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xcal
22-10-2009, 02:40 PM
I think it's about time that I post something here, been wanting to for years and now I finally have reason...

The game is still in an early phase, pre any release, but I wanted to share the concept for comments, suggestions or ideas. As soon as it's ready to be played I'll be sure to post it here.

The Concept:
The game is set in a school classroom with several rows of desks creating 'walls' accross an open playing field.

The player starts play as a STUDENT writing a test, but looking for ways to cheat(crib sheets hidden around the classroom, friends willing to talk). The player must then move around the classroom collecting these cheat items or other power-ups, or bumping into obstacles, ie. chairs that have fallen or bags lying in the path.

All the time the player does this he/she has to avoid the TEACHER. The teacher prowls around the class looking for the student. The teacher has a line of sight cone that inspects the class at he/she moves, but cannot see through desks(walls). If the student lands in the line of site cone, the game is up and the student is caught. If the STUDENT bumps into any of the obstacles, the teacher is immediately drawn to the location of the obstacle by the sound.

The game will have a multiplayer aspect, where the players can either play as the teacher or the student. For more fun I was thinking of adding in maybe a second student for multiplayer co-op style. One student can make a sound to lure the teacher away from the other.

Also, my last idea, was to implement a second student in play, but as a 'teacher's pet', who will work with the teacher to find the student, but will be invisible to the main player. This could also be used in multi-player.

The art style is hand drawn stick men on a white background as shown, although after wrapping my head around the ideas for the game, not sure it will quite cut it(ideas?):
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr303/xcal55/ClassBack.gif
The first sketch of the classroom.
http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr303/xcal55/Student.gif
A Possible student design.

The game is for my final year Java project, so it will be in java. The guide-lines are pretty thin and the lecturer encourages learning from other games source code.

Any ideas, or comments will be MUCH appreciated as I want to make this something more than a project, something that is fun to play.

For now, I'd really appreciate some direction as to a resource that can help me with sync issues for the multiplayer sections? Everything else I mostly have down.

Nandrew
27-10-2009, 09:41 AM
I like the sound of the game design and in particular the art style that you're going for (hope it works!), but unfortunately I can't offer much more than that if you're looking for multiplayer code. Doesn't your lecturer have the necessary networking references for you?

xcal
27-10-2009, 09:54 AM
Thanks for the reply!

Our lecturer wanted us to use the net for as much as possible, trying to show us that we don't have to re-invent the wheel to do something like this. So it's part of the project to go out and find what you need!

Due to an utter lack of response I got the impression the game direction was hopeless. With time ticking down I decided to change directions, as the hand drawn art was taking a little too long. Maybe I'll come back to it afterwards..

Same game mechanics now, but a completely different, totally commercial cliche theme.

Hopefully by next week I'll have posted Tactionage! ;P

Nandrew
27-10-2009, 11:19 PM
I wouldn't be discouraged by the lack of response -- it's an unfortunate reality that giving *meaningful* feedback on a concept at this early stage is very difficult, and I rarely respond when people do it. Proposals of this nature come in frequently, and I personally find it much, MUCH easier to offer comments and suggestions on playable demos. ;)

Good luck with Tactionage.

Gazza_N
28-10-2009, 09:55 AM
I wouldn't be discouraged by the lack of response -- it's an unfortunate reality that giving *meaningful* feedback on a concept at this early stage is very difficult, and I rarely respond when people do it. Proposals of this nature come in frequently, and I personally find it much, MUCH easier to offer comments and suggestions on playable demos. ;)

QFE. Reading a concept and actually playing it are two completely different animals. It's easier to offer proper comments and advice having given a prototype a shot and gotten a good feel for it, rather than just looking at a concept and saying "Well, it SOUNDS good. It MIGHT work... Maybe...".

xcal
28-10-2009, 11:44 AM
I understand completely. I guess I was just hoping for more interesting ideas to add to the game. It's now well on it's way to being procedurally generated and vector based with bright colours...

Not sure it'll get done on time, but heck, I'm enjoying it... Just wish it didn't have to be in Java. I like the language, but I'm more familiar with XNA and .NET...

Squid
28-10-2009, 05:27 PM
Sounds like a solid concept. My advice would be to get the game working and fun before you try and tackle multiplayer. Networking gets confusing and technical.

Also, Java isn't that bad :P

xcal
28-10-2009, 06:27 PM
Well, Networking counts 25% of the mark... but thinking of implementing something rather strange for that... ie. Have two player linked via network, but playing in different areas, with their actions influencing the other's game world...

Well, I certainly learnt a lot about J2D... Yay!

Chippit
28-10-2009, 09:12 PM
Also, Java isn't that bad :P
Yes it is. Seriously. :x

xcal
29-10-2009, 11:03 AM
Yes it is. Seriously. :x

Meh, it hasn't ACTUALLY been THAT difficult. Behaves itself well, mostly and is rather simple to set up a neat little framework.

Not my language of choice however. Seriously wanting to play with c++ now!

Chippit
29-10-2009, 03:30 PM
It's not difficult. It's just crap. And horribly inconsistent. It's what happens when you try to apply standards to something that didn't have standards. There's a whole bunch of stuff that feels tacked on, and an even bigger load of things that don't work as you expect they should.

xcal
31-10-2009, 08:56 AM
I guess I just haven't gotten down low enough yet(Just using JAVA2D, no OpenGL libraries)?

It's behaved itself really well so far, and this is the first time I'm beginning to appreciate it's cross-platform nature! I gave my game to a LINUX buddy! XD

(This doesn't mean I'll be leaving this project in JAVA, I'm MUCH more familiar with the Microsoft family. Pity about losing cross-platform capabilities... What's the best language to target MAC I wonder?)

May I ask, when was the last time you used JAVA? or is this based on current experience?

Squid
31-10-2009, 09:57 AM
Chippit is just biased, don't listen to him :P

Chippit
31-10-2009, 12:43 PM
May I ask, when was the last time you used JAVA? or is this based on current experience?

Just last week, when I submitted our J2ME final project. :P