Game Design Music and Art

Still Yet Another Game Idea – HanClinto

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Hey all!

Well I haven't posted many of my game ideas on here lately, partly because I haven't really been doing much with them. However, I'm working on creating a sample game for Mite so that people can start to get a feel for how to create games with alternate stat/combat schemes.

The working title of this idea is "Little Light of Mine" (though I'm very open to new suggestions).

Note that this design document is filled with notes to myself, and is a work in progress (for instance, one of the areas that I'm currently re-thinking is how encumberences work).

Anyway, here's my work-in-progress design document:


-----------------------------
Players
-----------------------------

The player has three main strength stats, which are used for defense.
Faith
Love
Temperence

Not sure if the player has much direct offensive, the main offensive at this point is spreading light to various regions, that light being the Word of God.

Light is carried through oil. The player has two main attributes related to their oil:
Amount of oil -- this is analogous to the zeal that the player has available for encouragement, both for themselves, and for others. It replenishes itself according to the measure of faith, minus encumberences.
Purity of oil -- this is analogous to the truthfulness that the player has. All men are sinful, and left to themselves, their teachings and beliefs are apt to go astray. By returning to The Temple of Truth, their oil can be purified and refined once again. This never reaches 100%, and tends to decrease when away from truth. Perhaps it can stabilize at some point, I'm not sure.

Faith determines the rate at which oil is replenished.
Love determines the rate at which oil generation is multiplied with others
Temperence determines the rate at which oil goes sour. (or worded differently, how long the oil stays fresh).

Encumberences can lower the overall amount of oil available, it can cause oil to replenish slower, it can increase the sourness of oil by a one-time amount, or it can cause oil to go bad slowly, and almost imperceptably at first.

Encumberences might be gotten through the losing of battles, and the player may not always be aware that he is encumbered by these sins, and may require that it be pointed out to him by others, or it may take careful meditation and self-examination to reveal what the encumberences are (not sure how much I like this -- better to make it obvious at first what the encumberences are).

-----------------------------
Churches
-----------------------------

The goal of the players is to spread light into the dark regions.

Churches are where lampstands are to recieve the oil brought to it by the members (the players).
Churches can accept members (people apply to join the churches, and are democratically accepted by the leadership. Perhaps try and model presbyterianism?)
Members automatically add their oil generation to the "pool" at no loss to themselves, but rather the gain from it when present. This emphasizes the benefit that believers have when they come together regularly for corporate worship.
However, churches, while they become a source of oil, can also go stagnant, and fresh oil must regularly be brought to the church from The Temple in order to keep the pool clean. This emphasizes the need for churches to remain rooted in the truth of the gospel, and for how easy it is for them to get off-track if they aren't actively maintained, and the bad leaven constantly be purged out of the system.

There exist many lampstands in very dark places that aren't burning very brightly (if at all), and need people to go there to light the lamps and take a stand against the darkness. Darkness cannot stand in face of the light, and so it is pushed back as the light of Truth and Hope, carried by the church advances.


-----------------------------
Foes
-----------------------------

*snip* I've done a lot of work in this area, but I don't want to give away all of the cool enemies.

-----------------------------
Locations
-----------------------------

Town of Humility:
Monastery, and when you go there for repentance, you are shown by a monk to a private cloister/room/sanctum/sanctuary.
Temple, this is where you are encouraged and your oil can be refilled faster here. This is the Temple of Truth & Hope.

Churches:
When two players band together, they mutually increase their oil replenishment. This represents the mutual encouragement that takes place between believers. However, to emphasize the importance of the visible church, when this banding together occurs in a city/church, the effect is greatly increased. However, to de-emphasize the importance of church, the oil regeneration cannot compare to the regeneration that is at The Temple, to emphasize that the One and Only God is the source of this all, and that the churches are not the source of salvation.

To start churches, they need oil carried to them, but eventually can produce enough oil on their own to become fairly self-sustaining. However, to emphasize the need for churches to remain rooted in Christ, their oil pool can become stagnant (with false doctrine and teachings). Because of this, churches are still dependent on the One True Source of oil, and fresh supplies must be carried to them regularly from The Temple, or else the church will go askew and collapse (and the light will suddenly go out and need to be rebuilt from scratch). This may have parallels to Revelation where God threatens to take a church's lampstand away.

Revelation 2:4 "Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you, and remove your lampstand from its place" -- there is an emphasis on going back to the basics, and that means returning to the town of Humility, to the Cloister of Repentance, and the Temple of Truth in order to continually renew a church and its members.

Many things can pollute the oil pool of a church, this includes false doctrine (as mentioned above), but also discord, strife, backbiting, sin among its members (if too many members are carrying encumberences for too long), etc. Interesting dynamics could be at play here.


-----------------------------
Gameplay
-----------------------------

When fighting an enemy:
If you win a battle, you can increase the attribute that the enemy is aligned with (or your experience in that regard, and then you can "level up" eventually? Possibly hide the stats from the player, and make it all relative. So that the demon has a number, you have a number, but all you're shown is your relative position to the demon's number -- i.e. "you are weak against this enemy", "you are decently challenged by this enemy", "you are not severely threatened by this enemy", etc. This could work well off of proportions/fractions)
If you lose a battle, you are encumbered and the corresponding attribute in you has an encumberence put on it. Encumberences lower that stat, and can be removed by going back to the town of Humility, to the temple of Repentance. Maybe also can be removed through prayers/prayers of others.

The goal is to spread light through all the world:
The protagonist is a messenger of light, who brings hope, which is the word of God. This encouragement is in the form of oil, which is delivered to the lamps (the churches) to keep them burning brightly in a dark place. If they are ignored, the lamp can become dim, and the Enemy can regain footholds, and it will be harder to bring oil in.

Perhaps when you are encumbered after losing a battle, you spill some of your oil that you are carrying.

Every player has their jar of oil constantly being refilled, according to their faith/love/temperence (or something, possibly multiplied by their gift of encouragement factor), yet they can also go to the Temple to refill their oil.

Perhaps a player or church's jar of oil has two qualities, quantity and quality.

Oil is constantly being used by the player, and the lower their faith, the more encouragement they need. As their faith grows, they can turn from being a sink to a source, but even as they are sources, they constantly need to return to The Temple, for their own sinfulness pollutes their oil. As oil is polluted, it becomes less effective, and the stagnation and smokey burning can attract more foes.

Also, here is a short example of the way combat currently works in my test Mite game (which I'll put up for everyone to play with eventually):


> stat

You are standing in a forest glen

Your flask is about half full, and of about half pure quality.
> combat

You are being attacked through a flare of temper!

You are reminded that Eph 4:26 is powerful against this sort of attack.

Be angry ___ do not sin, do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger.
> and

Correct!

You answered that in 3 seconds!

You notice your oil flask has gained a significant amount.
> stat

You are standing in a forest glen

Your flask is somewhat full, and of about half pure quality.
>


Well, I hope y'all found that interesting! I held off posting any of this until I actually had a working demo, and now that it's working somewhat, I decided to post this to see if there were any reactions.

Thanks!

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

kiwee

Member

Posts: 578
From: oxfordshire, england
Registered: 04-17-2004
ANOTHER ONE!

sounds like a great idea

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I Am God's Kid!!

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by kiwee:
ANOTHER ONE!

sounds like a great idea



hehe, yeah, there have been a lot lately, but I've been enjoying them all. I just wanted to post this one because I've actually got a functional prototype of it at the moment, but wanted to get critiques on the idea before I finished it all out.

Thanks for the compliment!

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

Realm Master

Member

Posts: 1971
From: USA
Registered: 05-15-2005
ah, i envy you Han... all i can think of is swords, guns, and well... combat in gneraly, wethger it be spaceships or on the ground... atch, i gotta stop playing halo 2...

man, you've got some great ideas here, or more accuratly, your full of great ideas...
are you absolutly sure you can't incoperate gfx into this, it would make it a bit more exciting... with your knowledge you can undoubtably make your own gfx library (i sure whish i could!)!

------------------
(yes, i know im stupid)
God rules!

Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be shown mercy. - Matthew 5:7

Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of hevan bleongs to them.-Matthew 5:10

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Hey RM! Thanks for the compliment! I've been praying over this idea for a long time, and any goodness in it should not be credited to me.

quote:
Originally posted by Realm Master:
are you absolutly sure you can't incoperate gfx into this, it would make it a bit more exciting... with your knowledge you can undoubtably make your own gfx library (i sure whish i could!)!

This idea is actually something very similar to what Simon_Templar and I wanted to make a while back as a graphical mmorpg, but we quickly realized we were in over our heads, and decided to switch to other projects. So this is not a new idea of mine, but has been thought and rethought out in my head and with other people for the past 8 or 9 months -- this is just one of the newer iterations (and it introduces a fair amount of new stuff as well). I was looking for an idea for a sample game for Mite, and I remembered this idea we were working on.

I'm still very open to comments and criticism, as I don't consider this idea to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

I really pray that a sample game like this included with Mite could help people stretch the boundaries of what they think of with Christian games -- I want Christian game developers to have the freedom to think in terms other than hitpoints and strength and stamina and agility and charisma, etc. I'm trying to break as many rules as possible with this game, while still making a challenging and rewarding gameplay experience.

Its intended as a kind of "story starter" for Mite, so that people can take the game once it's built and run with it, changing anything and everything they want, but unhampered by a classic D&D approach to combat and advancement.

</rant>

Thanks all, I look forward to any more comments and criticism. I realize it's a little long, sorry for that, I should have posted an abridged version first (such as that last section on Gameplay -- that one sums it up nicely).

Cheers!

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

wingrider
Junior Member

Posts: 6
From: Spring Hill,United States
Registered: 08-29-2005
I see your method is quite genius. It’s a good story line and it has merit. I believe all games now have no planning, but to just shoot and kill something. I think if you can get any ones attention to use what our minds can imagine, your game will bring forth a very true meaning of Gods truth to each other. The thought of each item you have talked about gives great thought to how each sole is purified. Thanks for sharing Clint
kiwee

Member

Posts: 578
From: oxfordshire, england
Registered: 04-17-2004
quote:

Be angry ___ do not sin, do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger.
> and


isn't that abit simple, how about making the blanked word more significant like 'sun', or maybe 'angry'

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I Am God's Kid!!

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
Wow, your game sounds very original, I think it's cool!

quote:
Originally posted by HanClinto:
..and the player may not always be aware that he is encumbered by these sins, and may require that it be pointed out to him by others

I liked this for some reason. I could imagine a player looking a certain way to himself. But to others, maybe those with more oil/light/level, they can see an encumberance infecting the player.

Ha ha, I thought of this funny one -

Pride. If the player looks at himself - 'You see a strong young man who is more spiritual than most. You thank God you are not like some of these lowlifes walking around here!'

When someone else with more 'oil/light/level' looks at you - 'You see a young man full of selfish pride. Part of you wants to have nothing to do with him. Part of you wants to punch his lights out. But something inside is telling you to speak with him.'


HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by kiwee:
[QUOTE]
Be angry ___ do not sin, do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger.
> and


isn't that abit simple, how about making the blanked word more significant like 'sun', or maybe 'angry'

[/QUOTE]

Yeah, right now the demo game that I captured that from just grabs a random word from the string, and it doesn't pay attention to the word length. I'll be working on this, but I wanted to get a prototype of a dynamic system that could work well no matter what verse was fed in it (and I didn't feel like typing out keywords to blank out for tons and tons of verses).

But yeah, I should have posted with a better example pasted.

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by coolj:
Pride. If the player looks at himself - 'You see a strong young man who is more spiritual than most. You thank God you are not like some of these lowlifes walking around here!'

When someone else with more 'oil/light/level' looks at you - 'You see a young man full of selfish pride. Part of you wants to have nothing to do with him. Part of you wants to punch his lights out. But something inside is telling you to speak with him.'


lol. That's really funny. Yeah, that's totally the kind of thing that would be great in this sort of game, you definitely caught on to the spirit things.

Thanks for the encouraging reply and the feedback!

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

Realm Master

Member

Posts: 1971
From: USA
Registered: 05-15-2005
now lets play the NAME GAME:
little light of mine is good, if (no offense) a teeny tiny bit childish (thought very well suited ot the game) but since your open to suggestions.

Salt of the Earth (nothign to dowith lights, but i'll just throw it out there)
Flame Of Passoin (?) (okaaayy... that was... weird...)
Light Of God (hmm... maby... to powerfull a name?)
hmm... now that i think of it, this little light of mine dosn't sound too bad...
hmm, oh well...

keep up the great ideas, and i will always be here to be jealous of them, i mean see if i can help with them ( )

------------------
(yes, i know im stupid)
God rules!

Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be shown mercy. - Matthew 5:7

Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of hevan bleongs to them.-Matthew 5:10

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
hehe, thanks for the suggestions, RM!

Yeah, LLOM does really seems to fit, but it might be nice if it were something else. I still haven't thought of much else that would be better.

One thing I'm wondering about now is advancement -- what goals can people work towards besides pushing back the darkness and expanding the light? There should be sub-quests and things that people can try to achieve and obtain to help them along their way. One I thought of (half-jokingly) last night was a "study Bible" that increased the rate at which your oil is purified when you're at the Temple/Sanctum of Truth.

I know it's silly, but I'm wondering what things people can get, what advancements, what sorts of things people would like to try to obtain, while still maintaining the God-centered, "this is His work", sort of thing. As such, I don't think a "levelling" system is a good idea -- "You're a level 3 prayer-warrior! You can now take on the sin of gluttony!" ... no.

Thoughts?

--clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

CoolJ

Member

Posts: 354
From: ny
Registered: 07-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by Realm Master:
Light Of God (hmm... maby... to powerfull a name?)

I like this, it is powerfull but describes the game well.


Here's are some more names too..

Light Reign
Knights of the Light
The Lighthood
Light of Way
Light Yielder
Aglow
Light Walkers
Alight
Everlight
Lightwake
Servants of Light


I liked 'Light Bearer' until I discovered 'Lucifer' translate to 'Light Bearer' - yikes!

I really liked 'Lightfall', but a search shows its used a lot already.
test edit

[This message has been edited by coolj (edited September 12, 2005).]

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
quote:
Originally posted by wingrider:
I see your method is quite genius. It’s a good story line and it has merit. I believe all games now have no planning, but to just shoot and kill something. I think if you can get any ones attention to use what our minds can imagine, your game will bring forth a very true meaning of Gods truth to each other. The thought of each item you have talked about gives great thought to how each sole is purified. Thanks for sharing Clint

Hey Wingrider! Sorry, when I was replying to posts yesterday, I missed yours.

Thanks for the encouragement! I pray that this could be an encouraging game for people. Any "genius" in the game is credited to God.

I don't mind people using a system like this for other games -- I would really like to see a graphical version of this in the future, I just didn't have the means to do that right now, but thought it would make a good test-game for Mite. Everybody rips off of the hack-and-slash go-kill-things kind of gameplay, I would love to see more people rip off a system like this (and refine it and make it better).

Thanks again!

CoolJ, I like those ideas!

They're all really good.
hehe, Knight Light is another funny name idea (and keeps the hominym double-meaning thing going on that Mite has), because we're being lights in the night, and we're knights of the light.

I also like Aglow and Alight -- I like the word glow thought. Lightfall is really cool too, I wonder if we could still use that.

Everlight -- ha! Sorry, I know it's a good name, I just wasn't sure, are you playing off of the Everquest name here? That was just the first thing I thought of, and I thought it was funny.

Crazy about Light Bearer -- I like that name too, but I think you're right, perhaps we should abstain from that one.

Thanks for the great ideas! These are really good fuel for thought!

--clint

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HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Sometimes it's not easy to draw a good line between the player and the avatar.

The player is the actual person pressing the keys, wiggling the joystick, clicking the mouse, who plays the game. The avatar is the digital representation of the player. The avatar is the one who wins the points, the avatar is the one whose strength increases, the avatar is the one who gains wisdom and skill and proficiency in combat.

Sometimes the avatar has a lot. For instance, in an RPG, the avatar has knowledge about combat which the player doesn't have -- the player doesn't know how to swing a sword better at level 3 than he did at level 1 -- that "talent" belongs to the avatar. The avatar gains strength, the avatar has missions, the avatar learns things about magic and spells and other such things. Almost all of the skill that determines how well the avatar plays belongs to the avatar -- not to the player. The player directs the avatar, but the skill in combat belongs to the avatar.

Sometimes the avatar is very "thin", and much more relies on the player. For instance, in a trivia game, the performance of the avatar is guided soley by the knowledge and guesswork of the player, not by any "skillpoints" or "charisma" or "wisdom" attribute possessed by the avatar.

However, LLOM (this game idea) has become a bit of a "mixed" environment. When people want to recall a Bible verse to help them in their walk, they expect to be able to pick from whatever they're familiar with. However, it's going to be a *huge* project to categorize the entire Bible, and quantify how effective a particular verse is against a wide array of temptations. How tedious!

As I was reading and praying this evening, I was struck with a really encouraging thought -- what if the avatar is the one that needs to be familiar with the verses? In that case, a player might have a situation like the following:


You are being attacked through a cyclopse of prooftexting!
What verse do you want to recall?
> 1 Tim 3:16
You're not familiar with that verse, as you haven't heard it recently.
What verse do you want to recall?
> help
You are familiar with:
Romans 1-4
Phillipians 2-3
What verse do you want to recall?
> Phillipians 2:1
You begin to remember Phillipians 2:1...
If you have any _____________ from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love,

etc etc etc.

Remember, that the way the player's character hears scripture is from the Temple where the scripture is read aloud all day, every day. In this way, a particular passage could be repeated for a day, or a week, and it could be the focus of that week's challenges. The characters would have a very short-term memory, and would only be able to recall ones that they had either kept up through recollection, or had heard recently in the Temple. In this way, the development team can focus their challenges on a specific set of verses, and the player has an easier time by having a smaller set of things to focus on and remember.

I'm excited about how much more manageable this makes the project, what do y'all think?

--clint

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Realm Master

Member

Posts: 1971
From: USA
Registered: 05-15-2005
good ides, but a cyclopse of prooftexting?????
no offense, but that REALLY lacks imaginatioin.

why not a cyclopse of word proccessors? jk, but seriously, a cyclopse of prooftexting? all of your ideas are good, except that one.
you probably made it up just quickly, or else you were trying to make somebody laugh, but if you weren't... hire a professsional monster creater.

------------------
(yes, i know im stupid)
God rules!

Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be shown mercy. - Matthew 5:7

Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of hevan bleongs to them.-Matthew 5:10

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Hey RM! Thanks for the criticism!

It was that bad? I couldn't think of a better one for prooftexting, though perhaps you can think of a better one.

Prooftexting is different than proofreading. When you prooftext, it's when you have an idea, and then you find a single verse that backs it up, and that's your "proof text". It's a bad habit that many people do (I fall into it often), and it's something that we need to guard against as Christians.

Jesus gave us a good example of this when He was being tempted by Satan. Satan pulled out the verse "He will give His angels charge over you, lest your foot should strike against a stone" (or something like that, I know it's misquoted, but that was the idea of the verse that Satan quoted). But Satan wasn't reading from the *whole* of scripture. However, Jesus resisted him and brought to attention the fact that we shouldn't put the Lord our God to the test. Jesus countered proof-texting with other scripture, and by keeping everything in context of the rest of scripture.

As proof-texting often only see one verse at a time, I thought that a good monster to represent this would be a cyclopse (one eye).

However, I'm open to suggestions about monsters, and thankyou for the criticism.

Respectfully,
clint

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crazyishone

Member

Posts: 1685
From:
Registered: 08-25-2004
it is interesting how your ideas tend to have multiple facets to them. everything has a double or deeper meaning. that takes alot of something....creativity? something.

as far as names go, wat about just calling it "Light" .
did some1 say that already? i like names that kinda describe everything in one word, or have a bunch of ways to read into it. Its one or the other tho. lol.

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globalrant.tk

Realm Master

Member

Posts: 1971
From: USA
Registered: 05-15-2005
aah, i see now. Proof-texting. wow, you've got this really thought-out, eh? Well, i think the clyclopse of pooftexting just... dosn't sound too great.

I like the clyclopse though... hmm....... this IS a challenge... i dunno, I can create monsters, but naming them is more difficlut.

Okay Han, i Do see your reasoning for naming it the cyclopse of prooftexting, but at frist it seems like something your teacher keeps under her desk

------------------
(yes, i know im stupid)
God rules!

Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be shown mercy. - Matthew 5:7

Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of hevan bleongs to them.-Matthew 5:10

crazyishone

Member

Posts: 1685
From:
Registered: 08-25-2004
you see...thats what i am talking about. all this multi-meaning and deep stuff that will thrill the C.S.LEWIS fans.
maybe just calling it cyclopes? as i was reading an abridged version of the Odyssey for school, a footnote talked about how there was representation in that fact that the beast was a "cyclopes" and there was alot of other stuff like that as well.

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globalrant.tk

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
One thing I really liked about the Diablo series was that when you first met a new monster, all you had for it was a simple name, and you didn't really know much about it. As you fought the demons more and more and defeated more of the same types, gradually more information about them started showing up where only their name showed up before. So at first, it might show up as:

Cyclops

But later it might show:

Narrow-Sighted Cyclops

and then later

Cyclops of Prooftexting

and then later

Cyclops of Prooftexting
Weaker when faced with verses from multiple books of the Bible


So that's sort of what I'm thinking. At first, it might just show up as:

Dark Tempter

But then maybe

Specter

Then maybe

Specter of Doubt

etc etc etc.

Good ideas, guys! Keep 'em coming! I don't want to make it too complex, but I think something simple is definitely feasible.

In Christ,
clint

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Realm Master

Member

Posts: 1971
From: USA
Registered: 05-15-2005
what idea did i give you?
anyway, wasn't that just your own idea, or did i read too lightly from crasyishone's post?

------------------
(yes, i know im stupid)
God rules!

Blessed are those who show mercy.
They will be shown mercy. - Matthew 5:7

Blessed are those who suffer for doing what is right.
The kingdom of hevan bleongs to them.-Matthew 5:10

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
It was probably late when I typed that last post, and I thought for sure someone had suggested hiding the double-meanings until later (like not making it obvious it was a Cyclops of Prooftexting at first, but just calling it a Cyclops at first), but looking back through, perhaps that was just an extrapolation of my tired mind.

I'm not sure you gave me any one particular idea, but it's helpful to have the criticisms and thoughts and reactions to what's presented here.

Also, I wasn't referring to just your ideas, but also to the ideas that have been presented here by a number of people.

Thanks again!

Respectfully,
clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
Is this a private party or can anyone program?

If "no" then I'd love to help!!! Only there's one problem.... I can only program in python. However you can embedd C/C++ into Python... THis game doesn't seem to revolve around speed, so I think python would be a good choice... however it's your game.....

PS> And if you're really concerned about speed. You can use Psycho for python to make it faster

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HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Definitely! This is certainly not a one-man show.

I'll be programming it in Mite with C# and possibly Boo (which is a whole lot like Python). If you're really interested, I could probably add IronPython in as a language for Mite so that you could script for Mite in Python.

But yeah, I'd totally love to have help on this one.

--clin

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CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Originally posted by HanClinto:
Definitely! This is certainly not a one-man show.

Ok. Great!

quote:

If you're really interested, I could probably add IronPython in as a language for Mite so that you could script for Mite in Python.

Yes I'm very interested. It's a console program and they're my speciality.

My email is: cpu[dot]crazy[at]gmail[dot]com (i'd like to chat more about this thru email because of internet browsing complications)

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Realm Master

Member

Posts: 1971
From: USA
Registered: 05-15-2005
COMON HAN! GIVE ME A BREAK! im still learning c++ (no thanks to my *(@#$& computer which is all screwd up...)... is C# that different?

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CPUFreak91

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Posts: 2337
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Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Originally posted by HanClinto:
I could probably add IronPython in as a language for Mite so that you could script for Mite in Python.


Oh... one more thing... what do you mean by script? (Sorry, I'm a noob to this kinda stuff)

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HanClinto

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Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
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RM:

C# is a lot like C++ in many ways, and it's very similar in syntax and structure. If you can pick up one, you should be able to pick up the other without too much trouble.

CPUFreak91:

Everything in Mite that controls the way the gameplay works is done through scripts. This includes all actions, all events, all movement, all descriptions, everything that determines how a game feels is handled by scripts. Scripts are compiled on-the-fly by the engine, and changes can be made to them and the effects seen immediately.

Everything that's not related to gameplay is handled by the engine. This includes database functionality, nitty-gritty socket code, error logging, script compilation, etc.

So if someone wants to build a game with Mite, all they have to learn is one of the available scripting languages (currently C# and Boo, though IronPython wouldn't be hard to add). Someone only needs to learn C# if they are going to help out on the engine code.

I hope that explanation makes sense.

Cheers!

--clint

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Simon_Templar

Member

Posts: 330
From: Eau Claire, WI USA
Registered: 10-25-2004
a couple ideas that came up for me when I was reading through the thread here.

First... each character could have a set number of verses that they can have on tap, or memorized at any given time.. and at a temple they could change out the verses with other ones. Thus if your planning an expedition into a certain area to plant some light, you can do some strategic planning... this area is inhabited by this type of monsters, thus I'll take this set of verses.

Another thought that just popped in there is that prayer at a temple could be a way of discovering intelligence about areas that you havn't explored yet. Through prayer you may be given a mission to a specific dark area and given the insight that it is held by a certain type of vice, or monsters etc.

but as for advancement.. one method of advancement could be in the number of verses that your character can have memorized.. as you advance you could have a greater arsenal on hand because you've long term memorized more verses through your experiences.. you could even do it that if there is a verse you use alot, after a certain amount of time that verse becomes a free verse that you always know, without having to take up memory space for it.

Just a few ideas that came up when I was reading through

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The old that is strong does not wither,
Not all those who wander are lost.

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Cooley! Long time no talk!

Great ideas! Thanks for the input!

I like your idea of having a small quiver, and for having to strategically plan what verses you're going to take with you and selectively choose them based on what you think you'll face there.

I also like how a larger quiver could be something that people could "advance" for -- great ideas!

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this -- I'm really glad to have you read over them, especially since this is all outgrowth of some of those original ideas you and I were working on.

Glad to see you around, and glad to see you didn't miss this thread of discussion.

--Clint

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Simon_Templar

Member

Posts: 330
From: Eau Claire, WI USA
Registered: 10-25-2004
Hey Clint

Good to chat again! I havn't been around for a while, mainly because I've been working like a dog. On average I'm putting in about 65 hours a week between my two jobs. Last week I put in 92 hours. This from a guy who used to feel that working 40 hours a week didn't leave any time for enjoying life!

I'm probably going to be quiting one of my jobs before too long though. I'm just hoping to hold out until around christmas, then I can go back to normal.

So how are things with you? how are the various game projects? Looks like your making good progress with this one.

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-- All that is gold does not glitter,
Deep roots are not touched by the frost,
The old that is strong does not wither,
Not all those who wander are lost.

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Things are going well -- haven't been working too hard lately, but trying to get some better discipline in my life, so it's picking up.

Game projects are going well, having a good time this week working on the current community project. PyGame is really nice! Also learning the Torque 3D engine for another project, and that's doing well also.

Which job are you thinking about leaving? The security job? Or the teaching one? Or is there another one?

Cheers!

--clint

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Simon_Templar

Member

Posts: 330
From: Eau Claire, WI USA
Registered: 10-25-2004
I've been working two security jobs, the newer one is at a hospital, which is probably the one I'd leave.

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-- All that is gold does not glitter,
Deep roots are not touched by the frost,
The old that is strong does not wither,
Not all those who wander are lost.

Seven7
Member

Posts: 50
From: USA
Registered: 03-16-2005
HanClinto,

I think I like this idea. Have you thought about 'upgrading' to
2D/3D graphics?

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
The idea originally started out as a 2D/3D MMORPG that Simon_templar and I were interested in starting, but I got overtaxed as far as resources go. I would be interested in "upgrading" to 2D/3D graphics, but I don't have the means to play in that realm at the moment, so I've decided to play around with the idea in the text realm at the moment. I don't hold copyright to this idea (nor do I wish to), so anyone who wants to "borrow" from this idea is more than welcome to.

Ideally, if this idea were to have merit, I could see this game progressing from the MUD world and then moving to be more of a GMUD (graphical MUD), and then upgrade in clients, while keeping the main emphasis on theology and gameplay.

Thanks for the encouragement, Seven7!

--clint

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Simon_Templar

Member

Posts: 330
From: Eau Claire, WI USA
Registered: 10-25-2004
Han,

I just sent you an email link to a new company called "kaneva" but I figured I'd toss it up here as well for everyone else. This company out of atlanta has written their own game engine designed to be completely modable to whatever genre or style of game people want to make. They are making the engine available free to whoever wants to use it and will publish games made with their engine on their own servers, they will handle server maintenance and billing etc, and will split any profits 50/50 with the game designer.

I have just started investigating it but it looks like a tremendous resource for indie game developers and start ups trying to get a first title out to the public.

The only problem I've seen so far is that you still need your own artist to provide the artwork for the game.. although they are even working on building up a basic portfolio of free art to get people started. They also have a section of their site for artists to sell their models etc.

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-- All that is gold does not glitter,
Deep roots are not touched by the frost,
The old that is strong does not wither,
Not all those who wander are lost.

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
Cool! Thanks for bringing this up, Josh!

This may even merit its own thread after we've checked it out more.

--clint