Where did all the good games go?

Talk on any game/console that doesn't have its own forum, including browser-based games

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Mr. Johnson
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Post by Mr. Johnson »

I can errr... look after your pets while you're all working on the game?

I can sculpt a tiny bit though, in case you want to visualize things better.
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Post by friznit »

Play tester, Project Manager, Q&A, financial manager....er, anything that's nothing to do with actually making a game but all the crap that goes along with it :P
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Post by Grimmie »

Uh, this was long and wordy and thus I didn't read it for a while.
I'll do some UI design in flash if needed, I can do clicky buttons and shit, but don't know any AS. Bali can do that.
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Post by centerededgedesign »

General advice giver, Uber AutoCAD skilled, and excellent at typing GINORMOUSLY long posts, oh, and I can make up stuff like crazy.

IDEA SUGGESTION #1

We do a game where the player has to save the future of all gaming, by progressively playing games from gaming history. In fact, I see that as a theme to follow as we progress with skills/money/peeps with MOAR skillz, rinse repeat....

First installment/project would be a semi-random flash game, with premade scenes/scenarios, but without a set course to completion. You might make a choice that takes you to Hollywood once, but the next time you play it takes you to China.... Goal is to stop bad-guy number 1, only to find out he's a lowly worm working for 5punk at the end...

If you fail to 'make the right choice' or answer a gaming question, you're kicked out/killed/game over'd/sucked into a black hole, only to start again/reboot/whatever....

Throughout the earlier choices, there could be objects in the scene that could be clicked on to get clues, or that could randomly kill you, on a sliding scale as you use them, more chances of death. They could also be clues to future questions.

So, what say you? Hopefully this is a simpler format for a first go, with room for story work, research, lots of blocks/scenes to create, some with motion, others static, (motion ones could be crucial to story/bosses?), play testing galore to make sure we don't hack it up too bad, load times and such, and plenty of room for 5punky humor/randomness to be seeded.... :)

Oh, and another idea for a 5punky signature to it, is hilarious 'You're not playing anymoar, you're dead' endings. I'd suggest that anyone working on the game, even just two bits of advice, have a signature death screen. Added replay value for entertainment!
deject
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Post by deject »

I think this is a new record for a tangent. :lol: I could act as a code monkey if absolutely needed, though there are no guarantees to the quality of my work, especially if it isn't in java.
Baliame
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Post by Baliame »

deject wrote:it definitely isn't in java.
:above:

It's evil. Especially for games.
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Post by deject »

Baliame wrote:
:above:

It's evil. Especially for games.
yeah I don't think any sane person would code a game in java, that would just be dumb.
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Post by Baliame »

No, it's not really that terrible, but flash surpasses it at least tenfold. And it's evil.

On the other hand, we could simultaneously code the game in both flash and java, see which one performs better.
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Post by centerededgedesign »

As long as we could create both with just seperate backbones, without having to recreate the graphics and such, doesn't sound like a bad idea if we have peeps with opposing skills.

On another thought, which might convert most easily to an I-phone app?

Any further thoughts on what we should make/story?
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Post by Baliame »

centerededgedesign wrote:On another thought, which might convert most easily to an I-phone app?

Any further thoughts on what we should make?
1) I have no idea what language of games runs of iPhones, and even if I did, excuse me, Apple?

2) The game. :>
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Post by deject »

iPhone apps are done in Obj-C I believe.
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Post by Baliame »

deject wrote:iPhone apps are done in Obj-C I believe.
Looked it up, true, but it seems to have an unnecessarily deviant faaabulous syntax, so I'm not going to bother with it until we have an actual game.

Also checked up on Java and Flash support, so far it seems running Java on your iPhone breaks the iPhone SDK ToS, and Flash is just, well, unsupported. Both can be done on a hacked iPhone though, although it will probably run like a PS2 emulator on a PC.

Back on main topic, could you detail your idea Dres? So far, I couldn't interpret much of it, as most of the time my brain is poisoned by either alcohol, or just general crazy. What kind of characters are you thinking of, what sort of gameplay, or even a bigger question, what genre?

Also, some of you arty and thinky types, come up with a good idea for a name for this 'tangent', and a respective title screen. Draw and animate it if you're arty. I'm not sure what you're using, you could do gifs, but I'd prefer if you'd animate it in Adobe Flash.
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Post by centerededgedesign »

Not knowing how complicated things could get, I had envisioned a rather simple first showing, with a bit of variable thrown in for challenge.

Broken down a bit more simply, and with form:

Intro/backstory, some scrolly text and graphics showing that all of gaming is in peril if you (unseen character) don't go back in gaming history and put things back in order. yada yada yada

A) First 'level' would be a screen with info and objects that would act as clues. Like a sword as a hint that such and such a game was an RPG. You'd have to answer a question to move forward in the first level. The first level would forgive two mistakes, and with only 3 choices, would make getting to the second level guaranteed.

B) Second 'level' would be as the first, with fewer clues, and only forgive one mistake, also less hint objects.

c) Whether there are only 3 levels or more I leave to how much research on some of the original pc games we can discover, and artwork.

OTHER IDEAS IF THE FIRST ONE'S AREN'T TOO TOUGH:

The three levels wouldn't be static, ie they would change each time you played. So for example sake, you could have early/mid/and late game periods, and you'd never know which you'd start in, (time travel into the past being what it is and all). So one time you'd have early for the first level, mid for second, and late for third, with more 'helper objects' and objects serving as hints in the first level. After you fail, you might have mid/early/late for your level order, so 'helper objects' and hints would have to be seperate from backgrounds.

'helper objects': objects that look like background hints, but actually link to something helpful, or a shortcut further in the game. They would also randomly kill you... :) The more you use them, the more likely is death....
So the wiley player would save them for later/harder levels.

I'd suggest a really muted color pallete, even perhaps having a majority of the game components be in a really old-school font all done in green. Maybe even a flashing cursor waiting for input would be fun?

After you've completed the tasks and put the foundation of gaming back into order, you'd find that the agent who messed it all up is working for the diabolical 5punk organization.... Has a gaming company ever made themselves the villians in their own game?

Funny/5punky death scenes: As well as the levels, the death endings would have to be hilarious enough to go through the game just to die for! Varied, funny, and random, with everyone participating creating something as their signature on the game.

Informational! Hopefully what we put in the game has some historical accuracy. Twould be a shame to base a game about saving the history of games on fiction! Of course we'd have to be a tiny bit vague in places, but most of the really old bits are probably public domain by now anyway.

I don't know who remembers the 'choose your own adventure' line of books, but that's as close as I can think for a genre. You come to a scene with a question, and you have 3 choices, pick and live with your choice, repeat if you want to see what the other choices do. But we'd mix it up so they might not be able to try those choices the second time, or the third...
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Post by buzzmong »

Baliame wrote:2) The game. :>
cupcake.
Baliame
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Post by Baliame »

Well, if we're serious about this, REPORT IN 5punk! Artists do artsy stuff, thinkers do thinky stuff, and I'll go get something to drink.
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Post by Dog Pants »

I'm struggling to grasp the concept here. Maybe I'm being a bit fick, but it's just not sinking in. I get the whole Choose Your Own Adventure thing, but that's about it.
Mr. Johnson
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Post by Mr. Johnson »

Maybe we should have a group meeting on teamspeak to see just how serious we are about this?
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Post by Baliame »

Yeaaah, I was hoping someone would understand what Dres was trying to say but I see I'm not alone :P
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Post by shot2bits »

might i suggest, start of small. make a simple fun game rather than a massive project that requires lots of organisation and commitment straight off then do something bigger
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Post by friznit »

My idea - since we're making a game for ourselves, let's get imaginative.

Donkey Raping Shit Eaters: set in a shopping mall, the aim of the game is to steal babies in broad daylight from unsuspecting mums and using the various shops buy items to creatively dispose of said babies. Selling the resulting lumps of meat in the food court nets you cash to buy ever more interesting items to spike the babies with. Sort of Sweeny Tod meets McDonalds.
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