i checked out the engine. i think its a bit early to really say if its good or not, but what you have so far sees to be working quite well.

What's important is that it 'feels right'. I want to make sure its easy to control.

[/quote]it seems like there are an endless line of awesome possible characters  and the line will only lengthen. it would be cool if there was some way to allow for easy expansion of characters.
[/quote]
I'm trying to compartmentalize the characters as much as possible. My plan is that, to add a new character, you'll just need to do the following:
1- Create all the associated graphics.
2- Set a few constants, such as the character's hit points and speed.
3- Create the code for the character's attacks. Hopefully, this won't be too complicated, unless the attack is really unusual.

Ideally, someone will be able to create a character on their own, if they're motivated enough.

we should make an indie brawl edition of super mario war, not as impressive, but it would be fun and more feasible

I think the original idea is very feasible, and there are so many interesting indie game characters that it would be a shame if all they could do was run and jump.

I'd like to game design for it. I don't know if I'm needed anyhow but oh well...

Any game design input will help. The design document can always be changed if it needs to be.


Has anyone checked out the engine yet? If so, do you like the direction I've taken so far?

In alphabetical order:
Aquaria
Chalk
Liero
Magi
Noitu Love 2

It's hard to pick just five. I only got to the letter 'N' before I ran out of spots.

Would it be possible to keep all characters as much as possible in their original art styles instead? It would probably look pretty jumbled, but on the other hand it might be more authentic, and perhaps fun in a B-game cut and paste sort of way...

I considered this myself. I decided against it for four reasons:
1- As you said, it would look jumbled.
2- Naija, Turner and Gish do not use traditional sprite-based animation.
3- Some characters, like Juni, have no attacks in their original games, so some new graphics would need to be made either way.
4- At least in the original topic, lots of TIGers offered to make art.

I'm curious what others have to think, though. Either style could work.

[Controls:]

Download the latest build

Indie Brawl is a fighting game that pits the stars of indie games against each other.
Choose your favorite character and let the brawl begin!

If you have problems running the game, go to the settings.ini file, and change 'quality=1' to 'quality=0'. That should solve most issues.


Controls:
Player 1:
Arrow Keys - Movement
Shift - Attack
Ctrl - Special

Player 2:
WASD - Movement
G - Attack
H - Special

Player 3:
Numpad 8456 - Movement
Numpad + - Attack
Numpad - - Special

Player 4:
PL:" - Movement
M - Attack
N - Special

Last night I put together the basic movement engine. I still have to iron out a few details, but once I do, I'll release a playable demo. It will be pretty simple, but it will at least give us something to play around with.

In the meantime, it would be good to know who else is interested in continuing to work on this project. Help with graphics and audio would be especially appreciated, but since this is a community project, any contribution is welcome.

Is this project dead? That would be a shame, because it has so much potential.

So much potential, in fact, that if no one else is working on it, I will. Does anyone mind if it's made with Game Maker? Viking Bazooka Bloodbath's engine would work very well for this, with only a few changes.

Indie Brawl must exist!

 

Was it Legend of Shadow?

I think you're thinking about it too much. Just sit down and make it, and let the ideas come to you during the process of creating it. I created a story-based tower defense game myself, and I didn't sit down and plan out all this before making it, I planned it during the process, and altered the plan as I thought of better ways to do things. It should be an organic process, not like an architectural blueprint.

At this point, though, I need at least some direction for the story. Otherwise, it's too difficult to add new graphics and levels. I'll probably run with the bunker idea for now; I can expand on it as I go.

While I agree with the sentiments that you should get started on the game and just let the story come to you, this is awesome:

Your robots have breached into the queen chamber of an insect-like alien colony, you must survive long enough against the swarming enemy waves so that your automatic system of defense can send a locking signal to an orbital laser in order to obliterate the alien colony. Destroy all colonies to save earth.

I agree that this is an excellent idea. I'll try to work it in somehow...

[Windows]

I think the Windows is already taken...

Thanks, guys. Those are some really great ideas.

I'll take the weekend off. Hopefully, I'll have something worked out by Monday.

I've got a pretty good plan set out for my next game, for the most part. The mechanics are unique and innovative, and I think it should be fun. The gameplay's pretty much all planned out.

Unfortunately, I have no idea of what direction I should take with the game's graphics and plot. All I have is an abstract set of mechanics, with no way of drawing players in or making them care.

It's very frustrating. I can't easily continue development until I have a solid concept for the story, and I'm drawing a complete blank for story ideas.

It's gamer's block. And I don't know how to deal with it...

Anyways, if anyone has any advice for how to approach this problem it would be greatly appreciated.



Note: This is a long post. If you would like to know more of the details, and are unusually helpful and/or bored, read on.

To elaborate:

The game will be somewhat similar to a tower defense game, although there are a number of elements that should set it apart. For example:

-There is no form of currency or resources used to buy or upgrade 'towers'. Instead, certain units send out waves of energy, which build or upgrade a tower automatically on contact. Your only limits are making sure each tower has access to this energy, and making sure one tower isn't getting in the way of another (they have to fire around each other).

-Enemies don't follow paths. Rather, the levels are similar to those of a platformer, and enemies jump from one platform to another to reach your towers. This allows for some interesting opportunities, such as pushing enemies into pits or other hazards.

-The objective isn't merely to survive a level. Your central tower sends out a beam of energy which must be guided to the exit by waypoint towers. Once the exit is charged with enough energy, you can proceed to the next level. Enemies will try to destroy the central tower and waypoints, so you will need a strong defense. Some levels will have multiple exits (so there's actually room for exploration).


What does this mean, as far as the plot is concerned? It will take place in interior platformer environments, it will have some opportunities for exploration, the object of the game will focus on transporting 'something', and gathering resources or valuables will not be important.

Otherwise, I have few ideas for a plot.

Here are a few ideas I've thrown around:

-Originally, the game was set in outer space. The enemies, a species of aliens, were eating the constellations. It was up to you to build new arrangements of stars to fight off the invasion.

I really liked this idea. Unfortunately, as the gameplay evolved, this stopped making much sense. The focus moved to transportation rather than defense, and the platformer elements would work better in a terrestrial environment.

-Then, I decided that the game would be set in an abandoned underground bunker/laboratory. You are the computer in charge of the defense systems, but you need to expand your network in order to protect the farthest reaches of the place.

This one has potential. But its still somewhat lacking. The biggest problem is that it's difficult to make someone care about a computer.

-Finally, I decided to focus more on the character than on the environment. You are a psychic goldfish who can only exist in small bodies of water. You need to send out psychic waves to teleport yourself from one body of water to another, and avoid being injured on the way.

Overall, I think this idea is pretty good. However, I can't think of why this goldfish would be under constant attack (or who would want to attack it), or what the goldfish was trying to accomplish.


If you read through all this, thanks for listening. I know I probably rambled on quite a bit. If you have any ideas to throw out there, that would be awesome. My idea-maker could use a bit of a jump-start.

It's possible to include level advancement without sacrificing tactics. I think the best way to do that is to increase a unit's options when it grows, rather than its power. For example, you could give it a new spell instead of increasing the power of its old spells. Preferably, this new spell would not be more powerful than the old ones; it would just be useful in different situations.

This won't necessarily make battles any easier; your attacks will still do the same damage after all (assuming the new powers are balanced with the old ones). However, the feeling of advancement is still there, since you can do things you couldn't do before.

I hope this hasn't been posted before, but these guys are working on a series of videos about the VGNG games. So far, they've featured Furry Punching Nitro, My First Skydiving Academy, Time Shark 2, Unstoppable Dwarf and Viking Bazooka Bloodbath.

I love it!

My favorite seed was "watermelon". Enemies hurt you, but heal the NPC, so you need to guide them into the NPC. Hitting the NPC transfers its health to you. It's a fun balancing act.

"WATERMELON" was good as well. You need to protect the NPC from the enemies. Hitting an enemies bounces it back and heals you, and you can transfer your health to the NPC. 

I would love to enter this, but unfortunately have no time.

So, apparently the GMC is running a competition where the theme is 'Ancient Civilizations.' Someone suggested I enter, so I did. After all, I have nothing to lose by doing so.

The good news for you is that I released a new version, with some significant improvements, including:
Better balance. The cheap strategy mentioned earlier in this thread is no longer nearly as effective.
You can now jump with the C button.
It's easier to unlock new modes.
Minor Fixes and Updates.

You can download it here.

Wooo! 5th Place! 

And congrats to Farbs; ROM CHECK FAIL really earned first place. I must have played that for hours...

Any idea what time the results will be revealed?