The idea is HUGE! Here it is though, it will explain everything
ok, so i had a great idea for a game. Before we get into that, I'll tell what's going on before you blow me off as a freeloader.
I need:
-A proficient coder
-A sprite artist
-Musician
-A website designer (doesn't need to be flashy, just text on the game, screenies, and a buy button.)
-(maybe) a concept art drawer.
I will supply the ideas of the gameplay, mechanics, and story. Here's the catch: It will NOT be free when it's released. But here's the best part for the coders, spritists, and musician: You get all the money. I do not get a cent, I just REALLY want this game to come to light, as I've had the idea for years. The musician will be able to sell the music along with the game or something for an extra seven dollars, or something around that. So it's a great deal for the workers, as there's more for you guys. Ok, so on to the story:
==================Story==================
In the year 10567, an aging soldier stumbled upon strange technology upon a remote planet. The planet hadn't been scanned, so he was the first to find it. Knowing a little of mechanics, and even less of science, he was able to discover that the technology was able to reanimate old flesh, and even keep a memory and a dna map of the user, to rebuild a new body, in case of fatality of the user. The process is slow, it takes around three days to complete, but it builds a body perfectly. Instead of turning this revolutionary device over to his imperialistic government, he scraped together what money he had left, bought a few guns and a small cruiser, and left to explore the stars with his two friends, since aging and death were no matter. His movements did not go unnoticed. With his reanimated body, his quakenet I.D. was still visible, designating him as a rogue soldier from the White Knight Coalition, Black four. The White Knight Coalition controls many star systems, and have developed their own technology to breed humans for war, although giving them no name, except their color class and number. They lusted for Black Four's technology, as they still were at a loss at how to reanimate flesh. Black Four cared not, as he and his two friends set out to conquer unexplored planets and make themselves lords. Warring with various indigenous species, they slowly gained proficiency in the art of war. The White Knight Coalition began the chase, and helped start a war that three men ignited.... *lookout! Subtle Name plug!* The Infinity War.
====================Gameplay============
This will be a free roam, 2d sidescrolling game. Like terraria, only miles better. There will be a hundred and fifty or so planets, with a few hidden ones to explore.
==============Travel=============
You will start with a small cruiser. You may walk freely around it, speaking to your crew, (two at first) and exploring. All the ships, even larger ones will have a mess hall, an armory (for choosing armor and weapons for you and your crew.) a control bridge (which you would select to navigate to a planet.)a prison deck, a cargo and vehicle bay, a random entertainment activity. (like a tennis minigame, or sparring, or something.) a lab area (for manufacturing weapons) and lastly, (my favorite idea.) a training room. The room will be very tiny, with a couple computers in it. You will walk up to one of the consoles, and press whatever is the designated "use" button. This will open a GUI that will let you select various practice scenarios, with your armor, crew and weapons, although dying is not a penalty, it just puts you out of the virtual reality deck. When you select the control bridge, it will zoom out, so you see your cruiser from a top down perspective. To aim, or "position" your cruiser is the mouse, than a button for missiles, and a light gun. (like an mg) You can buy more cruisers of different models, sizes and abilities at various planets. Some will be able to hold more troops, others will be able to cloak, or be swifter.
==============Exploring============
Each planet will be roughly the size of a huge terraria world. They will have their own indigenous species, along with their military forces, and wildlife. you can purchase some thing from more advanced cities, and also sell other weapons. Some civilizations will be more advanced than others, so you won't be able to sell a native in a mud hut a BFG or anything, and you won't sell a supercommando a spear either. The terrain will be fully destructible, right down to the houses, cities, and huts, which i will go into more detail later. If you bomb a site from orbit, or from a bombing vehicle, the crater will stay there permanently, unless you terraform it. To terraform a planet, you must conquer it. More on that later as well. The species will rebuild their huts, towns, cities, or airports over time, so you'll still have stuff to play with. There's space pirates, and advanced enemy planets will send cruisers out to attack you.
============Housing for species=========
Each planet will have intelligent life, but different levels of it. Some will live in Huts and friendly, others could put a spear through your side before you blink. Some cities are ruled by a kind king, who's head you just blew off, or a militaristic government like big brother. Each will have at least one weapons and goods broker, so you can buy and sell, but each one will have only a set amount of money to pay you. More advanced planets will have vehicles, advanced weapons, and cruisers for you. There will also be a few villagers willing to give you something if you do something for them. It could be money, a shiny gun, or a few pretty shells. Along with this, you may also work for some planets by eliminating an enemy, or razing a planet. Since each planet is large, there will be at least two different factions on each planet, some will be at war, others love eachother. They all have their own special tech and vehicles, if any, and their own armor.
===========Conquering============
To incite war against any species on a planet, you must attack at least one village. Even friendlies can be attacked and turned into enemies. Friendly fire is on, so if you shoot that lady who just wanted some zark eggs, the local authorities may be on you. You may get jailed, your weapons confiscated, or even killed. you do have the option to fight your way out, but you'll have to wait at least a week before they forget about your crimes. Blowing up a city or a village is considered starting war, so watch where you put that c4! When you start war, you won't be able to trade with them, and they will never forget you unless you surrender. To conquer a planet, you must:
1) kill a large amount of the military force
2) kill or subdue most of the civilians
3) Assasinate, make a deal, or kill the ruler of the planet. Assassination is hard, and if you pull it off, you'll have to get out of there fast, then you may claim the planet peacefully, but you have to give up some money and a few goods to give to the people.
After you have done this, you will own the planet, meaning you can recruit soldiers, get the planet's weapons, and trade goods cheaper. If you continually kill civvies and friendly military force, (not just accidentally, but around 50 chaps.) they will begin a rebellion.
==========Rebelling===========
If you are a cruel ruler, and don't supply enough goods to pay your army, and kill random people, they will start an uprising. It's like a war, except you cannot access your cruiser if it's in orbit, and you may not drop troops, weapons, or supplies. If you lose, the planet will have a new appointed ruler, and you are banished or jailed.
============Crimes=============
Crimes make the locals angry. When you kill steal, or bring in weapons where you aren't supposed to, the local law enforcement comes after you. Some will fine you, others will jail you, some will confiscate your items, stolen and owned, and other more brutal ones will kill you. so watch out!
===========Subduing===========
To subdue civvies, you must eliminate all the military occupation in that area, and drop troops in. the number of troops will be decided by the amount of civilians in the area. If any enemy military forces remain, they are able to take back the area, but unless you are actively in that area, it will analyze the number of troops on each side, then calculate the winner. It will also look at armor, so if you have 50 grunts, but the enemy has 15 dreadnoughts, the enemy WILL take back the spot, because of more power.
===============Talking, interacting with people======
Everyone has something to say. Your troops have a special dialogue that allows you to tell them to stay, get in something, to pick up something, hold fire, shoot, follow, protect, go to, order more troops, advance, and retreat. Normal people may ask you to do something for them, others will just have idle talk. (kinda like the oblivion talking stuff.) Talk to a trader, and you can buy things, etc. etc. There's also an option to make people upset by spreading rumours, or insulting. If you tell a soldier that he is an idiot, he might come after you. If you kill him, you'll receive a one day jail time or fine, since he started it. (kinda) If you do this more than three times, all the soldiers will come after you, since you're slowly killing off their forces.
====================Vehicles=========
Every planet will have vehicles distinct to their kind, and some none at all. If you leave a vehicle on an advanced planet, they will slowly manufacture them, and use them in battle. Stone age planets have a small chance to learn how to use the vehicles, and use them until they are broken. when you own a planet, you may choose to manufacture more of the native vehicles, unless you introduce a new vehicle to the planet, and give a direct order to copy it. If you don't own any planets, you have limited storage space in your cruiser for vehicles. After you purchase a vehicle, you can choose it to ship to your cruiser, or your planet. There's a variety of vehicles, ranging from land based to space, to air. If you access the cargo bay of your cruiser, you can select a space vehicle to go and explore. The spaceship can hold much less than a cruiser, and is built mainly for combat. Some vehicles are apcs, others are lightly armored speeders. Depending ont he vehicle size, you may fit 4 speeders, but only one apc.
===============Weapons============
Same with the vehicles, weapons distinct to the planet. Some are weaker or stronger than others. Pretty much not needing to go into further detail there. Although instead of just buying them, you have two options: you may pick them up from a fallen enemy, or choose an owned planet to manufacture them. If you pick it up, you may use it until the ammo and clips are depleted. if you want to manufacture more of that gun, you must have at least one bullet or projectile left in the clip/gun and take it back to the Lab room. There robots will analyze it and manufacture more. It will keep a construct of that weapon in your data base, so you can build it again whenever you want for free. The downside is that it takes three weeks for it to analyze, and it costs quite alot. So if you don't want to wait, you may just buy a gun, but after you die, or drop it, you won't have it anymore, you'll have to get a new one. At the traders you may also buy ammo to refill your favorite gun, or whatever. Also, your cruiser has a few default weapons in the construct memory. These are mid-to-weak to keep things balanced. Depending on what cruiser you have, the construct will have a limited memory, so if you want to add that laser rifle you've been drooling at, you may have to delete that fancy assault rifle. Weapons may range from snipers, to rocks, to grenades, to spears, to swords, to SNAILS! The weapon assortment will be fun to use, and everyone of them should be different.
===========Terraforming========
This short but expensive process allows you to rebuild the planet's natural form. Accidentally napalmed a nice mountain? No problem! The terraformer will access memory banks from your cruiser and remake it into it's pristine glory. It's very expensive, and takes a while, but it might be worth it if your planet's just a big rock now.
============Armor===========
Fallen enemies will drop armor that you can pick up and wear. Some will be godly, other will be made from smelly skank hide. You may outfit your main troopers with armor and weapons to be your favorite custom soldier. You may also store weapons and armor in the cargo bay, for later use or just because you want to sell it on a far away planet. different armor will have different protection. If you have armor that protects you from fire, a fire gun will do much less damage than a nuke launcher.
===========Scanning=========
Any pick-uppable item you come across will have a description. I.E. "this is a green book." If you decide to scan the item, with a built-in helmet tool, the item will now tell you the stats and where it was made. Same with vehicles and weapons.
=============Dropping=======
In battle, or just playing around on the planet, you may order an airdrop from your cruiser, meaning you can order troops, weapons, and vehicles. It's not unlimited though. Soldiers are drawn from your barracks, so if five die, that's five less in your cruiser. You may also order weapons to drop for your commanders and specialists, and you. Same with vehicles, but you may not get them back unless you land the cruiser on the planet, and manually load the cargo and troops back in.
=========Landing==========
When you approach a planet, you may choose to land your cruiser there by clicking on the planet. This will pull up a GUI that asks if you want to land your ship, go there with troops, or go alone. If you pick "go with troops" you will pick the number of troops, than enter the planet. you are also able to land your spaceship on a planet
==========Commandos and specialists=========
From the start you have one specialist, one commando. A commando is an all-around soldier, which is what the player is. A specialist specializes in different areas, such as a demolitionist, which is your first specialist. The specialists can do things faster, deal more damage, or have a special perk. An assassin specialist would do more damage and have a higher accuracy with a sniper rifle, while a demolitionist would be able to plant charges faster and use rocket launchers better. Even if you cannot take a planet, you are still able to recruit specialists and commandos. There's a first-time fee (which is huge) than after that you are under command of them until you either leave them to guard a planet, or you don't need them anymore. Both specialists and commandos are able to be customized with certain weapons and gear. You are also able to imprint their DNA into your system so if they die, it's not an issue. You may also take manual control of them, to scout ahead. For example, if you want to assassinate a ruler, but your main character doesn't have a sniper, using an assassin specialist would be highly useful.
===========Normal Troops=========
You cannot customize or control the normal troops, or "grunts" but you can command a group or just one of them to do various things. Without command, they will attack any enemies, or any other entities that attack them, and take cover. Their armor and form is characteristic of the planet they were recruited from. Their DNA cannot be omplanted in Black Four's machine, but they are relatively cheap. There are different classes of troopers, depending on your needs. If you want a group with heavy weaponry, that would be the heavy class. They have no special skills, so it would be more of an advantage for a commando or an assasin specialist to kill a ruler, as the troops will have basic pathfinding and not take the most profitable way all the time.
==========Recruiting===========
Every planet will have a main meeting place, like a bar, treehouse, city square, or a dormant volcano. To recruit, search out the mercenary officer (who is easily spotted by some sort of armor or clothes.) and there you can either buy troops, a commando, or a specialist.
===========Items===========
Not all items will be guns, or have a use. Some could be cosmetic, other just useless. Books, pens, and globes are some of the few items you can pick up, steal, buy, and sell. Other things like clothes can change your appearance, but are more for strutting around on a planet.
===========Planets================
Planets will have different wildlife, flora, buildings, gravity, and dirt. We'll try to make it vary to make sure it doesn't get boring.
==========Gear==============
Besides armor and weapons, there will be various gear that gives you perks. A cloaking device, perhaps, or a riot shield. There will be a wide array of such things to provide varying gameplay.
==========Wildlife===========
There will be a various assortment of unique wildlife on each planet. Some will be peaceful, others violently aggressive. Some planets will have a huge, special wildlife that has to do with a quest, or just as an occupation. Everything, like civilians and wildlife, will respawn.
==========Multiplayer===========
This is a maybe. If we do, I'm thinking something like a deathmatch on any planet with up to eight players, with lan and online hosting and joining support. You'll be able to bring your tech and your troops in, and what ever your troops drop/lose/leave is able to be picked up and taken by the winning and/or luckier party.
===============Gui===========
In your ship, you will be able to approach the command bridge, and automatically travel to a discovered planet. Approach a commando or specialist, you will be able to customize their armor, or issue a command. I'm thinking something like pressing a button, and a menu pops up like "access inventory" "return to cruiser" "shoot your crewmate in the bum" and so on. It should be intuitive, and i CAN provide ideas for guis.
============Controls============
On foot:
a= move left
d= move right
s= crouch
w= jump/use jetpack
Mouse= aim and fire
e= select weapon (pie menu popup)
f= grenade
q= pick up/get in vehicle
Spacebar= menu for inventory, commands, and other stuff
Tab= switch command to another specialist or commando
Right click on object or weapon= scan
Right Click on person or interact-able object= open gui for commands
Left Click= fire
Scroll Wheel= quick select
Any direction+s= Dive
Opening any Gui auto pauses the game, except in multiplayer.
Cruiser:
Mouse= direct cruiser
Left Click= Fire Light Weapon
Right Click= Fire secondary weapon
w= increase thrust
s= decrease thrust
Spacebar= return into ship, stop flying,
Right Click on planet= Open gui
Ground vehicle:
d= go right
a= go left
s= Crouch (mechs only)
w= jumpjets (mechs only)
Mouse= aim
Right click= secondary fire
Left Click= primary fire
q= get out
e= open doors (for loading up, or loading in troops)
Spaceship:
Mouse= Direct Craft
Left Click= Primary Fire
Right Click= Secondary Fire
W= Increase Thrust
S= Decrease Thrust
Spacebar= open gui
r= Auto return to ship
Air Vehicle(jet like vehicle):
W= nose up
S= Nose Down
D= Increase Thrust
A= Decrease Thrust
Spacebar= Open Gui
Q= Get Out
Mouse= Aim
Left Click= Primary Fire
Right Click= Secondary Fire
G= Landing Gear
E= Air Brakes
F= Eject
Air Vehicle (heli like):
D= Right
A= Left
S= Down
W= Up
Mouse= Aim
Right Click= Secondary Fire
Left Click= Primary Fire
Spacebar= Open Gui
E= Open bay doors (if any)
F= Eject
Q= Get out
================Engine===============
This game will be physics based, so anything that explodes might send shrapnel through your troopers head. There's going to be bullet drop, but very minimal. Friendly fire is on, but reduced. High impact causes damage, possibly death. A heath counter will show above unit's heads, except for the grunts. Enemies will show counters so you know how close to death they are. Depending on the weapon, you might get a harpoon sticking in your stomach, or your leg shot off. This WILL slowly drain health, unless you bandage your self or die. Getting a limb shot off may impair walking, but it will make you lighter. If you get one arm shot off, you may only use a one-handed weapon. The same goes for the enemy, so if you want to impair, shoot off limbs first, than capture! Everything is destructible, so watch where you land your cruiser! Plants and such will slowly grow back if they weren't completely obliterated. Pirates and enemies will try to board your cruiser, so if you let them dock their ships at your cruiser, you had better be ready! There will also be a universal day/night cycle, so to designate the passing of time. Your view is reduced at night, but it provides better cover for attacks. If you use vehicles, they make more noise than just a gun, so you're easier to detect, especially if you have a large force.
==========The White Knight Coalition============
Around the same time you are playing, the Coalition will be attacking you and other planets. You might happen upon a planet where the natives are under attack. If you let them die (if they're no match) then you should destroy the coalition squad. If you do save them, they may give you something for helping you, like money, or a special item. If you are at war with that race, they may forgive you if you help them. The coalition has it's own set of cruisers, spaceships, vehicles, armor, weapons, and soldiers. You may acquire some of these things, but the coalition is not able to use anything but their own tech.
===========Winning the game===================
After Destroying 20 or so Coalition cruisers, you must attack their home planet, which is already designated in your cruiser. If you choose to attack them early, it is doable, but nearly impossible, as they have high tech, and they are deeply entrenched. If you do land on this planet, you may not trade or interact with the civilians until you have conquered the planet. When the planet has absolutely no coalition occupation, you will win the game. Although this planet is now under your control, the White Knight Coalition will still be present, just for gameplay opportunities, and to keep it exciting.
=============Destroying a cruiser===========
An enemy, pirate, or White Knight Cruiser are forces to be reckoned with. Some are larger than others, but all are fearsome. To board a cruiser, you must avoid the fire from the ship, and dock in their cargo bay. However many troops you brought will get out as well. After fighting through their forces, you will reach the control bridge. You have two choices, to either self-destruct it (which then you have a limited time to escape) Or you may remove the command chip and destroy it, which renders it inoperable. This way is safer, although it still allows pirates or enemies to spawn and reside there, it will not be able to move. The unmoving cruisers will stay for four weeks, then disappear. (so as not to lag the game)
Another strategy is to take a spaceship, and shoot at the cruiser from outside. This way is difficult, and takes a while, but the manpower required is drastically less.
===========Currency=============
Currency is measured in a universally valuable material, Mardantium. It is a rare metal found in every planet ever discovered. With it's magnetic and radiative powers, it makes the perfect universal currency.
==========Earning Currency=========
You may choose to do quests, small or large. (we'll include more than just fetch-quests, but we'll have some of those too.) Or sign up with a friendly ruler to attack an enemy squadron or encampment. You can also sell any goods in your cargo bay for Mardantium as well.
==========Supplies===========
you may buy supplies from ANY planet, and are crucial to your survival. You can buy supplies for one, two, six, or eight weeks. The more troops you have, the more supplies you need. Supplies also include ammo, so you can rearm at your cruiser. After you run out of supplies, if you don't buy more, troops will start leaving. Make sure to keep them happy!
==============Quakenet===========
Quakenet is a brand new networking engine that allows the user to scan items, vehicles, and people for information. It is also useful for commanding troops, and long rang communication. It also allows you to customize your name, and allow others to see it! Get Quakenet today!
Ideas are near worthless, everybody has ideas. Getting a person to dedicate months and years of their life to produce a game for somebody on the internet? A dedicated graphics artist? Somebody to make a website? Make music? No. You need to give them money to work, not promise money. 99% of these threads (we get these threads nearly every day) go right down the drain.
You want to make a game that will be miles ahead of Terraria, and make loads of money. That's not how it works.
Ideas are near worthless, everybody has ideas. Getting a person to dedicate months and years of their life to produce a game for somebody on the internet? A dedicated graphics artist? Somebody to make a website? Make music? No. You need to give them money to work, not promise money. 99% of these threads (we get these threads nearly every day) go right down the drain.
You want to make a game that will be miles ahead of Terraria, and make loads of money. That's not how it works.
Did you even read this? I'm not making any money. I just want help. I have storyboarding and concepts down. And besides, if i did know how to code, I would make it myself. I can also make a website, if need be. I mean, come on. If people actually have a passion for a game idea, it doesn't matter how much money comes in. I don't want to make any money. I just want to make a game. I just got someone to sign up for the music, so obviously you have a very narrow frame of reference. It's not producing a game for "somebody on the internet" It's producing a game for THEM. Yes, it's an investment, but that doesn't mean it's worthless, or anything of the sort. And it IS how it works. Many people collaborate to make a great freeware game for nothing in return. They didn't turn around and say "that sucked, i didn't get paid." No, it's an accomplishment. So kindly take your negative ideas somewhere else. Yes, I might be a visionary, but that doesn't mean anything but an investment that will ultimately pay off. (besides, Who the %$#@% are you? Can you code? Can you do art? Can you make music? Do you have story ideas? No. I doubt it. So why are you here?)
1. Never give your ideas away on the internet. Your post on this thread is just begging to be copied and used for whatever anyone else wants.
2. Know the limits of what you can do. You talked about one hundred and fifty planets, each the size of Terraria. That's immense. Do you have a sense of the time and work necessary to make that?
3. Don't promise the world. Once you've worked on that game through the majority of it, through all of the turmoil and trouble, can you truely force yourself to just give up all of the money (the reward for your hard work) to someone else? It's a bit much for people to believe.
Sure, you can dream up ideas, write them down, and be bold enough to actually believe that you can get a group of skilled creators to make it for you, but is that good enough? Why aren't you learning how to program or make sprites? You can learn that stuff for free on the internet. Why do others need to do the work for you? I disagree with how Huntlocker said it, but he's right. If you can't learn how to do at least some of the work, then why should others respect you? The whole thing sounds fishy. I'm not just some jealous jerk on the internet, either. I have many game ideas of my own and plans to even build my own game company. What makes me different, though, is that I'm going to learn how to actually make my games. No, I don't have a degree and have no plans on getting one. But, I still believe that I can learn, anyway. Can you?
1. Never give your ideas away on the internet. Your post on this thread is just begging to be copied and used for whatever anyone else wants.
2. Know the limits of what you can do. You talked about one hundred and fifty planets, each the size of Terraria. That's immense. Do you have a sense of the time and work necessary to make that?
3. Don't promise the world. Once you've worked on that game through the majority of it, through all of the turmoil and trouble, can you truely force yourself to just give up all of the money (the reward for your hard work) to someone else? It's a bit much for people to believe.
Sure, you can dream up ideas, write them down, and be bold enough to actually believe that you can get a group of skilled creators to make it for you, but is that good enough? Why aren't you learning how to program or make sprites? You can learn that stuff for free on the internet. Why do others need to do the work for you? I disagree with how Huntlocker said it, but he's right. If you can't learn how to do at least some of the work, then why should others respect you? The whole thing sounds fishy. I'm not just some jealous jerk on the internet, either. I have many game ideas of my own and plans to even build my own game company. What makes me different, though, is that I'm going to learn how to actually make my games. No, I don't have a degree and have no plans on getting one. But, I still believe that I can learn, anyway. Can you?
1. That's the best thing. I don't really care. As i only supply ideas, the story, sound effects, and website, as long as they make it, i'd be perfectly happy.
2. Yeah, it's MASSIVE but they could either have a randomly generating code, or tone down the number of planets.
3. I wont even force myself. What i'm going to do (if this idea takes off) is engineer the "buy" button to donate to the accounts of the devs, so i literally wont get a cent.
I am learning to program, and the issue is that a more experienced coder makes better code. I still have trouble making calculators. I think it would be better that way. I'm trash at art, my texture packs are trash, and I'd have to have someone tell me what parts he wants them in and so on. I did state that i definitely would do quite a chunk. I an proficient in website design, and concepts. So i wouldn't be sitting back and letting pawns do the work. My field of skill just differs from what people think is important. Without one piece or the other, the game wouldn't work. If it would make the people more comfortable, someone else could engineer the site so it pays where it's supposed to. That's why I wanted a website designer, so it wouldn't seem like i'd scam them out of the whole lot. I can definitely learn, but i would love to make it NOW instead of ten years from now.
Edit: May as well start a folder for the code. I've got a large job ahead of me.
This guy has a reasonably complete game design document here. This isn't just an idea, this is a concept. Kindly repeat what you've heard from more respected members of this section elsewhere, because you obviously do not know enough yourself to make an accurate judgement.
Oh, look this guy is high and mighty, very nice, I appreciate how you are going to build your own studio without any kind of degree and an insult to the OPs ability to post. But really, this guy has a concept that could be implemented by a programmer without nescessarily probing him about details. I haven't read it's entirety, and I'm probably not going to program it, but I believe that you should give this topic the crap that you give most of them that come on here.
Oh, and for the record, I'm a Java, C, C++ and Ruby programmer (primarily) for about a year now. I've made some games, and I think that I'm not too bad a judge when it comes to game development, at least compared to you. Because, you know, I actually do it to some extent.
Thanks alot! Hey, if i were to do this on my own, what would be the best language to code a game in?
Sure, it's a good concept, but there's still that thing about getting people to actually work for you with no form of insurance. I do acknowledge that this is not one of those ''maek me a gaem i take money u work'' threads (in fact, I do like the idea), but still, making a good game is not something that's done in a day, people will have to work for months or weeks to do make something even remotely usable.
There is no best language for programming in general, but game development is primarily centered around C++ right now. You don't nescessarily have to use one of the most low-level languages available (relatively speaking), and you can use most programming languages. I'd recommend Java though, because you can port the game anywhere, and the speed of your game is comparable to the equivalent game in C++. For learning to program generally, Python and Ruby are both good choices, but anything goes so long as you're programming.
No, they won't. You can make an early prototype with the basic features nailed down in an evening (6 hours or so), even less if you know your tools well. If they are good, then they can create a basic playable version quickly.
Thanks! I think i'm learning C++ sometime next semester.
Unlike most people you actually worked your design out. Looking over your writings I am quite confident that you'd really want to see this game taking off, since you clearly spent some time on it. Unless you're a blatant liar you're also showing that you'd like to work on it yourself as well. Those are all good points. Unfortunately, this is a huge project, which is going to be a bit of a problem. I like the idea - I'm even willing to help out with the programming but I am not sure how much time I could spend on it, which means I would probably not be able to complete it.
I can honestly say that is the most detailed, well written concept of a game I have every read, ever.
It sounds like a mixture of cortex command and terraria(actually more like starbound), not saying that is a bad thing, they are both bloody amazing games!
Also, I'm a sprite artist, and my brother a musician with a recording studio, as well as an excellent artist, so(IF you manage to get a coder!) we could help with those 3(also there aren't many coders that are on minecraft forum looking for work, you will most probably have to get one via other means :/)
It also seems you are very dedicated, since anyone with a cheap idea and a dream wouldn't go to so much trouble as to write a book's worth of data
I don't have very much time to dedicate to this project right now, either, but we could cooperate and work on it when we have time to do it. We could hook it up on some fancy version control system and work on features when we feel like it.
Cheers
Biggest problem is that it's so huge. Explosion physics, multiple planets, complete with their own civilizations and destructible environment, a place (universe? Solar system?) to travel to and from planets, multiple kinds of AI, owning/controlling a planet, and much more. Programming all of that is going to take a very long time.
I can honestly say that is the most detailed, well written concept of a game I have every read, ever.
It sounds like a mixture of cortex command and terraria(actually more like starbound), not saying that is a bad thing, they are both bloody amazing games!
Also, I'm a sprite artist, and my brother a musician with a recording studio, as well as an excellent artist, so(IF you manage to get a coder!) we could help with those 3(also there aren't many coders that are on minecraft forum looking for work, you will most probably have to get one via other means :/)
It also seems you are very dedicated, since anyone with a cheap idea and a dream wouldn't go to so much trouble as to write a book's worth of data
Thanks so much! I've already compiled a great list of music, for battle, day night, or whatever, and a few sound effects. My friend is working on the title screen, and i'm hoping to get someone to make the rest of the sound effects friday (My garageband class) A spriter would be AMAZING. As someone said above, there's a gigantic amount of work to be done, so you only have to do a little if you want. I'll contact you via pm so we can collab. I do know i'll have to find a coder but (correct me from wrong) if you have the sprites beforehand, they can just code them in. I am REALLY dedicated, so believe you me, I will make myself an artist if i run out of options. XD
Unlike most people you actually worked your design out. Looking over your writings I am quite confident that you'd really want to see this game taking off, since you clearly spent some time on it. Unless you're a blatant liar you're also showing that you'd like to work on it yourself as well. Those are all good points. Unfortunately, this is a huge project, which is going to be a bit of a problem. I like the idea - I'm even willing to help out with the programming but I am not sure how much time I could spend on it, which means I would probably not be able to complete it.
Right, that would be really nice, but here's the problem. You and I would have to designate some type of pay (not on going, since you just helped) Which would be great. Like one payment, and then you're done. If you're truly interested, I can do check, but i really want to finish the sprites and sounds n' such before we start coding.
Biggest problem is that it's so huge. Explosion physics, multiple planets, complete with their own civilizations and destructible environment, a place (universe? Solar system?) to travel to and from planets, multiple kinds of AI, owning/controlling a planet, and much more. Programming all of that is going to take a very long time.
That's the point that I was getting at. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I simply offered mature advice. I'm sorry if it's not what people want to hear. People who have made their own games usually say to start small.
Biggest problem is that it's so huge. Explosion physics, multiple planets, complete with their own civilizations and destructible environment, a place (universe? Solar system?) to travel to and from planets, multiple kinds of AI, owning/controlling a planet, and much more. Programming all of that is going to take a very long time.
Yeah, that's one of it's major stumbling blocks. I'm thinking that instead of banging out the whole game at one time, we work on parts, than piece them together, I.E. Complete coding and physics for one planet, then another, then complete coding for space travel, and so on, than i think it would be manageable. The area will be quite large, but not gigantic. The ai will pretty much be universal, get in vehicle, use it, take cover, shoot. So it would be one code for all the Ai. But yes, this will be a HUGE game.
That's the point that I was getting at. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I simply offered mature advice. I'm sorry if it's not what people want to hear. People who have made their own games usually say to start small.
Yeah, that's what i'm thinking. Like working on one section, like the spaceship interior, and so on.
1. Never give your ideas away on the internet. Your post on this thread is just begging to be copied and used for whatever anyone else wants.
This does not matter in the slightest. No one wants to "steal" game ideas from anyone else. This suggestion is rather pointless.
Game designers don't get into the game industry because they love to program or love to draw... They get into it because they have their own ideas that they want to see become reality. Anyone with the skills and abilities do not steal ideas...
...Unless those ideas are already successful like Zynga 'stealing' pokemon... lol... but that'd completely different. That is piggy-backing on sales and market shares, it's not stealing ideas, it's just copying the popular ones.
This guy has a reasonably complete game design document here.
No, I'm sorry to burst your bubble....
That is far, far from a "complete" game design document. Perhaps it's better and more detailed than the majority you'd see on forums and the likes.... but it lacks any amount of true detail and consistency that a true design document would need.
Game design documents can be sort of thought like an architect's blueprints. They must state exactly how to design the game, or else they are incomplete.
... Sure the architect can get in the mood to do something fancy here or there, and alter his blueprints to adjust... but he will still go 99% off of the blueprints.
A good game design document would be the same thing. It will either tell you how everything will be designed, or it won't.
This document lacks programming explanations, art explanations, sound, and basically all true details. It's an overview or a sales pitch at most.
Kindly repeat what you've heard from more respected members of this section elsewhere, because you obviously do not know enough yourself to make an accurate judgement.
I thought Huntlocker's reply was actually very, very accurate, to be honest.... And I agree completely.
On the other hand, ironically, I actually don't think you know what you're talking about to make an accurate judgement of anything.
No offense... but you come into topics like this acting like you're some professional game designer and you know exactly what you're talking about.... but you don't. Just quit pretending that you are... it bothers me. I really love the enthusiasm you have, but your information is very inconsistent.
You have more programming experience than a majority of people on these forums, and more experience than I had when I was your age.... but that doesn't mean you're a professional or know what you're talking about, either.
I'd recommend Java though, because you can port the game anywhere, and the speed of your game is comparable to the equivalent game in C++.
I'd personally recommend against Java for games.... It's just not a very practical language for making games.
Speed is typically irrelevant these days, and even when it comes down to it Java does tend to often be slower than it probably should be for some reason... As well, it is not a commonly used language for video games, and therefore does not have as much support for it.
C++ is a good choice if you want portability and speed... but it also comes with the price of learning memory management, which also means possible memory leaks if you're not careful and you don't understand what you are doing. But that should never put anyone off... Understanding what you're doing will always be necessary in any language.
But C# is very promising.... with things like 'Mono', C# maintains portability to all relevant platforms, covers memory management and garbage collection (better than Java, in my opinion), and is overall a friendlier language to use... It is also highly supported in game development, with things such as XNA, good tutorials, and tons of good libraries and frameworks.
No, they won't. You can make an early prototype with the basic features nailed down in an evening (6 hours or so), even less if you know your tools well. If they are good, then they can create a basic playable version quickly.
That is nonsense. I don't know of any real prototype you can make in "6 hours or so" of a real game, without using something like Game Maker, or a full game engine... but even then you probably won't get a decent prototype in for your idea in 6 hours.
...And there's nothing wrong with using Game Maker or anything like that, especially if you're just using it for a prototype... but you should plan ahead and use what will be most efficient. If you use something like GameMaker for a prototype and then convert to C++ you will be wasting a lot of time just to test the idea, when you could have been implementing the prototype in C++ and actually accomplishing your goal.
Maybe that's just me seeking out efficiency.... but... my point is your game idea would have to be very, very minimal if you can make a prototype in just one evening. Statements like that vastly under rate the amount of time it takes to make a decent game by a significant degree.
@ OP:
You have what could be a really good game idea here, and you've done your best to present it.... but what you lack are the skills necessary to complete it. Without those, your game will never be made. Even if you were to find a coder who wants to use someone else's ideas, he wouldn't have the motivation needed to finish it. An Artist would be the same way, although they tend to be easier to find and/or hire on.
To summarize: Everyone's game ideas "suck". They suck specifically because they are not your own ideas... and anyone who has the abilities to actually create a game will use their own ideas.
Ideas are 'a dime a dozen'... They are basically completely worthless. Everything under the sun has been either done before, or thought up before.... If your game idea is "new", then it's simply because no one ever had the interest to make the game you wanted... and that won't change just because you pitched your idea on a forum.
This may be sad or depressing news to hear, but it's definitely the truth...
The good news is... You can keep the idea, and if you ever want to see it become a reality, all you have to do is keep dreaming and moving forward with the idea on your own.... Get the skills and abilities needed, and make it come to life.
That's what everyone else has ever done if they have ever made a game. They kept their dreams alive by pursuing them non-stop.
Creative ideas that have not been implemented into a sale product are like gold if they're good. Creative people are glad to get inspiration from anywhere they find it. If they just happen to be very inspired by this thread and start inventing their own game idea from it, then that can become a problem. If their version of it gets made before this one, then it's competition. That's just how the real world works.
Creative ideas that have not been implemented into a sale product are like gold if they're good. Creative people are glad to get inspiration from anywhere they find it.
In fact.... the article even mentions how some people believe that their "ideas are gold" (exactly like you just stated) and how that is entirely wrong because there is literally no one out there with the skills needed who will care about someone else's ideas.
It's simply the fact that there are more ideas than people with the skills to make those ideas come to life.
You can think of it as having too much food, and not enough people to eat it all.... Eventually that food is just going to go bad, because no one wants it. That's life.
ok, so i had a great idea for a game. Before we get into that, I'll tell what's going on before you blow me off as a freeloader.
I need:
-A proficient coder
-A sprite artist
-Musician
-A website designer (doesn't need to be flashy, just text on the game, screenies, and a buy button.)
-(maybe) a concept art drawer.
I will supply the ideas of the gameplay, mechanics, and story. Here's the catch: It will NOT be free when it's released. But here's the best part for the coders, spritists, and musician: You get all the money. I do not get a cent, I just REALLY want this game to come to light, as I've had the idea for years. The musician will be able to sell the music along with the game or something for an extra seven dollars, or something around that. So it's a great deal for the workers, as there's more for you guys. Ok, so on to the story:
==================Story==================
In the year 10567, an aging soldier stumbled upon strange technology upon a remote planet. The planet hadn't been scanned, so he was the first to find it. Knowing a little of mechanics, and even less of science, he was able to discover that the technology was able to reanimate old flesh, and even keep a memory and a dna map of the user, to rebuild a new body, in case of fatality of the user. The process is slow, it takes around three days to complete, but it builds a body perfectly. Instead of turning this revolutionary device over to his imperialistic government, he scraped together what money he had left, bought a few guns and a small cruiser, and left to explore the stars with his two friends, since aging and death were no matter. His movements did not go unnoticed. With his reanimated body, his quakenet I.D. was still visible, designating him as a rogue soldier from the White Knight Coalition, Black four. The White Knight Coalition controls many star systems, and have developed their own technology to breed humans for war, although giving them no name, except their color class and number. They lusted for Black Four's technology, as they still were at a loss at how to reanimate flesh. Black Four cared not, as he and his two friends set out to conquer unexplored planets and make themselves lords. Warring with various indigenous species, they slowly gained proficiency in the art of war. The White Knight Coalition began the chase, and helped start a war that three men ignited.... *lookout! Subtle Name plug!* The Infinity War.
====================Gameplay============
This will be a free roam, 2d sidescrolling game. Like terraria, only miles better. There will be a hundred and fifty or so planets, with a few hidden ones to explore.
==============Travel=============
You will start with a small cruiser. You may walk freely around it, speaking to your crew, (two at first) and exploring. All the ships, even larger ones will have a mess hall, an armory (for choosing armor and weapons for you and your crew.) a control bridge (which you would select to navigate to a planet.)a prison deck, a cargo and vehicle bay, a random entertainment activity. (like a tennis minigame, or sparring, or something.) a lab area (for manufacturing weapons) and lastly, (my favorite idea.) a training room. The room will be very tiny, with a couple computers in it. You will walk up to one of the consoles, and press whatever is the designated "use" button. This will open a GUI that will let you select various practice scenarios, with your armor, crew and weapons, although dying is not a penalty, it just puts you out of the virtual reality deck. When you select the control bridge, it will zoom out, so you see your cruiser from a top down perspective. To aim, or "position" your cruiser is the mouse, than a button for missiles, and a light gun. (like an mg) You can buy more cruisers of different models, sizes and abilities at various planets. Some will be able to hold more troops, others will be able to cloak, or be swifter.
==============Exploring============
Each planet will be roughly the size of a huge terraria world. They will have their own indigenous species, along with their military forces, and wildlife. you can purchase some thing from more advanced cities, and also sell other weapons. Some civilizations will be more advanced than others, so you won't be able to sell a native in a mud hut a BFG or anything, and you won't sell a supercommando a spear either. The terrain will be fully destructible, right down to the houses, cities, and huts, which i will go into more detail later. If you bomb a site from orbit, or from a bombing vehicle, the crater will stay there permanently, unless you terraform it. To terraform a planet, you must conquer it. More on that later as well. The species will rebuild their huts, towns, cities, or airports over time, so you'll still have stuff to play with. There's space pirates, and advanced enemy planets will send cruisers out to attack you.
============Housing for species=========
Each planet will have intelligent life, but different levels of it. Some will live in Huts and friendly, others could put a spear through your side before you blink. Some cities are ruled by a kind king, who's head you just blew off, or a militaristic government like big brother. Each will have at least one weapons and goods broker, so you can buy and sell, but each one will have only a set amount of money to pay you. More advanced planets will have vehicles, advanced weapons, and cruisers for you. There will also be a few villagers willing to give you something if you do something for them. It could be money, a shiny gun, or a few pretty shells. Along with this, you may also work for some planets by eliminating an enemy, or razing a planet. Since each planet is large, there will be at least two different factions on each planet, some will be at war, others love eachother. They all have their own special tech and vehicles, if any, and their own armor.
===========Conquering============
To incite war against any species on a planet, you must attack at least one village. Even friendlies can be attacked and turned into enemies. Friendly fire is on, so if you shoot that lady who just wanted some zark eggs, the local authorities may be on you. You may get jailed, your weapons confiscated, or even killed. you do have the option to fight your way out, but you'll have to wait at least a week before they forget about your crimes. Blowing up a city or a village is considered starting war, so watch where you put that c4! When you start war, you won't be able to trade with them, and they will never forget you unless you surrender. To conquer a planet, you must:
1) kill a large amount of the military force
2) kill or subdue most of the civilians
3) Assasinate, make a deal, or kill the ruler of the planet. Assassination is hard, and if you pull it off, you'll have to get out of there fast, then you may claim the planet peacefully, but you have to give up some money and a few goods to give to the people.
After you have done this, you will own the planet, meaning you can recruit soldiers, get the planet's weapons, and trade goods cheaper. If you continually kill civvies and friendly military force, (not just accidentally, but around 50 chaps.) they will begin a rebellion.
==========Rebelling===========
If you are a cruel ruler, and don't supply enough goods to pay your army, and kill random people, they will start an uprising. It's like a war, except you cannot access your cruiser if it's in orbit, and you may not drop troops, weapons, or supplies. If you lose, the planet will have a new appointed ruler, and you are banished or jailed.
============Crimes=============
Crimes make the locals angry. When you kill steal, or bring in weapons where you aren't supposed to, the local law enforcement comes after you. Some will fine you, others will jail you, some will confiscate your items, stolen and owned, and other more brutal ones will kill you. so watch out!
===========Subduing===========
To subdue civvies, you must eliminate all the military occupation in that area, and drop troops in. the number of troops will be decided by the amount of civilians in the area. If any enemy military forces remain, they are able to take back the area, but unless you are actively in that area, it will analyze the number of troops on each side, then calculate the winner. It will also look at armor, so if you have 50 grunts, but the enemy has 15 dreadnoughts, the enemy WILL take back the spot, because of more power.
===============Talking, interacting with people======
Everyone has something to say. Your troops have a special dialogue that allows you to tell them to stay, get in something, to pick up something, hold fire, shoot, follow, protect, go to, order more troops, advance, and retreat. Normal people may ask you to do something for them, others will just have idle talk. (kinda like the oblivion talking stuff.) Talk to a trader, and you can buy things, etc. etc. There's also an option to make people upset by spreading rumours, or insulting. If you tell a soldier that he is an idiot, he might come after you. If you kill him, you'll receive a one day jail time or fine, since he started it. (kinda) If you do this more than three times, all the soldiers will come after you, since you're slowly killing off their forces.
====================Vehicles=========
Every planet will have vehicles distinct to their kind, and some none at all. If you leave a vehicle on an advanced planet, they will slowly manufacture them, and use them in battle. Stone age planets have a small chance to learn how to use the vehicles, and use them until they are broken. when you own a planet, you may choose to manufacture more of the native vehicles, unless you introduce a new vehicle to the planet, and give a direct order to copy it. If you don't own any planets, you have limited storage space in your cruiser for vehicles. After you purchase a vehicle, you can choose it to ship to your cruiser, or your planet. There's a variety of vehicles, ranging from land based to space, to air. If you access the cargo bay of your cruiser, you can select a space vehicle to go and explore. The spaceship can hold much less than a cruiser, and is built mainly for combat. Some vehicles are apcs, others are lightly armored speeders. Depending ont he vehicle size, you may fit 4 speeders, but only one apc.
===============Weapons============
Same with the vehicles, weapons distinct to the planet. Some are weaker or stronger than others. Pretty much not needing to go into further detail there. Although instead of just buying them, you have two options: you may pick them up from a fallen enemy, or choose an owned planet to manufacture them. If you pick it up, you may use it until the ammo and clips are depleted. if you want to manufacture more of that gun, you must have at least one bullet or projectile left in the clip/gun and take it back to the Lab room. There robots will analyze it and manufacture more. It will keep a construct of that weapon in your data base, so you can build it again whenever you want for free. The downside is that it takes three weeks for it to analyze, and it costs quite alot. So if you don't want to wait, you may just buy a gun, but after you die, or drop it, you won't have it anymore, you'll have to get a new one. At the traders you may also buy ammo to refill your favorite gun, or whatever. Also, your cruiser has a few default weapons in the construct memory. These are mid-to-weak to keep things balanced. Depending on what cruiser you have, the construct will have a limited memory, so if you want to add that laser rifle you've been drooling at, you may have to delete that fancy assault rifle. Weapons may range from snipers, to rocks, to grenades, to spears, to swords, to SNAILS! The weapon assortment will be fun to use, and everyone of them should be different.
===========Terraforming========
This short but expensive process allows you to rebuild the planet's natural form. Accidentally napalmed a nice mountain? No problem! The terraformer will access memory banks from your cruiser and remake it into it's pristine glory. It's very expensive, and takes a while, but it might be worth it if your planet's just a big rock now.
============Armor===========
Fallen enemies will drop armor that you can pick up and wear. Some will be godly, other will be made from smelly skank hide. You may outfit your main troopers with armor and weapons to be your favorite custom soldier. You may also store weapons and armor in the cargo bay, for later use or just because you want to sell it on a far away planet. different armor will have different protection. If you have armor that protects you from fire, a fire gun will do much less damage than a nuke launcher.
===========Scanning=========
Any pick-uppable item you come across will have a description. I.E. "this is a green book." If you decide to scan the item, with a built-in helmet tool, the item will now tell you the stats and where it was made. Same with vehicles and weapons.
=============Dropping=======
In battle, or just playing around on the planet, you may order an airdrop from your cruiser, meaning you can order troops, weapons, and vehicles. It's not unlimited though. Soldiers are drawn from your barracks, so if five die, that's five less in your cruiser. You may also order weapons to drop for your commanders and specialists, and you. Same with vehicles, but you may not get them back unless you land the cruiser on the planet, and manually load the cargo and troops back in.
=========Landing==========
When you approach a planet, you may choose to land your cruiser there by clicking on the planet. This will pull up a GUI that asks if you want to land your ship, go there with troops, or go alone. If you pick "go with troops" you will pick the number of troops, than enter the planet. you are also able to land your spaceship on a planet
==========Commandos and specialists=========
From the start you have one specialist, one commando. A commando is an all-around soldier, which is what the player is. A specialist specializes in different areas, such as a demolitionist, which is your first specialist. The specialists can do things faster, deal more damage, or have a special perk. An assassin specialist would do more damage and have a higher accuracy with a sniper rifle, while a demolitionist would be able to plant charges faster and use rocket launchers better. Even if you cannot take a planet, you are still able to recruit specialists and commandos. There's a first-time fee (which is huge) than after that you are under command of them until you either leave them to guard a planet, or you don't need them anymore. Both specialists and commandos are able to be customized with certain weapons and gear. You are also able to imprint their DNA into your system so if they die, it's not an issue. You may also take manual control of them, to scout ahead. For example, if you want to assassinate a ruler, but your main character doesn't have a sniper, using an assassin specialist would be highly useful.
===========Normal Troops=========
You cannot customize or control the normal troops, or "grunts" but you can command a group or just one of them to do various things. Without command, they will attack any enemies, or any other entities that attack them, and take cover. Their armor and form is characteristic of the planet they were recruited from. Their DNA cannot be omplanted in Black Four's machine, but they are relatively cheap. There are different classes of troopers, depending on your needs. If you want a group with heavy weaponry, that would be the heavy class. They have no special skills, so it would be more of an advantage for a commando or an assasin specialist to kill a ruler, as the troops will have basic pathfinding and not take the most profitable way all the time.
==========Recruiting===========
Every planet will have a main meeting place, like a bar, treehouse, city square, or a dormant volcano. To recruit, search out the mercenary officer (who is easily spotted by some sort of armor or clothes.) and there you can either buy troops, a commando, or a specialist.
===========Items===========
Not all items will be guns, or have a use. Some could be cosmetic, other just useless. Books, pens, and globes are some of the few items you can pick up, steal, buy, and sell. Other things like clothes can change your appearance, but are more for strutting around on a planet.
===========Planets================
Planets will have different wildlife, flora, buildings, gravity, and dirt. We'll try to make it vary to make sure it doesn't get boring.
==========Gear==============
Besides armor and weapons, there will be various gear that gives you perks. A cloaking device, perhaps, or a riot shield. There will be a wide array of such things to provide varying gameplay.
==========Wildlife===========
There will be a various assortment of unique wildlife on each planet. Some will be peaceful, others violently aggressive. Some planets will have a huge, special wildlife that has to do with a quest, or just as an occupation. Everything, like civilians and wildlife, will respawn.
==========Multiplayer===========
This is a maybe. If we do, I'm thinking something like a deathmatch on any planet with up to eight players, with lan and online hosting and joining support. You'll be able to bring your tech and your troops in, and what ever your troops drop/lose/leave is able to be picked up and taken by the winning and/or luckier party.
===============Gui===========
In your ship, you will be able to approach the command bridge, and automatically travel to a discovered planet. Approach a commando or specialist, you will be able to customize their armor, or issue a command. I'm thinking something like pressing a button, and a menu pops up like "access inventory" "return to cruiser" "shoot your crewmate in the bum" and so on. It should be intuitive, and i CAN provide ideas for guis.
============Controls============
On foot:
a= move left
d= move right
s= crouch
w= jump/use jetpack
Mouse= aim and fire
e= select weapon (pie menu popup)
f= grenade
q= pick up/get in vehicle
Spacebar= menu for inventory, commands, and other stuff
Tab= switch command to another specialist or commando
Right click on object or weapon= scan
Right Click on person or interact-able object= open gui for commands
Left Click= fire
Scroll Wheel= quick select
Any direction+s= Dive
Opening any Gui auto pauses the game, except in multiplayer.
Cruiser:
Mouse= direct cruiser
Left Click= Fire Light Weapon
Right Click= Fire secondary weapon
w= increase thrust
s= decrease thrust
Spacebar= return into ship, stop flying,
Right Click on planet= Open gui
Ground vehicle:
d= go right
a= go left
s= Crouch (mechs only)
w= jumpjets (mechs only)
Mouse= aim
Right click= secondary fire
Left Click= primary fire
q= get out
e= open doors (for loading up, or loading in troops)
Spaceship:
Mouse= Direct Craft
Left Click= Primary Fire
Right Click= Secondary Fire
W= Increase Thrust
S= Decrease Thrust
Spacebar= open gui
r= Auto return to ship
Air Vehicle(jet like vehicle):
W= nose up
S= Nose Down
D= Increase Thrust
A= Decrease Thrust
Spacebar= Open Gui
Q= Get Out
Mouse= Aim
Left Click= Primary Fire
Right Click= Secondary Fire
G= Landing Gear
E= Air Brakes
F= Eject
Air Vehicle (heli like):
D= Right
A= Left
S= Down
W= Up
Mouse= Aim
Right Click= Secondary Fire
Left Click= Primary Fire
Spacebar= Open Gui
E= Open bay doors (if any)
F= Eject
Q= Get out
================Engine===============
This game will be physics based, so anything that explodes might send shrapnel through your troopers head. There's going to be bullet drop, but very minimal. Friendly fire is on, but reduced. High impact causes damage, possibly death. A heath counter will show above unit's heads, except for the grunts. Enemies will show counters so you know how close to death they are. Depending on the weapon, you might get a harpoon sticking in your stomach, or your leg shot off. This WILL slowly drain health, unless you bandage your self or die. Getting a limb shot off may impair walking, but it will make you lighter. If you get one arm shot off, you may only use a one-handed weapon. The same goes for the enemy, so if you want to impair, shoot off limbs first, than capture! Everything is destructible, so watch where you land your cruiser! Plants and such will slowly grow back if they weren't completely obliterated. Pirates and enemies will try to board your cruiser, so if you let them dock their ships at your cruiser, you had better be ready! There will also be a universal day/night cycle, so to designate the passing of time. Your view is reduced at night, but it provides better cover for attacks. If you use vehicles, they make more noise than just a gun, so you're easier to detect, especially if you have a large force.
==========The White Knight Coalition============
Around the same time you are playing, the Coalition will be attacking you and other planets. You might happen upon a planet where the natives are under attack. If you let them die (if they're no match) then you should destroy the coalition squad. If you do save them, they may give you something for helping you, like money, or a special item. If you are at war with that race, they may forgive you if you help them. The coalition has it's own set of cruisers, spaceships, vehicles, armor, weapons, and soldiers. You may acquire some of these things, but the coalition is not able to use anything but their own tech.
===========Winning the game===================
After Destroying 20 or so Coalition cruisers, you must attack their home planet, which is already designated in your cruiser. If you choose to attack them early, it is doable, but nearly impossible, as they have high tech, and they are deeply entrenched. If you do land on this planet, you may not trade or interact with the civilians until you have conquered the planet. When the planet has absolutely no coalition occupation, you will win the game. Although this planet is now under your control, the White Knight Coalition will still be present, just for gameplay opportunities, and to keep it exciting.
=============Destroying a cruiser===========
An enemy, pirate, or White Knight Cruiser are forces to be reckoned with. Some are larger than others, but all are fearsome. To board a cruiser, you must avoid the fire from the ship, and dock in their cargo bay. However many troops you brought will get out as well. After fighting through their forces, you will reach the control bridge. You have two choices, to either self-destruct it (which then you have a limited time to escape) Or you may remove the command chip and destroy it, which renders it inoperable. This way is safer, although it still allows pirates or enemies to spawn and reside there, it will not be able to move. The unmoving cruisers will stay for four weeks, then disappear. (so as not to lag the game)
Another strategy is to take a spaceship, and shoot at the cruiser from outside. This way is difficult, and takes a while, but the manpower required is drastically less.
===========Currency=============
Currency is measured in a universally valuable material, Mardantium. It is a rare metal found in every planet ever discovered. With it's magnetic and radiative powers, it makes the perfect universal currency.
==========Earning Currency=========
You may choose to do quests, small or large. (we'll include more than just fetch-quests, but we'll have some of those too.) Or sign up with a friendly ruler to attack an enemy squadron or encampment. You can also sell any goods in your cargo bay for Mardantium as well.
==========Supplies===========
you may buy supplies from ANY planet, and are crucial to your survival. You can buy supplies for one, two, six, or eight weeks. The more troops you have, the more supplies you need. Supplies also include ammo, so you can rearm at your cruiser. After you run out of supplies, if you don't buy more, troops will start leaving. Make sure to keep them happy!
==============Quakenet===========
Quakenet is a brand new networking engine that allows the user to scan items, vehicles, and people for information. It is also useful for commanding troops, and long rang communication. It also allows you to customize your name, and allow others to see it! Get Quakenet today!
So, that's it! Tell me what you think guys!
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
Ideas are near worthless, everybody has ideas. Getting a person to dedicate months and years of their life to produce a game for somebody on the internet? A dedicated graphics artist? Somebody to make a website? Make music? No. You need to give them money to work, not promise money. 99% of these threads (we get these threads nearly every day) go right down the drain.
You want to make a game that will be miles ahead of Terraria, and make loads of money. That's not how it works.
Did you even read this? I'm not making any money. I just want help. I have storyboarding and concepts down. And besides, if i did know how to code, I would make it myself. I can also make a website, if need be. I mean, come on. If people actually have a passion for a game idea, it doesn't matter how much money comes in. I don't want to make any money. I just want to make a game. I just got someone to sign up for the music, so obviously you have a very narrow frame of reference. It's not producing a game for "somebody on the internet" It's producing a game for THEM. Yes, it's an investment, but that doesn't mean it's worthless, or anything of the sort. And it IS how it works. Many people collaborate to make a great freeware game for nothing in return. They didn't turn around and say "that sucked, i didn't get paid." No, it's an accomplishment. So kindly take your negative ideas somewhere else. Yes, I might be a visionary, but that doesn't mean anything but an investment that will ultimately pay off. (besides, Who the %$#@% are you? Can you code? Can you do art? Can you make music? Do you have story ideas? No. I doubt it. So why are you here?)
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
2. Know the limits of what you can do. You talked about one hundred and fifty planets, each the size of Terraria. That's immense. Do you have a sense of the time and work necessary to make that?
3. Don't promise the world. Once you've worked on that game through the majority of it, through all of the turmoil and trouble, can you truely force yourself to just give up all of the money (the reward for your hard work) to someone else? It's a bit much for people to believe.
Sure, you can dream up ideas, write them down, and be bold enough to actually believe that you can get a group of skilled creators to make it for you, but is that good enough? Why aren't you learning how to program or make sprites? You can learn that stuff for free on the internet. Why do others need to do the work for you? I disagree with how Huntlocker said it, but he's right. If you can't learn how to do at least some of the work, then why should others respect you? The whole thing sounds fishy. I'm not just some jealous jerk on the internet, either. I have many game ideas of my own and plans to even build my own game company. What makes me different, though, is that I'm going to learn how to actually make my games. No, I don't have a degree and have no plans on getting one. But, I still believe that I can learn, anyway. Can you?
1. That's the best thing. I don't really care. As i only supply ideas, the story, sound effects, and website, as long as they make it, i'd be perfectly happy.
2. Yeah, it's MASSIVE but they could either have a randomly generating code, or tone down the number of planets.
3. I wont even force myself. What i'm going to do (if this idea takes off) is engineer the "buy" button to donate to the accounts of the devs, so i literally wont get a cent.
I am learning to program, and the issue is that a more experienced coder makes better code. I still have trouble making calculators. I think it would be better that way. I'm trash at art, my texture packs are trash, and I'd have to have someone tell me what parts he wants them in and so on. I did state that i definitely would do quite a chunk. I an proficient in website design, and concepts. So i wouldn't be sitting back and letting pawns do the work. My field of skill just differs from what people think is important. Without one piece or the other, the game wouldn't work. If it would make the people more comfortable, someone else could engineer the site so it pays where it's supposed to. That's why I wanted a website designer, so it wouldn't seem like i'd scam them out of the whole lot. I can definitely learn, but i would love to make it NOW instead of ten years from now.
Edit: May as well start a folder for the code. I've got a large job ahead of me.
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
Thanks.
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
Thanks alot! Hey, if i were to do this on my own, what would be the best language to code a game in?
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
Thanks! I think i'm learning C++ sometime next semester.
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
It sounds like a mixture of cortex command and terraria(actually more like starbound), not saying that is a bad thing, they are both bloody amazing games!
Also, I'm a sprite artist, and my brother a musician with a recording studio, as well as an excellent artist, so(IF you manage to get a coder!) we could help with those 3(also there aren't many coders that are on minecraft forum looking for work, you will most probably have to get one via other means :/)
It also seems you are very dedicated, since anyone with a cheap idea and a dream wouldn't go to so much trouble as to write a book's worth of data
Biggest problem is that it's so huge. Explosion physics, multiple planets, complete with their own civilizations and destructible environment, a place (universe? Solar system?) to travel to and from planets, multiple kinds of AI, owning/controlling a planet, and much more. Programming all of that is going to take a very long time.
Thanks, I am, I'm currently learning Visual Basic, my teacher said that's a decent stepping stone. What would you say?
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
Thanks so much! I've already compiled a great list of music, for battle, day night, or whatever, and a few sound effects. My friend is working on the title screen, and i'm hoping to get someone to make the rest of the sound effects friday (My garageband class) A spriter would be AMAZING. As someone said above, there's a gigantic amount of work to be done, so you only have to do a little if you want. I'll contact you via pm so we can collab. I do know i'll have to find a coder but (correct me from wrong) if you have the sprites beforehand, they can just code them in. I am REALLY dedicated, so believe you me, I will make myself an artist if i run out of options. XD
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
Right, that would be really nice, but here's the problem. You and I would have to designate some type of pay (not on going, since you just helped) Which would be great. Like one payment, and then you're done. If you're truly interested, I can do check, but i really want to finish the sprites and sounds n' such before we start coding.
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
That's the point that I was getting at. I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I simply offered mature advice. I'm sorry if it's not what people want to hear. People who have made their own games usually say to start small.
Yeah, that's one of it's major stumbling blocks. I'm thinking that instead of banging out the whole game at one time, we work on parts, than piece them together, I.E. Complete coding and physics for one planet, then another, then complete coding for space travel, and so on, than i think it would be manageable. The area will be quite large, but not gigantic. The ai will pretty much be universal, get in vehicle, use it, take cover, shoot. So it would be one code for all the Ai. But yes, this will be a HUGE game.
Yeah, that's what i'm thinking. Like working on one section, like the spaceship interior, and so on.
http://redwallminecraft.enjin.com
This does not matter in the slightest. No one wants to "steal" game ideas from anyone else. This suggestion is rather pointless.
Game designers don't get into the game industry because they love to program or love to draw... They get into it because they have their own ideas that they want to see become reality. Anyone with the skills and abilities do not steal ideas...
...Unless those ideas are already successful like Zynga 'stealing' pokemon... lol... but that'd completely different. That is piggy-backing on sales and market shares, it's not stealing ideas, it's just copying the popular ones.
No, I'm sorry to burst your bubble....
That is far, far from a "complete" game design document. Perhaps it's better and more detailed than the majority you'd see on forums and the likes.... but it lacks any amount of true detail and consistency that a true design document would need.
Game design documents can be sort of thought like an architect's blueprints. They must state exactly how to design the game, or else they are incomplete.
... Sure the architect can get in the mood to do something fancy here or there, and alter his blueprints to adjust... but he will still go 99% off of the blueprints.
A good game design document would be the same thing. It will either tell you how everything will be designed, or it won't.
This document lacks programming explanations, art explanations, sound, and basically all true details. It's an overview or a sales pitch at most.
I thought Huntlocker's reply was actually very, very accurate, to be honest.... And I agree completely.
On the other hand, ironically, I actually don't think you know what you're talking about to make an accurate judgement of anything.
No offense... but you come into topics like this acting like you're some professional game designer and you know exactly what you're talking about.... but you don't. Just quit pretending that you are... it bothers me. I really love the enthusiasm you have, but your information is very inconsistent.
You have more programming experience than a majority of people on these forums, and more experience than I had when I was your age.... but that doesn't mean you're a professional or know what you're talking about, either.
C# has also become very popular over the last few years.... for good reasons.
I'd personally recommend against Java for games.... It's just not a very practical language for making games.
Speed is typically irrelevant these days, and even when it comes down to it Java does tend to often be slower than it probably should be for some reason... As well, it is not a commonly used language for video games, and therefore does not have as much support for it.
C++ is a good choice if you want portability and speed... but it also comes with the price of learning memory management, which also means possible memory leaks if you're not careful and you don't understand what you are doing. But that should never put anyone off... Understanding what you're doing will always be necessary in any language.
But C# is very promising.... with things like 'Mono', C# maintains portability to all relevant platforms, covers memory management and garbage collection (better than Java, in my opinion), and is overall a friendlier language to use... It is also highly supported in game development, with things such as XNA, good tutorials, and tons of good libraries and frameworks.
That is nonsense. I don't know of any real prototype you can make in "6 hours or so" of a real game, without using something like Game Maker, or a full game engine... but even then you probably won't get a decent prototype in for your idea in 6 hours.
...And there's nothing wrong with using Game Maker or anything like that, especially if you're just using it for a prototype... but you should plan ahead and use what will be most efficient. If you use something like GameMaker for a prototype and then convert to C++ you will be wasting a lot of time just to test the idea, when you could have been implementing the prototype in C++ and actually accomplishing your goal.
Maybe that's just me seeking out efficiency.... but... my point is your game idea would have to be very, very minimal if you can make a prototype in just one evening. Statements like that vastly under rate the amount of time it takes to make a decent game by a significant degree.
@ OP:
You have what could be a really good game idea here, and you've done your best to present it.... but what you lack are the skills necessary to complete it. Without those, your game will never be made. Even if you were to find a coder who wants to use someone else's ideas, he wouldn't have the motivation needed to finish it. An Artist would be the same way, although they tend to be easier to find and/or hire on.
All in all... this article was posted on the forum not that long ago, and really sums up everything:
http://www.escapistm...Game-Idea-Sucks
To summarize: Everyone's game ideas "suck". They suck specifically because they are not your own ideas... and anyone who has the abilities to actually create a game will use their own ideas.
Ideas are 'a dime a dozen'... They are basically completely worthless. Everything under the sun has been either done before, or thought up before.... If your game idea is "new", then it's simply because no one ever had the interest to make the game you wanted... and that won't change just because you pitched your idea on a forum.
This may be sad or depressing news to hear, but it's definitely the truth...
The good news is... You can keep the idea, and if you ever want to see it become a reality, all you have to do is keep dreaming and moving forward with the idea on your own.... Get the skills and abilities needed, and make it come to life.
That's what everyone else has ever done if they have ever made a game. They kept their dreams alive by pursuing them non-stop.
Also, your game idea sounds like Starbound?....
http://playstarbound.com/
Read the article I posted:
http://www.escapistm...Game-Idea-Sucks
Everything you said was entirely wrong. Game ideas are completely worthless.
In fact.... the article even mentions how some people believe that their "ideas are gold" (exactly like you just stated) and how that is entirely wrong because there is literally no one out there with the skills needed who will care about someone else's ideas.
It's simply the fact that there are more ideas than people with the skills to make those ideas come to life.
You can think of it as having too much food, and not enough people to eat it all.... Eventually that food is just going to go bad, because no one wants it. That's life.