How about if we start an Abandonia Game Making Team.

You can be in part of the team as:Artist, programmer, designer, composer..etc.

As a first member of this team il be the head guy and designer.

EDIT: I know that this isnt gonna work, but i can always try.

Great, you're the head guy. Do you have any ideas for the game, concepts, genres, plotlines maybe?

First we need a team, then we can talk about ideas.

I'll definately help! I'll do one of these roles. (In what I'd like to do to what I'd least like to do.

• Character Design/Animation
• General Animation
• Background Designer
• Scripter (only if the game's in AGS)

A team is usually assembled to carry out a specific task.

I've got a little experience in:
Maya
Milkshape 3D
Visual Basic 6
C++
very little OpenGL
making soundtracks in e-Jay
Torque (Tribes game engine - can be used for any kind of 1st/3rd person game)
Writing plotlines (vivid and disturbing imagination :eeeeeh: )

Great! We can start right away.

Im thinking that we should make a horror adventure game. Something which has vampires, aliens, werewolfes, mummies and all that kind of stuff and the character has to travel all around the world (Places could be like VERY rainy and foggy London, VERY sandy and sunny egypt or VERY cold and dark Finland).

What do you think?

So a Van Helsing rip-off. That's cool. But one of the most important things to decide on is the game engine.
2D or 3D?
1st person? 3rd person? top-down? isometric? side scroller?

Thats what we need to decide.

Do you have skills to make 3D graphics? If it is side scroller would it be any good?Should we make a first person shooter in this world, where there is too many of those.

Your comments?

Well what game engines do we have access to? Because I doubt anyone's willing to start work on making our own.

I have (and can provide to everyone) the educational (and hence limited) version of the Tribes 2 engine (named Torque). It's got a visual interface, helping with object placement and properties (that means you don't have to hard code everything, you can fly around the map and drop trees and other objects where you want, then fine tune their settings).
It's set for 1st/3rd person play. Unfortunately, the limitations of the educational version include:
-Very little camera control. While the player is alive, the camera is either in 1st person or 3rd person (follow cam), and cannot be changed.
-Due to the camera restrictions, it isn't possible to make scripted movies
-On that note, I'm 90% sure you can't trigger pre-rendered movies either, so you're stuck with "Start Game... bang! you're there and have to do stuff, no explanations".
-It doesn't support very high polygon counts for objects, not even the player character. Any object over approximately 3000 polygons makes the engine crash.

Maybe we should dumb the ideas of FPS. How about RPG?

The question stands: Do we have a graphics engine that we can use for RPG? Or any other genre for that matter?

EDIT:
Don't be confused by Torque's official use (Tribes 2), it can be used for any 3rd person game. Think tomb raider or Rayman (the 3d one).
For one of my uni classes this semester I actually have to make a game in torque. Mine is about a frog that has to jump on moving lilypads and logs in a lake to get to the other side (Frogger rip-off).
Other people have made racing games, bowling games, jump-and-runs...

If you would use AGS I could help at scripting. I don't know something else except AGS.

Well, there are plenty of engines avaiable.

But there isnt one that would come to my mind now...

AGS is horrible :P
If we're gonna make a game, it might as well look good.

well, I can do some C++, and can probably work on another langaueg if you needed me to.
Otherwise, I can do writing stuff, like storylines, dialogue, etc.

Ooh, and beta-testing..

Writing / beta testing..... o_0

I forgot: writing the story; testing the game; c++; fox; pascal;

Writing/Design
I'm a very good artist when it comes to hand-drawn pictures with pencil, so I can help with concept art.

Oh, and if you want to do something 3D, you will need concept art, other than that, it's always better knowing what you're going to make before you start the actual production.
As for writing, I really haven't posted any examples over the months, so you'll just have to take my word for it (this might sound conceited) I'm a very good writer.

Including that, I can be a resource provider.
I don't think my brain can hold any more 3D modellers, Game Engines, languages, texturing tools, and etc.

I can help but we need a way to contact each other like MSN or AIM or YIM or Xfire Or whatever

How can you help?

I'd like to help. Everything concerning images, photos and the manipulation of those is my passion. I am also a professional print media designer so I can get anything on the way when we want to publish it ... :w00t:

if we need something automated then I probably could offer my AppleScript/ShellScript skills ...

Good! I didnt think were getting this far.

But we have to create a game.

Because we have lots of good writers and a concept artist, i think we should make an adventure game.

Should we do it easy and use the Adventure Gaming Studio or does anyone else have an idea?

Well, let's see if we can make our own engines:

How many people here can write Bit Block Transfer code in C++ or Visual Basic or Java?

For those who don't know what that is, its the code that allows bitmaps to move around the screen. Perfect examples are side scrollers.

I say go AGS. I could help at scripting.

I certainly don't :not_ok:

The main reason why I don't like AGS is because the games you can make in it will have the same look and behavior as all the other AGS games.
If we're to make an Abandonia game, it should be unique. Nobody should be able to say "hey, this is just like <insert 5 games here>!"

I can do C\C++ and a little assembly, If we are going to do a 3D game I recommend the Irrlicht engine, It has support for BSP (Binary space partitioning) maps as well. http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/

Damn! This engine looks great, especially for open source!

EDIT:

I read through some of the stuff on the site, like FAQ, a few tutorials, examples of what the engine can do... this thing is amazing! and free!
I'm downloading it now.
You can do any kind of game with it, 1st person, 3rd person, isometric, aerial view RTS, even 2d games!

Okay, which one want the AGS and which dont.

Im with the AGS.

I say give me (and anyone else that knows a bit of c++ and is interested in this project) a few days to play around with Irrlicht.

But as for the vote, I'm against AGS.

Me to

Ok, I wanna be in the team too. I'm totally against a 3D game. Especially an FPS. I wouldn't get to do any art except concept. I'm quite like Piggy, I'm good at drawing hand drawn images. If we are making an RPG I suggest it be like Final Fantasy or Chrono Trigger. I'm quite skilled at character desingning now. We need a logo. Anyone can make it (if idea's accepted). I think a good name for the team is 'Abandonia Productions Co.'. Feel free to change it. These are just suggestions. AGS is most certainly not bad. I'm using it to script most of my games. And it's the only language I bothered to learn. And, Nikson. They don't necessarilary have to look the same. If you're a complete master at AGS, you could probably make an FPS. Even though AGS is really meant for Adventure and RPG genred games. I like the idea of a horror game. Especially as an RPG. And I know NO block bit or C++ even though I intend to design one of my games through C++. As you can see, when it comes to designing games, I'm usually quite serious.

Phew, that was a semi-long post!

As I said I'm for AGS, but I'm downloading Irrlicht now and will try it.

EDIT: Downloaded, tried, good. I'm for it, but also for AGS. Let the others decide is what I always do :D

BTW, I could be a programmer.

Oh, and I'm against a FPS. Maybe a RTS or RPG, but not a FPS.

Name? How about "Team Abandonia"?

I agree with you guys. Theres a plenty of FPS games already.

If your against AGS Nikson, then show what kind of work you can do with other programs you suggested.

Also I suggest a 2d RPG, RTS, TBS. Remember Jagged Alliance 2, Fallout, Red Alert ?

FPS are big things and lots of people love em so if you wanna get in the buis stqart out with one like mine

It's 1am right now, I'll post some screenshots from games that i've made (or am making) in different languages

I vote against AGS, but I also vote against ANY C++ programming engines.
That's slow progress, especially if you're going to be developing a 3D game, we don't have enough programmers if we want to make something half decent.
I lean more towards AGS than C++ , but if you want a simple programming basis go for DarkBASIC Professional, or if you REALLY want to do C++ do the DarkBASIC SDK pack.

It's very easy to learn, and you can have amazing results, I'll post a screeny if you want to see what I managed to make with it.

If I remember you have to pay for DarkBASIC Professional, no ?

And if we want to be original, different and special, and not be like most everyone else? And spend enough time avoiding roaming zombies as to know how to spell, use grammar and make good contributions

I'm a student in software engineering (a baccalaureate leading to the title of "engineer"). I'm currently going through my first year in this program so I don't know much yet. Heh, in fact, the first year revolves around mathematics which means it's a mighty pain in the ***. With that being said, I can code in C/C++, Visual Basic, LUA (I'm not too familiar with this language yet but I'm capable of using it as scripts in a C/C++ program so I guess that's worth something) and PHP.

To answer Nikson's question, I can get a bitmap to move around the screen as a textured quad with OpenGL, is that good enough?

Should we ever start working on a project, I'd love to contribute (I guess it could give me something to put in my portfolio). Finding artists to work with is quite the obstacle when it comes to creating a game. I guess this wouldn't be a problem here...

Of course, I'm against AGS. I firmly believe that we've got to aim for something relatively simple in the graphic department. That doesn't mean, however, that we have to go with the fist amateur engine we stumble upon. Don't get me wrong, AGS is powerful, but it has the strange tendancy to make everything look like it's from the early 90s. Plus, it would be much more interesting to code our own renderer.

I'd also scrap any idea concerning 3D. That's way too difficult. When it comes to creating games, newcomers usually drown in their own ambitions. I've seen it all too often in other forums. Even if we get a 3D renderer running, that doesn't solve the load of mathematical problems we'll have. And let's not forget about the art. Good, low-poly, texture mapped 3D models aren't easy to create. It's even harder when you need a few dozens of them. And it's even harder when you need to animate them smoothly. And then there's mapping, scripting, sound, it's all harder to do when you work in 3D.

Still, this is only chitchat. The first step should be to agree on what kind of gameplay we want to deliver. I mean, how can you take a decision about something's look if you don't even know what that something is? I don't think any progress'll be made until someone submit a relatively complete design document.

Just my two cents ;) .

I'm actually saying we should go towards AGS now, that little blurb from Ol Sheep kinda cemented it.
Besides, look at 5 Days a Stranger, made by one person sure, but we can make something akin to MI3 if we do enough.

Sooo... my post backfired :wall: .

Well, the part about the graphical simplicity kinda made me think.
If we really manage to make some good sprites, we can make a great looking game.
Hell, we could even maybe make some voice acting over phone direct, but that's unlikely.
If a game made by one person can look like MI2, then if a couple of skilled graphic artists can get together, they can make a good looking game.

That's true but by deciding to go with AGS, you're killing a great opportunity to design a new kind of gameplay.

Sure, you can do a lot of crazy things with AGS' scripting language. Still, it'll never be as good as if you had a custom-tailored engine for your needs. Personnally, an old-school adventure game and a SNES-like RPG are two types of game I wouldn't consider making.

No point in working to create something that's already been [over]done better before.

But then again, I'm a programmer and I'm speaking from the point of view of a guy who enjoys coding in C++...

[edit]: A bit out-of-nowhere but I've always wanted to create a desert island survival sim. You know, with a character sheet to manage your health and a lot of interaction with the world (you could move stuff around to build a shelter, plant seeds to get food, hunt, etc).

I share OlSheep's view of AGS.
We don't have to make a 3D game. I know how much work can be involved just in having something show up on screen with only the most basic of interactions.
2D is also a lot of fun to play around with. And you can use 3D-modelled objects in a 2D engine as well. I know I'm repeating things here, but jumping on AGS because its easy to use, and to end up with a (sub-)mediocre product... it goes against the whole idea of making our own game.

If you're looking for free tools to make good looking and awesome games with, you're not going to get anywhere.
So if we want to keep it free, we've got to keep our limitations, otherwise our ideas will go beyond our possibilities.

Wrong. There are many free tools to make awesome games with. And some of us may have commercial tools as well. As a student of game design at university, I have access to the latest version of Maya, Visual Studio.NET, and others.

But back to free tools: there are not only free tools, but commercial tools that offer free trial downloads, which either have limited options (rare), or time limits (much more common).

To make any (technologically unambitious) game, all we really need is some talented graphics artists and a couple of talented programmers.
The artists we obviously have.
The programmers... we can't really tell until we decide on what we're going to use. Most engines use C++, which some of us have some experience with.

What I meant by my comment was GAME ENGINES, unless we make our own (incredibly difficult) we have no really good engines.

IrrLicht seems to be a great free engine. It has extensive documentation, it's C++, supports both 2D and 3D games, and is based on the Quake 3 engine (which is also open source now), making it extremely efficient.
The major downside is the lack of visual interface. Everything has to be hard-coded in .cpp files.

Sooner or later there'll be challenges to face. The idea is to find a way around them without limiting the quality of what you're producing. Don't aim too high, don't aim too low.

So? Do we have any examples?

Examples?
Unless you're willing to buy something, we either have to stick with that Irilicht or whatever it is engine. And it seems very, very poor, especially in programming regards and user support.

what do you mean programming regards?

its platform independent, has EXTENSIVE documentation and examples, there's plug-ins for anything and everything you can think of, and it has a very large user base on sourceforge. Did you even look through the docs at all?

I myself looked through them. If we are going to make a 2d game with 3d characters it would be very good (a 3d game would not be something good; too much work). it has everything you need (c++ libraries; documentations) and it would be somewhat easy for some of us to make something in it. (someX3 :Brain: )

EDIT: I suggest to add a poll with every engine we could find until now and see what people like most.

I wanna be in the team too. I can be a good background and level deesigner, character designer, spriter if its 2D, and bg drawer if its 2D though I'd need a bit of help with the bgs :P, I am also a crack shot at writing good storys, so I'd be really helpful in that too.
I'm somewhat against an fps unless we could make it look real good and give it a good story, but I'd rather help with an rpg. =D

I'm still not agreeing with the engine.
This is supposed to be a game team, not a bunch of programmers in a company. It's impossible to do anything with this engine, we only have a few C++ programmers, and very few people who know how to properly create a model, then rig and animate it, or even how to create a game compatible sprite character in C++.

Many people here seem new to making their own little games, I'm not saying that's bad, it's cool that they want to do something, but starting on something as advanced as a fully fledged C++ engine along with no real interface to speak of (I did look through the docs, not that impressive) it's going to leave the more inexperienced of us in the dust. I'm taking the consideration of the other team members in hand.
Unless everyone can provide a good input and contribution to the project, then this isn't a very good idea at all, there needs to be a open forum of people working on it, not just a few who understand what they're doing.
If we decide to use this, there'll be a bunch of clueless questioning and too many difficulties in production.
We can't possibly start with such high standards, in fact, we should be using whatever has minimal programming knowledge required, making a nice 2D RPG with GameMaker would be MUCH better than a C++ engine where no one has a clue as to what they're doing.
You can have to power to create something, but it'll be useless to try doing anything unless you are absolutly certain about what you're trying to do.
If we take GameMaker, we can have a few creating sprites, working together to maintain a style and etc. we can have a few working on the mechanics, passing along the game file and agreeing to certain standards, a few will write the story, deciding on the better decisions and etc, and some will deal with technical and testing aspects. We can't do that with this Iriclict or blah engine, it'll be a mess, only a few of us will be able to work at all, and those that do know how to work it will have problems with the others who won't give them exactly what they need.

We first need to take into consideration the abilities and ambitions of the rest of the group, not what engine or graphics we're going to use, I definetly suggest GameMaker or AGS (GameMaker would be good for anything 2D, and I suggest we start 2D).

Game maker has simplicity galore and can be used for anything

Piggy, I like the way you reason. You try to set realistic objectives and to minimize the quantity of problems we'll encounter by choosing tools that will allow everybody to work on the game.

The thing is, and I'm not saying this pejoratively, that these tools are mostly newb stuff. Where using a complex (and, in this case, the complexity can be kept under control) engine made in C++ will be a turn-off for those who're new to programming, using AGS will have a similar effect on those who aren't.

Therefore, by going with some sort of easy-to-use-no-programming-skills-required software, you'll probably end up with a team filled with artists and writers. That's not a bad thing in itself but it does mean that you're limiting yourself in terms of what you can create.

Also, please keep in mind that those who use these tools are usually prone to the "boredom syndrome". I have seen it a lot on a French forum about video game making I enjoy visiting once in a while. Three to ten people fire up RPGMaker, they try to create something and have fun for a while. Then, the freshness fades. When creating stops being only a game and starts to require an investment, these teams fail.

A lot of people say that creating a good game never is a game in itself...

I'd also like to know, am I the only one who fails to see the interest in choosing an engine before deciding what kind of game we want to make? Isn't that a bit like picking up a spoon before knowing whether or not there'll be soup?

an it be tomato soup then? I like tomatoes.
Anyway, I can do C++, using the console, then theres all these other Sub-Langauges for displaying images, displaying 3D images, getting it to work in windows, networking...

Well the thing is, not everyone can use GameMaker, it does require some skill in itself, but there are many more people here that do know how to use GameMaker than program in C++.
But we can definitely try on project via GameMaker, and if we're not satisified with that, we can move on to the 3D engine and try something better.

That was my first question when Chosen created the topic. He said he wants a horror game where you go all over the world to kill monsters. That was it. Everyone assumed this meant RPG/Adventure. Then I mentioned using the Tribes engine and people started to think I want to make a FPS.
As far as I know, nobody in this topic ever showed interest in making the game FPS or FPAnything.

I might be misunderstanding you. Do you want most people in the team to work on the game script (if we use AGS)? That'd be a terrible mistake. The more people that touch the code/script at the same time, the more mixed up everything gets when trying to combine the updates.
Besides, more than half the people that offered help in this topic want to do graphics or storyline. This is completely engine-independent.
Using Irrlicht would indeed mean "only a few of us will be able to work" on the code, which makes perfect sense. We only need 2 or 3 people implementing the code. Everyone else does what their specialty is: 2d or 3d modeling and animation, background design, work on the plot, record sounds, create/find textures, compose music, test...
Why do you see such an organisation as wrong?
Define interface. Do you mean something like the Visual Basic interface, where you drop an object into the frame then use the toolbars to change its properties? Indeed, Irrlicht doesn't have that. Torque (which I suggested previously) does, and it's very easy to use.
But just because you can't see your changes to the game until you compile the code and run the executable doesn't make the job any more cryptic. In my opinion anyway.
Can you please be more specific about why Irrlicht (or any 3d engine) would be bad?

Torque needs to be payed for.
And as for what I mentioned before, it's not different people writing the script, it's people gathering their ideas, making up plot twists, and one person writes all the agreed material depending on their skill.

P.S. - Just don't do C++, I was once in a game creator group, and the lead decided to go with some engine that used the certain language, no one had any clue what he was trying to do/program (he couldn't explain it to them) and people really had a hard time working on the project afterwards.

If you're curious, I was the secondary designer, writer, and concept artist, not to mention making a few 3D models.

Yes, the full version of torque costs $100 US. But like I said earlier in the topic, the educational version, with a few less features (that I also listed in the topic) is available for free and I can provide it for everyone.
Oh wait. I just remembered that it's illegal to distribute any game made with the education version.
Let's all forget torque :P

So bottom line, I'm pro-c++, you're anti-c++
Moving on :D

LOL After reading a bit and trying to find some more game engines (I only found engines which need to be bought) I suggest, as someone said a few replies ago, think big, start small. Game maker will do...maybe. Time to try it (but I still suggest AGS :D )

If your going to make a 2D game you should use the allegro C++ engine, it's very easy to use, open-source, free and there is lot's of help if you have a problem with it.

I can do lot's in allegro, draw iamges \ sprites, move images \ sprites, double buffering, etc.

If it's a 2D game then this will be the best thing to use.
www.allegro.cc

Well, now that I think of it, a Darkwatch style game could work if we chose fps, but I don't see anything else working. Actually I'd love to help do a story like that of Darkwatches. I could also do some good dark concept art for the modellers.

Well, if we do make a game, we should rule out any unoriginal premises.
Like "something like Darkwatch" for our first game, we need something that we can do on our own, we have to get ideas that we can grow out of, so we rely less on other entertainment for ideas.

Is this the Darkwatch you're talking about? If that's the case, I don't understand how you can see that working. This is a professional game. They had a big budget, a big team and a lot of competent people. There's no way we could pull this off with only 2 or 3 programmers and a few 2D artists :P .

[edit]: Take a look at this .

Have we even decided on a engine?
We need Chosen to edit his first post and fill in everyone who's a part of the team, the tools and etc. that we're using, and our first project, and everything else.

so while you guys discuss about what to take I decided to make a little logo ...

OKOK it's beta-state but tell me what you think.

(and if you ask me, then let's make a 3D SpaceInvaders with Irrlicht - that would be cool and abandonia-like IMHO)

It looks pretty good. BTW about a game like Darkwatch I didn't mena a game as good as darkwatch, I just meant that style of game. Dark moody, good story, bosses, evil creeps to shoot, and in a cool setting, like if we were to do this setting in china or transylvania, you'd have to make a chinese town or chinese plains, or transylvanian mountaintops. Thats just what I emant. But I didn't mean extremely professionally done. =P

You should change it to "Game Creator" team, programming doesn't work, that leaves out everything that isn't programming, which makes the other team members look stupid and insignifigant.
Otherwise it looks great, and you should keep that style, but just change the wording.

P.S. We should have a vote on which engine to use.
So far it's Irilicht, GameMaker, and AGS.

P.P.S. Nevermind with the vote thing, it wouldn't work out.

P.P.P.S. Space Invaders? That'll just be poor, especially with Irilicht, I think we should just make games in general, not a certain theme.

changed :

Much better, :ok: .
Still in Beta mode of course?
Cause you can make it better, but it looks very good so far.

The logo looks fantastic, it would be real nice to see it fade in and out at the beginning of a game. The only thing that irks me is the shadow at the bottom right hand side (hmmm is my wording correct here, I've never used that "structure" before -read my sig :P- ?). It looks as though a part of it has been cropped out of the image.

Folks, I'm getting to the party late, but if I may add something or two, without being flamed and such. I have written a game or two - nothing great I'll agree - but that probably puts me ahed of a fair number of you. I've wanted to write games for many years now, and because I have no artistic skills (and a family) I usually don't get a great game for my results.

Anyway, not to be a bucket of water on the plans, I think you guys are over reaching! It is a baby steps thing. Get a team, work together doing a small project, that is VERY doable, build confidence, learn, etc. Then expand the next game larger and better.

Use Apogee/ID as an example... small little puzle games, to simple side scrollers, to complex side scrollers (paralax scrolling, enhanced animation, etc.) to full blown 3D. Do not take too big a bite. Ideas and brainstorming are great, but record the ideas, then scope the game down into phases.

I speak from experience. My Intergalactic Interloper game started small, and I was able to achieve my goals - learning some DirectX - and making a game. I did not finish it because of my lack of art skills, my lack of AI understanding, math skill, on top of my lack of DirectX skill, on top of I over reached.

http://www.jesustaxi.com/mikel/images/iishot.jpg http://www.jesustaxi.com/mikel/images/iishot1.jpg
http://www.jesustaxi.com/mikel/images/iishot2.jpg

There is no shame in creating a small, playable, cool puzzle game, or maybe a point and click story book for kids to get your feet wet and "gel" as a team. Then you can plan for the larger projects once you know who can be counted on and who can't.

If the team is willing, I would love to see this game finished.... original music, sound effects, power up, AI, etc. I don't think I would be able to help too much. I also can't speak to how good the code is, as I don't have anything to compare it to.

Let me know if this is anything you would want to finish. The playable, but no where near completed game is available for download if you want to evaluate it first.

Intergalactic Interloper


If you prefer to do an RPG type thing, I have a fair amount of story info from a Dungeon Seige module that I was helping until the "leader" decided it was not going to work. I kept all the story I had written for it Again, you are welcome to see if it is of any use.

I'd like to see that story thingy if putting it online isn't too much trouble...

Interesting idea, OlSheep... a 3D space invaders? How would that game be transposed to three dimensions? Keep the gameplay 2D but in a 3D world? or have the aliens (or just the ship) be able to move in all 3 directions?

Perhaps he means something like 3D models on a 2D plane, and perhaps we can update it with few cool things, I dunno, buying weapons, more enemies and etc.

That was swiss' idea, not mine ;) .

Maybe we should add onto that.
How about taking everyone's ideas?

A 3D, RPG, side-scrolling, action, Space Invaders on a 2D plane? :D


To the Team: I'm also very good as a level designer, so I might come in handy for that.

NeverWinter Nights has a very nice toolset for creating modules. The engine is all done, there are tools for dialogue trees, scripting and the like.

You would have work for the designers (over all design, terrain types, planning order, etc), artist and modelers (rebitmap existing object,and make new ones), writers (dialogue, lore, etc), programmers (there is scripting in a C++ like if I recall correctly), etc.

The game already has a huge base so lot of folks would be able to play the finished product. There are web sites that have tutorial, help, etc. It is easy enough to make a nice module (I've made two) without spending years on it.

The toolset is for making NWN modules. It can't be used to create separate, independent software.

Okay, the following members are in the team:
(Remind me if youre missing in the list)

TheChosen
Nikson
Bobbin Threadbare
Abi79
Danny252
Moogle
Blood-Piggy
Punch999
Swiss
Chickenman
OlSheep
Fawfulhasfury
Taskmaster

In the weekend, il check everyones skills and update this in the first post.

@Swiss-Nice logo. :ok:

Blood-Piggy told me that whe should have 2 or 3 more designers (Im the main designer).

Blood-Piggy and Nikson will be the two other designers.

And now, on the game.....

The idea of the 3D space invaders is...well...it doesnt sound new. It might just be a pong with a 1€ coin and a 100$ bill as a backround.

A game... Hm... I usually can't come up with good ideas, but I'd recommend a 2d game in which you control a squad of troopers during World War II. You need to do missions while, by scrooling the map, you can see other battles taking place and/or planes flying... Something like that, but would likely be too hard for us, so....

A game simmilar to SWAT maybe ? In a 2D world, you need to save hostages, attack terrorists... (of course it needs to be a game playable on a PII 266 MHz and on a 2MB 2D graphic card....or support DirectX 7 and a Voodoo 2 ... no particular reasons :P )

And for us without NWN? Must we just sit here and twiddle our thumbs? NOONE I know in school or on msn has ever mentioned NWN..
huge fanbase indeed..

I have NWN, but there's very little that most of us can do, because more of us don't have NWN.
Which engine now?
A semi-3D Space Invaders would work best in GameMaker.

I was just tossing out ideas. Whether or not you have the game, does mean it doesn't have a huge base. I did not read a post that said you wanted to sell the game or not. NWN would be a great toolset if you wanted to create an RPG that is story based.

One of the best rules in facilitating a large group and gathering ideas, is that there are "No bad ideas." Every idea and person submitting the idea is respected. After you have gathered the ideas, then each person selects their top 5 from the list and you go from there.

As for being on the team, I don't think at present that I have the time necessary to devote to it. Thank you for considering me though.

It seems to me that this is a strange way to pick game designers. The point here is to give that title to those who are able/willing to write a game design document (you'll have to create an account on gamasutra to read this article). You can't just point your finger at someone and say "you'll be designing the game" (well, you could, but that doesn't seem very efficient). Now, don't get me wrong, these are wise choices. The thing is, as long as no one here comes forward with a complete, written vision of a finished product, no one here can claim to be the "game designer".

Of course, if we're going to create some sort of Space Invaders, there won't be much need for a game design document (as long as we're talking about keeping the original game's style, the concept is relatively simple). Incidentally, we won't need game designers. The programmers (that is, if we happen to have more than one working on this) will have to agree on various conventions so that everything is done cleanly and that's it.

I'm truly sorry if I sound a bit anal. You know that French forum I keep talking about? They get a huge bunch of 10 to 12 years old who want to see their names on their dream game's credits screen. The result is a lot of morons posting things such as "I'll be the game designer, I won't work and you guys'll do my bidding." Of course, this always lead to a flame-fest. After years of reading these posts, I get twitchy when a see something about game design.

[edit]: Back on-topic, I think we should do a simple rogue-like (with 2D graphics, I'm not writing an ASCII renderer :P). It shouldn't be hard to keep things simple, it'll be enough to gauge our team's capabilities and it'll allow us to re-use some of our work if we want to make a real RPG later on.

Sounds good. Old School dungeon crawlers are very good for pushing programming ability without focusing on the graphical side.
My thumbs up :ok: for the idea.

I think we should base our game idea, on a game that lot's of people like, such as Space Quest, Beneath a Steel Sky, etc.

I also think that 3D will be a bad idea, because it will take more time making models and giving then textures, then we can spend more time making very cool 2D graphics :)

Rogue-likes are loved by lots of people :D
And have lots of pluses:
-graphics quality isn't important
-good level design really stands out
-many features and secrets for the players to discover (secret rooms, cool weapons, terrible monsters, etc)
-allows semi-freeform gameplay

How about: Rogue like based on second world war?

I would like to see swords and arrows, not a rusty old gun :P

World War II involved entire platoons sitting in trenches and bunkers for hours, waiting for enemy artillery to stop, and then killing each other, with hundreds of casualties in minutes.
It just doesn't fit with the singular, powerful, non-stop action oriented character that a Roguelike demands.
Classic medieval+magic settings work just fine.

Roguelike... I don't actually like it, but if it would have a good plot and some decent graphics would be very good. (but I still say we should do an adventure :D simmilar to Broken Sword or Beneath a Steel Sky)

No!
Stupid, this is not a programming thing, if we only center it on a programming bases (a Rogue-like) Then there will be no room for any other people to work, what will happen to those that wish design it graphicly? We limit them to watching the progress that we're slinking on.
I still serve with the Space Invaders idea, it's much simpler, and it'll work much better, just spice it up with more intuitives and you could have a nice original game on your hands.

You know, a rogue-like (with 2D graphics, obviously) will probably represent more work for the artists than a space invaders. There'll be monsters, the hero, floor tiles, walls, doors, keys, chests, etc. AFAIK, space invaders doesn't involve much more than a space ship, a few aliens and a nifty background.

[edit]: And let's not forget that, in a rogue-like, we'll need level designers. That's usually the fun part in creating a game. And it'll create some more work for the artists.

[edit2]: You'll also have to tell me how a rogue-like is centered on a programming base while a space invaders isn't...

From what I've heard around while the idea was being discussed, everyone was focusing on "simplistic graphics" as in crappy little letters or round blobs, everyone really needs to do something on their part.
I really don't think a rogue-like would be good for a first game, like Abi or chickenman, I think a adventure game would be much easier to create for everyone.

It's really up to TheChosen though, he made this whole thing.

I agree, we really need someone to mediate here :) .

[edit]: Whatever it is that those who were talking about doing a rogue-like were focusing on, please keep in mind that this game wouldn't necessarily involve hideous graphics. It all depends on the artists.

I'm the main advocate for "simple graphics". Pigggy, you misunderstand what simple graphics is.
It is not poorly made graphics, unpleasing to the eye, or the lack of detail. Simple graphics does not involve complex real-time lighting/shading calculations, bump/environment/light/planar/normal mapping, reflections, refractions, ray tracing, and all the other high-tech graphical tools.

Simple graphics is hand-drawn and colored, animated frame-by-frame, just like the all the oldschool (note: NOT necessarily old, but old-style) 2d games.
For examples of very good simple graphics, have a look at Monkey Island 3, or Notrium (which I think is on AR).

And pigggy, somehow I get the feeling that you're almost AGAINST programming of any kind, as you seem to think code takes away from what people with other skills can do. This is, after all, a community project that will (if it gets started) be worked on by people who want to do so, by their own free will. Nobody gets anything out of this other than satisfaction. That said, this game project is not meant to be an employment opportunity for anyone that wants to do something. Just because 30 people offer to write code or make game models, doesn't mean that TheChosen or anyone else is bound to actually give them something to work on.

I'm not AGAINST programming, I'm against C++, that said, it's not a very easy thing to work with, especially if it's with other people.

And you even hand me my own point, if this is a community project, it needs to be simple, not a company effort. I really think that we should just stick to the basic for a FIRST game, and not get out of hand with already crafting a RPG of sorts.

ALL teams first make a prototype game, especially community teams like these who just want to make games, we first have to see who's comfortable with what, and we can leave the ambitious projects for later.
You guys are focusing on a picture that is far too large, we need to start off slowly, not just leap into the pool and bonk our heads on the cement.

P.S. - This is up to TheChosen because he is the lead designer, we all give him credit for starting this in the first place, and the only way we can actually pull of a good project is by relying on TheChosen to choose a straight course of action so that everyone is certain that we're doing a certain thing.

P.P.S. - You seem to think that I'm assuming that there'll be assignments "handed-out" but that's not the case. But we DO ABSOLUTLY need to give someone instructions on what we need help on, if everyone who wants to help just runs around and donates random stuff to a single few who are actually creating the game, it'd be senseless. Everyone needs something to do, and if we all don't decide on a "style" or certain ambigous flavor, there'll be so much unrelated and ugly meshes that this would all be pointless, and everyone's efforts to actual be "satisfied" would lead to dissapointment.

Yep. True.
C'mooooon, Chosen!

He's starting to act like Stebbi, :D .

A Rogue like game sound like a good first choice. Lots of depth - you could make random levels like Diablo 1, limitng it to say 15 or 20 deep or some random number therein.

It would present a nice amount of work for the programmers - a tile engine, animation classes (sprites), etc. Some tools for building data files (if needed)

Artist have to animate the character, however, simply or complex it needs to be.

A database person (or maybe a non-techincal person) could enter the data about the sprites (ie. frames of animation, stats, attributes, etc. via a tool.

You could get some one to create some original music (MODs, MID, WAV, whatever).

If there is an AVI/BINK, etc talent available some intro/cut scenes...

The point is the idea is fairly simple. Most people are familiar with this oldie. The world is 2D, maybe even top down like the original, so the complexity is manageable.

There is certainly plenty room for scope. Phase one could be one tile set, and few monsters, etc. That could eaily be enlarged if the team works well and the artist have capacity, etc.

I'm looking forward to the game already...

:Titan:

Er, it hasn't even been decided yet.
I really think we should leave the RPG till later, make a little game to brush ourselves up, then start on the actual masterpiece.

??? :blink:

Anyway, even if im the boss, i still cant force you to do something that you dont want. Otherwise it would become an Uber-crap game.

@Rogue-likes-There is one rogue-like that isnt based on fantasy: Doom rogue-like.
There are already two great fantasy rogue-likes(Nethack & ADOM), so im against making a basic rl.

@Space invaders 3D- Just tell me how many Space invaders, Tetris or Pong clones there are. If were going to make SI 3D, we need a....gimmick.

@Adventure games-Im with this idea. Making adventure games require work for everyone.

Maybe we should plan a "real-time meeting".

Here's an idea: there is a 2D remake of CounterStrike, which is like the original in every aspect, except from a top-down GTA1-style view. And it's fun!

Maybe we can pick a different successful 3D game (perhaps an abandoned one available on the site?) and create a 2D remake?

Turok, Heretic or Doom perhaps?

We could also make a four-player hot-seat multiplayer option.

Doom would be the easiest of the bunch, since the levels are flat and simple. We could try doing the first level and see how it goes.

Woah, guys, you're beginning to aim too high. Our first project should be something we can complete in a few months. The idea here is to pick something that'll allow us to measure our team's skills and capabilities. Remaking a commercial game in 2D is quite the endeavor. Keep in mind that if we fail in mid-development, we're left with a huge waste of time.

[edit]: I guess a Doom in 2D would be feasible. It still sounds like a big investment in terms of time though.

We dont have any other ideas.
What do everyone else think? Should we make the game or not.

@Doom- Even if we dont do it now, i think we should still do it someday.
Oh, and we cant call it Doom 2D, since there already is one. The project will be offically named "Doom flat".

I have a fully planned out adventure game I'd be willing to share my idea with the lead project designer/leader. I do NOT want to make this idea public just yet as I do not want people just stealing my idea :P. If the abandonia team doesn't take on the task I will once again try and realize it on my own. The only thing that stopped me before was my poor art skills. I am also looking at the possibility of novelising this idea as it would work well as both book/game if adapted properly. If the Abandonian team took on my idea I could provide promo graphics as well as lead the design aspects and main discussions revolving around the game mechanics. Also, if taken on and made properly I could get to work on writing the partner novel which could be used for public promotion.

Let me know if the teams interested...

I currently have the basic game play planned out over a period of 6/7 days. This includes both the basic story and HOW the game will play for the user. I have basic room plans and full character sheets(need finalizing).

--
Magic

Sure go ahead.

As for the top down shooter, it's not aiming too high, but how about a top-down Half Life game? :bleh:

Okay Magic, youre in.

Now spit it out!

I think it would be better if we could talk without using this slow forum LOL, why don't we all meet tonight at 8PM GMT on my irc channel @ irc.dal.net #abandonia

I don't use irc.

Cause I don't know what it is, or how to use it, :D

I think we're just fine here, chickenman.
And seeing that at least 1 member dosen't use IRC...

@ Blood-Pigggy
http://www.xchat.org/ ;)

I don't use it either. I vote we just use msn. =P

MSN Sounds good.. if we are going to meet at 8 I would have 30minutes to pitch my idea :) You'll be hooked in 3 so sounds good to me :)

I don't use MSN either.
We're not going to find anything everyone uses, so we should just stick to the forums.

Lets pitch it on msn and send a pm about it to pigggy. that way everyone is let in on it easier. =P

No.
Do Bob Dole Instant Messenger.

Let's use the forum's shoutbox :P .

Think of the chaos.
You are being sarcastic right? :D

Of course I am ;) .

Really Magic, I don't see why you can't just pitch your idea right here.

Write it all down in a post, then let us read through it.
It's even more hassle when we have to get together via instant messaging.

Yeh I guess he should do that. =P

Assuming you guys actually get something finished (and I mean no disrepect by that) do you plan on selling it or making freeware? The answer may change some things. For example, you may not want to associate it with an existing product.

As for "Doom flat" vs. Rogue-like, I'm missing the difference? You still need a tile engine, you still need to have creatures, you still have combat. No difference that I can see other than names.

People need to be realistic about their skills, put aside any egos, and get a team chosen... Nothing is going to be decided until that is resolved. Then you can canvas the team (ie. poll) and pick the top 3 ideas. If you want you can then let the rest of us - non-team - cast their votes.

Then make a lead artist, a lead programmer, etc. Some one will need to have the final say when folks start to differ on artistic style, direction, etc. It isn't about the people, it is simply a "business" type decision. What is best for producing a quality product. You need less chiefs and more indians, to use a non-PC phrase.


I hope you can nail down the direction soon...

A few things.

1. The difference between a top-down Doom and a top-down Rogue is the entire RPG system, that can be terribly difficult, and tedious.

2. This is going to be freeware, what else? We aren't going to ask anyone to pay money for a community project.

3. It has been basicly decided, the game styles that is, we've narrowed it down to (Rogue RPG) (Top-Down Doom-like) (Adventure).

4. This is a community project, meaning it's a pot-luck, we throw things in first, the polish and bring them together afterwards.

5. I don't think we should decide on specific roles, if a non-artist has experience with a graphics tool, and a artist is having trouble, they should help, instead of limiting them to one job.

Just my input.

I dont use msn or irc either.

And magic, if you dont want to tell about your "project" in this forum, PM it to me.

Otherwise, we will go to "Doom flat".

Heh.. ok ok.. heres what I have.

The Basic Plot
Theme: Horror
Setting: Secluded Cabin
Characters: 6

a) Name: Mark Anderson (Player)
Gender: Male
Hair: Brown
Appearance: Neat
Personality: Intelligent, Short Of Cash


Plot: Big Brother style competition, Auditions via website, Nominations via website (apparently)

Day 1
Housemates 1-5 arrive meet and greet. Discuss how they got here etc.
When all conversations exhausted player directed to ‘’Sleep’’ by interacting with bed.

Day 2
Player has to ‘’do-up’’ the house.

Mend a light.
Fix the fridge.
Discovers a ‘’Locked’’ room, almost hidden at the back of the first floor.

Day 3
The last expected housemate arrives at the cabin.
Housemates given their first task by ‘’Big Brother’’ (Find 2 Hidden Objects planted by ‘’Big Brother’’ during this gathering) basically 2 objects are added to the house, player searches for one of them, housemate 6 has found object 2.

Day 4
Housemates 5, 6 are missing. Character 5’s bedroom is covered with blood.
Remaining housemates discuss escape attempt.
Sleep (Maybe fall asleep together on guard?)

Day 5
Player tries to ’escape’ with other housemates.

Tries windows (Locked, panes too small to squeeze through when glass smashed and they are metal therefore they can NOT be smashed to make larger gap.)

Tries doors (All exit doors have been barricaded)

Late at night player is attacked and knocked out.


Day 6
Player awakens in basement. It appears the locked door led to the stairway that sits in front of the player.
Two dead bodies are sitting next to the player.
Cameras are here as well, the ‘’audience’’ knows of the murders!
Player searches body 5 (Takes her hairclip)
Player searches body 6 (Discovers that the guy was in fact a secret/undercover agent)
Player attempts to open door, uses woman hairclip but requires another piece of thin metal.
Player searches room and finds what he needs.
Player manages to ‘escape’ room.
Player explores the house; lights are smashed (darkened, horror atmosphere)
Walls are covered with blood; sitting room contains 1 body (Housemate 4)
Upstairs bedroom contains body (Housemate 3)
Housemate 2 is missing!
Player hears noise in next door bedroom.
Investigates.
Nothing there.
Attempts to leave…. Masked attacker enters and knocks player out.

Day 7 (Last Day)
Player reawakens in basement.
All bodies are present… 5, 6 have been moved.
This reveals a previously unseen trap door.
Player must ‘’escape’’
As he attempts this, attacker descends stairs.
Player gets in trap door… this leads to an underground passage.

Ending 1
Player gets to end of passage, greeted with a ladder that leads to locked hatch.
Player is killed by attacker(Character 2). (Unexpected, might annoy players.)

Ending 2
Player gets to end of passage, greeted with a ladder that leads to locked hatch.
Player searches darkened passage for a bar or something, in the end snaps a bit of ‘pipe’ and uses this to jar open the hatch.
Player Escapes!

Credits:
Plot: Sean Sexton
Character Ideas: Sean Sexton
Music: Urban Raven A.K.A Hanna




3D Engine Story Revision [No Longer Applies]
Day 1
Housemates 1-5 arrive meet and greet. Discuss how they got here etc.
When all conversations exhausted player directed to ‘’Sleep’’ by interacting with bed.

/Start Cut-scene
Cut Scene is played showing the player walk up to the cabin and pushes open the creaky door. The player enters through the door and arrives in a dimly lit corridor. We see the players breath (due to the cold). The player shivers. The player then looks right… and looks into a warm inviting room which contains four other housemates (Characters 2,3,4,5). The characters notice him standing at the living room doorway and welcome him. The character takes a seat and is handed a cup of coffee by Sarah.

/End Cut-scene

/Start Game
/Start Dialog
Sarah: Hi, you must be Mark!
Mark:
Option A Yes, that’s right. Thanks for the drink, may I ask your name?(+1Point)
Option B Yes.(-1Point)

Sarah(A)*Smiles* I am Sarah Your very much welcome. We’ve been waiting since this morning for the last two contestants to arrive.
Sarah(B)*Looks Slightly Abashed* Well.. umm.. yes. Welcome to the cabin please introduce yourself to the others before you go to bed.. when your done come back here and give me a shout and I’ll take you up to your room.

{Conversation Incomplete}

Day 2
Player has to ‘’do-up’’ the house.

Replace a light.
Fix the fridge.
Discovers a ‘’Locked’’ room, almost hidden at the back of the first floor.

Replace A Light – Go to the storage cupboard, take a lightbulb and a ladder… go the the light… USE ladder…. INTERACT ladder…. EQUIP lightbulb…. INTERACT light holster.

Fix The Fridge – Mini-Game.. place correct wires into correct slots (easy eh?)

The Character Sheet

Name: Mark Anderson (Player)
Gender: Male
Hair: Brown
Appearance: Neat, White
Personality: Intelligent, Short Of Cash

Name: Sarah Smith
Gender: Female
Hair: Blonde (Of Course!)
Appearance: Neat, White
Personality: Blonde, Rich (Wants to be famous)

Name: Tyrone (Possible Rename)
Gender: Male
Hair: Black Dreadlocks
Appearance: Rapper, ’’Ghetto’’, Black
Personality: Funny, ’Brother’ish relations. Needs money for music college.

Name: Angie X (Rename)
Gender: Female
Hair: Combed Afro
Appearance: Mixed Race, Scruffy (Jean Jacket, Torn Jeans)
Personality: Attitude, Moody, Moany, Lazy, Argumentative, Poor

Name: Chin Sun (Definite Rename)
Gender: Male
Hair: Gel, Spiked Black
Appearance: Jeans & White Top, Oriental
Personality: Cool, Friendly, Likes reality shows. American

Name: John Brown
Gender: Male
Hair: Black, Combed
Appearance: Well Groomed, Neat, Black Trousers and Top
Personality: Shady

Thats the basic crap that I have.. a lot of it is still in my head.. any questions just ask. Also I have a basic house plan and a few practice sketches of BG's (unusable I assure you).

I do actually have quite a fair amount more in my head... read through this for now and see what you think.

Nice!Very Nice! :ok:


What does the rest of the team think?

Horror game... Love it :ok: :wub:

7 Days A Little Brother :P

Very nice idea, Magic.:ok:

Yes the idea is good but to make a good horror game you need a lot of skill, not just with the programming, with Horror games the most important aspect of the design has to be the graphics and sound, at this time I don't think it can be done or the quality of the game will be poor.

I think we should start with something simple, like a 2D adventure game, something the programmers like me can do without much problem, the most important rule of game design is to start with a small, simple project.

I love it :D Edge-of-the-seat, action packed story, and a short game to boot! And doable in most 2D-adventure engines. Hell, even in 3D engines - the only catch would be lots of high-detail models and animation.

I'm bored, when are we going to start work on a game...

Hey, I can easily do 2D models for all this stuff just give me the sprite descriptions and animations and I'll get right to work. I can do a bit of work on bgs too, not too detailed for our first game but I think I can manage some good ones. I love his idea and I think we should use it, but I wouldn't recommend using 3D on it.

Well.. I am glad the idea has had a warm welcome :)

Fawful has already got one character done and is busy working away at the backgrounds. Music I can get made by several different people that I know. Graphics that Fawful have shown me are looking superb so I doubt we will have any problems with thoose chicken. I've written up some more documentation.

First Off Day 1

Day 1
Housemates 1-5 arrive meet and greet. Discuss how they got here etc.
When all conversations exhausted player directed to ‘’Sleep’’ by interacting with bed.


/Cutscene

Player appears from the left edge of the screen trudges through the snow covered floor towards the cabin. Leaving footprints as he goes. He stumbles up the stairs battling against a heavy wind. Pushes the door open and enters.

/Fadetoblack
/Fadefromblack

The player is now standing inside the doorway within the cabin. He closes the door behind him. Sarah emerges from a doorway that branches off to the right (sitting room). Sarah welcomes Mark.
/End Cutscene

/Dialog
Sarah: Hi! I am Sarah your mark correct?
Mark: Yes, how did you know?
Sarah: Myself and the others have been sitting together going through each others files. There’s only two people that haven’t arrived. That’s you and John I think his name was. It’s getting late now.. I hope he’s alright.Will be hell for him if he’s out there without shelter tonight.
Mark: I am sure it will.. was hard enough for me to get from my car to the door without falling over. The winds are really picking up and the snow is already really thick.
Sarah: *Smiles* Well Mark would you like me to get you a drink?
Mark: Yes please.
Sarah: Ok, whilst I do that why don’t you introduce yourself to the other housemates?
Mark: That sounds good to me, thanks Sarah.
/End Dialog

Sarah walks through doorway.
/Start

Player walks through doorway/

/Fadetoblack
/Fadefromblack

Player is now in the sitting room. Characters 3,4,5 are seated.. and character 2 is in the kitchen with her back turned (making drinks)/

Player looks around at the various objects and other characters.
Player approaches character 3 (Tyrone).

/Dialog
Tyrone: Hey brother!
Mark: Alright mate, I’m Mark I just got here.
Tyrone: For real bro? Its bloody freezing out there now!
Mark: Yeh, it is Sarah’s offered to make me a hot drink I thought I may aswell introduce myself to everybody whilst she does.
Tyrone: Makes sense mate. She didn’t make me no drink when I got here that’s for sure, I think somebody likes you mate.
Mark: Nah, I don’t think so she’s just being friendly.
Tyrone: Yeh sure mate *chuckles*

Choice A:
Choice B:
Choice C:

{Incomplete}

I will be writing out all of the conversations and how the game will run for each day and then we will tackle them seperately as a team. What does everybody want to do? I have no real talents except leading the project.. providing the idea/plans/descriptions. I also have very clear images of what everything looks like and will gather images of google for everybody to look at and then discuss.

Part 2 - Basic Room Descriptions


Bedroom Base (Each bedroom will be a slight variation of this – The players bedroom being the most customized.. of course!)

The dimly lit wooden walled corridor connected to various rooms. Mark stepped forward and raised his arm pushing through the door that stood before him. It creaked and Mark’s senses were sharpened. In he walked. His eyes focussed on the dark brownish red maple wooden panels that covered the walls. At the back of the room a small window with two glass panes and a simple sliding mechanism was attached to the wall. Marks eyes slid and his vision focussed on the Tattered bed that lay pushed against the corner of the wall. The bed was a combination of rusted metal frame with a unwelcoming hard mattress and old urine stained bed clothes. Beside the bed stood a three draw cabinet. Sat atop this was an old electrical alarm clock with a LCD display. The display flickered and the time was displayed every few seconds. Beside the cabinet Marks backpack was perched. The room was a simple one and contained nothing more than the bed and Mark’s personal items.

-
The bedrooms are all more or less the same except each character will have their own personal items. Also the addition of missing floor planks etc will help make each room look unique.

Hallway Base –

The hallway will use the same wall texture as the bedroom. Dimly lit dark wood doorframes and doors will be a dark rotten colour. Not completely rotten but slightly decayed. Hanging lightbulbs that look similar to this

http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/ART/ART182/OBJ014.jpg

Living Room –

The living room is a large room as its both the living room AND kitchen. Theres a door in the top left corner this leads out to the main hallway. Inside we have a sofa and 2 other seats arranged around a low sitting wooden table. The floor is the same wooden planks found throught the entire house. However theres a large circular rug that covers them in most places. The kitchen is an open planned arrangement with wooden over hanging wall cupboards and a large bar/counter area. Beside the counter two or three wooden stools sit. The kitchen is built against the far right wall.

My documentation is all very rough and ill organize and of course incomplete. It's a good start though right? :w00t:

Lastly heres a list of jobs that can be started on at the moment:

Artwork -
Rooms - Downstairs corridor, Upstairs corridor , Sitting Room , Toilet, Bathroom , Bedrooms and Spooky underground tunnel.
Characters - See the character sheet.
GUI - All of your basic AGS GUI items.
Objects - Beds,Lights,Tables,Sidetables,Bookcases,Bath,Stool s, etc

BIG TASK - The cabin from outside. Snowy background... trees etc. The cabin has a front porch with stairs that descend into the snow. Porch sits about half a human from the floor. The porch has supporting poles that lead up to the sloping ceiling and you then have the main doorway and the basic outside with windows from the various rooms. If anybody is interested in drawing this let me know I will get you some pictures to work from and write a full description.

Sound -

Main Them Tune
Footsteps
Ambient noises

For this you can either gather links to soundfiles that you think would be good OR prefrably make your own.

Research -

Gather various images of woodtypes/winter cabins/winter clothing etc.
Gather various images of items and decorations.
Create a sample of images that you think would be of help to the artists.

I hope I am not coming across as somebody thats here to take over and force you into labour.. im just listing stuff that could be done. If you think of anything else feel free to write it down. I hope I've manged to get the ball rolling.. now get to work all of you :cheers:

@Chicken This is small and simple compared to the other ideas I have :) :eeeeeh:

It's not very original.
I can't say I vouch for it.

Not only that, good horror games are very difficult to create.
How can we actually put enough atmosphere into a amatuer game to actually give someone the chills?

Speaking of course, theoreticly, Five Days a A Stranger was created by a very talented writer, artist, and designer. He knew the perfect steps to creating a edgy and disturbing game.

If we do make a adventure game, I say we lay off the horror theme, and build a story from scratch, make it a bit more original, and simplify the puzzles a bit and try the most logical conclusions.

P.S. - This isn't really a design draft, in fact, it looks more like a strategy guide, you really need to lay out game mechanics, interface and etc.

Even if it isn't professional, you say Fawful has already started on certain aspects, that doesn't make any sense, how can you have someone do something when you haven't even figured out the exact game mechanics?

Here's how you should actually do it.

First Step - Create the interface, and set up a test puzzle to experiment with it, if it works out optimally, you should keep it.
After that you should focus on creating the first characters, then lay out a story-board, concept art, and other nescessary items.

These are all ESSENTIAL to making a game, be it a community project, amatuer, or what-not, you absolutly need to do these things.
This idea could be excellent, but you haven't fully thought things out, you need to develop the idea further.

P.P.S. - Are you making this yourself? Or do you expect the team to work along with it? If so, then we can't really work with this.
I mean, you wrote the whole thing, you worked out the puzzles, and you already decided who will do what.
That doesn't make any sense, how can you draft everything already, you said you would pitch an "idea" not an entire game.

There is no point in trying to make a horror game if we can't do it, we have to start simple so forget the idea of a horror game, let's start with a simple 2D adventure.

Hey, to add on to more sentiment, you've already made dialouge.
And to be quite frank, it doesn't sound natural.

And hey, guys, I don't think we can do this, he just gave us a blue-print, scaffold, and even the paint and the dry-wash.

There is no creative input from any of us, we need to start something from scratch, with the whole team. This idea for a game seems extremely oriented on your views.
You even took TheChosen's design position, by assuming we're all just going to start working on this.

Not to be mean, but this was extremely adrupt.

Oh, you even took the liberty of creating all the characters.

Edit: I disagree with this idea, :D

Heh thats fair enough to be honest... I know its not very team orientated :P

It's a story that I have had floating around in my head for a while now and was just writing it down. I thought I'd chuck it on here and see if you people would like to work on it. As far as input goes.... if the team does decide to do this your all entitled to write your own character and what not.. original story/dialogue whatever then we can discuss whether or not its implemented. As far as not having mechanics and that worked out. Im writing everything so that somebody can simply pick it up and chuck it into the ags engine. Everything has been written with AGS in mind. If the team does NOT want to use this 'idea' of mine I wont take any personal offence.

Let me know

Magic

As far as you guys not being able to make a decent horror game... your aiming too low.

Aim for the sky and reach the mountains. Aim for the mountains and hit the floor.

EDIT: Also you claim I just started working on it and presumed you would follow suit :eeeeeh:

This is NOT the case. Fawful approached me on MSN and told me to give him material so he can get started.. thats what I did and me and him worked off of each other. I suppose if you do NOT want to take the game on I could probably try and convince FawFul to make all the art I require and make it alone with him. It's really up to you lot.. I didn't mean to just come and take over.. honest :tai:

Making a horror game is VERY hard to make.
That's why it's aiming too high.
Aiming too low is just making a generic pong game.

Making a horror game is NOT hard. We wont agree on this but heh..

Anyway as far as a new pitch...

Why not just a big brother style AGS sim?

The sims + a linearish story.

We coule implement a 'popularity' feature so that depending on how the player talks to the other 'housemates' he gets a +1/-1 to his 'Popularity' bar. Things like doing housework etc etc would influence this. If we implemented a 'The Sims' style hunger/social etc requirement system it may work well. Only problem here would be keeping the player entertained until the end well that and the complex coding required. We do however have Chicken for that :whistle:

That won't work out.
Imagine having to make the player eat food, use the bathroom, drink and etc.
That would be a monotonous waste of time, and the player would become irratating. Although it might work in a survival FPS, it won't in a Adventure game.

We just need to stick with adventure regulars, we don't have to stick in some complex system just to make it original, we can do that with story, characters and the world.

Making a horror game is not that hard to make actually. you can have the worst possible graphics and the hardest to see things and still have a good horror atmosphere. The most scary horror game is when it gives way to let your imagination take hold. If you don't know whats after you in a agme and never know, that makes it all the scarier because your imagination takes hold. Things like this are easy to do, in fact having the right sound effects and music can easily set a mood too. It doesn't take a lot to make a good horror game. You wanna see a short yet good horror game, go to the ags website and download Dark of night to find a good example of an easily made short yet scary adventure game.

@ Fawfulhasfury
Have ever tryed to make a horror game ?, A lot of work needs to be put in to make something that will scare the s*it out of people and make them come back for more, to do that you have to have the best graphics possible and a lot of differnt sounds, it's also a lot of work for the programmers who have to get the sound and music work just right. Take Silent hill for example, now thats what I call a real horror game, the difference being they have a pile of top programmers, graphics artists and a truck load of money. All we have is a few programmers, a graphic artist or two, and no money.

Which is why we should do a adventure game, and later we could do a RPG, but we do not have the skill to make a good horror game, so let's leave it at that and get started planning a adventure game ok ?

Have you?
A lot of work needs to be put into ANYTHING if you want a good result.
So there were no good horror games before surround sound and bump mapping?
That's not what programmers do.
Nobody's forcing you to do a horror game, or anything for that matter. You're free to make your own adventure game.
How do you know what we have the skill to do?
Yes sir! :ok:

Me and Fawful are carrying on with my project.. if anybody wants to help us out drop me a PM.

Cheers

Magic

Best graphics possible? so what do you call enclosure, 5 days a stranger and 7 days a skeptic? ugly and stupid?

Fawful.
Those people are masters, they sculpted their games all by themself.

It's difficult to make a good atmosphere.
I doubt that if your own game doesn't scare you, it won't scare anyone else, and we can't really do a horror game.

I really doubt you've ever attempted to make one.
I once created a game called "Slumber" where you're a captain of a ship, and a crewmate dies.
All of a sudden people start locking themselves in their rooms, and soon after, your entire crew is in the brig.
After you find means of opening their doors, they're all dead, and whatever's around is coming after you.

Let me tell you, that game was a success, (I made it on a game creator's forum) people loved it, how long did it take to make? A year, not only that, there were several incarnations, mostly because none of them were scary at all, I had to master the art of creating a frightful game, and that took a few months all in it's own.

We don't have that kind of time in a community project.

Waitaminute!

We should be working as a team, remember.
Everyone loves this idea. Everyone expect Blood-Piggy wants to do this.
So? Shall we take this? Or do we let Magic and Fawful do it alone?

Or, if you will keep it as a two-man project, we will stay in other plans.

Anyway, i talked with my friends and they loved the idea of "Doom flat".
We even managed to figure out two new game ideas (3D games).

The difference between Magic's game and Doom Flat is that with Magic's game there is nothing decided on except the plot line.
With Doom, it's quite clear for everyone what it should look, act and play like. After the final decision on what 2D engine to use, work can start.

What engine is the easiest to use for 2D top-down games?
Easiest to program, (better if you don't need to program at all) and easiest to submit.

And yet you claim not to be against programming :P There is no engine that needs zero programming. Some sort of scripting and trigger implementation has to be written.
Easiest to submit? To submit what?

No engine that needs zero programming? But wasn't there something during the mid-nineties? Klik 'n Play

Ok, OK, I'm joking.;)

Allegro, it's a fast and easy to learn 2D C++ graphics engine.
www.allegro.cc

I will be happy to work on anything thats not 3D and has a good story \ design.

Correction.

Piggy and Chickenman.

Although I don't really take any of what Chicken says seriouslly seeing as he actually offered to help make the game a while back. He's just picking at me because he doesn't get along with me anymore. Piggy has raised a few good points but I have a very in depth understanding of how to manipulate peoples minds whether it be through a platform such as a book or a game or during conversation with a real life counterpart. The basis is always the same no matter what situation you apply theese principals too. I am confident that I will be able to create an atmosphere, however... I am open to suggestions. Also somebody claimed that my dialogue sounded too artificial. If we were to produce this as a team I would be more than happy for others to write the dialogue and other aspects they feel need improvement. I have a very 'rough' story idea that we can polish off together as a team and all of the major work could easily be distributed amongst many people. There is a decision to be made here and that is what game project the team will proceed with. This a decision each indiviual team member must make for themselves. I am not here to 'take control' and force you into a project you are not interested in. Please would all team members note their current opinions. Also It's apparent that some of you feel that I already have everything planned.... you say this as if 'direction' is a bad thing when creating a game. I am open to ALL suggestions that the team has and I would be more than happy for somebody else (e.g TheChosen) to take what I presume was his 'lead' back. I also get the feeling that some people feel they have nothing to bring to this project (Chicken) as others can easily fill their place. Chicken you seem to think I want to take your job away from you, that is not the case. I simply wish for this project to be started on as soon as possible and I do not care how the jobs are distributed aslong as we all get to do some work. You'll note that the two main opposers to the idea are people who would in a more 'team' based project have leading roles. I feel that they are perhaps afraid of losing their value.

Anyway, enough of my rant for now.

All of the team are welcome to share their thoughts on the matter.

Bye for now

-

Magic

Sculpted their games all by themselves masters eh. Well let me tell you. THE ENCLOSURE CREATOR DIDN"T MAKE IT ON HIS OWN HE HAD HELP> YOU SAY I COUYLD NEVER MAKE SUCH A GAME WELL YOU ARE WRONG> I"VE BEEN WORKING ON A HORROR GAME NOW FOR THE PAST YEAR MYSELF BASED ON MY MANGA< BUT THE ONLY REASON OUT OF ALL MY EXCUSES THAT IT ISNT OUT YET IS BECAUSE OF MY SLOW WORK AND LAZYNESS> IF you were to really REALLY in tune to make your game if you work on it every day completely as much as you can you will get it done much faster> MUCH MUCH FASTER< BUT LET ME TELL YOU I CAN MAKE SUCH A GAME AND WHEN YOU SAID THAT YOU INSULTED ME AND MY GAME> and i"ll be danged if i go lazy on magic"s project> and i"m making all these keyboard errors cause somehow i messd up my stupid stickykeys config>

Lazy on my project?

I warn you now.. such things will not be tolerated. I am the drive and motivation that you require in the shape of a sinster forboding whiny prick. Also it is not my project.. it is OUR project now :)

Sculpted their games all by themselves masters eh. Well let me tell you. THE ENCLOSURE CREATOR DIDN"T MAKE IT ON HIS OWN HE HAD HELP> YOU SAY I COUYLD NEVER MAKE SUCH A GAME WELL YOU ARE WRONG> I"VE BEEN WORKING ON A HORROR GAME NOW FOR THE PAST YEAR MYSELF BASED ON MY MANGA< BUT THE ONLY REASON OUT OF ALL MY EXCUSES THAT IT ISNT OUT YET IS BECAUSE OF MY SLOW WORK AND LAZYNESS> IF you were to really REALLY in tune to make your game if you work on it every day completely as much as you can you will get it done much faster> MUCH MUCH FASTER< BUT LET ME TELL YOU I CAN MAKE SUCH A GAME AND WHEN YOU SAID THAT YOU INSULTED ME AND MY GAME> and i"ll be danged if i go lazy on magic"s project> and i"m making all these keyboard errors cause somehow i messd up my stupid stickykeys config> [/b][/quote]
Well, then I really lost my respect from the creator of Closure, I could make that in 4 days, without any help :D.

It is hard to do, any your examples won't change anything..

Hoorah.

Piggy -

You chat $hiT LOL :)

Enclosure was created by a team of 3 people in a few months. However this was not constant work as I am sure you are talking about. Also there was probably days were no work at all was done. Tom is in contact with one of the Femo Duo team and he actually has an account on the forum so perhaps you could speak to him about how long it took?

Now.. I'll look forward to a game equally as good as enclosure on from you on Friday. I am kind so I gave you a few extra days.. have fun.

Lastly, can you link me to that game you created?

Sounds quite cool and I'd really like to try it out.

Note: Im not attacking you personally, your a good guy. This 'aggressive' manner is how I discuss things I am afraid. My aplogoies for that but it prooves very effective in real life.

Note 2: I am also on the Femo Duo Entertainment Beta Tester list for their new game as far as I know and they were looking at at least 6 months work last time I spoke with them. However they are switiching engines :) :tai:

I can send you a link.
First I have to go on my old computer, re-plug my cable connection, upload it to the internet, then e-mail it to you or post the link here.

Or I can just attempt to find it on the forums, (I made it about a year ago) and because of crappy search engines, it might take a long time.

I'd really like to play it so I can tease you for creating such a crappy game! (Joke)

I do want to play it though.

Hey at least it won't be as crappy as your game, :D
Joking

*reopened*

people if you can't even communicate properly how on earth will you be creating a game.

(especially all those CAPS POSTS)

I suggest splitting up in 2 teams in which each makes their own game with their own prefered engine.

3-5 people per team should be more than enough. Else it might turn unmanagable.

Now might be a good time to say [as a neutral party] that after you decide on a team, you [could follow my suggest and] should decide immediately on what type of genre you're going to have, what type of game you're going to have, and plan the game around that, not the other way around. :bye:

Im furious! You almost made us shut down!

Anyway: @Magic and Fawful- You two will finish the whole dialog and plot of the adventure game. When its done, sent it to me.

Meanwhile, rest of us will start working with "Doom flat"

Do i make myself clear?

@Doom- We need a good engine. Now go and hunt down one!

Sir, yes sir.

EDIT: What do you say about this 2D engine ?

Nice working !! i wan't to be a composer

Nice working Abi! :ok:

I like it! :ok:

What do you say guys? Is it good?

@A15drian- A composer eh? Okay! We need some music for the adventure game where making. Dont do anything yet, because i have to check the whole thing myself (after Fawful and Magic have done it).

That looks awesome.
Yeah, we should use it.

@Chosen: Your comment "I hate you Pigggy" in the shoutbox, I won't forgive you, from now on, you'll be at the brunt of all my jokes.

Oh no! Poor Bob Dole is going to be crushed.:P

Edit: Fine.:rolleyes: But you do realise that what got this thread shut down initially wasn't spam but people flaming each other, don't you?

Oh no! Poor Bob Dole is going to be crushed.:P [/b][/quote]
I'm sorry, but did that really have any signifigance to the thread? If I'm correct, it's that sort of spam that got this shut-down in the first place.

We really don't want this closed again, so please refrain from posting irrelevant comments.
I have an urge to do so too, but I think twice before I post, and if I do decide not to, I press the back button.
Follow tht moral.

Piggy, i still hate you because:

1.Because of you and many others, you almost made us shut down compeletely!
2.Becuase of your "nazi talk", my little sisters topic was closed.

Besides, your taking us off topic...again!

Now I vote we go with this engine, only problem, it seems you have to program.
I like it, it's very easy. But we need to find someone who can become comfortable with this tool.
Who knows how to understand this and start working with it? I suppose Chickenman or somesuch would be able to help with it, but otherwise we need to start setting things up.

I just want to throw this in as a side comment, we need a art style. If we start creating the graphics, it needs to be similair. I mean, all of you get that right? We don't want Monkey Island with Beneath A Steel Sky.

I can't do anything with that engine, I don't have Windows installed and I'm not going to install it.

I still say we should go with Allegro because it's very simple to use, and works with Linux and Windows.

I have a team of 4 now... what is it that you want us to do TheChosen?

I still need to find out exactaly what each of my team is doing... I have been writing up some more of the dialogue. Fawful has returned from his break and is back doing art. The other two team members are yet to start work as far as I know.

Allegro is atrocious, as far as my experiences reach.

I'm playing with the HGE engine now.

@chickenman: it's got nothing to do with installing windows, any C++ compiler will work. You'd only have trouble with the tutorials, which use "winmain()". Edit the cpp files to use "main()" instead :ok:


It's kinda like OpenGL, but more complex due to support for sounds, particle effects, etc.
It's not exactly easy, and I'm still deciding whether the documentation is sufficient (the tutorial comments are pretty scarce), but I'm playing around. Judging by what's on their website, it's obvious you can do some nifty stuff with this.

I've tried some of the sample games.
You can do some great stuff with it, tell me if you get anywhere.

Didnt i made myself clear? Write the whole game: Plot, dialogue etc. After its done sent it to me.

Starting from a combination of tutorial3 and tutorial2 (surprisingly, the textured quad in 2 is replaced by a sprite in 3, which means it can't be scaled or rotated), I"m trying to make a Pong game.
So far it's proving quite simple and intuitive.
By tomorrow evening it should be in a working state.

Nikson, I can probably help on the music front as well as you. I have quite a few e-Jays myself.

So if anyone needs help with that, just ask.

What HGE ? :P *checks the link he posted* Oh, that HGE. I'll have to read the documentation and try it. Sounds promising.

This engine is awesome! So simple to use.
The mechanics for my test pong game are all there for 2-player mode. It was easy even to make the ball rebound off the bats at an angle relative to the location on the bat that it hits (the bat is convex) :D

I just need to figure out how menus work (from tutorial6), then make extras, like an AI player, an endurance mode (quickly accelerating ball, one player vs. wall. how long can you keep it in play?), an accuracy mode (moving target around the playfield, first player to hit it with the ball 5 times wins) and stuff like that.

Have a look:

The full archive is about 330k, which is too big for the forums. So I took out the hge.dll file (130k). After you extract the game, put this dll file in the folder as well.

I couldn't start Nikson's game or any of the tutorials thanks to my wonderful 2D video card and to my wonderful voodoo 2 which only works with some games. Another software which won't work for me. :ranting:

Not even the precompiled exe tutorials worked? Damn your card is old :P

Awesome work, Nikson. Sensitivity a bit high but the graphics go on 99 fps, great pong game. :kosta:

It can probably go over 200fps, but there's no point, since the monitor can refresh at only 75-85fps. So I limited the rendering to 99 :D

Ah, the agony. Oh well...Another thing my computer isn't able to do. :ranting:

Hmm....Maybe on my mom's computer.... Time to download again LOL


EDIT: It doesn't work. on my computer there is no way to make this kind of things work, so I haven't got anything to say then happy game making. I'm outa' here.

So chickenman won't be able to help you in this project if you use this engine since he runs Linux.

Oops. My bad.

Should we use the other engine then or should we keep using this.

This is what Nikson and Chickenman will decide (theyre now responsible for our engine).


To make myself clear, il remind you that were looking an engine for Doom Flat.

For the Doom Flat, i recommend that we could make something about 20 huge levels, full of monsters, items and stuff.
I also like the idea of "hot-seat" multiplayer in DF. With more players, game automatically generates more enemies and items.

After we have managed to choose and "tame" the engine, we will choose people to design levels and artists to design graphics.

Right, any other ideas?

Well a game like that (top-down GTA1 style shooter) will be best designed with a tile map.
From the HGE website I followed a link to a great free tile map maker (it doesn't create the tiles, but it arranges them into levels that can be saved) that is supported by HGE. The tile map program is called "mappy".

http://tilemap.co.uk/mappy.php

Mappy.
How I love Mappy, I've known it for years.
Believe me, if you do a top-down game, you need tiles, and you need Mappy.

Maybe I can help out with something?

I'm good at:

- composing music
- writing dialogue scripts
- writing story/plotline
- some VERY basic 3D graphics (willing to learn)
- PR and advertising (if needed :D )

I hope I can do some useful work in this. Whaddya say ppl?

Of course.

Hmm....could you do a remix of the original doom music?


@Mappy- This looks nice. And much more simple than Haaf's engine.
Can you use it Nikson?

Heh, you got it wrong, Mappy isn't an engine. Mappy is only used to create map files out of tiles. Those map files then get imported into Haaf's engine (or any of a number of other engines) :P

Can try, if I had the song that is. Send me the son and I see what I can do about it! :ok:

THE song? I don't think there's a single song, what TheChosen says is almost impossible, the Doom soundtrack is huge, with a song for each level, which is about 32 levels. :D

Do we really have to actually make this based on Doom?
The idea was originally to make a Doom-like (gameplay-wise, shooting stuff) top down game, can't we take the top-down idea and make it a bit original?

Also, music copyrights could be food for thought...

You know, I'd think many fan-mad games wouldn't exist if we had that kind of deal.
It only really applies to commercial games, I mean, it's like posting music on your website, as long as you don't let people download them, it's fine.

Didnt i made myself clear? Write the whole game: Plot, dialogue etc. After its done sent it to me. [/b][/quote]
What is it the team will be doing then?

Note to anybody interested I will be setting up a forum tommrow and putting my production into production funnily enough. I will set up 4 main forums Music,Story,Art,Programming.. theese will have sub forums for example

Art
Backgrounds
Then a thread might be

Bedroom

The thread would contain a brief description and would be there for any artists to post there interpretation of the description.

It's too late for me to set that up now but I'll try and get it done properly so we can start on the game by Friday. I am looking to have the game completed by the end of January.

What is it the team will be doing then?

Note to anybody interested I will be setting up a forum tommrow and putting my production into production funnily enough. I will set up 4 main forums Music,Story,Art,Programming.. theese will have sub forums for example

Art
Backgrounds
Then a thread might be

Bedroom

The thread would contain a brief description and would be there for any artists to post there interpretation of the description.

It's too late for me to set that up now but I'll try and get it done properly so we can start on the game by Friday. I am looking to have the game completed by the end of January. [/b][/quote]
I see.

Well....youre be the head designer and leader of that project.

Its up to you to decide what the other four will do.

Oh, and dont forget to report important things to me.

Okay, then just give me a good ide of what kinda music or songs would you like to have in the game like genre, style or like this. Just then I can make somekinda demo of what I think it would be.

I'm waiting for input :D

Somekind of techno rock.


@Nikson-Are you happy with Haaf?

Yeah, pretty much. It's the best 2d engine i've touched so far. However I think I'm gonna need pigggy's help with using Mapppy and getting a map file into the game, coz I only spent about half an hour with it and didn't figure it out.

Sure, just tell me what you need.
Be warned, I haven't used it in a awhile, so the end result might be poor.
Just give me some time to fix it up afterwards.

Nothing yet, I haven't done anything for the actual game.
Should I start?
What to make first? A little triangle (the character) that moves and rotates and shoots at little circles on the screen (the enemies), to get the game mechanics going?

Or what?

Riiight.

And later, you can turn this triangle into marine and circles into monsters.

@Design- We need to decide what monsters, weapons, items and so on, we must use.

We should use the original weapons: Pistol, Shotgun, Minigun, bazooka, BFG and, of course, chainsaw.

And monsters: Zombie, Imp, pink demon and so on.

@Nikson- I really dont understand the programming thing (lousy teacher at school). Are the characters sprites or something else? When and how we can add graphics? And other stuff like that...

Technically speaking, a character in a simple 2d game is usually a model created from a simple geometric shape, like a circle or square, with an image over it to make it look like something (a texture).
A sprite is just a bitmap (or other image) with a set of screen coordonates that move, based on user input.

Sprites are most oftenly used as explosion fireballs, smoke effects, and stuff like that. We won't need much of that since the HGE particle effect generator is awesome.


We can implement graphics as soon as i am given graphics files and told what goes where :) Sounds too, like weapon noise, footsteps, agonizing screams...

Don't forget about the exploding barrels. If I am recalling correctly, didn't the orignal Doom have toxic waster barrels that would explode? That would then make the next barrel to explode and/or inflict damage on a nearby creature.

How are you going to render elevation on a "Doom Flat." Don't you start Doom on a platform with stairs leading down to the floor? There were lifts and things as well. Is that all going to be flattened, so to speak?

Not trying to stir up issue, but trying to ensure you think through the entire design before you start coding. Functional Design followed by a walk through, followed by Technical Design, followed by walk through, followed by (iterations of) coding.

Since I'm already in for some flames, let me also add you should chose a single artist to lead all the art work, so that the tiles, creatures, objects all have a matching scale, style, etc.

The illusion of height can be done just like in GTA1. Tiles look like stairs and you can go "up and down", which makes the camera slightly zoom in (character is on top) or out (character is at bottom). Same if you jump off the stairs.

Actually, now that I think about it, there's no "camera" object in HGE, so zooming would be harder. Ideas anyone?

You can scale the chracter dude ;) if it does not work you can always make shots of different sizes and make them like a GIF or blend them together in a motion...

At least I think, I'm no programmer :)

Is this thing ever going to start? :D
I've been dwelling off on my own projects since there doesn't seem to be much going on.

Don't ask me, I'm just the music guy here :) Frankly, I don't think this is going to be reality soon, but please guys, prove me wrong :ok:

I can do a little of C++, some VB6, some Java. Also have worked with sprite drawing.

Sorry everyone. I think Chosen is waiting on me finishing the basic mechanics - which I haven't done yet due to all the assignments and exams I had to get through to finish the uni semester. I'm now free until February, so I'll get on it asap!

Good.

Im starting to be a laughing stock in school because of this project.

So please: Dont screw this up.

Anyway, any progress Nikson?

And what about you Sean?

In the amount of time it took you guys to do about absolutly nothing, I've developed a 3D game engine, and started to make my own Action/Strategy games.

That was about 4 days ago, kick it up!

I've been looking around the net. There's already a 2d version of doom, surprisingly called "Doom 2D".
I can link to a website which offers it for download, but I'm not sure if it's free/abandoned.


edit:
Huh? What's school got to do with this? And why would they laugh at you? You're not actually doing anything :blink:

Im responsible in anything, thats why.

Doom 2D is a side scroller is it not? And it requires Doom.

I don't know if it requires doom, but yes it is a side scroller. So would be Doom Flat.

I found another Doom 2d, totally freeware, and very good. No full version of doom needed. I'll post the link if you're intrested...

Doom flat is supposed to be a TOP-DOWN shooter, not sidescroller.

The screen would scroll to the side to reveal more of the level, therefore a side-scroller.

That's logic, but unfortunatly it's not what you actually call it.

SIDE-Scroller, that means you're scrolling from the SIDE, the perspective is from the SIDE.

The only way what you say can make sense is if you just simply say scroller.
And in that case it's a Top-Down-Scroller.
:bleh:

Seriously though, are you still fiddling with the engine?

I am, but mostly I've been trying to make it work properly with .NET, because the only projects that don't give errors are the tutorials coming with the engine. That means every time I want to make a program, I have to edit an existing project, but can't make my own. Also, I keep getting a weird runtime error when I compile and run the menu tutorial. The precompiled exe works, but if I compile my own, it crashes.

I'll have to install VC6 probably. I also got a job that starts today, and I've got a couple of other side projects. This one won't be a priority.

Bizarre problems.
Good luck with the job too, hope it isn't completely boring.

This project isn't really anybody's priority right now, so meh. :ok:

Boring? My job is basically sumarrising chapters from a textbook, as powerpoint slides that a lecturer at uni will be using for her classes next semester.
It's extremely boring.

LOL
That's worse than my job.
I wish you luck anyway.

Now... :ph34r:

helooo whats this about
I like programming (came here from ongamedev.com) got a bit of C++ experience (the basics) some java experience, some VB experience, some HTML/JavaScript, some DarkBasic.. ect
what y'all making?

top-down 2D 3rd person shooter.

uh, cool :)
im feeling pretty inspired at the moment, to make a 2d retro game.. I could post on abandonia re-loaded. Im not very good at programming though :P

Not much going on here :P

Well we couldn't do much without you, chickenman.

Why aren't you guys using Blitz3D?

Surely it supports all that you want to do?

Why aren't we using any of 100 different free engines out there? Because we had to pick just one and we did.

Because Blitz3D is somewhat terrible.

Besides, this is something simple.
Blitz also costs money, and the amount of money they charge is ridiculous for such a basic engine.

Im good with ideas and concepts. heres some cristmas games:
save santa,elf tetris,santa lost the presents now find them(RPG),cookie eating contest,mall santa beating,mario knockoff sqawsh evil toys,santa DJ,santa pantball :tomato: ,sant song maker,don't wake the famly give gifts,slay flight sim,santa rampaging in a tank,jesus vs santa.

Well i'm out of ideas :D

Thank you, but we already have a project going on.

EDIT: Nikson just told me that he hasn't done anything and he's too busy, so im going to give the job to someone else.
Any volunteers?

I can make a mock-up or prototype, and then someone can start more advanced production, how's that sound?

Okay, youre on it.

When you have something, post pictures.

I'm good with composing music

OH! the emotion! LOL

Relly I can play the keybord (piano)

Okay, make us some techno-horror music.

Hows the project coming along? We need a website and I can try and supply one!!

hi just wondering what is the project about?
and also why not upload it to ar?

That's if Kosta gives us webspace :P

I'm free to do programming now, with any engine :)

Good to know. But Blood-Piggy is doing the work.

Hows it going Piggy?

umm Midi or FM sysinth or .WAV or .MP3
.wav and .mp3 is the easyest for me to make I'll start working on some song demos i'll post some soon i was a little tied up sence cristmas....well i'm off to work :bye:

Make it wav.

Um...Piggy. Have done anything??

do you need some textures or graphics ? If so please PM me (I am just fequently in this part of the forum) and I am all for it ...