A side scroller tends to make the situation just seem much less real because it always involves a floating platform of sorts. A lot of good stories relying on suspension of disbelief don't factor in something as ridiculously unreal as a floating platform. There may be ways to explain this off, but it typically involves a fantasy method.

I don't think a sidescrolling game would put any real limit on the story. And for things like floating platforms, that all depends on the level designer/artist.

I'll make it clear. If in the next 3 days there is still not even a single post here containing an idea on what should I program, I'm out. It's not about the genre or perspective, I want some general idea. The Cave Story suggestion got close, but "taking some inspiration from it" doesn't tell me what should I do.

I suggested the top-down perspective. I'm thinking of making this a horror-mystery thing, with (naturally) a little action mixed in.

I apologize that we're not getting anywhere, SE, but it's probably better if we think things through properly. Also, I really really don't want to do a top-down game, purely because I haven't had any practice at all doing that kind of graphics.
Anyway, doesn't anybody else have any suggestions?

I'm able to make some types of programming in Visual Basic, or, soon C++ or C#; also I could contribute music, sound and writing.

Ideally we would be able to make a 3D game, but nobody in this thread has any practice in it (that I know of). If a perspective is needed to be chosen quickly, I guess the best option would still be a 2D sidescroller, however much I might dislike it. Some time ago I suggested to Obi1mcd that he make a game with a teleportation gimmick. How about that?

A side-scrolling platformer is something we've all had experience with, therefore I recommend it as the genre as well.

I will be thankful if you all choose some gameplay-related keywords:
unarmed combat; melee weapons; ranged weapons; stealth; psychokinetic powers; time control; gravity control; light or shadow control; magic; shapeshifting; summoning; gods' influence; jumping onto enemies' heads; alchemy; teleportation; vehicles; other (specify).

KRSplat, thanks for your offer. Music and sound will for sure come in useful. I'm not sure about programming though. Do you have any experience in game making and are willing to replace me as the main programmer? Because it's not like I'm very interested in programming it anyway and I realize GM is not the best tool to make a game, I just decided to since there was no one else who could do that.

I have no experience in game design and do not expect to create codes for this project without studying beforehand, so I don't believe I'm capable of being the main programmer. I wanted to qualify my offer, but beside a total lack of experience the factors in question are how much of the skills required I have already and how much relevant information I can access. In other words, I know that taking part of an introductory Visual Basic course doesn't qualify me to lead a project. But I'm not coming to say: I don't know how to fully make these components, so it's difficult for me, instead: I'll see what I can do, and hope to provide more than expected.

So, if we're doing a 2D side-scrolling shooter, we need a story. Space theme or something?

Oh, can you stop with your space thing :p I get it you love the Imperial Army and the cake generators and whatnot (oh God I'm giving you story ideas aren't I) but I'm looking for more of a serious story here. Plenty of serious stories set in space have been done, but something set on Earth looks more serious in a 2D platformer/shooter.

On gameplay, I'd suggest mostly platformer with a slight puzzle element, enemies you have to avoid completely (going for suspense), plot focus, and a boss battle involving puzzle-running away. Unarmed combat for sure if it ever comes to it (with the option of picking up fallen weapons [limited ammo]), and hopefully some cool teleportation combat effects, if we pick up the teleportation idea. Continuing with the teleportation theme, because that's my favorite idea, the player would only be able to teleport from areas not affected by (insert random criteria here), and can only teleport into areas not affected by (insert second random criteria here).

On story, I've already suggested a teleportation gimmick. If I go down this road, I'll suggest that he is the only one like that, he just turned 21 (or some arbitrary adult age) and his mother, on her death bed, revealed to him the reason behind so and so. Cue revenge spree? Also I'd like to know how willing are the people involved to make this bloody and/or swearing and/or stuff like that. Also, happy/bummer ending? I suggest a bittersweet ending. I'll open up a Google Doc for the story, anyone looking to be given permission for stuff in there, just send me a PM with your Google account.

On people, can I have an easy method of contact with people working in the same areas as I am? KRSplat and Lithium, for example, and anyone else possibly coming in.

SE is fast becoming the project organizer

That sounds alright. There'd have to be limitations as to teleporting into solid objects (obviously), but for the puzzle element, we could have 'one-way' teleportation zones that you can teleport out of but not into, and vice-versa.


I'd rather not.

Well, we could always have multiple endings based on performance.

You already have mine, I think, so that should be fine.

Just to be clear with others, I didn't really mean to sound like I want something like that included, I'm mostly just asking about people's limits. Things like this can help a lot with script writing.

Decent multiple endings can be tough to write in, especially when you factor in the 'performance' issue. I'm not sure how the character's 'performance' in the story would affect the ending, just the ease with which it is executed.

Another gameplay idea: Small RPG element where you get to improve some of his abilities, similar to the Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I didn't really mean to add cake generators and stuff, I indeed had a more serious story in mind.

I was thinking about a space trooper squad fighting something and someone (we'll work that out) and each squad member has special abilities and can solve certain puzzles. Would that work?

It could work, and it would definitely be more fun if it could include a cooperative mode with separate players working with separate powers. But I'm still not sure what kind of specifics would be in mind. For example, what would kind of twists could we introduce into the story? What is the reason the squad is going out against said enemy? Personally I'd like to see more ideas put into the idea before I'll give it full support, because this might degenerate into a typical space marine game. The Dead Space series was fantastic because the protagonist was not a space marine, rather an innocent bystander thrust into an unfortunate situation. It's more of an engaging story when the main character is forced to do something they don't like.

Quick question for SE:
What would you say your limits in Game Maker would be? Obviously 3d graphics aren't an option, but how about things like multiplayer?

From what I got from a simple Google search, is seems multiplayer in Game Maker is pretty possible.

Side note once again, I'll be able to make some anti-aliased background for the game if the need arises.

I have never tested GM multiplayer. I am able to implement it but it probably isn't very efficient (however, according to documentation, should avoid packet loss). Things I can't make are some fancy visual effects, such as blur or distortions. Also liquids, that is, their physics. And Worms-alike destructive scenery, probably. Atm I don't remember anything else.

Unless someone is up for drawing the whole levels, I suppose we'll stick to tiles, so I'd like to hear your opinions on player mask size and tile size. For comparison, in JJ2 it's respectively 24x24 and 32x32 (duh). We could consider tile sizes of 24x24 up to 64x64 and mask sizes of 24x24 and higher. Big tiles reduce level designing freedom but improve efficiency and, usually, quality. A big mask means big sprites, so it improves quality, but sprites take a lot more time and effort to make. Also, the bigger the mask is, the less you can see beside it.

Oh, and compare Sean's idea to Jumper, although maybe it's just me who sees a lot of similarities.

You're not the only one who sees the similarities. I took Jumper as the main inspiration for the teleportation stuff, but I came up with a plot independently, and it turned out to be similar, apparently. I might have to rethink this.

One last question: Does anybody have experience with animating sprites? That's one of the things I tend to struggle with. I can do tiles, but I haven't had much practice with sprites.

JaRU should be happy with his handiwork. He started a thread with nothing but an idea and ( :p ) no talents, but now this is moving somewhere.

We don't have any deadline for now.

I am sorry, I was not here for a few days, but I am back! I read all of your posts, and seems like none is experienced in game-making. I'm sorry because UR is off, he was a main key in my idea (was basing literally on him and DJazzy). I'm sure he is willing to help if we need help sometimes.

Okay, let's get back to the game style now. I suggest some game like Chicken Invaders. The game would be based on X stages, and every stage could have Y levels. After finishing a single stage, you go to another one. Yet, I haven't think of any basic idea. It could be a space theme, where you're alone and kill the enemies, just like CI. But, if you don't have anything against this, we could make a game based on spaceship what teleports to the next level/stage at the end of level/stage. This is to involve both, Liths and Seans ideas into the game.

Main character: Spaceship
Gameplay:
- You have to finish all the levels to do something*. You must get keys by killing the enemies to finish the stage. I suggest 20 keys in every stage. If there are 10 stages, then 10 keys are needed for the 1st one. 11 for next, 12 for next etc.
- You start with a single gun. You can get up to 3 different guns. I'd like to see at least 5 different guns in 3 categories. Each category is stronger than the other one. You can have only one gun from each category. For example, in Counter Strike, you have a gun, a pistol, a knife and bombs. You get guns by killing enemies. They will drop random guns (NOT ALL OF THEM), just like in CI. I suggest Red, Green and a Blue category. Red makes most damage and it's the fastest. Green is stronger than the Blue, but Red is stronger than Green.
- We need to get a story. I suggest something like this: A spaceship went on a trip, but suddenly he crashed in a group of comets. All of the people who were in it survived in a capsule and they landed on some planet. They don't have any food and water, and they need to be rescued. You're the one who is gonna rescue them. We need more details, that's why there are Lithium and Sean. Everyone else can implement ideas if they're good enough for a serious game. Please be realistic. I don't need any cake or anything similar.
Enemies: Will try to stop you finishing the game. Whenever you kill the enemy you'll get points. When you reach X points, you'll be awarded with one life.
Genre: Let's call it 2D Floating action adventure. I suggest a browser game, because we have a coder who can help us with that type of games. We will probably use Java then, and we already have experienced coders for Java.
Music: We already have some musicians in JJ2: FawFuL, Dr. Eggman, Gus?, etc. They probably can make/borrow us their songs. The main menu song will be a default one. I suggest getting at least 5 different songs for levels what will repeat in every level. For example, level 1 - music 1, level 2 - music 2.... level 6 - music 1, level 7 - music 2... Depends on how many levels.
Coders: Djazzy, Sean**, Obi1mcd**, Sir Ementaler**, Troglobite**
Artists: Sean, Obi1mcd, Gus?, Sir Ementaler, me.

Sean, you happy now? :-) I was not here last few days, and I'm back with an idea!

* depends on the story.
** not sure are they familiar with Java.

//I hope you understand this crapnglish//

Allow me to be brutally honest and hopefully you don't need to make me sound like a dick about it. It sounds stupid and cliche. :7

However this game turns out, I'd really rather prefer we compose original music for this rather than get something off the downloads or from the internet.

I can't code to save my life. D:

Definitely happy you came back, you're basically the reason I stuck behind this idea. Sort of. (The thought of composing original music for this gets to me) You're probably still best qualified as an organizer even if you don't know much some of the things going on here.

I think you should check the previous space theme idea. Got the access to the doc?

I believe you mixed me and Sean ;P
I am familiar with the C-style syntax, so picking up Java shouldn't be hard.

I actually haven't received a single PM about the doc, sadly.

I'm fairly interested in game design, but I'm not particularly experienced with it, and between finals coming up soon, and a heavy schedule next semester, I don't want to commit myself to putting time that I may not have into this. So unfortunately, you can count me out for this game.

Wanna bet that if you make a decision to use Java it'll die before it has its physics engine ready?

I believe none of us can actually program an engine, correct? How about using a pre-made one?

Oh, also I forgot to mention I feel insulted by this sentence:
If 5 years of creating games is no experience for you, you're searching on a wrong forum. And you don't pay enough. Yes, I use tools which are generally considered lame. Go to the LMAT thread and see what I do with MS Paint. Why wouldn't I be able to create something awesome with GM? I wish I had anything to show you, but I have no recent games which are even close to fully functional, while the old ones are mostly in Polish and lack documentation. And well, are nowhere close to my current skills.

I'm not sure I support the idea of using a pre-made engine. Namely, there are specifics of this game that will need to be programmed in, and I was more thinking some engine which switches between sprites automatically in a way that looks more fluid, instead of run-stop-run-stop. I have no experience in coding so you may regard this post as full of crap.

Look, there's no need to code an engine from scratch if SE is comfortable with Game Maker. It might not be as efficient as making it in C++, but it should suit our purposes just fine. And like he said, if we try making something from scratch, things will slow down very quickly.

Make it public so everyone can share opinions.

I'm sorry, didn't want to insult you. Didn't know your story what you posted in that post. I'm glad to see that. Btw, why do you think we're gonna stuck if we choose Java?

Also, I'm not sure if we should make an engine because, as someone said already, none of us can actually program an engine.

I vote for a web-browser game.

I'd rather not, because the script will become private anyway once we get this stuff moving. Making it public will just open it up to every person on the forum who sees this. I need to store your accounts in the sharing settings anyway so when you access the document I know who's there.

I most definitely vote not for a web browser game. I know you're trying to think of including DJazz, but truth be told I don't think he's as interested in this as the other posters. Besides, he's really the only one here who has experience with web-based stuff. Everyone else has been going on about Game Maker and Construct. Or other stuff.

The main issue with Java is that we'd spend more time getting all the technical behind-the-scenes stuff going instead of actually getting a game made. That's be one way of losing interest quickly. If we use something like Game Maker, it does the more technical stuff for us.

Okay guys, in the absence of any real progress, I've typed up a proper idea to elaborate on the teleportation theme that I brought up. There's a link to it in the Doc that I set up (which gives you all the more reason to give me a PM for your Google account :D), so please do check the document. I've also decided to talk to Lithium and help him type up a separate prototype-script for his space theme.

Well, Just be sure to keep as much as possible "resource"-based... If the project fails you have some great stuff to give away or give other people a change to continue it (like M.I.A. I hate it when content that people worked hard on get lost)

Also, people can continue to fight about what engine/language it use, but that shouldn't really matter. First concentrate on a working prototype, to see if the game is any fun at all (GM is fine for that). If the project is fun at that point, more serious programmers will think about joining the project. A custom engine can enable you to do cool stuff, but take a lot of time, and if it's not sure if the project is going anywhere.. why waste your time ?

I support this entire post.

Okay then, let's use GM, but I have not any experience with that.

I don't really care what we use, as long as we can get the planned storyline/gameplay/graphics.