View Full Version : 19: Nine Lives a Feline
Tr00jg
10-06-2008, 04:30 PM
Right, so vacation has officially started and I've started with toying with ideas. I've come to the decision that my game is going to be about the idea that a cat has nine lives.
So far I haven't come to a definite conclusion to as what the game will be about, but I have a few core concepts down.
They are:
-platformer (never made one, so I'm in the mood).
-ghost cats.
>All your "nine" lives will manifest as ghost cats. These cats will help you in some way. Ever wondered how a cat flips around and lands perfectly on his feet when he falls? His ghost cats helped him. So far I want to able to assign ghost cats abilities that they do automatically, like follow, attack (when an enemy is in sight) and defend.
If you get damaged you die, and one of your ghost cats dissapear (you choose which one).
As I'm doing a platformer and I love Knytt it is so far going to be an exploration platformer that has you hunting ghost cat abilities.
Here is a pic of what I made in 30min (this is your main cat):
http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1529/nlafuh0.png
Whaddya think?
Bonezmann
10-06-2008, 04:34 PM
The idea sounds cool, I once made a concept for a game called "7 Rotweilers and a cat" It never did see light though, as I still had a 486 at the time.
I'm interested in this game for sure. ;)
01DT!m3r
10-06-2008, 05:11 PM
Hell yeah that sounds awesome!
DukeOFprunes
10-06-2008, 05:37 PM
How will it work - pick up a ghost and it works like a powerup?
Bonezmann
10-06-2008, 05:49 PM
How will it work - pick up a ghost and it works like a powerup?
As far as I understand you start a level with all 9 power-ups and each time you die you lose one. :\
Tr00jg
10-06-2008, 06:48 PM
As far as I understand you start a level with all 9 power-ups and each time you die you lose one. :\
Not entirely.
You can assign your ghost cats something they have to do (its all automatic). But you are on a mission to gain all your ghost cat abilities. (hence the exploration element).
If you die, you simply lose one of you ghost cats.
dislekcia
11-06-2008, 12:06 AM
What a cool game concept! Nice :)
This is going to be very interesting to play!
-D
Thaumaturge
11-06-2008, 04:08 AM
That sounds like a pretty good idea, Tr00jg. ^_^
Was it inspired by the discussion on the forum about "ghost objects", and potential uses for them? (Which was spawned, as I recall, from discussion about a game that employed ghost cursors - Cursor10, if I recall correctly.)
It strikes me that the ghost cats are something like lemmings, in the idea of assigning abilities to them. ;)
Hmm... You say that ghost cats are to be lost when the player loses a life. Are there any ways in which to regain them? Do any challenges involve the use of more than one ghost cat (thus potentially leaving the player short as a result of loss of lives)?
come to think of it, do the ghost cats move around in the game-world once collected, and if so, does the position of the relevant ghost cat impact the use of the ability or abilities tied to it?
Tr00jg
11-06-2008, 02:52 PM
Was it inspired by the discussion on the forum about "ghost objects", and potential uses for them? (Which was spawned, as I recall, from discussion about a game that employed ghost cursors - Cursor10, if I recall correctly.)
I didn't read the thing about ghost objects, but it was inspired by Cursor*10.
Hmm... You say that ghost cats are to be lost when the player loses a life. Are there any ways in which to regain them? Do any challenges involve the use of more than one ghost cat (thus potentially leaving the player short as a result of loss of lives)?
Still have to think that over. There will probably be occasions where you will need an "x" amount of ghost cats to do something. Perhaps I'll just make it more difficult instead of impossible.
come to think of it, do the ghost cats move around in the game-world once collected, and if so, does the position of the relevant ghost cat impact the use of the ability or abilities tied to it?
The ghost cats float around you (don't have time to implement proper pathfinding AI for a platformer). So far I have jotted down the following abilities (still have to test them):
Attacks (elemental):
>Fire
>Water
>Earth
>Wind
Flight (late game ability):
>Some ghost cats will float beneath your feet allowing you to levitate.
Shield:
>Self-explanatory. The ghost cats will go stand in front of enemies.
Big Form (late game ability):
>If all your ghost cats are assigned this ability, you will form into a huge fighting extreme monster. :P
Hopefully, I'll be able to fully complete this game before the end of June as I'm leaving on holiday for a week this friday.
Bonezmann
11-06-2008, 04:06 PM
It sounds cool. If I -could- make a -suggestion-, replace the elements with something else. It seems that all games these days have elements in them, replace them rather with catt-ish stuff, they are ghost cats after all.
Just a suggetion though, use it don't use it. Anyway you like. :)
dislekcia
11-06-2008, 04:26 PM
Name the ghost cat effects after LOLCAT memes for epic win!
Invisible bicycle! Ceiling cat! etc...
Tr00jg
11-06-2008, 04:40 PM
Name the ghost cat effects after LOLCAT memes for epic win!
Invisible bicycle! Ceiling cat! etc...
WIN! I'll try to find some.
Thaumaturge
11-06-2008, 07:39 PM
I definitely concur - LOLcat powers sound much better than element powers in this case, I believe. ;)
Heh, I'm not sure that this is quite the direction in which you want to go, but the image of Ceiling Cat "levitating" the player via a piece of string amuses me. ;)
Tr00jg
12-06-2008, 01:00 PM
Heh, I'm not sure that this is quite the direction in which you want to go, but the image of Ceiling Cat "levitating" the player via a piece of string amuses me. ;)
I was thinking more of "invisible bike" as levitating. Hehe. Hopefully these lolcat abilities will be intuitive.
So, today, I am going to get to work on a level editor to make it easier to develop the world (exploration platformer).
Hopefulyl, I'll get that finished as I am leaving tomorrow for a week.
Tr00jg
16-06-2008, 03:31 PM
Meh, so I'm back for 2 days (then leaving for a week), so I'm contemplating 2 things.
1) Continue as is:
> My problem is that doing an exploration platformer in Game Maker is difficult. I don't know how to approach this, ie building the world. Having loads of rooms all "pointing" to each other will just be colossal nightmare.
2) Ditch exploration platformer:
> Change the game into "rites" of passage. You are in a training camp where you must learn all your ghost cat abilities. So, it will now instead just be "boss" levels, each kinda different, depending on the ghost cat ability you must earn.
So far I am leaning quite to (2)...
Thaumaturge
16-06-2008, 07:29 PM
Hmm... Well, the "rites of passage" could work, I believe.
However, can GameMaker not handle rooms larger than screen size, and scrolling within them? If so, then you could perhaps build a handful of large rooms (large enough to allow for some exploration), with exits from one to appropriate others. This produces a situation much like your original, but with, I would think, fewer "pointers".
Tr00jg
16-06-2008, 09:59 PM
Hmm... Well, the "rites of passage" could work, I believe.
However, can GameMaker not handle rooms larger than screen size, and scrolling within them? If so, then you could perhaps build a handful of large rooms (large enough to allow for some exploration), with exits from one to appropriate others. This produces a situation much like your original, but with, I would think, fewer "pointers".
Indeed yes... That might be the best actually. I'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm kinda not in the mood for game dev atm. Have too many other things I'm doing. Busy with an album and a new website project. :P
Thaumaturge
17-06-2008, 04:25 AM
Heheh, fair enough - and a sentiment that I believe that I can understand. ^_^
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