Pandora The Pandora Game

[Blue Protoman]

My suggestions;

• Give the game a very high replay value (a good way to do it is to create a good scoring system, along with adding a bunch of other assorted modes, easter eggs, etc.)
  
• Humor. This concept is begging for it.
  
• Make the name of each level a reference to something in pop culture (Like, say, the van level can be called A Van to a Kill)
  
• Allow failure and Game Over, BUT encourage trying again, for you are an OP member, and never give up! For this reason, allow continues (though your score resets to zero)
  
• On the Rabid Fan level, you don't have to actually "kill" them; you can just be armed with a stun gun. There, now you have decent gameplay while not harming the fans (in the long run).
  

I'm not too good with graphics and sounds and whatnot, but I CAN design the game. Drop me a line, I'll present you with a concept for a level. The more you tell me, the better I can do. I'll draw out some sketches too, if you want (though I'm not a great artist, I can convey my ideas). I could probably do something really nice with this concept, if it turns out to be an arcade-style game. (Not too god with adventure games.)

 

[Jourdy288]

Hmm, perhaps there could be a Red Baron ? That would be a cool boss.


Also, I'm still something of a newb when it comes to art, but I made this simple stick figure waving. It's got some obvious transparency issues, but my idea is to use it as a starting point, sort of a skeleton to flesh out.


Like it?

 

[Yannick]

was just reading and had an idea


a boat level,


you have to rythmically wigle with one nub following the waves to avoid the container with cases falling off


add some sea animals and fisherboatpirates to shoot with the other nub

 

[Blue Protoman]

I think they wanna focus on the OP staff.

 

[foxblock]

My suggestions;

• Give the game a very high replay value (a good way to do it is to create a good scoring system, along with adding a bunch of other assorted modes, easter eggs, etc.)
  
• Humor. This concept is begging for it.
  
• Make the name of each level a reference to something in pop culture (Like, say, the van level can be called A Van to a Kill)
  
• Allow failure and Game Over, BUT encourage trying again, for you are an OP member, and never give up! For this reason, allow continues (though your score resets to zero)
  
• On the Rabid Fan level, you don't have to actually "kill" them; you can just be armed with a stun gun. There, now you have decent gameplay while not harming the fans (in the long run).
  

I'm not too good with graphics and sounds and whatnot, but I CAN design the game. Drop me a line, I'll present you with a concept for a level. The more you tell me, the better I can do. I'll draw out some sketches too, if you want (though I'm not a great artist, I can convey my ideas). I could probably do something really nice with this concept, if it turns out to be an arcade-style game. (Not too god with adventure games.)

I like every point you listed there, not sure about the third one (pop culture references) as it will only be funny if it really fits well, otherwise it might become stupid very quickly


For game designs: The second post of this thread has the different stages/games which are currently planned, you can take any of these as a starting point.


If you need some more elaboration on one of them feel free to ask

was just reading and had an idea


a boat level,


you have to rythmically wigle with one nub following the waves to avoid the container with cases falling off


add some sea animals and fisherboatpirates to shoot with the other nub

That could work. I am not sure whether to add it to the list because we already got 5 stages, which is a good number to start with (we don't want to have to much to begin with or we will never get it done), we could exchange one of the existing ones, what do you guys think?


If we get the 5 stages done we still can add more, of course.


foxblock out


PS: Working on the framework, first version might be done by Sunday (hopefully).

 

[pokitfoxx]

you could have it so that you collect certain parts of the pandoras on each level (nubs, lcd screens, wireless chips, keymats and boards or something if you add a level you can just say that the nubs failed and you need newer better stronger nubs, or that the new socketable nubs are now available), each part counts as 100 of that part, you need 4000 to get 100% in the game, then as easter eggs or secret places theres about 1000 extras for RMA's.


then have a big picture of the pandora just with the parts missing and if you get all the parts needed then that shows up on the big map i guess of the pandora


kinda confusing but looks good in my head!


no dice on making any graphics or art for this sry i dont have the skill.


would probably if i had one of these: *first minuite is boring*


EDIT: typo

 

[Blue Protoman]

OK, let's start with level 1.

First stage: A top-down scrolling shooter similar to 1964 (NES).
You control the plane with the cases and try to fly from china over to Craig's house.


Enemies could include Apple planes and Google ground forces.


Also from time to time you have to avoid vapour of volcano ashes (every time before this happens we could display the video of ED saying "only a volcano can stop us now" in the corner of the screen)

• Three powerups; A gun with widespread fire (shoots buttons), one with slow but powerful missiles (whole cases), and a laser. Powerups come as colored cases, or perhaps Pandora logos.
  
• Apple and Google as enemies is fine.
  
• Don't model it after 1942, that hasn't aged well; consider 1941, that's much better.
  
• A bonus mode if you do very well; Time Attack. Get as many points as you can in 2 or 5 minutes on a specially made level. Similar to the Star Soldier series.
  
• Lots of ground tiles that do nothing but inflate your score when destroyed; also, some drop black cases that give you points.
  
• Throw in some inclement weather for good measure.
  
• Remember, most of the path is land.
  
• The boss could be a big-ass tank that turns the rest of the level into a bullet hell shooter (with accompanying reduction in hit box). It has multiple parts that must each be destroyed. Oh, and it's Nokia-branded.
  

Possible Level Names: Cases are Forever, From China With Love

Second stage: Side-scrolling racing game, similar to Excite Bike (NES)
You drive the truck with the cases from the airport to Craig's house, which catches fire early on, so you have to go at a maximum speed to keep the fire from spreading.


On the way you are likely to lose other parts of the van, which affect controls or general movement.


Obstacles to avoid on the way could be: ...?

• Instead of making it side-scrolling, make it top-down, like Micro Machines. Or maybe an isometric view, like RC Pro-Am.
  
• The van catches fire early, but it doesn't directly affect performance. Once the van catches fire, the Heat Meter appears.
  
• There is a Heat Meter. Running through puddles, turbo boosts, or jumps reduces it, while going slow and crashing into things increases it. The faster you go, the slower the meter increases. If the Heat Meter reaches the max, you lose. Even if you completely empty it, the van is still on fire.
  
• Perhaps randomly generate the course to add variety?
  
• If the courses are randomly generated, then offer an Endless Mode as a bonus; go as long as you can without losing. It gets harder over time.
  
• The faster you go, the more points you earn. You can also pickup point bonuses, in the form of various Pandora parts, or perhaps the logo.
  
• Have cops chase you most of the way, but you earn major points if you knock them off the road.
  
• Road hazards could be potholes, overturned trash cans, tree branches, and pedestrians (your Heat Meter increases by a lot if you run one over, but they will actively try to get out of the way).
  

Possible Level names: A Van to a Kill, Case-ino Royale


Others will come later. If you like, I can draw up some (crude) mockups as to how this could look.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Well? Any thoughts?

 

[Jourdy288]

I'll have thoughts on your idea when you have thoughts on my stick figure


I kid, I kid, these all sound like nice ideas and good suggestions. I especially like your level names

 

[foxblock]

Well? Any thoughts?

Sounds very good so far


On the first level:


We don't have to set it in the WW2 era, the current time would also work.


Time Attack and other modes (endless on the second level) are a good idea, but I think we should complete the basic game first and add those modes later.


Not sure about making part of the Pandora the projectiles it might look too odd, standard bullets and missiles would also work imo.


What specific enemies do we use? just some Google/Apple branded planes and cannons?


I like "From China with Love" best


On the second level:


Isometric vied would also work well (so we make it similar to the one part in the Back to the Future game for the NES), in the end it is up to the programmer for that level (and the artist of course).


The heat-meter idea sounds very good, we could make it increase faster over time, which adds to the pressure.


Mock-ups can always help, so feel encouraged to draw some (as is everybody else).


If anyone wants to code a specific stage, please contact me or reply here, I think we need one programmer for every stage.


Don't be afraid if you are not that experienced or just started learning, we will help you as much as we can!


Also a general question (concerning the framework):


Do we want to keep a total number of lives for all levels or should each level have its individual number (for example, you can die 3 times in the fist level and still get a fresh 5 lives for the second one).


foxblock out

 

[Blue Protoman]

1. By 1942, I mean the arcade game. 1941 is the 3rd game in the series (1943 is the second). I was talking about modelling it after 1941 in gameplay. (Play it in MAME, it's really quite good.)


2. That works.


3. I just wanted to make this stand out as a Pandora-story based game.


4. Best I can think of, unless you have better ideas?


5. Fine, just not side-scrolling. I really think top-down or isometic could work better.


6. I'll draw some (crude) mock-ups later. Note that I am a shit artist, and probably won't even get the screen proportions right.


7. Depends on the level structure.

 

[Blue Protoman]

We need to figure out how a nub stage will fit in. That's one bit we're sorely missing.

Third stage: Side-scroller, Metal Slug style (Neo Geo)
You control Rambo-ED (or Craig) raiding the board factory in a side-scrolling manner.


The manager of the factory is the boss you have to defeat in the end.

• Can't imagine them using guns. Instead, how about a 2D beat-em-up in the style of Vigilante (but good)?
  
• They could be armed with various sports equipment. Powerups are better items. Like from a wooden bat to an aluminum one, etc. This doesn't seem like the kind of game that would be terribly violent.
  
• You lose points if you hit people who are actually working on the boards
  

Possible Level Names: Boardz in the Hood, Boardfinger, Boardraker, The Boards Are Not Enough


That's all I got for Level 3. The next bit more than makes up for it.

Fourth stage: Top-Down survival "shooter"
You are in a house (Craig's?) and Pandora preorderers are trying to raid it (zombie-like) to get their device.


You have to barricade doors and windows and try to keep them out.


Other actions might include an "excuse-move" where you shout an excuse for the delays which makes the zombies retreat for a while.

• Instead of using real weapons, use stun guns, loaded with powerful sedatives. Shot people simply fall to the ground and disappear.
  
• Other possible weapons; knockout gas grenades/gun, baseball bats, household items
  
• Model the stages after the staff's actual houses
  
• Excuse; it repels some people, slows down others, and doesn't affect yet others. You're not limited in its use, but it gets less effective every time you use it.
  
• You can throw your limited supply of Pandoras into the crowd and send away a herd of them to fight amongst themselves. Or you might attract more people. It's a bit of a gamble.
  
• The entire dev team will be available. You can take control of one person at a time, and the others will be controlled with AI. You can give out plans to the rest of the group (tell them to recover, to attack, to defend you, etc.)
  
• You can recover by eating in the kitchen. The longer it takes for you to prepare something, the more you heal.
  
• You can grab supplies (wood, boxes, etc.) from the basement, garage, or whatever to barricade doors and windows, but you're limited in supply, limited in what you can carry at once, and they can be destroyed. Also, you have to move them to go outside, but you can attack through windows.
  
• You can exit the house, to attack, but you're at a higher risk. Inside, you're fairly safe if no one gets in.
  
• The ultimate goal is to make Pandoras. Once you make a certain amount, you can move on. You can instruct teammates to make Pandoras while you defend, or vice versa.
  

Possible Level Names: Live and Let Preorder, Never Say Refund Again, Night of the Living Preorders

 

[foxblock]

Level 3:


Yeah a beat-em-up could work, too, but I really would like to make a Metal Slug-style game


We could have the factory be invaded by Apple ninjas who are stopping production, so you have to kill them and actually rescue the employees. Or maybe a "dark force" has taken over.


Level 4:


Love it, the way the excuse would work sounds great, but I think it should have a cooldown and always be equally effective, just there will be more and more resistant attackers spawning.


For the thrown Pandoras, I imagine something like the pipe bomb in L4D - you throw it and it attracts all attackers in a certain radius and then blows up after a while (being a stun grenade).


But I think we want to keep it simple for now, so let's just make it one stage and I think a fictional square room will suffice, real world homes don't make good places for games usually anyway.


Having the entire dev team available sounds good, but making a good and useful AI will be quite a challenge, so we also could just make a character selection screen at the beginning, in case we want to go the easy way


I think we should not make a cellar, but instead limit it to one room, which seems easier. We just could pile up some things to barricade in one corner of the room, also seems more logical to keep the as close as possible


Also having multiple actions available seems like a good idea, so the player has to decide whether to barricade the doors, heal by eating or assemble the Pandoras (which is the ultimate goal).


Great work so far


foxblock out


BTW, we also still need a good name for the whole game!

 

[Stradian]

I don't mean to crash anyone's artist plans, but I thought I whip up a sprite of Evil Dragon. Might as well, As the more time I spend, The closer my Pandora is.


Small:

Ninja-d Middled:

Large:

(Image is cleaner then it looks... I know... I ripped the enlarged one from my desktop.)


:lol:


+++++++++


Addendum


+++++++++

<-- Those pink dots are transparency. It does look weird with it doesn't it?

+++++++++


+2


+++++++++

I guess you can choose which ones look better, I cant decide tonight.

 

[Blue Protoman]

Good name? Easy; Pandora Panic 2: Behind the Scenes


I've also got the level structure worked out;


At first, you start on the Level Select, where you start with Level 1 by default. When you meet certain (specified) conditions like getting a certain score, you open up the next level. And so on. You can play any unlocked level at any time. When you meet the requirements for the last level, you unlock the (fancy) credits, which credits everyone by their real names AND their board name, along with some other Pandora-related fun in the background. High scores are saved for each level individually.

 

[Emnasut]

Possible Level Names: The Boards Are Not Enough


Possible Level Names: Never Say Refund Again, Night of the Living Preorders

I love those the most!


Also I wanna shoot down an iPlane! *g*


For something more constructive: For level 4 how about something like a smart bomb: zooms out to show craigx on the roof of the house taking breath and then shouting "WHAT'S YOUR ORDER NUMBER!!" Parodius style, scaring off everyone at once. ^^

 

[Jourdy288]

Haha, yeah! The iPlane!


And I like Blue Protoman's sedative idea too.


But does anybody on this board at all like my waving stick figure template?!

 

[Blue Protoman]

Would you like me to lie, or would you like me to tell the truth?

 

[foxblock]

Good name? Easy; Pandora Panic 2: Behind the Scenes


I've also got the level structure worked out;


At first, you start on the Level Select, where you start with Level 1 by default. When you meet certain (specified) conditions like getting a certain score, you open up the next level. And so on. You can play any unlocked level at any time. When you meet the requirements for the last level, you unlock the (fancy) credits, which credits everyone by their real names AND their board name, along with some other Pandora-related fun in the background. High scores are saved for each level individually.

That name could actually work, just for the double meaning


That level structure also sounds fine, but I would limit a single level by time or distance travelled (reached Craig's house, the boss in the factory, etc.) and add the score just for high-scoring purposes (so you might actually be able to finish a level with 0 points).


The main mode will be "Campaign mode" in which you have to beat all the levels in order (you can save between levels and continue later).


Then, similar to Everyday Shooter, there will be the single levels playable, so we have campaign and single level highscore tables.


And eventually add time attack and other modes later.

For something more constructive: For level 4 how about something like a smart bomb: zooms out to show craigx on the roof of the house taking breath and then shouting "WHAT'S YOUR ORDER NUMBER!!" Parodius style, scaring off everyone at once. ^^

Love it

But does anybody on this board at all like my waving stick figure template?!

I have to be honest with you, it is not good - you will have to improve a lot. I know you said it was just the bare bones, but even for that it is not that fluently animated (also the flashing kills me).


Try again and maybe add some colours and clothing so we have more to look at.


@Stradian:


Looking good, though I think his arms are too plump.


Also I currently have no idea where to put him, but somebody might find a use for it (we could even place it on the menu screen or something like that).


What we currently need the most:


- Programmers who want to do one of the stages (except for the Metal Slug/board factory and Deliery/Canabalt ones)


- A name for the whole game


- mode, level specific ideas, like types of enemies, etc.


- a decision on whether to make a total number of lives or have an individual number per level


foxblock out

 

[Scntrblob]

Ehm, foxblock? Is the second post currently up to date with all the ideas collected and considered good so far? I'm not reading all the stuff here... Didn't you mention an alpha framework for sunday? No intention to put preasure on you, but I would be very intressted.