If you have any ideas about this game, or better ideas, please share them:
The first game, tentatively titled "BLOCKED", is a multiplayer team game set on an island. Each player is a floating little wizard-like character. The graphics are cartoonish and colorful in the style of Nintendo. Characters can pick up various kinds of wands that give them different powers, like shooting fireballs, or remote controlling objects.
In the middle of an island is a big tree that drops magic seeds. Players may pick up these seeds, drop them, and then they grow into a block. By doing this alot, players can build structures of blocks (put a seed ontop of another block). They can also use a wand that will allow them to hover their blocks and rotate/move them slowly (like the Force), so you can perfecte your structure.
Each team has a spawn point and a flag inside. The spawn point should be covered with a structure. Each team has one "force field" that they can pass through, you can use this as a "door" for your castle. You can only build blocks near blocks u have built already, ie around your base.
To get the flag inside, spawn a cannon and shoot cannonballs at the enemy base. Knock it apart to get the flag!
If you have any ideas about this game, or better ideas, please share them!!! We need artists and modellers too!
cheers! dave
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1 or more players assume the role of Wizards, progressing level to level by battling Magic powered mechanical creations, small and large, ultimately encountering the evil Warlock.
Each level contains 1 Mechanical 'Boss', many smaller mechanical enemies, a small number of magic 'wells', and numerous natural resources such as rocks and wood and metal. The players gain magical strength by controlling wells, and have the ability to cast many different spells, such as to move objects, to transform objects (rocks into bricks, wood into planks, metal into cannonballs, et cetera), as well as spells useful in combat, like fireballs, snowballs, change time, et cetera.
The players construct buildings from the available resources to protect themselves and the wells, and to act as a staging point for their attacks on the Mechanical bosses. Each boss is powered by a powerful magic object, and once the boss is destroyed, the players gain special abilities from the object, such as being able to slow time, to change the land, to fly, et cetera.
The Mechanical bosses control smaller enemies, which are used to attack the players and disrupt/impede their advance. These enemies are relatively easy to deal with, but cannot be ignored as they will cause damage to players, their buildings, and will even take objects from the player.
The Wizards are basically spirits who can interact with the world through the strength of their magic. If they use too much magic, if they stray too far from the wells, or if they lose control of their wells, they will become weak and will lose their bodies - "dying" in a sense. If a player loses his magic while still controlling at least one well (perhaps by suffering too much damage), their spirit returns to the nearest well and is replenished. If a player's magic is running low, they can return to a well at any time to replenish. If there are wells in control nearby, the players will regain their magic, up to a percentage (if their magic is between 75 - 100, they will regain up to 100, if it is between 50 and 75, they will regain to 75, et cetera).
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Sounds pretty close to what the final game will be.
For smaller enemies we could do something like this... on the first level they simply walk towards your well and attack it. You must build a simple structure to keep them at bay. The reason being there will be too many of them, respawning/attacking your well for you to leave to fight the main boss.
In progressive levels, the small enemies will get more behaviors, like jumping. So you will have to build a higher structure on level 2 because they now jump over 1 block. Maybe there are flying creatures and you need to cover your structure with a plank on level 3.
Some levels the boss could be hiding in a castle and you need a cannon to bring him out.
There are a few things that we might leave out in our submission to PGD, in case we cant get them done, we might lose points:
- gaining powers from defeated enemies
- controlling multiple wells
- resources
These can be bonuses if we get the time to complete them.
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Earth in the Middle Ages was a very different place than what the history books tell us. There were the Kings and Emperors and Czars for certain, but their power was nothing compared to the Wizards and Witches who roamed the land. It was the hidden Magical community that protected us all from Dragons, who cured for us many terrible diseases, and who kept order with Nature.
The rulers of Earth were petty and power-hungry, and mistook the Wizards' selfless protection as a powerplay for their collective thrones. They enlisted the help of a dark Wizard, a Warlock named Norim, to get rid of the Wizards. Norim's plan was simple - target the Magic community when it was at it's weakest.
On the evening of the twelfth new moon, every Witch and Wizard gathers in a secret location for an important ritual: the Binding of Powers. Each Wizard would bind their powers (and thus their souls) to a stone as old as time itself, and once all powers are bound, the stone gives each participant an equal share of the total power, ensuring each is as capable a Mage as any other.
This particular year, Norim bided his time, and waited until everyone else had performed the ritual. With everyone else powerless, Norim was able to cast a powerful Dark spell, sending the Binding Stone through time and space to a parallel dimension, the souls of each Wizard pulled from their bodies along with it. Norim, who has performed the ritual every year save this, did not realize a part of the soul stays with the stone forever, which is what makes it such a poweful object. Norim's soul was torn in two, and each half faded from being, useless without the other.
The binding stone shattered upon arriving in the new world, one similar in many ways to our own at one time, but now corrupted by an Evil force. Wizards on this world did not bind and share their powers, and this led to a power struggle and the emergence of a great and terrible Sorceror, Miron. Always thirsting for power, Miron quickly collected the largest chunk of the stone, the center, or Heart, where most of the power was concentrated.
Where the other pieces of the stone fell, wells of magic sprung from the ground. The incorporeal souls of the Wizards floated aimlessly across this new world, until the found the magic wells could give them new life. By entering the well, their souls were flush with magic, and they were able to sustain a solid form.
The Wizards soon learned the fate of their precious stone, and set out at once to recover it from Miron...
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For the "Minor" enemies, we can do something exactly like what you wrote - some can only move along the ground, some can hop, some can fly, some can attack, some just stick to you, and so on. We can reflect this in their appearance too, so for instance the ones that can only stay on the ground can be like a rolling Gear, and it can run into buildings and push blocks around. A hopper or climber could be a spring that moves like a slinky, and can climb low objects, like a block.
For the points you made to leave out, I think that is alright - don't tell them, just include it if we have time. I don't think the wells would be too difficult, no more so than one well. For regenerating, it doesn't have to be a calculation based on distance or anything like that, just a flag 'player controlled' Yes/No. if yes, if gives +1 magic pt/sec or whatever duration. If no, nothing happens. You control it by building a structure around it, and if any enemy enters the well, you lose control.
Resources you don't collect as such, they are just there - a tree can be used for wood, a stone for a block. Cast a build spell in an area, choose the size of building you want, and the spell pulls (or transports) objects into the area and put into place automatically. So say a building needs 40 blocks and 2 planks, it will grab 40 stones and 2 trees, and turn them into the right objects (ie delete the stones - add blocks). So the players do not collect or accumulate resources like in a RTS, but the spell uses stuff from the area. Maybe we could set a radius, depending on how powerful a building spell they cast, and objects only get pulled from that radius. So, 50% power pulls objects from a 500 unit radius, 25% pulls from 250, et cetera, so if the players move the objects all into one area manually, they can use less power, or, they can build a bigger structure. We'd have to be careful not to pull from existing structures though, in case they want to build more than one.
If you want to make a cannon or cannonball, same principle - cast a change-o-rama spell on a chunk of iron, choose cannonball, and viola.
Powers from bosses we can work out later, but basically I was just thinking killing a boss unlocks a new spell. This feature can wait, though, until we get the basic spells (and the basic everything else too) working. Basic spells - Move Stuff, Change-o-Rama, Build, Attack (could be various things, and more than one, but AT LEAST one).
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Change-o-rama spell and build can be one and the same - cast build on a single stone and change it to a block, cast build on iron - cannonball - cast build on some wood and iron - cannon. Cast Build on a well - build a structure.
I had another thought on building, a way to pull less objects from the world - instead of a one to one, use equivalent masses (or densities). Say a building uses 40 blocks, each block has a mass of 10, so the building has a blockmass of 400 (this can be pre-calculated, stored as a single value). The spell will then pull the same amount of mass of stone from the area, so it could be 4 blocks of 100 mass each, 100 of 4 mass each, or any combination thereof. Shouldn't be any harder than pulling by count - select a rock, subtract mass from total needed, select next rock, and so on until at total mass is achieved. Anything left over, just gets spit out nearby as a new rock.
I hope that clearly explains what I am thinking - it shouldn't be complicated. I hope!
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We can use all the toys and pre-existing objects like beachballs and basketballs for bonus points. If you collect them inside your well you get more magic per item.
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I think it would be cool to rather than planting the seeds you could shoot them with the wand via aiming with a 3D Cursor - the character could move and aim at the targetted point accordingly. :)
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heres the sum up of the game from my point of view:
i cant access the www.pascalgamedevelopment.com site, but we have to submit the game outline asap
BLOCKED
You are a soul who is stuck in a mysterious world, forced to live off of energy wells. There are various life forms on this world that are competing with you for energy. They arent trying to kill you, but they are trying to control all the energy sources. That means your power is at stake. Control an energy well and defend it from attackers. Build structures and utilize the resources around you to make your team stronger. It is your mission to disable the deranged enemies that are abusing their power.
We need some sort of "ultimate goal"
Reid could u please write something like that that sounds good :)
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This outline assumes we are going with the story as written above...
---
Ripped from Earth with only your souls intact, thousands of once powerful wizards are stuck in a mysterious world, forced to live off of wells of energy. Your only chance to return to Earth is recovering the powerful stone which brought you here.
An Evil Warlord controls the stone, and has unleashed his forces to harvest power of the life-giving wells for himself. If he succeeds, your wandering soul will be trapped forever, unable to leave this corrupted place.
You must defend as many of the energy wells as possible from the Warlord's minions, utilizing it's powers to aid your mission. Build structures and use the resources around you to make your team stronger. Fight your way to the Warlord himself and reclaim what is yours. Fail, and more than your soul may be lost.
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so, further to my last minute brain storm yesterday - the well and the shard become seperate objects, the shard activating the well (a well with no shard is useless). the shard can be taken from one well and placed in another, amplifying the power of that well. I envision a well with 3 or 4 shards spinning inside it, a gigantic sphere of power eminating from it.
it shouldn't be too hard to have multiple locations for shards - just use an offset or even a bone from the well - shard1 pos, shard2 pos, et cetera; this is exactly how it's done now, but with one shard, and the shard model is included with the well - to change, the shard model would be seperate. if we use bones for the locations we could animate them too, have them slowly circle around the well maybe even forming a pattern, like tracing out the infinity symbol or something like that.
and then, enemies can also steal shards, specifically yours. the gearguys maybe not - they smash open walls. the next enemy can actually steal the shard and bring it back to their base. If you steal the boss's shard, it loses it's protection and can be damaged by magic.
maybe we can make a special 'aura' for everyone - if you build a building around a well, that building becomes magical - if you are inside you are invulnerable (if it's your well). If the building is destroyed (say 75% knocked over), or if the shard is stolen, the aura is gone. If the shard is gone, you also lose the abilities to cast some spells, for example.
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This is how the wells/teams work in version 0.2... this isnt necessarily how they will work or how they should work, its a logical way from a coding point a view:
TEAMS
- Each Well has a link to a Team.
- If a Teammate touches a Well, and the Well has no Team or no Treasure, then the Well becomes linked to the Teammates Team.
- If a Teammate touches a Well, and the Well has Treasure, then the Well stays on the original Team, and tries to "Expel" the intruder.
- If a Gearguy touches a Well it becomes part of their team (cuz they are too stupid to know how to clear the treasure away)
POWER
- You can drain 1 point of power from your well every step if your energy is less than max. If you have more than one well you can drain from each one.
- Your well increases energy every N steps, and gets one point for every item of treasure.
- If a well is captured nothing happens to the energy.
CANNON
- After the well hits 1024 it spawns a cannon and resets to 0
SPAWN
- Every N steps, a Teammate of PrimaryClass is spawned if the teammate count is less than MinimumPrimary, if there is enough total energy to cover the SpawnCost
If you have any ideas about this game, or better ideas, please share them:
The first game, tentatively titled "BLOCKED", is a multiplayer team game set on an island. Each player is a floating little wizard-like character. The graphics are cartoonish and colorful in the style of Nintendo. Characters can pick up various kinds of wands that give them different powers, like shooting fireballs, or remote controlling objects.
In the middle of an island is a big tree that drops magic seeds. Players may pick up these seeds, drop them, and then they grow into a block. By doing this alot, players can build structures of blocks (put a seed ontop of another block). They can also use a wand that will allow them to hover their blocks and rotate/move them slowly (like the Force), so you can perfecte your structure.
Each team has a spawn point and a flag inside. The spawn point should be covered with a structure. Each team has one "force field" that they can pass through, you can use this as a "door" for your castle. You can only build blocks near blocks u have built already, ie around your base.
To get the flag inside, spawn a cannon and shoot cannonballs at the enemy base. Knock it apart to get the flag!
If you have any ideas about this game, or better ideas, please share them!!! We need artists and modellers too!
cheers! dave
Basic premise of Blocked:
1 or more players assume the role of Wizards, progressing level to level by battling Magic powered mechanical creations, small and large, ultimately encountering the evil Warlock.
Each level contains 1 Mechanical 'Boss', many smaller mechanical enemies, a small number of magic 'wells', and numerous natural resources such as rocks and wood and metal. The players gain magical strength by controlling wells, and have the ability to cast many different spells, such as to move objects, to transform objects (rocks into bricks, wood into planks, metal into cannonballs, et cetera), as well as spells useful in combat, like fireballs, snowballs, change time, et cetera.
The players construct buildings from the available resources to protect themselves and the wells, and to act as a staging point for their attacks on the Mechanical bosses. Each boss is powered by a powerful magic object, and once the boss is destroyed, the players gain special abilities from the object, such as being able to slow time, to change the land, to fly, et cetera.
The Mechanical bosses control smaller enemies, which are used to attack the players and disrupt/impede their advance. These enemies are relatively easy to deal with, but cannot be ignored as they will cause damage to players, their buildings, and will even take objects from the player.
The Wizards are basically spirits who can interact with the world through the strength of their magic. If they use too much magic, if they stray too far from the wells, or if they lose control of their wells, they will become weak and will lose their bodies - "dying" in a sense. If a player loses his magic while still controlling at least one well (perhaps by suffering too much damage), their spirit returns to the nearest well and is replenished. If a player's magic is running low, they can return to a well at any time to replenish. If there are wells in control nearby, the players will regain their magic, up to a percentage (if their magic is between 75 - 100, they will regain up to 100, if it is between 50 and 75, they will regain to 75, et cetera).
Sounds pretty close to what the final game will be.
For smaller enemies we could do something like this... on the first level they simply walk towards your well and attack it. You must build a simple structure to keep them at bay. The reason being there will be too many of them, respawning/attacking your well for you to leave to fight the main boss.
In progressive levels, the small enemies will get more behaviors, like jumping. So you will have to build a higher structure on level 2 because they now jump over 1 block. Maybe there are flying creatures and you need to cover your structure with a plank on level 3.
Some levels the boss could be hiding in a castle and you need a cannon to bring him out.
There are a few things that we might leave out in our submission to PGD, in case we cant get them done, we might lose points:
- gaining powers from defeated enemies
- controlling multiple wells
- resources
These can be bonuses if we get the time to complete them.
Earth in the Middle Ages was a very different place than what the history books tell us. There were the Kings and Emperors and Czars for certain, but their power was nothing compared to the Wizards and Witches who roamed the land. It was the hidden Magical community that protected us all from Dragons, who cured for us many terrible diseases, and who kept order with Nature.
The rulers of Earth were petty and power-hungry, and mistook the Wizards' selfless protection as a powerplay for their collective thrones. They enlisted the help of a dark Wizard, a Warlock named Norim, to get rid of the Wizards. Norim's plan was simple - target the Magic community when it was at it's weakest.
On the evening of the twelfth new moon, every Witch and Wizard gathers in a secret location for an important ritual: the Binding of Powers. Each Wizard would bind their powers (and thus their souls) to a stone as old as time itself, and once all powers are bound, the stone gives each participant an equal share of the total power, ensuring each is as capable a Mage as any other.
This particular year, Norim bided his time, and waited until everyone else had performed the ritual. With everyone else powerless, Norim was able to cast a powerful Dark spell, sending the Binding Stone through time and space to a parallel dimension, the souls of each Wizard pulled from their bodies along with it. Norim, who has performed the ritual every year save this, did not realize a part of the soul stays with the stone forever, which is what makes it such a poweful object. Norim's soul was torn in two, and each half faded from being, useless without the other.
The binding stone shattered upon arriving in the new world, one similar in many ways to our own at one time, but now corrupted by an Evil force. Wizards on this world did not bind and share their powers, and this led to a power struggle and the emergence of a great and terrible Sorceror, Miron. Always thirsting for power, Miron quickly collected the largest chunk of the stone, the center, or Heart, where most of the power was concentrated.
Where the other pieces of the stone fell, wells of magic sprung from the ground. The incorporeal souls of the Wizards floated aimlessly across this new world, until the found the magic wells could give them new life. By entering the well, their souls were flush with magic, and they were able to sustain a solid form.
The Wizards soon learned the fate of their precious stone, and set out at once to recover it from Miron...
For the "Minor" enemies, we can do something exactly like what you wrote - some can only move along the ground, some can hop, some can fly, some can attack, some just stick to you, and so on. We can reflect this in their appearance too, so for instance the ones that can only stay on the ground can be like a rolling Gear, and it can run into buildings and push blocks around. A hopper or climber could be a spring that moves like a slinky, and can climb low objects, like a block.
For the points you made to leave out, I think that is alright - don't tell them, just include it if we have time. I don't think the wells would be too difficult, no more so than one well. For regenerating, it doesn't have to be a calculation based on distance or anything like that, just a flag 'player controlled' Yes/No. if yes, if gives +1 magic pt/sec or whatever duration. If no, nothing happens. You control it by building a structure around it, and if any enemy enters the well, you lose control.
Resources you don't collect as such, they are just there - a tree can be used for wood, a stone for a block. Cast a build spell in an area, choose the size of building you want, and the spell pulls (or transports) objects into the area and put into place automatically. So say a building needs 40 blocks and 2 planks, it will grab 40 stones and 2 trees, and turn them into the right objects (ie delete the stones - add blocks). So the players do not collect or accumulate resources like in a RTS, but the spell uses stuff from the area. Maybe we could set a radius, depending on how powerful a building spell they cast, and objects only get pulled from that radius. So, 50% power pulls objects from a 500 unit radius, 25% pulls from 250, et cetera, so if the players move the objects all into one area manually, they can use less power, or, they can build a bigger structure. We'd have to be careful not to pull from existing structures though, in case they want to build more than one.
If you want to make a cannon or cannonball, same principle - cast a change-o-rama spell on a chunk of iron, choose cannonball, and viola.
Powers from bosses we can work out later, but basically I was just thinking killing a boss unlocks a new spell. This feature can wait, though, until we get the basic spells (and the basic everything else too) working. Basic spells - Move Stuff, Change-o-Rama, Build, Attack (could be various things, and more than one, but AT LEAST one).
Change-o-rama spell and build can be one and the same - cast build on a single stone and change it to a block, cast build on iron - cannonball - cast build on some wood and iron - cannon. Cast Build on a well - build a structure.
I had another thought on building, a way to pull less objects from the world - instead of a one to one, use equivalent masses (or densities). Say a building uses 40 blocks, each block has a mass of 10, so the building has a blockmass of 400 (this can be pre-calculated, stored as a single value). The spell will then pull the same amount of mass of stone from the area, so it could be 4 blocks of 100 mass each, 100 of 4 mass each, or any combination thereof. Shouldn't be any harder than pulling by count - select a rock, subtract mass from total needed, select next rock, and so on until at total mass is achieved. Anything left over, just gets spit out nearby as a new rock.
I hope that clearly explains what I am thinking - it shouldn't be complicated. I hope!
Idea:
We can use all the toys and pre-existing objects like beachballs and basketballs for bonus points. If you collect them inside your well you get more magic per item.
I think it would be cool to rather than planting the seeds you could shoot them with the wand via aiming with a 3D Cursor - the character could move and aim at the targetted point accordingly. :)
heres the sum up of the game from my point of view:
i cant access the www.pascalgamedevelopment.com site, but we have to submit the game outline asap
BLOCKED
You are a soul who is stuck in a mysterious world, forced to live off of energy wells. There are various life forms on this world that are competing with you for energy. They arent trying to kill you, but they are trying to control all the energy sources. That means your power is at stake. Control an energy well and defend it from attackers. Build structures and utilize the resources around you to make your team stronger. It is your mission to disable the deranged enemies that are abusing their power.
We need some sort of "ultimate goal"
Reid could u please write something like that that sounds good :)
This outline assumes we are going with the story as written above...
---
Ripped from Earth with only your souls intact, thousands of once powerful wizards are stuck in a mysterious world, forced to live off of wells of energy. Your only chance to return to Earth is recovering the powerful stone which brought you here.
An Evil Warlord controls the stone, and has unleashed his forces to harvest power of the life-giving wells for himself. If he succeeds, your wandering soul will be trapped forever, unable to leave this corrupted place.
You must defend as many of the energy wells as possible from the Warlord's minions, utilizing it's powers to aid your mission. Build structures and use the resources around you to make your team stronger. Fight your way to the Warlord himself and reclaim what is yours. Fail, and more than your soul may be lost.
Excellent!!!
:)
so, further to my last minute brain storm yesterday - the well and the shard become seperate objects, the shard activating the well (a well with no shard is useless). the shard can be taken from one well and placed in another, amplifying the power of that well. I envision a well with 3 or 4 shards spinning inside it, a gigantic sphere of power eminating from it.
it shouldn't be too hard to have multiple locations for shards - just use an offset or even a bone from the well - shard1 pos, shard2 pos, et cetera; this is exactly how it's done now, but with one shard, and the shard model is included with the well - to change, the shard model would be seperate. if we use bones for the locations we could animate them too, have them slowly circle around the well maybe even forming a pattern, like tracing out the infinity symbol or something like that.
and then, enemies can also steal shards, specifically yours. the gearguys maybe not - they smash open walls. the next enemy can actually steal the shard and bring it back to their base. If you steal the boss's shard, it loses it's protection and can be damaged by magic.
maybe we can make a special 'aura' for everyone - if you build a building around a well, that building becomes magical - if you are inside you are invulnerable (if it's your well). If the building is destroyed (say 75% knocked over), or if the shard is stolen, the aura is gone. If the shard is gone, you also lose the abilities to cast some spells, for example.
This is how the wells/teams work in version 0.2... this isnt necessarily how they will work or how they should work, its a logical way from a coding point a view:
TEAMS
- Each Well has a link to a Team.
- If a Teammate touches a Well, and the Well has no Team or no Treasure, then the Well becomes linked to the Teammates Team.
- If a Teammate touches a Well, and the Well has Treasure, then the Well stays on the original Team, and tries to "Expel" the intruder.
- If a Gearguy touches a Well it becomes part of their team (cuz they are too stupid to know how to clear the treasure away)
POWER
- You can drain 1 point of power from your well every step if your energy is less than max. If you have more than one well you can drain from each one.
- Your well increases energy every N steps, and gets one point for every item of treasure.
- If a well is captured nothing happens to the energy.
CANNON
- After the well hits 1024 it spawns a cannon and resets to 0
SPAWN
- Every N steps, a Teammate of PrimaryClass is spawned if the teammate count is less than MinimumPrimary, if there is enough total energy to cover the SpawnCost
LINKS:
BLOCKED_TEAM
->Teammates
->Wells
->Paths
BLOCKED_WELL
->Team
->Treasures
BLOCKED_TEAMMATE
->Team