BDT

[mgb519]

Tzan is exceedingly correct. It's like a Hello World, you have to do the most basic tiny thing to get your head into the project.

Why don't we have a TTT clone with Brikwarsy art that we could reuse later on?

Ideally by the end of this we could have some uberviolent simple turn based strategy game - something that *feels* like Brikwars.


I'm doubtful about my ability to help as I have a broken arm.


+My broken arm gives me a lot of free time to do things, like coding.
-My broken arm means it takes me much longer to do many things, like coding.

Right, let's get started. Anyone willing to give it a shot?

[IVhorseman]

IVhorseman: level 4 wanderer
Broken Legs: -2 to move
Programming: -10
Procrastination: -4
Forgetfulness: -3
Writer: +3
Concept Designer: +4
Totally Fucking Metal: +\m/

I've been kicking around a few ideas for games that you guys might be interested in.

The first is even titled: it's called Highway Star, and it's a combination racer and first-person shooter. It's set in post-apocalyptic middle america, but far enough after the fact that humanity has rebuilt to the point of having electricity and TV in a few parts of the world again. Your character is a star on the most popular show on the New American Network (NAN): Highway Wars. In races of up to 20 combatants, teams of two drivers use their customized cars, various weapons, and the derilect buildings surrounding the racetracks to come in first place by any means possible - including the elimination of the entire competition.

Players would control one team-mate at a time, being able to switch out between driver or gunner at-will. Drivers and gunners may also exit their vehicles and search their environment on foot, sacrificing their position in hopes of finding weapons, vantage points, or other exploitable advantages on the racetrack. Theoretically, if everyone's cars got blown up, the game could turn into a literal footrace (with guns).

And the best part? Once the crysis 3 engine comes out, pretty much all of these tools will be available for modding straight into such a game. Weapons? check. Vehicles? check. Awesome physics? check.


The other idea is much less developed, but it's survival horror in a wheelchair on a submarine, in a nutshell.

[Tzan]

How do they fit the submarine into a nutshell?

[mgb519]

With science, of course.

[IVhorseman]

you play the part of a cripple head scientist on a research sub specifically tailored to an expedition to either Atlantis or just some terrifying unknown part of the ocean. Once you get there the horrible fish-people or whatever get on board and you have to get to the surface alive.

Being in a wheelchair means that your hands are often very busy: it's hard to carry dishes to the sink, you can't text or use a phone while moving, and you CERTAINTLY can't reload a weapon very easily. Moving and shooting would be near (but not entirely) impossible as well, but since most game controllers have shoulder buttons, there's actually a really cool way to deal with this: left bumper and triggers are use buttons for the left hand, and right side does two right hand actions. You've got a separate button for switching which "mode" your hands are in (thus determining action), so in wheeling mode each action would be either push wheel forward or backward, and in shooting mode the shoulder buttons would be reload, aim and shoot etc. By making it such a pain in the ass even to do normal things, getting thrown out of your wheelchair by a monster fish-person and having to crawl back while shooting him should be even more fun.

[mgb519]

Wait...I don't understand what you're saying for controls, so I'll take another wack at it.

You have a button for actions with each hand, and a button for attacking. When pushing the forward button, action buttons are used to move the chair. You can keep moving for a little bit by relying on momentum, of course. You've got a button for reloading, a button for entering/leaving chairs, a button for inventory, and a button for the map.

And then instead of a submarine, it's an entire underwater facility. Just giving ideas, here.

[Silverdream]

And then instead of a submarine, it's an entire underwater facility. Just giving ideas, here.

What if we keep it a submarine for the first bits, then have them retreat to a nearby underwater facility after the lovecraftian horrors attack, but it turns out that the fish people have already sacked the facility, so it's now a run to get to the lifeboats on top with every man for himself.

[IVhorseman]

Wait...I don't understand what you're saying for controls, so I'll take another wack at it.

More or less - I use a PS3 so here's what the PS3 controls would be:

Square: switch from movement mode to action/gun mode
(In movement mode)
L1: left wheel forward
L2: left wheel backward (brakes if moving forward already)
R1: right wheel forward
R2: right wheel backward

(In gun mode)
L1: Aim
L2: Reload
R1: Fire
R2: Option (switch fire mode, pistol whip, flashlight etc.)

(When at computer terminals or other interactable objects there would be context-specific modes, with controls for these buttons as well)

Other buttons: enter/leave chairs, map, whatever.

I've always wanted to see a game that immersed the player into the world by making the use of the controller feel like using your hands. Linking left and right shoulder buttons to left and right hands is a good start, and the wheelchair thing actually gets pretty well adapted to such a control scheme.

I like the going-back-to-base idea. I think a totally awesome way to characterize NPCs would be for them to be really down for helping your crippled ass out right up until it turns into an every-man-for-himself situation, where they ditch your dead weight. It'd be cool if right when you got to a lifeboat, some asshole dumps you out of your chair and takes off in the thing without you.

[501stCadians]

[samuelzz10]

How about you can buy upgrades for your wheelchair, eventually getting psychic powers to lift yourself off the ground?

[Keldoclock]

a game that immersed the player into the world .

No psychic upgrades, Samuel.

It'd be cool if right when you got to a lifeboat, some asshole dumps you out of your chair and takes off in the thing without you

Not without giving the player at least some foreshadowing warning and a chance to shoot the prick.


Have you pitched this to any studios? They usually never really listen but its worth a shot since you probably wont do anything with this yourself.

[IVhorseman]

No, not at all... should I? How do I go about that without spending a lot of money getting it made?

[Keldoclock]

1. Find places where game devs hang out
2. befriend game dev
3. pitch idea

[Arkbrik]

4. do it real loud to be heard over dozens of other hopefuls pitching their ideas

[Ben-Jammin]

I must say, I think it sounds pretty cool. I can't remember a single game where you got to play as a cripple for any longer than about a minute or so (in those games where your character gets shot/horribly maimed in some way then miraculously makes a full recovery just in time for the next mission). It would be a rather unique experience for a video game, I think. The addition of having an underwater/submarine setting while fighting cthuluoid monsters makes it even cooler.