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[Evan Balster]

Infinite Blank

An online platform exploration game where players draw the entire world.
Free, crossplatform, open.  Anyone can add to the world and what they add (generally) becomes part of it permanently.



WEBSITE (with download)

[Click here!]
See the tutorial on how to draw in the draw tool here








Original statement


Infinite Blank.


I've wanted to do a game like this for a long time.  One where players build out the world.  Seeing games like Minecraft and Playpen cropped up reminded me of the idea, so I thought it over some more and started working on it at TIGJam Midwest '010.

(Fun fact: the theme of the jam:  Proverbs.  Mine: "A good spectator also creates.")


Basic premise:  A platform exploration game where the world (a contiguous 2D environment) is drawn by players.


Execution:

- Discrete-color vector graphics.  (Like this)

- An infinite grid of connected cells, each of which is either blank or drawn and masked by a player.

- Drawn cells are permanent unless a sufficient number of players 'disapprove' of their content, in which case they become replacable.

- Cells have 10% overlap for transitioning.  New cells' graphics show up on top of old ones.

- Players may begin drawing a cell once every five (?) minutes.  This encourages them to
take their time, and prevents reservation of large numbers of cells.

- Agile characters, possibly with grappling hooks to spice up maneuvering and level design.

- During gameplay, the screen will align with the cell the player's avatar occupies, smoothly sliding when it moves to a new cell.

- A minimap of nearby areas, and another one detailing everything the player has explored.

- Players will be able to draw their own avatars, and (maybe) optionally animate their motions.

- Players will be able to communicate by making drawings, which appear and vanish when 'sent'.

- Possibly, groups of 5 x 4 cells will be given a 'theme' graphic by their discoverer (also subject to replacement rules) and (later / possibly) a set of attributes governing players' abilities while there.



I've created this topic as a way of 'fishing' for some interest in the project, so I'll have some creative world-builders ready to start drawing by the time it's ready.  It also obligates me to make progress on the project quickly.

(shameless plug: I'm working fast because I'm using a C++ engine, 'Plaidgadget', that I've been working on for a year or so.  It has serialization, network sync, a graphics editor, reflection, a thingie that makes coding new game engines super fast and easy, and lots of other goodies!  It's also crossplatform!  It has the notable limitation of exclusively rendering discrete-color 2D vector graphics.)



Progress:
Figure Editor [drawing tool] - serves other purposes and was already ready.
Networking / object sync - already created and tested for other games.
Vector platform engine - created at jam, a little buggy yet but functional.
Map / world system - Basic version finished after an all nighter.
Collision masking tool - Pretty crappy but it works.
Figure Editor integration - hardest part, done!  Tweaking needed still.
Serialized world state - Easy peasy completesy.
MILESTONE A (windows): single-player version.  [Goal: Wednesday, June 10 - On time!]
Will be released here; followers may familiarize themselves with editors.
Fix collision errors - Much better, and new physics!
Milestone A.5 (windows): single-player version.
Remove unnecessary functionality in draw tool [LATE]
Drawable characters [LATE]
Resizable window [letterbox game]
CSG System - Clipping and optimizing drawings [LATE]
Server / Client map management - Shared map [LATE]
Network engine integration - See other players [LATE]
Mac Port
0.1: multi-player alpha.  [Goal: Wednesday, June 16]
Long since released.  Check the website.
Making drawing tool generally friendlier
Graphic Downsampling - Optimize drawings even more, save bandwidth
Animatable characters
Drawn communication
Configurable rules system - If the game gains any sort of following, I'd like to create a 'free mode' where all cells are editable all the time.
Further goals remain fluid.




THANKS

Inspiration: Paintchat, Minecraft, Playpen

OpenGL and Mac porting help: Ken Kopecky (allegrocm)

Friendly advice and worry-warting: Ted Martens (savethedinosaurs)

World building: YOU <3

[Gainsworthy]

Ambitious. And quite possibly amazing! But from someone like you, this is something I can see happening.

Really nothing more to say other than your "execution" ideas are pretty sound and this would be a hell of a lot of fun. Creating a world and then exploring. I'd play it!

Some questions, though. Will players interact directly, or will it be, uh, "massively single-player"? How complex will the screens be - are we talking a peaceful Explorer with some tricky jumps or a game with complex platforms, traps and enemies? And will the game (/level designers) reward players for exploring, or is exploration reward enough?


Sounds good. I'll be keeping an eye or two on this one.
 

[Evan Balster]

Will players interact directly, or will it be, uh, "massively single-player"?

Most definitely multiplayer!  You'll notice I mentioned chat.  Though, at least in early versions, avatars won't be able to affect one another much.  The 'rules' system I hinted at might let players fight (in specified areas) in future versions.


How complex will the screens be - are we talking a peaceful Explorer with some tricky jumps or a game with complex platforms, traps and enemies?

Again, simple to start with, but I might add the ability to create hazards later, in 'hazardous' areas.


And will the game (/level designers) reward players for exploring, or is exploration reward enough?

I've thought about adding 'trophies' as something players can add to their rooms.  Again, not slated for the initial version, which I want to keep as bare-bones as possible.  I'll definitely have discovery of new 'spawn' points as a reward for exploration.  Players will be able to jump to these at will.


If I update the game after the first release, I'll keep the world intact but probably require old copies to be updated.

Thanks for the kind words!  ++motivation;

[Zaratustra]

I am interested in this.

[Delicious]

You got my attention! Holy damn. Please, for the love of humanity, make this. 

[Evan Balster]

I'm at the tail end of an unexpected all-nighter making the map system work.  Good progress was made!  I now have something to manage an arbitrarily large, sparsely-populated map-grid.  Woo.  Screenshots don't mean very much to this end but what the hell.

The fuchsia stuff is collision masking.  The little gray ellipse is the character for now.  (It's supposed to be super-neutral, and is visible over any background color.  Remember players will be able to draw their own in the future.)




How ya like my programmer art? 




This second shot is the area left of the first one.  Blank with overlap.  (which isn't limited yet)

[Ted]

Rock on, dude, rock friggin on.  This will be phenomenal.

Was that a "yes" players/characters will be able to see each other and interact in-game or was that a yes it will support chat with avatars?  I'm guessing yes to in-game since you've had that working in your engine for awhile.

I would make switching over to the other rooms (while editing yours) really quick and simple.  I know that I would want to be constantly aware of exactly what they look like while drawing my own room.

[increpare]

Looks interesting indeed.  Tight schedule you have there!

[Evan Balster]

Your 'avatar' is your moving, jumping character.  It'll be visible to other people and you'll be able to make it "say" things by popping up a little canvas and drawing on it.  As stated you'll also be able to draw the little fellow, and maybe animate him too.

Not all that's gonna make it into milestone B, of course.

[Carrie Nation]

Your 'avatar' is your moving, jumping character.  It'll be visible to other people and you'll be able to make it "say" things by popping up a little canvas and drawing on it.  As stated you'll also be able to draw the little fellow, and maybe animate him too.

Not all that's gonna make it into milestone B, of course.

Forseeing endless hordes of walking penises.

But idiocy of players aside, this seems like a really cool and really ambitious project, good luck with it.

[Evan Balster]

Milestone A met on time.

Download for Windows, should work with anything from NT to 7.

No Mac or Linux builds for now, sorry.

It saves your world as blank/world.map.  I'd like to see what kinds of mini-worlds people make!  (as in upload something and I will love you forever)  The rather homely starting area is my work; mind the programmer art.

You can delete world.map and re-run the program to start over with just that beginning room and a triangular collision mask.  (Remember that E-key!)

The Figure Editor isn't documented at all, yet.  I'm gonna make a tutorial soon.  For now, screw with it.  The "OK" button completes drawing.

Forseeing endless hordes of walking penises.

Of course.  But I'd rather laugh than tear my hair out over things like that.  Players will be given a little regulatory power over pretty much everything, so it ought to work out.

I would make switching over to the other rooms (while editing yours) really quick and simple.  I know that I would want to be constantly aware of exactly what they look like while drawing my own room.

A very good point.  I made it so the adjacent rooms are a background in the Figure Editor.  You can sample colors from them using the dropper tool [D].


EDIT: Fixed a problem with autosaving by adding a drawings/ folder to the downloadable.  Uploaded.

[godatplay]

Awesome, nice work hitting that milestone!!

Keep at it, man, this is going to rule.  I will be watching out for a Mac build.

[Evan Balster]

Milestone B isn't too much work, but is being moved back owing to a combination of a family event [all weekend] and a pressing need to get some hours in at work.  Next wednesday, conservatively.  I might be early.

I might release a few inbetweens.  Also, I've added a few things to the milestone to make up.

[godatplay]

Maybe a Mac build sometime?   

[Evan Balster]

Good idea!  I'll try and have a mac build ready by then.


EDIT: And, upped the priority of simplifying the heck out of Figure Editor at friends' requests.

[agj]

This is an absolutely fantastic idea. I'm sad that it works stupidly slow on this terrible computer, so I won't be able to give your first build a try until I have my own computer back. But I look forward to seeing this evolve.

[Ted]

Keep your eyes on this one.  He's gonna go places.

[Evan Balster]

At present, I've fixed the collision system's badness (and made the character much less fast and slippery, due to feedback--I might compensate with that grappling hook) and am preparing to implement networking.  I think.

Expect an "A point 5" release this evening with the altered physics and the ability to edit already-made places.  It also supports multiple map files for debugging; maybe I'll send some of mine along.

- Cellulose Man  

[skyy]

well.. my input is going to be as useful as always..
as a fellow programmer: 

go you

[Evan Balster]

Skyy, savethedinosaurs-

You're being dreadfully encouraging.  That's nice of you!


Anyway, 'A point 5'.  This one, still windows only, fixes the collision bugs, makes masking (making walls) much easier [and lies about right-click, sorry], lets you go back and edit graphics [but moves them to the top layer] and lets you load up different world files.  The character is slower with a lower jump.  Expect a grappling hook to spice the little fellow up and customizable appearance as mentioned previously.

There are some very minor changes to the Figure Editor but it's still gonna take a little experimenting or a tutorial video (that one I'm sleeping instead of making) to figure it out.

EDIT: Oh, and a few of the more excessively crappy issues from the first release have been fixed and forgotten.  The one where there's color bleed in places where the player doesn't draw anything, and probably others...

Download here:  A.5 for Windows