Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length

 
Advanced search

1411283 Posts in 69325 Topics- by 58380 Members - Latest Member: bob1029

March 29, 2024, 01:01:49 AM

Need hosting? Check out Digital Ocean
(more details in this thread)
TIGSource ForumsCommunityJams & EventsCompetitionsVersus (Moderator: Melly)Silent Business - Victorian Assassins!
Pages: 1 [2] 3
Print
Author Topic: Silent Business - Victorian Assassins!  (Read 14415 times)
ChevyRay
Guest
« Reply #20 on: January 17, 2011, 01:56:07 PM »

More ideas, from the sexy Matt Thorson:

Quote
[1:45:23 PM] Matt Thorson: have NPCs with various clothing styles
[1:45:32 PM] Matt Thorson: and the players look like NPCs
[1:45:36 PM] Matt Thorson: then reveal things
[1:45:37 PM] Matt Thorson: like
[1:45:39 PM] Chevy Ray Johnston: yep that's the idea so far
[1:45:45 PM] Matt Thorson: "player one is wearing a green hood"
[1:45:47 PM] Chevy Ray Johnston: ahaha
[1:45:50 PM] Chevy Ray Johnston: that's interesting too
[1:45:52 PM] Chevy Ray Johnston: i kinda like that
[1:45:55 PM] Chevy Ray Johnston: ohhh it narrows it down
[1:45:58 PM] Matt Thorson: yeah
[1:45:58 PM] Chevy Ray Johnston: gonna write that down
[1:46:01 PM] Matt Thorson: like Guess Who

So what he's saying is, with the whole "disguises" idea, have it so the disguises are actually broken down into a set of parts, and all the NPCs are mixes of these parts, as well as all the assassins. Then, certain in-game events (or maybe just time/suspicion) will reveal parts, another way of narrowing down which player is which.

The only thing I'm not too sure I like about that idea is it is incompatible (or at least difficult to merge with) the changing-disguises idea, and that depending on the NPC mix, you could get a rare combination, making it a lot easier for the other players to narrow it down to you. So I'd have to code it properly to make sure that didn't happen.

I think I like the idea of narrowing the playing field down spacially with tiles a bit better, as it sounds more easy to understand and more action/reaction-oriented (less thinking) than using disguises, and helps increase the action and game intensity to a climax. Also requires less art Tongue but I thought I'd drop the idea here anyways to see what people think.

I love making games like this, getting input from all kinds of sources! It's so creative and fun and open.
Logged
fidgetwidget
Level 0
*



View Profile WWW
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2011, 09:24:16 PM »

I guess I should chime in on this thing seeing as I am doing the art work (or at least most of it) for this game.

Here is a mockup of what the buildings might look like in the game.



It is made of parts, so expect there to be lots of variations, with parts animating and what not...
As for the characters, I am still figuring out what they will look like, but I will post something here when I have something ready to show.
Logged

mak'n a game. liv'n the dream.

http://fidgetwidget.ca
yokomeshi
Level 0
***


tonight we're gonna party like it's 1989


View Profile
« Reply #22 on: January 17, 2011, 11:08:45 PM »

I think changing disguises is definitely not incompatible with the Guess Who idea. Basically, if your opponent investigates or whatever and finds out enough clues about you that you're getting nervous, you have the option to change what you look like - but it's risky, since the switch itself might give you away.  There's a tension in how long you wait; if you do it too early, it's an unnecessary risk, but if you wait a long time, the field will be narrower and you're more likely to get caught in the act.

Have you heard of the appropriately named Spy Party? It's got a lot of cool mechanics you might want to check out; for example, the spy has to say a codephrase which his opponent will hear, so the spy should time it so that many people are talking when he says it.
Logged
ChevyRay
Guest
« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2011, 01:51:51 PM »

Sweet, thanks for the input yokomeshi.

As of now, I've got the server running, allowing you to create/join rooms (of 4 players each). I've got all the games syncing up, so each player can move his/her character individually via the server.

I really enjoy working with C#, I wish ActionScript 3 had generics and function overloading.

Next up: more graphics from fidgetwidget, and preparing the town and NPC info on the server and having that updated by the player events and echoing back to the players. Here's a little doc I wrote up outlining how I'm thinking of generating the towns. They're all going to have a similar layout, but have randomized elements within them:



I'm thinking the map will generate something like this:

####### ##### ##### #####
####D## #D### ###D# #D###
                         
##            X        ##
##  ####### ##### ###  D#
#D  ###D### #D### ###  ##
##                ###X ##
    ### ###### ##D###   
## X##D ####D# ######  ##  <- (example  map)
#D  ###        ######  D#
##      #D####         ##
##  #D# ###### #D####  ##
    ### ###### ######   
##         X           ##
#D                     D#
## ##D## #D##### ###D# ##
## ##### ####### ##### ##

The # rectangles are houses. Notice how there is an outer ring of houses,
and then an inner cluster of houses as well. Then there'll be a road that
goes around the whole thing. The spaces between houses will be alleys.
The alleys in the middle can be used to cut-through, but the alleys on
the outer ring just lead to the edge of the town, which cannot be exited
(there'll probably be a stone wall around it or something).

# - house/wall, cannot be traversed
D - doors, this is where NPCs will spawn from
X - these are "crowdspots" (vendors, etc.)

NPC behaviour will be simple (to start, anyways). They will spawn from the
doorways (D), and I'll use pathfinding to make them move between the crowd
spots (X), and then eventually back into a door (D). This will have NPCs
walking kind of all over the place, but then crowding in certain set
areas, giving a sort of natural flow to the town.

If things are slow with too many NPCs, I can easily pre-calculate all the
pathfinding between doors and then store the data for each map, so the paths
will not need to be calculated in real-time.

If the town is too small, and wee need more space, we can widen this up a lot,
and maybe add 2-4 little "inner" clusters, so it looks more like this:

###############
#             #
# ## ## ## ## #  <- (mini version, the inner-parts are housing clusters)
#             #
###############

Basically, the "clusters" of houses, doors, and hotspots can be procedurally
generated, so they are differnet every game, resulting in a nice variance in
town flow for each different game.

Later on, if we decide we want to mix things up a bit more, we can add in more
factors to the town, but I think this will be good to get the ball rolling.
Logged
ness io kain
Level 6
*


died and is a ghost.


View Profile WWW
« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2011, 02:16:10 PM »

I honestly didn't read this whole thread, but I saw
umbrellas
bricks
Victoria

So,
YOU WIN. I'm excited to see where this goes.
Logged

My music.
If your Twitter doesn't have enough depression and awkward pomposity, here you go.
ChevyRay
Guest
« Reply #25 on: January 18, 2011, 03:16:14 PM »

More sweet-ass house action from Mr. fidgetwidget. I'm cooking up the town-generating algorithm as we speak, I'm loving where this game is going!

Logged
Ive
Level 0
*



View Profile
« Reply #26 on: January 18, 2011, 10:11:02 PM »

This is definitely the game I am most keen to see.
Logged
ChevyRay
Guest
« Reply #27 on: January 21, 2011, 11:39:02 AM »

Alright, just gonna update so people know kinda what's going on. Here's some info on the game!

  • This is a 4-player online multiplayer Flash game.
     
  • The game takes place on a grid with 50x50 pixel cells, so the game graphics, being designed and drawn by fidgetwidget in Flash CS4. Here is what the graphics will actually look like (as you can see, they are quite large):


     
  • I am coding the game in Flex (but not FlashPunk), using FlashDevelop, and importing the assets externally, which are embedded into a SWF. Most of the gameplay interactions and rules are evaluated and handled by the server code, which is written in C#, and powered by the lovely PlayerIO framework.


     
  • Each of the 4 players starts as a random NPC in the map, and is an assassin whose goal is to discover who the other 3 players are, and then dispose of them.
     
  • This game is a turn-based stealth game, and will play similarly to a board game. But instead of taking your turns in some kind of order, all Units in the game all act at once. So you choose your action, submit it to the server, and when the server has deemed all players ready and actions legal, it will evaluate them all at once.
     
  • The game takes place in a procedurally generated town. When the game starts, the map will populate with a bunch of NPCs, which will all be assigned movement and behaviour. They will all have houses which they leave and return to, and there will be several "crowd spots" in the game which NPCs will collect around in their travels. A crowd spot might be a small market/vendor, a fountain/well, or maybe the outside of a church building, for example.
     
  • There are two types of actions in the game: passive and aggressive actions. When the server has received all player input for a turn, it will loop through all Units in the game (including NPCs). First, all aggressive actions will be evaluated (attacking another player, setting a trap, etc.), and then after that, all passive actions will be evaluated (moving, waiting, etc.). This means it is actually possible for two players to attack each other simultaneously.
     
  • Currently, I'm thinking that the goal will be to pickpocket NPCs to save up money, and then using that money to buy items/traps to use against the other players. There won't be too many different items, as I want the design to be fairly focused and the game to be done on time, so I'll start with the few I have in mind first.
     
  • Certain things you can do will cause an alert; when this happens all other players in the game will be given a signal informing them approximately (with a bit of error/range) where you are located. Some idea of actions that will trigger alerts:
     
    • Killing another unit, whether it be an NPC or a player. The remaining players will be informed of the location of the death, not the killer necessarily.
       
    • I'm thinking that using certain beneficial items may also trigger alerts. So the risk of using them must be calculated, but could help gain an advantage.
       
    • Staying in a small area for too many turns arouses suspicion, or being inside an NPCs house when that NPC returns home.
       

So yeah... getting most of the gameplay rules cleared up! Coding the pathfinding and stuff now in C# and getting the grid/map information storing properly so I can check for intersection and place/move units. Once that's all done (I think it might be actually), then I'll code in a quick A* implementation for unit pathfinding.

One thing I think I'll add to the list above is that money is going to be incremental. So every time you pickpocket, you get a coin (NPCs have limited money). BUT, you cannot see how much money you have until you go to a shop! This is because players will actually be able to pickpocket each other as well, so if you've been ripped-off, you won't know until you get to the shop and find a couple coins missing! Smiley

More graphics coming, gonna get all the basic tile/house stuff done, then a placeholder NPC/unit, and then I can pretty much get coding most of the gameplay stuff, and add in more graphics and pretty things as I go.

So excited about this!
Logged
Nate Kling
Pixelhead
Level 9
******


Caliber9


View Profile WWW
« Reply #28 on: January 21, 2011, 11:51:32 AM »

This sounds awesome!  I love the idea.  Will there be fog of war or something?  If somebody kills someone it will be pretty obvious who is a player when one guy is dead and there is a person standing next to them.
Logged

ChevyRay
Guest
« Reply #29 on: January 21, 2011, 12:01:43 PM »

That's part of the risk, and why it would make more sense to kill either stealthily in a crowd, or from a distance with a thrown dagger. I don't think there's going to be any fog of war or anything like that, but the map is quite large and you're only going to be able to see in the small area around you.
Logged
Nate Kling
Pixelhead
Level 9
******


Caliber9


View Profile WWW
« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2011, 01:35:42 PM »

Ah okay that makes sense.  so the map is bigger than the players can see at a time.  Making it too big might be a problem because it could be hard to find each other.  This sounds really great.  Ive played a similar game in real life when I was younger where one person secretly was an assassin.  You walked around shaking hands and if the assassin scratched your hand while shaking it you had to die, everyone else had to try and figure out who the assassin was.  Throwing knives and different kinds of items and traps will make this game incredible!
Logged

ChevyRay
Guest
« Reply #31 on: January 21, 2011, 01:40:12 PM »

Yeah, my plan is just to get movement up and running first, with the NPCs and players all moving at once, and making sure intersections are dealt with accordingly. Once that's done, I'll have to see how it feels, and make any gameplay adjustments accordingly. But hopefully it'll play as good as it sounds in my head, then I can just cook through this and finish as much as possibly (if not all of it) by the deadline! :D

Excited to get more artwork. Fidgetwidget is working on the houses right now, which are made out of a bunch of different custom parts that can be procedurally generated to create different houses, so once he's done that I'm going to code the town generation and I'm really excited for that!
Logged
ness io kain
Level 6
*


died and is a ghost.


View Profile WWW
« Reply #32 on: January 21, 2011, 02:54:15 PM »

thrown dagger
I love you even more now.


I have a couple of those, you know.
Daggers for throwing.
They're super cool. Seriously.
Logged

My music.
If your Twitter doesn't have enough depression and awkward pomposity, here you go.
Hangedman
Level 10
*****


Two milkmen go comedy


View Profile WWW
« Reply #33 on: January 21, 2011, 06:56:05 PM »

They're illegal in the Canadars.

Name suggestions:
Darkest Affairs
Broken Bell
Silent Business
Stroke of Midnight
The Undercity
Logged

AUST
ITIAMOSIWE (Play it on NG!) - Vision
There but for the grace of unfathomably complex math go I
godatplay
Level 1
*


Josh


View Profile WWW
« Reply #34 on: January 21, 2011, 08:11:34 PM »

Hindley's Challenge
Tiptoe
Earnshaw
Lockwood
Wuthering
Griffin
What The Devil
Ye Olde Ninja Fight
Logged

/////////////////////////
God at play - meaningful games - spiritual games
@godatplay
/////////////////////////
deadeye
First Manbaby Home
Level 10
*



View Profile
« Reply #35 on: January 21, 2011, 08:36:46 PM »

"A Gentlemanly Dispute"
Logged

tweet tweet @j_younger
jwk5
Guest
« Reply #36 on: January 21, 2011, 08:41:04 PM »

This project is sounding pretty awesome Chevy, I will definitely have to give it a try when it is ready! Beer!






Also, you should remake Project: Hairy RPG someday! Beg
Logged
PsySal
Level 8
***


Yaay!


View Profile WWW
« Reply #37 on: January 21, 2011, 08:59:20 PM »

Chevy it needs stilettos!

!! Sorry if this idea was already mentioned it I did not read the whole thing because! I'm going to get some work done on my versus game =) This is a fantastic idea anyhow, but stilettos! Knife or dagger is like, not victorian enough.
Logged
namre
Guest
« Reply #38 on: January 21, 2011, 09:04:34 PM »

Your game is turning out great, chevy! Ack! Can't wait!
Logged
PsySal
Level 8
***


Yaay!


View Profile WWW
« Reply #39 on: January 21, 2011, 09:37:34 PM »

Man! I'm a genius without even knowing it. The game can be called "Stiletto".
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3
Print
Jump to:  

Theme orange-lt created by panic