Author Topic: Let's Make us some Games! (Read 57,613 times)

Mizraim · « **on:** October 04, 2006, 06:43 PM »

Let's start collecting some ideas from all you gamers out there who want to see your ideas come to life! We might be able to collectively come up with some pretty unique ideas that could shape the gaming industry. I like the idea that there are a lot of people on this site from many different countries. We should come together with our programming abilities and ideas to see what we can come up with.

We may need to start small, stretch our wings, see what our limits are, as well as our potential. Perhaps eventually we could create the DonationCoder Industries. DCI or something, where anyone can contribute to the cause. Naturally this will take some work, and some advertising.

If you have an interest in this, or know someone who might, please invite them to the site so we can make some some of our dreams, a reality.

mouser · « **Reply #1 on:** October 04, 2006, 06:46 PM »

This is the perfect time to ask nudone to release his Cody Art Pack, with good quality images of our mascot Cody for use in a game. I'd love to be able to post some Cody flash games on the site and give them the attention they deserve.

Nudone, what do you say?

Also, any game designers out there be sure to check out the Accessibility Game Contest we are running through December 22nd: http://www.donationcoder.com/Contests/agame/

Mizraim · « **Reply #2 on:** October 04, 2006, 07:08 PM »

Maybe we can help by adding some links to some Game programming books for people who want to learn how?

mouser · « **Reply #3 on:** October 04, 2006, 07:11 PM »

a new thread dedicated to game programming resources would be quite useful.
and let's not forget this thread: http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=5471.0

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** October 04, 2006, 08:38 PM »

after nudone posts his art pack, i will offer a DonationCoder.com mug to the first 3 people who make flash things (game or cartoon,etc), (using the Cody Art Pack) that make nudone laugh out loud.

Deozaan · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2006, 08:45 PM »

I think it would be great to follow the ideas of Experimental Gameplay and go with a prototype in a week or less. A previous blog was mentioned by Mouser earlier about something similar, and I especially liked one of the links from the blog, which explained in greater detail what it was all about.

Deozaan · « **Reply #6 on:** October 05, 2006, 05:38 AM »

I have an idea for what seems like a simple game. [As I've been sitting here for the past few minutes explaining it, it seems to have become more complex than my original vision.] Here's the idea:

Summary:

Make a character that can walk around freely and plant things. After planting them you need to nourish them. As you nourish them they will grow bigger. The bigger they are, the more energy they get from the sun. There is an energy bar showing how much energy you have collected. As the plants go without nourishment they use up energy and get smaller. Then night time comes and you have to see how many plants survive with the energy that you've collected.

More Details/Rules:

The energy that you store is a backup reserve. At night the plants will draw energy from this reserve, when the reserve runs out, the plants will begin to wither and shrink.

In the day time the plant will draw give itself a little bit of energy but contribute most of it to the backup reserve. If you don't nourish the plant it will wither, becoming smaller.

When a plant runs out of it's own energy, it folds up and stops getting energy from the sun. When the plant is folded up, it uses minimal energy (1/8th normal usage), kind of like a hibernate mode. If a plant is in hibernate mode for more than five seconds (and reserves are empty), it dies. Dead plants use up moisture from your nourishment, making it harder to nourish surrounding plants.

If it is in hibernate mode for less than five seconds before it gets more nourishment, it then requires the nourishment to grow (arbitrary number here) three levels of growth before it will open up and start getting energy from the sun. Once it gets the nourishment of three growth levels, it opens up and automatically grows to the second level of growth.

Once a plant reaches its sixth level of growth it uses half the energy (shrinks at half the speed of other plants) and thus is able to gain you twice the energy in the sun. It would be nice to get upgrades after certain amount of points to your nourishment tools (water bucket or whatever) so you can nourish more plants and get your score higher.

Plants can be planted at night, but it is not a good idea to do that because your nourishing only works when the sun is out, so they'd just fold up very fast and drain more of the stored energy.

If you need me to explain things a bit better, just let me know what parts I need to detail more.

Mizraim · « **Reply #7 on:** October 05, 2006, 05:44 AM »

Hey that sounds simple and fun! Great start Deozaan. Now we just need to start programming.

Deozaan · « **Reply #8 on:** October 05, 2006, 05:54 AM »

Quote from: Mizraim on October 05, 2006, 05:44 AM

Hey that sounds simple and fun! Great start Deozaan. Now we just need to start programming.

Okay, you go first.

Mizraim · « **Reply #9 on:** October 05, 2006, 05:58 AM »

I guess I had better hit the Programming School here at DC.

Deozaan · « **Reply #10 on:** October 05, 2006, 06:00 AM »

Quote from: Mizraim on October 05, 2006, 05:58 AM

I guess I had better hit the Programming School here at DC.

What programming language are you going for?

Mizraim · « **Reply #11 on:** October 05, 2006, 06:07 AM »

Quote from: Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 06:00 AM

Quote from: Mizraim on October 05, 2006, 05:58 AM
I guess I had better hit the Programming School here at DC.

What programming language are you going for?

What do you suggest?

Deozaan · « **Reply #12 on:** October 05, 2006, 06:15 AM »

Quote from: Mizraim on October 05, 2006, 06:07 AM

What [programming language] do you suggest?

Whatever floats your boat.

I like Flash's ActionScript, but that might be a little difficult for a beginner. Of course, I can't really think of anything (considered a 'real' programming language) easier to start with. Flash has graphics, animation, manipulation, basically everything you need for 2D development. Problem is Flash costs $$$ if you don't have it already. There are alternatives, as was mentioned earlier in the post about Game Engines and Apps. I think there are even free Flash authoring tools where you can write all your code and it will export as a .swf file. But then you lose out on the graphics part of it. I'm not sure. I've never not used Flash to make Flash stuff.

mouser · « **Reply #13 on:** October 05, 2006, 06:32 AM »

shouldn't cody play a prominent role in this game?
i suggest flash, for the sake of playability.

Mizraim · « **Reply #14 on:** October 05, 2006, 06:37 AM »

Quote from: Deozaan on October 05, 2006, 06:15 AM

Quote from: Mizraim on October 05, 2006, 06:07 AM
What [programming language] do you suggest?

Whatever floats your boat. I like Flash's ActionScript, but that might be a little difficult for a beginner. Of course, I can't really think of anything (considered a 'real' programming language) easier to start with. Flash has graphics, animation, manipulation, basically everything you need for 2D development. Problem is Flash costs $$$ if you don't have it already. There are alternatives, as was mentioned earlier in the post about Game Engines and Apps. I think there are even free Flash authoring tools where you can write all your code and it will export as a .swf file. But then you lose out on the graphics part of it. I'm not sure. I've never not used Flash to make Flash stuff.

Well lucky for me I do have Flash.

Deozaan · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2006, 06:49 AM »

Quote from: mouser on October 05, 2006, 06:32 AM

shouldn't cody play a prominent role in this game?
i suggest flash, for the sake of playability.

How could Cody plant flowers and nourish them?

Unless. . .

Besides, I'm still waiting for the Cody art pack. You think I'm a skilled animator or something?

nudone · « **Reply #16 on:** October 05, 2006, 07:12 AM »

i've just emailed mouser to ask what he wants in the cody art pack but i'll also ask what people will find useful here.

what kind of variations of cody are required?

mouser · « **Reply #17 on:** October 05, 2006, 07:54 AM »

dont take requests for new art - just make the first pack of existing art.
for flash i think ideally it will be in illustrator format which people should be able to import as transparent vector stuff, ideal for animating i think. if not possible then transparent png probably would be second best. (maybe both formats if you got it).

actually, i think it's best to release a "test pack" first, without doing much effort, of just one pose of cody and a background, so people can test how easy it is to bring into flash and work with.

nudone · « **Reply #18 on:** October 05, 2006, 08:38 AM »

makes sense.

Mizraim · « **Reply #19 on:** October 05, 2006, 12:53 PM »

And... Cody is the Bird on the Keyboard, right?

nudone · « **Reply #20 on:** October 05, 2006, 01:12 PM »

keyboard ?

Mizraim · « **Reply #21 on:** October 05, 2006, 01:25 PM »

Er.... in front of the monitor?

nudone · « **Reply #22 on:** October 05, 2006, 01:43 PM »

do you mean in jgpaiva's forum avatar?

is so, then yes.

Mizraim · « **Reply #23 on:** October 05, 2006, 01:56 PM »

WOW! I just noticed your avatar....thats awesome!

JavaJones · « **Reply #24 on:** October 06, 2006, 06:09 AM »

Back when I worked for a game publisher I really enjoyed taking totally ludicrous game ideas (or just names for games) and trying to make a functional game concept out of them. I'm not sure it's really a good idea to actually make those games, but it's fun to think about. A couple examples were a BBQ game, a bartending game, and one called "rock fight". The "rock fight" one is particularly funny.

The story goes that way back in the heyday of Atari, when they were pumping out success after success, the marketing department wanted to get in on the action. So they got together and came up with a list of like 7 "game concepts" that they then gave to the development department to make into games. Except what they gave them was just a list of titles - no concepts, just names - and the names were really, really bad... like "Rock Fight" and "Laser Gun". Yes, they expected the development department to make a marketable, successful game starting with "Laser Gun".

Now I don't know if the story is true - it was told to me by some co-workers who had been in the business a while - but judging by my own experiences with marketing in places like that I would not be a bit surprised.

But I took it as a challenge. I liked the idea of taking a ridiculous game concept and trying to build a game out of it. So what I came up with was an RTS where rocks are the only resource - they are both currency and weapon and raw material. You find rocks around the map, different rocks in different places. You can buy things with rocks, build things with rocks, and use rocks as weapons. Of course different rocks (conglomerate, shale, marble, limestone, granite, etc.) have different qualities and are more or less valuable and better or worse for different purposes. You are not told ahead of time what is what so you have to guess and experiment. Also different combinations of rocks can create different products. Using one rock with an obsidian might allow you to make sharp objects, for example. Using another rock type to grind others would give you blinding powder, etc.

So, Rock Fight. Let's make it!

- Oshyan