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Well I have been planning to participate in the Video Game design competition at GATSA this year. I have been coming up with ideas for a game, but the thing about it is:
A) It has to be during the school year, up until the end of March, so not over summer.
B) I still need to find a few more people, with the minimum being 3. On the bright side, there is already another member who wants to do it, so we need at least one more person, which is harder than it sounds because relatively speaking, the club at my school is small.
C) There are some... interesting rules on what's required for development, such as development must confine to an hour-to-hour schedule, must be E10+, must include a "compelling" story, etc.
D) I really don't know what platform would be suitable.
Outside of that, the most I've ever done was mess around on Roblox Studio, but I am trying to make a 3D space shooter of sorts on there. However, since I haven't learned too many functions in Lua, I'm mostly sticking to concept art. Hell, I think using Roblox as a platform is a mistake.
Same goes for an RPG, but that I postponed until somewhere far in the future.
Well I have been planning to participate in the Video Game design competition at GATSA this year. I have been coming up with ideas for a game, but the thing about it is:
A) It has to be during the school year, up until the end of March, so not over summer.
B) I still need to find a few more people, with the minimum being 3. On the bright side, there is already another member who wants to do it, so we need at least one more person, which is harder than it sounds because relatively speaking, the club at my school is small.
C) There are some... interesting rules on what's required for development, such as development must confine to an hour-to-hour schedule, must be E10+, must include a "compelling" story, etc.
D) I really don't know what platform would be suitable.
Outside of that, the most I've ever done was mess around on Roblox Studio, but I am trying to make a 3D space shooter of sorts on there. However, since I haven't learned too many functions in Lua, I'm mostly sticking to concept art. Hell, I think using Roblox as a platform is a mistake.
Same goes for an RPG, but that I postponed until somewhere far in the future.
I'm working on a shmup project. You play as a divine dragon, and fight space demons on the moon.
I do all the programming and game design. A friend of mine does pixel art for it.
His computer broke a few weeks ago though, so he's on hold for the while as he prepares to get a new one.
The main gameplay mechanic is that you speed kill enemies to make bonus enemy waves appear, which are worth more points. There's a melee attack (no art yet), and a system for bombing and stunning enemies that I'll talk more about next time I do an update. More rambling and some gameplay videos can be found here.
It's probably no longer going to be just 15 minutes, since we've expanded our plans a bit.
I also have a strategy rpg planned (I have a gameplay system thought out, and an a* pathfinding algorithm for unit movement and enemy ai already written and tested), as well as a few other concepts I'll play around with once those are done. I've also been doing a lot of world building/writing lately (both the shmup and the srpg take place in the same universe, with the events of the shmup forming the "mythology" of the srpg's world).
I'll check out your stuff later when I next check in on this thread, busy right now.
I'm working on a shmup project. You play as a divine dragon, and fight space demons on the moon.
I do all the programming and game design. A friend of mine does pixel art for it.
I'll check out your stuff later when I next check in on this thread, busy right now.
Cool, thanks for posting that. Programming & game design must be a lot of work.
Pretty interesting how long a project takes, what kind of funding it gets (if any), and what happens after it's finally done.
The only thing I fear, however, is that I might potentially disqualify my group when the conference comes, because I already came up with ideas way before the time span of the competition.
This thread reminds me that I need to get back to working on my own project. Awhile back I had a thread in the fighting game category for a game me and a bunch of my buddies were working on called Invocation. I love the ideas we came up with, but we just didn't have the experience or knowledge to get anything really started outside the music. I'm kinda ashamed of the thread now cause I feel really childish about what I said back then. Still, I should revive the project with a couple more friends at some point now that we've grown up quite a bit. Maybe refocus the scope back down to something a bunch of idiots could feasibly make in their free time over Skype :P
I've been working on creating a game as well! Well fleshing out the story and characters and such, programming is way too confusing. Anyways, the gameplay is a mixture of Megaman X/Megaman Zero and Bayonetta. Stages and a story somewhat befitting the X/Zero series while having the silky smooth, fast paced and fun combat of Bayonetta. And an RPG element too. But that's mostly for traveling to the location of the boss stages. Basically the game is a love letter to the X/Zero franchise, which inspired the series.
I do have concept art of the bosses including the final boss and the true final boss but I'm not sure if anyone would want to see them since some of the concepts are old and need tweaking. Who knows? I might finally decide in 3 more years since that's how long I've been on the story.
I've been working on creating a game as well! Well fleshing out the story and characters and such, programming is way too confusing. Anyways, the gameplay is a mixture of Megaman X/Megaman Zero and Bayonetta. Stages and a story somewhat befitting the X/Zero series while having the silky smooth, fast paced and fun combat of Bayonetta. And an RPG element too. But that's mostly for traveling to the location of the boss stages. Basically the game is a love letter to the X/Zero franchise, which inspired the series.
I do have concept art of the bosses including the final boss and the true final boss but I'm not sure if anyone would want to see them since some of the concepts are old and need tweaking. Who knows? I might finally decide in 3 more years since that's how long I've been on the story.
Cool, I wouldn't mind seeing concept art. Wow, that's a long time to work on a game story, but if you have the drive & means, there's always a chance to finish it.
Ahh, i was working on a visual novel for a while before I dropped it.
I'd love to pick the project up again..its just so much work alone @__@ I already made so much concept art for it. Good thing is that ive actually (finally) finished writing it
Cool, I wouldn't mind seeing concept art. Wow, that's a long time to work on a game story, but if you have the drive & means, there's always a chance to finish it.
Alright then! I have the earliest concept art for the characters. Also might spill the beans on some of them. Also so designs are going to be in the final game while others are currently being changed.
One of the earliest concepts for Sable. This armor design was scrapped because I thought it looked dumb.
Her second concept involved her wearing armor that didn't even qualify as armor and she wore no shoes. The shoeless trait does carry over into her permanent design.
Her third design fixed the armor. This too was canned to make her outfit fit in with PG:R's story.
Astral Nova's concept art. This is permanent however the dumb shorts thing is fixed and is a pair of normal shorts.
Baldev's concept art. She is currently being redesigned but she is the strongest of the AGs and her motif during her Phase 2/weapon is drills.
Cinderella concept art. She's the fastest of the AGs due to her weapon which reference the fairytale she is named after. However instead of being glass, the slippers simply let her run incredibly fast.
A concept of her Phase 2 form. I didn't like it so I worked on it. I haven't drawn a picture but her Phase 2 now references a jump rope song I used to hear in school. Her dress now turns yellow and she is able to summon snake constructs which can inflict a poison status effect.
Astral Nova's Phase 2 is still the same but her hair is supposed to have constellations in it.
The real final boss Calypso, I didn't get around to fleshing her out until a couple months ago. She is being redesigned but somethings I have added is that she is referred to as Ultimate Weapon Number Seventy Seven, and that I'm going to pull a bit of a Jubileus on the players. She is kind of a homage to Omega from the Zero series.
This was before I redesigned Sable and I haven't done so to Mecha Sable yet but she is also inspired by a Zero series boss as well. In fact during the new renaming, she's even gotten her predecessor's name, well somewhat. She's now referred to as Copy S because just like her namesake, she's is a copy of the original.
I can't upload her two other forms because I hit the photo limit.
There's also old versions of the AGs bios as well as the main characters. They're a bit crap but I've been adjusting things or building off some concepts I liked writing about. Including this because at the time I was going off written concepts.
Artificial Gods
People taken by the Infinity Corporation and given almost all the power of a superhuman.The gender of the host does not matter as they are all classified as gods.During the process of becoming an Artificial God,a “programmed” personality is written up and the host is brainwashed.Along with that,all of their memories are erased.Their appearances and personalities is drastically altered by the Infinity Corporation so the Gods are not taken back.They are also given codenames and will respond to their project names.
There are many ways to create an Artificial God.The most effective way is to drain a superhuman of their power and “port” it into the host.However,one way was used against Sable,where they ported the power in intervals.This was highly ineffective as Sable’s R-M-X system was fighting against it from corrupting the host.This also explains why she isn’t as strong as the rest of the Artificial Gods.This method of creating Gods is discontinued.
Artificial Gods can also be made by corrupting anything with a superhuman’s will. In time the person who owns the object is turned into a God. No known cases exist as of now.
R-M-X (or Remix) System
Sable’s bionics/main weapon. It allows her to turn any part of herself into a weapon such as a drill or buzz saw. However it comes at a cost. It tears through her skin and armor and is said to cause extreme pain. One is forced to develop a high pain tolerance for this as many before Sable were outfitted with the system and died. It is also a system of endless potential,allowing more than one weapon out at a time.
Cinderella (Subject #422,Ash Fitzgerald)
An Artificial God.Along with the fairytale theme she has,her weapon is “glass slippers”,they boost her punches and kicks as she is also a melee fighter.Despite the dress,she is very fast moving.Her real name is a reference to Cinderella’s tale and Ella Fitzgerald.It’s unknown what she looked like before becoming an Artificial God.
Pandora Bloodworth
Teams up with Sable and Berlitz as the game’s healer.Oh and by the way,she’s a Dark/Black Mage.Very calm and has bright teal-ish hair she’s ashamed of.Uses of staff of “magic”,but it’s a condensed superhuman’s power with a “will”.
Berlitz
Berlitz is cocky. Since she prides herself on her skills with guns,she’ll have a tendency to shoot her mouth off and get in trouble,like her partner.However it seems like she’d much rather run away when she really dug herself a hole.Call it the coward’s way out,Berlitz will run off and leave Sable to clean up the mess.She gets an absolute thrill out of teasing her partner,much to Sable’s dismay.Not only that,but she does care about her partner,admist all the jokes. She appears to look like an adult,however she might be much older than that.Her hair seems to be a strawberry pink color and her eyes are a lavender color.Her skin also a light tan.She’s also taller than Sable,even without her boots. She’s a superhuman.
Sable
Oh boy… how do I begin…um….well….
The main protagonist of the game.Despite being the hero of her city,she sort of has a short fuse and usually ends up destroying the city,placing her under the trope of Destructive Savior.In the game,she puts her unwanted enhancments to use in ruthless and bloody combat.And she’s batcrap crazy,how she managed to be a hero is beyond anyone.But let’s just say she put her insanity to good use,by using it as one of her motivations.Sable has a strange set of things too.She also refers to herself as “we” sometimes.And she’s got a strange hero code:”Kill only evil”
Also,the experiments she went under infused her with superhuman DNA,which gave her the ability to create portals.She cannot die either.Well in the sense that she will come back to life due to her bionics refusing to let her die and will charge her with electricity in order to bring her back to life.She can die from being old.Her bionics allow her to turn any body part she chooses into a weapon.The cost,however,is painful,meaning that it rips through her flesh in order to do so.
Many things were changed especially during the case of Sable where she is now driven by her need to cause chaos due to her hybrid heritage. Or rather being a special case where it comes to hybrids. This was before the inclusion of the Chaotic Entities. And before I decided to have her be a very short salty teenager who sounds like a man from Boston or the Bronx. I thought the vocal dissonance would reflect her mother's side.
Images have a very Skullgirls story mode feel to them, very nice.
Thank you! I really liked how smooth and simple the StoryMode version was. I enjoyed the dynamic visuals so i was aiming for the same thing <3
Maybe i'll pick it up another time, finding artists who are willing to work with you on it (for free!!!!) is so hard!! eugeuheugeuhruh
Sporadically working on a top down, hex grid based strategy game centered around the idea of casting spells with rings. The idea was borne from my playthrough of Eternal Ring for the PS2 and getting disappointed that for all the magic rings the game had to work with, the system made it so that only a few were actually viable.
My idea is to have the player delve into the depths of a dungeon in search of reagents for a ring of power. Melee will be an incredibly limited option since I want to focus on having spell casting be the main form of interaction. 10 rings can be equipped and go on cooldown once used, cooldown is a "by turns" basis. I'm striving for interesting interactions, and item synergy. One of the first situations I envisioned was the player trying to block a multi-turn fire breath attack. Instead of summoning a single wall of stone with a ring (which will have their own durability) they use a "duplicate spell" ring in conjunction with "summon stone wall" to create multiple stone walls in front of each other to block the blast.
Current goal is to get the game board working. Math for hex grids is different but I liked how they worked in Fallout so it will be worth it.
Cool, thanks for posting that. Programming & game design must be a lot of work.
Yeah. I didn't expect it, but the game design part is more brain breaking than I initially thought.
Mainly level design and the whole score system. It's been really difficult finding ways to create situations where risk/reward is balanced with speed killing enemies, that also fit in with the other elements of the stage's progression (tactical variety, small amounts of randomness*, difficulty balance, etc.). At times it drives me into the depths of despair.
Other times, everything suddenly all comes together, and then I'm happy.
So while I may be looking to revive my old fighting game project (which is coming along pretty well aside from finding people to help with it Q_Q), I'm working on a much simpler little RPG I'm making in RPG maker, though I'm having to inject a lot of my own original stuff.
Its called Witch Parade? Which is just a working title but it's grown on me. Basically it's a Pokemon/SMT style game where you create familiars to serve as your allies. The unique thing is that your familiars are essentially crafted from essence and specific materials, and they evolve into stronger familiars, resetting their levels, as well as rewarding materials/essence when they do. Your familiars actually have their move list based on your abilities, which are split into 3 categories: Brook techniques (essentially physicaly attacks), Scorcery (Black/White Magic), and Summoning Arts (Ally buffs and other utility spells). So for example if you have 2 Broom techs, 1 Scorcery, and 1 Summoning art. They'll reflect that with an ability to support or synergize with physical attacks, as well as an ability to help buff your less effective magic skills. As familiars level up they get passive and abilities you can equip to blank slots to basically customize them, and they retain these on evolution. A number of familiars can evolve or be converted into each other so you can exactly what you want.
Your own abilities are unlocked via 3 skill branches. The skills you equip also give you base stats that are multiplied based on your stat multipliers, which increase as you level up, as opposed to getting stats. So you may have some less useful skills like guarantees escape from battles, but it may come with like 6 AGI while a critical boosting skill only gives 1 AGI. The branches can also connect via specific connected abilities.
Im doing a lot of work on it, but don't have any sprite work done for it yet as I'm just using placeholders atm. Hoping to finish the battle system sometime in the next few months so I can start spriting, cause that's my favorite part XD
im making a game with my friend atm, its a 2d explorer. you walk around and talk to a few npc and do some things. u___u its my first time pixeling so pls dont hate me:
Main Character
@Sinclair As someone who does a decent amount of pixel art, I have to say these are really good. One thing though: you could probably use less black to make outlines. If there is enough color contrast between two points, you can use a slightly miscolored pixel to signify the edge of that object on a character. For example, you could use a different shade of red on the man's coat, one that is a different saturation than the rest, to signify it's end and keep it looking smooth, or some darker pixels around the hair ends.
Especially with heads it's important to use as few black pixels for simply outlining as possible as that saves you space you could be using other colors to help define the character. Similar colored sections like arms on bodies are fair for outlining obviously as otherwise they wouldn't stand out enough.
Overall I really like your style, but the larger characters like the eyeball and MC feel like they could have an extra color or two to help make them look a bit more fleshed out. Simplicity is key in pixel art, but the more definition you can give within that simplicity the better off you'll be.
@Sinclair As someone ....Hopefully some of this advice helps.
Thank you so much! I was thinking about the same thing. I think that I was too afraid to step outside of my comfort zone when it came to that.
I tried something you mentioned a while ago, i liked what it looked like but i was scared the MC wouldn't stand out from the rest. but now that you mentioned it IS better than just black lining..
I'm gonna re-do the eyeball soon using what you just mentioned. I do feel like it would look better like that! Thank you so much <3
Also, does anyone have any refs/tips for Backgrounds? Esp for 2d scrollers/platformers. I feel like its really hard to make simple pixel backgrounds
Some other minor things I can say to help:
-The Eyeball's cycle is weird. It feels like most of the tentacles shrink and bend in weird ways. Maybe look for some reference material on such things, because the movement doesn't feel right to me at all. I can't quite explain what I mean in words though, sorry.
-In regards to backgrounds, it's usually best to create it in pieces. For example, a plain area with a mountain and clouds in the background. Create 2-4 cloud types, 2 mountains, and then let the programmer put them in a cycle in the background over a gradient or flat color. In the case of more complex things like the sunset on Tomahawkman's stage, just create a wide image. I can't really give tips on creating them as that's more based on taste and skill, but just build them in pieces. Its not your job to put them together into a comprehensive background for a whole stage.
Glad I could help out :D I'm not a master in any respect, so there are probably some others that could you give you far more in-depth advice than me
Thank you /so/ much! Im going to find a proper how to animate-floating characters(?) ref for this
I also feel like i made the eyeball too big and..way too static? It doesn't seem to be really lively.
Thought I'd throw this prototype video up after working on it for 12 hours straight. It's shit but with some polish it might be good.
Featuring the most hyperactive annotation commentary you'll ever see. Which I did not proof read at all.
Aside from that, I have about 3 minutes of actual stage gameplay finished. I'd like the first stage to be 1.5 minutes long, so I'll probably trim it down to increase the pace and variety, saving some of the harder stuff for later stages.
Actually, come to think of it, I think that blue spiral attack came to me after revisiting some Uzumaki artwork.
I'm developing a 2.5D tag fighter for Unreal4. I'm currently going around asking others for their feedback on the game's development and to find out if the mechanics and characters are something that would interest them. I ask around locally and have gotten some solid feedback on character designs and gameplan aspects. I would like to continue that trend here as I finish up before beginning the production phase.
Its called Forebearance and the story is about conflict resolution. Fighters are gathered from all over the world to battle an entity that threatens to wipe out all life on the planet. Its a tale of social acceptance and understanding what it means to be alive. The cast has a mixture of:
Humans - You are human so I need not explain. We are totalitarians in this tale. Evolved - These are animals that have reached the next step in evolution. They share the world with humans but are not a true governing power even with their present history. Aliens - Its broad, but that's because life forms from other planets have come to colonize on earth as well. Enhanced Humans - These are humans who have cybernetics so they can function in everyday life. At this current time, they are not well received by humanity. they are shunned and feared, with others going so far as murder to rid of them. Spliced Humans - These humans are modified biologically in an attempt to reach the next evolutionary state. They are hated by humans all together and are often executed on sight. Angels - Otherworldly beings that have come forth to fight for the living under command from God. Demons - Otherworldly beings that have come to insight further turmoil amongst the living in preparation for the end times.
the cast is colorful and each brings their own sets of skills to the table.
Cool, I wouldn't mind seeing concept art. Wow, that's a long time to work on a game story, but if you have the drive & means, there's always a chance to finish it.
Keep it up! My story is about 14 years old and i'm only now pursuing Implementing it into a game. I hope your story truly stands out!
Aeon Zenith - Season 2, Episode 4:
Judgment of Destructor ~ The Divine Dragon Revealed??
We got combos
We got stances
We got finishers
Only thing we don't have is mercy.
Everything is still a placeholder except player character and main shot. My artist came back but he's working a second job now lol.
About Melee:
Boomerang and latching on to enemies is meant to make you dance in and out of range, instead of like in fucking Sengoku Blade where the ideal strategy is to figure out how to stand on top of enemies so you can melee them forever.
About Judgment:
The idea behind Judgment is that it's a power based on a meter that you can influence but never truly control. Which fits the lore themes (both for this and the srpg) of only ever being partially in control of your surroundingsand self.
You can kill more enemies and collect falling power ups to speed it up, but its recharge rate is dependent on stage design (how many enemies, how much charge they give, how many items, etc.), and to activate Judgment you have no choice but to use it or miss your chance once its available*. Essentially, it allows me to enforce varied weapon usage and pacing throughout each stage. I decide when you dodge and when you destroy, and the ratio will be different each time. Stages could range from dodging fundamentals driven or non-stop high-risk explosive massacres.
Judgment is meant to be risky**, but also highly rewarding both for score and beating the game, if you can master it. If you want to "play safe" you can ignore Judgment and hold on to your meter for an emergency shield (although things might get hairy if you play TOO defensively). I'm trying to design the game so that if you just wanna beat it (and not master) then you have a lot of shields and resources to spam and it's not too hard. But mastery (and maybe seeing the true ending***...) requires risk taking and AGGRESSION.
The ability to extend it by chaining kills and the "kill everything" requirement for the bonus, ult, and meter refill on Judgment also works on both a gameplay and meta/thematic level, as it both genuinely requires you to take risks to hit every enemy and thus master the Judgement Weapons, and also represents the protagonist going into a sort of berserker rage that compels the slaughter of everything in sight. I tried to make the weapons feel as visceral as possible. I'm very happy with the screenshake on the LVL1 Aimed Attack and Ultimate Laser, though I'm not sure if you can notice it in the video.
Note *
In fighting game terms, I might also compare it to the "Rage" mechanic in Samurai Shodown or GRD Vorpal in Under-Night, in that its recharge rate depends on the battlefield, and you have a very small window to decide whether to use it or not once it's ready.
Note **
It's worth noting that my intention was that both versions of Judgment would only temporarily slow down bullets rather then cancel them. Only gave them full cancel power in the video because of a bug and because it was too damn hard vs the completely randomized waves I used for the fake-tutorial. Even so, what you're not seeing is the 50 times I re-recorded because I kept dropping the "combo" or getting sniped from the side by a zako during the rush at the end. In fact, I did drop it in the video, just after the white-out started, ha ha.
Beyond that, LVL1 requires manual aiming while leaving yourself unable to move, and LVL2 requires you to dash into close range (and doesn't even get full protection when not firing). Requires some commitment and finesse, as screwing it up can cost you a life or put you in a very bad situation with no meter.
Also on that note, keep in mind this is still subject to balancing. The recharge rate of everything and duration is kind of up in the air since I test things on a wave by wave basis when designing stages, and I'm just on the verge of putting it all together which may see some important tweaks.
Note ***
Thinking of including a post-ending scene that reveals the fate of a few characters if you score above a certain threshold.
One concern I have right now is that the double leveled meter is a bit confusing. I was thinking I might change it to something like a single bar that loops and swaps a weapon icon every time it fills. Unfortunately after month's of work I thought of that idea late. As in yesterday.
In the mean time, here's an instruction manual style documentation on it:
Aaaaand I just realized there's a massive typo in there. fuck.
Still too lazy to nerf those distracting Michael Bay explosions. I'll get around to finding a nice balance sooner or later.
Yes. But what I mean is, kids in (I'm assuming) college aren't very good at being productive. Engine features don't matter for a student project. Go with whatever the most people are most comfortable with. If it's an even split, play rock paper scissors if you have to. A lot of talk is useless for a club; you have to make people do things or they never will.
So uh... is it normal to bicker what engine to use for 3 months? For a basic dungeon crawler?
It's fine but engine doesn't really matter for something like that. If you want to use 3d graphics, use Unity. If you're going 2d graphics, use Game Maker. That's my personal recommendation.
Yes. But what I mean is, kids in (I'm assuming) college aren't very good at being productive. Engine features don't matter for a student project. Go with whatever the most people are most comfortable with. If it's an even split, play rock paper scissors if you have to. A lot of talk is useless for a club; you have to make people do things or they never will.
Or you do everything yourself >_<
I had 3 people working with me for a unity game demo which was final project for class. I ended up staying up multiple nights doing literally everything amidst finals weeks.
Grappling Hook thingy
I know this sucks but keep in mind it was done from scratch in a week having never touched any game engine ever before.
Still ended up being the most popular and complete demo in show though.
=
Oh on current project, I have official original music now. Will post it later because reasons though.
I don't know if I count as 'community' for the purposes of this because I work for LZ now, but back when I was just a Skullgirls player I did half of the design/programming work on this:
It's a stealth game where the guards have no fixed patrol patterns, so the only way to consistently avoid them is to distract them and lure them out of the way.
Before I was in the industry I made some small prototypes for fun like a weird competitive Bomberman clone where you could shove blocks into people or use explosions to push them back and forth, but none of them got released publicly and I don't know if I still have the source anywhere.
I don't know if I count as 'community' for the purposes of this because I work for LZ now, but back when I was just a Skullgirls player I did half of the design/programming work on this:
It's a stealth game where the guards have no fixed patrol patterns, so the only way to consistently avoid them is to distract them and lure them out of the way.
Before I was in the industry I made some small prototypes for fun like a weird competitive Bomberman clone where you could shove blocks into people or use explosions to push them back and forth, but none of them got released publicly and I don't know if I still have the source anywhere.
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