Game Idea

[wemyss]

• Theme - Lost
• Category - Multiplayer (server)

Things to discuss:

• Mechanic/s, what game mechanic do we want to focus on with 13kb
• Story or no story
• Number of players (min, max)
• Assets, lots, some or none

@Cypher1 feel free to add more :yum:

[Cypher1]

We should talk about the kind of game we'd like to make.

I can image that we could do some randomly generated, open world with a set of generated items in 13k as long as we were careful about how we designed it. I don't know if we can write a physics engine in the time we have so we could do top-down or use an engine. Grid based movement seems achievable (in either top-down or side scrolling) without too much effort.

I'd love to work out a multiplayer game that encourages coop. I think people coop better with an enemy or enemies to fight (over a period of time, not just bam a Zubat appeared).

I like the idea of a cave / tunnel system as the main world / exploration zone. It gives some atmosphere to the game, but might be a bit monotonous if we're not careful with it. Maybe we have lots of enemies in the caves and people have to team up to work out how to defeat them while also climbing around and looting the place? Seems awkward that it would be judged next to Terraria and Minecraft if we go down that road though.

I love games with lots of players but I think we worry too much about planning for large games e.g. > 40.

Mechanics: Multiplayer (because it's dangerous to go alone), Fighting enemies Story: Probably best to be minimal if anything, have a bad figure/team who do something bad to the other side and leave it up to the players to keep things going. #Players: I'm guessing we want at least 2, fewer than 20 (per game, or things get computationally awkward). Assets: I think we need some sounds & music to keep things alive, and maybe we can do a few bitmaps for characters and items (though I think simple svgs might be better). I don't think we want animated models or anything.

Also https://github.com/Rybar/js13k2017kit claim that they can get a 6k js file out with their engine, might be worth a look, seems capable. https://github.com/xem/platform-engine also looks like a neat tiny game engine base.

[wemyss]

Keen for grid based movement. Extent of the physics would be collision detection I think.

Taking the idea of a cave/tunnel system to explore + enemies + co-op/team. It would be cool to be essentially be chased across the map by enemies and that gives you limited time to solves the puzzles that stop you from progressing before they catch you.

Yeah I don't think we need a massive amount of players, just a group of friends is enough.

Mechanics: :heart: Story: tbh the story can just be the instructions Players: :+1: Assets: will be worth investigating what is more efficient, svg would be for larger assets but for say 8bit asset i reckon bitmap would be pretty good (testing required).

I don't mind either building our own basic 2d engine (it's only a topdown grid game, not difficult), or using the platform-engine you suggested.

[wemyss]

has everyone played pokemon ruby/sapphire/emerald (or maybe just any one with flash), what do people think about using the idea that in a cave you can only see a small circle around you and maybe you wander around in darkness, find other players and slowly gain more vision as you kill enemies or whatever?

Seems a bit slow paced though

[wemyss]

Or in a different direction how about a lost sheep game. You have say 20 sheep that escaped into the woods and you have to go find them before wolves etc kill them, more time passes, the more wolves.

[wemyss]

or maybe something conceptually like co-op/multiplayer amnesia. Explorers who ventured into lost ruins and found cursed treasure. Game starts when they have to escape, everyone has to run (lol co-op temple runner, basically a topdown gravity guy).

[wemyss]

Or maybe it's a survival game in lost woods where you're encouraged to find others to stay alive from monsters and light fires to stay warm and see more etc.

[Cypher1]

I like the cave idea. I like the idea of little torches/fires that players can hold/set allowing everyone near them to see in their bubble of light. It could incentivize team work (and possibly minimize rendering).

@grishkin What do you think?

[wemyss]

Is there an end goal to the game like can you finish it or is survive as long as you can or get as far as you can?

[wemyss]

@Cypher1 did you play merlins revenge 1/2/3?

[Cypher1]

No, I tried playing it on Kongregate but Flash seems to have dropped support for linux and I decided to work on my Java assignments :-1: Maybe I'll install the linux version

[wemyss]

looks like c++ to me :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

[Cypher1]

Yeah. Wrote up most of assignment 2 in about half an hour so that I can compare it with students submissions.

On Tue., 29 Aug. 2017, 4:39 pm Wemyss notifications@github.com wrote:

looks like c++ to me 😜

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[Cypher1]

Done!