For the fun of it I started drawing a Gentleman.  It's getting late, so I might have to finish it some other time.

Wow, thanks!  All this work for something that's more of a toy than a game ... makes me wish I actually completed more before sharing it.

Now I need to figure out what I REALLY want to work on for this competition.  I have a few ideas, so I guess I'll have to weigh my options.

Thanks again.

Ok, let's try this.

If you download and install Blender you can then download my teacups ride blend file.  Load the blend file, then on the top menu bar click Game->Start Game to play it.

Edit: Tomorrow I might try to use my brother's computer to see if I could get it working in Windows.

I manually copied all of Blender's DLL's into the folder, re-zipped, and re-uploaded it.  Maybe it will work now.

Edit: I replaced the old file, so redownload it from the same link.

Well, I guess it didn't work.  I tried running the Windows version of Blender through Wine so I could try to save a Windows runnable, but I guess something so convoluted was bound to fail.  I don't have a version of Windows on my computer, so ... I guess only Linux people can run this.  Ah, your not missing much anyhow.

[edit]It may work now that I manually copied the DLL's it needed and updated the zip file.[/edit]

[edit]
Because so many people had problems running this, and because it's nothing too special, I decided to simply delete it from my server.  Other people's versions of this, hosted in various places, my remain for an unknown amount of time.
[/edit]

It's the world's first Teacup Ride Simulator, and you're at the controls!

MOTION SICKNESS WARNING!

Download Version 0.01 (Contains both Windows and Linux executables -- though the Windows version may not work.)
Controls are:

• Left and Right arrow keys spin teacup
• 'F' plays fun animation
• 'B' plays bored animation

I started making this as a quick little joke project.  It was done with Blender's game engine.  The original goal was to try to make your friend throw up on the ride, but I didn't get around to implementing that.  At the moment I don't have too much interest in bringing it to completion.

Have fun!

When I told my brother about this competition this was actually one of the ideas he suggested!  Nice.

Wow.  How was the terrain generated?  The details (erosion patterns) are amazing.  A lot of terrain generation I've seen don't have this realistic of terrain detail and texture.

I was messing around with a small scale economy simulation and getting rather frustrated.  Nothing seemed to be working out properly.  The basic idea was that if I break up the civilization simulation into a number of industries then I could greatly simplify the system -- as industries only have to be concerned with themselves and the code could be reused across all industries.  What I would like to see is a growing economy with most of the population employed and reasonably priced products ... but that's not what's happening.  Every change I make seems to throw everything off in completely different ways -- high prices, low employment rates, no growth, etc.  It's very complex.

The only way it can seem to at least partially work is if there is money appearing out of thin air.  Otherwise prices rise too high and growth stops.

I'm beginning to think that I might have to go with a different idea than time traveling through a simulated civilization.  I was listing out all the factors that might contribute to the development of a civilization and how these factors are related to each other when I began to think about how difficult it would be to balance these factors.  They are all interdependent upon each other, so changes in the value of one factor might throw off other factors.  Attempts to balance out these values would most likely result in either the rapid collapse of the civilization, rapid growth of the civilization, or, most likely, an extreme off balance of factors causing unpredictable results -- for example having an over abundance of money while at the same time people are dying of starvation because they are not buying enough food from neighboring areas.

I may need to experiment with some sort of adaptive system that can effectively compensate for imbalances or consider alternative game ideas -- the latter may be easier.

Thanks for the comments.  I was thinking about the possibility of the time terrorist being you from your own future, but I wasn't sure if that would be a little too predictable.  I may keep it open as a possibility.

I talked to my brother about this competition, and he came up with a lot of interesting and humorous game ideas.  Some of his ideas were so interesting that I'm not entirely certain if I actually will make this time traveling game ... though I know I would like to try to make it.

In some ways I was thinking time traveling would have to be presented in more of a sandbox style game, as the many alterations to the history of the area would make it difficult for a player to feel the same connection as if (s)he had built up the civilization manually.  Progress would be, for the most part, automatic, so it would also be difficult to formulate clear strategies.  In that way having more direct interactions with the time terrorist would be easier to play.

I may just have to start experimenting with creating a civilization simulation and see what happens from there.  Maybe having something to play around with might give me a better idea of how to make it into some sort of game.

I thought about it some, and I thought that the basic story behind the game could be that there are time terrorists going to the past trying to destroy civilization.  It is your job to hunt them down and prevent them from causing serious damage -- not necessarily prevent history from changing (as small changes can have a large impact), but instead to keep the human race from going extinct.

Any matter existing outside the stream of time (such as a time machine) is immune to the effects of altering history.  Preventing these temporal criminals from being born would have no effect on these people, since they have already left the time line.

The play control could be similar to Descent, though simplified since there would be no need to fly upside down.  I would like to have gameplay that is deeper than flying and shooting, though -- I'm just not sure in what way.

As far as the simulation is concerned, obviously I cannot have a too fine grain resolution to it.  I cannot simulate the daily lives of individual people, as a city may have well over a million at any given moment.  Instead, however, I can influence the statistical probabilities of events occurring along with low resolution data grids.

The data grids are somewhat low resolution maps of data describing the area at a given time.  Some data grids may include land value, wealth, population, food, water, health, emotional states (happy, content, agitated, enraged, etc.), crime, etc.  The data grids will likely update at a frequency of once per quarter year.

The probabilities of events occurring depend upon this data and the data, in turn, will be influenced by events.  For example a drought may kill crops which causes food to be limited and an area may sink into an economic slump which causes the emotional state of the area to become upset which causes crime rates to rise which causes murders, fires, property damage, civil war, etc.

All of these, however, may not be fully appreciated if all the player is doing is flying around shooting enemies, so I'm going to have to come up with a way to deepen the gameplay.  I want the effects the player and enemies have on the environment to be easily identifiable.  I suppose being able to fast forward and rewind history could provide the player to see the rise and fall of buildings and even whole cities.  Still, there would be a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes.  In that case, it may be best to try to keep things as simple as possible and not get too carried away with how many different data sets should be kept track of.

Ok guys.  I came up with an awesome game idea, but I have no idea how EXACTLY I will be able to pull it off.  Basically it's a game where the cockpit is a time machine.  I have been thinking I might try to create a civilization simulation that keeps track of all the historical events up to the current point in time.  Changes you make in history will alter the future of that civilization.  Go back in time, change something, go forwards in time and everything is different ... this might be complex, but I haven't been this excited about an idea for a while.

The major problem, however, is that I don't really know what the goal might be or what exactly would be the gameplay mechanics.  What is the player working towards?  What actions can the player take to alter history?  I don't know, but I would love it if some of you might help me figure it out.

Someone in the general section of this forum posted a link to Slow Wave.  This was the first time I've seen this comic and some of the dreams people have are hilarious!  It would be a great competition idea to turn dreams into games.  They don't have to be one of our own dreams, just inspired by a dream somebody had.  Dreams are more interesting than random generators because they usually have some strange twisted logic to them.

[edit]I know this had been mentioned before.  I just thought those comics could inspire unusual game ideas.[/edit]

A lot of people seem to wait to be inspired -- I know this is my problem.  A part of me, however, feels like everything would be a lot simpler if inspiration wasn't necessary.  Instead it might be better to simply do things one day to the next -- never worrying about where the project is going, but instead just doing what needs to be done at any given moment.

There was only one time in my life when I actually achieved such an attitude and I was more focused and productive than I ever had been before or since.  I worked four hours a day six days a week for several months on a game project and the process was enjoyable.  It was not about inspiration or excitement, but instead about setting a steady pace for myself.

Unfortunately the game was completely unfun.  I got caught up in the match-three puzzle game craze and thought I could profit off of making one.  When I really sat down and played it, however, it was somewhat tedious and boring.

Eventually I ran out of money, scrapped the project, and had to try to find a job.

I know, that story is not very inspiring, with it ending in failure like that, but I would love to one day be able to return to that state of flow I had achieved.

Here are a few ideas I have learned and hope to apply:

• Set a goal to be productive and commit to it.
• Have a regular daily work schedule where this block of time will be spent on nothing but production -- no browsing, chatting, or forum posting, just game development.
• Don't work outside of the scheduled working hours.  Do other things.  Have fun.  Free your mind from all obligations.
• At the end of each work session list out everything you need to do the next day.
• Prototype.  Make sure a game idea is fun to play before spending months on it.
• Be open to change.  Changing the theme of a game or altering gameplay mechanics might improve it's appeal.
• Look for ways to make incremental improvements to what you already have instead of trying to come up with a full game idea up-front.
• Don't dismiss ideas as being stupid, instead try to replace bad ideas with better ones.  Be willing to settle with the best available ideas at the moment even if they're not perfect.  It too easy for development to come to a halt hoping a great idea might eventually come to you.
• Get feedback.  Other may have ideas you may not have considered.  However, try not to let negative feedback take all the wind out of your sails.  I've had many times when I lose all ambition because of others lack of enthusiasm for an idea.  It's impossible for people to fully understand the thoughts inside someone else's head -- especially if these ideas are different from anything already in existence.  Playing prototypes might help others get a clearer picture than simply trying to explain a game idea to them.
• Don't strive for perfection.  The more perfect I try to make something, the less perfect it becomes (artwork that looks stiff, unnatural, or awkward for example), the more disappointed I become, and the more likely I will end up quitting.  It's better to instead relax and try to have as much fun as possible.
• Peace is better than excitement.  Excitement is fleeting and leads to a few hours of rapid productivity, often followed by a crash.  Being at peace with oneself and what is being done would lead to a more consistent pace over a longer length of time.  Projects often die when the initial excitement wears off, so it's not good to rely upon that feeling for getting work done.

It's a little old, but recently I read an article about Jerry Seinfeld's Productivity Secret, which, when I read it, I thought it's so simple, yet such a great idea.  It's easy to go days, weeks, months, even years without really being productive, but if you focus on working a little each day and "don't break the chain" a lot could be accomplished.  Not every day has to be great, as long as every day something is done ... which is something I REALLY have to work on.

Well, those were just a few thoughts.

I have no idea what my first game was, but it was most likely written in Commodore 64 Basic way back when I was nine.  It was most likely a variation on one of the example programs found in the Commodore 64 instruction manual.

Some of the earliest completed small games I can remember (aside from higher/lower) include a hidden ball game where cups shuffle on screen and you have to pick one and a states and capitals quiz game.  Those are some of the oldest ones I can recall, but I had already moved onto QBasic by then.

I wish I had the dedication to be able to work on a game for five years straight ... however, it probably would have been better for him to have completed several shorter commercial games instead.  People's opinion of a game is most honestly expressed with their wallet -- they might say it's good to not hurt your feelings, but are they willing to pay money for it?

Essentially depriving himself of feedback and constructive criticism for five years might not have been the best idea.  If he had completed and marketed number of smaller projects first he could have learned if his ideas were actually anything people would be willing to pay money for and he could have gained a lot of insight into how to make his games better.  One thing he might have discovered is that maybe hiring a few freelancers every once-in-a-while might not be a bad idea.  Sure, he would no longer be able to claim it was made by one person, but the graphics, animation, story, programming, etc. could have been a lot better.

I hate to say this, but I can't help but feel that I could have essentially made the same game in a matter of months instead of five years.  I'm not saying I'm some sort of game development wizard who can bust out projects like lightning.  I'm saying nothing about the game's design is really all that impressive.  It's has the appearance of having minimal programming -- simply make a character that walks around and talks to people.  After that simply pile on a lot of tiles, characters, and dialog.  The artificial intelligence of the NPCs appear to be nearly non-existent.

I can't help but pity this guy.  This game will never amount to what he hoped and imagined it would and he seems a little to naive to recognize this.  There's a reason Nintendo isn't jumping on this publishing deal and it's not because they're simply being stubborn.  Nintendo knows this is not a good investment and it's easy to see why.  Making games people want to play is not an easy task.  It's not a Field of Dreams sort of thing -- If you make it they will play.

The best thing for him to do might be for him to give the game away for free online then put it on his resume.  Not everybody can design great games on their own, but he might be able to become part of a development team.  Someone hiring might be impressed by his dedication and commitment to hard work -- though the level of technical expertise he demonstrates in this game might more likely land him in a position as a tools programmer, or some other job, instead of working on the actual games themselves.

Man, that goomba looks creapy!

I decided to change my idea to a NES Mario Cart in the style of RC Pro-AM, as the first post now mentions.

Perhaps it may be a bit ambitious, if you factor in the mini games.  I actually haven't really finalized my decision on what to make, but unless I can think of some specific game I would rather do instead, I will go ahead and attempt this.  

I had used DevKitAdvanced a little years ago, so I was sort of toying with the idea of actually making something that runs in an emulator, but there's a part of me that would also really like to have the flexibility and speed of development Python provides.  A real Gameboy Advance game will require much more time and effort to produce with much stricter of limitations.

One of my greatest concerns, though, is that Ludum Dare #12 will be beginning in a week and I had an even more ambitious idea for what I might attempt to accomplish in those 48 hours.  We'll have to see if one competition doesn't interfere too greatly with the other.

I will not be using a Wiimote, since my computer doesn't have any Bluetooth capabilities.  Most likely I will go with mouse or just keyboard/joytstick, since it is suppose to be SNES or GBA.