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[Del_Duio]

(Moved from Indie Games to here where it fits more)

Hi guys, this is a posting about a new game I've been making for about 5 months or so now called The Outlaw, The Drunk, & The Whore (catchy I know?). Anyhow ODW is pretty fun to play so far and I'd like to hear any suggestions or comments on what I have for ideas or graphics and all that from the people of this forum.

I don't come here very often so if this sort of thing isn't allowed (i.e. tooting your own horn) I appologize in advance.  

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Backstory: A little more than a year ago I set out to create a crazy western-themed game that had a Diablo-style point and click interface. After about a month I realized that sort of thing was beyond my abilites what with the pathfinding mostly. However, I really liked the whole western theme and a few months ago stated from basically scratch and redid everything to build it into a new game.

And believe it or not, I really have Derek Yu's Spelunky game to thank for it. When I read that he took 2 types of games (platformer & rogue-like) and simplified them and squished them into a new type of game that got me thinking. I can do that! And what better than to use some of the ideas from my old failed western Diablo! And so it goes..

ODW is a mix of a top down actiony game with basic Diablo-style stats and even a basic item system. And you know what, it's not half bad. You have the three titular characters that have different strengths and weaknesses and some different powers for your variety. It's all done in retro because let's face it I can't do much anything else!  

Your mission:

For different reasons James, Stuart, & Blondie have set out to rob a stagecoach full of federal moolah- only to be killed. You are brought before the devil who gives you another chance to do your bad deeds. Journey through different stages of the American old west, a killin' and a lootin' everything in sight. Collect moneybags and meet the friendly Mexican at his bandito shop and purchase stat upgrades and powerful antiques to help you out. Can you survive long enough to rob the coach and make your greedy dreams come true?


** IMPORTANT NOTE **

ODW is Joystick / Gamepad only. It's just not the same with a keyboard so I didn't make it compatible for one, sorry!

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I've just redone the game's main HUD so the variety isn't really all that hot in these screenshots just yet. The first few are of the new HUD, and the few after are the old style. I'll get some more recent shots of the foresty stuff soon!


Title Screen


Not even Picard's Uniform could save James from the terrible, terrible poison


The town drunk, mere moments before he was killed by an untimely porcupine quill salvo


Geesh, some squaws are just never satisfied!


Choose your character and see their useless statistics like height and weight- just like a real Nintendo game of old!


The Whore rocking out with her pet tarantula, Webigail (under a rock it looks like)


Stuart takes on a teepee full of 'injuns in this one


The devil made them do it, and hopefully do it RIGHT this time

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I plan on this being ready PROBABLY next month or at the very, very latest by Feburary 2010. It should be noted again that as of right now this is only playable with a gamepad.

Thanks for reading!

[Hempuli‽]

It looks wonderful and all, but I think the best place to put this in might be "Devlogs" - this place is probably more for finished/playable games.

You've improved quite a lot in terms of pixel art!

[Del_Duio]

Thanks Hempuli, but I already have this topic in 2 places already and can't delete the extra ones. I don't want to risk this being up in 3 places! Maybe a moderator will delete the other one?

[handCraftedRadio]

This looks really cool! I was disapointed because I expect a download when I'm in the feedback section. Also, I don't think limiting the player to use a gamepad only is such a great idea. Unless you are physically unable to play the game without a gamepad, I think you should at least give the option of using the keyboard, even if the game doesn't feel the same.

[JMickle]

yeah i agree that you should give players the eoption for keyboard control, that's 90% of your audience, really.

but either way i've got an xbox 360 so i don't care  FINISH THIS GAME

[moi]

looking strangely compelling....

[deathtotheweird]

Sounds great, really like the title. Like Diablo you say? Well hell yeah. I agree with everyone else about not supporting keyboard controls so I won't say more on that.

I laughed hard at the Whore's player page, resistance to disease and high stamina? Fuckin gold.

[William Broom]

It looks cool, but I think you should reconsider the inclusion of keyboard support. I mean, I believe that the game won't be as good with a keyboard, but would you really prefer that people don't play it at all rather than playing it with inferior controls?

[Del_Duio]

Well that about sums that up hahaha. I'll have to try to get something going for keyboard controls but the thing is I don't really know how to handle the key assignments.

For example, with the gamepad:

Stick = move
Button 1 = melee attack
Button 2 = gun attack
Button 3 = run
Button 4 = gringo skill

Now what would be good keyboard keys to use?

Z = melee
X = range
C = run
V = gringo skill

That might be the best idea. Another thing is that I started making this game in reverse than I normally do. I always make it support a keyboard first and sometimes add the joystick controls later. For this one for whatever reason I made it joystick first and the engine doesn't work right with keys. But I'll try harder!

Here's some more info about the 3 characters:

The Outlaw
Real name: James
Max HP: 20
Wants the gold because: He's sick of being a small-time crook.
Strengths: Master of gunplay, best maximum ammo, strong ranged attacks.
Weakness: Bowie knife has short range.
Gun: Six Shooters
Melee: Bowie Knife
Gringo Skill: Piercin' Shot
Extra Guys: Earns them at an average rate through points.


The Drunk
Real name: Stuart
Max HP: 28
Wants the gold because: He's sick of paying for beers and wants his own bar.
Strengths: Superb melee skills, farthest melee range, a real tough bastard.
Weakness: His derringer is the worst gun of all, enemies can sometimes get around his shovel.
Gun: Derringer
Melee: Gravediggin' Shovel
Gringo Skill: Bombs
Extra Guys: Earns them at a slow rate through points.


The Whore
Real name: "Blondie"
Max HP: 12
Wants the gold because: Why be a whore when you can rule over other whores instead?
Strengths: Resistance to disease, Increased Stamina, Wide ranging gun attack.
Weakness: Low max HP, her shotgun has low max ammo, weak melee attack
Gun: Shotgun
Melee: Whorish Fan
Gringo Skill: Call Pet (summons her pet scorpion or tarantula to aid in battle)
Extra Guys: Earns them at the fastest rate through points.

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Anyhow The Devil aside I'm trying to keep this game as "real" as possible so I'm using enemies like bears, scorpions, indians, and both sides of the civil war soldiers (to name a few). As of right now there isn't anything like magic however I do want to have an indian chieftain who can heal his buddies. Maybe I'll make him a shaman or something.

Another thing is that although you can collect up to 5 antiques to help you it's not like they give you a different gun or melee weapon or anything like that. Most are stat boosters but some have special effects like regeneration or bonuses to loot (money bags that you use to buy stuff). Almost all of the antiques are references to old western stuff or cultural icon references. (Ex. Michael Jackson's Glove, Baracas' Bling, Harry's Magnum, J.J.'s DYN-O-MITE!, etc.)

I love the title too! I couldn't let this one totally fade into obscurity, even if it ends up sucking.  

[CosmicMaher]

Sweet. Only thing I don't like is the title screen, the Outlaw looks funky in it.

[deathtotheweird]

Z = melee
X = range
C = run
V = gringo skill

anything would be better than no support at all. also, a way to support customized configurations would be just as good as well. so if one person has a keyboard with a different layout-or simply doesn't feel comfortable with it-they could just change it to whatever is right for them.

[Kaworu Nagisa]

Seems interesting.
Very nice idea of mixing genres, indeed and UI looks very fine and clear to me

Good luck with it!

[Del_Duio]

Okay and here's a recent one of the Whore w/ the pet HP & score multiplier tabs in full effect:



Thanks for all the encouraging words guys!

[Brother Android]

It looks pretty cool. We need more Wild West hack and slashes. And too bad she's a whore; she's kinda cute. Nicely pixelled.

I like the good-old-fashioned HUD that takes up half the screen too. :D I don't have a gamepad, unfortunately, or I'd totally give it a go.

[alspal]

If it supported keyboard input, I could play it on my arcade cabinet  

[Del_Duio]

I think what I'm going to do is make the whole game first and then go back and try to add keyboard support afterwards.

In the meantime: "Look, a battlefield!"


This stage puts you in the middle of a north / south skirmish.

This game's also pretty hard with just the 1 continue so I'm evaluating whether to give the player more from the beginning. Also the whore's pets can be very strong against some enemies so I might have to make their cost higher ($$$-wise).

[alspal]

This game's also pretty hard with just the 1 continue so I'm evaluating whether to give the player more from the beginning. Also the whore's pets can be very strong against some enemies so I might have to make their cost higher ($$$-wise).

So is this more like an arcade game where you aim to get far and a high score?
If so, hard is good.

[Del_Duio]

This game's also pretty hard with just the 1 continue so I'm evaluating whether to give the player more from the beginning. Also the whore's pets can be very strong against some enemies so I might have to make their cost higher ($$$-wise).

So is this more like an arcade game where you aim to get far and a high score?
If so, hard is good.

I think that points / score and all that is a lost art in games nowadays and wanted to bring it back and make it important again. Getting extra guys in ODW is intentionally tough as there aren't many ways to get them at all. Originally you could find them on the ground in the stages, win them in the stage clear bonus game, buy them from the shops, and earn them through points. The only way to do it now is through points and another extremely rare method that'll be a surprise for later I guess. The best way to earn extra guys / continues now is through earning more and more points, so naturally players are going to attempt to get higher scores just to get more chances of being able to play through the whole thing. I was so into arcade games growing up with Dig Dug, Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, Joust and all that so making ANYTHING that sort of resembles an arcade game I'm all for.

I got that ol' arcadey vibe pretty bad the other day when I kept getting killed off at stage 3. I was pissed because I wanted to test the later stages out but at the same time I was a little "YEAH! This is actually kind of challenging and I'm kicking my own ass!" Now all I have to do is invent a way to get players to pump quarters into the monitor.   

[Brother Android]

Just keep in mind that if it's hard for you, it might be hell for your players.

[alspal]

Just keep in mind that if it's hard for you, it might be hell for your players.

Of course, it has to be hard for the right reasons. Not because it's unplayable for the audience, but a well designed hard difficulty.

I just hope you don't allow for that credit feeding mentality that is present in most of our console games (and american arcade culture), where when you get game over you can still continue(!). Which thankfully Derek Yu didn't allow for in his game Spelunky.