Hack Game

[Posi-Cole]

Jeez guys, would you just get the game done already?

[Spadrick]

Nice.

What if we used a cell-shading engine? I hear they are fairly easy to develop for, and you can create some reasonable graphics with it. Smooth flowing animation combined with super fast render speed.

We could do this in flash, what if we made a 2d game? It wouldnt be that hard to do... Or we could even make it 2 1/2d, like paper mario or yoshis island style. If you wanna put it in the sense of an RPG style game, we could make it like Saga Frontier... with better and more detailed characters and animation.

We wouldn't have to start off with a crazy 3d game that would take forever, we could build an RPG adventure style game where you take the role of a lone shredder, you build a club in your city, and slowly get to go to worlds and your runs get better as you practise moves. 2d animation would be easier to control then 3d.

Or we could make it 2d and online, with the original concept, and make it more like that anime style MMORPG... it would be more style and less realism though. I think I am going to put together a couple screenshots of what I am trying to say next time I post about this, cause a picture says a thousand words, and my fingers hurt.




More IDEAS people! Give it all you got!

[bigdirtyfoot]

I'll probably edit this post to add stuff or just make a new post, but I was just going to say... start simple and then branch out. That's... all I was really going to say at this time. Sorry.

Hmm... nevermind . Hey, but why not have a shop to buy items? You know, like water bottles, aspirin, new BAGS...!!! ... And of course you should have to work up to certain abilities by being in a lot of different circles and stuff. Like say... you want a certain set. Well, you're gonna have to school a certain move enough of times. Even if this is only a 3-10 level game... it'll be something to start with and it'll be something to show somebody in the gaming business that we mean business. It doesn't have to be all that complicated. I love the rendering effects though Spadrick. That's all my ideas for now but I consider myself a pretty creative person, so I'll probably post again.

[crazydwarf]

If your talking rpg without like a realtime system then you could have like a stamina bar which decreases as you do more tricks and you have to replenish it with drinks and stuff.... And when you run out of stamina or you don't have enough stats you drop the bag so you have to pass it before then... You should be able to buy different bags as well... and I think more 2dish would be betterand you could encounter bad guys and as someone else put it have to "ps whirl them to death"...

[Spadrick]

If your talking rpg without like a realtime system then you could have like a stamina bar which decreases as you do more tricks and you have to replenish it with drinks and stuff.... And when you run out of stamina or you don't have enough stats you drop the bag

Its hard to drink while shredding, but that could be a comedy element...?

Thanks for the kind words bigdirtyfoot, I will post more after my coffee.

[crazydwarf]

Yeh drinking while shredding would be tough I was more thinking in between shreds, but while shredding would be funny.

[bigdirtyfoot]

This is getting kinda complicated, but I think a good idea to have your energy bar raised would be hitting cool combos that people in the circle liked.

[Posi-Cole]

This is getting kinda complicated, but I think a good idea to have your energy bar raised would be hitting cool combos that people in the circle liked.

I think a good idea to have your energy raised would be hitting moves that your character already has as 'component' moves, or in other words, bails.

So say you after you play for a bit your component moves are clipper, butterfly, mirage, legover and pixie.

But you also have the ability to do osis, double legover, dimwalk and smear.

Doing a move from the second group of moves would drastically decrease your endurance meter, whereas if you went back and linked a few of your component moves, your energy would start to come back up.

The lower your energy bar was, the harder it would be to hit your non component moves (perhaps just by having less time to press the button combo for the moves).

That would make putting runs together a cool comparison of trying to throw in as many more difficult moves as possible while still keeping an eye on your energy bar to make sure when it dips down you throw in some component or 'rest' moves.

That would be sweet in my opinion.

[FlexThis]

[Tsiangkun]

I'm a decent coder, but I need the game better characterized before I would be willing to volunteer a SLOC to the project. The game would probably have to be a real game, and not an web based game to peak my interests too.

[Spadrick]

What is the difference between a web based game and a real game? You talking about console game vs. web based?

I think it can be done. Want me to write a script and come up with some ideas on digital paper?

[Tsiangkun]

I'm talking about tie difference between a game you play on your PC, and a game you play through a web browser on your PC.

If you want a nice game, you really want to be programming on the iron or as close to it as you can get. I don't think we can ever get fluid game play on a virtual machine, running inside a web browser as a pluggin, running ontop of some desktop OS.

[kaos]

I agree with Cameron.

Up to now, alot has been said about platforms/technologies/graphics etc. What about the actual gameplay, the essense of the game?
- What's the storyline/Goal of the game?
- How would playing the game work?
- How would you do moves?
- Will the game be fun, or just a novelty?
- What about *gulp* multiplayer? The game should have multiplayer.

[Tsiangkun]

Graphics are second rate to the game play. If the game play isn't well thought out, it doesn't matter how good the graphics are.

[Spadrick]

I dont know if I can actually type this out... I just got home from a party and Im a little inhebriated.

The gameplay as you mentioned is definately first and formost. The main ideas that we proposed were detailing the following;

- A massively multiplayer online footbag game
- Being able to upload face images to create you as your character
- Having real time, real life shred spots from around the globe in major shred cities, and hosting real clubs from around the globe.
- Being able to walk to these places and start or join a circle in whatever area you would like.
- Having a role-playing game style move level up feature where as you do more of a certain move you will become more proficient and faster a doing it.
- Being able to combine moves to make other moves (mirage + osis = torque).
- Being able to watch other shredders when they shred in first person mode, your buttons would turn into props giving actions instead of footbag ones. (On your downtime you could also do things like take your shirt off, grab a different bag, tie up your lavers and chat with other shredders)
- In shred, it would be third person mode, so you can see yourself shred and what the others are doing.
- We talked alot about a shred stamina meter, perhaps your meter would decrease as you did harder moves, as you become more proficient at a move it would take less stamina to perform. Another idea regarding this one, is that when people give you props for a good move done, your meter would fill back up a chunk, giving you more time to shred. If someone gives you props for a move that you have a high level in, you get very little back (so people cant just be giving you props all the time and having unlimited stamina).
- Being able to totally customize your shredder, to draw the player into the game even more.
- Moves would be performed like in THPS, where a combonation of directions and a move button would make a move. The time to perform this move would be proportional to the amount of time you have from the set of the bag until the catch or delay of the bag (like the time you would leave the ramp and land on the ramp of THPS) The more moves you can fit in, the greater the trick. Say at level 1 mirage, it takes the whole time to do that trick, but at level 3 mirage you get stepping set, level 6 you get barraging set etc. Thus reducing the time and increasing the speed of the trick, allowing you to do more tricks after.
- Incorporating different modes like Worlds events, Jams, being able to host an online Jam and getting people out. The more you win, the more style points you get, which act as a multiplyer for different reasons.
- Being able to chat, and communicate with other shredders in the world.
- Promoting Footbag.
- Killing time while injured!

I really don't want to keep typing. I am sorry for any gramatical or spelling errors. Im way too sloshed to be using my computer!

[Krafty]

I LOVE all the ideas Spadrick suggested! Those are awesome! Also, I think you should be able to:

-Save up money from local contests so that you can travel to Worlds or Europeans or something like that!
-As you keep getting better and getting more recognition, you would get invitations to contests or sponsors approach you!
-Multiplayer would be awesome and I like all the things Spadrick suggested for multiplayer!
-You should be able to visit a shop of some sort to buy new shoes, footbags, clothing, etc.
-I like the idea of getting better at something as you do it more and getting worse at something if you never work on it; for example, if you keep skoolin' stepping sets, you'll eventually get good enough for barraging sets, but if you never focus on ducking/diving, the bag almost always hits your head and you drop it if you attempt a ducking/diving move until you've tried it enough times to make it better.
-It'd be cool in multiplayer if you could do doubles!! Like you have to hit the buttons at the same time or something like that in order to pull of cool looking doubles moves.
-In the contests, it would be awesome to have the 2:00 shred, shred :30, sick 3, big trick, etc.
-It would be nice to be able to upload your face into the game!
-It'd be cool if you're having trouble with a hard trick, you could skool the basics you need for that trick and the hard trick would become easier!
-Giving props to other players in multiplayer would be awesome as Spadrick suggested!
-A single player "quest" to become the greatest footbagger in the world would be real cool! Just like in THUG, you work your way up from an amateur to a pro!
-It would be nice to have some of the best footbaggers in the world in the game just like THPS has all the pro skaters handing out goals to you!

I'll post more if I think of anything else (which I probably will ).

[LameR]

All the ideas that have been mentioned are awesome!!! Just don't engage yourselves in a project that would get to big to finish! We want to see this game

[MegaFighter_X]

Very good concepts. If anyone is a fan of NG (I know you are out there), just look at Alien Hominid! That went from a "simple" flash game to going to be released on the PS2 and the XBOX (I think at least) sometime in november. Again, I think that's accurate.. I dun exactally remember. If you want details, goto http://www.alienhominid.com. Synj, Tom Fulp, and some other guy made it, so it should be good.

Moves would be performed like in THPS, where a combonation of directions and a move button would make a move. The time to perform this move would be proportional to the amount of time you have from the set of the bag until the catch or delay of the bag (like the time you would leave the ramp and land on the ramp of THPS) The more moves you can fit in, the greater the trick. Say at level 1 mirage, it takes the whole time to do that trick, but at level 3 mirage you get stepping set, level 6 you get barraging set etc. Thus reducing the time and increasing the speed of the trick, allowing you to do more tricks after.

I like that idea there. Also, the stamina meter is a good idea. But if you are getting massive props, there should be a sort of momentum bar as well. If you were low on stamina, the momentum bar would be good for one last huge trick or something like that. Sorry for being vague on it, but I'm still waking up, and I need to get ready for work...

[Spadrick]

Coo. Now that I am sober, I might be able to come up with some deeper thought processes on this topic.

CHARACTER CREATION
You gotta make your character, and it would be pretty much nescesarry to include the intricate details that make up a shredder.





MOVES
Lets say you start out with two adds at level 1. When you create your character you would have the option of six basics and three sets. A typical character move selection screen would look like:



Hence you would have the freedom to create your own style. Say you picked;

Mirage
Illusion
Osis
Whirl
Ducking
Spinning

Fairy
Pixie
Atomic

You would have Fear, Tap and Torque coming up as you acquired levels in your basics (along with many other moves, and earning more slots so your repitiore grows too). Each time you do a move, you get a certain amount of EXP. Two ways of distributing EXP we could use, would be player oriented, so you can choose how much EXP goes to which moves, letting you decide which moves you want to upgrade, or, EXP gained from performing a move would go directly towards that move itself.

Each move would have a predetermined LVL rate, once that move hits the LVL mark, you get the next level of that move. It would make your character perform that move quicker. Another item that has alot to do with moves would be the SET attribute. This would determine how good your sets are, providing you adequate time to perform each move.

Lets say you have level 1 mirage and level 1 osis and level 1 set. You set the bag up and press (left, right, A) to do mirage. Your character would perform mirage, and catch the bag. You set the bag again and press (left, right A, left, down B) for Torque (Mirage + Osis) and the bag would drop because you don't have enough time to perform both. The same would go for level 2 of each move, but at level 3 for mirage and osis, you try the same combo (left, right A, left, down B), and you start to notice how this system works. The mirage is performed very quickly, giving you enough time to land the trick. After you perform this trick just once, you get level 1 torque, to which you can assign a combonation (left, down, A+B) making it easier for you as the game player to pull the move off in enough time as well. Once you get level 3 in torque, you could add uptime components and make the move even bigger, like fairy ducking torque (L+A, up, up, left, down, A+B).

METERS, STAMINA AND ONSCREEN GUIs
We can't make a shred game if you can just shred forever and not drop it. So there has to be a variable that makes sure everyone gets a turn. The STAMINA meter is generally the most accepted thus far. The size of the stamina meter would be reflective of a stat called STA. You can increase your STA by linking moves together. Each time you do, experience from that move would be added to the STA variable, once a certain point has been reached, your stamina meter would get bigger, allowing for more stamina during shred (note: would not increase the amount of stamina while shredding, just how big the container is, so you have more to DRAW from.).

During shred, basic moves would not deplete stamina as much as larger more complicated moves would. Thus, bails are created. Bail to a basic move to shred longer.

How do we balance this though? Well, people watching you shred in the circle could give you props for awesome moves. Say you are shredding and you have 50% stamina left. You pull off a blurry whirl which would take off 8% of your stamina, two out of the four people watching give you props for that move, and props are worth 20% of the moves stamina drain on you. Since blurry whirl is not a basic move, it can be propped. You imediately gain back 4% of the stamina spent for blurry whirl, putting you at 46% instead of 42% stamina. However, there would be a cap on how many times you can prop someone per turn, like 3-5 times. So the more people you have shredding with you, the better its gonna be!

We could incorporate a feature where, if you perform a move BSOS, you would gain one half of one of the moves stamina back, like getting charged one and a half instead of two.

While you are shredding, you would also see a Contact Counter, Add Counter, Move Quicklist and Message Window.


While you are watching, you would see; Give Props, Edit Moves, Moves Hit, Bonus Window, Message Window.


While you are not shredding, you would be able to do lots of things. Drink some fluid (product or just water) to regain some stamina before it is your turn to shred again (other spectators would be able to see you perform this action), change the music (if you are the one that started the circle), change shirt or remove shirt, change; shoes, footbags, or gear, chat with others, prop the person who is shredding, and edit your moves list (change the order they appear for your turn, change the buttons you have to press for your moves, etc), and change options and GUI settings (hide/show certain windows and information).

If you are editing your moves or changing options when the bag comes to you, you can pass it off to the next guy, or get out of the edit screen immediately.

I would like to write more, but I am at a loss. Hangover is kickin in and I need some 'hair of the dog' if you know what I mean.

Please comment, I have been typing and drawing this crap for a few hours now. Give your thoughts and ideas!

I will post more about gameplay later!

Peace
~ Dex

[Spadrick]

Sorry, just forgot some stuff.

The combos and the GUI elements are based upon Gamecubes layout, cause I know that one the best.

And; Nothing is set in stone. I just wanted to show you what I am talking about.