A couple weeks old, but it's been a couple weeks since I've stuck my head in here. Mechanical Pencil on cheap copy paper, 15 minutes, maybe (the perspective on the arm is shite, but I was more interested in showing the details.



A friend and I were discussing how interesting it would be if MMO crafting systems had class-specific elements, such as a World of Warcraft Warlock taking up Engineering and being able to craft special 'fel technology' armor for his demons. I sketched this out during the conversation.

[Don't Stop Creating.]

Like most hobbyist/amateur designers, I have my big pet project I continually work on. However, I make it a point to stop work on said project whenever I'm stuck, frustrated, or uninterested on said project (Yes, you can lose interest in a design. No, it does not mean it is a bad idea). Usually it's because I've been staring at it for too long.

For those times, I have a slew of other projects I work on, and I make it a point to keep them all very different. For example, there's a city-building concept I tinker with, an action platformer, and a flight/adventure game. I pick from those based on whichever catches my eye or seems particularly lacking.

If nothing jumps out at me, I try lurking around the Devlog forum here to give advice on any particularly promising or inspiring projects (for example, I've written a ton of PMs to Gabriel Verdon for his Archer project).

If I'm having a hard time focusing on a particular project, I'll usually just start writing just for the sake of the creative act. That's how this little nostalgia piece on arcades came about.

When all else fails, I find something insanely pointless to just vent creativity into. Sometimes it's making a map in Halo's Forge, sometimes it's revamping or inventing zones for a certain MMO I find particularly lacking.

The point is, Don't Stop Creating. Even if you're creating throwaway stuff that you'll never use; just the simple act of creating can lead to inspiration or help you decide what you want to work at.

Wow, tons of great ideas in there! I'll definitely be using some of those if that's cool with you.

Feel free to use whatever you want. The game never got past the early demo phase (we had movement, enemies, a bunch of arrows types and a couple levels), so it's pretty much been vaporware for the last decade. I figured I'd post a few of my notes and let you pick through them for whatever you might be able to use.

The game looks really great and if in some small way I help to make it better, I'm a happy gamer.

[Name]

Reminds me of a shareware project of mine I worked on years ago (16 or 17 years maybe) that was similarly archery-themed. We had a playable demo and some early art done, but you're already much further ahead than we were (though ours was built from scratch rather than using a pre-existing engine... which didn't exist back then).

Since it's unlikely we'll ever come back to the project, here's a few notes / details that you can use if you like.

Name
You have an archery theme and are going for a dark / depressing / lonely feel. Archers were very rarely strong fighters (at least when it came to close quarters) nor were they ever solitary fighters (usually arranged in large formation). This means your character is already starting off on the wrong foot, as it were, and has every right to be afraid.

My archery-themed game was called "Quiver", and that may be more appropriate for you. You're free to use it if you like. There is both the archery connotation (the player has a large quiver of different arrow types to use) and the alternative definition; shaking or moving with a slight trembling motion.

There was a game called "Quiver", but it was a space-themed first person shooter in the mid 90s. Both companies that worked on it are non-existent at this point so I think you're more than safe to use it. It might be more descriptive without being so blatant.

Bows
In addition to multiple arrows, our concept also featured different types of bows. The short bow the player started off with had a slow missile speed and a short firing distance. Later upgrades increased the missile speed and distance, as well as the rate of fire. Several bows also upgraded certain arrow types, and this might be a good way to work in the multiple arrow upgrade you mention without rendering certain arrow types obsolete. It also allowed the player to conserve certain types of arrows (we had limited ammo for special arrow types).

For example, the "Infernal Bow" added magical fire (it was blue) to any regular shot you made, mimicking the flaming arrow type without actually consuming flame arrow ammo AND they wouldn't burn/melt the materials that flame arrows normally would. That allowed you to get the benefit of fire arrows (damaging enemies over time and causing the fire to spread to other enemies if they panicked) in places you might not want them setting things alight (wooden structures, rooms full of explosive kegs, etc.)

However, when the Infernal Bow fired a Flame Arrow, it combined to create an explosive arrow that could destroy certain walls, cause massive area-of-effect damage, and set multiple enemies ablaze in an instant.

We had repeating crossbows as well, but the only benefit to those was that you could 'drain the clip' instantly to fire off 5 or 6 bolts quickly as a sort of 'special move'.

Arrows:
You actually have most of the same arrows we had; Fire, Seeking, Ice and Rope arrows. We didn't have acid though, that's a nice touch (I think we probably considered it, but decided it was too similar in function to the explosive fire/inferal bow combo).

Here's a few we had that aren't on your list;

- "Black Arrow" or "Death Arrow", was basically an instant-kill against certain enemy types. We had character 'levels' in a very basic sense; you didn't earn XP or anything like that, but as your character grew more confident (usually after a boss fight), large groups of enemies would instead level DOWN and become fodder. So the wolf that was a tough fight at the start of the game at the start becomes a single-shot kill later.

Enemies basically were grouped into "Fodder" "Standard" "Tough" and "Boss". Black Arrows would essentially affect a target as if they were one lower level than they were (i.e. Standard becomes Fodder, Tough becomes Standard, etc). Bosses were excluded, of course.

Black Arrows were rare and were designed for dire situations. As it turns out, we kind of had a 'survival horror' thing going on before there really was a survival horror genre.


- Poison Arrows, which caused enemies to slowly lose health over time. Some boss characters would also reveal their weak spot when they were afflicted, so poison arrows were especially handy for taking down tougher fights.

Poison Arrows weren't an ammo you actually found, but were arrows you recovered from poisonous enemies; you'd shoot a Manticore or whatever and when they died they'd leave behind a green-tinted arrow you could pick up.

We got the idea from the old Hercules TV series (so that dates the project pretty well, I guess), where the blood of the Golden Hind was the only poison able to slay a god. We actually planned to have super-rare little forest critter that you might stumble across that would award a special arrow usable on a hidden boss. Something you might want to slip in for fun.


- 'Elongated' Arrows. These were special reed arrows you could climb on since the basic arrows were too small and brittle. We didn't use the 'climb up arrows' mechanic quite so frequently as you seem to be; it was more of a puzzle element than a method of travel.


- Net Arrows. There were a couple enemy types we had planned to be too dangerous to defeat. If you slew them, their spirits would linger and become a huge pain in the arse. The only way to avoid this was to capture them safely (or use the "Holy Bow" you found later in the game). This was only in one 'dungeon' (we had 6 themed 'towers' you had to journey to), but they were usable throughout the game if you just wanted to stop an enemy from moving. The Net Arrows also allowed you to use the snared enemy as a platform for good measure.

- Protection Arrows These were kind of an oddity. You'd shoot them and they'd create a bubble of protection that the player could shoot through but enemies couldn't. It didn't affect movement at all. You'd shoot them at certain traps to contain their projectiles and we had wanted to use them to 'bounce' projectiles around. For example, shooting a Protection Arrow so an enemy shot would ricochet off and hit a distant switch or something. It was only a very rough idea, but it might give you some ideas.

Limited Vision
You have a pretty dark world and are going for an isolated feel. To add to that sense of danger, you might consider uncentering the camera (when it scrolls) from the player character and shift it to a point several tiles ahead of them. This will favor your gameplay in two ways; you can see further when trying to shoot something, but (more importantly) the area behind the player is smaller. This means things can sneak up on you easier, traps you may spring behind you may only be audible, etc.

This wasn't in our original design, but it's something I came up with for a 'reboot' of Simon's Quest that a LOT of ideas from Quiver made it into. You can read that here: Level 1 Game Designer: Reinvention: Simon's Quest

Healing System / Armor
In fact, while you're there, you might want to look over the Healing System and Armor Types because those were both aspects of Quiver as well that I carried over to that little project as well.

In Quiver, the armor basically just gave you a longer health bar, by the way.

Limited ammo types
As I said above, there wasn't really a 'survival horror' genre when we were working on it, but we had lots of ideas that kind of figure into that genre's themes. One was limited ammo; you always had your default arrow, but you could quickly run out of the other types if you were careless with them. Each arrow type had a specific method for getting more (i.e. the poison arrows above), so you didn't have to farm enemies or anything to get them by chance (though certain enemies did drop certain ammo types). That was one reason we had multiple bow types, so players could still shoot 'pseudo-fire' arrows to damage enemies without actually consuming fire arrows themselves.

We didn't have a restriction on how many arrows you could carry though, that was completely unlimited. But certain arrow types, we wanted to feel rare and unique. A lot of special arrow types also were given away in areas that required them (i.e Rope Arrows in the Sky-themed Tower, etc.)

Other stuff:
Really, that's about it. We did have plans for magic spell-type system planned, but all it really did was add either a full-screen attack (Think Ninjitsu Attacks from Shinobi) or summon a special helper.

The helpers had limited life, but hung around and attacked stuff to heal you. One was an Angel that shot light arrows and the other was a demon with 'vampire arrows'. Both basically did the same thing (heal you when they hit an enemy), but had different behavior. The Angel was less aggressive, healed for more, and was deadly accurate. The Demon was much more aggressive, healed for slightly less, but fired so much he often missed.

We wanted to add a sort of 'hidden ending' thing based on how many times you used one or the other, but we never implemented them before we scrapped the project.

Everyone who worked on the project (that is, myself, my programmer and an artist we recruited to do some early test work) was a huge fan of Castlevania, so a lot of the early tiles that I drew had things like stained glass windows, statues, crumbling ruins, etc.

The basic stage design was an open hub world (ala Simon's Quest) that linked to 6 themed Towers and the final boss' Tower. There was a linear order through the towers, but looking back I wish we had taken a more open-ended approach and let the player find the tools needed to progress through each in the Hub world rather than at the end of each tower. Oh well, it was a long time ago and we were just starting off.

-------------------

Anyways, hope some of this is useful. Send me a PM if you have any questions or want to toss some ideas back and forth. I'm definitely looking forward to giving this game a try.

This spends more time on my desk than the bookshelf. Absolutely indispensable.

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-D-Updated/dp/0312039506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300833125&sr=8-1

And here's a look inside thanks to Google;
http://books.google.com/books?id=iEpJYgh3gkwC&lpg=PP1&ots=L7KYv6oR0V&dq=Diagram%20group%2C%20Weapons&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

For Monsters.... http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/

For Spells... it's magic. use your imagination

[pixel-art maps]

Not mine, but I thought a few people in this thread might be interested in this;

The Chinese company Baidu has completed accurate, pixel-art maps of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu.

Go here:
http://map.baidu.com

On the right, you'll see a bar near the top that looks like this;


Those are the cities I just listed (same order). Once you select one, in the upper right corner you'll see something like this; you want the second option.


Here's a sample;
GOOGLE:


BAIDU:

Thanks go to handofg0d over at the NeoGAF forums for bringing it to my attention. For clarity's sake, I want to say again that this is NOT MINE, I had no hand in it, I just thought you pixel-art junkies would like it.

WORST GAME DESIGN EVER.

You forgot...

13. Whenever the killed, the player must watch a 15 second long unskippable cutscene before being given the option to reload their last save.

Why would you let them save?

1. Loading a save state is another delay on top of the cutscene.

2. If they have to restart from the beginning, they'll be frustrated and quit. If you let them load from a save, they will likely keep playing (and thus, suffering).

I suppose that qualifies more as "malicious" game design rather than just worst.

Since I've only ever made three games and only been solely responsible for the design of one, take this with a grain of salt;

My approach is to establish the rules of the game, which don't need to be anything special or unique at all. To use an example everyone knows, a rule for Mario would be "Defeat enemies by jumping on them."

I then design 'rule-breakers'; taking the basic laws of the game and making exceptions to that rule that challenge the player to utilize the rule in a different way. For example, introducing Spiny-shelled enemies to Mario breaks the rule about jumping on enemies. Koopa Troopas are beaten after a single jump, but leave behind a shell that, if jumped on again, becomes a weapon. Dry Bones is defeated in a single jump, but will get back up in a few moments.

I like to start with the most simple approach possible and add depth by allowing players to slowly chip away at the established rules.

WORST GAME DESIGN EVER.

You forgot...

13. Whenever the killed, the player must watch a 15 second long unskippable cutscene before being given the option to reload their last save.

[Possible game arcs:]

Just a rough concept, written as kind of a film script. Not sure what it's for, but the idea is one that has kind of slowly fermented in my head over the last few weeks or so. Typed all of this up quickly from memory, so apologies if it's a bit rough.

----

The story begins with a planet under siege as a massive fleet slips out of hyperspace and holds orbit. The shadowy captain of the command ship orders several of his heavy troop carriers towards the planet's surface, only to have the planet's massive orbital defense cannons erupt through the atmosphere and rip the landing crafts apart. Grinning, the captain pulls the fleet out of range and orders his troops to prepare for descent.

The carriers burn up as they fall from space, leaving plumes of fire and smoke as they plummet across the horizon. Several huge pieces crash in a remote forest region, flashing the surrounding trees to cinder and char. Peering into the crater, we see a huge fuel tank suddenly rock back and forth. From the smooth surface come small cracks which extend downward into legs, and the fuel tank suddenly lifts itself up and gallops horse-like out of the crater.

----

Back in orbit, the captain watches a hologram of the planet's surface, monitoring dozens of the legged vehicles slowly moving across the map. Each closing in on the planetary defense cannons. Another grin; his decoys have worked.

----

On the surface, a lone soldier is suddenly hit by a sniper's bullet and falls from his vantage post. Following the path of the bullet, we slow to see just the barrel of a long rifle and a hand descend back into one of the walking tanks, pulling a hatch closed as the tank gallops forward again. The view lifts upward as we follow the tank racing off, to show the vehicle is closing in on a larger bunker with a massive cannon pointing skyward.

A few soldiers stand guard near the entry point of the bunker, discussing the recent events in orbit, when the walking tank emerges from the woods and charges into the clearing. Sounding the alarm, the soldiers race inside as a heavy blast door slams behind them. Several small ports open in the door and rockets immediately spiral out towards the tank; most of the missiles fail to find their target but as the vehicle draws closer, a few find their mark.

Through the smoke, we see the vehicle still standing, 50 yards from the door. The tank's bottom suddenly falls out and crashes to the ground, revealing several soldiers in heavy armor, standing on the tank's bottom which is a heavily armed gunning platform. Bullets are pouring from the dust before it even begins to clear. A small window slides open in the upper part of the vehicle and the same long rifle barrel we viewed earlier emerges and begins firing into the windows and ports of the structure.

Inside, the exchange of fire is deafening and the rooms are dark save for the harsh streams of light pouring through the port holes and the flash of firearms. The door still remains closed, however, and the soldiers begin to joke at the attackers' expense. They are interrupted by the whine of a claxon and the flashing of emergency lights, the grind of machinery and the sudden flood of light as the door opens.

---

In a nearby control room, several bodies are slumped over control panels but there is little evidence of a fight. A gloved hand releases a lever, the door controls, and a shadow slips across the panels. A turncoat, perhaps, or some saboteur who landed in advance of the attack days or weeks ago.

----

The massive doorway stands wide open and the armored troops on their heavily defended platform fire an unending barrage into the dark opening as fewer and fewer shots emerge from within. One by one, the attackers cease firing and lift their guns straight up inside their tank. The legs click and whir, and the tank lowers down to the ground and reconnects with the platform with a sudden hissing suck of air. The sniper's barrel withdraws, the window slides closed, and the vehicle lurches forward again, ignoring the occasional bullet that plinks away harmlessly.

The tank steps into the dark room where several bodies lay lifeless, sinking to the floor and pulling its legs into the body of the craft again. All is quiet save for the breathing and shuffle of survivors preparing for whatever comes next.

The legs of the craft hiss and expand outward, a blue light radiating from the edges. Behind each is a soldier, holding the leg as a shield. They pull into a tight formation, forming a barrier with the leg-shields and close in towards the far end of the room. Several soldiers emerge from the edges of a low barricade and begin firing at the attackers, but the bullets ricochet and the soldiers continue to advance.

On the tank, the long, narrow window slides open again and a different barrel emerges; a short, stubby tube launches an explosive device across the room, arcing gently before landing behind the barricade and detonating. Splinters of cement rain down on the attackers, who have paused only briefly to let the smoke clear. Again, they advance, shutting out the light from the doorway behind them.

----

In a distant control room filled with clean, sharp uniforms and gruff, overconfident conversation, an alarm sounds. A hologram surrounded by commanders suddenly flickers with the signals of a hundred ships dropping from orbit. An order is issued, repeated, shouted. A plaintive voice from a subordinate at the edge of the room; the defense posts are not responding. Something is wrong. Suits scramble to action just as the first wave of attacks shudders through the room.

Hanging lamps flicker and sway overhead, monitors blink and blank out, and soldiers crouched to steady themselves stare upward at the ceiling as impact tremor after impact tremor thunder overhead, muffled by the room's depth. An issue is ordered; evacuate immediately and mobilize what forces remain. Doors slide open, red lights light up across the room, and the room quickly empties itself of all but a few, vital personnel.

At the center of the room, an officer stands, his hands quickly and confidently racing over a now vacant control panel. A few seconds of quick typing, a flick of a few switches, and the soldier pulls a data module from the console and slips it inside his uniform. Another infiltrator, he quickly leaves the room, his mission complete. As he steps out the door, over his shoulder we see the holographic display of the planet slowly erupting with points of data and light; the planet is taken in mere moments.

----
Possible game arcs:
- Invasion Force: The player assumes the role of one of the attacking soldiers, riding inside the walking tank. As an early level in the game, the player is introduced to basic gameplay concepts without facing too much danger. Sniping the perimeter scouts introduces aim, zoom and fire from a safe distance. When the gunning platform drops out of the bottom of the tank, the player is introduced to mounted artillery from a defensive position. Finally, when the troops emerge from the tank with the leg shields, the player is introduced to movement and the use of defensive equipment.

-Infiltrator: Unlocked after the completion of this initial invasion level, the player assumes the role of the saboteur inside the bunker. Intended as a bonus mission, it doesn't need to introduce mechanics, but can still train the player on stealth and assassination techniques.

Ahh, I figured it might be for a Flash game. Doesn't hurt to ask, I suppose..

Doesn't hurt at all. Vector would be the ideal method to do UI elements like this anyways for quick and easy scaling. I'm not currently in the process of developing this game beyond the design phase.

Those look very nice. Are they vectors?

Nyet, though I'm decent enough in Illustrator that if I had it installed on my PC I'd be able to without much trouble. Though it's been a few years since I've tooled around in that particular program, it's a fairly simple design I'm more than sure I can replicate. It's not exactly like riding a bike, but it's close enough.

Either way, I have Photoshop already and I tend to move faster in that anyways when I just want to get a quick diagram of something up.

Thanks for the compliment.  

Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure had similar gameplay. Each player controlled their own Link and had to work together to overcome puzzles, usually based on which ever tool the player had picked up (i.e. the player with the Fire Rod needs to light torches, the one with the bow needs to shoot distant switches, etc.).

It also added a semi-competitive mode; when not working together, you could beat on each other to steal rupees. At the end of the level the player with the most rupees was awarded, but you still needed all 4 players to finish so it was sort of a friendly competition mode.

Also, not sure if it counts, but Phantasy Star Online's challenge mode required 4 players to work together and, because combat was a heavy element in said game, each player really had to carefully use their class' primary function rather than dabble in all three aspects (melee, ranged, magic) as they would in the core game. There were lots of puzzles, but none that players solved by virtue of any specific skill or ability their class had.

[BLIND]

A UI Mockup of Status Effect counters for a Customizable Action / Adventure title I've been poking at for years.



Each status effect is applied in duration-based applications; multiple applications increase both the time and the severity of the effect at given thresholds. For example;

BLIND
3-0 seconds: Blurred screen, lessening towards next threshold.
6-3 seconds: Black splotches appear in addition to blurring, fading slowly to blur towards next threshold.
9-6 seconds: Full screen is blacked out, fading slowly to splotches towards next threshold.

So, for example, if you're hit with two 3-second applications of the Blind status, you'd have a couple of black splotches obscuring your view for 3 seconds and then a blurry view for another 3.

If the player is ever hit with a full 9 seconds of a status, the effect 'bursts' and something especially unpleasant happens. For Blind, the player's lock-on is lost and their entire screen is white for 9 seconds. During this 'burst' effect, the player cannot be afflicted with the same status (i.e. when you're already suffering from the full burst effect of blindness, the enemy can't be tossing another round of the Blind status at you).

The idea is, you can keep an enemy subdued by steadily applying a status effect, or you can go for broke, load up the duration to the point of bursting and then really lay into them when they're really suffering.

For example, Disarmed simply reduces the victim's attack speed, but if the effect bursts they are literally disarmed of their weapon, which goes flying away and has to be picked back up again. Crippled causes the player's controls to grow unresponsive (but they can still move), while the burst effect knocks them into a prone position (perfect for a coup-de-grace attack).

Glider PRO...

... it's 1996, right?

It was windy the other day, and in my musings I had the rough idea of a "Wind Shepherd" who's responsibility is to hang around on mountains and crags and direct the wind where it is needed or away from where it is not.

Came home and sketched out this. Mechanical Pencils on cheap Copy paper, 4-8 minutes tops.


Wanted to have a kind of bored female figure leaning into the wind/resting on a wonky-looking shepherd's crook with an anemometer. The big chunky gloves and boots jumped in on their own, more or less. She'd probably want a good pair of both if she's climbing up and down mountains all day.

Not sure if there's any basis in this being a character in a game, but I always make sure to leave my concepts open enough to include a little whimsy if it fits.

X-Men 2: Clone Wars for the Sega Genesis doesn't have a start menu or anything. When you turn on the game it immediately cuts to the player as Beast in an arctic level. once you get past that initial starting area you are taken to a character select screen and can access the menus etc.

Came here to post this exact same comment (except if you reset the game, you can pick which X-man you want to play as). You literally power on the Genesis and you're dropped into the middle of Siberia, in a blizzard, with a tank shooting at you. 

Old, but I've been tinkering with the idea of developing something like this in the near future. It's a non-shooting vertical shooter.



Players have to jam the detection drones by pressing the corresponding button when their ships jamming node (the little thing floating in front of the player) is within the sensor's range. The closer you get, the more points you score. There's also things like search lights, scouting ships and flak cannons.

More details here.

Sorry to ruin your sex talks:


Redid the two frames (25&26 iirc) where I cheated on, not much difference tho. Addded stuff to the impact flash.

Might just be me (though I can't imagine why, but who knows what screwy crap happens from browser to browser?), but I'm seeing one frame with an artifact on the left side and one frame where the hammer disappears entirely.

I guess this one could use some variety in colour...

Not necessarily. If you're going for an oppressively overgrown area, then all of that green makes the entire area feel like the plant life is weighing down on you. If that's the impression you were aiming for, maybe add some tall grass or some background details to suggest more growth.

If not, even as it is, that's still pretty decent. There's enough contrast between the fore and background that it's not too heavy.