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Total Members Voted: 0

Voting closed: September 17, 2011, 12:37:34 pm

[Siquo]

Strip mining, although safe, would take too long My Sim Tower "aha-erlebnis" was just about the "vertical challenge" it produced. Stairs, elevators, ladders, ropes, carting the stone horizontally, etc.

"Single player" is the easiest, BUT: Are you sure you want to be carting out every load of stone all by yourself? Man, that's going to be one monotonous game... Maybe you'll need to set up something of an automated train-system that carts out the stone.
We'll see. First to get that single player thing up.

[eerr]

But what will stop people from trolling and dropping the mineshaft on someone?

And if someone dies, then what happens?

[Mechatronic]

Isometric views can get confusing with overlaid features piling lines on top of each other. Having a standard iso view where commands entered but with the ability to grab and rotate would be handy.

[qwertyuiopas]

Having a single player-controlled character would still leave room for NPCs. It would make it somewhat less like DF, and add more significance to their inevitable death.

One vague idea that might work is that mining creates a rubble pile nearby, optionally able to block tunnels if it gets large enough, and you can hire NPCs to remove it, one wheelbarrowful at a time. Obviously, NPCs wouldn't have the skill to do some of the more complex tasks, but they could certainly automate some of the more basic and repetitive actions, at least once you have the funds to pay them...

[DreamThorn]

I think that, since we want this to be a simple and quick thing, 2-D is the way to go.

Also, it looks like the consensus is some kind of mining game with an absurdist style.  I recommend a side view.

I think I should start working on our moustachioed main character sprite.  We need to quickly get consensus on the following:

1. Sex and gender
2. Species
3. Setting (Fantasy, Steampunk or whatever)

[Supermikhail]

Okay. Writers suddenly get a serious idea.

You're a knight on a quest to free the maiden and to kill the dragon. You're not one of those fighty knights, though, you're actually one of those diggy knights with picks and beards. Under the cover of night you sneak up to the tower, strum a couple of chords on your lute and sing the name of your lady softly but audibly. Scarcely a couple of minutes passes and the face of an angel peeks at you from the window at the top of the tower.

"My lord, have you come to rescue me?" she cries.

"Yes, my lady," you say, but before necessary courtesies, boasts, and oaths take final form in your mind, there is a hideous roar somewhere in the sky.

"My lord, I pray for your success and for the beast's downfall in this battle," your lady says, and you cannot help noticing a certain bloodthirsty glee on her distant face.

As a huge shadow clouds the moon, you turn to face it. You can't suppress an expression of utter horror and a whimper. You cover your head as the monster makes a showy swoop, its claws passing just a few feet from your face and the wind from its wings almost driving you off your feet. Almost... You quickly recover your wits and, without another glance at the tower, dart away in a zigzagging line.

You come to your senses only at the camp where your companions intercept and hold you in place for a good minute while you keep stomping your feet trying to run away. Your embarrassment is limitless, but your party doesn't press the matter, except for a few derisive snorts. They bring you a bucket of water and you quench your thirst, trying to gather your thoughts.

"So, what's the plan?" inquires your right hand, Oster, uneasily.

Taking a deep breath after the effort of drinking, you blurt out, "We're going under!"

***

Or something like that. The idea is to dig your way to the tower of the princess because the dragon rages above the ground. Off the top of my head, so I'm going to explore other directions.

[Siquo]

But what will stop people from trolling and dropping the mineshaft on someone?

No multiplayer?
Well, if there will be, it'll be coop (I like coop), and nothing can stop them. Unless he is a traitor. And every game might have a traitor role assigned to a PC, who will only win with a different goal. Fuck yeah. But that's fluffystuffy for later.

Isometric views can get confusing with overlaid features piling lines on top of each other. Having a standard iso view where commands entered but with the ability to grab and rotate would be handy.

This. Rotating Iso is not possible unless you go full 3D, or in 90 degree steps, but yesterday while coding I got stuck and this morning I decided we're not doing overlaid layers. One z-level at a time. Or we go side-view arcade style, that's still possible as well.

Having a single player-controlled character would still leave room for NPCs. It would make it somewhat less like DF, and add more significance to their inevitable death.

Yes. I think this with a very limited number of NPC's is going to work out the best.

I think that, since we want this to be a simple and quick thing, 2-D is the way to go.

Multi-layered 2D is possible as well. With 3 dimensional natural structures we will need ramps and I don't really want to use ramps, and 3D structures and Line Of Sight are harder to do as well. We're going to get either side-view, or a layer-at-a-time, with stairs/elevators/holes up and down, not unlike nethack.

Okay. Writers suddenly get a serious idea.

I like. Cliche with bad-ass strike-a-pose possibilities, twist ending (or is there?!), and an anti-hero.

Remember that we can still do this In Space mining an asteroid, or any other setting.

[DreamThorn]

In Space?  Hmm...

Moustachioed Astronaut Knight saves Mad A.I. Princess imprisoned in an asteroid base guarded by a Space Dragon.

I am now getting thoroughly inspired. 

[Max White]

I am now getting thoroughly inspired. 

Dem do eet.

[Armok]

I think that, since we want this to be a simple and quick thing, 2-D is the way to go.

Also, it looks like the consensus is some kind of mining game with an absurdist style.  I recommend a side view.

I think I should start working on our moustachioed main character sprite.  We need to quickly get consensus on the following:

1. Sex and gender
2. Species
3. Setting (Fantasy, Steampunk or whatever)

1. I've never seen a female with a large mustache.
2. human.
3. realistic 1700 century, with MAYBE some rare mythological elements very deep underground along to line of lovecraft/forgotten beasts.

Strip mining, although safe, would take too long My Sim Tower "aha-erlebnis" was just about the "vertical challenge" it produced. Stairs, elevators, ladders, ropes, carting the stone horizontally, etc.

"Single player" is the easiest, BUT: Are you sure you want to be carting out every load of stone all by yourself? Man, that's going to be one monotonous game... Maybe you'll need to set up something of an automated train-system that carts out the stone.
We'll see. First to get that single player thing up.

Absolutely no strip mining. rather in the direction of tunnels being so narrow you have to crawl through them.

The idea I have for carrying the loads is an automated "retrace your steps" thing. Maybe embodied throguh some kind of guid rope. Basicaly you'd grab whatever object you need out of the cave, press a hotkey, and your character travels all the way up to the surface in fast forward, drops the rock in a pre specified time, and returns to where you pressed it. You'd have to lay down the original route, and ocationaly move the end points a few tiles when you mine out more or the pile becomes to big, but the actual travel time would not have to be played through. It'd still be simulated for things like slippage risk and events and such.Basicaly similar to how sleep is handled many games.

###

In regards to the view, what about side view and most movement being in a single vertical plain,  but still having it fundamentaly 3d with the ability to make tunnels in and out of the screen that fill a similar role to stairs in most top view games? Thad get around the silliness of having to jump or build bridges where you logicaly shuld just dig around the ting, make it easier to avoid digging tunnels under each other,  and give you more realistic amounts of space, but otherwise leave it mostly like the classic way.

[DreamThorn]

I drew some Astro-Knight sprites:



Maybe the princess' name is PrIncESS or something.  You save her by saving her to disk  and then escaping with the disk.

[eerr]

This game is going to get extremely slow if we show the player carting out every hunk of stone.

[Siquo]

LOL
"Astro-Knight: Can You Dig It?"


Yeah, being able to get NPC's to cart out the stone will be a lot better than just the "one guy on his own".
You just can't mine alone, and if you do, it's effing tedious.

[eerr]

Someone tell me how carting out stone, in the end, will be fun.

Because it just seems a source of suffering as people are forced to suffer shlemiel the painter while carting rocks.

[Biag]

From a design perspective, a side-view will be the least confusing to the player while still allowing for minimal abstraction. Plus constructing a side-view rail line could get interesting.

What are we thinking for musical style? I can throw together a chiptune demo pretty quick.