Comp 20: ancient history

[Bonezmann]

The name may change. Im doing this from my phone so sory for any grammar mistakes. Right, as soon as i saw the rules i saw the patapon concept in a way. My game, ancient history will travel back in time to where people used hiroglyphs and drawings to comunicate, from incan times to our very own khoi khoi and san races, ancient history will take you there. . . Oh and ill use gm7pro

UPDATE

Ancient history - San v0.5

See last post for problems and Bugs :)

UPDATE

Here's a quick Egypt demo/Prototype:

Egypt Prototype

(There is no save function in the Egypt level yet as I have not yet merged it with the main

project.)

The symbols on the blocks have NO meaning in the game, they are actual ancient Egyptian

glyphs, they just don't mean anything here.

The controls are once again explained, you just need to figure out what the formations of

glyphs mean.

Remember that this is a quite early version of the Egyptian level.

PROBLEMS

The scarab can move off the screen

I still need to tweak the speed and movement of the symbol blocks on the path

I need to add the timing desabling the shots and/or the respawn of the symbol blocks the

scarab shoots

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As for the San, I'm reconstructing the level a bit, so you transfer to a new room containing the boss. :)

[Bonezmann]

As always any questions and comments are welcome

[dislekcia]

Fixed the name for you ;)

[Kensei]

Sounds interesting. Will it be a sort of puzzle game, where you have a challenge/response kind of mechanic? So it's either matching the two images or a rock/paper/scissors thing.

[Bonezmann]

the whole game will hapen on a wall, thus using hieroglyphs to do everything from playing the game to explaining controls. There will be some desyphering involved when the controls are explained so it wont be explained straight forward. Was there something wrong with my thread title?

[dislekcia]

Originally Posted by Bonezmann

the whole game will hapen on a wall, thus using hieroglyphs to do everything from playing the game to explaining controls. There will be some desyphering involved when the controls are explained so it wont be explained straight forward. Was there something wrong with my thread title?

You had comp 19 instead of 20.

Also, you can't give players coded text. That's the same as text. Even if they have to decipher that (hippo)(eagle)(snake)(snake)(pyramid) = H E L L O, that's still text and therefor not allowed.

I want people to think up other ways to get things across to players.

[Bonezmann]

It wont be like what you explained, i understand completely how it works. I can assure you there wont be text, hieroglyphs wich is pictures, but no text.

[ShadowMaster]

ok while we are on the topic, pictures depicting actions is fine, but say for instance representing "boot camp" with a boot and a camp is not?

[Bonezmann]

San_proto ~1mb

The San prototype, you can move and shoot animals, that's all I'm saying. Enjoy! :)

I don't know how much I'll be on the internet for now, but I'll still go on as often as I can. Any Questions and comments are welcome. :)

[dINGLE]

Played it.

LOL @ the animation, its not bad, just funny.

The keys and game play seems pretty intuitive, although maybe if I didn't read about running and shooting animals I would have been a bit confused.

Maybe if you are given an example of some san running after animals first, or you waited for the player to move to the right before making the animals start running, then it would be a bit more clear.

[ShadowMaster]

Originally Posted by dINGLE

Maybe if you are given an example of some san running after animals first, or you waited for the player to move to the right before making the animals start running, then it would be a bit more clear.

Exactly the point of this competition: Inspire player to do what you want without explicitly telling him. ;)

[Thaumaturge]

Hmm... Interesting.

One thing that I'm not clear on is what sort of game do you intend to make - is it intended to teach, or just as a fun jaunt through ancient-world-themed levels?

As to gameplay, is it entirely a run-and-shoot game, is that only the case in the Koi-san section, or is that to be expanded on as well?

I'm trying to get a better impression of what you intend the game to be like, you see. ^_^

As for the prototype, it's reasonably fun as far as it goes, and does have an ancient-culture-illustration feel to it. Once you get to that point, it might be improved by styling the graphics of this section after a rock painting - controlling characters in a living rock painting, with similar levels for the other cultures, such as controlling figures on Ancient Egyptian tomb walls, sounds as though it could produce a really effective and enjoyable aesthetic. ^_^

[Bonezmann]

[Tiny text update]

I'm at an internet café right now and forgot the game at home, but here's a little text update from what changed since the first release:

Changed graphics

savegame system

rewards system

I don't think it's enough to post an update right now anyways, so I'll post the next version next Saturday, hopefully with a new ancient race. :)

[Thaumaturge]

I look forward to seeing those changes, Bonezmann. ^_^

[Kensei]

Can I make little niggle comments?

You might want to implement a collision checking of sorts, I ws able to move all the people off the screen AND still run left and right screen.
I appreciate the ability to turn around but don't forget to implement a way to fire the other way as well if this is what you want the player to be able to do.

Still good and basic prototype :)

[Bonezmann]

Im glad to hear that thaumaturge. :) thanx for the comments kensei , the problems you mentioned will be fixed in the next version. :)

[Bonezmann]

It sucks not being able to upload games, i may or may not upload the newer san version tonight. The san is 99% complete and im working on the egyptians now. . .

[Bonezmann]

FINALLY! I got the free version to upload, waited about 45 minutes for a 4.5mb file to upload. wonderful...

Anyways here it is:

Ancient History - San v0.5

I forgot to fix the mentioned problems, my internet isn't what I'm used to but I assure you it will be fixed next time ;)

Problems/Bugs

The San can still move off-screen
The spears still go the wrong way when running left
The San can't die yet
Still needs some sound effects.

I hope you enjoy it and, as always, all comments and questions are appreciated. The problems mentioned will be fixed in the next version.

One question though (and I'll ask this in the Comp thread too): Is the explicit show of control pictures allowed? Or should I do something else?

[Thaumaturge]

I like the menus, from what I've seen of them, although it took me a moment (albeit perhaps as a result of lack of sleep) to realise the meaning of the first two icons, and I while I discovered the meaning of the sun icon I'm not sure of how it relates to that meaning.

More importantly I imagine, however, I haven't managed to get into the San section of the game yet - clicking on what seems to be the appropriate icon doesn't seem to yield any results, and nor do any of the keys that I've tried. :/

Again, I'm pretty tired, so I may just be missing something...

[edit] As to explicitly displaying controls, I don't know whether it's allowed (although I would imagine that it is, as long as you don't use text, speech or something similar), but if you do wish to follow that route, may I suggest finding a way to integrate it into the setting - such as using San-like symbolic images, or Egyptian hieroglyphs. This could be especially effective, I think, if you manage to find a way to represent the relevant ideas effectively without using the more obvious symbols, such as San arrows for the arrow keys.

[Bonezmann]

Quote:

More importantly I imagine, however, I haven't managed to get into the San section of the game yet - clicking on what seems to be the appropriate icon doesn't seem to yield any results, and nor do any of the keys that I've tried. :/

Explore my dear forumite, explore. ;) If you're refering to the empty page, that's not it. I think that once I add the music and sounds, it'll be much clearer.

Quote:

may I suggest finding a way to integrate it into the setting - such as using San-like symbolic images, or Egyptian hieroglyphs.

You just read my mind there. ;)