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[JasonPickering]

well here is a 7 day prototype.

Its called Ferropod (thanks Inanimate)

you are in a very crappy domed vehicle from victorian era. its coal powered and its used to explore underground caverns to save trapped miners. its system of mobility is basically it hops forward using a giant piston. this is what I have so Far.




i am not sure if I will continue. I basically had the idea and needed to get it out there. if I continue I will add guys to rescue and possible a fuel source so you need to be quick about it.

left mouse button moves you hit the button when you are facing the correct direction. the number overhead tells you how strong the jump will be. everything is place holder so let me know what you think. and a lot will probably change, but i just needed to get a prototype going. I am mostly worried that with this movement scheme, that the game just wont be fun.

download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=49bc906aced4cbc4d956df2962098fcbe04e75f6e8ebb871

[Inanimate]

Surprisingly, that is REALLY fun. If there were more things to do than just hop around, it would be very entertaining! Even though it mostly consists of waiting and going 'drat, I meant to go left', it's still quite fun.

And thanks for the thanks.

However, I found a very... annoying problem.

(Sorry for poor image quality, just wanted to show you)


It was impossible to go down that. I would stick to two tile openings.

[JasonPickering]

yeah sorry about that. I am having trouble with designing vertical level areas with the limited movement.

the main premise will be you are dropped into this large coal mine to rescue 10 (just an estimate) miners. so you will have to jump around searching for them, all the while keeping an eye on your coal level. if you run out of coal the vehicle shuts down and its game over. there will be coal supplies so the vehicle can constantly refill as you move around. there will of course be the usual platforming problems such as lava and spikes.

extra stuff: (if I have time)
1. miners are randomly placed.
2. possible old broken Ferropods from previous failed attempts.
3. random world (this is a HUGE if. I just don't have the coding skill) but I could break it up into smaller room sections.

[Inanimate]

Maybe enemies? Like, mysterious underground creatures? Just an idea, seeing this is already outlandish. Or is that too outlandish?

Also:

Rocks you have to crush to get by.

Fall damage. The higher you fall from, the more damaged the Ferropod gets. So don't fall too high!

All of your ideas are pretty good, but randomization isn't necessary at all. Maybe having a really interesting, but pre-plotted area would fit this better?

[moonmagic]

I would be interested to see more of this. I love clunky metal things. More steam(coal?)punk!

[Inanimate]

More steam(coal?)punk!

Uh... same thing.

[Alec S.]

Looking pretty cool so far, but the hopping needs to charge up faster.

[moonmagic]

Uh... same thing.

Oh dears, you are right. 

[JasonPickering]

wow thanks guys. looks Like I have some work to do.

inanimate: I thought about adding some lovecraft style baddies. I dont think Ill do fall damage though.

moonmagic: yeah I agree the hop charge defeinetly needs to be faster. I am working on that right now. it wont be a number by the end just different sized exhaust clouds that shoot from the side.

[moonmagic]

inanimate: I thought about adding some lovecraft style baddies.

A shoggoth would be an amazing "advancing wall of doom."

"You have gone utterly mad."

[JasonPickering]

well lots of engine stuff and some new art but not much o post now.

I am still streamlinging the game. and attempting something in a narrative sense. right now the player is looking for some miners who have dissappeared upon unearthing a giant cavern with an odd statue carved in it.. I have been reading a lot of Robert E. Howard work. specifically conan and I am a little encouraged by the whole pulp writing feel. so basically what I have now is as the player goes through, the journal of the man driving the Ferropod is slowly written on the bottom of the screen. this helps in a few instances, A. it gives it a more lovercraft pulp feel to it. B, it allows me to direct the player much easier as they go through. I hope to have a demo up soon. as I am mainly focused on the level layout now.

heres a quick test, plus some character art.
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=49bc906aced4cbc4d956df2962098fcbe04e75f6e8ebb871

[JasonPickering]

some guy designs. working on animating them. whether I stick with the just rescue game or I go with the interactive story approach I will need guys so I am working on them now.

[JasonPickering]

update!!

i don't have a build as I am having some small code issues. I am going back to my original plan of rescuing the stranded miners and throwing out the narrative Idea I had been working on. I will probably still add some monsters.



right now you have to go out and collect stranded miners. and bring them to the lifts. you can only fit two miners in your vehicle so you have to be careful. right now you can see two miners you need to save, plus in the top left you see you already have one in the vehicle.

- need to do miner pickup animations and drop off animations.
- start adding enemies.

I am still thinking about whether or not you should need to collect fuel.

[deathtotheweird]

it makes sense that in a coal mind you would find empty caches of coal and since your vehicle is coal powered it makes sense to include fuel. you could make it to where if he runs out of fuel instead of game over make the pod really gimped and almost worthless so you have to be careful around enemies or traps (if you plan on making them)

but forcing a game over if you run out of fuel makes it harder and certainly changes the pace. just depends on how frustrating that would be vs. other hazards and how you want your game to be played.

[JasonPickering]

I'm working on fuel right now. but here is a build. you need to go out, collect the three guys and bring them back to the drop off site. eventually there will be animations for loading and unloading the character. you will also drop them off at elevators.

on a lark I also make it randomly choose the type of character and their saying, it was easy code to implement and it gives a little variety.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=f27943034d078ba7af924764f9977b1de04e75f6e8ebb871

also anybody know how to host files from a blog. that way I can track to see how many downloads I have.