What I wanna do...
by Jim Wellington · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/09/2007 (4:05 pm) · 7 replies
Okay- I am very excited after seeing and playing Minions of Mirth for a short while.
I'm going to get the Torque Engine and go nuts...
And what I want to do is sort of outlined in my profile, but I'll put it here, too.
-A world looking something like MoM's would be a nice start.
- Most of what I want is listed on my web site, which is in my profile. (so you can skip this and go there...) but---
-Flying PCs- with an aerial POV. They have houses with large windows and/or landing/launching areas. & they might be physically wimpy, but would be hard to hit with ranged weapons, impossible to hit with non ranged weapons, and might be able to avoid being hit by some spells.
-Metamorphs (whose lives depend on not morphing in front of other PCs?)
-Cat people, Fox people, Bear people, Otter people (besides several kinds of Elves, Humans, Reptiles, insect-humanoid hybrids, Faerie creatures, Dryads (with wings), the other aforementioned flying race, Satyrs, Dwarves who hate being called Dwarves. Sentient spiders who can make and sell spider silk armour... a 'missing link' race which claims it has the dna of all other races not quite dormant in their own dna, evil goblins that can become a threat to everybody else (but it takes a lot of time and energy and a bit of luck) Trolls which are blind in daylight, (most races can develop night vision, if they're not born with it.)
- Nearly invisible creatures called 'Watchers' (look like watery tree trunks with thin arms?) with psisonic power- who need to 'materialize' when in battle, and therefore become vulnerable.
-'Divinely protected' characters that can not be attacked by PK players. Cities where Player v Player combat is impossible...
-'Healers' who find a lot of wounded npcs and can make a decent living healing them (the npcs insist on paying them, either with coin or items) (( Green light surrounds the healers while they work and flows into the wounded npcs. Npcs respond when they are healed enough to get up and limp home. ))
- Highly customizeable characters (look like stereotypical members of their race, but ((so this won't interfere with game speed, etc.)) may have an available 'friends' window with their customized looks, height, weight, etc.)
- Changeable combat stances- attack/defend modes... Everybody would have two occupations, one of which could be a service occupation (builders, farmers, herbalists, guides, lawyers, politicians, doctors, nurses, miners, weaponsmiths, armour crafters, wagon builders, pet trainers, merchants)
- A semi-sentient 'Anomaly', pocket dimension, which absorbs bits and pieces of other worlds and creates corridors between worlds, shelters endangered races, alters the dna of creatures- speeds up evolution and is responsible for 'creating' the races that live in this world.
-Some characters 'wake up' in this world, wonder whether they've died and gone to heaven or hell, and have memories of their previous lives. Others would have been born here and would think people talking about other worlds might be dangerously deranged.
So- Role Playing would be important to some, not so important to others.
And I should shut up now, post this and see who shoots it down?
-----Jim
I'm going to get the Torque Engine and go nuts...
And what I want to do is sort of outlined in my profile, but I'll put it here, too.
-A world looking something like MoM's would be a nice start.
- Most of what I want is listed on my web site, which is in my profile. (so you can skip this and go there...) but---
-Flying PCs- with an aerial POV. They have houses with large windows and/or landing/launching areas. & they might be physically wimpy, but would be hard to hit with ranged weapons, impossible to hit with non ranged weapons, and might be able to avoid being hit by some spells.
-Metamorphs (whose lives depend on not morphing in front of other PCs?)
-Cat people, Fox people, Bear people, Otter people (besides several kinds of Elves, Humans, Reptiles, insect-humanoid hybrids, Faerie creatures, Dryads (with wings), the other aforementioned flying race, Satyrs, Dwarves who hate being called Dwarves. Sentient spiders who can make and sell spider silk armour... a 'missing link' race which claims it has the dna of all other races not quite dormant in their own dna, evil goblins that can become a threat to everybody else (but it takes a lot of time and energy and a bit of luck) Trolls which are blind in daylight, (most races can develop night vision, if they're not born with it.)
- Nearly invisible creatures called 'Watchers' (look like watery tree trunks with thin arms?) with psisonic power- who need to 'materialize' when in battle, and therefore become vulnerable.
-'Divinely protected' characters that can not be attacked by PK players. Cities where Player v Player combat is impossible...
-'Healers' who find a lot of wounded npcs and can make a decent living healing them (the npcs insist on paying them, either with coin or items) (( Green light surrounds the healers while they work and flows into the wounded npcs. Npcs respond when they are healed enough to get up and limp home. ))
- Highly customizeable characters (look like stereotypical members of their race, but ((so this won't interfere with game speed, etc.)) may have an available 'friends' window with their customized looks, height, weight, etc.)
- Changeable combat stances- attack/defend modes... Everybody would have two occupations, one of which could be a service occupation (builders, farmers, herbalists, guides, lawyers, politicians, doctors, nurses, miners, weaponsmiths, armour crafters, wagon builders, pet trainers, merchants)
- A semi-sentient 'Anomaly', pocket dimension, which absorbs bits and pieces of other worlds and creates corridors between worlds, shelters endangered races, alters the dna of creatures- speeds up evolution and is responsible for 'creating' the races that live in this world.
-Some characters 'wake up' in this world, wonder whether they've died and gone to heaven or hell, and have memories of their previous lives. Others would have been born here and would think people talking about other worlds might be dangerously deranged.
So- Role Playing would be important to some, not so important to others.
And I should shut up now, post this and see who shoots it down?
-----Jim
#2
-I haven't seen the actual game engine yet, but I'm thinking that it would be more difficult to explain the background than to actually get the rudimentary design in place, toss a few races into the mix, impliment a few new routines, and get a workable model up and running....(including : tell some of the npcs that they're almost dead and should be ready to fight to their last breath if a non-healer tries to kill them, or be grateful and sit up and thank the healers if they're healed...) and after it looks like it just might work, then maybe get out the wrenches and the cosmic 'WD-40', programmers duct tape... and tamper with the basics of the combat routines to add stuff (You can't kick somebody who's flying ten feet above your head-)
-Wink-
-----Jim (bear with me while I learn the tags for making the posts readable)
02/09/2007 (10:06 pm)
-Thanks--I haven't seen the actual game engine yet, but I'm thinking that it would be more difficult to explain the background than to actually get the rudimentary design in place, toss a few races into the mix, impliment a few new routines, and get a workable model up and running....(including : tell some of the npcs that they're almost dead and should be ready to fight to their last breath if a non-healer tries to kill them, or be grateful and sit up and thank the healers if they're healed...) and after it looks like it just might work, then maybe get out the wrenches and the cosmic 'WD-40', programmers duct tape... and tamper with the basics of the combat routines to add stuff (You can't kick somebody who's flying ten feet above your head-)
-Wink-
-----Jim (bear with me while I learn the tags for making the posts readable)
#3
Healer Characters would have the option of begining life in a battle zone, with a companion (warrior/ranger type) assigned to protect the character as he or she moves through a bloody mess and saves as many wounded npcs as possible.
(wounded npcs would have something ridiculous like 5 health points left and one intense defensive left if anyody was stupid enough to believe they could kill wounded npcs and get levels fast or something.)
When the wounded npc is healed enough to stand up and limp home he or she would insist that the healer accept some token of appreciation, anything from a few meager coins to a family heirloom weapon that the wounded character hopes the healer would put to good use (the healer could sell the weapon to a merchant)
I programmed a 'rabid grizzly' into my first game. The bear would be able to block or dodge any attack and would be able to wack attackers for something like 200 damage with each of two fore claws, effectively killing any player character stupid enough to attack it. But- if healed the bear would 'look at you with knowing eyes' and lead you to a log- knock the log out of the way and reveal a bag full of weapons and loot, including an enchanted Katana which would teach special moves to the one player who would take it to a priest/priestess or wizard/druid/whatever and have the weapon bonded to them. The weapon would periodically send messages to the player until they got the hint "You wake from a dream that you have taken your katana to a person who had it bonded to you and something wonderful happened."
-----More next time
-----------Jim
02/21/2007 (1:36 am)
*** Wounded NPCs-Healer Characters would have the option of begining life in a battle zone, with a companion (warrior/ranger type) assigned to protect the character as he or she moves through a bloody mess and saves as many wounded npcs as possible.
(wounded npcs would have something ridiculous like 5 health points left and one intense defensive left if anyody was stupid enough to believe they could kill wounded npcs and get levels fast or something.)
When the wounded npc is healed enough to stand up and limp home he or she would insist that the healer accept some token of appreciation, anything from a few meager coins to a family heirloom weapon that the wounded character hopes the healer would put to good use (the healer could sell the weapon to a merchant)
I programmed a 'rabid grizzly' into my first game. The bear would be able to block or dodge any attack and would be able to wack attackers for something like 200 damage with each of two fore claws, effectively killing any player character stupid enough to attack it. But- if healed the bear would 'look at you with knowing eyes' and lead you to a log- knock the log out of the way and reveal a bag full of weapons and loot, including an enchanted Katana which would teach special moves to the one player who would take it to a priest/priestess or wizard/druid/whatever and have the weapon bonded to them. The weapon would periodically send messages to the player until they got the hint "You wake from a dream that you have taken your katana to a person who had it bonded to you and something wonderful happened."
-----More next time
-----------Jim
#4
There should be an option to turn off the music (which does interfere with game play, and in the case of on-line play, there are times when a split second's lag can mean the difference between life and death.)
I think there should be an options screen where the choices include "copy soundtrack music to portable mp3 player" and "No thanks, I'll listen to my own music."
& I've been thinking for years that music recorded by a drummer with a once a week radio program in an obscure community radio station in Bridgeport, CT (USA) in the wee hours of Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning- would be perfect for any game, and I'd like to see him get lots of acclaim and money from royalties.
I guess the ideal musical tracks would be two minutes or less per cut and a random reshuffling routine.... with maybe a rousing battle song that would start up when the battles begin and possibly some inspirational anthems when major quest items are discovered or quests are fulfilled.
-----Jim
02/21/2007 (4:49 am)
***Music OptionsThere should be an option to turn off the music (which does interfere with game play, and in the case of on-line play, there are times when a split second's lag can mean the difference between life and death.)
I think there should be an options screen where the choices include "copy soundtrack music to portable mp3 player" and "No thanks, I'll listen to my own music."
& I've been thinking for years that music recorded by a drummer with a once a week radio program in an obscure community radio station in Bridgeport, CT (USA) in the wee hours of Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning- would be perfect for any game, and I'd like to see him get lots of acclaim and money from royalties.
I guess the ideal musical tracks would be two minutes or less per cut and a random reshuffling routine.... with maybe a rousing battle song that would start up when the battles begin and possibly some inspirational anthems when major quest items are discovered or quests are fulfilled.
-----Jim
#5
Oh! and it would be great to get a clip of Melanie (from the 60's) singing:
"kind of get the feeling, we're not in Kansas no more-"
She's still around, looking healthy and operating on mySpace and in the real world out of Nashville, I do believe.
.....Jim
02/21/2007 (4:54 am)
*** Musical Note-Oh! and it would be great to get a clip of Melanie (from the 60's) singing:
"kind of get the feeling, we're not in Kansas no more-"
She's still around, looking healthy and operating on mySpace and in the real world out of Nashville, I do believe.
.....Jim
#6
before you get too hasdty a word to the wise, since you havnt got the engine yet, start of REALLY basic. As in do the tutorial. Once you've done that make some textures, play around with the world editor, edit a couple of small scripts etc.
If you start out aiming at the stars you'll soon find yourself so disorientated and stuck that you'll lose all hope.
02/21/2007 (7:41 am)
Well good luck to you. before you get too hasdty a word to the wise, since you havnt got the engine yet, start of REALLY basic. As in do the tutorial. Once you've done that make some textures, play around with the world editor, edit a couple of small scripts etc.
If you start out aiming at the stars you'll soon find yourself so disorientated and stuck that you'll lose all hope.
#7
Any and all advice and suggestions is/are greatly appreciated.
My first attempt at programming a text game was in applesoft basic. program limits were 32k. I could only put in 6 rooms after the routines to import a character rolled in another program, and adding one weapon skill (sharp) with references to a psi skill, plus I had a 'find and use herbs' skill and a healing skill. Then I learned to link programs so I could have the same skills, same levels and 6 more rooms.
So I think I can start out small.
:)
-----Jim
02/21/2007 (2:13 pm)
Thanks-Any and all advice and suggestions is/are greatly appreciated.
My first attempt at programming a text game was in applesoft basic. program limits were 32k. I could only put in 6 rooms after the routines to import a character rolled in another program, and adding one weapon skill (sharp) with references to a psi skill, plus I had a 'find and use herbs' skill and a healing skill. Then I learned to link programs so I could have the same skills, same levels and 6 more rooms.
So I think I can start out small.
:)
-----Jim
Torque Owner Gareth Hewes