Vapourware Codexian Game Development Thread

[WhiskeyWolf]

How about "Barker's Retro Text Printer"?

 

[Davaris]

Make up a company name that sounds like it would fit in the Alien or Fallout universe and tack Terminal on the end. Then use Alien or Fallout like art on your sales page to complete the association.

______ Industries Terminal

 

[Zed]

Today's project, or maybe this weekend's project if I can't finish today, is to create a relatively simple TB party-based combat scenario, using values from external files. I've already spent this morning working on it.
The goal is to make something flexible in MMF2 (which is hard) so I can use it for something proper. The key is using the external files, so I can change monster data, character/class information etc. very easily. It means the sprites can also be external, so they're not "baked" in the application.
I'll update this post if I can manage to build something playable.

It's inspired by senguko rance's back/front-based combat, with a somewhat similar defence system as well, but the view is a little more classic.

Update:
Urk, this wasn't easy at all. Gonna have to re-do the entire party system.

 

[shihonage]

As I've been getting some hopeful results with different dry eye supplements, I am cautiously looking into Compound again. Shadows under objects are disabled, but I dunno if it looks better this way.

Meanwhile I had time to rethink why my enthusiasm for Compound disappeared, and how to make it reappear again. I rewatched the old videos which captured my initial enthusiastic spirit. I also consulted a meditation teacher about it...

... and stumbled upon the simple realization that the more I worry about sales, market appeal, or even Codex/NMA appeal, the more I lose interest in the project. Alternatively, the more I channel what _I_ want to see, and completely wall off other people, I can sense the enthusiasm returning.

The truth is, it was never going to be, and never will be, JA2 or X-Com. Not to compare myself to Tim Cain, but our _interests_ were similar. I don't care to invent a better plasma gun, I really don't give a shit about it - zero shits given.

I am far more interested in managing the overall sense of a living world, and not through superficial graphical details, but through, how do I put it, NOT BEING RETARDED.

Fallout's greatest overall accomplishment was that it was NOT RETARDED. Look at Fallout 3. Retarded. KOTOR. Retarded. Dragon Age. Retarded. Skyrim. Retarded. Mass Effect. Retarded. Witcher... kind of retarded.

I am interested in making characters that are compact, easy to understand, and yet may not be telling the whole truth, thus making them more than "NPC quest kiosks". I am interested in pushing combat into foreground as one of the basic systems, rather than THE system of progression.

I want a world that gives the player the _opportunity_ to immerse himself, without pushing sob stories. If something emotional does come out of it, it's not because the player was commanded to "feel", but because player chose to do so.

Most games have sterile lifeless worlds filled with Asperger NPCs, and then slam EMOTION TIME down player's throat at a triggered time, with subtlety of late George Lucas.

Finally, I want a world that rewards player for being at least a little bit clever. Not to go as far as pixel hunting, but poking and prodding should yield some reward.

In short, there's only a point in doing this if I do it my way. That's where the energy comes from. If my dry eye supplements keep working, I may just resume working on the project.

Mass-appeal, profit margins and expectations can all go collectively fuck themselves.

 

[Destroid]

shihonage Do you put Fallout 2 in the retarded or not retarded category?

 

[shihonage]

shihonage Do you put Fallout 2 in the retarded or not retarded category?

It's not binary with Fallout2. It's neither simple nor stupid by design. However it strayed from Tim Cain's vision in several ways, and also happened to stray from much of what drew my interest to Fallout in the first place.

 

[Davaris]

shihonage
David Lynch has the right attitude to life and creativity IMO. He's very laid back. I think it comes from his meditation practice.

 

[Ninjerk]

shihonage Glad to hear it. I was more than a little upset when you said you were ceasing development.

 

[Mastermind]

Finally got a bit of enthusiasm back so I started working on my aweshum overhead shooter/rpg again. Did the bare minimum to implement drones (flight pattern still needs some work, and i have yet to include a way for enemies to fight back) as well as beam weapons. I intend to add point laser defense in the final game since I loved them in c&c generals and walking around with half a dozen drones shooting rockets out of the sky became a chief priority for the final features list.

 

[Mastermind]

Fuck, trying to do level design for anything bigger than a couple of screens in GMK is like trying to rape a wolverine.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Best. Texture work. Ever.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

The truth is, it was never going to be, and never will be, JA2 or X-Com. Not to compare myself to Tim Cain, but our _interests_ were similar. I don't care to invent a better plasma gun, I really don't give a shit about it - zero shits given.

Tim Cain was a GURPS fan and played it for 7 years before playing Fallout.
Fallout was supposed to be a faithful implementation of GURPS just like ToEE was of D&D 3rd ed.

Tim Cain's interests certainly aren't as one-dimensional as yours.

Also, better plasma gun = loot-driven game, not sophisticated mechanics.

Here's the actual interview quote:

Killzig: What did you think of the Advanced Power Armor?

Tim Cain: Killzig, FO is going a little monty haul

Tim Cain: My idea is explore more of the world and more of the ethics of a postnuclear world, not to make a better plasma gun.

Guess what is better for exploring ethics of a postnuclear world? A system reflecting reality or a shitty gamist system?

 

[shihonage]

Tim Cain was a GURPS fan and played it for 7 years before playing Fallout.
Fallout was supposed to be a faithful implementation of GURPS just like ToEE was of D&D 3rd ed.

That must explain the superb combat system of Arcanum.

... or, what is more likely, Tim Cain had other influences, too.

Tim Cain's interests certainly aren't as one-dimensional as yours.

Or my understanding of him isn't as one-dimensional as yours...

To "explore more of the world and more of the ethics of a postnuclear world" may be a one-dimensional interest to you, Awor Szurkrarz. However, world-building is the weakest element of overwhelming majority of CRPGs, and is some of the hardest to work on.

I can see how a CRPG could work completely without combat (even if it is an unlikely extreme), but I would lose all interest in one that has no world worth being in. Most of them make an excellent cure for insomnia.

Underrail should be more up your alley, with the dominant focus on combat mechanics. Garage developers' resources are very, very finite.

 

[FuriousGamer87]

Anyone here joining the rpgmaker contest?
http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/

 

[Mastermind]

One of my goals is to have huge buildings in this game. Realistically proportioned and which allow you to go anywhere from basement to roof. Half the game takes place in a small town at the base of a huge high tech mega fortress (in which you will be trying to break in with multiple entry points available of course) so it's not like I'm building skyscrapers or anything but there are still some pretty big structures, like the school in the above screenshot. I really like the way the toilets came out even though it's all placeholder art. The piss and shit smeared all over them really add to the atmosphere. Gonna work on the stat screen layout for a little bit before I get distracted by stupid shit like trying to create a piss/shit smear randomiser. I spent all day yesterday getting rolling stool (of the furniture, rather than the German variety) physics serviceable. You can now bounce them around like a game of pool and in the final game you can shove them into enemies to stagger them and block their way while you're shooting on dem hoes like a hardcore gangsta.

 

[shihonage]

Mastermind Plz don't make white backgrounds in a game. Where you can do that, you could make them black instead.

 

[Mastermind]

Mastermind Plz don't make white backgrounds in a game. Where you can do that, you could make them black instead.

All art is placeholders. The only thing white in the final game will be the main character's cloak (and you can find new ones that change appearance anyway) and a handful of shit that is usually white (toilets, sinks, etc.). The placeholder tiles were much more seizure inducing originally when the tile borders were nearly black.

 

[J1M]

New dev diary with some examples of recent progress:

http://artificerentertainment.blogspot.ca/2014/06/guildcraft-dev-diary-part-vi.html

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Messing around with main character size/proportions and stuff.

 

[Destroid]

That man's head appears to be on backwards.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Huh? That's a bald man with a beard :D

 

[Destroid]

Either that or his butt is on the front.

 

[Mastermind]

Make his eyes bigger. Anime big.

 

[Mastermind]

Fucked around with adding shadows (and los toggle for the zombies)

Even with my shitty sprites it looks a lot better, though still needs some work.

edit: coke, not even once

Looks like doing a realistic LOS is gonna be harder than I thought.

 

[shihonage]

Shadows make everything look better in that perspective. You do not want to do a realistic LOS. Stick to cell-based, and modify depending on gameplay demands.

In Dead Colony my LOS "sees" around corners, using the same type of algorithm as Doom monsters homing on the player. It gives a better, more stable visibility area than trying to draw a straight line to each cell.