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I'm stuck!

Started by Samith Jun 26, 2004 at 9:57 PM 7 replies 1.6k views
Original Post
Samith
Samith
So a few days ago I was listening to the song "I Ran So Far Away" by A Flock of Seagulls, and he kept saying "I ran" and that made me think of Iran, which made me think of guns, which made me think of "Machine gun man" (it rhymes with I ran :p) and so I decided to make a game where you run around and shoot people. Ok, I did that. You run around, you shoot stuff, blood flys out and stains the ground. That was fun for like....10 seconds. Now I don't know what to do to make it into a real game :( The way it is now, you can run around in the level, each level has a few spawn points for enemies that makes new enemies every so often. The entire level fits on the screen, so you can see all of it at one time. Each level has one exit point, which if you get to you leave the level and go to the next level, provided there is another level to go to. So basically you run around, shoot stuff, go to the exit, go the level 2, shoot stuff, go to the exit, and beat the game (I haven't made more levels yet) So far, the enemies just...uh...move towards you and get shot. They die in one hit. They're just there so you can spray blood everywhere. So, really, I don't know where to go with this game. I could make the levels bigger, and add vehicles. Seemed to work for UT2004 :p. But it still wouldn't be a game. There is like...nothing to do but shoot people and go to the next level and shoot the same stuff again. Should I make stats scriptable enemies that actually do stuff? Add new weapons? Multiplayer (Don't know how to do that, internet is hard) I was thinking of maybe adding some kind of jewels to the game, you have to run around, collect jewels and then the exit would be revealed. Enemies would be harder to kill and levels would be bigger with more diverse elements than "solid quads" (squares on the map that you can't walk through) and "non-solid quads" (squares you can walk through). I don't know, any ideas on how I could make this into a real game? By the way: Screenshot 1: Level 1Level One Killing Screenshot 2: Level 2Level Two Killing
JMOmandown
JMOmandown
Maybe add new monsters that are increasing smarter as the game continues, and to make replaying it non repetitive add a password system to skip to certain levels (should be extremely simple)
Samith
Samith
Quote:
Original post by JMOmandown
Maybe add new monsters that are increasing smarter as the game continues, and to make replaying it non repetitive add a password system to skip to certain levels (should be extremely simple)


I already have a save game system (It doesn't work, but once it works it should be good enough.) And yeah, I'm thinking about making monsters new for each level, and have some that can shoot back at you, or something like that. I also need to work on some graphical improvements :p
Veovis
Veovis
I'd say having them shoot back at you is a MUST. All of them should have some attack. The easiest ones should only hurt you if they touch you (give them a knife). The rest should have guns of increasing power (pistol -> rifle -> machine gun).

For the exit. I'd suggest having it closed and locked until you kill a certain number of enemies. (or kill enemies to get a certain number of points). Each level should require more kills/points.
fractoid
fractoid
I say stay with the non-shoot-backingness of them, but make them kill you if they touch you.

Maybe say you're a mindless zombie trying to escape to freedom where you can eat fluffy kittens, and the splatter dudes are humans?

(oh, and jewels? I think they're unnecessary. plus cliche. :)
adventuredesign
adventuredesign
Quote:
Original post by Samith
So a few days ago I was listening to the song "I Ran So Far Away" by A Flock of Seagulls, and he kept saying "I ran" and that made me think of Iran, which made me think of guns, which made me think of "Machine gun man" (it rhymes with I ran :p) and so I decided to make a game where you run around and shoot people. Ok, I did that. You run around, you shoot stuff, blood flys out and stains the ground. That was fun for like....10 seconds. Now I don't know what to do to make it into a real game :(
I don't know, any ideas on how I could make this into a real game?


My advice is to think of the why question. Why is this guy running around and shooting people. Think about it in depth, it might turn into a character with motivations that players can agree with and go along for the ride with. Works for other games.

Addy
Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see. - The Tao
Eternal
Eternal
The game CrimsonLand has some nice features. They have a demo for downloading, so you might want to look at that. The full-version also has a type-o-shooter mode where you have to type in the names of the monsters attacking you to shoot them. pretty fun.

What I'd also like to see in such a game is enemy variation, like masses of dumb melee things in one level and few well-equipped and intelligent guys in another.
boolean
boolean
Or Super Smash TV on the super nintendo! If you havnt heard of it, its a game show where prisoners play for thier lives in studio arenas where wave upon wave of people are sent to kill them, all of them exploding in gooey deaths. The game had excellent gameplay, and an awesomr atmosphere, as you could always see the cameras overhead, the fact you win toasters and VCR's, the host making comments. Awesome game. Check out some reviews.
Samith
Samith
They already hurt you if they touch you, it's just that getting hurt doesn't really.....do.....anything (not *yet* at least). I'll make it so there are more enemies and enemies are harder and levels require a certain number of kills to leave, too.

The motivation? Hmm, maybe this: You're an alien guy, and humans are trying to take over your land/planet whatever, so you kill them. Good enough for me :D

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