I'm telling you. It's not industry-specific. This is how our generation is treated now, regardless of what career you're building into. Ask anyone who works in a hospital. An oilfield. A farm. A retail or automotive company.

WE ARE HANDING OUR PARENTS/GRANDPARENTS GENERATION OUR BALLS FOR FREE.

KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF ALREADY.

Introverted (I) 61% Extraverted (E) 39%
Intuitive (N) 82% Sensing (S) 18%
Thinking (T) 55% Feeling (F) 45%
Perceiving (P) 68% Judging (J) 32%

My usual is ENTP, but it appears I'm in a fuck-the-world mood today. Strange, given that 32% Judging stat.

[Hentai + Superhero]

Hentai + Superhero

What secret identity and power set are you assuming tonight? And what will you do when you catch your lover in the hands (or consipriative plot) of a seductive supervillain? For such terrible deeds must not go unpunished!

Two biggest beefs with regen health:

Reducing need for items reduces exploration for them.
Game rewards/necessitates inaction instead of action.

I argue the same thing about Zeldas where you can milk rupees and hearts out of bushes and pots instead of enemies and secret locations.

Oh, I want to produce this content. As rapidly as my randomly generated life will allow me to. I'm still working on implementing platformer physics now (with accel/decel and curvature, kind of a pain in the butt given speed/direction variables and all), and replanning some gameplay mechanics and chunker layouts. My design docs didn't survive my last move. At least my graph paper did!

This is also arguing that balance inherently equals fun; which isn't always the case. I'm sure it'll crank out plenty of dud characters, but some very interesting meshed ones as well. Though personally, I'd consider more of a dual-classing system by design than complete randomization.

That does seem more like a system of checks and balances, give or take multiplicative/additive factors. I highly doubt, if checked, it'll do something like:

+50 damage
-10 MP

and

+200 damage
-40 MP

...and then create...

+200 damage
-10 MP

Thing with basic RPG battle systems, they're ultimately just about managing your HP/MP. All the rest is usually smoke and mirrors. Advanced spellcasting could easily just be casting two at once.

+50 damage
-10 MP

and

+50 HP
-10 MP

become

+50 damage
+50 HP
-20 MP

because it economizes your turn-taking, which effectively IS "character progression."

It's the rule of Capcom. Unless it says "MegaMan," wait until it's third installment. ALWAYS.

They've always been pretty horrendous at producing incomplete titles. And just about everyone agrees that Turbo/Hyper Fighting was both the funnest and most balanced of the eternal SF2s.

They DO make good games at least, it just takes them a few times to get it right first. At least they bother to. But yeah. Never the first or second iteration, ever.

But none of them will find a cheap solution to a challenging level.

Challenge accepted.

Spelunky.
The Binding of Issac.
VVVVVV.
Momodora I & II.
Probability Zero.
I Wanna Be The Guy.
You Have To Win The Game (To Be The Guy Who Won The Game)
Totally Tiny Arcade
FTL: Fuck These Losers
Brogue
MegaMari
Jables's Adventure
FastCrawl
TowerClimb
Red Rogue
Famaze

...really, I could go on for a month solid here. Dig around DevLogs/Announcements, and give yourself a year or two. You'll find plenty to enjoy.

This sounds like every preorder bonus goodie I got gypped out of. Including a Terry Bogard hat, a couple of soundtracks (those are my fav's!), and a Dark Souls artbook.

Me before this weekend: 

Me during this weekend: 

Me after this weekend: 

>that feel when I'm a childless 31-year-old white man

*nods*

By sandbox I mean the amount of underlying mechanics, entities and space. Puzzle is a certain composition of them into the intended challenge.

And trust me, if your game has "potentially innumerable ways of approaching a problem" then it for sure has "unintended exploits" by definition.

No, this is a wrong conclusion since unintended exploits can be categorized. For example I can say the intended actions are A,B, and C the player has to execute in any case, how he approaches them is left to his imagination. So he still has potentially innumerable ways of approaching the problem but my specification is still preserved.

Uhh, Snake... Derek knows what he's talking about here. You don't just pull as Spelunky and an Aquaria out of your butt and not learn these sorts of things. And if TrapThem is every bit as flexible and nondescript as it sounds like you're aiming for, then not only is "unintended exploits" a factor, it almost sounds like the entire POINT of your game.

Ask any Super Metroid speedrunner why they love Super Metroid.

To be honest; gamers probably have to put up with more crap and invest more money than movie buffs or music nerds.

You're joking, right? Movie theater buffs spend more on a ticket to a single viewing of a movie than many of us do for games on Steam/PSN/XBLA anyday, and we get to KEEP those. Music is kind of subjective though; and I'd say more "on par" with games, except where you count gaming music as being part of the gaming experience that comes with the game. You don't get magical DDR stepcharts or GH/RB notecharts just for buying an album, you know... (unless it's Pearl Jam's "Ten" maybe.)


Even the greater indie games here can be considered "average" games; regardless of how spectacularly fun they are. You really think Super Hexagon is gonna take home a 10/10 score? Well, how hard it is to argue (for or against) the logic that maybe it should? It's a bundle of pure, raw, addictive joy that's completely respectful of your time. And arguably, either the best or worst story ever, depending on how much you love to read text in games.

So the selection of pregenerated heroes would be better, then?

Okay. So far in brainstoring:

ORIGIN (x1?):
Inherent Mutation
Science Experiment
Technology
Mysticism
Space/E.T.
Supernatural/Undead
"Destiny"

TRANSPORTATION (x2):
Flying
Teleporting
Super Sprinting
Everpresent Motorcycle
Swinging/Springing/Zipping (/+Double Jumping?)
Wall-Crawling
Super Jumping
Wall/Surface Penetration

MELEE ATTACKS (x2):
Brawling
Martial Arts
Haymakers (extreme hit reaction)
Katana/Broadsword
Claws
Warhammer/Axe
Whip/Chain/Flail
Blast Radius/Burst

MOBILE ATTACKS:
Dragon Punch/Flash Kick
Flying Kick/Burning Knuckle/Psycho Crusher (whatever direction?)
Berzerker Barrage
Super Stomp
Lightning Kick/Machine-Gun Punch/Swiss Cheese
Arc Attack

DISTANCE ATTACKS (x2):
Eyelaser
Torch/Spray
Capture Ball
Capture Line (Harpoon Spear?)
Ground/Shock Wave
Magna/Telekinesis
Heaving/Punting stuff
Guns
Kinetic Missile
Grenade/Bomb

DEFENSE POWERS (x1):
Parry/Just-Defend ~ Ripsote
Pong Shield
Crescent Forcefield
Momentary Phase-out(/Phase-in attack?)
Anticipate/Counter
Escape Roll

So... how's this?

You start your game as an ordinary citizen. You have one or two talents that determine how you can manipulate outcomes (residual income, fighting skills, science, magic, psychic stuff, "destiny", etc.). You actually have to take action with that kind of talent, and hone it, to create and accumulate your powers.

The procgen, if any, determines the city infrastructure and the initial events that compel your character into said action. And villains, just like the heroes, have secret identities and switcheroo points, too. Part of your goal, apart from sustaining yourself and your town, is dating and friend-making - so you could end up coupling/buddying up with other heroes, villains, NPCs of interest, or just cute nobodies.

Go to yoyogames.com and look up "chumbucket;" there's a 48x48 sprite outline that would be pretty perfect for this sort of thing. EDIT: The first frame is actually my avatar, here.

Another thing I was thinking about is a weakness/resistance system. You can develop a (66%) resistance to one kind of energy/substance, but that will self-balance with a (3x) weakness to another; and further mutating will cause the resistance to power or fuel your character, but then your weakness will become more crippling; limiting your ability to exert yourself and acting as a sort of poison effect.

Look up Duke Nukem 3D's build editor. It's pretty basic, but works pretty solidly; and the in-game levels and big bunch of downloadable episodes floating around somewhere also contains pretty good examples that include foreshadowing, misdirection, and well (and badly) located secret stashes.

Well, about half of what makes a superhero "super" is that they have some inherent transportation advantage over normal people. There's always a transportation power - swinging from buildings, flying, super-jumping, teleporting, or a supernatural or supertech bike of some kind.

Secondly, there's attack methodology, which often doesn't coincide with the transportation thing at all. For instance, the Fantastic Four Human Torch can fly, but the original Avengers Torch couldn't. Even Superman, back in the day, only made gigantic Hulk-like leaps through the air.

Finally - and the criminally overlooked part - you have the human identity; the personality and talent of the PERSON behind the mask, and their lives and loved ones to protect and maintain, as they balance out their double lives. Sure, it often plays out as the "damsel in distress" mechanic, but fuck that!! Spider-Man never beats his enemies with spider-powers. He does it by outsmarting them; the real hero is Peter Parker, the Science Guy.

This also determines both priorities and methods of operation; captures versus kills, saving innocents versus punishing villains; etc.


Your supervillain generator - especially in terms of balance - should be identical to your superhero one; since all they are essentially is "superheroes gone very very wrong."

Plus, there's a lot of archetypes to tap into. Science experiments gone wrong? Mutant animals? Latent genetic powers? Space aliens? Technology? Mysticism? You might even take a cue from fighting games, and apply special moves and defensive manuevers based on mechanics like those, too.

I think there should be some dynamically generated terrain, and don't forget about underground potential too (dungeons? sewers/subways? ancient ruins? wrecked spaceships?).


Personally, I would have the game generate 6-9 "heroes," and you get your choice between them all. They all will appear as playable characters, clashing and/or teaming up, each with their little crowds of NPCs and nemeses (2-3 each?); you're introduced to your "inner circle" after selecting your hero; and naturally-crossovering events will eventually lead to gaining/losing favor with the others. Your NPCs and theirs may naturally be connected too, to encourage crossover events and allegiances/strifes.

Also, don't forget to randomly put the entire world at danger, to encourage hero/villain team-ups. Maybe even let the player become a villain (or anti-hero) themselves if found in dire straits, and have the other heroes - or even other villains try to stop you, too!

Glad to hear it's all in gear. o.o b

Seems you've got no shortage of feedback, which isn't surprising. But if you'd like to add me to your beta list, I'd love to be there.

La Mulana. The newer and the retro version.

New version had no BG's or cursors, and I couldn't see sit-still Lemeza beyond an arm. So I popped back into the retro version and finally plugged through the Mausoleum of the Giants. Now I'm at the boss! And have no idea what to do, besides dodge. I'm sure something'll pop up.

Other things I'm working on there: the ROM for the fairy queen in Endless Corridor (whatever/wherever that is), and that angler fish in the Spring in the Sky.