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[JLJac]

I posted that in its own post so you don't have to scroll back and forth when you read.

It's a level design. I figured it would be fun to have the level really wide at places, enabling many various paths. The platforms on the level isn't exactly showing where an actual platform would be, it's just to indicate where the different paths are. My idea is that the whole map have a deafult ground level, and above this there are platforms.

It would be great if you could implement 45 degrees tilted platforms in the terrain, it would make it look more natural. Also, if you look at the mockup the bull rider seems somewhat awkvard, it's hard to tell how he will move in a platform landscape like that. If there was some tilted platforms his movement would be very much easier to implement in a natural way. However I think the tilted platforms should be limited to the ground level, the above-ground-platforms would be better to keep blocky.

So, the different platforms
Black platforms: Here can everyone be, maybe with the exeption for the bull riders who we might want to glue to the ground since bulls suck at climbing
Blue platforms: Only a little more agile classes can get to those, but they are accessable for most players.
Red platforms: Only for scouts, and maybe one more class to balance it a little. Maybe in the trees there are certain climb patches, which are not platforms but rectangles on the background where scouts can climb. Or maybe that in the treetops there are platforms that only scouts can stand on, others pass straight through them.
The caves are black because they work as the black platforms, everyone, maybe except the bulls, can go here.

Of course everyone can be on all the platforms, if they for example are thrown up by a bull, but the areas aren't accessable for them with their deafult jump height.

The plains are, as chutup said, choke points. This is where the great battles are, because here you can't take alternate routes, you have to face the enemy. This is also where the bullriders are at their best. Your objective here is not to annihilate the other team, that is impossible since they spawn on the mountain pretty close to where you are. Instead bullriders and braves are supposed to fight the other bull riders and braves so that scouts can get through to where different paths open up again. This requires teamwork since it's almost impossible for a scout to get past the plains alone.


Also, what if the Brave had a throwing spear that he can throw once and deliver a serious amount of damage? After that he would have to rely on his tomahawk or maybe go fetch the spear again.

[William Broom]

Hmm, now I think about it more, I like the idea of the plains as choke points. Just as long as they're not too wide - if it takes too long to cross them, you'll get bogged down in them all the time. Like, if you kill all the enemies on the plain, you should always be able to get across it before they respawn and come back at you.

[LastDinosaur]

I *love* the look! The animations are especially charming. Simple and fun.

[Mr Dumle]

Nice game!

[rant]
I have an idea for the shamans gameplay!
1. Spawn
2. Find a wild animal and kill it.
3. Shaman now eats the heart of the animal and gains it's spirit. Depending on what kind of animal it was different buffs are gained. (Bear spirit => str * 1.2 or Snake spirit => Hp regen speed * 1.3)

That's the basic idea but even better:

4. Shaman then finds a teammate and transfers his spirit buff to him.

Also the shaman is the only one who can carry two spirits which can make him strong but he is otherwise very weak and needs protection.

This will add a little resource struggle between the teams
[/rant]

[Valter]

So begins the gratuitously high expectations. You better pull this off, Michael!

[The-Imp]

So begins the gratuitously high expectations. You better pull this off, Michael!

Stop pressuring him!

Or he'll screw it up!

[godsavant]

In the tradition of promising indie games I like, here is a fanart.


Guess which class I'm looking forward to playing.

Scout?

Noooo...Cultivator.

[The-Imp]

In the tradition of promising indie games I like, here is a fanart.


Guess which class I'm looking forward to playing.

Scout?

Noooo...Cultivator.

Your loss!
 

[Laremere]

My question is with a map like the one shown, how would there be multiple teams like shown in the original mock-up?

[michael]

ok wow, there have been some amazing ideas. im going to try to address them; to summarize and try to bring wholeness to this discussion rather than declare an executive decision.

health there has been some good ideas for it. i think its clear that we dont want a linear health that just goes down and then you die, even if there are healers. we want something more dynamic that looks at health in a new way. i think its also clear that the healer needs more ingenuity in its manner of healing. something skill based and strategic. this can be discussed further when we focus on the shaman class.

level design ignoring the details for a moment, i just want to thank JLJac for that map. mostly cause it feels like it yanked it out of my brain in its fetal state and nurtured in into a mature and caring individual. it would be awesome if you could post a psd with the blocks on another layer so that we can mess with the block placements. i think the main things is that most players need to be able to move most places with a lower percentage of scout exclusive areas. but these are details. i like the size of the map. i want them to be big, to create a feeling to slow the battles down, and to encourage people to run together. i personally dont like the twitch run and jump as fast as you can and shit bullets out everywhere style that many 2 shooters have. *exaggeration*  the down side is that big maps with few players are less cool. what it there were stretch points that could be expanded or contractd depending on how many players in the game. kind of like pitch retaining tempo adjusting in music, where you stretch the points inbetween places. something like that.

salade and the buffalo i may be over reacting but salade suggested turning the buffalo into a vehicle, and that just struck me as an absolutely amazing idea. everyone wants to ride a buffalo, but i had been foreseeing really awkward situations with it jumping around in like the forest or something. SO, when if there were just a couple buffalos in each plain and anybody can jump on them then take them for a stroll, but if they get hit in their head (not the buffalo), or if the mishandle it, or if it takes to much damage, they get knocked off. and sometimes they just freak out and charge out of the battle. i like this idea, what do you guys think?

maps there have been a handful of suggestions about map settings. this is definitely a topic that will need to be focused on soon. this is a game about an indigenous culture. my idea would be that we would focus strictly on native north americans. i mean i cant help but fantasize about having different tribes from different cultures each with their own set of awesome classes and abilities  buuuuuut i think thats just just way to complicated. so settings like jungles and mayan areas wouldnt really fit. places like mesas or taigas/boreal forests would be good. or swampy southern.

gameplay modes also on the list of future focuses. i think there are a lot of cool possibilites within this games setting and a lot of ways in which this game could give a fresh twist to classic modes.

tribes there would only be 2 tribes competing in a given map. but i like the idea of having a handful of tribes (more colors  )

oh and the art is truly delicious! i want to thank everyone again for all this support and contribution. i really feel like this game now is, and should be, the communities. everyones welcome to contribute in anyway they want and i'll do my best to make sure that peopeles input is heard and considered and that this project continues to blossom. because every day we are closer and closer to shooting each other in the face with arrows.

next we've had some really strong and successful brainstorming. soon we need to  knuckle down and start deciding on things. not final decisions, just the first pass of rendering. we'll go through each aspect and grab them by the balls. then we'll look at all of the testicles in our hands and decide if they make a nice bucket of nuts. then we'll do it again.  SO what should our first area of focus be? something fundamental, like stats, or means of input, something that will prepare us to approach the classes.

[Laremere]

Now that I think about it, having buffaloes be vehicles sounds like allot of fun.  I suggest that we now start figuring out the details of each class, and finally figure out how the brave stinking works.

[godsavant]

My take on the buffalo thing: I like the idea of the buffalo as a vehicle, but a few opinions:

1.) We're going to need another class to replace the Buffalo Rider if this is implemented, possibly one that serves a similar tank role.

...if they get hit in their head (not the buffalo), or if the mishandle it, or if it takes to much damage, they get knocked off...

2.) I'd think that, instead of being knocked off, players should just have little to no defense while mounted. This works in almost all online FPS's. After all, a player who jumps onto a jeep or tank (read: buffalo) shouldn't be forced to worry about driving slowly and carefully to avoid getting "hit in their head" or taking too much damage; that makes buffalo way too much of a hassle to use (and a risk, since getting knocked off essentially means instant death a few seconds later, anyway). Instead, when a player takes too much damage while riding, they die, and the buffalo becomes free for someone else to ride (buffalo themselves should be indestructible). After all, someone who rides a buffalo should be able to be reckless and suicidal, barreling at top speeds through enemy ranks and wreaking havoc for a few seconds before their demise. They should also automatically wander back towards the center of the playing field when idle, so that a team can't just hoard all of them onto their side without using them.

...and sometimes they just freak out and charge out of the battle.

3.)Why? That's like having a vehicle that randomly explodes every so often, killing whoever it's carrying.

[Nate Kling]

Hey Michael, just wanted to say that I love the map.  It looks great.  I think the large map will work really well. Also Mr Dumble's idea about having the shaman use the animals would be a cool way to implement the wildlife into the game.

[Valter]

With this much input being given, I begin to think we should move this to the projects forum.

Also, Godsavent: I think he meant the Buffalo would freak out occasionally when it gets hit by arrows or tomahawks.

[JLJac]

Suggesion on health(to be mashed and grinded in the community discussion)

What if you have a hidden health bar 1-100, and change the character sprite when it is below 50? You can also change the speed/damage when in this state. The health still recharges halo style, waiting for two seconds after damage has been taken and then slowly rise during about 4 seconds, making you fully reestablished after 6-7 seconds if you manage to get away or defeat your enemy. The thing is, if the health bar is under 50 it will only recharge to 50, leaving the player still damaged. This means that there are basically just two states, damaged or not. When you encounter an enemy you see on his sprite in which of the two health modes he is, with a bloody sprite he has 50 health, normal sprite and he has 100. What healing does is that it kicks the recharging limit up to 100, making damaged players able to fully recharge their health again.

This means that if you kill an enemy very quickly, only taking a little damage, you can enter your next fight on equal odds. It also means that you can't run around on the map with 6%, and without any at all chance to win a fight. Still you are able to leave a permanent effect on the enemy when you damage him, and there is something for the healers to do.

Maybe it will be more interesting if you set this threshold somewhere else on the health meter, like 40% or 60%? Or divide it into three units instead of two?

Also, PSD file
http://willhostforfood.com/?Action=download&fileid=45323

[salade]

well I'm glad I could be a help with the buffalo vehicle. with the map, I thought we were going with serene's idea to do sort of a endwar type land conquering. thus you could progress across the overhead map to areas of different terrain. also, depending on what tribe you choose to be, you choose wich part of the map you start out at.

The mock up map is really cool though, and could probably be a special map, or a multiplayer super map. Micheal's right about the enormity of scout exclusive areas. the trees could just involve some really finiky platforming, something the scout and his double jump could traverse with ease, but still doable for other classes.

As for a class to replace the buffalo rider should have a shield to soak up alot of damage. can't think of a specific name though.

[Nate Kling]

also some fan art i just did for fun, not quite completely finished...

[godsavant]

also some fan art i just did for fun, not quite completely finished...

You have just earned a notch of my respect.

As for a class to replace the buffalo rider should have a shield to soak up alot of damage. can't think of a specific name though.

"Guardian"...?

[macdonag]

Haven't had a chance to read through all the replies here, but just want to say this looks fantastic.  Lots of character, and distinct from most other games.

Oh, and if you could make it cross platform (mac at least), that would be ace, thanks :-)

Good luck!

g

[MetalWarrior]

Just made a new wallpaper for myself influenced by the scout concept.