back when you first started GAMES THREAD I made a text file but it was pretty negatronic sounding
\/\/\/\/main points were\/\/\/\/
3d game could be sweet cause we could prove that anybody can get mouse input working fast and good, just not console port developers
valve Source engine game could force us to internet market thru building a community, obviously we need
players if we are to beta test and spectate gameplay
before I paste text, I'm gonna go ahead and say a few more things that are minutely microcosmic of what you will see afterwards
I totally wanna do a multiplayer hotseat or local multiplayer game. There's a driver and api or whatever out there that lets you to address multiple mouse input. In this fashion, we could make the PC into a four player gaming console, or something of that nature. People would be all like WTF OMG I DIDNET EBEN KNO U CUD DO DAT and PC devs would shit their pants for not thinking of it before us.
Sorta like Liero
I think if we want to generate game concepts it makes more sense to look at earlier, older games, where gameplay is more reduced. Modern 3D games have unfocused gameplay with lots of boring tutorial downtime, and less than precise spatial positioning and timing in the case of brawlers / beat em ups.
I thought pretty much every 2D windows game was cool as #$% and all that ended with console gaming.
Obviously, the thing to do
is to merge arcade mechanics
with roleplaying/simulation gameplay
People have tried to merge RTS and FPS gameplay, but it hasn't worked well because they don't have working unit AI, and there is less FPS gameplay as sa result.
Existing first person 3D RPGs, while cool and all, are too easy, and don't reward a great number of strategies, but are accessible and provide a sense of progression.
Morrowind was better than Oblivion
Deus Ex was pretty cool.
Cortex Command is hella cool, here's a link for it that I bought for like $2.
http://www.humblebundle.com/?key=p6XcWhnVH8If we use Hamachi VPN we can play this shit on fake network mode, but it might be as confusing as doing that back in the day. Dude, txt me if you want to play CC, get on AIM or something.
A cellular automata game that is kind of like Powder game but more kinetic and with animated discrete character entities would be cool. There's a game for PSP called something-or-other Badman, cellular automata styled.
Everyone thinks Dwarf Fortress has cult potential, and people like Minecraft. We can definitely make a tile based game sandbox with totally unsophisticated nothingness and like, five to thirty recipes.
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Why 2D?
Easier to produce assets
Pixel perfect display accuracy
Retro style
Runs same for everyone
2D game conventions more obvious to code
I think the best reason for us to make a 2D game is that there can be more things happening onscreen at the same time. There are lots of libraries for this sort of thing, and cool physics engines. Check out a game called
Breakquest, the physics implementation turns breakout from being okay to fucking sicknasty awesome-to-the-max.
How about a grid-based realtime game with "emergent behavior" or whatever? There are a few of these and they are already way better than anything we can conceive of. See Drainstorm:
http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/game/DrainStormWhy not 3D?
We haven't made 2D games yet.
Mouse control requires sensitivity settings
Low production 3D games seem unpolished. Ours would be like a fucking PSX game.
Reasons to do 3D?
Raw input mouse proof of concept.
Jetpack game.
Fuck that "one verb" design philosophy and do something bootleg-atari-like or demosceneish. How about it's 3D third person, there are no walls or boundaries, and it's like a long distance tank battle style game, except there are advanced movement techniques, like you can bunnyhop and fly and grapple hook and whatever. It could be like Mario 64, but for violent PC FPS gamers.
Visual style
We gotta have occlusion. It makes your shading look so good.
We could make a voxel based game. This would be funny and cool. Check out Voxelstein 3d.
http://voxelstein3d.sourceforge.net/CHOICES
DISPLAY
Scaling and ResolutionSimple bilinear scaling? Emu-like HQ smoothing filter?
LCD compatibility: Fixed aspect ratio letterboxed mode
DISPLAY
Scaling and ResolutionSimple bilinear scaling? Emu-like HQ smoothing filter?
LCD compatibility: Fixed aspect ratio letterboxed mode
DISCOURAGING STATEMENTS OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE
Seriously it would take half a year to really "make" a 3D game. You could just mod one or whatever. I don't know, it's not really worth it. Small scale commercial game releases aren't even that profitable. It's hard to make a hit. 2D games are easier to make.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?!
I think you should start prototyping. Don't bother making all of your assets right now, just use placeholder figures. Get detection and animation working... Make and test basic gameplay. Make controls work right...
Maybe check out Unity 3D or Torque engines...
Source engine game? HL2 mod? When you put it that way it seems kind of meh.
GENERAL GAMEPLAY / GENRIC CHOICE
If I had to choose one game to imitate, it would be Spelunky.
I think it is a bad idea to set out with the goal of making a game and then deciding what kind of game to make. You should have a really good idea of the one game that you would like to play, and preferably it should be at least somewhat innovative.
Subject: alternet ideas 
Mon Feb 21, 2011 5:08 am
