Game Maker's Garage Forum
Game Maker's Garage => Group Projects => Topic started by: Connors on June 18, 2013, 02:28:14 AM
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Gan and I were talking about past attempts at a group RPG again recently, and he had a good point. There's not much to say about it yet, except that he told me if I can get a complete detailed script going he can help actually program the game. I think a little explanation is in order...
Mostly this came up because Gan says he would have helped to complete the mighty iRPG Group Project if we'd had a story. Well, honestly we had a pretty epic story. A complete and detailed plotline, backstory and locations fairly well thought out and there's a lot of good work there. But basically, we never got down to the details of the project and wrote the actual script. Gan needed this to continue and if there had been more clear communication about what was needed we may have gotten more done.
I don't see why Gan and I, and perhaps Zoo, couldn't do something like this now, but I have a dilemma. If we were to use the content from the iRPG threads I feel it would be wrong to not let the original creators know, especially if we plan on selling this on the App Store. I do seem to recall a suggestion that we use any profits from such a thing to help fund this website or a contest.
The alternative is of course to make an entirely new project with unique sprites and storyline so that there isn't some big ethical issue, and then we'd split the profits between us. Sounds like Zoo would be on board with that.
EDIT: One more little side note. The TIGsource forum seems like a good place to go if we're looking for a larger amount of feedback, if this becomes a serious project we should consider posting logs on both this forum and theirs.
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Silver has given me full access to all Roguesoft resources, free to use.
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Heheh, yeah I had forgotten about that. o.O
I did write that original post kinda late at night. I think we could try and continue using the stuff from the iRPG, it would be really fun and we can talk about whether we're selling it for money later.
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Well, in that case, Gan, we don't need to write much original music, as there's a bunch of unused (I think) but nonetheless brilliant Roguesoft music in the Elathondreoth (or however that's spelled) soundtrack.
I think we should take a 50/50 approach to the game, with 50% of it taking place in an underground society that never progressed past ancient times, and then it take a serious turn when you escape the caves and discover a futuristic society where war has broken out with aliens or something to that effect. That way, we get a nice, easy, classic RPG, mixed with a futuristic RPG. I think it's a great idea.
Another idea (although a much harder one) would be to move out of the 1990s of gaming. 2D turn based RPGs are great, but they aren't big moneymakers these days. Their main purpose these days are to be a retro throwback. I'm not saying we have to make another Skyrim, but a bit of an enhancement graphically or gameplay wise would be welcome, in my opinion. I just don't think a grid based game would work very well with an epic plot. I say we try to replicate the feeling of Ocarina of Time by having real time combat based on blocking and attacking with puzzles thrown in to each level (and getting to each level). Then if we make one inventive new item that is used to solve puzzles in each level, and also a clever boss that acts as a sort of a final challenge with that item (IE using the slingshot to kill Goma, or the hookshot against that blob thing that had a really weird name).
I know anyone who's played OoT will agree that it's an inspiration that doesn't have many games inspired by it come out today. If you haven't played it (Gan) I'd either find a copy asap, or just *shudder* emulate it. If you guys feel up to the challenge, I could help you write it, as well as give you ideas, design puzzles/levels/items.
That being said, it would be a rather large undertaking, and it wouldn't be easy. But it would be different.
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It'd be best if we stuck with the resources we have.
Granted I do find the classic/futuristic idea appealing. It tingles my desire to make a space game.
A 3D game would have to be done much later, none of us are (good) 3D modelers.
And to make the game, it'd require all of use to at least do basic coding.
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I can modify code, IE, making different weapons using some form of base weapon code. If 2D, I say we at least have real time combat or some variant on the turn based engine such as spells or elemental weapons or something. Maybe a party system like final fantasy?
As for 2D vs. 3D, I recall you being pretty good at modeling things, Gan. And like I said, I'm not suggesting we make something high-polygon. I think that we could make it in the style of PS1/N64 RPGs. Because people like nostalgia. There's 16 bit and 8 bit games flooding the internet these days, but you don't see many people trying to emulate the experience of playing a Nintendo 64 game. If we were to take on this upgrade from SNES graphics to N64 graphics, we could still primarily use 2D sprites for items as was common back then.
OK, so it's pretty obvious here that I want to make a game that looks and feels like Ocarina of Time, and there's a good reason behind that. Nostalgia sells games. The main demographic for gamers is people who grew up with the N64 (imo).
And Ocarina of Time is one of the (if not the) most fondly remembered games of the era. It just had this great atmosphere of adventure that I don't think can be created with 2D games. As a kid I remember just the drive to discover secrets in the gigantic 3D world. It was the first game I can remember that truly felt like... adventure. The exploration, the items, the puzzles, the battles... it all just felt like what the perfect adventure game should be. It's right up there with Cave Story and Super Mario Brothers 3 on my mental list of the greatest games ever. I doubt any game will ever come near to matching how great it was. But nonetheless, I want to try.
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Also, if we could have a TBMSBC cameo in there (assuming we add the sci-fi bit), that'd be awesome.
Maybe as little as a piece of dialog or going as far as to include a titanium battle mech armor item, I think it'd be an interesting addition. Or just go all out and include all the characters with several side quests and maybe give them a role in the main story. I should PROBABLY check how far the blog's gotten, actually... I have to see what I can tell you guys...
OK, so you haven't met like 2/3 of the main characters yet... Stay tuned, then, I guess. Maybe I'll just make my own TBMSBC game... except I have absolutely no idea where to start because I don't have any of my old software... because my new computer is windows.
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I think we should have a solid main quest line, but a lot of side quests and character customization (stat wise) for a lot of replayability. We should obviously start it with a stat chooser thing, where you start with like 10 points used to set your base stats, and then every time you level up you get better health, but also like 3 points. Standard RPG stuff that wasn't in QoM.
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They did a survey, people actually feel closer to characters that they can personally customize with stats.
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Before we can progress, there's a few decisions that have to be made.
Mainly, what will the game look and feel like? What platform will it be for? I'm assuming it would be for PC/Mac (you'll have to make it cross platform to get any kind of an audience.)
While I'm of the opinion that it should feel like Ocarina of Time, we'd have to find a way to take the feel of the combat from the intuitive N64 controller to the keyboard and mouse. I think one way to do this would be by having mouse controlled 3rd person camera that could rotate in a 360, but you could lock on to targets in a similar way to Ocarina of Time's lock. With bows and laser guns, having a mouse and keyboard is actually an advantage, with more precise aiming. I also think this format would be great for adding mounted combat (like on some form of ATV or underground horse?) I don't think the cave bit should feel closed off, as if you were in a cave, but rather it should feel like a gaping cavern with its own life. Stealth would obviously be key during this segment, forcing you to sneak up on larger enemies rather than trying to overpower them. That type of gameplay is impossible to get with a turn based game. Graphically, we could strive for something like a mix between Ocarina of Time and Halo: Combat Evolved. That being said, better graphics would be possible, but we'd need practice using whatever 3D engine we choose (Unity, maybe? Unreal engine is nice too, but I don't think it's free.) I think that you have to make the games that you want to play, and I've been wanting a game like this for some time. I'd like to hear your opinions, anyway.
On the 2D side of the debate, I think we could have a top down perspective, but we'd need entirely new art assets for the RTC. While I loved QoM, I think it was lacking gameplay wise. Mainly due to the fact that there wasn't much actual thought or strategy involved in the combat. I don't think it should be grid based. I think we need to convey the story in other ways besides just text dialog. Voice acting would be nice, but it'd have to be done well (which means I can't do it.)
As for making a 3D game being a huge challenge for us: yes, it will be. I have a friend who might be able to help with the coding a bit, and I can help with the art (mainly by critiquing it, and with menu designs and stuff that can then be polished up by somebody better at art.)
I don't think it'd TOO much of a challenge, though. I think with serious dedication we'll be able to make the game. And since this isn't my project, I guess I'll hand this topic over to Connors and Gan for the moment who will probably reject my (albeit very ambitious) ideas for a simpler 2D game.
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They did a survey, people actually feel closer to characters that they can personally customize with stats.
I can certainly agree with that. I think it also allows for gameplay more varied and suited towards each player's personal preference. For example, I'll usually play an RPG as an archer or a rogue, but I know people who generally like to lean towards the heavy melee side of things. Kind of like TF2's class system. Some people are spy people, some people are more inclined to be the heavy.
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Alright Zoo I'm gonna try and lay this out for ya. There's no way Gan will be making anything remotely resembling Ocarina of Time with his current experience, I can't hardly help him much with code and I don't think your friend will be able to make the difference. Gan and I agreed that we should try for a 2D game for now, and we're not shunning your big plans, we just want to put that on the shelf for now.
When I took an interest in this site I wanted to do this as a hobby, for fun, and I feel like this project could be a great way to do that. If we manage to make some decent money off it too, that's awesome. But we can only do so much at the moment.
That said, I'm gonna propose my idea of a game based generally off the old group threads. Feel free to throw in your own input, we don't need to use this plot but I really feel like there's a lot to work with here. And don't worry, we're gonna make a fresh combat system, and I have plenty of ways we can implement some Zelda style puzzles and make things more interesting than QOM was gameplay wise. I like the idea of a percentile system. I also think we could implement various strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps there's even puzzles where some monsters can't be beaten just because you're high level and instead require a particular strategy or you have to find a special item. Maybe instead of the percentiles and turn-based stuff we just make it more like classic Zelda gameplay, but 2D. Phantom Hourglass anyone?
This is the general storyline as best I can remember:
The game would be a 2D RPG with a somewhat open world (although not a huge one), side quests and many puzzle elements and special items to find. It's got one setting, a fantasy world. Here's the story in a nutshell from what I can remember:
We open with the main character having signed up to be a part of the City Guard. The player can choose to train as a typical Guard (warrior/swordsman), an Archer or a Mage. Small time skip to a training session which serves as a basic tutorial. You are then told by somebody that they need some recruits to go out to this new settlement up north at the base of the mountains, a town that's just getting started where there's been some trouble brewing. You ride to this town with 2 or 3 other fairly new recruits. In town you might meet a few more characters and learn that the town is being harassed by monsters.
Early quests involve helping the locals fend off monsters and at some point you have to investigate areas near town. These areas are open world but with Zelda style railroading (you must have item A to access this Dungeon). This eventually leads you to the first dungeon in a cave nearby in the woods and at the end of the dungeon is a boss monster and a new item.
After the woods dungeon the game continues like this with various side quests as you go through dungeons in the nearby swamp, a peculiar desert wasteland all the while gathering strength and items and finally the final boss is up in the snowy heights of the mountain.
During all this the town is the central area and it grows as the game progresses. Merchants pass through selling supplies for the hero to look at. Eventually people move into town and buildings appear, construction is done on the central building etc. Later on merchants set up shop permanently so you can get items that way.
DUNGEONS AND BOSSES:
Forest dungeon (northwest, near town): not to sure what's there yet, but it's a boss in a dungeon.
Swamp (southwest area): Boss is some kind of shapeshifting Ogre that tricks you repeatedly before you finally catch him.
Desert: (East area) You discover an Evil Mage of some kind has turned this area into badlands, so that the forest abruptly becomes desert-like as if you were in Minecraft. Very out of place. You find the mage underground in this dungeon.
Mountains: (north) Way up there above the snowline in the cold mountains in a cave, the last dungeon, is the Final Boss. I don't recall having fleshed out many details on the final boss. My idea for it's motive is basically that this boss monster feels threatened by humans trying to expand their territory; it's the puppet master of the stuff you've been fighting. It's turning wild monsters hostile so that you have to fight them and they all wind up suffering because of it. It wants to destroy the village and hopes to one day perhaps go even farther and wage war with humanoids. I can credit the idea to a friend of mine who suggested it be a crazy Druid hippie environmentalist guy but it could also be an angry dragon because dragons are cool. The crazy druid could be much funnier though.
I think we could have fun with story characters dialogue etc. and even have a humorous aspect since I enjoy that stuff and Zoo seems to excel at it.
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Sounds good, I'll just shelve my idea for now.
So, 2D Zelda style, eh? So, there are some inventive ways you could do this... you could:
Have it be grid based, until you reach an encounter with an enemy in a dungeon, which takes you to a battle screen in real time. Maybe you can choose to approach the enemy before they see you, thereby adding a stealth aspect as well. Sort of like EarthBound. Upon triggering a battle with an enemy if it's a sneak attack they won't be able to detect you for a bit/until they're hit in the battle screen. Enemies would all have a range of view (like the big sword guys in phantom hourglass), but it wouldn't be visible to you unless you had a lens of truth-like item. You'd start the game without a sword (the first sword would be hidden in a chest halfway through the first dungeon) so you'd have to sneak by enemies. I like the idea of a stealth aspect in an RPG. Obviously this would take a little bit of AI work, but it'd be worth it. Back on topic, though. The battle screen would have a background resembling the area you were in when you triggered it. It'd be fairly large, but you can't leave a battle screen until either of the two forces inside it were dead (be it you or the enemy(s). Battle screens would be triggered by crossing an enemy's field of vision, or by clicking on an enemy. A battle screen would include all the enemies in a given radius. This singling out of enemies for real time combat would allow for more strategic fights. You could attack, block, use magic, use ranged weapons, etc. It would also spawn you in the battle screen relative to where you were when the battle was triggered, allowing for ranged attacks as well. I like the idea of separating battles from travelling. Maybe there could be puzzle screens as well, where you have to solve puzzles, but until we have a set list of the different actions the player can perform and the different items that will be in the game, it's hard to say what these puzzles will be like. Probably some cube and button based testing. And switches... and probably lighting a bunch of torches in a room (because Zelda logic). Bosses would have combat screens like regular enemies, but they'd be triggered immediately upon entering the boss room, and they'd be slightly large. Bosses absolutely CAN NOT just be strong enemies. They all have to be well designed, and require you to use your wits to defeat them.
Wow.. I probably should have broken that up into paragraphs...
Possible mechanic/item/boss listing begins now!
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"Cube/Button Testing". I like that. x3
Well, if you read my last post and didn't go TL;DR, we had some ideas for bosses. I particularly like the tricky, clever shape-shifter, the Ogre that lives in the swamp. There could be multiple puzzles relating to his trickery.
Some enemies might have a very specific weakness, rather than require you to be a certain level, requiring you to use an unusual item.
As for your ideas about stealth:
The idea is that the hero is training to be on the City Guard but is offered the option of being paid to instead go to help this new settlement for a while. So the hero already has minimal training and a weapon. I do really like this idea of giving enemies a line-of-sight, and surprise attacks for battles, though. Could be used for some puzzles (again Phantom Hourglass).
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Here's a fantastic example of puzzleness: I once tried some old text adventures we had on an old computer. My favorite was Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor.
There's a path along a cliff face, a riddle written upon it the cliff, if you guess "lightning" (or was it thunder) the lightning strikes a hole into the rock allowing you to reach a lighthouse. Guarding the lighthouse are a few monsters. There is a giant slug which you can fight if you want but it's easiest to chase it away with some brine (salt) from the ocean nearby. At the top of the tower a chest is guarded by a beast with a thousand eyes.
To defeat this creature, you must obtain a giant onion, roll it all the way to the top of the lighthouse (you gotta type roll/push onion [direction] a lot), and slice it open releasing strong fumes, which sting your eyes and cause the creature to screetch in pain and flee.
To obtain said onion you must get if from the cook in the tavern, The Rusty Lantern. He tells you to get him a valuable bottle somewhere in the cellar. It is only safe to attempt this if you grab the lantern hanging out front. The cook is an asshole playing a joke and of course he locks you down there, and here's how you must get out:
1. Fight off silly enemies.
2. Find magical amulet.
3. Obtain bottle from the top of a pile of barrels (If your dexterity bonus isn't high enough there's magical moss someplace that can give it a boost)
4. In order to read the runes on the amulet through the swirling colors and patterns, you must look at it through the bottle you found.
5. Upon reading the runes on the amulet, you suddenly surge with temporary strength and can kick open the locked cellar door. The cook is awestruck when you give him the bottle and gladly lets you have the prize-winning giant onion.
Seriously who has the time and patience to figure all this out!?
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I like the real time separate battle screen idea. Cause when you think of it, what happens when you get in a fight IRL?
Environment fades out of your view and your main focus is your enemies.
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It's really not so different from QOM that way. Another idea I've been thinking of is the ability to run away if you get in a fight you don't think you can win. This is intended to make it more interesting, particularly when you've tried to explore areas that you aren't prepared for yet. It could be fun and even rather hilarious at times. There'd be a genuine sense of danger when you're nearly dead and running back to safety. It's what makes Minecraft fun when you're starting out and can't fight off everything.
Of course if no one can shoot or anything until the battle screen opens again, this gets weird. Does it open even if you're spotted even at a distance? Or should we scrap the idea of a battle screen and make it all real-time? I don't know if we could still use that percentile system or if it would have to just be like Zelda games... But I kinda like the battle screen. It makes things easier to program. Hmmm.
When can you guys be available to do a group chat? Possibly voice chat?
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That's a brilliant puzzle.
Anyway, I should have inferred that he'd have a weapon. Still though, maybe he isn't strong enough to defeat said enemies yet.
In scenarios where monsters are chasing you, you can exit the battle screen by running (maybe) and the monsters would chase you out of the battle screen if they've seen you or something. We could make it work.
Leveling system!
I don't think you should just get experience for fighting. Sneaking up on an enemy then killing it should give more xp than just a head on fight, and sneaking past an enemy should count for a little bit, but not as much as killing it. Or, we could take it Elder Scrolls style, where you get xp for certain aspects by doing different things (such as holding down your space bar with a brick for a few hours, coming back and having an acrobatics skill of OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!) Or getting strength skill by killing things, or stealth/sneak skill by sneak attacking and what not.
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Should we make the skills system that complicated? I'd rather focus on gameplay and puzzles. Tell you what. One way of running collaborations like this is that if you come up with an idea you want in the game, you have to work on implementing it.
If you think you can lay out the gamerules for the stats system you want to use, then by all means, do it. I personally think we should try to lay out the ideas for combat in a way that we can test them before having to program them in. If it's turn-based we can do it tabletop style and roll dice and do the math real quick. Or maybe it's easier to test with a mockup program in Silver Creator. But we've got to start trying things.
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I definitely want to stay away from making it turn based. I think we should try to figure out how to make the battle screens work. I think it would work nicely. Leveling doesn't need to be complicated, but I think there should at least be some level of control over what areas your character excels in. So I think maybe we should outline all the skills that would be easy to implement in a top down 2D environment.
I'll make a list of levelable skills.
Speed - how fast the character runs, not very complicated. Possibly call the stat agility and have it also relate to how fast they can attack. Maybe after this skill levels enough the character gets a new ability such as rolling to avoid attacks. A possible option for stats is allowing the player to choose one special ability for the stat they train the most on.
Stealth - Higher stealth means longer before an enemy notices you when you get a surprise attack battle screen. It also gives you a better probability of picking a lock on a chest or a door (lock picks could be a single use item that either breaks or opens a lock. With higher stealth, you'd have a greater chance of picking a lock, and a lower chance of breaking your lock pick.) A special ability for stealth would be temporary invisibility or something.
Strength - how much damage the player does in battle. Pretty self explanatory. A special ability for strength would be a special strong attack which the player uses and then has to recharge.
Magic - how much mana the player has for magic abilities. Leveling this up would let you use a summoning spell to summon NPCs to fight for you as a special ability. As an added bonus, every magic level your maximum mana goes up by one, and your type of NPC that you spawn gets a bit better. The NPCs wouldn't be OP, just a little help in battle. You might also get faster mana regeneration with this stat.
Vitality - how much health the player has. Choosing to level this up the most gives the player a quick heal ability, using mana to heal instantly instead of using potions or other healing items.
Defense - counter damage to oncoming attacks. For example, say the enemy has an attack of 7 and you have a defense of 2, the enemy's attack would deal 5 damage. To prevent this from being super OP and keeping weak enemies from doing any damage at all, defense can only limit an enemy's attack to 1/3 of its original strength. The ability for this stat would be magical shield that deflects enemy projectiles and defends against melee attacks.
The player would get one special ability for his player, based on what stat he has most leveled up. The ability will change to always match the skill you have the highest level on. That way it's not a permanent decision and it allows the player to test them all out if they wish. You get a few upgrade points each time you level up, which you can apply to these skills.
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First thing first, we have to stay within the limits of our resources.
Silver's sprites are what we got. So if we think of an epic battle system, we gotta mock it up with Silver's sprites.
I'm all for real or turn based. But real might look clunky due to the nature of Silver's sprites. Of course we can add sword swipe, arrow or mage attack animations to make it more realistic.
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I think we could use his background sprites, but the fact is that the player sprite set is not from an overhead perspective and wouldn't work with real time combat in 4-8-360+ directions. I like the sprites but they just aren't usable for real time combat. That being said, the only ones that won't work are the humanoids. The monsters would work, I think. Just not the dwarves, elves, humans, orcs, goblins, etc. But I'm envisioning the battle scenes as if you were viewing them from a helicopter, whereas the players are all standing as if viewed from the same height as they are. So if you were to use them in a top down perspective, they'd look like everyone was laying down. So, I don't know what to do besides make new art assets. I think the real first step is finding software of some kind.
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Software my ass. Sprite drawing software is easy to find. Use Pixen, it has an option to make an animation with preview. We don't want to re-make the sprites, though. It could still work with cheesy sprites if the game is fun! Sword swipe animations and arrows and stuff but with the static front-view Roguesoft style sprites, in a real time battle. Yeah it's a bit silly. That's sort of what makes it fun. Ever tried Silmar? It uses that style of graphics but movement is not locked to a grid which works pretty well.
As for stats, I don't want to balance that many of them. In the end we're aiming for game balance and that means making sure all stats work. And we'd have to let the player choose which stats to upgrade. I'm not experienced at setting up a system like that and I'm worried it would fall apart. Perhaps we should keep it to four.
Simplicity, my friend. Simplicity.
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Ever play Castle Crashers?
It doesn't have to be straight up/down. It could be at an angle like looking down from a tree.
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Nifty. And the wall collision box is around the characters' feet!
Meaning if you walk past a sprite your top half or so would be in front of it.
Meaning, it's more like a 45 degree angle now. Just a tiny bit awkward, but doable with our current resources.
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True. If you can narrow it down to 4 stats, that's fine. Those were just some ideas.
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I can get started on the NAV System immediately.
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What are we making this in? SilverCreator?
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Sprite Kit, Mac 10.9 apple game making API.
Apple released it at this year's WWDC. Making games with it is really easy.
Anywho, I was about to start the Nav system and was browsing Silver's Roguesoft resources and found out that Silver was experimenting with Charas sprites.
Here's one of them: http://cl.ly/image/06013a3E152B/Warrior.png (http://cl.ly/image/06013a3E152B/Warrior.png)
If these charas sprites are royalty free, we could use them because it seems that was Silver's next step.
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We could use them, but are we still allowed to sell the game, then? Because if we are, then I'm all for it. The sprites look great, and I can make them. Honestly, this would be ideal for me, to create characters for the script of the game knowing what they'll look like. I think Charas is pretty awesome. Good for making enemies, too.
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They were in Silver's resources folder and they kind of look like his style.
I'm betting Silver made them. I can ask him though.(There's quite a few more of the charas style sprite sheets, monsters, princesses)
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Hey Zoo, before we can hit the action stage; we gotta know, are you all in?
All in means you're gonna install 10.9 and Xcode on your 2010 mac. That you'll be ready to add basic storyline and game code as well as help develop the storyline and game.
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Just out of curiosity, if we're doing this in Xcode then it's not going to be cross platform?
And I was just assuming I could do all of my work outside of xcode by writing the story up and sending it along to someone who could implement it in game. Or I'd just type up the code outside of xcode and send it to one person who has all the game files.
That being said, I would be able to install Xcode on my Mac. And I'll be willing to help with as much code as I can without hindering your progress. Most likely you'll just need to make a base code for dialog which I can edit to put in whatever story I write. I'll have to wait and see.
I can design people in Charas, although every time I try they just end up looking too epic.
I can help design the UI and stuff.
I can give you ideas and test the game
I can eat cheese sandwiches *inside joke*
I can do a bit of basic coding (ie modifying existing code)
I can do a bit of writing for you.
It's nice to see that we're working with the very definition of modern software this time. As opposed to the old stuff.
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Not cross platform. That'd require using a much more complicated setup. We're going to use the official Apple Sprite Kit API that allows for easy game creation.
It'd be best if you installed Xcode, coding in Xcode is a ton easier than trying to guess pseudo-code that you can't test.
Plus it'll be easy for you to hit the Play button to test newly written code.
We have 20 charas designed by Silverwind(enough for a game) and a crap ton of apparently home made sound effects that we haven't figured out how to open yet.... have to ask Silver.
So before we can hit the action stage, you're going to need to install Mac OS 10.9 and Xcode.
I'll PM you the links.
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I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
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I guess we'll have to override.
Might want to get those downloading as soon as possible. They take a while.
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Made a dropbox account for the project. This is how we'll share all our files.
Zoo, how long until you're ready?
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Well, considering that I'll be away from my Mac for 3 days...
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It's fine, get it downloading now, 3 days later install.
We'll probably start the action stage tomorrow or later tonight. You can join in when you get back.
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We're still in the prep stage.
I've been preparing the tiles, tile editor, how things will work:
(http://cl.ly/image/1P0n1n0c3K0v/Screen%20Shot%20.png)
(http://cl.ly/image/0D2i0x0R4420/Tile%20Sheet.png)
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Figured out how objects work in Tiled.
Objects are polygons that you place and give a value. For example, put a polygon at the base of a tree and set it as "tree". Then when I load the world I can place a collision block on the tree.
That's only a simple form of object. We can also use objects to detect if a player is near a sign or is walking into a house or to detect if he goes into a special area that triggers a special event!
That means less coding and more putting together visually.
(http://cl.ly/image/3Y1q0e3E351g/Screen%20Shot%202013-06-26%20at%207.51.07%20PM.png)
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Tiled I can work with. I wouldn't be doing much programming anyway, so there's not much of a point to me pirating OS 10.9 and Xcode.
But map making is a possibility for me.
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I suppose with how advanced Tiled is, you don't have to be a coder.
However I'll still need Connors to be a coder for certain specific things that Tiled can't handle alone.
Zoo, I'd still recommend installing 10.9 just so you can test the game.
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Hehehe
(http://cl.ly/image/2l3o1H3b352I/Screen%20Shot%202013-06-26%20at%2010.30.36%20PM.png)
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Closer!
(http://cl.ly/image/2Z1R241h2P2R/Screen%20Shot%202013-06-26%20at%2010.47.38%20PM.png)
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I haven't entirely figured out how to correctly animate them...
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Okay, that looks pretty sweet and sort of 3D and the sprites look awesome, I hadn't really looked at them before... Even the lettering looks cool. Light lettering with a dark border is good. We should find a low-res font that would fit in with the sprites.
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I made another cool and accidental effect:
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Is the game OS 10.9 exclusive? I'd recommend trying to get a little compatibility with operating systems that have come out yet. But that's just my opinion.
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Yes.
The reason being we're using Sprite Kit. And our focuses are the App Stores.
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10.9 exclusive? I didn't realize.
That's... A really small audience. You have the skill to make a game that would work on more than one OS, why do you have to use SpriteKit all of a sudden? It's not like we're making super complex graphics. You're just doing what Apple wants, they want people to buy the new OS so they're releasing things like SpriteKit.
Besides, we could still use Tiled for maps, right?
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Yeah we could.
I figured if we made a game for 10.9 using Sprite Kit, we'd finish it after the OS was released.
Though if you guys want, I could use the Cocos2D framework. Similar to Sprite Kit, works on 10.6+
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Got the sprites to show up in cocos2D. Should work on 10.8 and 10.9.
I'm going to figure out how to draw the Tiled map.
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(http://cl.ly/image/1B3E0g1m2p27/Screen%20Shot%202013-06-27%20at%2012.59.33%20PM.png)
Got the map to draw.
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Here we go.
(http://cl.ly/image/0K0C3s2e1Q19/Screen%20Shot%202013-06-27%20at%2011.24.23%20PM.png)
A nav you can actually move your character around in.
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Though if you guys want, I could use the Cocos2D framework. Similar to Sprite Kit, works on 10.6+
Sounds like a good idea... Also the latest one with movement looks great. Good to see that you figured it out okay. I'm pretty sure about what I want to do with the script so I'll get crackin' on that today when I'm not busy with my homework.
@Zoo:
Do you have a google account? Once I have some things done we could share them via Google Drive which lets you collaborate.
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Sweet. Scripting sounds like a good idea.
I'll continue to work on the nav system more in my free time. Adding movement collision and fringe objects.
When the nav is fully functioning, that will open the door for map making. By then you guys might have some cool scripts written up.
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Yeah, I have a google account.
I'll PM you my gmail.
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Also, can I have a link to the tileset we're using?
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And could you show what the sprite nav looks like when the character is at the same scale as the background? (ie 1:1)
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PM your emails. I can use Drop Box's Share folder feature so we can share resources.
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I completely forgot this project existed.
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I come back from college and you guys have started a project w/o me!
unbelievable ;)
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I was trying out this program called Cave Editor which is used for modding Cave Story. It's a really well made program, by the way, with a cool map editor, and I recommend Zoo check it out. It's fun! It gave me an idea for how we could do events and cutscenes in a game, so we'll have an easier time making lots of them. Basically, objects in Cave Story can call an "event number" which runs the numbered line in the script. So you could have a sign post, and the sign calls Event #0100 when you look at it. Then there's a line of the script which says #0100 and after it is the command that displays the message and waits for you to press a button. There's a list of script commands you can use for NPC's and movements and sound effects and transitions etc. it's very nice.
I also tried out Tiled and made a little map with the tileset Gan posted in this thread.