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[ElTipejoLoco]

Latest mockup!

I think I'm doing good graphical headway, here, maybe? Spritevolution!

[eigenbom]

ETL, It's coming along nicely, I like the clean art style.

If you are looking for a coder, then I'd be willing to help out. I don't have too much spare time, but I should be able to spend at least a couple of hours a week on it. I agree with Mikademus about using a 3D engine but keeping most of the assets in 2D.

cheers,
ben

[ElTipejoLoco]

I'm waiting to see what prof. dead (I assume he's at least one or both of the two heads that compose iconic ghosts) does with the HUD sprite sheet I sent him, since he offered first. I'll just have to see how he feels this whole thing, well... feels to him them?, since from what I've seen, his experience has been with platformers only so far. If he feels confident enough, we're going places! 

I'm only relatively familiar with Game Maker, though, and since I only have the free version I always feel slightly discouraged when using it. I'm better versed in C++, but not well enough with the SDL libraries yet (still been reading up on Foo's Tutorials)- so even though I would love to be mentored in any shape or form, I'm a bit bummed there.

If this gets finished, it will be the first complete game I've made a concept and sprites for, and my first complete compo entry. :handshakeR: Assuming I don't tinker around with coding, at least.

[Mikademus]

I'm only relatively familiar with Game Maker, though, and since I only have the free version I always feel slightly discouraged when using it. I'm better versed in C++, but not well enough with the SDL libraries yet (still been reading up on Foo's Tutorials)- so even though I would love to be mentored in any shape or form, I'm a bit bummed there.

Well, though I myself use OGRE, which is the best FOSS 3D framework atm, I'd recomment Irrlicht becaues it is cleanly designed in C++, fast and easy to get into, and has an active IRC channel. OGRE has a huge-ish threshold to get over, and the tutorials are all based on a "ExampleFramework" class structure that is only slightly less sucky than MS's Direct3D demo framework.

If you go for moving about in a 2.5D world the only things you'll really need will be billboards (quads always oriented toward the viewport/camera) and a ray/plane (or ray/sphere) intersection algo for testing collisions (while you'll always already find in any decent 3D framework's library).

Then again, if you have something dead simple or whatnot, go with that unless ya really want to get into 3D development

[Traveller]

Battle Clash and Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge

I loved these games so much.   

[ElTipejoLoco]

Edit: Our heroine's name is Tess Aias.

[ElTipejoLoco]

Bollocks. It seems the good professor has momentarily disappeared on me.

I'll have the updated sprites up after class today (i.e.- in about 11 hours), and then I guess I'll try to code something in C++, or maybe try to learn Irrlicht.

Though I think I need to make some space on my comp- I'm not sure 2.3 GB of free space is, uhm... Irrlicht-space-friendly.

[Pixelfish]

Your artistic style is great. From the screenshots it looks like you've reflected that style perfectly. I can't wait for this one.   

[professor dead]

Bollocks. It seems the good professor has momentarily disappeared on me.

shame on you.  shaaaaaame.  shun the nonbeliever.  shuuuuuuun.

lemme do my thang gurl

nah, expect it late tonite, i gots works to do.

[ElTipejoLoco]

Okay, a) Charlie the Unicorn reminds me too much of myself and the personalities that surround me, and b)...

Now I don't have to slave over a hot stove Visual Basic C++ 20086 on my birthday and can go back to concentrating on spriting glorious spriting.

I should really rev up notepad sometime soon to get the plot written and out of my noggin, though. I've been pretty much keeping its specifics under wraps because I'm thinking that, on my own, I would only be able to make about, say... one enemy in time for the compo's deadline.

[ElTipejoLoco]

I'm in the classroom right now, thinking about stuff. Stuff like "I have no idea how to use Game Maker, I wonder if seeing what prof. dead does in it will inspire me to pick up the free version", and "if I have to choose between C++ and C#, which would be better?", as well as "that 48 LoFi RPG compo thing is coming up soon, I wonder if I should do anything for it".

That aside, there's a bunch of plot stuff still in my head, but I'm more concerned about how to tell it in the game. Should I make everything skippable the first time around? Or should I force the player to watch cutscenes the first time they appear (and then maybe add 'press SPACEBAR to skip' on repeat scenes)? Should I have a 'story-lite' option that automatically skips the cutscenes? Will I even HAVE time to have cutscenes in there?

There's a very thin line when you plan to keep all of the events going on inside the cockpit as to what can constitute as a cutscene and what not. Ideally, I would like the dialogue to flow during gameplay in an uninterrupting manner, but I would also like the choice of letting people, well, finish reading the dialogue before they fight. Probably an honor type thing, maybe (the enemy will wait until either the dialogue is over or you shoot first, then begin fighting)? Would all of this be too ambitious?

With two screens, it's very hard to resist the temptation of using one of the screens for additional cutscenes and the like (a-la DS style), but I think it would be interesting to watch the same scene from two perspectives simultaneously (though it wouldn't be anything fancy like the cutaways in Killer 7 or No More Heroes). But should I give into temptation and do it? And if I DO use cutscenes (i.e.- stuff outside of the mech), should I actually just draw them, or keep them represented by sprites? A consistent art style is good, but I should also be able to switch it up, perhaps?

• Difficulty levels versus control schemes: For example, gamepad support would not be able to use the whole "CURSOR IN SCREEN B TO ATTACK THE BACK". Should consider asking prof. dead to make a Starter.exe type thing to set up a config.sys thing, maybe.
• Should I let people choose where to put each screen? How hard would that be to implement? (I.e.- horizontal screens versus vertical screens, Front being on bottom or right side instead of the default top or left)
• How many weapons should I have, and what control scheme should I use if I allow keyboard support? Should I have a bunch of hidden weapons on the keyboard for anyone willing to mess with it long enough, or set up an "Equip before battle" system so that people can choose their favorite four weapons to set to ASZW (maybe allow for more setups they can change between using Q and E- these are the keys I use in ZSNES and would be easy to translate to a GamePad).
• Should I keep the game small for the compo, or go for a full game, complete with secrets? Or should I just add onto the game post-compo?
• Shall I search for a musician or try my hand at Musagi? Is there a program that can detect what notes/pitch it hears from a .wav (i.e.- I hum and make noises in a recording and the program could tell me what notes and pitch it recognizes so I could reproduce that song digitally)? Or should I follow a suggestion and peruse freesound.org?
• I have too much free time. Maybe I should write the plot down.
• How far should I go to hold the player's hand if I don't want them to be able to lose? Is there a clear way I could make it known to a player who skips all the cutscenes whether their performance was good or not without them viewing the ending or the cutscenes in between?

Brainstorming isn't hard- brainpicking is.

[Traveller]

For skippable cutscenes:  Remember that the 'first time' someone plays your game might be their tenth time, on a different computer--or maybe their machine crashes and doesn't save that they watched it!  Always, ALWAYS make them skippable.  But make the key an awkward one, like backspace.  Only thing worse than unskippable cutscenes is skipping them accidentally.

[ElTipejoLoco]

Crud, that's true.

Okay, making cutscenes skippable from the get-go is a good idea. Mapping it to a key that is not used for anything else, also a good idea.

But, if given the choice, which sounds better- in game dialogue that can mix with the gameplay (assuming you can't one hit kill the enemy, thus ending the dialogue early), or cutscenes that interrupt gameplay? I'm leaning towards the former, but the latter gives me the chance to play around with the double-screen concept a little, maybe.

Of course, if I'm to apply gamepad support, then the double-screen concept doesn't work very well in that medium- it would be better to have a single screen and map the R3 button (for a 360 pad, I suppose it'd have to be another button for different control schemes- I'm partial to the SNES control, and I suppose I'd use X or SELECT for that there) to switch to the back-camera screen.

Maybe that's too ambitious though, but I'm just brainstorming and picking out good ideas from the storm.

[Traveller]

Mixing the narrative in with the story is <i>awesome</i> and totally makes you cooler.

Though I guess it depends on how long the cutscene is.

If it's short, totally go for it!  If it's long, well, then you have to wonder "do I make the enemy invulnerable during his cutscene?" and stuff.

[ElTipejoLoco]

Making the enemy invulnerable might be a good idea for, let's say, someone that IS supposed to be invulnerable (or really important dialogue), but it might not be such a good idea if I implement the whole 'enemy will start attacking when you do' idea (i.e.- you start getting attacked by someone you can't hurt until he's done talking, a.k.a. DBZ logic).

I think it might be a more interesting idea to make the dialogue (if it's not important enough) become interrupted- and the dialogue changing accordingly ("What?! How dare you!" "Enough talk! Have at you!").

[professor dead]

when i work, i don't listen to anything but

Difficulty levels versus control schemes: For example, gamepad support would not be able to use the whole "CURSOR IN SCREEN B TO ATTACK THE BACK". Should consider asking prof. dead to make a Starter.exe type thing to set up a config.sys thing, maybe.

doable

I have too much free time. Maybe I should write the plot down.

do.  although, narrative and making a text box is new to me.  seems professor cake already wrote stuff for our 48 lofi submission.  will use that then.

I'm in the classroom right now, thinking about stuff. Stuff like "I have no idea how to use Game Maker, I wonder if seeing what prof. dead does in it will inspire me to pick up the free version", and "if I have to choose between C++ and C#, which would be better?", as well as "that 48 LoFi RPG compo thing is coming up soon, I wonder if I should do anything for it".

buy gm, submit something for the lofi.  competitions are a good way to find support for actually starting "game programming."  short competitions are a way to tell you if you're actually enjoying trying to make a game.  idk what i'm saying, just...

How many weapons should I have, and what control scheme should I use if I allow keyboard support? Should I have a bunch of hidden weapons on the keyboard for anyone willing to mess with it long enough, or set up an "Equip before battle" system so that people can choose their favorite four weapons to set to ASZW (maybe allow for more setups they can change between using Q and E- these are the keys I use in ZSNES and would be easy to translate to a GamePad).

i have never played either of the games that are influencing this project, i've only watched them.  i believe these questions are entirely for you.  but i do like the equip before battle.  levels are just a series of battles, correct?  so it should have a load-out sequence like the thief games.

in addition, make cutscenes skippable.  thinning the plot sounds silly whenever the cutscenes are skippable

unfortunately i sleep now.  must...recover...must...fuck

[trabitboy]

art style is great 
really makes me hungry to play   

[genericuser]

What happened to this? It looked really promising...