Nope, I think it's novel.  (The only game I was thinking about was SameGame, like how you can both speed up gathering stuff and make it a little more strategic by automatically gathering adjacent identical items.)

That's awesome! Well thanks for sharing it! I like the idea a lot!

Picture a tall thin grid of, say, five squares wide by many squares (perhaps infinitely many squares) high.  (Maybe you bend the track around  visually for variety's sake, but logically it's just a thin path.)

- - - - Y
- - - - -
- - - - O
- X - O -
X - O - -
- X - - -
- - X - -
- - p - -

Your avatar starts in the center and travels "north".  When it comes across a resource, it harvests it in maybe a second or so, then just keeps going north until it finds another resource.  If the player (p) doesn't touch anything, they get an X and an O here.

If they touch the screen while that X is being harvested, they zoom along the wiggly X path and collect four X's, and are now in the second column.  If they wait and touch while the O is being harvested, they zoom along the O path and collect all three O's and end up in the fifth column, and are in a position to collect that Y.  (And maybe that Y is rare and worth having.)

So nothing goes wrong if the player just leaves it idle, but if they interact with the screen there's a bonus: more resources faster, and some ability to affect the balance of resources you're taking in.  (Like in general I might leave it idle and therefore random, but when I'm low on O's and need a bunch for a project, I can pay some more attention and zoom-collect sequences of O's rather than leaving it random.)

Ahh, okay, I get it now. Thanks for explaining! Now that I understand it, that does sound like a good way to handle the resource gathering! Very cool! Have you seen this used before in (an)other game(s), or did you just think of this? If it's used somewhere else, I'd like to research it a bit.

Whoops, when I started out on this forum, I never introduced myself here because I didn't realize this was here!

But here I am now! My name is Robbie, but I go by Alamantus pretty much everywhere on the internet. So if you see "Alamantus" just about anywhere, you can usually reliably know that it's me. I'm a hobbyist game developer who really just wants to make something that people can remember. I'm obviously not there yet, but I think I'll get there someday!

So far I've only completed 4 games, one of which is a print-and-play board game and another is a set of rules for standard playing cards, but hey they're still games if they're not video games, right? When I'm not making games, I'm usually making web apps for myself that I share with other people. My most recent that I'm really proud of is Lexiconga, but it's such a niche, nerdy sort of tool that I don't imagine many people using it—you can make and share dictionaries for anything on it, but it was created with conlanging in mind.

But yeah, my current project is Chompy!, mobile game where you're a t-rex eating meat that's flying at you while avoiding rocks, but I'm always starting new little projects for game jams and stuff. So far I've only finished one jam game though, and I've been nodevving for a while because I couldn't get motivated...

Anyway, it's awesome to be here, and I hope we can help each other in the future.

For the timed button presses, maybe:

• Resources are laid out in a grid-like resource field in meandering chains.  Some resources will have no neighbors of the same type, others will be laid out in a wavy line along with many of the same type.
• Your avatar mindlessly collects each resource and moves on to the one immediately above it.
• If you press a button, your avatar rapidly collects the current resource AND the subsequent resources of the same type in the same chain, moving in order to do so.  So this both collects a few of the same resource at once and moves you to a different place on the screen.  (So you might want to do it even with a so-so chain if it sets you up beneath a valuable resource that you'd otherwise miss.)
• There are limited charges of this ability that refill over time.  So you can do a few at once if you see a sweet path but you can't just spam it to collect things more quickly.
• There are occasionally dangerous things like jagger bushes, poison ivy, porcupines, whatever, in a chain that you would (if you were going slower) be able to avoid, or are in places (like diagonal paths) that you wouldn't go during slow movement, but that if you collect during a rapid dash will put you on your rump temporarily and halt progress.  (So another mechanical reason not to use the dash button mindlessly.)

So anyway, that mechanic has a few good properties, I think: it's optional to interact with the game but can be beneficial, it ties resource collection and movement together, and it's one-button but allows the player some strategic planning. 

This sounds like and interesting idea. I'm having trouble imagining how the player moves across the grid. Does the avatar start at the bottom in the center and there are chains branching off from the center? Would the avatar turn at all?

I like the idea of riding along chains of resources, but I was also thinking of keeping the number of resources lower... This would be good for a different game, but it might be too much for the relaxed idea I have in my head.

Yeah, I'm saying focus on the one thing. Make potion prices change every day (maybe with associated events as fictional justification) and make different potions use different combinations of the same basic ingredients, and I think you have an interesting potion selling game right there. Give it a little bit of iteration and I'm sure you can come up with something much better.

That's a good idea! Fictional events would make it pretty fun, too, I think. I could set up a supply-demand chain kind of thing, too, so you can't flood the market and keep getting high sale prices... That'd be fun!

What do you think about collecting resources, though? Do you think having a couple renewable/random resources to pick up daily is enough? Or should there be shops where you can spend your (in-game) coins to get more/better ingredients? Probably, because why else would you collect money?

Sounds like one of those facebook/mobile games that are designed to bleed money from users with IAPs. You're not gonna find a lot of love for that stuff around here.

Ok, this is what this post makes the conversation sound like to me:
Me: "I have this idea, what do you think? What would make it better/worth playing?"
You: "Don't try to steal our money! We don't take kindly to theft around these parts!"

You got the reading of my post all wrong. Most TIGgers are almost violently against IAP/Zynga-style stuff, on ethical grounds. I'm not trying to start an argument or comment on the value of your idea - that's literally all that I wanted to convey.

Fair enough. I'm just as violently against Zynga-style stuff, and I'll never abuse anyone who wants to take time out of their day to play my game that way. The way your post was worded made it seem like you were accusing me of trying to make that kind of thing.

I guess I can see how the description could look like that, but I'm looking to make a game that I can play in my spare time that could remain fun and interesting, beyond just clicking things to collect resources. So no, I don't plan on asking for money from anyone, no worries.

Hey I think the game has potential to be cool. I like the idea about it being a game that takes place over time (maybe even when not playing).
For the dungeons maybe a simple RPG battle system could work - even auto battle if you want to keep it real casual.
You can 'explore' an area - Which would give you a random chance to fight an enemy, find ingredients, maybe some area events.
After each turn, you can choose to go back with your loot, or push further.
Maybe the good stuff is so many 'turns' into an area before you have a chance to start getting it.

I agree with the above comment though and please avoid IAPs for dumb stamina and things like that if you want to play for longer than 5 minutes. I don't see where you brought that up though.

Thanks! I thought so, too. My goal is to make a game that I can personally invest time into and feel like I'm getting something out of it. I like the idea of having "turns" where you do an action. A basic RPG battle system sounds like it might be a good idea, but that sounds like it would take a lot of extra monster art that I don't really want to sink into a project like this.  

And yeah, I never have any intention of making IAPs, especially for bs like stamina. I hate that, and in many cases that alone has made me stop playing games when they have it...

Why have the players utilize the potions at all? I was more interested in a game where I play an alchemist making potions for adventurers to use than a resource gathering mini-game.

I like the thought behind this, though! So you're saying just keep it simple, focus on just making the potions and selling them, that's it? I guess I just figured players would want to do more with their time, but maybe if I can figure out how to make making potions and selling them strategically that would be enough?

Sounds like one of those facebook/mobile games that are designed to bleed money from users with IAPs. You're not gonna find a lot of love for that stuff around here.

Ok, this is what this post makes the conversation sound like to me:
Me: "I have this idea, what do you think? What would make it better/worth playing?"
You: "Don't try to steal our money! We don't take kindly to theft around these parts!"

I'm a hobbyist just trying to toss around ideas.

I'm trying to figure out if gameplay like what I described would be engaging enough to even bother making—would anyone feel inclined to play it. Or if not, what would make it more worth playing?

I've been tossing around an idea for an idle game of sorts that involves resource management, recipe discovery, and item sales, but I wanted to add a mechanic to add risk for collecting more valuable resources.

Ok, so if you're still with me after that vague mess of a sentence, here's what the game would actually be: you're an alchemist and every day (real time) you can gather some random resources that grow in your area to create potions (everything from like speed potions to poisons to love potions) that you can either use or sell. Every week the demand for certain potions rise and fall, so you have to be strategic with when to sell your potions to get the best price.

My problem is that I don't know how to utilize the "using your potions" thing, and I don't know how to best go about increasing risk for going deeper into a resource-gathering place to get better ingredients. I'm thinking it should probably be a different gameplay style, but I don't know what exactly... Top-down Zelda-style dungeon crawling? Might be fun, but it wouldn't fit. I envision the whole game as a pretty casual experience, but I'd like resource gathering to optionally take more effort if the player wants to be more active and get better ingredients.

As I was writing this just now, I came up with an idea: you can send your avatar into the resource-gathering places with a limited amount of energy to collect stuff for you, but if you want, you can do timing-based button presses or something like that to get better resources and to use your energy more efficiently. That way you can take potions beforehand to temporarily bolster your excursions...

What do you think? (If you like this kind of game,) Would this be enough to hold your interest?

[http://itch.io/jam/insanityjam5]

The Insanity Jam is a game jam where you use a random game idea generator to base your game on.

See what you can come up with!

http://itch.io/jam/insanityjam5

The concept here is really simple but I like it.  It honestly took me a little while to figure out that I have to actually close the mouth on the food for it to count.  That's probably in the description somewhere, but I tend to just jump into things.  It would be more satisfying if there was an indicator (other than the health bar increasing) when you successfully eat something.  Like a point value displaying or at least flash or something.  As it is, I don't know if eating a turkey or a ham is worth more, so some user feedback would help with that.  The only other thing is that part of the UI was cut off at the top using the WebGL version.  It's probably just an export anomaly or something, but it needs to be fixed.  Good luck with your game!

Yeah, the way Unity's default CSS for webgl handles the canvas was really stupid, and I didn't realize the top was cut off until it was too late last night for me. I fixed the CSS this morning and you can see the top, which actually does include the score counter. Yikes. I wish I had caught it earlier, because the score is pretty much the point of the whole game.

Thanks for the feedback!

Hey there! I'm making a mobile game (iOS & Android) about a t-rex eating meat, and I just put up a "playtester's edition" online using Unity WebGL (and the web plugin if webgl doesn't work for you) where you can tweak some settings and give feedback within the game. My goal is to get as much feedback on the settings and the game itself as I can on how to make it the most enjoyable experience possible:
http://playchompy.com/playtest

It's a one-button game and all you have to do is catch as much meat in Chompy's mouth before you run out of energy while avoiding rocks. Click & hold or hold space to open Chompy's mouth and release to close it. You get a point multiplier for each additional piece of meat you catch, but catching a rock resets your multiplier. Also, you don't get points or refill energy until you close your mouth. That's pretty much all there is to know about the game!

I was hoping some of you here could help me playtest it and let me know what you think. If you enjoy it, maybe even let others know about it!

Thanks!  

[Metroid Jam is a game jam all about the classic/Prime series.]

(background image by: http://likelikes.deviantart.com/)

Metroid Jam is a game jam all about the classic/Prime series.

Castlevania is great, but we think Metroid deserves some more love, so leave your "-vania" at the door and get started now!

Make a fan game!
Make a game like Metroid!
Just make Metroid!

because we’re tired of waiting to get more great Metroid games, and it’s time to make them ourselves.

• Want to join in on the fun? Head on over to the jam page on GameJolt and get all the info you need!
• Want a forum? We've got a forum!
• Want an IRC Channel? We've got that too!
• Prefer an IRC client to the web-based link above? Ok fine! Server: irc.freenode.net, Channel: #metroidjam

And then start talking about it! Spread the word, we want to make this a fun time for as many people as we can! Be sure to tweet and post using the #metroidjam tag so everyone else can see what you’re up to!

I've been getting as much of the boring GUI stuff out of the way as I can. I've got the positioning and all the buttons working right, all that is left to be done (for the in-game pause menu, at least) is to make the GUI skin more appropriate than Unity's default skin. But that'll take some creative time, so I'll do that later. For now, I have a pause menu with options, multiple control schemes successfully implemented (customizable controls coming soon), and lots of other menu-related stuff!

I'm not going to upload another dev preview, though, because there's not enough change to the actual game to justify it.

This is looking really cute already.

Thanks!  

I was wondering if you'd planned for there to be any backtracking or level inter-connectivity, like in Banjo-Tooie?

Oo, I hadn't thought of inter-connected levels! All I had in mind was your basic backtracking for collecting the things you missed the first time, but now that I think about it, I would love to have some kind of inter-connectivity! I don't know how, but it could probably be done!

Maybe you can have some little mini games in certain areas for collecting sun orbs? Just to add some diversity to the gameplay.

Mini games is a great idea! I'll have to think about what kind of mini games to add, but what kind do you like most? I immediately thought of a slide minigame, but I don't want to completely rip off Super Mario 64… Haha.

We finally finished the game! Here's the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ThinkHugeInc.EpicDragons 

Congratulations! I don't have an android device, but this really looks awesome! 

there really need to be more 3D platformers, honestly. not enough good ones!

That's what I thought, too! There was an explosion of really bad 3D platformers around the GameCube era, but I feel like there haven't been many since.

you should probably have or think about maybe having a challenge mode! time attacks, find the things, etc. those go together with games like this like oil and sandwiches.

That's a pretty good idea! I'll think about adding something like that in there! At the very least, I'll put a playtime counter in there on the file select screen so you can try to beat your own time, even if unoffically.

i like how silly petalina looks.

Thanks. :D

i think the controls do need a little more finesse, though. it feels like there's a delay between hitting the key and actually moving, and the animations also seem weirdly delayed as well. also idk about everyone else but i found the WASD+Arrows really unweildy and confusing (at the very least if the controls will be pure-keyboard like this i'd prefer the arrows and WASD to be flipped)

Yeah, the little demo thing is mostly just to demonstrate some of the basic movement and camera stuff. There's definitely a lot of fine-tuning to do (especially with animation). The delay with moving was kind of intentional because I'm intending controller compatibility. Since keys don't have a range of axis motion like a control stick, I wanted to try to artificially create that by having the keys ramp up to speed like a stick would. Admittedly it's not the best, but like I said before, lots of fine-tuning to be done. And by the end of development, I'm planning to make it easy for the player to switch control schemes from the pause menu. There'll be the WASD like in the tech preview, arrows, WASD and Mouse, and Controller. If you have any suggestions for a better way to manage the camera on the keyboard than either arrow keys or WASD, seriously let me know, because I couldn't think of any other ways.

idk, i hope that helps. i look forward to seeing where you take this!

Thanks! It does help a lot! I really like hearing people's ideas and getting feedback. I'm pretty new to the world of game development and I always struggle with coming up with new ideas.

[Main/Required Powerups]

Let's talk game content. At this point in planning, there will be 9 total powerups--3 which you must get to progress in the game and 6 which you can find in order to collect everything in the game:

Main/Required Powerups

• Root Anchor: Petalina sends out roots to hold on tight to prevent being blown away by strong winds, but can't move while rooted. Passively, it also allows Petalina to float on vertical wind turbines instead of being blown to pieces.
• Spin Float: Petalina's skirt flaps to give a second jump midair and then spins, lowering her slowly to the ground for as long as the player holds the jump button.
• Petal Dash: P falls to pieces and controls the wind to move faster and fit through tight spaces that she couldn't fit through in one piece.

Extra/Optional Powerups

• Vine Climb: Petalina sends vines up walls so she can climb to places she can't reach by jumping.
• Pod Pop: Petalina is wrapped in a pod, which expands with pressure and pops,  launching Petalina forward with much faster than a normal dash.
• Pinecone Armor: Creates an enveloping shield of scales like a pinecone to protect Petalina for a short time.
• Coconut Drop: Petalina slams hard onto the ground below her to either destroy weak grates or turn vertical gears.
• Snapdragon Snap: Petalina makes a loud snap, stunning nearby enemies.
• Dandelion Drift: Jump higher and float with both your main jump and your second jump for longer and farther jumps.

As for the game world itself, the 3 areas where you collect the Sun Orbs/get your required abilities are:

• The Storage Facility, where you have to jump around boxes and travel on conveyor belts. You get the Spin Float there.
• The Boiler Room, where you have to avoid hot steam and fire with precise timing. You get Root Anchor there.
• The Mineshaft, where you have to jump on moving platforms and navigate scaffolding while avoiding falling rocks. You get Petal Dash there.

And the 3 areas where you free the "Florists", where you must use those abilities are:

• The Chemical Plant, guarded by a giant pit of chemicals with lots of pipes and dangerous chemicals to jump over. You use Spin Float there.
• The Ventilation Center, guarded by a giant vertical fan, where you have to around lots of big fans that will push you. You use Root Anchor there.
• The Clocktower, guarded by giant spinning gears with just a small opening to get through, where you have to jump around and through gears and spinning platforms. You use Petal Dash there.

Once you free all the Florists, there's one final level where you must use all of the skills you've learned to reach and defeat Machino.

This is the base level of what I intend to put in the game, but if I think of more/want to make the game longer after I've finished all of these things, I might add more levels. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

[Movement & Jumping:]

Here are some gifs from within Unity. The first few are from when I was just starting and didn't have the camera sorted out so it's just clamped to Petalina's back. Note that all of these are just early gifs to demonstrate movement and some basic things. It's not representative of the final look of the game.

Movement & Jumping:


Camera Movement:


Level Transition:


Exiting Levels:


And here's where I figured out how to get the camera how I wanted it:

Free Mode:


Follow Mode:



This is the end of my first post dump and is representative of my progress so far. You can try everything I've finished so far here:
http://demo.alamantus.com/petalina/dev_preview2
The controls and everything are listed on the page, so go check it out if you like playing early tech demos!

[Hub:]

Here are some early world model screenshots taken from Blender.

Hub:




Chemical Treatment Level:



This is all using Blender's awful generated textures, so it won't end up really looking much like this in the end. The chemical level definitely needs to be a lot bigger at the very least!