Project: Metagame - Join and contribute!

[Geti]

mmn just an idea.
i know we need the game mechanic.
so far we have:
characters affected by gravity
planets in set orbit unless hit with a large force
planets with gravity
small enemies that can cross planets in some cases
particles

is that it?

[Ignate]

AGH AGH AGH I'm being left out because of choppy internet connections!
So anyway, I have more character designs, for both astronauts and robots. The robots are obviously not finalised, just new concepts.

[smartalco]

I think the human shouldn't change so much between forms, like, keep his head the same between all of them (squarish and with the 2 circular colored eyes, its a cool design, the 3rd of the above 3 humans just looks evil)

[Geti]

the first human and the robots look cool. not a fan of the stick legs on the runbot though, come on, hes for running: those spindly fail sticks wont get him anywhere :P also still dont really like how the spring looks.

[Ad]

Looking through the robot designs, a major flaw in the jump one has showed up for me; with one foot, how would it move? Hopping would be choppy, so I thought maybe replace the foot with a small wheel, giving the robot a leg that resembles the suspension on the front wheel of a bike?

[Geti]

no, i think thats really the idea of it. its crap at moving about, so it can kill stuff.
hmn, what if we have a rewrite of the robot forms?
what if we have only 2 forms, movement and combat?
movement form can run fast, jump really far, has either a hover pack with a short timer on it or a jump jet for double jump, etc etc, takes more damage and maybe has a weak melee attack (basically, hes the current run-man with stronger legs for jumping and a jetpack).
combat form is much slower, can jump short distances and has either a weak hover/double jump or none at all, but has a powerful melee and long range attacks, and takes much less damage. basically, you can change between brawler and parkour.

[Condog]

Looking through the robot designs, a major flaw in the jump one has showed up for me; with one foot, how would it move? Hopping would be choppy, so I thought maybe replace the foot with a small wheel, giving the robot a leg that resembles the suspension on the front wheel of a bike?

Hopping would be fine. I imagine it would be similar to the way the lamp from the Pixar shorts move. It wouldn't be that hard to animate, and as long as we do it right, it will look good.

[LittleViking]

no, i think thats really the idea of it. its crap at moving about, so it can kill stuff.
hmn, what if we have a rewrite of the robot forms?
what if we have only 2 forms, movement and combat?
movement form can run fast, jump really far, has either a hover pack with a short timer on it or a jump jet for double jump, etc etc, takes more damage and maybe has a weak melee attack (basically, hes the current run-man with stronger legs for jumping and a jetpack).
combat form is much slower, can jump short distances and has either a weak hover/double jump or none at all, but has a powerful melee and long range attacks, and takes much less damage. basically, you can change between brawler and parkour.

Ew, no no. That would be like Doom 3's problem of letting you either hold your flashlight or your gun, so you could either move or shoot. It's awkward switching forms just to attack. I pictured the hopper moving at constant speed even though he's visually hopping along. From the engine's point of view, he'd still be a ball moving forward; it's just the graphics that would be hopping.

Anyway, we've been planning for a month today. I'm going to have one last go at the design document before the end of the weekend, and we should be able to start work by Monday. We'll try to decide on team leaders - that is, people who can easily understand what will be needed to reach each goal, step by step, and who can keep their team members decently motivated and on task. I tihnk we're doing well. I know people are eager to work, so we'll do what we can to make that happen.

[Geti]

fair enough, just an idea.

and mmn, maybe not a constant pace then, like a lot of acceleration and deceleration from hop to hop. fast while in the air, a short pause when saving up energy, the hopping again. but maybe not.

id like to be leader of art, but looking at the plausibility of that id at least need a co-leader, as ill be gone for all of december, and have exams before then. >< so id like to be, but thats up to you.

[Ignate]

I vote for Condog or Animator to be art leader. Or anyone but me, actually. So don't worry, Geti.

And while I'm here, I'll just post this.

[Geti]

been brought up as our initial inspiration actually.

[Animator]

Ignate, I wouldn't recommend The Lost Vikings for this game. It's got 3 characters, true, but it's kinda more aimed at puzzles, while this game might have a bit more combat and might not be practical for this game. We could alter it a bit, of course.

[Ad]

I thought we were going for a game with a good few puzzling parts in it? I can't keep up! :P

[mattk210]

we haven't decided. I want puzzles though.

[Destiny]

i though it was like 70:30 for puzzle:combat :/

i guess it's down to the level design team as to which way it leans

[squibbles]

i though it was like 70:30 for puzzle:combat :/

i guess it's down to the level design team as to which way it leans

Yeah, I had that impression as well...

[Geti]

i guess it's down to the level design team as to which way it leans

exactly

[mattk210]

that's true, but we can't just for everything say: let's make it work all ways so the level design team can choose. If we decide beforehand we want it more puzzle-based, we'd be wasting our time making (coding and graphics-wise) lots of different enemies. Keeping things compact and simple is key.

[Animator]

Yup, just patiently waiting for orders. You know, for that game? Big planets, robot krackens, that sort? Yeah. *cough*

We need to get work done. Pronto.

[mattk210]

see, in game dev, usually (with me at least), you start by programming a framework and engine, implementing the basic mechanics and whatever, then start programming specific in game objects, then do graphics, then do music. You can't really do that out of order or you risk stuff not working/not gel-ing together.

We need a programmer to start fleshing out the basics. I'm the only programmer who's been following the project with any enthusiasm/regularity, and I just don't have time/am not good enough to lead the programming and make the framework. I guess we wait until one of the big important coder people decide they can be bothered to lead programming.

[Animator]

We need a programmer to start fleshing out the basics. I'm the only programmer who's been following the project with any enthusiasm/regularity, and I just don't have time/am not good enough to lead the programming and make the framework. I guess we wait until one of the big important coder people decide they can be bothered to lead programming.

It's called IRC, matt. AF and others have been watching this like a hawk, and I'd still say that you can't have any flesh without perfecting the tissue. We're still sketchy on details, and you you're really going on a blind lead since you don't even know the coding language for this yet, only a 'suggestion'. We need one big reunion in #metagame, and clear up stuff. Those who aren't there will be left out, and if the ideas are already implemented by the time we've begun working on this, then too bad.

Just everyone [in this project] get on #metagame and we'll talk.

[mattk210]

sorry AF, whoever that is. You're right, I haven't been on IRC, just looking at the forum I couldn't see any other coders (or in the IRC logs, so how was I to know?) Set a time/date for the IRC meeting but I may not be able to be there because I have exams.

For starting on "a blind lead" I still maintain completely that we need some working code. Things that seem good in concept are not always good in practice and I don't think there's any "details" that need to be worked out that would cause a rewrite of the basic engine.

EDIT: If you've been on IRC, why is there no IRC log on the wiki?

[Animator]

EDIT: If you've been on IRC, why is there no IRC log on the wiki?

Discussion has been grinding to a halt, and people are too lazy to put them on. Mind you, we've been watching, but discussion has stopped because of lack of contact from other people.

[beethoveN]

hey! I don't have the patience to look and analyze all the comments but could somebody summarize what the game is, what helpers are needed and tell me how to use those source codes.
please

[Condog]

hey! I don't have the patience to look and analyze all the comments but could somebody summarize what the game is, what helpers are needed and tell me how to use those source codes.
please

Read the assembla link in the first post. If you don't have the patience to do that, then you probably won't have the patience to do anything else for this project, so you should probably not get involved.