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edg3
02-08-2007, 04:05 PM
I thought it would be nice to see what the game dev community was planning on making.

My almost WIP
For some time I've been doing conceptual work on a team based FPS that focuses more on team play then on the other aspects of the game. The actual playing of the game comprises of tactical and strategic movements of your team if you are team leader) and the different skills involved.

I originaly thought that having it all more open and free, but realised it would defeat the purpose of the team. So my idea limits players to a certain area of expertise, and allows them to work in any aera they want, but giving them bonuses depeding on their speciality. In this way people wont b limited on the equipment they can use, but will be able to use their strengths and weaknesses to improve their skill in the game.

Classes:
The different classes will be fairly simplistic, and ultimately will decide what weapons you will be most suited for.
Marksman: Best with rifles, and long range weaponry.
Grunt: Best with heavy weaponry, eg. rocket launcher.
Infantry: Has no weapon speciality, but has greater movement speed, and can carry heavier equips. eg. Body armour, Body shields, etc.

Weaponry wont be limited to guns, but you will also be able to use worldly objects as weapons. That table leg you always wated to wield in a FPS will be available to you, all you would have to do is break the tables leg off, and then hit someone with it, and I plan to allow use of chairs, poles, bricks, and other objects aswell.

Gameplay Types:
- Team vs Team
Elimination like play, where everyone respawns at the start of the next round and the object is to eliminate the opposing team.
- Control
Work as a team to gain control of strategic points on a map, while defending them from your enemies. Respawning being every 60 seconds.

Current Development:
Currently my game is all a concept, but by the end of this month, I should have enough content to start working with.

Gazza_N
02-08-2007, 06:17 PM
@edg-thr33: Looks pretty ambitious, but it could be fun! What are you aiming to build it in?

Me, I've got two projects that I need to decide between. The one is an isometric shooter/adventure game hybrid (those who were at the AI DevLAN saw the prototype in action). I've been sitting on it during Comp 15, but I may not start work immediately. I still need to finalize my design doc and work out some of the kinks in the prototype.

The second is an oooooooold idea that was lost two forum resets ago, but that I've finally gained enough experience to (hopefully) complete. Watch this space, and remember - chicks dig giant robots! ;)

Anyway, as is usual, Comp 16 is probably going to be so awesome that I'll have to bury it all again. Until then, I've gotta hustle!

dislekcia
02-08-2007, 08:05 PM
I'm currently messing about with the design on an expansion of Monochrome: A co-op storyline called Ninja Noir (thanks for the idea Mik). I'm trying something new and working on my writing and storytelling, instead of focusing on a core gameplay mechanic. I know that I can do all of the gameplay stuff easily enough with Monochrome's existing framework, it's now a matter of style and perseverance.

Of course, I also have to do a lot of research on hard-boiled/noir cinematography and ancient Japanese social structures... Still, it should be fun if I ever finish it.

Plus there are like 5 or 6 other constant game ideas that I'm working on... Dreamcatcher is still on the burn (if you remember it from back in the day), as is Drawkanoid. I recently worked my ass off on a semi-completed prototype 360 game for Dream Build Play that needs conversion to run on windows. I much prefer it on a controller tho.

As always, the big deal is time. If I didn't have to make sure that I could eat and pay rent every month, I'd be working on these a lot more ;) As it is the design work I'm doing on contract takes up a lot of my day.

-D

edg3
03-08-2007, 09:16 AM
well, im currently learning c# and c++, and i know delphi and visual basic fairly well, so its a choice between crystal space 3d and xna. but so far i havent gotten much working in either, so right now im taking my time familiarising myself with the languages.
concept work goes on...
as for the ambition, im looking at is as a great learning experience.

CiNiMoDZA
03-08-2007, 09:52 AM
My little idea: Im busy working on an engine for a very story driven game! Each episode will be about an hour long(like a TV show!!!), its gonna focus more on actual story than core gameplay! My goal is, once Ive got the engine, try release one once a week, or maybe month depending on how long each episode takes! If it really takes off, sell them for $1 an episode!!! At the moment Im trying ideas in Game Maker, just to see how they work! And Im currently learning XNA, so I think once Ive got a decent story and some content, I will develop it in XNA!!!

@edg3: Your game sounds really hot!!! Are you doing it on your own!!!

GeometriX
03-08-2007, 10:35 AM
@CiNiMoDZA: Why don't you just use Torque or something similar, and save yourself a crapload of time developing your own engine? I know Torque may not be suited to everyone's taste, but, if I remember correctly, there's a version compatible with XNA - so you could literally just plug 'n' play (or something, I'm not too clued up on the lingo).

CiNiMoDZA
03-08-2007, 10:45 AM
Ja, but not as fun!!! Im gonna be studying C# next year and I want to learn as much as possible so that I can kill my course next year!!! I have considered using Torque though, and yes, there is one for XNA as far as I know!!!

edg3
03-08-2007, 10:58 AM
im on my own for the engine and concept, but 3d modelling i'll ask my friend to help with.
otherwise im alone :)

CiNiMoDZA
03-08-2007, 11:06 AM
Jeez, good luck! Um, how do you start your own thread! It Tells me Im not allowed to?

edg3
03-08-2007, 11:16 AM
you have to have 10 or more posts. ;) and thanks

dislekcia
03-08-2007, 02:04 PM
edg3 and Cinimod:

I don't want to be a dampener on your enthusiasm, but both of your ideas sound utterly huge... I really don't see how a single developer would be able to produce either of those in the timeframes you're talking about. Not that they're bad ideas, it's just that I think you're setting yourselves up to bite off more than you can chew and the last thing I want is for two young, vibrant developers just starting off on their careers to burn themselves out on projects that are too huge to pull off.

edg3: It sounds like your game needs a lot more clarification on the different roles, weapons and gameplay mechanics. Sit down and try to ask yourself every possible question about the game and then write down the answers: How does the damage model work? How are players going to be able to wield random items and why would they beyond humor effect? How are the different classes balanced? How much health are we talking? Do you even want to use health? Ammo counts, map flow rules, etc... So you need more design time on that ;)

The second thing that springs to mind is "Can you make this a mod?" I've got about 20 pages of design and preliminary balance info sitting around in one of my ring-binders for a UT mod that I designed at university. The project was just too big for me, I'm afraid. But that doesn't mean that you wouldn't be able to get a team together to help you build it as a mod: There are already large communities for that sort of thing.

Cinimod: I'd suggest sticking with GM. Building your own engine is a great learning opportunity and can be a lot of fun, but taking an engine from something that works to a fully functional codebase to build a game on can be a very time-consuming task. That's why if you're really keen on producing that episodic idea of yours, I'd really recommend sticking with GM... All that 3D content that you need to build for each episode is going to take a hell of a lot of time to produce. While your focus on story means that you can "get away" with 2D perfectly fine, in-fact it might even help you because it'd force a lot of stylisation in your games. That would allow you to not only produce each episode faster, but it would also strike more of a chord with your target audience: The kinds of gamers that would support an indie episodic title with micropayments are going to want something that oozes style and substance, to them that practically means it has to be 2D.

I honestly don't know how you'd intend to produce an hour's worth of 3D game-content on your own in a month ;)

-D

edg3
03-08-2007, 02:21 PM
I don't want to be a dampener on your enthusiasm, but both of your ideas sound utterly huge... I really don't see how a single developer would be able to produce either of those in the timeframes you're talking about.
I have no doubt that my timeframe is extremely unrealistic, but unless I have a deadline to aim for, I wont get anything done.


edg3: It sounds like your game needs a lot more clarification on the different roles, weapons and gameplay mechanics.
My gameplay mechanics have some huge holes that Im still trying to fill up, and things that dont fit in well, that I still have to work through, but I have the interest of a few of my school friends, and they help me find problems and help with finding decent solutions on them. They dont do any of the work on it, but it helps to speak to them about the ideas of the core gameplay, and see what they think.

The paper stage of my game, consists of an excercise book that is slowly filling up with the things I would need for the core gameplay, the sort of things I have to allow, and things I need to avoid like the plague.

The Game Mechanics themselves, Im having a difficult time having to protoype them on paper, but It gives me a perspective on how I should actually approach the different parts of the game, and overcome the obstacles Ive already come across.

Some of the questions you brought up Ive honestly not had much thought about, and Im definitely going to rethink some of the ideas I had based on them.


"Can you make this a mod?"
Ive never been a fan of using another game, to make my ideas a reality, and I think that I should open my mind a bit to this aswell. :P I just wouldnt know where to start if I wanted to make a mod, or even which game I would want to mod, and the idea of modding scares me more then starting from scratch for some reason.

CiNiMoDZA
03-08-2007, 05:15 PM
Hmm, thanks for the feedback dis, I wasnt going to do 3d graphics though!!! XNA wasnt definite, the other program I was thinking about was Java! But Im still very happy just using game maker!!! I just wanted to experiment with something new! But I will use GM to do the episodic content one and then Java or C# for something smaller!!! Thanks again Dis :D

cairnswm
03-08-2007, 06:56 PM
When I started making games my goal was a RTS with three races, each with different units and even different resource gathering strategies.

After 6 years of making games I realised I finally had the skills I needed to actually be able to achieve my goal. However I also realised it would take me at least 18 months to get it done. (without considering graphics). And to be quite honest I dont actually want to spend 18 months on one single game.

In those 6 years I wrote about 15 complete games. Very small and simple. Each little game you develop is a step toward your final goal.

Those 6 years ended about 3 years ago. Thats about when I felt I knew enough to build my own game engine. The results are my S2DL Framework (for more details have a look at the new Delphi Gamer magazine).

One thing I have noticed that makes most people lose interest in Game Dev is realising their toooo large goal isn't accomplishable right now. People dont take the time to do their 'apprenticship' and learn little by little. Instead of trying for that goal now - write small little games. Honestly each little game you write will teach you more and more about game dev, or even just about coding.

I'd much rather have you guys here for the next 3 years than see you guys leave us because those grand ideas are rather unachievable....

CiNiMoDZA
03-08-2007, 10:31 PM
:D Dont worry...I plan to be here for a very long time!!! The big idea that I have Im only really working whenever I learn something new that I can add to it! Its gonna take a long time, but its not gonna be my only project!!! BTW, my project is basically a whole lot of things added into one package, for example, it has a little sports game, driving game, etc, and my goal is to complete them one at a time, then post them up here for beta testing!!! Once Im happy, Ill put it all together!!!

Tr00jg
04-08-2007, 01:42 PM
Well, I am going to get to work on RT2 again soon (just taking a quick break). I really really want to start working on RT3 actually! It is such an awesome idea!

Gazza_N
04-08-2007, 10:49 PM
@Troojg: You have plans for another sequel? 0.0 Man, you just don't stop, do you? <----compliment ;)

Tr00jg
04-08-2007, 11:32 PM
Its the continuation of the story. It will feature totally new gameplay. Think episodic turn-based, exploration, platformer adventure, and you are halfway there!

Thaumaturge
06-08-2007, 04:24 AM
I like the idea of this thread - thank you for it, Edg3. ^_^

My current project is for a simple action game, possibly including some RPG elements, building upon the basis of the code that I developed for Competition 15.

The setting is intended to be fantasy, and the gameplay spell-based action (with no melee combat planned on the part of the player, although I imaging that a number of monsters will have melee attacks).

I have a candidate story concept, and some idea of the gameplay that I desire. I'm currently working on the magic system concept, and have two candidates:

First, my favourite, and the more problematic, is a system that was one of my Competition 15 ideas. In this system the player designs spells by chaining together commands that describe the action of the spell.

The player can place sequences of commands within loop blocks that iterate a certain (possibly variable-determined) number of times, and decision commands can be included in order to allow for branching behaviour.

At the moment I would probably intend for each spell element to have a specific cost, thus causing more complex or iterative spells to cost more.

I imagine that some (perhaps all) of you recognise this schema - it is intended to be a basic mirror to programming, inspired by the "sequence, decision, iteration" trio that I seem to recall from my school Computer Studies class.

My problem, however, is that I'm having trouble finding sufficiently small elements. If I provide a "inflict X points of damage of type Y to target Z" command, then creating a usable attacking spell becomes far too easy for my liking. I could have, for example, a "create flames" command, but even then the spells would be a little too simple.

I would rather find a way to define some basic "physics" for the magic system, so that, with a few commands, a player could define a spell that converts magical energy to heat, creating fire. This could also, I feel, if done reasonably well, have the advantage of providing more flexibility and room for creativity in the spell system.

Of course, the rendering of player-defined spells might be another challenge...

My other concept involves spells that operate more like superhero-style "powers" or will-working, being effects that the player can exert without words or gestures (beyond the psychologically-useful motions that a human being might well develop (such as pointing or thrusting the hand forward to have an effect on another person)).

Furthermore, the player can exert these powers in three ways: targeting an outside point or object, affecting the area directly around the player, or affecting the player character herself (since I already have the female player avatar from the competition game, I'm planning on re-using it). Thus, when using a fire power (so to speak), one might, perhaps, throw fire at a distant opponent, burn enemies crowding near, or warm the player character in extreme cold.

I have a bigger project in mind for the future, but I've written a long-enough post already, so I'll let others speak for a while before posting that. ;)

Gazza_N
06-08-2007, 05:26 PM
@Thaum: I like the idea of "chaining" to invoke spells. It almost gives the feeling of saying an incantation, or of slowly warping majicks to your will ;). It's not impossible either, provided the interface is solid. I'd like to see it in action!

Thaumaturge
07-08-2007, 02:15 AM
Thanks - I like those two ways of looking at it! ^_^

It is, as you say, not impossible - I'm primarily just stuck on creating "commands" of a low enough level to keep it interesting.

At the moment I'm trying the avenue of looking for some form of "magical physics" - that is, a logical basis for magic (with, of course, some hand-waving - which is surely rather appropriate to the creation of a magic system... ;)) that I can use to define basic operations.

For instance, if I want to ignite a stick of wood, I might do so by raising its temperature. Now, if my magic system includes a "change temperature" command, surely that makes a useful spell far too simple to create?

Instead, I would like to figure how how one might use magic to raise an object's temperature. Or better yet, come up with a (more or less, at least) coherent system of operations that, on consideration, might be used to raise an object's temperature. (The difference being the direction of the creative process - I suspect that a system designed from the ground up, rather than from a desired result down, is more likely to produce an interesting set of possibilities.)

BlackHawk
07-08-2007, 05:30 PM
I'm currently working with XNA and using the HazyMind 3D engine from Mike Schuld. The aim of the project is to eventually replicate the Freelancer game and extend on its short-comings. However, being very realistic about my time and capabilities I'm doing this relatively slowly and in a lot of steps.

First I need to get a 3D space scene up and running. That's about 70&#37; complete. The engine isn't really optimized nor even fast. At the moment I'm adding components to the engine as needed (next on the list is distance LOD) and just having a blast poking and prodding until I'm satisfied with a good result.
Second is to do rudimentary AI. Nothing fancy at this point.
The interim goal will be to create an Inertia look-a-like (ie. a space racing game with weaponry, etc.). This will help with combat AI a lot.
From thereon I will re-evaluate the project.

What helps is that I'm not bothered with graphics fidelity. At the moment, almost zero of my 3D models are textured. I just downloaded a lot of free FBX models and use them as interim objects. Form will definitely follow function in this project.

Gazza_N
07-08-2007, 06:05 PM
Ahhhh, Freelancer. A flawed classic if there ever was one. I'm as big a fan of Freelancer as I am a critic (the storyline, for one, was just sad). It's going to be a big project, but I'm rooting for you to pull it off. Still, a racing in space is always something I wanted to see.

Just shows that the community has no shortage of awesome ideas, doesn't it?

Gazza_N
07-08-2007, 06:42 PM
@Thaum: The danger with creating a "low-level language" (as it were) for spells is that it has the possibility of being overly complex for players to grasp. Perhaps you should keep it at a "change temperature" level for simplicity's sake, but make more complex spells require more precise combinations of commands. For instance a freezing spell might consist of [ Change Temperature / Lower / (Magnitude) / (Target) ]. That seems complex enough, while not being overwhelming. Meh, it's just a suggestion, but it seems right to me. ;)

Thaumaturge
08-08-2007, 01:31 AM
You make a good point, Gazza - if I take it too far the system could become overly complex. Don't worry, I'm not aiming for magical quantum physics! ^^;

I'm still concerned about making the commands available too simple, however. I want a balance of some sort between complex and interesting and simple enough to allow most starting players to design some useful basic spells.

I was thinking of simple useful spells requiring two or three commands in sequence, with more interesting spells (a seeking bolt, for example, or a spell that hovers near the player and fires little bolts at nearby enemies, or, perhaps most interesting to me at the moment, a shield spell - after all, how, exactly, might shielding work?) should call for, off the top of my head, perhaps between five and twenty commands, probably including one or more each of loops and decisions...

Perhaps you're right, though. I shall give it some thought...

[edit] I'm tempted to simply implement it as you say in order to test the effectiveness and flexibility of that level of complexity...

cairnswm
08-08-2007, 07:24 AM
Have you looked at the game Firetop mountain? http://www.gamerz.net/~fm/Main/index.html

It basically has predefined spells but with the ability to cast multiple spells using similar components. I've always thought the game very cleverly designed and gives great options from a magic point of view.

Using a similar system you can make certain components of spells to put together a main spell. So doing a 'Up', 'Temperature', 'Max', 'Distance', 'Target' set of instructions you can set fire to something that you target. 'Down', 'Temperature', 'Me' will put the fire on your own clothes out. etc.

Thaumaturge
09-08-2007, 07:15 AM
Firetop Mountain? It's not related to the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks is it? (Which started out with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and included in their number Return to Firetop Mountain, as I recall.)

*goes off to look at this*

Aw - it doesn't look like it, unless it's in some degree of inspiration only...

However, it is an interesting system, and, I would agree, a clever and nicely-designed one. I don't know what each of the gesture symbols stand for, but I'm guessing that their arrangement into spells is probably arbitrary - if not, without knowing the gestures it's hard to interpret their logic, I fear.

As to application to my system, I think that I'm correct in understanding your suggestion as being for a form of grammar, "sentences" in which would describe spell effects. This could be done (and has, I imagine), and is, I feel a good idea. However, would it not get a little tricky for a human to read in the cases of complex spells, which might be expected to branch depending on conditions, and which I would like to allow?

F1ak3r
09-08-2007, 04:48 PM
I'm working on a point-and-click adventure game. I would have made a topic about it here, but for that 10 post thing. You'll have to click the link below for information for the time being.

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=288937&hl=

Seeing as the game is episodic (shameless copier of TellTale am I), I plan to start working on the next episodes once this first one is done.

UntouchableOne
10-08-2007, 09:42 PM
I havn't been posting lately but I'm not deserting the Game.Dev forums. I'm just a bit busy at the moment. I started development on a technical type racing game, the player doesn't race but designs the car with a budget. it is going to be made in delphi so outstanding graphics is limited. I'm also going to try make a FPS at the end of the year. My friend and I are also starting work on 2 management games. That should be interesting...well, will keep you guys posted on progress as the development proceeds.

Thaumaturge
11-08-2007, 03:32 AM
BlackHawk, a space-based racing game with weapons sounds like it could be rather fun, and should hopefully be a good step on the way to your main goal - good luck with it! ^_^

F1ak3r, it's good to hear about people creating point-and-click adventures - good luck to you too! ^_^

Gazza_N
11-08-2007, 09:02 AM
F1ak3r has already posted a couple of prototypes of his game, actually. It's pretty funny IMO. Would you mind posting some links in this thread for now, F1ak3r?

Thaumaturge
12-08-2007, 03:40 AM
Indeed, I believe that there's a demo available via the link that he posted earlier - maybe I will download it at some stage...

kolle_hond
17-08-2007, 07:07 PM
I'd also like to make a point and click adventure game, but I'd like to try and make it in game maker instead of one of those 'point and click only' engines. I haven't thought of a storyline yet but I have actually started to work on the game, the sprites just take a really long time to draw. I'll think of a storyline and continue sometime (my avatar is actually one of the sprites I drew for the game). I'll keep you posted on progress.

kurtkz
17-08-2007, 08:21 PM
Hey everyone, this is my first post :) This might be slightly off-topic but I've been working on a game engine for the past few months (very sporadically) and I've been dieing to get back into the nitty gritty of game development. After playing Tumiki Fighters (seriously, if you haven't played, give it a spin) I've been wanting to redo it with a fluffier theme and more depth...And that's exactly what I've been busy with for the last few nights :)

Youtube clips:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wRUi2sxarw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDd6b8lb8FA

Anyone who'd like to help out with enemy & level design or background graphics please feel free to email me @ kurtkz@yahoo.com

Cheers!
Kurt

dislekcia
18-08-2007, 05:01 AM
Kurtkz, that looks totally nifty :)

One suggestion though: Make the bullets fade in when you fire them, at the moment they tend to block the player's view of the ship which is a Very Bad Thing™ in shooters.

-D

kurtkz
18-08-2007, 11:57 AM
Thanks dis, awesome suggestion. Added it and it makes a big difference - not only ito gameplay but also the visuals :) Also changed it so that parts that get blown off your ship explode into polygonal particles. I'll post a new vid soon...

kurtkz
18-08-2007, 01:08 PM
Hey everyone, just zipped together the project. You can download it at:

http://rapidshare.com/files/49730083/Game.zip.html

To run the game it must unzipped into the C:\Engine folder. Unfortunately I've hardcoded all paths for the time being...I'll get around to changing it when I make an install file. Cheers!

Kurt

PS. Controls:

Q - Hold in to hide collected parts (so they don't get destroyed)
W - Fire
Space - Skip text boxes
Up/Down/Left/Right - Move

dislekcia
18-08-2007, 02:40 PM
:( I can't get the game off rapidshare... Use FileCloset (http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/) instead, it's expressly set up for us ;)

Could you hide your modules in Tumiki Fighters too? I really like that.

-D

UntouchableOne
18-08-2007, 05:00 PM
Yeah, I tried yesterday and today. I thought I was the only one. Please host it on File Closet

kurtkz
18-08-2007, 07:33 PM
Hey all,

uploaded the game to filecloset @ http://www.gamedev.za.net/filecloset/data/files/148/Game.zip

@ dis:

Yup, you could hide your modules in Tumiki fighters :) It adds so much more strategy to the game.

Cheers
Kurt

Thaumaturge
27-08-2007, 05:31 AM
That sounds like fun, Kurtkz - I look forward to downloading it and giving it a shot tomorrow! ^_^

I've decided to shelve the game that I had been planning on making - I've decided that it's just not worth going through with the amount of reworking that I would probably want to do on the various mistakes that I made in my competition game code, which I intended to use as a base for the new game. It may yet be worth it for a competition, however (I'm not yet sure whether I'll enter Competition 16 or GameDev.net's next belated Four Elements contest, should that end up starting during September).

In any case, I think that a break between competitions is a not entirely bad idea at the moment.

I might will retain the story for future use, however, as I quite like it as a storyline for a short game.

I do have a rather ambitious project that I very much want to start in on sometime before the end of this year - but that's a fairly long story, and so I think that I'll leave that for tomorrow/later today.

Fengol
27-08-2007, 12:54 PM
I'm still working on Adventure Quest 2 and my RTS. When I get the ability to post new threads I'll show off my latest updates to AQ2 because I've got navigatable dungeons (with lighting) working!

Cyberninja
27-08-2007, 01:55 PM
I'm still working on Adventure Quest 2 and my RTS. When I get the ability to post new threads I'll show off my latest updates to AQ2 because I've got navigatable dungeons (with lighting) working!

Finally! I was hoping you would say that. Adventure Quest is made of win. ;)

Fengol
27-08-2007, 03:04 PM
I just gotta spam the forums a little more and then I'll be able to post. I have a big question as to whether I should make it a keyboard game or point-and-click

And thanks for the compliment, I think Adventure Quest 2 has huge potential too! Just keep getting dislekcia saying I've made a maze and not a dungeon. When I can, I'm going to double the room size and build rooms for him.

Cyberninja
27-08-2007, 03:15 PM
Awesome! Well, I'm gonna say "point and click"... Diablo style. It would work nicely imo. I eagerly await the demo...;)

dislekcia
27-08-2007, 03:15 PM
And thanks for the compliment, I think Adventure Quest 2 has huge potential too! Just keep getting dislekcia saying I've made a maze and not a dungeon. When I can, I'm going to double the room size and build rooms for him.

Muhahahaha! ;)

-D

cairnswm
27-08-2007, 08:31 PM
I was playing Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds with my kids yesterday. But its rather unstable on our AMDx2 machine (AOE II works fine).

I'd love to get those graphics and try rewrite the whole game!

Cyberninja
27-08-2007, 10:57 PM
How did you go about setting up a online payment system on your site Cairnswm?

DrDeth
28-08-2007, 09:06 AM
I'm currently doing a remake of an old X-Win game called Spellcast. I'm building it from scratch in XNA. The gameplay will stay the same, but I'm adding 3D graphics to spruce up the visuals and give better feedback about whats happening as you play - ie. You can see it rather than read and imagine it.

I'm keeping a journal of this project over at SAGameDev as a sort of tutorial of XNA development, sharing what I learn as I go along. Once the 'series' is complete, I'll probably polish the game on my own.

cairnswm
28-08-2007, 09:27 AM
How did you go about setting up a online payment system on your site Cairnswm?


I signed up with BMT Micro. It was a LONG time ago so I dont know what the best option now would be.

PS. I've never had a sale of my games.

Cyberninja
28-08-2007, 10:07 AM
Righto. Thanks cairnswm. :)

dislekcia
28-08-2007, 02:31 PM
I actually just contacted BMT Micro last week as I'm busy setting up a company to sell my software online. They will work with South African companies, but the only payment option is wire transfer at a cost of $50 with a minimum transfer amount of $300. Not quite optimal, but still a good option if you can't get the banks here to ok your business to accept credit cards online - merchant accounts and fees are expensive!

I'm actually having a meeting with the head of Standard Bank Gauteng tomorrow to talk about exactly these kinds of issues. Locally we have huge issues with setting up online sales.

-D

Tr00jg
28-08-2007, 02:38 PM
Yeah, Ive been surfing lots of e-commerce providers. Plimus is quite cool, considering their cool affiliation options.

Yeah, Wire transfer is expensive (I think Plimus is cheaper though). And checks? They take forever dont they?

dislekcia
28-08-2007, 04:05 PM
Yeah, Ive been surfing lots of e-commerce providers. Plimus is quite cool, considering their cool affiliation options.

Yeah, Wire transfer is expensive (I think Plimus is cheaper though). And checks? They take forever dont they?

I don't know if Plimus is willing to work with SA bank accounts... I haven't contacted them yet. Cheques are a big risk in our postal system. Sure, you can cancel the cheque if it hasn't arrived after X time, but it's still dangerous.

-D

UntouchableOne
28-08-2007, 04:40 PM
How about cell phone paymet. If the software is not too expensive, maybe you can setup payment through sms with one of the cellular companies.

Coolhand
28-08-2007, 04:57 PM
How about cell phone paymet. If the software is not too expensive, maybe you can setup payment through sms with one of the cellular companies.

I doubt that this would work with payments coming from an international source (and international sources would more than likely make up 99.98% of your sales).

UntouchableOne
28-08-2007, 08:28 PM
Good point. If it could work internationally then I think it would be better and easier for lower costing games.

maxdamage
29-08-2007, 01:25 AM
Well I want to do my other mod for HW2 that I had in mind.Got some of the scripting files ready and I can get most of the scripting done but I can't finish my ships and planet and import them into HW2 as I'm missing a couple of expensive 3D progs. :(

DrDeth
29-08-2007, 10:27 PM
The last time I checked (about 2 months ago) in order to open a merchant account with the banks, you need a monthly turnover of R5000 or more. This is really restrictive to small start-ups whose market is mostly international.

dislekcia, any feedback from your meeting?

I think it may be constructive to approach an existing online store (http://www.take2.co.za/ ?) to create a 'downloadable content' section for their site (or a new site), so that you could make use of their payment gateway - essentially setting up an online publisher like http://www.onebookshelf.com/ but for locals - not only for games, but any software or electronic media.

If I had the capital, I'd do it myself...

Thaumaturge
30-08-2007, 05:49 AM
Fengol, your game looks interesting. I like the cool, old-fashioned graphics and style. Unfortunately, since it would appear to be a two-player only game (unless I've missed something), and playing as both characters at once is a little tricky, I haven't tried out much of the gameplay. ^^;

I looks nice, however.

I do have one question: how do I pick up potions and open chests? I tried attacking them, and walking over them, but neither seemed to help...

Dislekcia, it would, I think, be very interesting to hear what comes of that meeting of yours with Standard Bank, if you're willing to share it. ^_^


Got some of the scripting files ready and I can get most of the scripting done but I can't finish my ships and planet and import them into HW2 as I'm missing a couple of expensive 3D progs.

I'm sorry to hear that, Maxdamage. Is it nothing that Blender or Wings might handle?

As to a game that I would like to begin work on, there is one that I very much want to start in on before this year ends (although I imagine that it will take some time to complete).

The game is titled, at the moment, The Forest, and is intended to be an adventure game, played in the first person, and set in a forest Otherworld into which the player character has stumbled while walking through a forest in our world. It is intended to provide for exploration, and, instead of a single epic story, contain many smaller stories - saving a faerie's sister from a dragon, for example, or making one's way through the haunted remains of a town once inhabited by mortals, or exploring a long-forgotten temple. The main goal is the discovery of an exit to the Forest, (although I would like to include the possibility of the player character choosing to stay), but I would like exploration and discovery to be a major part of what the game has to offer - one might be able to complete the game fairly swiftly, but would probably miss out on quite a bit that way.

Not all stories will necessarily end with happy results, and some might not be entirely resolved at all - I'm considering, for instance, not resolving the haunting of the aforementioned town. When the player finds the town's exit, they may know more than when they entered, but the restless spirits still wander and call out, and the reasons behind the haunting are not at all clear.

An idea that I consider from time to time is to integrate some form of psychological analysis into the game, so that the player might learn about themselves either as they play or at the end of the game... but I'm not certain of how might implement that, and it is not a major aspect of the vision that I have of this game.

I've kept the description short, as the post that I had intended on creating was getting a little long, and I didn't want to discourage its being read. Of course, if anyone is interested I am quite willing to go on about my game idea. ^_^

(To be honest, I'm not sure that I'm describing it terribly well above - but I'm not entirely sure of how to give a reasonably full impression without writing a much longer post.)

In order to improve my chances of realising this dream, and in order to increase my chances of producing something beautiful, (and this is a game idea that I have come to love), I intend on employing third-party engines to a large extent rather than writing my own, perhaps even using a unified game engine (such as GameMaker) if I find one that I feel is suitable.

This is, however, a slightly daunting task; I am especially concerned about producing reasonable animations. This may well be a project for which I end up requesting teammates.

Nevertheless, I fully intend to try. ^_^

Fengol
30-08-2007, 07:11 AM
Hehe, Adventure Quest 2 was a game written over Dec 2006 for a Game.Dev competition were you had to make a multiplayer game. Unfortunately it suffered from last minute design and resource changes and never got finished. But check out the thread (http://forums.tidemedia.co.za/nag/showthread.php?t=635) I just started on the game which includes a random dungeon generator.

Tr00jg
30-08-2007, 11:11 AM
I am also curious to hear what happened with the meeting...

dislekcia
30-08-2007, 03:26 PM
Re: My meeting.

These things always go slowly. Main outcome is that we'll be trying to organise followup meetings with people in the various card and internet banking divisions. One of the reasons I don't talk about this all that much is that it really does move painfully slow at times... I'm not someone that hypes up something for ages before it finally materialises, I prefer to just surprise people with large amounts of awesome ;)

But, I'm working my ass off on this. Mainly because it's something I need from a personal business POV and I know many other people need it too. It's got to happen at some point.

-D

maxdamage
01-09-2007, 12:44 AM
I'm sorry to hear that, Maxdamage. Is it nothing that Blender or Wings might handle?



Tried Wings last year sometime but afaik I did not find it useful....Besides the plug-ins I have for the game HW2 only work in Maya 3D v3.0 and the recompiled version of the plug-ins I think work with Maya 3D v5.0 or something like that.

There is a third party prog but there isn't any tutorials anyway for it :@ so I have ignored it totally but it doesn't help with the texture mapping of my 3D ships though....

Tr00jg
03-09-2007, 11:29 AM
Lookie here. I discovered this quite accidently through gmail's ads. I havent had time to check it out properly yet (studying)... Isnt this close to what we need?

http://www.shopdirect.co.za/

They charge monthly... or something like that. I might be wrong too. Check it out.

dislekcia
03-09-2007, 01:05 PM
Nope. Already looked at them. All they do is offer you an online shopping system, they don't actually handle payments for you at all. They expect you to come to them with a merchant account and to find your own credit card auth provider. They'll integrate whoever you choose into your shopping system... That's as far as it goes.

Doesn't solve the problem at all. Unless you can't put together a simple website... We don't really need shopping carts and all that for two or three software products. In fact a cart system makes things more complicated than they need to be and might alienate customers.

-D

Afflict
03-09-2007, 10:19 PM
Dude give me a shout there is a work around to this whole online sales thing I am currently working on :P

In terms of banking SA sucks.

F1ak3r
15-09-2007, 04:02 PM
Here's the information about my game so far.

Dental Quest - Episode 1

Genre: Point and click adventure game.

Story:
A somewhat eccentric inventor, named Jack Johnson, has invented a motorized dental-floss dispenser, which has been stolen. You play as that inventor. The goal of the game is to find out who took the dental-floss dispenser, and try to get it back.

DOWNLOAD V0.5 HERE (http://www.box.net/shared/8t0f794j4n)
Size: 6.8 MB
Type: ZIP
Fullscreen: Yes
Changes Resolution: No
Current Version: 0.5

I have packaged a wallpaper with this version of the game. It won't be available in later releases.

Screenshots

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/F1ak3r/screenshot102.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/F1ak3r/screenshot101.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee65/F1ak3r/screenshot100.jpg

Please REVIEW my game and/or give me IDEAS for it.

James Donaldson
15-09-2007, 09:20 PM
I'm still wanting to 'start' Forum Fighters

What I Need: to know what the hell I'm doing

Tr00jg
16-09-2007, 11:51 AM
I'm still wanting to 'start' Forum Fighters

What I Need: to know what the hell I'm doing

It rings a faint bell. What was it again?

edg3
24-08-2008, 10:38 PM
I feel I have given this thread quite some decent time to move into the backs of people's minds and now its time to actually look back at how far people have gotten with their planned projects (eg we havent seen Ninja Noir, but we have seen RT2) and I would really like to see if people have followed through with their projects. Like i stated earlier in the thread, my idea was a big shot at a large learning curve and i have abandoned that idea for now, but have found the motivation to better my skills and learn more because of it.

I also know that plans have changed for my ideas, as well as my feelings towards certain things (eg modding an existing game) and it has lead to advancement in various areas. Ive tinkered with development for the xbox 360 and mobile devices. Among things ive taken at least 3 days of bashing at the warcraft 3 world editor, and a few days at the source sdk. I feel that by understanding what i planned and if i could or couldnt get it done I have actually found reason to improve on my own practices.

So here is the idea behind resurrecting the thread: what are you working on now? What are you planning to work on soon?

Im currently working on my competition entry, and ive taken a break from my dream build play entry as i actually lost all my work, but it gives me a year to work on it as I'll enter it next year instead.

One thing I am doing that I want to do to the best of my ability and finish as soon as possible would be Stick Man Wars. The platformer/shooter game will feature various class of ninja that can wield various un-ninja-typical weapons (such as a chainsaw) in an effort to come out tops in a free for all blood bath death match. Ive finally gotten around to making my ideas of destructible terrain a reality, and have a draft of my ideas ready to be thrown together in xna for the 360, and hopefully I'll have something to show these coming holidays (as school is a bit hectic at the moment).

KNiVeS
24-08-2008, 11:11 PM
Dreamcatcher
Was awesome. Finish it :P

dislekcia
25-08-2008, 02:02 AM
Thanks for bumping this thread Edg3! It's a damn good idea to take stock and see what you were planning to do and where you are now. I enjoyed reading up on everyone's ideas and comparing :)

@Edg3: You've certainly grown and learned a lot since you started this thread. I'm looking forward to Stick Man Wars and the XNA/360 stuff is awesome experience and will stand you in good stead.

@Knives: I actually had a killer idea for Dreamcatcher yesterday. Finally have the right setting to make the game in, something that will not just make it a casual game, but turn it into something indie and artsy if I can get it right.

Ninja Noir actually made the shortlist for this year's Dream Build Play entry, much expanded and with a fleshed out design. It was beaten by Redshift (a hard sci-fi RTS designed from the ground up for consoles) which was eventually beaten by SpaceHack, which is what I'm calling the old Void Escape. Aequitas is part of QCF now and he's helping me get SpaceHack up and running like we both imagine it should be.

QCF's first game was finished in April: Mathstermind - A casual maths puzzle game on cellphones. Squid and Cyberninja worked with me on that and it felt really good paying them, although I'd like it if we could start selling the game soon (complicated project that the game was just a part of) and I could pay them even more... But that's how things go.

I'm really happy with my own progress this last year. Done a lot of cool things. I'll be even happier once SpaceHack (or whatever it ends up being called by then) is available on Live.

Thaumaturge
25-08-2008, 02:41 AM
Likewise, I think this a good idea edg3 - thank you. ^_^


... but have found the motivation to better my skills and learn more because of it.

I'm glad to hear it. ^_^

In fact, it sounds as though you've advanced well, overall. ^_^


@Knives: I actually had a killer idea for Dreamcatcher yesterday. Finally have the right setting to make the game in, something that will not just make it a casual game, but turn it into something indie and artsy if I can get it right.

Ooh, this sounds very interesting. Any chance of further details?


SpaceHack (or whatever it ends up being called by then)

If I may say, I rather like the name "SpaceHack".

As for me, I'm only now finally coming close to starting the big project that I mentioned in this thread, The Forest - in fact, I'm planning on starting it once I have Silence completed (or, I suppose, I abandon it), and it was the main reason, as I recall, that I went looking for an engine and came to download and start using Panda.

I never did come up with a satisfactory set of "elements" for the spell system that I talked about in this thread, although the system that I have in mind for my more recently posted-about "spell-combat logic-puzzle" game is similar (albeit on the back-burner for now). Having briefly gone back over my posts in this thread and thus been reminded of it, I've added it to my list of game ideas; I like the idea, and it's worth hanging onto, I believe.

KNiVeS
25-08-2008, 04:03 PM
@Knives: I actually had a killer idea for Dreamcatcher yesterday. Finally have the right setting to make the game in, something that will not just make it a casual game, but turn it into something indie and artsy if I can get it right.

Do eeet!

Tr00jg
25-08-2008, 05:17 PM
Seeing my post on RT3 makes me want to start making it even more. >_<

I seriously just want to make a game that doesn't have much art requirements. RT3 (or my idea for it) needs art.

F1ak3r
27-08-2008, 06:31 AM
Ah, I remember this thread. Good ol' Dental Quest. It was a sad day when I scrapped it, but I had to. I hated every minute I spent working on it, the source file was huge and convoluted, and trying to make a point-and-click adventure engine in GM is no picnic. Also, having worked on it for 3 years, my creativity had long ago stagnated, and I simply wasn't able to come up with story or joke ideas.

I still want to make a point-and-click adventure game, though. And, after playing the Ben Jordan series and most of Yahtzee's games, I've started on one. I'm using AGS this time, so I can focus on the game, not the engine.

(I'm also using it to work on my pixelling skills, and I personally think it looks quite nice, but it's not all hand-pixelled, I used some noise on the backgrounds in Paint.Net)
http://64digits.com/users/F1ak3r/TTATS8.PNG
The Traveller & The Shopkeeper

Apart from that, I'm working on AYUSSHMUP (see topic for more info and a demo), a prototype of an RTS-RPG hybrid for my pal Chuluka, and then I have two or three things lying around that need to be finished up.

So I'm working on more than I was then, but I've also finished more. Back then I'd finished:
Balzera Balloon Basher (game for the school Science Expo)
Now I've finished that and:
Four versions of Elements Of Escape
Two (1.5) versions of Nebraska Newton
Alternate Path

So if I've learnt anything in my 3.5 years of doing this, it's that you need to start small. Ambition is good, but realism is better. Know your limits, stretch them bit by bit, and you will go far. Jump in the deep end without knowing how to swim, and you will drown. =D

Gazza_N
27-08-2008, 12:16 PM
My current lineup:

> Deathbringer lives again. Kinda. The premise of the game has changed from free-for-all to a mission-based structure, and I've been hard at work redesigning it for single-player missions. I've also been standardizing and streamlining a lot of the code using everything I've learned about GM3D. Hells, now I know how the Duke Nukem Forever people feel. ;P

EDIT: Actually, I'm pretty embarrassed with Deathbringer. It's been two years into development now, gone through its fourth gameplay redesign, and it's still nowhere near done. It's like a case study of how NOT to make a game. :(

> Scavenger Hunt (to be renamed): Point and click adventure game in AGS, based on an old short story of mine. Mr. Stickly's Ossum Quest was a prototype for it. I have the characters designed, but the plot and locations need to be finalized. Basically, it needs a lot of work.

That's it, actually. All so very exciting.

dislekcia
27-08-2008, 12:23 PM
So if I've learnt anything in my 3.5 years of doing this, it's that you need to start small. Ambition is good, but realism is better. Know your limits, stretch them bit by bit, and you will go far. Jump in the deep end without knowing how to swim, and you will drown. =D

QFT :)

Thaumaturge
28-08-2008, 03:25 AM
Deathbringer lives again. Kinda.

Ooh - I'm glad to hear it! ^_^


Actually, I'm pretty embarrassed with Deathbringer. It's been two years into development now, gone through its fourth gameplay redesign, and it's still nowhere near done. It's like a case study of how NOT to make a game.

I don't know - after all, you've learned a fair bit from the various iterations, not so, and are probably moving towards a better game.


Scavenger Hunt

This and Deathbringer are two games that I'm rather looking forward to seeing. ^_^

Gazza_N
28-08-2008, 12:10 PM
I don't know - after all, you've learned a fair bit from the various iterations, not so, and are probably moving towards a better game.
Well, I have learned a lot. The problem is how long it's taken. :p

Gameplay wise, not much has really changed. It's back to first-person, now that I've figured out that GM doesn't cull offscreen objects from the render (which was what led to those disastrous slowdowns of doom before). I've put in a facility that allows me to model terrain in Blender and import it into levels, and I've made my animations modular, allowing different mech types (although I've hit a tiny snag with the animation itself at this point). I still need to decide how I'm going to put my missions together (I do have some solid ideas for the missions themselves), and write an editor of some sort to do that.

Thaumaturge
28-08-2008, 09:00 PM
It sounds (um, reads :P) as though you're making good progress, and what you describe seems promising! ^_^


I've put in a facility that allows me to model terrain in Blender and import it into levels ...

This sounds interesting to me, especially as level creation is something that I'm a little uncertain in at the moment - would you mind elaborating, please?


... although I've hit a tiny snag with the animation itself at this point

Anything that you want help with?


GM doesn't cull offscreen objects from the render (which was what led to those disastrous slowdowns of doom before).

Ouch, yes, that could do it, I believe. o_o

Gazza_N
31-08-2008, 09:36 AM
This sounds interesting to me, especially as level creation is something that I'm a little uncertain in at the moment - would you mind elaborating, please?

Wellllll... All I'm doing in this case is modelling large terrain tiles as a 1024 x 1024 mesh in Blender, keeping the vertices on the x and y axis at a constant distance from each other, but altering the heights. I then import the model via the .obj import script I snagged from the GM forums, but also use a self-hacked version of the script to grab the z values from the vertices to make a heightmap (since GM doesn't allow me to access mesh data directly). That's all there really is to it. It's not the most elegant way of doing it, but it works, it saves me from having to write my own fancypants 3D terrain editor, and Blender exports vertex normals along with the mesh, meaning that I don't have to struggle to write code to calculate them myself.


Anything that you want help with?
Well, remember that my animation is hard-coded. My problem is a bug that borks the animation up when I try to shift certain elements of it out of synch with the main animation counter. More likely the entire animation system needs to be rewritten, but I'll play around some more when I get time. Knowing me, it's something head-kickingly small and stupid. ;)

Thaumaturge
31-08-2008, 09:48 AM
Wellllll... All I'm doing in this case is modelling large terrain tiles as a 1024 x 1024 mesh in Blender, keeping the vertices on the x and y axis at a constant distance from each other, but altering the heights. I then import the model via the .obj import script I snagged from the GM forums, but also use a self-hacked version of the script to grab the z values from the vertices to make a heightmap (since GM doesn't allow me to access mesh data directly). That's all there really is to it.

I like that - it sounds like a good solution to me, given the circumstances. ^_^

However, how many tiles would you expect to have per level? 1024x1024 sounds as though it should produce quit a few polygons with too many tiles in place, unless you have some level-of-detail scheme in place...


Well, remember that my animation is hard-coded. My problem is a bug that borks the animation up when I try to shift certain elements of it out of synch with the main animation counter. More likely the entire animation system needs to be rewritten, but I'll play around some more when I get time.

Aah, I see - fair enough. I hope that you find the problem.

If you want a second pair of eyes, for the logic at least (since I'm not familiar with Game Maker's language), just ask. ^_^

Gazza_N
31-08-2008, 10:02 AM
However, how many tiles would you expect to have per level? 1024x1024 sounds as though it should produce quit a few polygons with too many tiles in place, unless you have some level-of-detail scheme in place...

1024 world units, not vertices. Vertex-wise I'm sitting at about 16 by 16 vertices per tile. I should've clarified that, sorry. I haven't had my morning coffee yet. ;)


If you want a second pair of eyes, for the logic at least (since I'm not familiar with Game Maker's language), just ask. ^_^
Will do, thanks! :D

Thaumaturge
01-09-2008, 12:22 AM
1024 world units sounds far more reasonable, yes. :P