak vengeance on Anderson fer cripplin' 'im. He killed James but Sarah escaped an' is now grown up an' hot fer revenge!
    • Auto-transfer of level files so ya don't hafta swap 'em before th' game
    • Multiple endings fer th' single player game
    • More multiplayer games like "Catch th' Chicken" [?] or a boxing match
    • More characters available fer use in both single an' multiplayer (like bein' able ta play as th' badguy characters)
    • Support fer all 3D cards via OpenGL, D3D, etc
    • Not only fist fightin', but foot fightin' too
  • DOOMINATOR's ideas:
    • Correct the reloading graphic for pistol. Old west pistols didn't reload like that! They should be reloaded by opening a hatch, then use the ejecting rod to push out the empty shell, then replace the bullet. See? IT SHOULD BE MUCH SLOWER! Hehhehe.
    • Tune the damage of the guns. Enlarge pistol, rifle, decrease shotgun. Get the saw-off outta the game! Give me a bow and arrow instead.
    • Different place you hit, different damage you got.
    • Dedicated server mode please! So I can server ppl again.
    • Dynamite fuse ignited should be visible!
    • NO MORE BOBBING ALLOWED PLEASE! [??]
    • Sheriff Badge and invisible should be remained in single player game only. Hehhe I'm a ML fan.
    • To send private message to 1 or more people, it should be typed like this: 1:Hi or 1,2,3:hihihiih! Rather than the name! Easier! Faster! Less busy in the combat.
    • THEY MUST KEEP THE NETWORK LATENCY HANDLING ALGORITHM! It's the BEST out there! As good as Warbirds. No other multiplaying games come to close!
    • You can pick up the knife from the dead body who you killed by throwing a knife to him.
    • AI Enemies may fall to death.
    • Add a dedicated server mode which allow a player who has the password to remote control the server like booting ppl.
    • Fix the player number accumulating bug when the server is hosting for a long time to eliminate the increasing lag due to the increasing of player numbers which the server is unable to clear them off even the actual players have quitted. I want the patch badly now because I need to run my dedicated 24/7 leaseline connecting server without resetting it every day to clear the number of players.
    • (this one maybe already done, I'm not sure) Turning off the auto-aim allows your guns to be more accurate if aimed properly.
    • Different height players should have different POV.
  • MoonDoggy's ideas:
    • Molotov cocktails as an alternative to dynamite, explode leaving a flaming pyre to block enemies' path. Maybe even have to find the two components, cloth and booze, separately. [Actually this isn't really accurate: Molotov cocktails used gasoline, and weren't "invented" 'til 1939. Then again Doggy's mail said "Mozzletov Cocktails" so mebbe he meant somethin' else. ;p]
    • More interactive nonplayer characters, especially in multiplay, like kicking cows, etc.
    • More heavy stationary weapons, like a cannon.
    • Ability to use inventory items like the shovel and pen as alternatives to your fist. [The pen is, after all, mightier than the sword. But would it do more damage than a knife?]
    • Ability to damage structures with well placed dynamite
    • For the main game, how 'bout a rookie marshall character comin' to a retired Anderson for help. Or maybe that rookie could be his daughter!
    • Outlaws had pretty much all the diversity of culture as you can cram into a game, but how 'bout a Chinese rail worker turned bad? [I'd turn bad too if I had ta work on th' rails all th' live-long day!]
    • A button you push in the MP setup to make it a ML game, or not, that way there really would be a need for separate levels, just the sawed, badge, and cream, would be gone.
    • The ability to lay down completely, that way you could snipe with less of a chance of being spotted, but it would take you a while to get up. Maybe enough time for a stick of TNT to blow up in your face.
    • The ability to blow a door open. That would be one spectacular entrance.
  • Raf's ideas:
    • Bigger single player campaign
    • Built in level maker
    • Better engine
    • More than one campain (A campaign for the goodguys and one for the bad guys)
    • Choose to play the campain with differnt characters
    • I think that the weather should change, like rain and snow falls. This could effect the players. eg slower in snow. One minute you could have totally green grass and the next it could be covered with snow. There could be a random weather generator
    • More co-op missions made by LEC
    • Being able to use weapons such as the big hunk of dynamite and cannon against people.
    • The ability to climb some walls
    • Dogs and other animals can attack you and you can attack them back. Maybee even the possibility that you can play an animal in a multiplayer game, Dog fighting!
    • A always run mode
    • The same great music so i can get that feeling i had once
    • More characters for multiplayer
    • I think the amount of damage done by each shotgun should change. Each barrel of the double shotgun and sawed-off should do as much damage as the single shot; the shot pattern and range should be the only thing different. After all, don't they all use the same shells? There should be an option in the multiplayer game setup that allows you to exclude inventory items from being available/used, i.e., you could select cream, badge and sawed-off to have an ML game. I don't know if it would be a good idea to change this, but I don't think there's any way that anyone could possibly reload a single action revolver as fast as in the game. The cylinder on a single action doesn't even swing out! It's also kind of hard to believe how out-of-shape some of the characters are, or the difference in the amount of damage they can take! How about being able to wear two boiler plates, to protect your back?
    • you would be able to control the horse's direction, move faster, and shoot more bad guys.
    • The option to hold two pitols in OL2 would be a great improvement. Also a much larger variety of enemys would be nice
  • Peacemaker's idea: "What if gun jams were added and you had to change weapons until you could hole up and unjam it somehow or until you died..."
  • DrDeath2's ideas:
    • I want LEC to make Outlaws 2. but with JK engine? I don't know. I really didn't like Jedi Knight. I used Greedo in Multiplayer and his fists were Flesh Toned? not green. That made me think of lack of effort. Everybody's arms are flat and people look bad.
    • I would like to see Outlaws characters die in different poses, like if your shot in the back you'll fall over in a different way then if you were shot in the head.
    • I would like if your wounded shows more. like if you shot somebody in the arm he'll grab it or maybe he won't be able to use TNT becuase his arm is shot, or you can't use run because you have a rifle shot in your leg so you can tell if there wounded. Not to make the game a Gore Fest; far from it, but I think it needs a little more blood.
    • I would like to see different Normal bad guys, like the plain bad guys.
    • For the plot I was thinking that Doc lives and he comes back to kill James Anderson and Sarah must avenge his death by taking up her father's gun slinging ways.
  • GOOM_KingFu's ideas:
    • I don't know wether there exists a tool for managing outlaws levels. At the moment choosing one level for a multiplayer game from more than 50 maps takes too much scrolling when hosting a game. To save time I removed most of the multiplyer maps manually and left only the most important maps in the outlaws folder. I think it should be possible to add a kind of favorites or bookmark mechanism to quickly find the right map without having to scroll the whole day.
    • In addition to the player names in a multiplayer game there should be added a character, that indicates which weapon is actually choosen by each player.
    • I also like the idea of the possibilty to re-assign. Last week I had chosen James Anderson by mistake in a bunkers game. And I can tell ya, I really HATE James Anderson ;-) I quit the game to re-assign, but I wasn't able to join the game again. Ok, that is maybe a special problem of Zone playing (or Direct play, I dunno).
  • Lando242's ideas:
    • Cross compatable maps
    • More playable characters
    • Some characters are better agensts others (no useless bob like characters)
    • Make map editing a bit easier or include a better help file (and no brainless wonder maken the help file like the Lawmaker tuter)
    • Better engine (how come the guy i just killed is facing me feet first from every angle? And i want to know if a dude is looken at and what weapon hes got)
    • alowing you to have a game that, once started, only ends when all the players leave not when the host leaves (like Interstate '76)
  • Neanderthal's ideas:
    • Weapons: a sword, rocks (to be thrown), and a spear (for more range than a knife)
    • Ability to move boxes, boards and rocks into barricades or other defensive positions
    • trip wires to shotguns
    • Gun powder to be used as a fuse to set off dynamite from a distance.
  • Matt's idea: "I was thinking that maybe a prequel to the original would be nice. It would either be while James was a marshall (since he is now retired). I'm sure during his many years on the job he came across some interesting outlaws. Or maybe, you hear about his father, and how he was so skilled, couldn't he have had more of a story than we heard about? I think that they should keep most of the technical features the same (ie, graphics, engines) and keep the same weapons and graphics to preserve the wonderful feel in outlaws. I just think it's better if the main points don't change, only the story does."
  • ReLiC686's idea: "It sure would be nice if they made an outlaws 2 and if it was in the civil war period. They should put a calvary sword as one of the weapons. Just think, running around slicing yer enemys to pieces!!!"
  • Baxewani's idea: "A good idea is to have an 1 on 1 battle, just like in the films. It would be nice to have Sherif Anderson battle in a street, in the sunset against Billy the Kid, listening to the atmospheric music from a western film."
  • LeMortis's ideas: "Some interesting weapons, that would be nice to see. How bout some big heavy single shot rifles like the 50 cal Sharps hunting rifles or a blunderbuss and for Two Feathers, what's an indian without a bow doing in a gun fight gives us a bow and a throwing ax or hatchet also why not but some indian warriors in the mix? Imagine you and sanchez shootting it out then both ya start getting rained on with arrows from some happy indians who are scalp hunting?"
  • Tucson Coyote's idea: "Here is my Spin on it.. Okay Graham is dead.. No Problemo there.. But what about some of the other characters... (Bloody Mary and Matt Dr. Death Jackson???? ) I mean here is my idea for a story line.. Andersen after rescuing his daughter returns home and well settles into the slow life you might say.. But Death (or Bloody Mary) is alive and Kicking and vows to take Andersen down... 6 feet under you might say.. The story picks up about 10 to 12 years later... While Sarah is out one day.. (guess she's running an errand for deal old dad!) one of those two.. (Most like Jackson or some of his boys.. Or Mary and her bunch!) come a calling.. and well the old Marshall is killed... Sarah Comes home and well finds dear old dad dead.. or dying (remember that Sarah Mom was like that as well at the opener of the original..) and well Dad says who it is... Well Sarah is out on a mission to get that person for putting her pa six feet under.. and hence you can throw in some revenge motive here.. So Sarah gets good, and goes after the baddies.. and along the way she might meet up with a couple of folks (one could be a handsome looking guy who is sort of a tinhorn) and well why not throw a little spice of romance into this.. (god I wish my father Never Left those "Longarm" books hanging around the house!)"
  • OzE's ideas: "I think some new items would be great. Some bottles to hit each other with ... Maybe able to break it over the counter. Also 10 paces 1 on 1 (whos got the faster pistol) would be great for the middle of sanc. Also when I make maps there is a flag "Adjoin Mid Texture" Well thats just not realistic at all. You can run through the wall???? (I dont think so) Some new characters would be good too. They are paper thin.. Thats just nasty. I think it would be cool like someone else said they grab there chest or arm when they get shot there. And like some other said the switch to take all ML or some ML objects out of the map would be good..Because we all know when someone doesn't like ML they disregaurd your rules.. Or able to go to options while in the game to change your player. So you dont have to rejoin(we all know zone doesnt let that happen anyway) A switch to boot instead of spending 10 minutes to boot someone. And having more teams instead of red and blue..Bad and good maybe?"
  • Clint Cartright's story: "After the smoke had cleared and the dust settled she stood up from her feigned death and surveyed her surroundings the death and carnage left behind by the that do-goodin' Sheriff was almost enough to make her nauseous. A women of any lesser constitution would be a shivering pile of wet rags, but not her, she was the meanest women ever to hold a gun. She patted her stomach thankful for the body plate her dear old moma had given her, Anderson would have to pay. As she started to work her way through the mine she became aware of a faint, yet familiar sound. Mary struck a match to light her cigar as she followed the sound up and over bodies, around corners until she reached the opening of a mine shaft 'Anderson, the Good Book says..' Mary cut the infernal dronings of the Doc off with a curt 'Doc, shut yer fool mouth, and tell me what the hell happened' there was a pause then Doc replied 'I would much prefer a face to face discourse, if you would oblige there is a rope in that mine car behind you, string it through the pulley and I will regale you with a sad story of good and evil' Mary rolled her eyes and grabbed the rope.
         She was on her way to her sons ranch formulating a plan to kill James Anderson. For about the 40th time she replayed in her mind what the Doc had told her. Doc had sent the Marshal into the trap at the cliff dwellings, but Mary knew she couldn't count on that damn injun to do his job. Doc was lucky to be alive, if that shaft hadn't been full of refuse he might not have escaped with just a broken leg. She might get to the ranch before anderson, if she rides hard.
         Standing in the den of the big Ranch house mary let a tear run down her cheek, she bent down and cradled the head of her only son, dead, killed by Marshal James Anderson. Mary had just wanted Her son to be successful, that's why she never let on to fact that she was his mother. Closing his eyelids she stood up straight and tall. She knew she need to-do, but first she must go get the undertaker, he is going to be a busy busy man..."
  • bigdogch's idea: "i would like their to be a set number of teams, instead of just 2. there could be 3 or more teams, the number determined by the host"
  • Arlo's ideas:
    • A persistant online world comprised of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Northern Mexico.
    • The player's ability to use various modes of transportation throughout this virtual world. On foot, horseback, wagon, stagecoach or train (maybe even raft and boat).
    • The player's ability to alter this virtual world. Build ranches and farms, found townships, etc.
    • The players ability to design themselves (I've seen this suggested already). To choose gender, skintone, bodyform and appearance, voice, determine matching attributes, using a fair system (be it a point pool assigned to various attributes or randomly assigned or even a mixture of the two).
    • The ability to have shootouts where accuracy and speed attributes (enhanced positively by experience nad attributes and negatively by age and injuries)perhaps utilizing some form of rapid crosshair technique that is affected by skill,experience and age/injury).
    • As mentioned before, the ability to ride on horseback would be nice. How about horses that aren't clones? Have the server generate horses that have different physical stats.
    • A mixture of AI and player run characters in the online enviroment yet give the game the ability to randomly generate AI characters "on demand" so they don't neccesarily come across as artificial characters when first met. (On a grander scale, the ability for the server to maintain AI characters in various locations that interact with and remember the players).
  • Oldgezer's ideas: "I think we need more active common folk like bartenders, salloon girls, little boys, town drunks, Preachers, school teachers, Drifters, stable keeper.ect. The ability to ride horse is must. dogs cats birds Wagon train leval would be cool, Axes for weapons."
  • The Natester's idea: An instant-replay button, "ya hit escape and it one of the options is replay... Ya know different views/camera angles etc."
  • Can YOU think of any?

Like any chef worth his hat, I'll add more as th' inspiration strikes me...

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