The idea of a game where lack of oxygen presents you with a constant threat sounds neat, though could frighten away some players.

How is it any different from time counting down in the original SMB?

I would lock this thread before the whining/despair/inappropriate-sense-of-entitlement reaches Café levels.

I desperately need a name for my game.
It's basically a remake of Magic Carpet with modern graphics and features. So, there'll be some kind of sorcerer, flying somehow (first person view) in various strange worlds, casting all kinds of spells, exploring and discovering secrets.

Here are some screenshots, but it's just bare landscape for now: http://ranmantaru.com/gallery/nggallery/screenshots/unnamed-game-screenshots/

Very nice terrain.

Maybe a bit more about the game's story/objective would help.

I didn't know American Thanksgiving lasted so long.

Is war the only way to acquire territory held by another lord? Something I loved about Spore (perhaps the ONLY thing I loved about Spore outside the creature editor) was the ability to annex rival cities through trade and conversion. Exchanging land tiles would also be an interesting aspect – Lord Xyz will give you three tiles (flashing on the map) in exchange for one tile by the sea (also flashing), so he can build a port city. That sort of thing.

As for name ideas...
Lords of Conquest
The Long March to Victory
DomiNation

My only gripe is that mountains should not be higher up on the screen the farther back they are. They should either be smaller or lower. assuming all mountains are of the same height of course. But as it is it just looks awkward.

I like it though.

I don't see the problem – foothills are lower and closer than the taller, farther, mountains.

The alternative is putting low mountains behind tall mountains, which you'd hardly see.

[Keish]

Arch Rival:  Dr. Keith's Kooky Korean Keish-Selling Kiosk

Is that a regional spelling or something? It took me a minute to realize you meant quiche. (Unless keish is something else entirely.)

All the F-alliteration is a bit too

.

I completely disagree that you should only show finished art. If it's meant to be a placeholder for now, say so. If you're unsure about it, ask for feedback in your devlog. It seems you have two other threads going about the artwork, which means people aren't posting their feedback in your devlog, which means there's less activity there, which means there's less sense of interest in the game itself.

Post progress updates, even if there's nothing new (visually) to show – but don't just repost the same art or screen shot as last time. It seems like I've only seen one picture from your game, but showing it again and again and again without noting any changes makes it look like nothing is changing or progressing.

Do you have any gameplay footage you could show, or animations, or maybe a diagram of moves or chart of game piece abilities? The game clearly isn't chess, but I have no idea how it's played – if you've already stated it somewhere then I've forgotten, but I haven't forgotten how other devlog games are played because I've seen them in action to some degree or another.

Don't worry about attracting absolutely everyone's attention, just try to retain what attention you do get.

/rant

The Journeyman (i like that one)

That word means apprentice, not man-who-journeys. Just FYI.

In my opinion different classes are what make up an RPG. I think it's fun, so I'm adding it. It was planned as an RPG from the beginning and not an experimental new game genre. Also I'm not assembling ripoffs, I think my game has a unique gameplay.

Nobody said you shouldn't have classes, you shouldn't make an RPG, or that you should create a new game genre. Relax buddy!

@furii I plan to add different classes. I was thinking about a warrior, a thief and a mage for the beginning. Each class should have a different gameplay.

The idea of having classes is pretty fresh for this game's genre - usually I do see classes, but in a much less predetermined manner. I can't really say whether or not that's a bad thing, considering how this game is still in its early stages of development. Would the Warrior get the bow? Does the Thief get any special stealth abilities? Is the Mage entirely ranged?

This is probably a topic for another thread, but I find those class types and specialties so cliché and boring it's an immediate turnoff.

But the thing is... Arent there a bazillion platformers out there!? Like look at braid, stealthbastard, cave story, meat boy, King Arthurs Gold etc etc etc etc...

None of those games would exist if their creators had looked at the three decades of platformer games that preceded them and decided there were already enough.
 

I'm really looking forward to this! I stumbled across it on a blog a week or two back and didn't know it had a thread here.

My absolute only criticism would be the tendency for round/oblique terrain shapes to have flattened vertical faces – a bit of rough randomization to break up those flat sides would help make them look more natural, create more visual interest, and give you new surfaces to attach things like trees or place items/secrets.

[Quʒst]

I was thinking something a little more one-wordy, even if it's two words put into one. I keep thinking in terms of ______.swf, such as Nethack would be nethack.swf.

I was also considering emphasizing the three zone system, TriQuest? TriExplore?

Quʒst

While we're throwing ideas around; if you're using the lighting system could you put one light on the mouse and a different coloured light on the player's current location? Presumably it'll be necessary to show the player's location on the map somehow.

Or a marker of some kind, a little carved wooden totem or token in the shape of the player character.

Hmm...Well I like The Hobo Detective because it sounded goofy...Maybe The Detective Bum?  Actually Bum Detective Sounds awesome...  I kind of like The Gypsy Detective but that emplies that the character would actually be a full blown gypsy...  Hmm...Seems like I'll need to further develop this character no matter what I do...
Roaming Detective?
Rambling Investigator?

'Bum' can mean lazy, idle, a loafer, incompetent...

take the roles of two plumbers who go around jumping on enemies, travelling through pipes, collecting coins and saving princesses.

That's already been done, it was called Adventure Marne Bros.

Oh yeah, and it reminds me of the map for Mouse Guard:


The neutrals aren't really a problem if you want it to look like an aged map – maybe there's some lighting or focus thing you can do to really boost readability when a location is highlighted.

Okay, so I tried my old character in-game and he looked terrible, so I redid him from scratch to be a bit larger and have some more readable and less directional lighting.

old <--> new



Better, worse? Comments?

Great! Looks more like a man and less like a boy.

The hat is a little plonky though.

[DAY 254]

DAY 254 - November 28, 2011

• Worked some more on the map.
• Went through my notes and added in all the proper place names (not shown in pic).

*maps*

Which one do you guys think looks better?

If those terrain features are even remotely important, they should be more visible. As they are it's possible someone would mistake those bodies of water for ye olde parchment discolouration.