20: Mime's Adventure

[ShadowMaster]

I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do with this, it may still be abandoned for a better idea (if i have one, that is...), but basically the premise is you are either a mime or are given missions by a mime (who may or may not use visible props).

I currently have two ideas for directions to drive the gameplay in:
-You are a mime who's family has been kidnapped to work in mines (cause invisible tools are, for some obscure reason, more effective) and you have to gather invisible weapons to defeat their captor and get them back. The gameplay in this case will be in the form of a top down RPG, with a turn based or time based fighting system. Maybe a side scroller can work aswell...
-You are a training mime and to finally get into the trade you have to go out and collect your first set of miming tools. (invisible props)

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. :D

[dislekcia]

I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do with this, it may still be abandoned for a better idea (if i have one, that is...), but basically the premise is you are either a mime or are given missions by a mime (who may or may not use visible props).

What a brilliant idea!

[ShadowMaster]

What a brilliant idea!

I can thank "In a rain slick precipate of darkness" for it. :D

Just the hard part is coming up with gameplay that accomplishes these two requirements:
-Engaging and fun
-Simple to implement

[Bonezmann]

Your second idea sounds better, it sounds like it could be fun. Maybe as a start you can use arrow combos to control his hands resulting in different attacks, thus there might nt be a direct tutorial but the user could then experiment.

[ShadowMaster]

@Bonezmann: true and it should make more sense story wise as well and I should still be able to implement it RPG style...

[Fengol]

I love the idea! especially if you have enemy mime's dealing invisible damage! The chaos would be awesome win!

[ShadowMaster]

Well I'm thinking of your opponents(and you) using weapons, without actual weapons, ie. the weapons are invisible. Just like in 'In a rain slick precipitate of darkness' where the mimes attack you without actual weapons. Only thing that worries me will be the amount of animation that I would have to do. Anyone have a suggestion to do it simply and especially only once for all characters?

Hmmm perhaps an array with the arm angles and relative lengths... Cause I'm planning to use over simplified characters just like in Zero Punctuation, with floating hands.

EDIT: Simplifying and making cool characters is not as easy as it looks without copying ZP :/

[dislekcia]

See... I would take a step back from that level of complexity and make a game about having to make mime movements with ragdolls by dragging their arms and legs around.

[ShadowMaster]

Hmmm that's a pretty good idea, just how to make it fun and how to implement it...

[Thaumaturge]

That sounds like a pretty good - and amusing - idea. ^_^

Hmm... Personally, I think that I slightly prefer the idea of arrow-based movement control to mouse-based movement, for combat use, at least - I think that it would provide quicker, more responsive control. That said, it seems to me that it would probably be harder to make such a system intuitive than with a mouse-based system.

However, if you keep the pace fairly slow, you could probably get mouse-based control to work.

It might also be fun to somehow include the "classic' mime motions - "being trapped in a box", "mounting invisible stairs", etc. That might however be more difficult to include well in either mouse- or arrow- based direct hand control (although a set of clickable buttons might work).

[Gazza_N]

There are worse games to take inspiration from than Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode 1. ;)

What about a drawn-symbol-based attack system? Draw an invisible staircase to levitate your mime, draw a Holy hand grenade to use one, etc. Could be a mite tough to implement (although I can think of a possible solution), but it would be inituitive, and you could leave attack symbols scattered around the level for the player to find and use.

[FuzzYspo0N]

yea symbols like that were used in darwinia, and they explain how as well as iv seen mouse gestures shape librarsy for GM on the GM website, with code to see how to do it. its cool

[ShadowMaster]

Thanks guys that's a brilliant idea :D

[Kensei]

Sounds interesting :) Mouse gestures can really add a lot to a game :D (like darwinia)

And it would be easy to implement in a tutorial - i.e. when you discover a new symbol, the PC shows you how to draw it on screen (like Castlevania: Aria of Sorrows [I think it was that one... the latest one on the DS... someone?])

[ShadowMaster]

However I'll stick to buttons for the first few versions, hopefully I'll have one by Monday :D

[ShadowMaster]

Well I'm afraid I have to do this again, but as I have other stuff that is more important to me(Math and Computer olympiads, which I excel at and need to practice for) I will have to withdraw my entry. I entered rashly without considering whether I have time and this is the result of that. I will however most likely be entering the compo after the end of September.

However if anyone is without ideas and feel like taking mine feel free :D. I'll even offer my help to an extent.

[dislekcia]

:(

This was such a cool idea...

[ShadowMaster]

I might still use it and the coolness is the reason for allowing anyone to use it ;)

[Thaumaturge]

I'm sorry to hear that you're pulling out, ShadowMaster.

However, if you remain interested you can always work on this another time. ^_^

Very good luck indeed for the Olympiads! ^_^