Gangsters: Organized Crime remake

[Quilty]

Hello,

just checking in, if there is anything new about the thing. Is it still worked on or did you give it a break?

Another thing I wanted to give you a notice about is the game "Pixel Gangsters". You can find it on Steam. I didn't play it so far, but it looks to be a Gangster OG clone with Pixel Graphics. Seems to be very basic though, more basic than the original game, but if you don't already heard of ot it maybe could be interesting for you.

Hi, yes, I am still working on the project. I've been sticking quite closely to the original in order to make it easier for me to replicate some of its mechanics. For example, I've settled on a top-down view of the procedurally generated map that replicates the original's perspective, and I've been using its system of city blocks that consist of eight separate spaces, with an additional center space in most buildings (e.g. for illegal businesses). Certain businesses (i.e. hotels, restaurants, etc.) take up more than one space.

I've been working on the economy of the city, implementing various orders for your hoods, and generally cleaning up the procedural generation of the city. I have yet to work on the AI.

The visuals are probably not much to see at the moment; I've been using a low-poly, flat-color approach just to keep things simple (it's also fastest for me to do in Blender). You can see a few examples below, at different zoom levels (you should be able to click on the images to get a larger view). No green areas at the moment, but those will be added to city generation.

 

[laclongquan]

Quilty : a suggestion for your design.

Do street roads need to be so straight? If they are curving, twisting, do they affect performance to the point of CTD?

Because unless it heavily affect performance, I would suggest twisty, curving roads. That make for unpredictable movement. Some hood look like getting caught by other gangs or polices but suddenly thanks to a curve he can take some more distance and get in safety. Make for some hair-raising experience during sessions. Good to create tensions for players.

On an visual artstyle aspect, that make for more natural cityscape. Blocks like yours current use look very unnatural, like a Soviet city.

 

[Quilty]

Quilty : a suggestion for your design.

Do street roads need to be so straight? If they are curving, twisting, do they affect performance to the point of CTD?

Because unless it heavily affect performance, I would suggest twisty, curving roads. That make for unpredictable movement. Some hood look like getting caught by other gangs or polices but suddenly thanks to a curve he can take some more distance and get in safety. Make for some hair-raising experience during sessions. Good to create tensions for players.

On an visual artstyle aspect, that make for more natural cityscape. Blocks like yours current use look very unnatural, like a Soviet city.

I agree that there is plenty of room to introduce visual interest. More natural, twisty roads is something I would like to achieve (it was one of the things I thought City of Gangsters did well). The blocks are indeed very Soviet, although that was how the original did it and I liked it there. I will definitely work on city generation further. Thanks for the input!

 

[Ignis231]

How's the project coming, what part are you working on at the moment?

 

[Quilty]

How's the project coming, what part are you working on at the moment?

Hey, thanks for the interest. Recently I've been working on a lot of bug-fixing, a little bit of refactoring, and finally getting to grips with the territory outline system. I've been trying to replicate the original's approach, which, although visually confusing when several gangster territories overlap, still seems like the most straightforward way of showing territory. Below you'll find a couple of examples. There are still a few bugs to iron out, but this is what it currently looks like.

You'll notice I'm still using the old straight roads/grid approach to generating a city, but adding more visual interest and, hopefully, diagonal streets, is something I want to tackle next.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Just saw this now. I really did enjoy the original.

I think there was a Gangsters 1 and 2 right?

 

[Quilty]

Just saw this now. I really did enjoy the original.

I think there was a Gangsters 1 and 2 right?

Yes, although I don't think I played the sequel very much. It seemed to be a departure from the original in many ways.

 

[Ignis231]

How's the project coming, what part are you working on at the moment?

Hey, thanks for the interest. Recently I've been working on a lot of bug-fixing, a little bit of refactoring, and finally getting to grips with the territory outline system. I've been trying to replicate the original's approach, which, although visually confusing when several gangster territories overlap, still seems like the most straightforward way of showing territory. Below you'll find a couple of examples. There are still a few bugs to iron out, but this is what it currently looks like.

You'll notice I'm still using the old straight roads/grid approach to generating a city, but adding more visual interest and, hopefully, diagonal streets, is something I want to tackle next.

Some improvements to the design so it's not quite so block generated might be good. Don't bite off too much though if it gives problems.

Think about how much you want to deviate from original, I think a big part of interest in this will be nostalgia. (IMAO)
None of the other gangsters/mafia games have recaptured the strategy element of the original well.

 

[Ignis231]

Just saw this now. I really did enjoy the original.

I think there was a Gangsters 1 and 2 right?

Yes, although I don't think I played the sequel very much. It seemed to be a departure from the original in many ways.

Yeah was nothing like it, far more action oriented, and it was set levels, set hoods, set events, not random gen maps.