Me Go New Game: A developement diary

The dawning of doom

2008-10-22T14:58:26Z

back in black
but no heads are turning
back in black
noone came to see
back in black
are they still yearning?
back in black
for ETERNITY!

Alright, it's about time I got some things straight. All that I have been doing on this blog since goddamn 7th May, 2008 was letting everyone down, including myself. The promised "final update" never came, the project never actually started, despite numerous claims, an "update schedule" was abandoned after a mere three weeks, even the pictures have ceased and, to put the bloodclot on top of the shit sundae, I promised a "big update!" two months ago - an update that never came, and won't come soon. All I can say at this point is "I'm really sorry", but unless the last times I said that... I'm remotely honest this time.

So, as I said, time for some cleanup. See the line down there? Disregard anything that was said below there except for the basic game concept (and characters). EVERYTHING. Especially the promises. The next time you'll hear from this game is when a thread will appear in the GiP section of the AGS forums, and then this blog will resume with some "behind-the-scenes" stuff. I know it's probably not the best way to go - especially since I just crashed your hopes and dreams again, I fear - but it's the only one that seems resonable right now - drawing a line, and starting over again. Well... not over... from 7th. May, 2008. So pretend the last 5 1/2 months didn't even happen, and this blog is still young, healthy and energetic.

Oh, and as a little treat to make up for not giving you the quality entertainment for free you're SO entitled to, here are a couple of shittily sketched puns.

ONE
DEUX
DREI

- Akatosh

The aforementioned line:
______________________________________________

Missed update?

2008-08-12T16:23:44Z

You betcha! There'll be a bigger one soon to make up for that, though, so fret not.

- Akatosh

It's a travesty!

2008-08-02T16:42:38Z

Today, I ruined a core feature and running gag of the series. Clearly I abandoned my fans and deserve to be tracked down and killed before I fuck up even more.

Which is to say, I'm making slow but steady progress, and there's not much else to show off yet. The game is rather low priority right now, and will probably stay so until September. Stay tuned, though.

~Akatosh

Master Design Document, part FUCK THIS

2008-07-28T10:36:00Z

Screw that, we're live!

It was about time.

-Akatosh

Master Design Document, part 3

2008-07-19T15:03:30Z

With all the pace of a glacier, the game is pushing forward. But at least it is, again. You can find part three here because LJ formatting is being retarded.

Also, Abraham Linclon has a moustache.

- Akatosh

Master Design Document, part two

2008-07-12T14:23:53Z

Seriously lapse of motivation here, but I promised an entry every Saturday, so here it is. It's pretty brief this time, but that's mainly because that section seems to be supposed to be some sort of overview for content to follow. Oh, and there's some redundant stuff in there.

PART TWO

Common Questions

What is the game?

In short, Me Go New Game is an item-driven RPG/Adventure hybrid that could be seen as a humorous comment on both of the genres. It also contains some arcade-y elements to mix things up a bit.

Why create this game?

Just for fun, mainly. I mean, I'm neither expecting this game to bring about world peace, and I'm not planning on selling it either. Maybe (hopefully) it sends a few persons thinking and maybe see RPGs with other eyes, or some sort of cosmic radiation makes people feel an irrational need to buy Me Go Merchandise (fat chance), sure, but I'm not counting on that. Thus, my aim is "have fun".

Oh, and I think there have to be more RPGs that are neither "epic fantasy" nor Japanese.

Anyway. Let's leave the "why" (why, dear god,WHY?) behind and move on to the "what" (what have you DONE?).

Where does the game take place?

The game takes places in the world of Me Go Store, in all its selectively contunuity-ignoring "glory". To be exact, everything happens in Central Continentia, located on the planet Medium Orbit, the name of which will not be mentioned in any further document (let alone in-game) ever again. The continent is split up in the nations of Backwoodtopia, Tacoland, Townce and Evilistan, through which the player will have to travel. This will be described more in-depth in the section "The Game World", later on.

How is the game played?

Mostly like a Point'n'Click adventure. That is to say, you have the cursor modes "Walk to", "Look at", "Interact with" and "Talk to" available, there is an inventory filled with the junk you acquired, you have to solve questionable puzzles to proceed and so on - until you encounter an enemy (you CAN see them from a distance, but you CAN'T avoid 'em - think The Spirit Engine) and a combat screen opens up. There's some ancient and crappy combat screen concept art here: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/FAMILIAR_QUEST/combat.png. (The items usable in combat are exacty those you use in Point'n'Click mode, by the way, to connect the two parts a bit stronger).

How does combat work?

You choose an action by clicking the appropiate button. Then some sort of "minigame" pops up, depending on what you chose. For example, bashing somebody requires strength, which means you'll have to bash a button as quickly as possible. After, say, 10 seconds, it closes again and you do damage based on your weapon, your enemy's resistances (if any), and how well you fared in that minigame. If your opponent dies, some happy music plays and there's a chance he'll drop something. If not, it's his turn and your opponent bashes you in the face. If you survive, it's your turn again. Rinse and repeat until shiny.

What is the main focus?

Get back the Really Important Object that Evilguy steals during the intro and spend the rest of your life in bliss. Or something.

Evilguy steals a Really Important Object and you have to retrieve it?

Yes. That's called a "plot".

So the game will have a plot?

Yes.

Sweet! Care to share some details?

That's classified information.

Crap. But anyway. What's different from other games in the genre?

- The setting. (This includes the game world, the characters, ... everything, basically). I mean... SERIOUSLY.
- The humor. For reasons, see above.
- The gameplay. A lot of RPGs contain puzzles, sure, and some adventures have combat, but these elements are usually rudimentary (push crates / "use gun on man"). I'm trying to create a game that will be BOTH an adventure AND an RPG, if you catch my drift.
- Not much grinding. I'll try to avoid repetition as much as possible.

Feature Set

General Features

Strange humor
Weird characters
"Lovely" black-and-white graphics
32-bit color
Could be described as "zany" or "wacky" if the word hadn't become an insult by now

Multiplayer Features

Multiwhat?

Editor

Ediwhat?

Gameplay

A mixture of "thinking" and "action"
Puzzles that make sense on an abstract level, but run completly contrary to intuition (or vice versa)
Tactical roundbased combat with some action elements
And so on. I can't really give away any more, sorry; I don't want to ruin the surprise.

That's it for now. See you next week, and let's hope I finally regain some enthusiasm.
- Akatosh

Allllright.

2008-07-07T14:53:43Z

Just in case you didn't stop reading this way back during the first "prolonged hiatus": This blog will now finally go into a schedule. Updates will be weekly on Saturdays, starting this week, and I'll try to build a buffer of at least one week. And basta.

For hopefully the last time, sorry for all the missed updates, the flunky schedule and everything else, including global warming. This game will be done... eventually.

- Akatosh

Guess what? Hiatus!

2008-06-23T10:51:55Z

But shorter this time. You know, OROW and such. Just so you don't hold your breath for the other parts of the Master Design Document. Sorry.

~Akatosh

Master Design Document, part one

2008-06-18T17:12:28Z

Alright, here we go! Since the whole document (based on Chris Taylor's awesome design document template) will take an additional week or so to complete, I've decided to publish it section by section for now. Part one deals with the overall philosophy behind the game.

Me Go New Game
( working title(?) )

A conceptual RPG

"If It Gets Any More Pretentious, I Will Have To Start Talking With A French Accent" ™

All work Copyright © 2008 by Akatosh

(Not that anybody would ever consider stealing this, but... anyway.)

Version # 1.00

June 2008

Game Overview

Philosophy

Philosophical point #1: Conceptuality

This is sort of the overarching philosophy behind Me Go Whatever. This is basically what I've been thinking when creating the games, albeit not articulated and half-conscious at best. The explanation is a little long-winded and somewhat simplified , but just bear with me here - personally, I believe it to be worth the read. And I'm usually too ashamed of what I've written to even proofread it.

Anyway.

Ever noticed how RPGs or stories in general tend to follow a certain scheme? First of all - the plot. Usually, we start out with a harmonic situation which gets disturbed in some way (usually by an antagonistic force). Because of this the protagonist has to take on the role of a "hero" of some sort and start an epic journey across the lands, gaining power (= equipment, "levels", companions, knowledge, spells, abilities, fruitcakes...) and completing various tasks along the way. Ultimately, he confronts and defeats the antagonist in order to resolve the problems and restore the harmony. This basic structure can be found in virtually every RPG. The details might differ a little - for example, the game could start out at a different point in the timeline or not have the classical D&D levelling system - but you c an always recognise it.

Now, the characters. As mentioned before, in terms of the cast, you always have a protagonist, an antagonist(ic force), and any number of supporting characters (either side). These characters usually have a clearly defined archetypical role, like that of the "mentor" , the "villain", the "trusty sidekick" or the "shady trickster". These archetypes are not neccessarily Jungian - in fact, most of the time, they're barely related - and not every RPG exploits the full scale. Some (e.g. Diablo II) stay in the "solid colour area" of character roles (Hero plus Allies vs. Villain plus Henchmen), others (e.g. Planescape Toment) take the "risk" of throwing in rather neutral, more inherently "grayscale" archetypes (Trickster, Herald, Threshold Guardian, Troubled One, Oathbound and whatnot), others again (Arcanum, Baldur's Gate, ...) start out with solid colour characters and try to flesh out the characters by drowning them in drama and tragic parts... but at the end of the day, you still have a protagonist, his aiding entities, and an antagonistic force (usually split up in main villain and additional foes). These don't even have to be characters (apart from the protagonist) - replace "aiding characters" with "objects" and "antagonistic force" with "puzzles" and voila, you have an adventure game revolving around inventory puzzles. At the end of the day, a character is either a plot device disguised with an archetype or just decoration - and that's it.

So what does mean? Good question, young padawan. In the end, an RPG is somewhat similar of an exotic animal. You have a basic skeleton (the plot structure) that's very similar to that of other members of its ecosystem - an additional limb here, a bone less there, but it's still bland bulk cargo. The same is true for the vital internal organs that keep everything going (events) - they are slightly "original" at best. The flesh (plot itself) and, to an even larger extend, skin and behaviour ("flavor packages") of the creature are what makes it interesting and distinct of others.

Of course, a concept like that is fairly reliable. You won't end up with something completly pathetic and lifeless unless you try , at the very least. It even allows for lots of small variations and touches, like plot twists or archetypes assigned to roles that traditionally don't fit - to stay in the picture, you can give the creature feathers or scales instead of skin, or horns, or even the abity to speak to make it more of an original and have it stand out of the masses.

You can't be revolutionary, though. At the end of the day, it all boils down to using the same old basic structure with new ressource files.

So what would that mean for you if you tried to be genuinely innovative? Right, the logical (well... "logical") thing to do would be to say "screw these rules", put on your safety googles and create an awesome creature with an entirely different skeleton and concrete and magma instead of skin and make it ooze liquid indieness.

And it all sounds nice until your concept collides with reality. Of course you could design an RPG that avoids all these rules, or at least make a decent effort to. You can remove the villain, leave out the journey, screw leveling... you can take out the entire RPG skeleton and just freely remodel the remaining wobbly hunk of flesh into a work of art!

Too bad art is like the antithesis of fun and the antithesis of practicability. Your beastie will be very exotic and provoke a lot of attention, sure. But it'll also be an immobile blob. A nice, thought-provoking, interesting blob, sure, a blob that world has never seen before, but...

It's still a goddamn blob. What sort of games could you play with a blob, apart from "Play Dead"?

(If you managed to not lose my train of thought in the last two paragraphs... kudos. Don't worry, it gets better now.)

Thus, I decided to take the opposite approach. Instead of removing the skeleton and claiming the pathetic remains were just what I had in mind, I'll pick the skeleton clean. Scratch the topping off the pizza. Remove the flavor text. Fish that slice of lemon out of the soda. Turn off the visualisation in the media player. Whichever metaphor you prefer. (I'll stop this now, sorry.)

That means I will neither try to disguise the functional role of the characters nor try to obfuscate the basic plot structure - all characters will have an obvious function for the plot and carry appropiate name (Evilguy, Mr. Sidequest, Love Interest, ...) and behaviour; there will be no characters without relevance to the plot; the plot structure will be revealed to the player as much as possible; and so on. This 'conceptuality' will be present in every aspect of the game, including puzzles, items and combat... but more about this later in the game mechanics part. For now, it's time to move on to

Philosophical point #2: Anthropomorphicism

That's a nice word. An-thro-po-mor-phi-cis-m. What's even better, advertising the values of Anthropomorphicism and being a human makes me sort of an anthropomorphic Anthropomorphicist.

Anyway. Making things human-esque by attributing quasi-human characterisitics to them is one of the things that's rather crucial for the Me Go Series. Anthropomorphicisation (an-thro-po-mor-phi-ci-sa-tion!) can affect anything in the game, at different degrees - from individual objects to whole environments. I can't really go into detail here... sorry. Examples would include the good old talking buildings or Mr. Sidequest again. If you've played one of the previous games, you know what I'm talking about. If not, how did you stumble upon this blog?

Philosophical point #3: Screwing with people's expectations

Exactly. If it makes the player go "Buh... WHA?", it's ok. My ultimate goal would be to be called something like an "artistic renegade" by at least four blogs. (The best I managed so far is one "creative anarchist", thanks to yesterdayssalad, which I think is one level above "imaginative indie"). But I don't mean the classic "mindfuck" style of perplexizy here, where you attempt to confuse the hell out of the player/reader/gerneral consumer whore via doubtful, puzzling and contradictionary informations (deliberatly messing with their suspension of disbelief, if you will). What I'm aiming for is different though. It's not like the laws of logic don't apply in that weird universe - they do, but at an different, more abstract level. Both cause and result may be entirely and utterly absurd, but they still possess (semi-)logical innerworkings: Evilguy may have removed the sign from your invisible car, but you can still find it by bumping into it; the store is reluctant to hand out the Taco Stuff at first, but can be persuaded by verbal abuse; if there is nothing that could defeat Evilguy, just use the nothing on him; and so on.

Philosophical point #4: Teh funnies

Artistic "statement" is all right, but if the game is not a funny experience, it's worthless. I will, of course, try to achieve this mainly due to the basic game mechanics and the methods mentioned in points 1 - 3, but if I have to slightly go out of my way to make something more fun, that's alright. In the end, it's still a game, not a painting or something.

This concludes part one of the master design document. Tune in again in a few days for part two, which will deal with the sections "Common Questions" (why, what, where, when, ...) and "Feature Set"!

Oh, and if you actually read to this point... kudos.
~ Akatosh

Back in black! (Alternative title: It is time.)

2008-06-10T14:26:30Z

Well... actually, I'm not that far yet, but it's finally time for the long-awaited design-document-esque "directory post" that requires lots of hyphens and quotation marks. I finally ran completly dry of other ideas, mandatory tasks and distractions that last more than, say, half a day (there are still some barbeques and parties coming up, though), I finished all N64 roms from that rom webpage that sound even remotely interesting, I've played through the entire Baldur's Gate series again and I've read so many Nietzsche texts that I've started to emphasize random words. As a side effect, I also can't stand anything with a hint of niveau anymore.

Bottom line, it's a good time for writing a design document. Stay tuned for tomorrow.

Prolonged Hiatus

2008-05-21T17:20:35Z

You probably didn't notice it*, but both the blog and the development have sadly moved into a prolonged hiatus. It'll end as soon as the last two of my five final exams have ended, I figured out a way to continue using XP, I manage to re-acquire Flash and some other (mainly real life) issues have been adressed. I'm sorry.

To appease you, here's a REALLY crappy flash movie I did ages ago. It belongs in the "deliberatly aweful" category, but it still oozes nerdyness and stuff, but if you're a massive enogh dork, you may like it. If you do, please watch out so you don't spill your Diet Coca-Cola on your Star Wars fanzines, snorting through your (barely) working nostril, desperately trying to catch your breath after the terribly exhausting act of doubling over with cackling grunts.**

Sorry again.
- Akatosh

* Well... probably you did.
** No, that's not how I picture you. Well... not entirely.

PC change, Take Two

2008-05-12T11:39:50Z

It took some days, but I've finally managed to get that "new" PC up and running. Judging by their performance, I have a strong suspicion that the graphics card and RAM are made of cardboard, but apart from that, it's fine. I didn't even lose all my personal data.

Also, did you notice how we mainly get "lose fat", "cultural" and "internet services"-type google ads? Let's spice that up a little. Jesus Obama Moses Bible Muhammed Ali Videogames Emperor Star Trex Bicycle Furries Antichrist Politics Iraq Iran Tomato Comedy.

This is going to be interesting.
- Akatosh

Sorry

2008-05-09T14:08:31Z

Due to low demand, work on the project has been canceled in favor for a different one.

Just kidding. Actually, I'm just moving PCs - from my increasingly unstable Laptop to a slightly better Desktop PC - and I don't know how things will turn out or when I'm able to either figure out Inkscape or manage to re-obtain Flash. Wish me luck, if I update again it worked.

Meanwhile, here's a random list of webcomics I like. Read them if you should feel bored.

XKCD- Which you will most likely know already. If not, welcome to the Internet! What's it been like on the International Space Station?

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal- Pretty popular, too. Awesome one-panel jokes.

Beaver and Steve- Possibly be the best comic on the Interwebs. Certainly the best gag-a-week comic on the Interwebs.

Caution May Contain Nuts- Yes, it's only been around since March 3, 2008. Yes, it's hosted on DrunkDuck. Yes, it has things that remotely look like (gulp) anthropomorphic animals (gaah!). Yes, the drawing is sloppy. But I still like it. It's a little like watching a Monthy Python movie for the first time - either you love the humor and are more than willing to look over it's flaws, or you start hating the media, its creators and everybody else remotely involved init with a fiery burning passion.

Anyway. Try the comic. Some strips are really, really awesome.

Oh, and I like the drawing style. For obvious reasons.

Now, wish me luck with switching PCs.

- Akatosh.

Lies

2008-05-07T14:52:02Z

So did it say "next post", "this weekend" and the like last time? Don't believe everything you read, as the situation will sometimes - as it happened here, for example - turn out different than it was planned. So it'll take a while until production will actually start, but it's still set to "right after some sort of directory post". That'll teach my past self to postpone tasks on me. Bet he also burned my diaries. The prick.

Oh, and thanks to some testing and a six-sided die, I came to a conclusion about the resolution issue. It's decidedly 640x400 now. If you want to know why, there are some mockup screenshots attached, and while the lower resolution is slightly claustrophobic, it's also not as empty as the other one.

Small: Here
And large: Here.

Turned out that live-journal formatting hates large images.

Nearly about to start!

2008-04-30T17:37:30Z

That's right, we (and by we, I mean I!) are approaching the end of pre-production. This means this will be the last "content" post, dealing with vital issues I feel I haven't quite addressed yet. The next one will tie up all the loose ends, and then it's time to finally pull the coding sombrero out of the closet again. But now, let's get to the plethora of content snippets.

The "plot" has been elevated from "see-through" to "thin". It's basically a little like those of Me Go Away and Me Go 2008, which is to say it's about as surprising, twisty and deep as a brick. A flat brick. But it still exists, and like said brick, it might leave a lasting expression on you, since I'm firmly intending to sneak up on you to club you over the head with it. And probably take your wallet as you're dropping. Metaphorically. This is also why I can't tell you that many details about it.

The adventure part (yes, there is one!) will be aiming to be a lot like Me Go Away, which I personally like a lot more than Me Go 2008. Which is to say, it will lack any elaboration but still be weirdly... logical. On a certain level. It'll also play with your expectations - watch out for seemingly wrong grammar and vocabulary. I'm also hoping for a lot of overlaps with the RPG part, but I'm not sure about how to implement that. We'll see. Don't fail me now, paint thinner!

The general game style - in terms of gameplay / plot / puzzles, not graphics - will be reminiscent of Me Go Away, but with more parody elements. Don't worry, not parody elements in the OMG SPIKAY HAIR way - more like poking at the classical weaknesses of standard RPGs and adventures. You know, as if I was some sort of authority on the subject.
Anyway. It'll probably be hard to keep the typical *UNDEFINED UNDEFINED UNDEFINED* style in balance with the parodising stuff, but I'm positive it'll work somehow.

The game's "world" will be rather tough to make a decision about, I fear. I originally wanted to divide it in countries or "worlds" - you know, like Tacoland, Uncanny or Nationistan - as it's sometimes done in RPGs and as I did in Me Go 2008. Then again, I thought that the concept of even a semi-coherent world is pretty much the opposite of what I originally intended with Me Go Store, and one of the main reasons why Me Go 2008 seems... wrong in retrospect. But on the other hand, it's almost too a good opportunity to parodize the shit out of especially the Final Fantasy series to pass up. Ah well. There's the slim possibility I'll discover the universe's secrets in the next three days, so I'll leave this issue to my potentially demi-god future self.

Sound effects will be mercilessly stolen from various sources.

That should be it for now, I think. We'll see in a couple of days. And by "we", I mean "I".

- Akatosh

Characters, Take Three

2008-04-26T16:37:57Z

I accidentally inhaled a lot of glue and paint thinner fumes over the last few days. It somehow messed with my ability to draw speech balloons, but it was good for increased creativity.

We all know them. And we all wonder if they're actually doing this on purpose. I mean, nobody can be that stupid, can they?

Fun Fact: These aren't T-Shirts with text on them!

Since RPGs and Adventures can't quite decide between the "strong, independent" and "total bimbo" build of females, she'll probably be alternating between the two. That, or she'll be further up on the bimbo scale than an Amy-Peach-Imoen (BG 1) hybrid.

Since the cast should basically be complete by now and I've nearly given away too much already in my opinion, that'll be the last update about characters. So I hope you enjoyed it.

See you again somewhen,
~ Akatosh

Checklist

2008-04-23T14:06:57Z

Sorry for the recent lack of posts, real life's been a bitch. Here's a short and boring technobabble update to further annoy everybody.

General game concept - Check.
Some bunch of code and graphics already done pre-development: Check.
Letting people know - Check. Sort of.
Having fun developing - Very check.
Appropriate technology ensured so I don't end up with the computer game equivalent of a fat man in spandex* - Um...

Maybe it's time to actually heed the advice of those guides I've been reading.

Alright, let's get some of the annoying tech stuff out of my way before I start planning too much technically impossible "kewl" features for that game.

Developing Environment: AGS.

This does, of course, mean I'm a little restricted on resources, but it's not too heavy. Don't think I'll remotely reach, let alone exceed 50,000 sprites, 600 views, 300 inventory items, 300 characters, 500 dialog topics, 300 rooms or 3,000 dialog messages, anyway.
The 20 objects maximum per room could get more of a pain in the ass, but I'll just solve that problem via using more hotspots. Limits on background animation don't matter for this game.

Graphics Engine: AGS sort of takes care of that automatically. That means pre-drawn anti-aliased two-dimensional sprites, as seen in various previous posts.
The awesome Particle Engine plugin will be used for some rather flashy effects, but apart from that, it's going to be rather minimalist.
Oh, and forget about the anti-aliased text you saw in some earlier posts. Prepare for seriously jagged edges around the pixels. AGS doesn't anti-alias fonts.

Sound Engine: Again, AGS and some .wav or .mp3 files that will be stolen from the Interwebs and fsi in equal proportions. Since I don't have much of a clue about sound stuff anyway... I'll just try and hope it works.

And now for some stuff where the answer isn't just "Well... AGS."

Resolution: Looks like either 800x600 or 640x480 - 320x200 is too small, and AGS doesn't support higher resolutions (they would've been too high, anyway).

Other Applications I'll use: Macromedia Flash, Audacity, maybe Radiant's FontEdit.

Important Technical Restrictions: Apart from the mentioned "resource caps" in AGS, I couldn't think of anything right now. I mean, I didn't plan on adding stuff like a multiplayer mode anyway.

Further stuff is likely to be added later on, but I'm getting too lazy just right now. Again, sorry.
- Akatosh.

*Not a creepy picture, mind you. It's the source of that quote.

Weaponry!

2008-04-16T15:18:40Z

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I caught some sort of weird ear infection. Maybe I should listen to less crappy bands. Boom-bada-boom-boom-pssht.

Anyway, I've been alternating between states of "excruciating pain" and "hopped up on pain suppressants so much that I seriously considered watching talk shows for a minute" and that kind of blocked most of my thinking capabilities. I was still able to make a crappy weapon concept, though.

More arty goodness

2008-04-13T13:59:34Z

Since all the readers - yes, both of you! - seem to like the new art style and I haven't got that much time today, here's more art and a new character that needs no description. Enjoy!

Alright, here they are: Evilguy...

______________________________________________________________________________

...and (gasp!) SIDEQUEST!

Graphics!

2008-04-12T18:05:56Z

Not much content here, gotta run. Sorry. Anyway, here are some sprites of the main character.

/EDIT: Image centered.
-Akatosh

Readability +1

2008-04-11T17:00:56Z

Still no content updates (sorry), but I've tried to address the various formatting, grammar and, in one case, content issues of the previous entries. Some of them are actually readable now.

See ya tomorrow,
- Akatosh

Procedurally Generated Content vs. Hand-Made Stuff

2008-04-06T13:45:54Z

A post the length of a small novel, about the weapons system (yes, again). Sort of a "breadth vs. depth" (or "diversity vs. individuality") debate.

As I stated in the previous post, I'm planning to make the weapons a player can get to drop to depend on the characteristics of the weapon he's using right now. Since the game doesn't feature weapon types (like "sword", "longbow", or "frat paddle"), I took a procedural generation approach. The system I envisioned looked about like this:

WEAPON DROP SYSTEM A: Procedurally Generated Content

Player wins a battle. (Well, duh.)
The game determines whether a new weapon drops or not. The chance is dependent on the enemy fought (some have higher drop chances than others), the number of battles since the last weapon dropped (so you're maybe not stuck with the initial weapon forever) and drop bonuses you might have.
If you get a drop, it's characteristics are determined (unexpected!). I didn't really test the following system so there's likely a lot of balance issues with it, but it shall be enough to give you a basic idea of what I thought of. Of what I thought.

All the stat points your current weapon has (the damage it does in the different attack styles) are added together. (Poking: 5 + Slashing: 7 + Insulting: 3 = 15)
The resulting number is multiplied with a random factor between, say, 0.75 and 1.25. There will be sort of a maximum cap in each world, though, to avoid overpowered weapons too early on.
The next step is a little more complicated. A new stick is created. Then, each point (from the pool generated in the last step) is assigned, one by one, to the "stats" of the new stick. The chance of a point being assigned to one of the areas is equal to scales to the strength of the attack the original stick had. The stronger that attack of the old stick was, the higher the chance of a point being assigned to that area. This is repeated until all points are assigned.
If one of the areas has a 0 in power, 1 is added to it. This is just to avoid the possibility of forcing you to stick (boom-bada-boom-boom-pssh) with one kind of weapon forever.
Then, the weapon is named; depending on which area is the "dominant" one (the one with the highest power) and how strong the others are, you can end up with things like the "Legendarily Sharp Stick of Major Pokitude" or the "Swearing Slashstick of Insubstantial Cowardice". Or something.

Finally, you're asked to either keep or discard the stick. If you choose to keep it and end up with more weapons in total than a certain maximum amount (like 3), you're forced to discard one. This is to avoid the problem of players accumulating too many strong weapons of all types.

For a comparison: Solely skill based (classless) RPGs have a similar problem in late game, as the player can max out everything to the point at which they become sort of a demi goddess (Morrowind's Backstabbing Combat Mage With Demonic Plate Mail). This problem is sometimes fought by introducing some kind of XP cap or mutually exclusive skill choices - which, of course, can't be applied to this game because it doesn't feature XP or skills, and I don't want to emulate that system with different names. Thus, "carrying capacity" for weapons.

Not all that much of a hassle in terms of code, and it seems rather sensible... on first sight. And indeed, this kind of weapon system would be great for games with "infinite duration", or those that consist entirely of procedurally generated content (refered to as simply "PCG" hereafter) or the like.

On the other hand, it also makes the whole thing pretty shallow. It oozes genericness, from a certain point on. If you've played, say, Diablo II, you know what I mean - at some point, you just stop laughing and start vomiting noises when you're fighting the same enemies with different colors again. Also, you just stop actually looking at the weapon and just view the statistics - which is precisely the kind of shallow and generic I want to avoid. I want the player to remember their weapon, not the abstract numbers that go with it. Italics. Also, some balance problems could arise if the player has exceptionally bad or exceptionally good luck and ends up fighting the end boss with a "Very Weak Stick of Extreme Cowardice", or finishes the first world with a "Pocket Nuke".

So, to avoid this, we could just settle for the opposite approach. Instead of generating the items while the game is running, we could do it like about 98% of RPGs known to mankind and just think up all the weapons during development. That ensures greater depth, a good balance to the game (if properly tested), quite a deal of individuality and, if we take a lot of time with this, a bit of diversity. See KoL's system of weapon-specific hit messages (or its weapons in general) for a nice example of this.

Anyway. Let's make another fancy list of how the pre-set item drop system would work, shall we?

ITEM DROP SYSTEM B: Pre-set item drops

Player wins a battle. (O RLY?)
The game determines whether a new weapon drops or not. The chance is dependent on the enemy fought - some bosses always drop weapons, some weak enemies don't at all, and the rest is somewhere in between. Obviously.
If a weapon is dropped, the game randomly selects one of the list of items the monster(s) you just killed can drop; these will differ from stage (or "world") to stage, and from monster to monster.
See step four above: Keeping or discarding, inventory management.

So what will we settle for? Good question, actually. I was thinking of taking some sort of "middle path", but it's actually turned out to be rather hard to draft one. Since "maximum individuality" and "maximum diversity" appear to be mutually exclusive, we'll have to sacrifice a little of both. I've pondered around a little and came up with a couple of possible solutions:

Many RPGs have both generic weapons (Dagger, Spear, Frat Paddle +2) that share most of their characteristics and non-generic ("unique") ones with an own graphic, name and a short backstory (That One Dagger That Was Used To Slay That Villain Once You Should Have Seen It It Was Awesome). The drop locations of the weapons often resemble them in terms of individuality: The first kind is usually dropped by monsters you encounter en masse, like the common goblin, whereas most bosses carry unique equipment of some sort. See Baldur's Gate 2 for a shining example of an RPG that managed to keep both elements in relative equilibrium. Quite some depth, but lots of width preserved.

In terms of this game, this would basically mean using System B for the bosses and System A for the other monsters. This would, of course, bear the risk of having too weak "generic" weapons (making the "unique" ones those solely worth using) or having them become too strong, rendering the system of "unique" weapons completely obsolete (unless they sell well). Also, having the generated weapon's statistics depend on the currently wielded one's would NOT work.

With advanced(ish) PCG methods, it might actually be possible to have that "depth" generated to some extend, too. For example, you might - secretly or openly - pick more "traits" for the equipment from a list that influence its "behavior" - that is, give it some flavor text. Why not have our trusty "Swearing Slashstick of Insubstantial Cowardice" cause the protagonist to shout things among the lines of "Listen, you sonovabitch, I'm going to cut your throat... but please don't hit me back!"? Yeah, it's a bad example, but the mechanics itself might just work. Lots of width with some depth.

What this boils down to is basically using System A all the time, but with edges smoothened (no "blind" picking of adjectives and some variety) and emulation of System B's advantages... to some degree.

A third possible solution would be coding pre-built "archetypes" of weapons into the game which are then slightly varied with the methods of System A, each archetype with its own list of adjectives, possible variations, caps etc.

This approach appears to be rather balanced between System A and B.

Lastly, we could also randomly combine any of the listed systems. God, the mechanics are going to be a horrible chimera, aren't they.

And with that list, we finish the longest post as of yet. Don't expect me to keep that posting speed and length of entries up, though. And post some comments. Please.

~ Akatosh

Square Enix, Square Schmenix

2008-04-04T17:34:40Z

More contemplations about the core mechanics this time. Looks like I'm going to employ a weapon dependent "skills" system like the one used in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, with quite a few changes.

In case you're too lazy to read the Wikipedia Article I linked to and have never heard of the game yourself (heretic): The system basically boils down to tying skills the character can use to the equipment they wear (which, in turn, depends on their character class).

There are, however, lots of leftovers from the "classic" RPG genre, such as

Ways to permanently acquire a skill (you have to wear the equipment for some battles)
Different classes (lots of them, but still)
Character levels, and XP points in general

And so on. This is where the (planned) changes start. In terms of technology, I'm going to stay with the general battle system / GUI as seen here, at least for now (it's functional and quickly scriptable in AGS), so let's talk about the gameplay mechanics. I've envisioned the following:

Just as in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (which henceforth shall be known as FFTA, and FFTA alone), your offensive and defensive capabilities depend on the equipment you wear...
...and (unlike FFTA), on the equiment only. There will be no classes, no skills and five moves (three attack styles, item, flee) that can't be changed.
The power of the individual moves, however, will depend on your weapon. While a Pointy Stick will have strong poking and semi-decent slashing attacks, a Talking Stick will easily beat it in the field of insults... and so on.
The skills do not improve over time, but maybe wielding a certain "build" of stick increases your chances of having additional sticks with similar strengths and weaknesses, to a larger degree - sort of like a skill tree. Sort of, as it's not my goal to emulate class and skill systems with different methods, and as sticks of other types can still drop.
The opposite might also be interesting - decreasing the rate at which "favored" stick types drop - in order to force the player to adapt to different playing styles, but I'd rather not take that road. Feel free to disagree, though.
Some enemies are more vulnerable to certain attacks than others, though - the Big Floating Eye and the Receptionist With Low Self Esteem come to mind - so you'll have to balance your stick usage and watch out you don't forget about insults in your quest for the ultimate pokeage! Oh the drama!
In order to not render the previous point obsolete, you won't be able to buy new weaponry from the Store NPCs [sic]. These only have combat items and (maybe) little strategy guides of questionable value available. "Remember, kids: Weapons made of stainless steel tend to have a higher attack value than those consisting of foam! The folks here at Dubious Strategy Guides Inc. would also like to remind you that winners don't do drugs, except for those sold by us!"
Since we've already abolished leveling up, your HP will also stay static (100, that's a nice base for calculations), so I'm thinking about also having armor-esque equipment. I've still go to figure out a way how to not make this area dominated by linear progression, though. Maybe different "builds" of armor? Well, I'll see about that later.

That's it for now, although new "core thoughts" are likely to be added later on. Until we meet again!

~Akatosh

P.S. Comment. Now.

Me Go New Game: The Story Begins...

2008-04-03T16:50:26Z

Third post, and I finally start talking about the stupid GAME. Also, large(ish) image ahead, so BEWARE if these things scare you for some reason.

The basic premise will stay about the same as described in the original GiP thread.

"Well, you know the drill: Evilguy does something bad, and you have to fix it again... but this time, it's different. By swallowing a magical potion, he alters reality in unpredictable ways**, and suddenly random encounters are popping up everywhere just as his absence of an evil lair*** turns into a Doom Fortress!

Yeah, it's going to be an adventure/RPG hybrid this time.

* Working title. Perhaps.
** "Unpredictable" because even magical potions normally don't effect the whole reality.
*** As seen in Me Go 2008."

The plot (or what passes for it) will also largely stay, as it (sort of) does the trick. Also, I like the basic concept; it's pretty shallow and non-pretentious, but it features neither demons nor drug-dealing syndicate overlords nor invaders from space. It just yells "UNDEFINED UNDEFINED UNDEFINED".

The characters are mainly set already by the fact it's going to be a Me Go Store game.
To sum these guys up in an incredibly pretentious statement: The personality of a good "shallow" character can be summed up in one to three sentences, while a "deep" one should merit multiple pages of characterization; "bad" or failed characters can sometimes be described with just one or two words, such as "retarded frat". The result of what I'm aiming at with MGS characters can not or barely be described with words - or at least adjectives - at all. They're no heroes or villains, but no anti-heroes or "unusual" villains either, because that means you're still thinking inside Jung's system of archetypes. It's barely possible to break out of that system and still end up with a game, but I'll try.

Christ, that really sounds pretentious. Let's move on before someone notices. Here's a more detailed description of the cast.

The cast:

First, you've got EVILGUY (shown in the picture way above) who is the personified obstacle and usually blocking some path or abducting the civilized world's firecracker supplies or something.
Then, there is ME who is, well, the main character. He likes Tacos and opposes Evilguy for the sole reason that Evilguy opposes him.
There's also got a large number of SENTIENT (thinking, talking) OBJECTS, such as the TV or Me's invisible car.

Further characters will likely be added later on. I'm thinking of LOVE INTEREST or THE PEOPLE (as in "The People demand [sic] that the §217 (2) be abolished!")

The mechanics are yet to be fully thought up in the following post(s). I made up a mock screenshot for the original April Fool thing which basically steals AdventureQuest's battle interface and I might stick with it for simplicity's sake (it's one of the things AQ did right). Following Ludomancy's definition of experimental gameplay and the system used in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, I was thinking of completely discarding skills, classes and probably levels and tying everything to the equipment being worn, which will also be far from usual (since sticks are the only "weapon" in the world of Me Go Store). We'll see.

The music will probably be done by FSi. I have yet to ask him, though.

Sound effects will be stolen from various sources.

Graphics will be drawn by me (not Me, mind you), in the style of the teaser-ish picture at the very top of this post.

Developing Environment will be the good old blue cup made of win, aka AGS.

I think that's enough for now. Wish me luck and stay tuned for further updates in the next days. And post comments. Lots of comments.

~Akatosh

Purpose of this "blog"

2008-04-03T15:52:09Z

Finished reading the prequel post and wondering what the heck is going on here? Didn't read it and want to experience that stupendous feeling of pure, unadulterated confusion, just as that time you entered your parent's bedroom to investigate the weird noises?
Well, get ready for some answers! Or further questions. Depends.

Still reading? Damn, you're persistent. Well then. After deciding I will, indeed, make this game, I figured I could as well do it properly and stuff some innovation and more EXPERIMENTAL gameplay into it, looking as how the Me Go Store series (see previous post, again) is rather... ahem... "innovative" (which is to say, pretty far out)... and because I'm in the mood to try something new right now.
And if I'm already doing it properly, I figured, I can as well do it, like, seriously properly and track the development and my thoughts about the game in some form and allow for other's input all the time.

So that's the blog's raison d'être. Tune in again next time, when I'll start talking about the actual contents of the game in equally pretentious terms. In italics. Since it'll most likely turn into a giant hep of chaos, much like my desk and hard drive, posts will from now on be tagged.

Also, see the comments section down there? Post. Right now. I want to avoid getting the feeling of talking to myself for the most time.

~ Akatosh