NE, that seems like it could be fine. Whenever this moves to the next stage(or even just now), you could post some of your drawings and animations.
My opinion on cutscenes, however, is that they should never interrupt the gameplay. I'd like anything story-driven to be played out in the gameplay. There could be a short intro cutscene and ending cutscene, but that's it.
But that's getting ahead of ourselves.
My view on the project itself:
I'd like to do something castlevania-esque. There have been a lot of votes for contra, so that's fine too. I like the idea of a map screen in between levels so the player has a sense of direction and progression, so that's something I'd like to see.
I was thinking into some kind of metroidvania style game because that lends itself more to the RPG elements, but that brings in a lot of potential designer troubles.
I am fine with the game being online so long as it's kept simple. General chat, lobby chat, co-op, and versus, perhaps. If these things can't be done, then don't bother. Anything more and I feel it would be outside the scope of this project.
There will always be opportunities in the future to think bigger. For now, let's think practical.
Originally Posted by Jon Lambert This is the TDC Community Project. That means we can do more with it on the main site and front page than we could with other projects. That is to say, since it encompasses the entire site (or so we'd hope) you could make a general poll for it.
Yes indeed. I'm just giving everyone interested a good chance to put themselves up for vote.
I'm wondering if nominating would work. Of course the nominee would have to agree, but it might spur people to be in that might not before.
After a quick look through the survey, I nominate... AndyUK, Strife, AssaultAndy, 3kliksphilip, Muz, Bibin, and Yami! Now if they visit the thread we'll see what they have to say.
EDIT: Alright, had a nice little chat with AssaultAndy. We're thinking perhaps that people will be more able to figure out how they want to participate if the idea is a little more solid. So continue to put in leader applications, but we'll hold off voting for now. Let's narrow down the game concept a bit more. We'll vote on a theme, style, depth of story, gameplay elements, etc (Through a survey, if necessary). Then once we're further down the road hopefully it will be a little more clear and concrete what we're setting out to make. It's hard to jump into a leading role when the goal is "let's make a game".
Also, since there are likely to be a lot of people interested in helping, Andy suggested that we have the development team (decided upon by the leader) and then everyone else appointed to the project votes on design issues. Leader still gets final word, but that way more people can participate without there being too many involved to make progress.
@Lembi I don't think the coding aspect with necessarily be part of design. Design is usually more of the ideas and aspects of the game without the actual work that brings it together.
You can think of design as a glue, that brings the Sounds, Graphics, and Coding together into a well-made uniform game.
I have to say this whole idea sounds exciting and if i had enough time to contribute to this then i so would. Best of luck to you all, i can't wait to see what comes out of this - i think you'll do great judging by the input of the majority of posters on this thread!
Well, of course both coding and game design have to be very tightly-knit. The design is limited by what can be done with the code. And sometimes the coders have insights into what would be good to add.
As far as what the game itself would be, we'd have to think about what style it would be in terms of how you make progress, the game's atmosphere, speed, and other design elements like that. Anyone here ever play Wario Land 2?
My idea for a game is a Wario Land 2 kind of system. Wario Land 2 was linear in terms of making progress, but it wasn't obviously linear. You would play through a level, going from entrance to exit, collecting coins along the way. You spent pretty much every non-boss level doing that, and in a boss level, the end door was replaced by a boss. The important parts of the game were that some levels had two ends, and that Wario was invincible. Wario couldn't die, so you could use that to your advantage to have enemies attack you and give you power-ups to get to more coins, which were then used to play mini-games. There were multiple endings because some branched levels lead to different final chapters.
So the way my game idea works is that you'd be perhaps a cop or some other person who usually stops evildoers. On one seemingly routine case, you barely miss a set of robbers, who have just finished robbing the city's largest bank. Defeated, you go back to the precinct or whatever to pore over the case for clues to their whereabouts. Over the next few days they rob more and more places and as you follow them you miss them each time. One time you go after them, they drop a map as they run away. You then use this map to find their hideout.
The game's pacing would be as quick or as slow as the player wanted, because they could either just go straight through the level or explore it and collect the money and treasure the group left behind. My idea is that there would be many places to explore in each level with treasure and money to find, with the harder ones, the farther out-of-reach areas, being guarded by more enemies or hard-to-traverse terrain. Many levels would have multiple paths to the exit. Some levels would branch into different exits, with the levels that come from those either leading back into the same story path as you would be if you hadn't branched, or leading to a different storyline altogether.
As far as the story, it would simply be you chasing them and them finding a hideout. Because they have dropped their map, they don't remember where their hideout is, so whether or not they find their actual hideout is dependent upon where you chase them to. In between levels, you'd see a title card that shows the map, where you were, and then where you are now, and when you met a new area on the map, it would color that part in. The longest cutscenes would be the very first one and the very last one, showing how the story begins and how it ends (with you busting them in some manner or another, or them escaping forever), with cutscenes in between areas simply showing the group trying to figure out where to go next and either going there purposely or to escape you as you grow near, with you coming in shortly and choosing the same path.
In terms of gameplay elements, you'd just have basic platforming like jumping and moving, and also possibly climbing, swimming, pushing things, and maybe beating things with a nightstick (a gun might be going too far; I don't think it'd add much to the platforming since it isn't really an action game)
Though you'd have trouble with creating enemies because if you're a cop and they broke into a museum, other cops wouldn't shoot at you thinking you're a thief. A more plausible idea could be you're a private investigator one museum or bank owner hired because he doesn't think the police could catch them. So when you enter place where they've been, the cops will attack you thinking you're a thief. The character wouldn't divulge who he actually is because he doesn't want to expose his client, or ruin his case by having his cover blown.
So would the map style be like Castlevania or Metroid, where it's open ended? Because that's what it sounded like you described.
I also think the character could be a bit more fluid in movement, maybe an ability to hold on to ledges, or hang on walls (but not climb up them)?
Overall that sounds like an excellent game, because it's technically linear but there are so many outcomes or choices you can make that it is really open ended. Unless a better idea is sputtered out I think Jon's idea would be a good choice.
Genre-wise I'm leaning towards something that stays within a broad genre but is flexible - say, if it's a platformer, then instead of beaing a Contra-alike all the way through, there's maybe a level where your character finds a gun; then he could lose it again at the end of the level, at which point the gameplay emphasises puzzle-solving and stealth over straightforward shooting.
Combining that with the multiple-path idea could be interesting. Say, one path takes the game further and further into shoot-em-up territory, another emphasises puzzle-solving, and so on.
(Incidentally, if we're still casting ideas for plots and settings, I think a time-travel kind of thing could work well. Maybe the choices you make in a past level alter the present and future levels?)
But I think having a "make choices and the future is changed" is too big of a task unless it's very limited. Even for professional developers sometimes. If it's just down to maybe 3 or 4 final outcomes, maybe it could be done.
I like Jon's Idea too. If we are going to make it where you have to avoid detection, it would be good to include some stealth aspects too like a noise meter, hiding in shadows and other things. A noise meter wouldn't be that hard to implement i don't think, different floor surfaces echo sound differently thus running on a marble floor would give out more sound than running on a carpeted floor.
Originally Posted by OldManClayton But I think having a "make choices and the future is changed" is too big of a task unless it's very limited. Even for professional developers sometimes. If it's just down to maybe 3 or 4 final outcomes, maybe it could be done.
I was thinking something fairly broad - say, if there's a level set in the American civil war, then the path you take dictates whether the next level is the 20th century United States, or the 20th century Confederate States - same principle as Wario Land's multiple exits.
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Edited by OMC
