At this point in time, the poll dictates that I be leader. I'm not going to close the poll just yet because we admins never close the general poll in a timely manner, but, for now at least, I am the TDC Community Project Leader. I suppose that that requires me to make leader-like decisions now.
First things first, I think the story is pretty set as being about a samurai. Where is the samurai? It seems that we haven't decided on that yet. Is everyone okay with the samurai's goal to be defeating demons that have taken over the land?
As far as complicated matters go, the reason we are trying to shy away from such things is because we don't want the project to get too complex and become impossible to finish (as happens with many projects, not just community ones.) The community aspect of this project is especially important to consider because that will make it harder to do things such as buying weapon upgrades, learning a load of new skills, or things like that, as people will have to be briefed on that and keep many things in mind when they make their levels. I'm not saying we can't do things like skills or level ups of some kind, but it would have to be concise and well-confined to the engine, not reliant on level structure or things like that. Something that can be used universally. An example of something that might work would be a Cave Story-esque level up system, which worked in all levels just the same. Keep these things in mind.
I like that people are already coming up with concept art for the character. You can continue to do so, but remember to work on the other elements of the story so that we can start deciding what the game will look and sound like, and begin to do concept art for enemies, environments, and other things.
Very important note!
Remember that I would like to see someone be Coding Leader! This is a very good time to begin work on the platforming engine and possibly a level editor, so whoever thinks they would be good at heading up development of the engine and other coding aspects of the game, please speak up! Also remember that I would like it if you provided an exe or mfa example of your coding skills, either in a DC mail or in a post.
So the main points of this post were working on what the samurai is doing and where, think about how viable the features you suggest would be for working into a community project, and if you want to be a coder, please say so, and if you want to lead the coding part of the project, please say that as well.
I would like to make a project page once we have a story and a Coding Leader.
I think we have the story pretty much decided upon, save the people of the game world from demons. And from what I have learned the setting of the story will be in feudal Japan. Maybe something to solidify the story the character may have to save someone from the demons or a sacred artifact for the people of a village.
I'd volunteer for a rather large position of maybe senior level designer, or something related to the gameplay aspect. But nothing as big as Coding Leader or Audio/Graphics leader.
I personally think "A samurai. Fighting Demons. In Japan" is kinda cliche. Why not have each element be something unexpected? Instead of "A dog. In a Backyard. With a Bone" do "A dog. In a minefield. With a boomerang" or something. What if the samurai was teleported to a desert, and the levels were mirages. You could do all sorts of crazy things with level designs and backgrounds without being confined to "a japanese village and. . . a forest outside a japanese village" Plus the enemies could be just as crazy and out there as demons.
I'm also thinking the horse could be a separate style of level, instead of something within the levels (like yoshi). Like in shinobi III there were the separate autoscrolling horseriding levels. Maybe the horseriding levels could be something like Yoshi's Safari, where you're behind him riding on a horse and you have to throw shurikens at enemies.
The game world should not be based in Japan, but based on it. This gives us more freedom to add whatever differences we want (such as there being Saharah desert or Himalaya esque levels). Also, we could have unnatural themes like the underworld or .....space?
Anyways there should be atleast one level where you must fight off hoardes of enemies in a barren wasteland.
Edit: We are going to have some sort of plot. Even if it's just a few cutscenes at the beginning, middle, and end. The gameplay needs to be simple. Samurai shouldn't really have any sort of magic. They are warriors. Warriors don't use combat magic. They use swordsmanship (is that even a word?) or brute strength, and occasionally they also have bows and arrows. There should be no customization at all. Maybe in the next community project we can do an RPG, then there can be all the customization you want. This must be simple. Its ok to have powers that you gain, but no skill trees or stats. So pretty much the main attacks should be Melee Weapons (Katanas, Spears, etc.) and Ranged Weapons (Bows, Javelins, Shuriken?, etc.). We should probably settle with one of each type, as having 4+ weapons will complicate things. I'm not sure if this will be too complicated, but the player could select 1 weapon of each type (Melee, Ranged) at the beginning. If you beat the game maybe you could get the ultimate weapon and replay with that later if you want. Also, we should have lots of different branches of Designers and coders. For example, Level designers 1,2,3. Enemy Designers 1,2,3. Story Designers 1,2,3. Character Designer (for NPCs and the main character.) Gameplay designers 1,2,3. Lead designer. Of course not all these positions must be filled, but in order for everyone to do what they want, we must have positions open. Then if all the other positions aren't filled yet, we must try to find other members to fill them or pull some extras from the design section. Also some people could have multiple jobs if there's not enough people. I defiantly want to do some sort of design though.
Originally Posted by Fish20 The game world should not be based in Japan, but based on it. This gives us more freedom to add whatever differences we want (such as there being Saharah desert or Himalaya esque levels). Also, we could have unnatural themes like the underworld or .....space?
Anyways there should be atleast one level where you must fight off hoardes of enemies in a barren wasteland.
Edit: We are going to have some sort of plot. Even if it's just a few cutscenes at the beginning, middle, and end. The gameplay needs to be simple. Samurai shouldn't really have any sort of magic. They are warriors. Warriors don't use combat magic. They use swordsmanship (is that even a word?) or brute strength, and occasionally they also have bows and arrows. There should be no customization at all. Maybe in the next community project we can do an RPG, then there can be all the customization you want. This must be simple. Its ok to have powers that you gain, but no skill trees or stats.
I have to agree. For the cut-scenes I think we could definatly put together some Ninja Gaiden type cut-scenes. If you analyse them they aren't very technically complex. They are mostly pans and wipes with some simple animations here and there. Here is a YouTube video to check them out.
Originally Posted by OldManClayton Question: Since Samurai use swords, is this going to be a particularly bloody or gory game?
I'm going to go with probably, yes. Were we still talking about it being in an 8bit style? Becouse that's where most of the community skills lay?
Anyway...
STORY IDEA
Ok, this is an idea I came up with a while ago, and in the original idea it is a stranded fantasy world, not a Japanese one but I think it will work just as well and give our game a little more uniqueness. Anyway, here goes.
So a guy and a girl are taking a flight to Japan with a group of there friends. The girl is a vampire, and this is a world kind of like True Blood or Aneta Blake where supernatural creatures have integrated into regular society. Anyway, during the flight the plain hits extream turbulence and starts being ripped apart. The passengers and crew bail out and when the protagonists wake up after the crash they find themselves in a fantasy version of feudal Japan (ok we can change the names around and not actually call it Japan but you know what I mean).
So, they have to get back to there own time and rescue the other passengers of the plain. In the beggining they help the humans fight the demons simply out of altruism, but as the game progresses they learn about an artefact of power the demon lords wonted witch as it happened was on the plain. This then gives them a personal steak in defeating the demon lords, so they can get home.
There is also a slight conflict between the two protagonists as the guy thinks this is an awesome adventure, where they get to slay evil daemons and be heroes! Where as the girl wants desperately to go back to the future were she doesn't have to assault people for food.
HOW THIS WOULD EFFECT GAME PLAY
Well firstly you'd have two playable characters and two sets of powers. Like Fish20 said, Samurai are warriors and focus on melee weapons, so the girl can specialize in ranged magic. Also, since both of the characters begging the game as noobs it explaines why they don't have all the powers and skills of trained worriers.
You'd have a bonus goal to rescue the other passengers for a slightly alternate ending.
Some one mentioned a level where you have to defend a place from waves of enemies, that could be the plain crash site. Where you have to keep the artefact away from the demons once the crash site is discovered.
I think it gives a good motivation both for the players and the bad guys, and even though it's taken a bit to explain it here I don't think it would be too hard to pull off in the Ninja Gaiden cut-scene style.
But even if we don't go with it I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on the premis.
"Oh, my god! A lightning monster just ripped out this poor woman's eyes, and your mocking her shrubbery!" - The Spoony One
It's feudal Japan, and you are in the Emperor's employ as an elite Samurai warrior sworn to protect the people. One night while out riding your horse you spot a streaking fireball from the sky and moments later a thunderous boom fills the air. Thinking it could be a potential threat, you set out for the crash site...
The object was a meteor, and it's made a giant hole in the ground. Looking over the side there's no bottom as far as the eye can see and it's dark as all hell. Suddenly shrieks and screams abound from the hole, and they're headed your way! With no time to call for reinforcements you grab your trusty katana and short bow and jump into the pit, ready to take on all who stand in your way!
----
So in short, a strange meteor falls from the sky, you the samurai warrior go to check it out, the meteor crashes and splits in half at the bottom which releases all manner of demon / alien / god knows what and you have to go down into the depths to kill them all so they won't escape and threaten your village.
Edited by Del Duio
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I know I'm new and all, and I seldom post on the forums - if ever... hmmm - and I've recently gained alot of interest over this community project, the ideas are pouring in and the people who are contributing have a history of great projects of their own.
Anyway, I'd just like to suggest the 'mood' of the game to be discussed. So far we have a seemingly bad ass samurai stabbing demons between the eyes, so a major part of the gameplay and storyline is set by that, but what about the mood? Is it going to be humorous, serious, casual?
Because I think that this plays quite a large role in pretty much every aspect of the game design. You don't bizarre and extravagant colours for a serious game, the people who will be assigned with the task of writing the storyline and character dialogue should have the same concepts in mind, and obviously the music/sound effects designers will also have to know what kind of atmosphere their tunes should achieve.
All right, if we are going to have a story, then it is extremely important that the gameplay be affected by the story and the story should be skippable. That's what I hated about Johny Look's A Man With A Monocle. The story made no effect on the gameplay. It would have been more interesting if the gameplay revolved around something like use of the magic monocle.
So if we have a grand story, the gameplay has to be affected by it. Think of Final Fantasy II (IV). The story dictates what party members you have and in the case of Rydia and Tellah what spells they know.
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Zzynck knows what's up, gotta work off of a mood. The past page still seems like it's gone nowhere. Maybe get some Samurai inspiration, really research them, maybe that will get people on a more similar page? If a game's gonna be made about Samurai's, better know what they're all about rather than just taking from media stereotypes and other games. Perhaps after some research, there will come a mood
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Edited by Fish20
STORY IDEA
