Powerful Domain of The Chickenmen: Revival?
Hi again everyone!
So, my pony fangame idea has flubbed again (partly because the movie appended the MLP canon in such a way that I would have to redo my storyline from scratch), and I think it's time for me to start making something else.
I want to make an ancient-era, medieval or fantasy strategy game without any combat, kinda similar to Banished but with 2d retro graphics.
But since I have a track record of falied project after failed project, I want to hear you people about if you think this game idea can even be achieved by a single person in a reasonable amount of time (e.g. not more than a year or two) AND if you have any experience with producing games of this genre or any tips regarding the design. Perhaps you could even redirect me to some OGA assets that would be useful for such a game, and I would be grateful.
I tend to stumble over design and art quality problems the most often, with the programming and sound I usually am able to figure things out. I don't care about the game's popularity or income, but I really do care about having a quality and well thought out concept once in a while.
Hopefully this rambly post makes sense. If not, feel free to ask about anything!
But keep in mind, I'm not trying to recruit people. I'm merely looking for tips on how to plan and structure my own project. Of course if you're happening to be sitting with a similar idea to mine, we could maybe collaborate, but I would wish to do most of the work and in general I was not trying to make a recruitment thread.
~Kir/Spring
The best thing to do is get the core game up and running first; programming your core engine to the specifications of your game type, for example, focusing on creating a base outline for your story, using placeholders for music and graphics if needed so you can get a generic "feel" of how you want your game to look. Also, hold off on minor characters until your main game's characters are in place. Focus mainly on putting the Core itself together: Building the strategy system, the inventory and menu systems, etc. Those are the core components I'm talking about.
Once you have the base game laid out and complete, you can go back through and change the placeholders to something more original as well as adding all the non-essential NPCs or characters, if any. The name of the game is reducing your focus to one or two things at a time so that you don't burn out, especially if you are only a 1-2 person team. I will admit that burn out was the reason why so many of my earlier projects never saw the light of day.
I hope this helps at least somewhat.
Well it does, I appreciate all the replies I get ^-^ if they're not trolly of course :P
Though this is probably more a strategy RPG you're thinking of, I was thinking something more like just your generic city-builder.
But tbh a lot of times, I don't really care that much about the game itself compared to the soundtrack, and I really wanna do medieval music right now, maybe even record my own tin flute playing.
There are of course the people making mock game soundtrack albums....
It shouldn't be too much then. Again, I would focus on the building mechanic, and if it's like Sim City or something, then you will want to focus on the time it takes the building to complete, when it can be upgraded, the money system and how expensive things to build are, what natural disasters or invasions are going to do to destroy things, how much health a building has for that purpose, etc.
Or, if it's like one of those, "Put the buildings in order to maximize your highway/city" sort of games, then it would be the sequence in what buildings should be built and when, what other buildings they upgrade by building them, and what buildings affect max population, etc.
In other words, focus on the mechanics itself, then beautify it when it's all said and done.
Well I guess it could be like Sim City in a way....
Though my main inspirations game play wise were Banished, The Settlers I and IV, and ANNO 1602
Just a thought, but if your main desire is to make the music, want not make a game where the music is more central to the experience? Like a dancing prancing knights game or something?
I don't want to discourage you, but I do think any kind of city/empire building game would be difficult to create in the time frame you suggest. At least for me personally anyway. I'd also add that it seems like a large commitement if your main interest is in composing music for the game.
I suppose even if you kept the same genre you could still work out a way to make it more directly about the music. Something where you control the towns people only indirectly by choosing what music to play. Fast driving music makes them work hard, slow jams make them procreate, etc. Part of the challenge would be recruiting new bards to come to town which would bring new song/instrument options with them. Well something like that anyway.
I guess my overall advice would be, if you really are mainly interested in making the music, then I'd try to make the game about the music. Otherwise, you're going to spend alot of time making the game and not much time doing the thing you want, making the music.
Well your idea about a music based town builder actually sounds very interesting indeed! Something where the town grows according to what song you're listening to. Kinda like cookie clicker but instead of clicking you select music.
Though I have no idea how that would be impremented techically :P
Maybe I'll ask Ninja Dog if he/she needs a composer actually, I know he/she's making a game like this.
Im with cougarmint on this....
dont overly worry about the graphics until the game is up and running in some way at least a few levels anyway...
then you will have a good feel for the direction the game is taking you in...
and isometric projection rather than 2d art is going to look better for the type of game you are explaining to us.
and remember there is a ton of great art out there at reasonable prices
take a look at this page
https://graphicriver.net/category/game-assets?_ga=2.218523993.1780146919...
in particular the Isometric Map Icons bundle that has some great isometry for only nine bucks....
good luck...
Thanks, but I definitely don't want to use any of those assets, if anything I would make them myself or have them commissioned for me, not buy them from a generic site.
Yes but your missing the point they could be just temporary to get you started.....
Your game idea seems similiar to the game i am currently trying to build, my game is heavly based on settlers online, thanks for your message i have replyed.
Best Regards
Ninja Dog
I think its possible but better plan 3-4 years instead of 1-2 atleast if you want to make it proper.
I am doing something that has similaritys in the core to what you want to do with unity3d.
The script for it has now the linecount of a regular book and i still think it might take half a year or more to release.
I don't really feel the need to make it very proper to be honest. (depends on what you mean by "proper")
It definitely shouldn't be a very long game.
I mean commercially proper like a game that can keep up with lets say the recent Anno games so it has a real gravity to play it. Without that ofcourse 1-3 years might be fine too.
Oh, it's not gonna be that ambitious by any means, more like the first anno game. :)
I suggest you a different approach.
If you make the game just for fun and you dont need to finish it for any important reason like lets say make money, then you should just start and look how far you get.
Yeah, that's what I usually just end up doing. But I never end up with a very high quality product, but as you say maybe that doesn't matter.
"But I never end up with a very high quality product" Yeah thats why i asked how proper you want to make it. When you finish something they say you need as much time to polish your game as you needed to program the basic stuff.
Maybe if you are going for a high quality product and want to get it quickly you should think about revisiting something you made already. If you want a suggestion i can look at what you made already.
It doesn't need to be high quality enough to sell or anything. And yeah I have a lot of unfinished projects sitting around actually.
If you like name some, best of the nearly finished i think i can find the ones with most potential to be good.
For the quality even if you dont want to sell it but just want to have people play it or play it yourself for that it still needs to be good enough to stand out a little ;)
I don't really care about popularity either, to be honest :P
I just want some way of telling a story and bringing my universes to life, that's all.
Then i think it would be okay if you cannot finish it too ;)
I guess so. That's what always happens anyway, pretty much.
my ears are open to story lines i still thinking bout it
in my game your a ninja just found a friendly habitat, Lord Duncan 47th is a guide npc
Ninja Dog
This is my original story which I wrote about 4 years ago, it's supposed to take place in a post apocalyptic world where society has become medieval again. And there are monsters and stuff.
It's pretty cringy, but I really like it for some reason:
In 1945, the worst crisis known yet to humanity happened.
Japan, desperate to end The Second World War after being hit by more than 18 atomic bombs, devised the ultimate plan for victory. Drawing on the arcane powers of the Kami, they created a race of sea creatures, in the shape of common fish and crustaceans, but with enough power to destroy 7 conventional infantry brigades or an aircraft carrier each. They dubbed them the 'Gyokaijuu', meaning 'seafood monsters'. In the end, they were far too powerful for the japanese monks who had created them to control them, and the necessary fight to put them down again forced the Axis and the Allies to cooperate, lest they would both be destroyed. Still, it was not until the year 1957, following 12 years of unimaginable horrors, that the Gyokaijuu were finally defeated.
In 1985, the worst crisis known yet to humanity happened.
The Gyokaijuu were awoken once again. It started as a feud between internationally renowned German seafood chef Oleleoelo Ibbobiob and the Pakistani kebab vendor Swindler, whose greed for equal fame and glory lead him to the mad scientist 'Dr. Lyn'. 'Dr. Lyn', who was himself an early Gyokaijuu experiment that had managed to survive the war, had knowledge of the technology necessary to resurrect them, and promised Swindler to do so, for an unknown price. Swindler instantly saw an opportunity to become the most powerful man on Earth and pleaded 'Dr. Lyn' to resurrect them, promising him half the world. He agreed and embedded Swindler with the power to control the Gyokaijuu. A large fight commenced. Swindler went directly for Oleleoelo Ibbobiob first. The two fought for a long time. Gradually police forces and the military were called in. In the end, Oleleoelo fled, and Swindler went on a massive world conquest spree with a huge army of Gyokaijuu under his command. Meanwhile, 'Dr. Lyn' melted the antarctic ice cap and flooded all land masses on the southern hemisphere, in hopes of creating an utopian society where Fish and Man are equal. 2 Billion people died as a result.
Now the year is 1986.
Human resistance has been almost eradicated, and nearly all humans have become slaves of the Gyokaijuu, though it is uknown whether they still are under the control of Swindler or 'Dr. Lyn'. The few humans who still possess the will to fight are rapidly uniting under a new leader, one who has finally shown to be capable of fighting back, if still somewhat undecidedly. He is known as The 32nd God-Emperor of The Kingdom of Golden Poopydog.
That's you.
SO yeah, I've just bought Settlers II and played around with it for about an hour, just to see what I was getting myself into makng a clone of this game style (I only played I, III,IV , V , and VI before)
And yeah its way too complicated for me to make in a short amount of time. And the interface is from hell, I mean the first game had kinda the same interface but the game itself was very simple, and later entries had their UI much streamlined and much better imo.
So, any suggestions to how I can simplify the design and make it manageable?
As Im currently building similiar game, i also look at the style of interfaces.
I agree they are very complex, so i am just going for basic hud and interface's im mixing mouse and keyboard controls, keyboard to move character around and interact with npc's and mouse for things like quest book, inventory, weapon merchant.
Im going for basic resources, for example my game will only have logs, instead of pine log hardwood logs etc my saw mill will produce different types of wood planks tho
ive shrunk the amount of minerals to collect weapon making is going to be simplier maybe have a seller for a types of weapons for mineral cost.
Im going to cut down on the amount of buildings / workyards within the game,
Im only having health bar and exp points, not going to have buffs.
This is my first game, so need to be realistic on what i could create in say a year or two tops. but if this one succesfull i will do a followon game as i would have done most the scripting needed for first game would then only need new content change are few values
I have spent 2 year learning what my engine can do and 8 months doing basic artwork and sourcing it too off this site
hope this helps you
best regards
Ninja Dog
How are you handling hills and such, and the entire 3D height-map that Settles has running beneath its 2D buildings and other objects?
I would prefer not to render it in real time, but it kinda seems like a neccessity, if I render it to a flat image, it would be impossible for objects behind hills to appear as it they're actually behind them. Therefore I guess Settlers itself rendered the terrain in real time, but only the part of the map which was actually on screen. Then there are the thing with the terrain textures blending seamlessly into each other, that means I have to write shader code, and I've NO IDEA how to do that.
at the moment, im on a flat terrian with tilesets picturing hills i do intend eventually to use another lvl, same as you i have no idea how it all works but am learning
im going 2d art
best regards
Ninja Dog
oh and having a massive home map. then will add battle lvls
Ninja Dog
https://opengameart.org/content/fantasy-icon-pack-by-ravenmore-0
i think i gunna use this for my hud click buttons
Ninja Dog
Those do look nice, but I'm gonna do them myself I think. This is how far I've come with my terrain renderer.
Now I gotta make it zoom and pan.-
Water added to it
looking good, interested in seeing how you progress
Ninja Dog
I could also go with an isometric grid, to simplify it a little bit, it's a lot easier than full 3D.
And then comes the real problem
How the hell do you accomplish texture splatting in game maker
I managed to achieve some rudimentary results.... however this is really more of a hack than an efficent solution, and it is extremely slow and sluggish....
I made a few changes and now it's running steadily at about 4000fps, which is ok I guess. It's hard to say with such a small map.
I like the iso map, but i guess it is just what i prefer. the splat looks like batman having a sleep :)
looking good
Ninja Dog
I made a few updates to the isometric map!
@Ninja Dog, you may be right that the isometric map is better. It has much better performance at least. And it's much easier to work with than the 3d map.
You can now build roads, and rotate the camera. As far as I know roads are free in the Settlers games (not the board game, there it's 1 wood, 1 brick XD) . But I could make them cost resources.
Hiya great progress yes the roads are free, evan on the online version :)
Looking good keep us posted
best regards
Ninja Dog
Working on that wood economy, so far only the woodcutter has been added. But it's ok progress, I mean the graphics are shitty but I can always redo them when the game gets a bit further
nice one kir, you are working fast on it :)
Ninja Dog
Thanks ! I better stop posting so much tho. As to not spam the thread.
Here is my progress on my game still so much to do, i will be up dating some graphics as i go along as well. as i not drawn a wood cutter building yet and dont have an idea for one yet
but got tons to work on so, as i am sure you do to :)
I like seeing progress of other peoples work, tells me i am very slow at this game buiilding and drawing:)
Credits For Ninja Dog Realm
Artists
- Ninja Dog
- Clint Bellanger for Liberated Pixel Art
- Stephen Challener and the Open Surge team ( http://opensnc.sourceforge.net).
Hosted by OpenGameArt.org
- David E. Gervais
- Ravenmoore
Music
- Kir https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7PvE41pZPpnD4NkcGgc-yw
https://opengameart.org/users/kir
Ninja Dog
You may be slower, buyt maybe your game will be better in the end.
Your game looks nice, but it honestly doesn't seem much like a settlers clone. Maybe you're just thinking more outside the box XD
with my version you are a person walking around, then you have to build houses, wood cutter, mines etc all by gathering resources. there will be quests to complete. for the battles you will go to a completely different map to fight and gain exp. different battle maps will be different lvls of hardness as you progress through the game.
best regards
Ninja Dog
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