Group Game Project


slamtilt rocks ;)

i think if you want to creat an pinball it will be more fun if it can be skinable.
 
Whee, great to see everybody likes the pinball idea :).

Pinball tables are usually much longer than they are wide. The GP2x seems ideally suited for that kind of play if we tilt it sideways.

I was thinking of using START/B for the flippers (or maybe SELECT/A).

But I'm a bit concerned that it will be hard to get the physics right...
 
I don't think tilting would be necessary if we went for a more expertimental pinball type of game (and I think doing so would be really quite annoying while playing).

Concerning the actual game: I don't think the state (ice water vapuor, plasma etc) should be directly playercontrolled, but it should be time and enviroment specific.
If you just let the ball sit in one corner is will slowly melt until is is at the surrounding temperature, and act acording to that (water drop down until is is at the bottom, vapuor rise until it reaches the top sink... both would mean game over).
All you can controll are where the ball is in the enviroment, and maybe also special gajets like a freeze cannon somewhere in the level.
Of course there could be special powerups with slow the temperature change, or reverse ist for some time, or give you an extra 30° or something by activating. Or other powerups, could turn the level into a iceage, where the graphics change according to that... maybe this could also be controlled by hitting a switch for 'climate-control' in the level with your ball.

To monitor your ball-temerature there should be a simple coloured temperature bar at the side of the screen.

Your padels that are scattered around the level (not only the two at the bottom) could be also state specific. For example there a 'grid' ones that can only hit the solid state (ice) or fans that only effect the vapour state etc. And special parts of the level could be also blocked of by grids etc, thus forcing you to changing state before getting access.

Last but not least, the point of the level shouldn't be just getting points, but maybe solve certian missions, or reaching certain places/final holes etc.

Edit: the states could of course not be completely true to physics, as they still have to remain ball shaped... but there could of course be different characteristics.
 
Anyone played Sonic Spinball on the megadrive? That was a great pinball game with some really creative elementsa (like having a ball that could grab hold of ledges and jump around on them for example).

A pinball game, when as creativly implimented as people are suggesting here can be great fun indeed.

Oh, and pinball physics are easy, especially in 2d.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I've been playing Sonic Spinball on DrMD recently and it is just as great on the gp2x as it ever was on the megadrive. That kind of suggests that rotating the console isn't strictly necessary.
 
I didn't think it was really.

Although I could understand it would be harder if you can't see anything.
 
Pinball would be fun

As far as graphics go I think that pre-rendered 3d models would look real nice for most of the suggestions here. Theme support or at least art/level pack support would be greatness. B)

I would also love to see a remake of warlords.

For those that don't know the game. The playing field consists of four "castles" in the four corners of the screen you control one of the four padles that protects the castles. The game is in play when a dragon meandors by and launches a fireball at one of the castles when the player fails to defleck the fireball with the padle their castle suffers damage. If enough Fireballs hit the castle in the same place ou will be destroyed the match ends when only one castle remains.

anyway the remake would have better graphics/sounds/fx you would have "worlds" where you could have boats and cannonballs instead of castles and dragons for exmple and ofcourse multiplayer support when avaible.

What do you think? :)
 
Aimless_E posted on May 3 2006 at 02:45 PM said:
Pinball would be fun

As far as graphics go I think that pre-rendered 3d models would look real nice for most of the suggestions here. Theme support or at least art/level pack support would be greatness. B)

I would also love to see a remake of warlords.

For those that don't know the game. The playing field consists of four "castles" in the four corners of the screen you control one of the four padles that protects the castles. The game is in play when a dragon meandors by and launches a fireball at one of the castles when the player fails to defleck the fireball with the padle their castle suffers damage. If enough Fireballs hit the castle in the same place ou will be destroyed the match ends when only one castle remains.

anyway the remake would have better graphics/sounds/fx you would have "worlds" where you could have boats and cannonballs instead of castles and dragons for exmple and ofcourse multiplayer support when avaible.

What do you think? :)
I think if we ever get networking, and enough people make use of it, that it would be the perfect game to show off the networking tech.
 
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Exactly, it was a cool game, but not so good single player. Plus the original is on mame (I think) so you don't have to wait for the remake :)
 
The goal of pinball (in my mind) is a little boring: get more points than the person that currently holds the high score. You can only play one table so many times I think.

What if the goal was to complete tasks on a pinball table so you could move to the next one. For example...build a ramp piece by piece by hitting different bumpers and then launching your ball off this table to the next one. Each table has different tasks to complete to move onto the next table.

Have extra "side rooms," powerups, skins you can unlock etc etc.
 
linoleum13 posted on May 4 2006 at 12:06 AM said:
The goal of pinball (in my mind) is a little boring: get more points than the person that currently holds the high score. You can only play one table so many times I think.

You should try running the 'Pinball' series of games (you can download them starting from http://www.abandonia.com/games/41/PinballDreams) and see what you think.

I'm in the camp that thinks pinball is probably the most boring game in the world, but I really loved these games on my A1200, as I think they had lots of features on the tables in later versions, which is probably the sort of thing you're talking about.

Also, we don't want to go overboard in the specifications for this game, as it may end up going the way of Duke Nukem Forever!
 
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I must say that a pinball game to me seems less interesting than some of the other ideas posted here.

I have been working on evolving a couple of ideas for games over the past few months, the most complete of which is a side-scrolling beat-em-up. Not sure how keen you all are on the Side Scroller game type, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

The other game ideas I have are as follows:

1: In-Depth Racing Game (simulation)
Top Down Racing game with realistic physics, handling and AI.
Sort of like Project Gotham Racing (X-Box) but not 3D and from top-down view.
Would not really be any limits to the amount of work that could be put into it.
Users could create there own vehicles (via conf files and gfx) and tracks.
Our project artists could hace free roam on the types of tracks that they make.
There could be rally tracks, road races, V8 cups, go-kart races.
Basically this game could be a 2D version of Gran Turismo. Would be fun, hey?

2. Top-Down Tactical sim game.
Got this idea from playing R6: Raven Shield on PC. We could do a 2D version.
We could even make it isometric to let artists have more freedom of artwork.
The base engine would be simple, but it could be expanded to include all sorts of fun additions (hear-beat sensors like in R6, or Fog of War like C-Dogs etc).

3. Sidescrolling Beat-em-Up
We could make a nice stylised game with its own features and cool storyline.
I already have this one designed and a story loosly writen.
if a sidescroller interests any of you let me know and I will elaborate more.

Anyways, about me. I am just getting into game coding and coding in general and I really want to work with some better coders to learn off of. I cannot do graphic artwork so I guess the only place I could contribute would be code and design/story development.
 
timbobsteve posted on May 5 2006 at 11:33 AM said:
I must say that a pinball game to me seems less interesting than some of the other ideas posted here.

I have been working on evolving a couple of ideas for games over the past few months, the most complete of which is a side-scrolling beat-em-up. Not sure how keen you all are on the Side Scroller game type, but I thought I would mention it anyway.

The other game ideas I have are as follows:

1: In-Depth Racing Game (simulation)
Top Down Racing game with realistic physics, handling and AI.
Sort of like Project Gotham Racing (X-Box) but not 3D and from top-down view.
Would not really be any limits to the amount of work that could be put into it.
Users could create there own vehicles (via conf files and gfx) and tracks.
Our project artists could hace free roam on the types of tracks that they make.
There could be rally tracks, road races, V8 cups, go-kart races.
Basically this game could be a 2D version of Gran Turismo. Would be fun, hey?

2. Top-Down Tactical sim game.
Got this idea from playing R6: Raven Shield on PC. We could do a 2D version.
We could even make it isometric to let artists have more freedom of artwork.
The base engine would be simple, but it could be expanded to include all sorts of fun additions (hear-beat sensors like in R6, or Fog of War like C-Dogs etc).

3. Sidescrolling Beat-em-Up
We could make a nice stylised game with its own features and cool storyline.
I already have this one designed and a story loosly writen.
if a sidescroller interests any of you let me know and I will elaborate more.

Anyways, about me. I am just getting into game coding and coding in general and I really want to work with some better coders to learn off of. I cannot do graphic artwork so I guess the only place I could contribute would be code and design/story development.

Dzz, since this was your topic, would you think it rude of me to put up a poll now?

Allan.
 
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Muncher666 posted on May 4 2006 at 08:26 PM said:
Dzz, since this was your topic, would you think it rude of me to put up a poll now?

Allan.
Not at all, poll away.
 
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tshroom posted on May 4 2006 at 09:21 PM said:
DZZ! Lets get this show on the road. Your the obvious leader of the project.

Ok, I'm going to move to the next step with the "pinball-esque" idea. I doubt that this idea will win the poll because the poll is really basically asking the gp2x user base "what is your favorite type of game". I hope that moving ahead on this project does not cause anybody to abandon any other idea. A lot of creative and interesting things have happened in this thread and I hope they continue to get attention, and there's no reason that proponents of a turn-based strategy game or any other idea shouldn't continue to pursue another concept. I personally can only commit to one such project though.

I think this thread should remain open, as there is room for many more suggestions and ideas.

I have started a new thread in the development section to discuss the pinball-esque project:

http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=27995

Please joing that discussion and help out if it would be rewarding to you to do so. Thanks everybody!
 
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Am I the only one NOT interested in a pinball game? I've played those pinball games that are praised all of the time, such as pinball dreams, and I really don't get into them. I like games that have compelling stories and strong characters. I also like games that are well polished and FUN. I don't enjoy pinball games at all, and they have no (or very terrible) stories, so I would far prefer an rpg (or any variation, such as action rpgs), an adventure game, or some other unique type of game that is tied togethor through a story.

Sounds like this pinball idea is the most popular, though, so I guess that is what will actually be created. I hope to create both an rpg game and an adventure game this summer, because I can't fit it in with school and my other activities. If anyone is interested in creating 2D art for an adventure game or rpg, please send me a PM. I'm new to c/c++ programming, but I think I could handle this calibre of game.
 
I can't say I'm a great fan of pinball games (thought I did churn a lot of time into the Shareware bit of Epic Pinball in years gone by).

That said, I think it is a very good ideas for a first community game project. More grand ideas (e.g. Metroidesque games) have fallen by the wayside before; maybe pinball won't!

And if it doesn't then a team will have been established who are reliable, and can work on a (maybe) grander idea in due course...
 
deadlychicken22 posted on May 5 2006 at 11:46 PM said:
Am I the only one NOT interested in a pinball game?
I wouldn't claim to be a huge fan myself, but I thought Pinball Dreams and its successors were very good. The thing is, the pinball idea got the most enthusiastic response, so it makes sense to put that forward. The good thing about this group game project is that although it might not necessarily get everyone working on one single game, it should crystallise developers' thoughts and hopefully lead to projects which get finished.

We all have great ideas, but putting them into practice is often where it falls down, because we either don't have the time or the scope of knowledge to complete the task. I hope the discussions in this (and derived) topics manage to get a few heads together, and should only lead to something positive.
 
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