Anonymous 2010/07/20(Tue)00:49 No. 758 ID: b4b04d
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I'm thinking of calling it The Resourceful Man.
As for the gameplay itself, it's still in the early formative stages of planning. But I envision it like some weird crippled cross between Homestuck's resource system, Doodle God's refining/cross-creation, Monster Hunter's resource gathering (when it feels worthwhile) and some sort of primal tap into the human psyche's need for an artificial sense of progress.

The game will revolve largely around gathering large quantities of slightly-abstract materials a la Homestuck, and you will hunt and gather to collect them in the most aesthetically pleasing manner I can think of, which involves resource drops scattering like mad when an enemy explodes into delicious pickups, which then play some sort of aesthetically pleasing sound when gathered, and then a nice colored bar goes up, and you've got more of that resource.

Eventually these are spent to make new tools and weapons, structures or facilities in your home base, and devices to unlock new areas to hunt and gather in.

It's grindy and it's all about collecting ridiculous amounts of artificially-valuable shiny trinkets.

Anonymous 2010/07/20(Tue)00:50 No. 761 ID: b4b04d
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Here's what I mean when I talk about aesthetically pleasing resources. I want something that people WANT to pick up. They see it and go "oh man I need more of THAT".
They also seem about abstract enough to work with.

Not that you guys don't know what Homestuck looks like.

Anonymous 2010/07/20(Tue)00:50 No. 762 ID: b4b04d
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Additionally I know this is the one part of DiveQuest's original overly-complex system people really liked.

This is a pretty artificially-motivated game, resources have some value for progress and tools you'll need of course, but it's often just to open new areas to fight new things to get new resources, or better weapons and tools to get those resources faster.

Games like Achievement Unlocked and Upgrade Complete both played with this at its most unabashed level and people still liked those.

It may seem simple, but honestly? People fuckin' love to see colored bars fill up.

Anonymous 2010/07/20(Tue)00:51 No. 763 ID: b4b04d
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Here's a basic design plan of one of the types of hunting area. Obvously they'll be much bigger than this I just wanted it to fit to an image.

It's all about being prepared for your daily hunt. Sort of like Monster Hunter in that regard -- what weapons and items do you bring, and what tools, to maximize your haul for the day?

Anonymous 2010/07/20(Tue)00:51 No. 764 ID: b4b04d
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To expand on this, the various hunting areas are all connected to a basic 'hub' area where you build your base. You spend resources to make tools and weapons to gather resources or kill monsters more efficiently, construct devices to open new hunting areas or bypass local obstacles (as seen in previous example), you can extend your reserve size, refine materials into others, set up collectors to gather certain resources over time as a bonus (like a farm!), and build a modular base out of pieces that snap together.

In addition to refineries, storage, crafting centers, and resource collectors, a special Trade Post (or I dunno, smelting point) can be used to convert any type of material into RAW resources, which are used in many things in massive quantities. Consider it the game's 'money' or base currency. The rarer the material you use, the more RAW you get in return.

Anonymous 2010/07/20(Tue)15:31 No. 766 ID: b4b04d
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so I got a little bit of dynamic UI comin' up I guess

Dapper Gentleman 2011/01/02(Sun)17:50 No. 1352 ID: 3e83b2
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>>766
Ok so I am going to tell you right now that that looks obscenely silly. What you should do, is have it figure out the closest multiple of 10, divide by 10, and then multiply the size of the original sprite by that. Possibly make it more of a 10 = x1 100 = x2 500 = x3 etc system? The problem with having it dynamically calculate every sprite's cache to the nearest bicubic sprite means the graphics will transform from cute/fun to a pixellated mess. The reason it works in Homestuck, for example, is that Andrew manually multiplies the aspect ratios of all of it- everything is a solid 'value' in terms to the original. Of course, a piece of grist the size of John was only +50- so if you want to mimic Homestuck's grist-resource system, then it will involve the character eventually coming upon HUGE pieces of grist. That or you tell it to split at the most even point. (IE 250 splits by 5, to make 5 chunks of 50. could also be applied to 245- 5 chunks of 45. just make it divide to an equal, solid number if you can. Any remainders are left up to you, of course. Whether you just want to banish them (all easily divided numbers as the spoils) or make them hook as equally as it gets (302 would be 101 101 100), it happens to be up to you.

However, the bane of the game based on grinding is an unattractive style. If you don't at least make it scale nicely, issues may occur- a lot of people may choose not to play simply because the scaling hurts their eyes.

I do that a lot.

But also:

I think this generally silly mishmash has promise. HOWEVER, you hopefully realize that the grind games are not only about gameplay. :U The graphics will always play a large part- if you don't like what you look at while you're doing it so often it hurts, why would you do it?

ALSO ALSO

Examining your area/home ideas means I need to point out stuff about them.

Home:
Resource generating structures over a period of time get boring fast unless you add in a way to speed up time- preferably allowing a character to sleep whenever they want to. You could have a giggle at the poor sods too and make it as slow as dirt. But what fun would that be? Another thing: windmills, unless you're planning to be able to make your own bread, should not have a 'collect me' type thing- more of a automatically add resources to your stuff type thing. Windmills are generally used to create wind energy, and flour from grain. Wells, on the other hand, should be a NEAR infinite source of the simplest resource- water. Examining this, I have a quick suggestion: see if you can implement a mode where the character physically requires eating/sleeping/drinking, or he dies? It would draw people who both like the senseless grind, and like the survival type games.

A renewable source of TREES is ultimately necessary. See if you can make it so no trees 'grow back' in an area- you have to grow them back. Possibly make it so you're required to do it in the area until you grind up enough resources to make a greenhouse or something of the sort for the trees/plants. The only requirement for something like this would be to make sure the player knows it right off the bat- the world will not change if you leave and come back. trees will stay gone unless you plant more.

and jesus fucking hell i am stopping here for now to make a NEW POST because jegus christ in heaven

>>1352

MORE STUFF

Back on the home topic:
Resources and monsters at different times of day since you mentioned that is a good plan- try and make some monster variants awake at both times of the day. Or at least, leave access to where they sleep. It tends to work better for that sort of thing.

A decorative item type thing is ultimately just another thing to add to the grind, creative and yet also not depending on how it's executed. For example, if you make it so any decor can go anywhere, crazy shit will go down. Involving telescopes. And basements. It is a nice idea though.

Beds are a good plan (and one I already mentioned without noticing this), but dream world seems to be drawing too much from Homestuck without having any idea as to why. It is like you went into a store advertising guns like that one your best friend shot you in the nose with tuesday and come out with that exact same gun, and proceed to accidentally shoot yourself in the nose with the same gun. It is falling less on homage and more on so reminescent it is silly. Just use the bed as MH would- save and sleep.

In reference to the homebase building system, be sure to provide a small house at the beginning, cramped with the necessary items- a small workshop, a bed, everything they COULD need to finish everything up, if they never turned to their house and said wow i'd better fix you up. It adds a possible challenge that people can take and run with like they are cheetahs in a race except instead of a race it is a 'i am so amazing' contest. But don't have to.

Expanding on the survival idea in the previous post, make the trade post a thing you can choose to refurbish into working condition, but do not have to- yet again, challenge. If you can't spend currency to supply with food, you have to survive- hunt it yourself! The idea of a survival aspect hits heavily on the feeling of being alone. You are typically the sole participant because otherwise everyone does everything for you- and while some people might like that, that is obviously not the theme of this game.

A workshop works well- but don't add a storing mechanic. It automatically stashes it for you, levels increase your storage capacity, etc, etc. It's a bit rip-off-ish of Homestuck, but it works very well- they grind for levels to grind for space to grind for more items. It also prevents immediate progression- some people might save up to get the best resource generator in the first few days and then just laze around as it does the work for them. That is a bad thing- if it is a game where there is grind, there should preferably be player-driven grind more than laze-around grind. So apply limiters like that. That, of course, assuming that every area will have the resources needed.

Another thing that occured to me- MH implements a capture mechanic. Will you use that? I would imagine having self-sufficient resources at the cost of high work in the long run is something a survivalist player would love to the end of the earth.

And YET ANOTHER POST to mention things I am thinking about your areas idea.

Wow you have my brain working.

There isn't much to say ABOUT the areas, thankfully.

Large monsters are a good idea- depending on how they're implemented. If they're just STAB THEM HERE STAB THEM THERE WHOOPS ALL SKILL, it will be a bad type of grind- repeatedly dying as you encounter them everywhere. If you play to the tune of an upgrade system, that still means they should not appear in the first one or two areas- unless they do not auto aggrieve you and abscond with your bloody corpse. Even then, the first area should remain devoid of them- it is insanely annoying to suddenly have a huge monster appear out of nowhere, then without batting an eye tailwhip you into next week.

Speakin from experience.

There's not much else to say- birds are a good idea, but making things like water obstacles is ultimately kind of silly. A boulder, gate, or otherwise though is a nice idea.

Fishing is done and done again- do it where it just randomly hands you a fish- no crappy minigame or anything. Simple to get.

There's not much else to say-
the stand animation is swaying too much. Do you crouch stand crouch stand crouch stand as much as he does when you stand around?

If so you probably need to make sure you haven't got some sort of balance issue.

And yeah that's it I guess.

Your ideas are interesting and I appreciate the thought you've put into them, but you are so off-base on so many things it's hard to sympathize.
For example, the dream world being "too much like Homestuck" is stupid, and would be even if I read the damn thing (which I don't). Adding survival mechanics is likewise off-base, way too apart from the genre I'm attempting. Many things you recommend hearken too much to Minecraft, I think.
Complaining about the animation is pretty odd too, I mean do you look at old Merry Melodies cartoons and go "ANIMALS DON'T REALLY SWAY AND BOB TO IMAGINARY MUSIC LIKE THAT"?

It's all sort of a moot point anyway, since I stopped working on this game months ago.

Anonymous 2011/01/03(Mon)14:54 No. 1357 ID: 725496
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here's the hot new thing

Anonymous 2011/01/03(Mon)14:58 No. 1358 ID: 725496
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It's a different sort of thing but no point in making multiple game threads

Anonymous 2011/01/03(Mon)22:00 No. 1359 ID: 725496
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HEY GUYS!
Do you like pixel/sprite drawing? Do you like kobolds? Do you want to attempt to create clothing and armor to put on them?

Well now is your chance to help me out and add content to this game.

Attached is a template for the different equipment slots, each one ghostly-outlined to give you an idea of where its attached body part will be at that given frame of animation.
Just use the salmon-colored outline as a guide, draw in the armor/weapon/clothing you want, and erase the guide afterward! Then upload your sets as gifs or pngs and I'll be able to slap them into the game.

Most parts have 6 frames total, 2 per direction (up, down, left/right, as left/right are shared and just mirrored). However, please note that head parts and torso parts only have 3 frames and don't animate while walking like other parts do, only when changing direction.

ALSO, weapons are shown with 6 frames but you only need to draw 4. Frames 4 and 6 should be skipped over, since their animation is derivative of other frames and not used.

Anonymous 2011/01/03(Mon)22:07 No. 1360 ID: 725496
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>>1359
Here is an example sheet with 1 of every type of equipment (6 armor, 1 weapon).

SOME GUIDELINES:
Please ONLY USE GRAYSCALE. These will all be tinted in-game, so a white/gray base is mandatory. Remember that the brighter the white, the brighter the end color will be.
Stick to flat shading! No dithering or excessive shadow levels, please.
Try to keep a solid outline. A lot of pixel art uses smooth shapes without outlines, but to preserve the style of the game please keep a clear, dark gray outline around your sprites, as shown in this example.
In some instances, especially for pauldrons or any piece of equipment that would appear the same from the front as from the back, you can make 4 sprites instead of 6, and I will use the same image for the front/back sprites.

Finally, a guide:
ROW 1: Gauntlets/gloves/hand/wrist items.
ROW 2: Head items, then Torso items. Torso items overlap the head and head items!
ROW 3: Waist items*. The first two slots (from the side) also have the legs outlined to give you an idea of how to place them more accurately.
ROW 4: Boots/foot items.
ROW 5: Arm/shoulder items. Keep in mind these are drawn overlapping the torso, head, and any items for them.
ROW 6: Weapons. These actually overlap the hands, so be sure to leave a space where the hand should be -- don't draw the whole handle! See example for detail.

*Please note that waist items here are more kilts, coils, and wraps than actual leggings, since they don't always align perfectly to the legs.

Anonymous 2011/01/03(Mon)22:13 No. 1361 ID: 725496
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Lastly, it would be a huge help if you wanted to design icons or tiles as well!

Icons for any armor/equipment/weapons/items you submit would be hugely welcome, as I am not very good at icons. But if you also want to design additional items, or make icons for the example equipment above (since mine are awful, as this example shows) that is awesome too!
Any items you want to design are welcome, using the theme of roguelike/dungeon-crawler as a template. Scrolls, books, flasks, potions, amulets, rings, belts, treasure, meat, breakable pots/vases, treasure chests, barrels and boxes, that sort of thing. If you've got an idea I would love to work towards incorporating it. Generally speaking, the more content, the better!

The max size is 32x32, and the same basic rules apply: grayscale, with outline, and flat shading.

The same icon will be used for in-game ("on the floor") display as well as inventory icons.


Also, tiles! Tiles are 32x32 and not many are needed: each 'theme' only really needs one floor, one 'obstacle'/wall, and one room wall tile (ideally ones that tile well of course)! Variations on the theme are always welcome of course -- anything you have, I'd definitely rather have than not!

All help is welcome!

Just to clarify one thing: as the example sheet shows, you CAN draw on the pink border for each tile, but only by 1 pixel. Cross over both pixels and you're in the neighboring image's tile!

Deadbeard 2011/01/06(Thu)13:39 No. 1364 ID: 5471a7
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Doors and Floors!





I really am terrible at this, aren't I?

Deadbeard 2011/01/06(Thu)13:44 No. 1365 ID: 5471a7
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ARGH FORGOT TO CONVERT THIS ONE FIRST

Arguable Complexity 2011/01/12(Wed)09:36 No. 1383 ID: ecbfa1
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The last time I checked this thread was last year, so I really hope you've not abandoned this yet. Anyway, trying my hand at this was fun.

Left column is sprites as you requested them, right column is the same on a doll.

I didn't use any bright scales, as you can see. I find the colors on the screencaps you posted to be a tad too bright, so I tried to go for less saturation.

Headband: simple Tislomer style. I wanted to do the branches sticking out of it too, but couldn't get it right. Next time maybe.
Skullcap: your run of the mill metal cap, one size too large for the kobold (on purpose). The darker lower part is supposed to depict those nail-things in the rim.
Ballgag: magical, of course.
Mask: I still don't quite like how the front sprite came out. The angle is different from sideviews, and I'm apparently not too good with perspective.

Does headgear have to be symmetric? I take it head sideviews are always mirrored from each other?

Anonymous 2011/05/26(Thu)03:59 No. 1802 ID: 543aa6
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Starting this back up again now that the dungeon crawler was lost in a recent format

Got a very random yet navigable level generator, though it does not do vertical transitions yet (most levels will be relatively flat anyway), shown here in a specific theme somewhat resembling ruins or rough rocky terrain.

Also added a tracking arm to the protagonist, which points to the mouse cursor automatically and follows subtle movements in animation so as not to appear "floaty".
Also added a more visually appealing resource system.

Anonymous 2011/05/26(Thu)22:50 No. 1814 ID: 543aa6
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stab

design order document Anonymous 2011/05/27(Fri)03:45 No. 1816 ID: 543aa6
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[The Basics]
Basic Attack
-Arm Animation
-Damage cone
-"Effect" cone?

Basic Combat
-Dummy Enemy
-Template
-Platforming
-Damage calculation
-Knockback
-Player Death

Inventory System
-Array storage
-Sorting
-Equip System

Resourcing
-Resource-generating objects
-Tools required for certain resources
-Variety in resources (even dummies)
-Improve resource popup
-Enemies drop resources AND corpses
-Corpses can be carved with equipment

Array and Tracking
-"World" slots
-Persistent worlds
-Tracked stats
-Eradicated enemies
-Teleportation
-"Portal" placement for levels
-Teleport menu
-Stats visible on teleport menu


[Randomization]
Enemy randomizing
-Flesh out templates
-Add AI archetypes
-Heads and bodies
-Tie abilities to each
-Generate names
-Localize resources

World randomizing
-Themes and variations
-More templates
-Archetypes to hold templates (ruins, flatlands, caves)

Add all stats to world stats

Weighted Random
-Add predisposition depending on world type
+Room gen
+Monsters
+Resources
-Name each world

[Bringing it Together]

Saving/loading

The Living World
-Add basic interaction for stations/NPCs
-Add readout displays for signs/help

Spend to Make
-Add view/loadout for resources, review
-Add ability to check and deduct resources, triggered by script/object
-Add error message if not enough of a resource

Hub Worlds
-Add narrow random range for 'starter' world
-Add ability to define worlds generated from given resources instead of total random
-Add pricing for worlds

My World
-Add Constructions
-Add Rooms
-Make rooms modular, pass through floors?
+Background only?
-Add scaffolding
-Add generators reliant on world type
-Add NPCs that can store and convert resource types

Time is money
-Add global timer
-Make generators/buildings/NPCs rely on global time

Crafting
-Structure crafting menu
-Recipes blacked out at first, grayed out if not enough resources
-How many per vendor?
-Limited to 1 for most, except equipment?
-NPCs/structures that provide crafting

Back to Equipment
-Add armors, weapons, more equipment
-Preset or generated?

tbd

Anonymous 2011/05/27(Fri)14:25 No. 1818 ID: 543aa6
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Decent inventory interface

Anonymous 2011/05/27(Fri)17:45 No. 1819 ID: 543aa6
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hatfortress 6

http://pastebin.com/PG5UuJNC

the whole spiel I guess

>>1822
>I'm debating whether having built things will add to a master crafting list, or if each center of construction will keep its own list. I'm probably going with the latter.
When all recipes (or whatever) from all possible areas are stored aplhabetically, it makes for a very cluttered interface, given the scope of the game. So my first thought was "yeah, you're better off splitting it into several lists thematically". But having those lists tied to a particular item/NPC is no good either. I mean, you have a workbench for wooden objects, a smith for tenderizing, a cook for cooking or whatnot, the list goes on. Having to walk from one thing to another every time you want to craft a recipe from a different area is fiddly as hell.
So what I'm saying is every one of those things opens a single master list with tabbed themes. That way, when you want to make, say, a locked chest, you don't have to go back and forth between your forge and your workbench. You come up to either of those, open the metals/ores tab, craft a lock, open the wooden items tab and craft a chest.
I'm not sure a locked chest is a good example of what you call a "set piece", but you see my point.

>And again, every world defines its contents. So you throw in a bunch of Ether, some Fire, maybe some Death. BAM. Welcome to The Burning Thicket, your new miniworld.
So it's like a dungeon crawler, but instead of wandering around the map you can choose which "dungeon" to explore, down to difficulty level? Sounds neat, but how are you going to handle monsters in these player-generated worlds? If the Frozen Peak and the Pit of Horror will be populated by the same randomly colored slime (metaphorically speaking), the flavor of a new world and the feeling of freedom in their creation will wane really fast.

>>1823
>So it's like a dungeon crawler, but instead of wandering around the map you can choose which "dungeon" to explore, down to difficulty level?
Essentially yes, though it's more an influence than precise control on what you get.

Enemies will be made from several parts combined, to make them visually and behaviorally distinct. Combine a body with a head, paint, and slap on some behaviors and stats. The head can determine simple attack type, the body will determine basic movement type (so when looking at a new enemy you have an idea of what to expect), and then extras and abilities can be overlaid. A few simple movement archetypes can make for a varied sort, kind of like how Terraria does it with different movement AI packages.

Anonymous 2012/02/03(Fri)16:58 No. 2597 ID: 543aa6
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Base-building concepts.

>>1823
Have a sort of complexity-ranked list.
Like, you go to the crafting station, take a piece of wood, and stick it into the first box on the line for crafting, and all the recipes that have wood in them pop up, the ones that only need wood first, then the ones that need wood and some other thing, then wood and two other things, etc. Then you take a lock and put it into the next box, and it pops up with Locked Box or I don't know Wooden Chastity Belt or Giant Locked Chest Golem which needs locked boxes AND golem souls, essential oils and whateverthefuckelse.
So if you just want to make a box, you slap wood up there, then click on the box recipe icon, if you want a table, you click on that icon, or if you want the Readymade Fold Out Wooden Castle Playset With Real Knights then you can either scroll allllll the way over or put Knight Souls in to make it pick that.