Community Game Development Project

[AlexHW]

Community Game Development Project
November 18, 2005

________
Overview:
This is a project intending to loosely replicate the game development process.
As leader and coordinator of this project, I first shall be requesting an open
submission of basic game concepts which should consist of a simple sketch and
description.

Once a decent number of submissions are made, there will be a vote upon which
couple to develop or if a vote seems unlikely, then I will just pick a few or
something.
The ones who submitted them will have the chance to become the lead designer of
their game concept and flesh the design out and make sure their team understands
the vision of the game.

Those interested in doing art for a game shall submit some examples of their
work and I will decide which team they get placed on. I will also decide what
type of art they will be doing. For example: I could tell one person to do
background tiles, another person to do linework & animations, and another person
to color the linework.. or I can make just one person do all the art, haha! But
I will likely not do that.

Once all that is sorted out, I will give the designers instructions and the
initial development stages will be commenced to define the necessary assets for
the game. Once these are created and the designers have created necessary
concept art of the important things in the game, the artists must adhere to the
specifications and produce the game art.


______________________________________
Current objective
Game Concept Submissions & Artist Submissions:
First off, we'll need some ideas for a *PUZZLE* genre game(since that is the
genre we'll be focusing on). Those who wish to participate, or not, can submit a
conceptualized sketch of their game idea and a description for it.
Once an ideal handful are recieved, a couple will be chosen and if the submitter
doesnt want to be the designer, someone will replace them.
note: please say so if you will or will not be the designer(other people can
offer to be a designer for a dif project if their concept isnt chosen).

Example:

Description: This puzzle involves dropping predefined shapes constructed of cubes downwards onto other shapes. By stacking shapes onto others and filling in rows, the player recieves points. You can also see the next shape in the upper-right corner of the screen. This allows the player a chance to plan ahead for his next drop.

Also, those who wish to be an artist for one of the chosen concepts should post
a few examples of their work and once the final concepts are decided on, teams &
positions shall be organized.

_______
End Goal:
To produce the necessary assets to fullfil the creative processes/stages involved
with a small scale game development project.


Addition thoughts:
Since the genre is Puzzles, it wouldnt hurt to browse online for examples of
puzzle games if one has no initial ideas. By doing research, one can become
inspired upon a certain subject and develope new ways of seeing something.
One should also keep in mind of what could be popular and sell well, since if
these projects are finished, we could find some coders willing to put life into
them and perhaps some could be sold.
(if any game is sold, profit will be divided evenly among those involved).

Also keep in mind that becoming a part of a team brings certain responsibilities
to the individual, and anyone who is not pulling their weight will be removed
from the team and a new person will be seeked to replace them.

I look forward to leading the chosen teams to their victory.
Let the games begin

[crab2selout.png]

This is pretty cool idea, Alex. Don't really have anything at the moment to add to this topic, so I'll post a couple examples of fun puzzlegames that I liked.

http://logicmazes.com/
Couples examples of mazes, but the real interesting puzzle I found was 'Theseus and the Minotaurs'. The point of it is to escape a maze, but the trick here is that the minotaur travels twice as far as you do, so you must take advantage of the priorities of his walking algorithm to escape past him to the exit.

Bejewled http://www.astatix.com/bejewled.php
Desciption on the page there

http://oos.moxiecode.com/#Examples
Outside of Society: The author of this website likes posting little flash apps of puzzle ideas he liked. Look for the puzzles mixed in with some other stuff on the left column. Sometimes there will be a little description of the puzzle included and often the name of the puzzle these flash apps are based on is used. I really liked the Denki blocks one.

And of course the classics such as Tetris, and um, others.

Can anyone tell me the name of this puzzle game? You control a cannon at the bottom and it shoots coloured bubbles. At the top, rows of different coloured bubbles are added every x amount of seconds. The point is to shoot the bubbles so that they connect to bubbles of the same colours. Three or more and it pops. Also, if any balloons have no link to the ceiling they pop as well.

[flaber]

Also, those who wish to be an artist for one of the chosen concepts should post
a few examples of their work and once the final concepts are decided on, teams &
positions shall be organized.

do i say I want to be an artist for one of them now??
or should i decide on that later once the ideas are posted?

[AlexHW]

do i say I want to be an artist for one of them now??
or should i decide on that later once the ideas are posted?

You can post some examples of your work(about 3 is good) anytime. By doing so, I will know that you are willing to become part of a team to create art assets once projects are chosen.

[Xion]

Finally! Hold on while I brainstorm.

Edit: A mockup is in the works

[Skalle]

Yo there Alex. It seems you haven't mentioned anything about programming, and I think you know as well as I do these games won't make themselves. Are you the programmer, lead programmer, neither, or whatever? Might be good to know things about that. Might want to know about music, debugging too etc.

Those interested in doing art for a game shall submit some examples of their
work and I will decide which team they get placed on. I will also decide what
type of art they will be doing. For example: I could tell one person to do
background tiles, another person to do linework & animations, and another person
to color the linework.. or I can make just one person do all the art, haha! But
I will likely not do that.

These I's seem to say that you are the man when it comes to decisions, though there are some things here I don't agree with completely. I think those who wish to participate should be able to apply for certain positions, like tileartist, AI programmer or sfx creator (or random for that matter, if they want to). The thing about you making one person do all the art seems stupid:(although you probably said it as a joke) there should be any number of artists I think, as long as they are not to many making it too messy.

Can anyone tell me the name of this puzzle game? You control a cannon at the bottom and it shoots coloured bubbles. At the top, rows of different coloured bubbles are added every x amount of seconds. The point is to shoot the bubbles so that they connect to bubbles of the same colours. Three or more and it pops. Also, if any balloons have no link to the ceiling they pop as well.

I think you're looking for the name "Bust a move". I was going to suggest this game too. There's also another version of the game I like, called FrozenBubble.

[AlexHW]

At this point we do not need programmers, the majority of the work will be focused upon the visual and conceptual stages.
Once we surpass those stages and teams have a solid product to display, if possible, coders could be seeked out to construct a working program from the assets produced by the team. Those who work with sound can be seeked out as well.
From there, we can question how the games can be shared, whether there are any good ways to go abouts selling it if need be.

People are allowed to voice there interests in regards to a specific position, but that doesn't garuantee them it. I will be the one choosing like you said. Teams will be small, I'm thinking a maximum of 3 artists per team, but most likely there will be only 2 per team.

[Conzeit]

Alex, what a great comunity activity, hopefully this catches on.

arent we forgetting about nyanyakoneko? he offers to make programmer-art games in his campaign, I'm sure he'd have no problem colaborating with this activity.

what I dont understand is, why a puzzle game in a art-based board? it makes no sense, puzzle games would seem like the typical project programmer only project, why have one of those here? seems like it would be much better to start off with a sidescroller, an adventure...hell even RPG or RTS.

[AlexHW]

Thanks Camus,
I encourage people to be creative, but my intention is to be somewhat restrictive and minimal. By focusing upon the puzzle genre, I feel we can still maintain the creative aspect without being too excessive in regards to ideas and art. It is when things become bloated that issues may arrise such as people slacking or people being complexed over extra things.
By keeping things small and simple, it hopefully will allow us to make good progress and finish things. None of these projects will be huge, it's not worth trying to make a large game with this type of system where a team is put together on the fly. Normally you'd want to build your team first.

[Derek_R]

Sounds liek a great idea Alex. I'd pitch in, but im out of time atm, and don't really think im up to any of the positions other than coder xD. Hope this all works out! Maybe if theres another later ill join up .

good luck guys

[Xion]

Aye, a Tiny mock.
This is the "incoming" area, where the next group of recruits is previewed.
This is the player's (P1) "gathering" screen. Here, Small soldiers (the colors will be replaced with sprites) march down from the top of the screen, controlled with the classic WASD format, plus another, yet to be defined button, which, for now, we'll call "button H." Similar to a falling blocks puzzle game (More specifically the Puyo Pop series) the soldiers will march downward from the "Incoming" area and pile up here. As they pile up, they will be able to join forces with adjacent fellows to form different weapons, like get four bazooka men into a square to create a tank, or eight infantrymen to create a transport. Of course, "A" would move the blocks of soldiers Left, "D" would move them right, and "S" would make them fall faster. "W" would rotate them, but rather than rotating as a whole, they will just shift clockwise. Button H would stop the blocks from moving downward as a whole. When the soldiers pile up to the top of the screen, the game is not over! Nay, any units within the right half of the gathering screen will move onward to the "Battlefield" screen. The rest of the units just continue to march downward.
this is the battlescreen, where units from both sides collide and duke it out. After each round, lines will be drawn to show the advancement of each side, the first player to have his/her line reach the enemy's Gathering screen wins.
This is the GUI, showing things like score, and stuff.
This is a piece of Player 2's (or the computer's) gathering screen.

[Skalle]

Wow Xion, that is really a nice idea. I don't understand completely the way they would make weapons, and strategies how to win, but still it seems cool. Battle in a puzzle game.

Alex: I still think you're a little easy on the parts of the game(s) other than art. A game with more than 1 person making it will surely be lots easier if you plan every aspect of the game in time. Also deadlines are good.

Camus vs Puzzle-idea: I think there are pros and cons to both sides. Camus mentioning the cons, here are some pros: A puzzle game won't be a very big game to make when comparing to some other genres. Also, making a puzzlegame that is more restricted in it's ways, can make people think more, and put detail into small... details? I.e. a platform game or RPG often has a basic set pattern: Walk from left to right with the hero, avoid obstacles and shoot with a gun or swing sword. Fight the enemies and the big boss at the end of the level. Save the world by defeating the last boss.

Maybe all games aren't like that example, but I hopw you understand what I'm getting at.

[Xion]

Heh, I've got a ton of 'em. The whole idea was slightly inspired by Siege, but I can come up with a more original one if you like... I agree with skalle in that most platformers are identical when it comes to objectives and gameplay, but The Lost Vikings was sort of a mix between platforming and puzzle. We could do something like creating a new hybrid of game by mixing, for example, Gradius with Boulderdash, or Donkey Kong JR. with a mech game. Mix a Shoot 'em up with a Beat 'em up? A single genre in itself is a bit restricting, but when you combine two or more, originality might actually be feasible.

Ooh, ooh! I just got another Idea: Tetris + lemmings. Little lemming-like critters run around and you have to place tetris blocks without crushing them so that a certain # can reach a goal height. Or better yet, crush as many as you can to keep them from climbing the walls to the top while simultaneously keeping your blocks from reaching the top...

[Krizmo]

These are some good ideas, and a really good overall idea Alex!

I would put my services forward as a programmer (although I am not very skilled, I am learning), and wanted to know if there is a set programming language that you want the programmers to use, ie. Java, C++

[Akira]

I'm loving the tetris + lemmings idea xion. Two of my favourite games together at last!

[Dogmeat]

ISOMETRIS

http://www.mindcrank.com/isometris.html <-- unfinished buggy flash version of concept

Ok, so this was a concept I came up with when I used to work for a game company. Seeing as I'm having trouble finding work and I don't think I'll be presenting this to any other companies I've decided to donate it to this challenge. I lost the original concept document, so I'll just briefly describe how the game is intended to work:

The gray area on the gameboard is where all your pieces accumulate, they get "pumped" out from that red opening on the side, at differentiating speeds depending on what level you're at. The pieces move out from the left towards the right, then up and to the left, like a snake. You move your "indicator" around from side to side to select whatever the foremost piece is, and press a key to launch it straight forward.

The brown area on the board is where all of your pieces accumulate, the idea is to try and make the patterns that are displayed in the top right corner using solid colors to forum them. every time you complete one you get points and it changes, these are bonuses.

Ways to score points

The most simple way to score points is to combine 3 blocks, horiz, vert or diag, you can also make combos of 4, 5, 6, etc.. THe pattern display at the top right helps you think of cool combos to try and aim for, although some of them may fill up your game board.

Lets say you create an X and free up some blank area, if you shoot a block at another block and theres room behind it, it will move back to hit the closest block.

The more points you get, the higher level you go, the faster the blocks come out, etc..

Later on in the game, say level 25 or something, I was thinking new boards could have holes in them and such, where blocks will fall down to another board, or maybe ramps to launch blocks on top of other blocks so you can create 3d combos as well, but those are just random ideas off the top of my head. Maybe one level you have to build a staircase to another board, and work 2 boards at a time or something.

This is just the basic premise of this game.

[Skalle]

So, it's been almost a week since the last post here. Alex, are you still willing to continue this project? From this post and other posts on pixelopolis I think many posters are eager to participate in some community game making. We already have some ideas posted here and you might want to continue the progress for these ideas to become actual games. As you posted about this here idea of game community project(s) and decided to become a supervisor here, I think you might want to take the responsibility to keep this project floating over the surface, since nothing really has happened here this week. What are you waiting for, really?

[AlexHW]

I only see 2 concepts submitted..
we need more.

[Skalle]

For example: I could tell one person to do background tiles, another person to do linework & animations, and another person to color the linework.. or I can make just one person do all the art, haha! But I will likely not do that.

That would mean that these game projects would have at least 2 or 3 members each, for the art. If you only want one project at a time, then pick any of the two concepts, since nothing new has come in a week. If you allow more than one project at a time, then you already have two. Really, I don't see why more than two concepts would be needed. These two concepts both seem good enough to be games. I think it is a good idea to use these two concepts to start small. If the projects work out fine and more people want to participate, then more projects might be a good idea. Why is 2 not enough to start with?

[AlexHW]

Because two is two, and I specified for a decent number so that we could vote on it.
I could specify a date to have concepts submitted by, because perhaps some people could still be thinking of submitting one.
If thats the case, i would suggest getting in your entries by next week.

[Dogmeat]

i have tons of cool puzzle concepts, I have a microbacteria puzzle one that I may put up here in a day or 2 if nobody else submits anything.

[crab2selout.png]

Post 'em Dog. I can't say I speak for anyone here, but I'm finding it pretty difficult coming up with a concept for a puzzle game. I'm not even sure where to start, really.

[Xion]

Dig Dug meets Tetris Attack meets Bauns.

You are a small, ground-dwelling creature (A dog!?) who must make it to the surface in time for the Woodland Creatures' Annual Party, the greatest day of the year when all woodland critters get together into a massive mosh pit and get stoned and drunk and generally enjoy themselves in the most immoral ways while listening to superfast death metal and D&B techno and Yani. Anyway, you overslept and now you need to hurry to the surface through tons of colorful blocks. To do this you must dig through the colorful blocks and use your mighty claws to push them around. Anyway, the gameplay:

You move your guy around with the [WASD] or cursor keys, digging through the dirt in a manner reminiscient of Dig Dug. Unfortunately, you only get a certain amount of steps, and if the steps run out, you're a deadman. To replenish your steps, you must move the colorful dirtblocks around by pressing [space] or [J]. This will allow you to swap any two blocks adjacent to your character (including diagonals). Once you have a large grouping of like colors, you can use your hammer ([K]) to eliminate all of the adjacent blocks. The more blocks you get rid of at once, the higher your score and more steps you recieve. Along the way, you'll be able to get powerups such as bombs(eliminate all blocks of a color or a large area around your character), boots (unlimited steps for a limited amount of time), a clock (time bonus), and the graviton ub3rnator (causes all blocks to fall, filling up empty spaces and eliminating the ones that touch). The little map to the side shows how far up you have progressed.

Just an Idea I quickly threw together to show how seemingly unrelated genres can be combined. (also because not many other people are replying to this awesome activity.)

[dtek]

Hey what's up?
I thought I'd give my pixel art portfolio a shot of espresso, and offer to help with the temple/block building animation from all 4 isometric angles of ancient construction workers for the following idea(read on for explanation), kind of a crazy block building strategy game...

for level one, the player has to make "ramps" and "supports" to finish the temple properly. I guess the rules dictate you have to have a one small block maximum vertical distance to drag the big pieces on top, and proper supports for the "wall" blocks.

Peace

[Conzeit]

I'm sorry I've turned in no help Alex, I really dont have ideas for puzzle games, I've never got into one...

In my last post what I said about "artist boards" really reflected more of how I feel....I kinda feel alienated by the theme, I really dont know what makes a puzzler tick.

I still stand by what I said, to ask for puzzle ideas in an artist board....well, let's just say I dont think you'll get much feedback, I think you should put more yourself in this phase, and just wait for artistic implementation phases to really expect comunity feedback to be the driving force.

I do have some thoughts on how to improve some of the ideas posted though, but since you mentioned polls I guess we should wait for a diferent phase for that.

I just had an idea...at an artist board we may not be able to come up with a puzzler out of the blue, but I find it's always easier to say what NOT to do, than to propose something....so maybe we should make decisions about the game slowly, start by asking general design questions, then narrow it down to specifics as the activity advances, that way no one really has to create a big idea, but we can advance a little faster.

[AlexHW]

Since voteing is underway, I'd say now is a good time for those who would like to create the pixel-art for a game, to make themselves known by posting a few samples of their work.