Dzz
stmia r0!, {r2-r9}
Hello everybody. This thread is a continuation a discussion which began here: http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?showtopic=27749
In that thread, the idea of building a "pinball-esque" type of game arose. It struck me as an ideal concept for a group project, for the following reasons:
1) It is reasonably well bounded with a clear concept. It should not be too confusing for us to understand what we're talking about.
2) The gameplay design should be a manageable size and give budding young game designers a tractable problem to solve.
3) The art requirements are relatively modest yet leave a wide range for creative expression.
4) The project only has to reach the point of one polished "table" to be a success in that it would be an enjoyable download. I believe that tangible releasable milestones like this will help keep the participants motivated.
I'm appointing myself "project leader" for this effort (though I'd relinquish the job to another dedicated individual). That does NOT mean that I am the "designer" -- and design is our first goal. In particular, the basic idea of the game has to be decided, and I'll do that in a vague way here:
The game consists of a set of "tables", each of which is similar in spirit to "pinball" in the following way: There should be something similar in concept to a "ball" that is manipulated with something similar in concept to "flippers". This "ball" interacts with a 2D (or perhaps in some cases 2.5D) environment using some sort of comprehensible "physics".
Now, as far as design goes, we need to work on the design of specific tables. At some point we will need to choose one to work on first, but let's start with letting the game designers have a go at this task. The goal here is a description of a table that is specific enough that all participants understand it in the same way so that coding and art can begin. I would expect that a game designer would produce a description that gets expanded and more specific over time. Also, a sketch of what the screen should look like would be very helpful. These sketches can be the worst artwork ever done, that doesn't matter. The point is to make ideas concrete by showing in a rough and crude way what the idea is talking about. A bad picture is still worth 1000 words.
Some very interesting ideas were begun in the previous thread. I encourage their authors to bring those ideas over here and start working on some details.
I would like to hold off for now on discussion of "construction kits" or other attempts to generalize the task. I believe that we will be in a much better position to think about such a thing correctly after implementing a couple of tables; I do not want to delay the process of producing some actual gameplay or place framework-based restrictions on this effort at this time.
Ok, game designers, creative people, anybody with a sense of fun or adventure, let's design some gp2x pinball-esque tables!
In that thread, the idea of building a "pinball-esque" type of game arose. It struck me as an ideal concept for a group project, for the following reasons:
1) It is reasonably well bounded with a clear concept. It should not be too confusing for us to understand what we're talking about.
2) The gameplay design should be a manageable size and give budding young game designers a tractable problem to solve.
3) The art requirements are relatively modest yet leave a wide range for creative expression.
4) The project only has to reach the point of one polished "table" to be a success in that it would be an enjoyable download. I believe that tangible releasable milestones like this will help keep the participants motivated.
I'm appointing myself "project leader" for this effort (though I'd relinquish the job to another dedicated individual). That does NOT mean that I am the "designer" -- and design is our first goal. In particular, the basic idea of the game has to be decided, and I'll do that in a vague way here:
The game consists of a set of "tables", each of which is similar in spirit to "pinball" in the following way: There should be something similar in concept to a "ball" that is manipulated with something similar in concept to "flippers". This "ball" interacts with a 2D (or perhaps in some cases 2.5D) environment using some sort of comprehensible "physics".
Now, as far as design goes, we need to work on the design of specific tables. At some point we will need to choose one to work on first, but let's start with letting the game designers have a go at this task. The goal here is a description of a table that is specific enough that all participants understand it in the same way so that coding and art can begin. I would expect that a game designer would produce a description that gets expanded and more specific over time. Also, a sketch of what the screen should look like would be very helpful. These sketches can be the worst artwork ever done, that doesn't matter. The point is to make ideas concrete by showing in a rough and crude way what the idea is talking about. A bad picture is still worth 1000 words.
Some very interesting ideas were begun in the previous thread. I encourage their authors to bring those ideas over here and start working on some details.
I would like to hold off for now on discussion of "construction kits" or other attempts to generalize the task. I believe that we will be in a much better position to think about such a thing correctly after implementing a couple of tables; I do not want to delay the process of producing some actual gameplay or place framework-based restrictions on this effort at this time.
Ok, game designers, creative people, anybody with a sense of fun or adventure, let's design some gp2x pinball-esque tables!
Last edited by a moderator:
