Author Topic: Game Design Megathread (Read 442443 times)

Verification · June 29, 2017, 12:59:11 PM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on June 28, 2017, 05:26:17 PM

It's still in very early pre-alpha; I'm trying to decide on the direction and theme for the game, which may be slightly different than Blockland. Any ideas are welcome though, I could definitely use feedback and suggestions.

I would say keep the terrain but make it more-legolike. A true spiritual succesor would have lego-like models, but not ripping off lego, and lots of bricks, customizaablity and a stable FPS on toaster computers.

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Waru · June 29, 2017, 01:17:45 PM

In c# how do i make a static list not be overwritten but make sure it exists before i write to it

such as

Code: [Select]

class Item
	{
		public string name;
		public float value;
		public static List<Item> itemID;



		public Item(string _name)
		{
			
			itemID = new List<Item>();
			name = _name;

			itemID.Add(this);

		}



	}

then when I have

Code: [Select]

			Item apple = new Item("apple");

			Item banana = new Item("banana");

			for (int i = 0; i < Item.itemID.Count; i++)
			{
				Console.WriteLine(Item.itemID[i].name);
			}

The console shows up as

Code: [Select]

banana
this obviously is solved by removing itemID = new List<Item>(); buttttt how would i make sure it exists before i start adding stuff to it if it wasnt created this way?

otto-san · June 29, 2017, 01:21:57 PM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on June 28, 2017, 05:26:17 PM

It's still in very early pre-alpha; I'm trying to decide on the direction and theme for the game, which may be slightly different than Blockland. Any ideas are welcome though, I could definitely use feedback and suggestions.

keep in mind that a game like blockland pretty much needs mods to survive for any period of time, so the game being robustly moddable should be pretty high priority. torque makes this pretty easy naturally, and i'm not sure you're gonna be able to match it, but a strong set of tools for modders is gonna be incredibly important for any serious successor project. also, if it isn't something you've considered yet, you're going to have to get a bit more clever with the way you approach bricks. blockland has a lot of unique optimizations for the brick system that you're gonna have to replicate or create reasonable substitutions for if you want to allow for a similar number of brick objects. probs looking at batching together brick rendering in some way

EcstaticEggplant · June 29, 2017, 01:44:22 PM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on June 28, 2017, 12:23:00 PM

I was talking with someone about creating a spiritual successor to Blockland, which I've been wanting to do for awhile now. The project would bring back maps and have updated building mechanics, along with better graphics, physics, a procedurally generated world (like Lego Worlds) and many new features. If enough people are interested I would like to finish it soon and get a playable demo released; here's some screenshots from various prototypes:

wow you're like the only person who has set out to do this who is actually capable of doing it.

looks good so far, loving the windows xp lol.

[GSF]Ghost · June 29, 2017, 07:11:10 PM

Quote from: EcstaticEggplant on June 29, 2017, 01:44:22 PM

wow you're like the only person who has set out to do this who is actually capable of doing it.

looks good so far, loving the windows xp lol.

Yeah that prototype was from a few years ago haha. My new PC's operating system is much more up-to-date. =P

Quote from: Verification on June 29, 2017, 12:59:11 PM

I would say keep the terrain but make it more-legolike. A true spiritual succesor would have lego-like models, but not ripping off lego, and lots of bricks, customizaablity and a stable FPS on toaster computers.

Quote from: joe411 on June 29, 2017, 12:50:24 PM

What would make it different than an already successful game such as Minecraft? How are you gonna get people to play it instead of Minecraft?

If it's just going to be the same game, no one is gonna care about it. Make sure to keep that in mind.

It turns out someone else is making a sequel to the game, and has some great ideas planned. I may end up taking the game in a slightly different direction (maybe more like a CAD program in which you can model your own weapons, buildings, vehicles, etc.). It'll still have maps, minigames, a procedural world, etc., however.

Quote from: otto-san on June 29, 2017, 01:21:57 PM

keep in mind that a game like blockland pretty much needs mods to survive for any period of time, so the game being robustly moddable should be pretty high priority. torque makes this pretty easy naturally, and i'm not sure you're gonna be able to match it, but a strong set of tools for modders is gonna be incredibly important for any serious successor project. also, if it isn't something you've considered yet, you're going to have to get a bit more clever with the way you approach bricks. blockland has a lot of unique optimizations for the brick system that you're gonna have to replicate or create reasonable substitutions for if you want to allow for a similar number of brick objects. probs looking at batching together brick rendering in some way

Modding will definitely be a big part of the game. I also have ideas on how to optimize performance, i.e.: culling, dynamic / static batching, reducing draw calls / combining meshes, etc.

Insert Name Here� · June 29, 2017, 07:14:08 PM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on June 28, 2017, 05:26:17 PM

It's still in very early pre-alpha; I'm trying to decide on the direction and theme for the game, which may be slightly different than Blockland. Any ideas are welcome though, I could definitely use feedback and suggestions.

pls keep the brick's scale the same as blockland if you can, so addon models could hopefully be somewhat backwards compatible

Meteor · July 01, 2017, 02:41:43 AM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on June 28, 2017, 12:23:00 PM

I was talking with someone about creating a spiritual successor to Blockland, which I've been wanting to do for awhile now. The project would bring back maps and have updated building mechanics, along with better graphics, physics, a procedurally generated world (like Lego Worlds) and many new features. If enough people are interested I would like to finish it soon and get a playable demo released;

That sounds pretty cool.
Also, who's the other person making a sequel that you mentioned?

[GSF]Ghost · July 01, 2017, 12:09:54 PM

Quote from: Meteor on July 01, 2017, 02:41:43 AM

That sounds pretty cool.
Also, who's the other person making a sequel that you mentioned?

I'd rather not say just yet; I haven't seen them post about the project, so they probably want to keep it under wraps for now. I may end up helping them though, especially in regards to maps.

As for my game, I want to take it in a different direction - having it work possibly like a CAD program (similar to SketchUp or Blender). You would have to earn the geometry you build with, which would also be used as the game's currency. You could have a job or business to earn geometry (i.e. selling creations you've made), or harvest it from the environment around you.

By the way, made some progress with the game's building mechanics. I'm trying to make building be as easy and initiative as possible, and will add other shapes you can choose from over time. You'll eventually be able to carve into meshes (to create openings like windows and doorways), add pre-made objects, draw geometry by hand, manipulate objects (via position, rotation and scale), re-texture / recolor faces, etc.

By default, you'll walk around as a player - similar to Blockland, but will be able to move around freely when building.

Metalliku · July 06, 2017, 10:13:38 PM

currently making a new thing

TheABELBOTO · July 06, 2017, 10:19:27 PM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on July 01, 2017, 12:09:54 PM

I'd rather not say just yet; I haven't seen them post about the project, so they probably want to keep it under wraps for now. I may end up helping them though, especially in regards to maps.

As for my game, I want to take it in a different direction - having it work possibly like a CAD program (similar to SketchUp or Blender). You would have to earn the geometry you build with, which would also be used as the game's currency. You could have a job or business to earn geometry (i.e. selling creations you've made), or harvest it from the environment around you.

By the way, made some progress with the game's building mechanics. I'm trying to make building be as easy and initiative as possible, and will add other shapes you can choose from over time. You'll eventually be able to carve into meshes (to create openings like windows and doorways), add pre-made objects, draw geometry by hand, manipulate objects (via position, rotation and scale), re-texture / recolor faces, etc.

By default, you'll walk around as a player - similar to Blockland, but will be able to move around freely when building.

Iirc roblox is pretty much the same thing only you have to use the editor for the CAD like features.

[GSF]Ghost · July 08, 2017, 12:14:17 PM

Quote from: TheABELBOTO on July 06, 2017, 10:19:27 PM

Iirc roblox is pretty much the same thing only you have to use the editor for the CAD like features.

I'm still experimenting with different ideas to see what would work best, so I'm not completely set on that concept. Right now, I'm testing how building with bricks will work, and am starting to like that mechanic even more:

I may end up combining them to where you can build with bricks, or draw custom geometry.

Verification · July 08, 2017, 02:02:47 PM

Quote from: [GSF]Ghost on July 08, 2017, 12:14:17 PM

I'm still experimenting with different ideas to see what would work best, so I'm not completely set on that concept. Right now, I'm testing how building with bricks will work, and am starting to like that mechanic even more:

I may end up combining them to where you can build with bricks, or draw custom geometry.

May I be a beta tester for this game?

[GSF]Ghost · July 08, 2017, 09:10:55 PM

Sure, everyone is welcome to test. I'll post an official topic in the Games forum soon, once I've made more progress.

Insert Name Here� · July 08, 2017, 09:35:09 PM

I'd love to test if possible as well, and report bugs too.

Also if you can, try to optimize the best as you can as well, like be as demanding as BL right now or less, that'd be awesome

[GSF]Ghost · July 08, 2017, 11:17:04 PM

Right now I'm using 3 different methods to help optimize the brick system. Here's a quick test I did with 800 bricks on screen - I was running at 30-33 fps before I started building, and was at 29-32 fps after:

There are a few other options I can implement later on as well to further improve performance.