AuthorTopic: A request for any willing artist(s)!  (Read 5320 times)

Offline Overkill

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A request for any willing artist(s)!

on: September 20, 2005, 09:02:27 pm
Darien did some excellent sprites for me, but he regrets that college is consuming most of his time and so he claims he is not very reliable anymore. This sadly, has forced me to look for some new, willing artist(s). I want to continue my game project, but lack the art to make this ever meet completion, hence why I am inquiring here.

What kind of game you ask? It's a sidescroller, still untitled, which will be created for fun and not money. That doesn't tell you much, does it? So, I'll paste both my introductary story and WIP design doc, which will tell you much more.

If, after reading the following you would like to help, and feel confident in your art skills, please contact me. Email me, reply to this thread, contact me via my AIM account (Minimum Overkill), or join #makegamesteam on irc://irc.esper.net/ Any of these methods will work. Thank you.

Story Snippet:


Lynn Parkins, an alluring young lady with naturally green hair, had done something terrible. She engaged in a heated argument with Rachel Acker, one of her best friends. At the peak of her anger, Lynn destroyed a very important memento that belonged to her friend... An autographed impossible-to-find music album that was Rachel's favorite. Upon seeing the keepsake demolished, Lynn's best friend, went berserk and swiftly fled into the horizon at a speed faster than Lynn could run.

Rachel was normally a calm, shy redhead, but seeing her almost-one-of-a-kind disc shattered into shards all had changed. In the short flashback of Rachel's reaction, Lynn saw as her face became nearly as crimson as her hair. Breaking that disc broke a long-lasting friendship, and also broke Lynn's good luck that lasted up until that argument.

Lynn felt extreme remorse. In addition, she felt as if she was cursed and that a cold fate would be looming ahead. Just how important was that album she destroyed, and how will she be able to be at peace with her friend again, or fate? These are questions that Lynn would now urgently seek to answer.

Well, she would try, but then again, there were more urgent things like groceries on her mind first. So Lynn decided to grab her grocery list from earlier. It read:

   Milk, two percent
   Two dozen eggs
   Ketchup, the good kind
   Cabbage
   Carrots
   Onions

After what had just happened, this menially small list seemed much larger. Lynn wasn't one to give up though, and decided she'd head to the grocery store anyway. It felt a far cry from an ordinary day, so she decided to be extra cautious, for she knew something bad would await her from the second she stepped out the door and on. Lynn creeped out of the house, locking the door behind her and bracing herself for what was to come ahead.

As Lynn progressed down the sidewalk of her slummy town she encountered Tobias, the lonely, homely and only remaining pirate. Well, this here pirate had a pint or three o' grog too many, and as he stumbled across the path, he put on the most vicious, opposing face possible for a man with alcohol-induced myopia. For some reason unbeknownst to Lynn, other than being highly intoxicated, the drunken Tobias ordered her to "walk the plank". When Lynn opposed, obviously seeing no plank, the peg-legged aggressor drew his cutlass and threatened to "plank her". She wasted no time in quickly punching the pirate in the teeth and watching as he collapsed on the nearby grass.


Design Doc:


PLATFORMER - A game in need of a name.
The Design Doc
by Overkill

Our story focuses on the adventures of a young lady named Lynn Parkins, who sabotages the treasured keepsake of her best friend Rachel Acker... Lynn destroys an almost-impossible-to-find autographed music album all over a petty argument. Because of this rash action, Rachel runs far away at berserk speed. Lynn's luck has run out, and now she has to mend things back together with fortune against her.

From this, Lynn encounters many adversaries that she must do battle with. This game is set in more-or-less present day, in a small, somewhat secluded town and its nearby surroundings. If something could sum up a bit of this game, "Everyday life is an adventure" might be just it.

A lot of the game will involve such action as fighting off enemies, and having to traverse challenging gaps to say the least. Exploration will have its role to play, as returning to certain areas as you progress will yield new things to be discovered that weren't possible before.

The information that follows will hopefully explain everything in better detail.

Basic Controls:
Left/Right   Move
Down      Duck
Z      Attack / Talk / Confirm / Throw
Z + Up      Special A / Throw Up
Z + Down   Special B / Throw Down (when in mid-air)
X      Run / Cancel
C      Weapon Quickmenu
Space      Jump
Esc      Menu

Some (but not all) of the controls can be customized.

Weapon Quickmenu:
While the player holds the C key, the Weapon Quickmenu appears. The player cannot move while holding this button. The arrow keys let the player select what weapon they want. Letting go of the C key gives the player movement control again. If something bad is coming for you, let go, evade, then hold the button again when it's safe. You'll still be able to also switch weapons via the normal menu, so this might not be as useful as thought. Of course, this is just an idea, we may decide to change it later.


Weapons:
The following are the arsenal that Lynn has at her disposal.

Bare Hand   The basic of basics for attacks.
Special A   Upper-cut attack. If used in the air, you can do an extra jump.
Special B   Pick up objects from off the ground. (No meter is consumed.)

Pike      A weapon best used for extended range.
Special A   Throws the pike. Can hit and pin multiple enemies to walls.
Special B   Do a swift forward rolling attack.

Shuriken   A throwing weapon employed by ninjas. This one can boomerang.
Special A   Causes the shuriken to be thrown up and caught from behind.
Special B   Does a melee thrust with an extra large ninja star.

Ether      A magical wave that can stun, and even kill some targets it hits.
Special A   A pseudo-magnetic field that draws most nearby things, even its
      creator towards it. Does not deal damage, but can be used
      cleverly to draw enemies or objects into a desired spot.
      The field can be resisted when the subject has tolerance to
      ethereal magic.
Special B   A shield that can reflect some, but not all, projectiles.

Cutlass      A sword! Every game needs one! This particular one belonged to a
      pirate.
Special A   Does an backflip.
Special B   Holding this charges your attack, and letting go does a damaging
      swing.

Gust      Pushes victims away with a heavy breeze. If used against a wall,
      you can wall jump. If enemies hit obstacles, they may suffer
      minor damage.
Special A   A massive wind attempts to throw all enemies off screen.
Special B   On land: Sends the player rocketing up an shielding whirlwind.
      In air: Sends the player rocketing downwards.


Objects:
The following are items that Lynn can pick up when bare handed. Probably needs more.

Bottle      Smashes in shards when hit or thrown.
Can      Hard metal containers that bounce when thrown hard.
Rock      Come in various sizes, can basically bounce and damage things.
Box      Large carboard containers that can trap people if thrown over them.


Special Items:
These are important items that will come in handy in particular locations.

Luminaire   A stone that's visible even in engulfing darkness. Minutely
      useful for finding one's way around the Underground Cavern.
      Coincidentally, it's found in the entryway of the caverns.
      Give this to a young kid to learn ethereal magic.
Valkyrie Wing   Allows the player to lighten the effects of gravity. However, it
      also consumes your special meter as long as you wear it.
Echolocator   Emits ultrasonic wave pulses in order to allow sight in blinding
      areas. It forms white areas around the outermost edges of solid
      objects. However, these outlines will start fade away until the
      next pulse hits it.

Vehicles:
Yes... that's right, vehicles.

Shopping Cart   Found in your local grocery store. If you push them long enough,
      you will accelerate and be able to ride inside the cart. However,
      riding in the cart can hurt you if you run into obstacles. If you
      encounter barriers, jump out of the cart to avoid damage. It will
      also crush foes that stand in its way. Lighter foes are            obliterated, but heavier ones might just get damaged and end up
      flipping the cart.
Raft      Allows you paddle across the sea. The raft however doesn't
      stand much chance against things that damage it. The player can't
      swim well in the ocean for long, so losing your raft could be
      fatal if sunken in the middle of the sea.

Locations:
Yes, I'm aware these locations still need names. But this is just a start.

Town:
Lynn lives here in a rental house with her best friend, Rachel. The town's predominant features are its harbour, small shops, and its large grocery store. To the east of the town is a rather huge corporate building which blocks out a fair bit of travel from the town to its underground counterpart, as well as other cities further east.

Harbour:
Part of the town, where fishermen and sailors like to hang out. Lynn's rental house very close to the harbour, offering a nice view and refreshing breeze. The pub is also on the harbour. Occasionally, pirate folk cause havoc in this area but nothing major has come about... yet.

Grocery store:
This place is a large store that's a part of a long established retail chain. It has made economy for the other local commerce considerably more difficult. A ton of varieties of useful things are imported from all over. Recently, the threat of ninja hordes has made shopping more difficult. There are also senile old ladies who carry many stray kittens in their shopping carts.

Corporate Building:
A large invasive company from a foreign land decided to build a gargantuan skyscraper in the middle of the the town's road path. The locals tried to presuade the company to relocate, but no negotations could be made. The locals lost the fight. This company also doesn't look too friendly on people intruding their private property, making things that much more chaotic. Anyone who wishes to explore the east, must make it past this massive roadblock. To make it through, one has to either sneak their way through or beat the crap out of everything in sight. Failure to do these results in death. There are many security guards, alarms and traps that Lynn will need to watch out for. Lynn has tried to avoid going here as much as possible, but it seems inevitable she'll have to pass through on her adventure.

In the basement floors of this building, a western path leads to the underground cavern town. Even lower, is a stairway that leads to the eastern forest.

Forest:
A heavily vegetated area that lies to the east of the looming corporate building. Because of the shade that the skyscraper creates, the plants have had to compete for sunlight, resulting in some... oddities to grow and thrive. Sentient plant creatures have become the top carnivore of their area, devouring lesser creatures in hopes of gaining their thoughts. If one were to survive their journey through the forest, they would encounter an elevated mountain peak to the east.

Mountain:
An elevated mountain peak that is located higher than the corporate skyscraper. Jumping down from here is possible, but certainly isn't smart. If someone was crazy enough to jump off, and was somehow really lucky, they might find a large crevice in the mountainside which holds rare treasure.

Underground Cavern:
A dark, unlit cave which harbours bats and lurking creatures. It also is home to humans with impecable dark vision, and horrible tolerance to light. It is so dark in this cave, that it will envelop all light sources. Torches prove to be ineffective, and only end up hurting the one using them, for they're unable to see the torch flame when it comes in close contact with them. If one wishes to enter, they will no doubt need to be able to manipulate sort of other sight, like Echolocator vision.

The Sea:
The player can use a raft to travel across the sea. Dangerous aquatic life, and pirates terrorize these salty waters. Lynn can't swim well in the deep ocean water, but can dive in some shallower spots to retrieve and locate things.

Tobias's Fleet:
Later on in the game, Tobias wants revenge, and sends several pirate ships to pursue you. You have to jump boat to boat, fighting off swarthy peg-legged adversaries and evading cannon fire.


Enemies:
The lowly adversaries of platfomer-that-needs-a-name's world.

Ninja      Trained in the deadly art of assassination. Ninjas tend to jump
      and run around a lot, and with good reason, since their health is
      quite low. Attacks include karate kicks, and shuriken throwing.
      Found in the grocery store.
Peglegger   A pirate with a wooden prosthesis for a leg. They attempt to hop
      on foes heads, because wooden objects hurt.
Claw Pirate   A pirate with a hook arm. This one likes to grapple people and
      then smash them with his rapier.
Captain      Commandeers a ship, with a skull-boned hat. A parrot usually
      follows him.
Parrot      This bird doesn't annoyingly repeat things. It instead likes
      to divebomb opposition and peck their eyes out.
Fat Guard   A security guard that could stand to lose a few. Guards the
      Corporate Building. Carries a limited amount of rounds in his
      pistol, and if all else fails, he'll sit on foes.
Cat Lady   A senile lady who strolls around the grocery store with stray
      kittens in her cart. Feeling generous she throws felines at
      passersby.
Stray Kitty   This cat didn't like being caged up in that shopping cart.
      They charge into anyone who stands in their way and disappear
      off screen.
Tangler      A plant that blends in well with the forests in order to deceive
      its prey. However, it's camoflauge is ruined when it decides to
      walk over to a victim and entwines them.
Wolf      It lives in the mountain and forest. Bites and pounces foes.



Bosses:
The evil bosses of platfomer-that-needs-a-name's world.

Tobias      A pirate. An overtly impaired pirate. Despite being completely
      plastered, this person still poses a threat to Lynn. His attacks
      include throwing damaging rum bottles, and swinging with his
      cutlass. He is the first, and possibly weakest boss. This
      pirate's actually a distinguished captain, but when drunk he's
      a big wuss.
Tornadomancer   An annoying guy who likes to abuse his gift of Gust magic.
      The player has to quickly use Ether waves to stun him and then
      lay a beatdown. If they fail to stun this guy, he'll send them
      flying through the air. Defeating him grants you use of the
      Gust attacks.

Wow, you've reached the end, good work. If you've become interesting in helping with the artistic aspects, please by all means contact me. Thank you.

Offline Evan

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Re: A request for any willing artist(s)!

Reply #1 on: September 21, 2005, 02:32:22 am
This seems like a brilliant idea, and I applaud your effort of making a very detailed design document.

I would love to help, although I'm not sure I'd be capable of doing all those sprites.

I could, however, help with other aspects of the game. I could offer some programming help if needed, or maybe musical talent. I'm alright at making music, and if you'd like some samples, just PM me or reply here, and I'd be happy to post some that I've made.

Once again, great post, but too complicated for me to pixel.

Offline Darien

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Re: A request for any willing artist(s)!

Reply #2 on: September 22, 2005, 11:25:40 pm
Also, if anyone does decide to join this project (which I hope happens), don't think that my sprites have to be untouched (or used, if that is simply easier).  I am aware I am not the best animator or spriter, so and edits that the new artist would deem necessary would be completely fine.

Offline Overkill

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Re: A request for any willing artist(s)!

Reply #3 on: September 29, 2005, 07:57:32 pm
Evan: Thanks for your feedback. I also thank you for wanting to help out in something outside of artwork. However, I'm doing a good, steady job at the code by myself and in the music department, I've got Troupe Gammage (Artist of the Month at CTG Music) on my side. Though don't take it that I don't appreciate the offer though, you're actually the only one who's been willing to help so far.

Please, Pixelopolis, I need a moderately skilled artist who is willing work on this free project just for fun. I'd be glad if people even just contributed some of the art mentioned, and I'd give them credit for their art if it was used. I'm still looking, and if you're reading this, hopefully you'll respond.

...Am I doing something wrong in trying to recruit artists? ;__;.

Offline Crazy Asian Gamer

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Re: A request for any willing artist(s)!

Reply #4 on: October 03, 2005, 01:22:47 am
I think it's correct how you're recruiting artists.
...
[yells]HEY GUYZ! I HAVE NO TIME, BUT IF YOU HAVE SOM FREE TIME, LIKE, HELP THIZ DUUD RITE HERE!![/yells]

Offline Overkill

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Re: A request for any willing artist(s)!

Reply #5 on: October 30, 2005, 11:17:01 pm
I've still been looking for an artist for this project. Less actively, but I still haven't given up. Here's a link to a simple tech demo I made a while back. Despite that saying "August Compo" in the URL, was done in October actually. I might add, I made that map in a hour to demonstrate some minor abilities of the engine so far. http://ovk.actionsketch.com/1hrcompo/Sunday%20August%202005%20Compo%202/Overkill%20-%20My%20Two%20Bits.rar

Z is to attack, X is run (although it isn't very proper, since the animation is still the same speed), Space is to jump. Spikes kill you in one hit for now, but they probably will just do damage later. This map is in no way related to any actual map proposed in the game ideas. It's black and white because I made the map in an hour for and submitted for a competition. Some of the animations are messed up for Lynn right now, but they've been fixed since then. Hopefully this might encourage people a little more to want to do some work for me and not look at me like I'm a hopeless dreamer type.