Plan for Todd Pickens
by Todd Pickens · 09/27/2005 (11:33 am) · 18 comments
I Figured it was about time to post something here.
I am leading a team that is developing a game with the Torque engine and the RTS kit. We have been working on it a while, but its starting to pick up speed and take shape.
You can find more details and a few development shots on the teaser web site (link below), but in a nut shell, its a Pirate themed turn based strategy game. Ship to ship combat, peg legs, sunken ships, treasure hunts, that sort of thing.
www.surrenderyerbooty.com
Basically we wanted make a game that had the fun stuff from so many of the pirate games we have played, but none of the things that inevitably turned us off to those same games. Hopefully you will find that to be the case when you get to play it.
I'll post more when I get a chance, and I'm sure the rest of the team will be creating a .plan pretty soon, so stay tuned.
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
I am leading a team that is developing a game with the Torque engine and the RTS kit. We have been working on it a while, but its starting to pick up speed and take shape.
You can find more details and a few development shots on the teaser web site (link below), but in a nut shell, its a Pirate themed turn based strategy game. Ship to ship combat, peg legs, sunken ships, treasure hunts, that sort of thing.
www.surrenderyerbooty.com
Basically we wanted make a game that had the fun stuff from so many of the pirate games we have played, but none of the things that inevitably turned us off to those same games. Hopefully you will find that to be the case when you get to play it.
I'll post more when I get a chance, and I'm sure the rest of the team will be creating a .plan pretty soon, so stay tuned.
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
About the author
#2
09/27/2005 (12:10 pm)
Ooh, be sure to bring news on progress from time to time. Pirate game AND turn based - that sounds delicious on its own :) 
#3
09/27/2005 (12:16 pm)
awesome. i like your parrot mascot 
#5
09/27/2005 (1:51 pm)
Looking good, website looks good as well. 
#6
09/27/2005 (3:10 pm)
Wow! That looks very nice! 
#7
09/27/2005 (3:59 pm)
I like these boats !
#8
09/27/2005 (4:52 pm)
The boats look like the ones from the Pirates table top game. Did you use those as the source of the textures? 
#9
09/27/2005 (5:22 pm)
nice! :) 
#10
09/27/2005 (5:45 pm)
SUPER sharp website. I really like the logo design and the look of the front page. And nicely done picking off such a fine URL.
#11
09/27/2005 (5:58 pm)
VERY nice!
#12
Thanks for all the positive feedback! It is very motivating.
Richard, to answer your questions regarding the ship textures, no, I did not take any textures from any other game.
I suspect that just about every contemporary Pirate/tall ship game uses the same references (historical books, photos, etc.)
There are only too different ships in the screen shots at the moment, one is a Pirate Brig, that I found diagrams and some references photos of on the net, so it is mostly influenced from that.
The other ship is ...suppose to be a Galleon, but after finishing it, I realized that I used the wrong reference diagrams :P
The actual Art style of the game will be a little more campy, and cartoony. Not too much, but just enough to give it some personality.
In truth, what you see in the screen shots is more test art than anything else. It is the result of me learning my way around in the Torque engine and the RTS kit.
Andy, thanks for the complements on the name, I was going to give it a bi-line ...."blow me down", but "Surrender Yer Booty, Blow me down" would have been...a hanging offence....so I'll save that for the T-shirts :O)
Joshua, The tiki pole was to sort of hint at the direction we are taking the game in. I want the islands to be more iconic representations. So, for example, on an island like that one, you may see native canoos on he beach, a grass hut or two, the tike idols, smoke coming from a volcano, birds circling, etc. As you get the camera close to the island,you will hear native drums, wave hitting the shore, the volcano rumbling, the sea gulls, etc.
The actual game play is VERY simple, but filled with personality.
We are working on integrating a design element that will really bring your individual captains alive, and make it the kind of game you look back on in ten years and remember with a smile. Or at least thats what we are shooting for.
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
09/27/2005 (7:16 pm)
WOW!Thanks for all the positive feedback! It is very motivating.
Richard, to answer your questions regarding the ship textures, no, I did not take any textures from any other game.
I suspect that just about every contemporary Pirate/tall ship game uses the same references (historical books, photos, etc.)
There are only too different ships in the screen shots at the moment, one is a Pirate Brig, that I found diagrams and some references photos of on the net, so it is mostly influenced from that.
The other ship is ...suppose to be a Galleon, but after finishing it, I realized that I used the wrong reference diagrams :P
The actual Art style of the game will be a little more campy, and cartoony. Not too much, but just enough to give it some personality.
In truth, what you see in the screen shots is more test art than anything else. It is the result of me learning my way around in the Torque engine and the RTS kit.
Andy, thanks for the complements on the name, I was going to give it a bi-line ...."blow me down", but "Surrender Yer Booty, Blow me down" would have been...a hanging offence....so I'll save that for the T-shirts :O)
Joshua, The tiki pole was to sort of hint at the direction we are taking the game in. I want the islands to be more iconic representations. So, for example, on an island like that one, you may see native canoos on he beach, a grass hut or two, the tike idols, smoke coming from a volcano, birds circling, etc. As you get the camera close to the island,you will hear native drums, wave hitting the shore, the volcano rumbling, the sea gulls, etc.
The actual game play is VERY simple, but filled with personality.
We are working on integrating a design element that will really bring your individual captains alive, and make it the kind of game you look back on in ten years and remember with a smile. Or at least thats what we are shooting for.
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
#13
The "parrot is my own twisted creation, it is a "Cocka-parrot"...
I made a rough sketch for the load screen (will post a pick of that at some point) while on a flight back from Florida, but I didn't have any references, and I illustrated the bird as having the feather plumb, but once I started on the actual painting, I started looking at references for parrots and such and realized that only Cockatiels have those plumbs.
The feathers turned out to be pretty important for the over all composition of the image, so I keep them, in spite of several protest. An so was born the "Cocka-parrot"
Any one have any ideas for what I can name him?
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
09/27/2005 (7:30 pm)
nathaniel, Almost forgot, The "parrot is my own twisted creation, it is a "Cocka-parrot"...
I made a rough sketch for the load screen (will post a pick of that at some point) while on a flight back from Florida, but I didn't have any references, and I illustrated the bird as having the feather plumb, but once I started on the actual painting, I started looking at references for parrots and such and realized that only Cockatiels have those plumbs.
The feathers turned out to be pretty important for the over all composition of the image, so I keep them, in spite of several protest. An so was born the "Cocka-parrot"
Any one have any ideas for what I can name him?
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
#14
09/27/2005 (11:09 pm)
Nice choice in having the horizon line. I like the looks of this projects. water also looks pleasent and warm. 
#15
Gonna' keep my eye on this one ... arrrrrg.
- Melv.
09/28/2005 (12:12 am)
There's something very attractive about a good pirates game. Maybe it's the golden beaches, maybe the gold or maybe the eye-patches, who knows?Gonna' keep my eye on this one ... arrrrrg.
- Melv.
#16
Still need a name for him.
Its on my portfolio site. I'll get it moved to the SYB teaser site at some point.
http://www.shapesandlines.com/SYBMainScreen.htm
I post more when time allows.
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
09/29/2005 (4:40 pm)
So here is that main title screen for Surrender Yer Booty I was talking about, and the origin of the "Cocka-parrot"Still need a name for him.
Its on my portfolio site. I'll get it moved to the SYB teaser site at some point.
http://www.shapesandlines.com/SYBMainScreen.htm
I post more when time allows.
Todd "IronGimp" Pickens
#17
When I think of cockatiels, I always think back to the TV show "Beretta". Wasn't his bird's name Fred? Maybe a Cocka-parrot needs an unexpected name like that. "Clarence" maybe... =)
- Don
09/29/2005 (7:05 pm)
Shiver me timbers, this is awesome!When I think of cockatiels, I always think back to the TV show "Beretta". Wasn't his bird's name Fred? Maybe a Cocka-parrot needs an unexpected name like that. "Clarence" maybe... =)
- Don
Torque Owner Justin Kovac