Unnamed Game: Good Idea? Thread

Story
The protagonist is T.I.M. (Technologically Incredible Machine). T.I.M. is a robot but, he's not technologically incredible. He has insomnia but, also has narcolepsy. This causes problems with his social life and health.
He always wanted to be normal and one day he planned to find the robot that made him to be fixed. The journey is difficult with insomnia and narcolepsy but T.I.M. meets new friends and discovers more about himself.

Gameplay
Narcolepsy causes T.I.M. to sleep randomly but, when he sleeps he dreams about his environment. In "Sleep Mode" T.I.M. sees clues that foreshadow the future.When he sleeps he also has nightmares and everything is hostile or homicidal.

Gameplay Mechanics
"Unnamed Game" is a 3D platform game. Like the Little Big Planet games, there is a 'Foreground Middleground and Background' and characters and objects are 3D.

The player moves on the foreground left and right (and up). There are objects on the foreground that the player interacts with (jumping over, pushing, pulling etc.)

The middleground is more objects but, the player doesn't fully interact with it. Tree branches might reach the foreground and the players can interact with anything in the foreground.

The background is the sky and horizon and the player does not interact with it.

Gameplay Mechanics Continued
This game is a platform game but not like Mario or Little Big Planet because those games have levels or worlds. My game is one big real time adventure with day and night like a RPG.

Player Gameplay Mechanics
T.I.M. walks left and right and jumps. He has the ability to move things magnetically and also has a jetpack but its broken like most of his "Incredible Technology". Example: Robots are vulnerable to water and when it rains most robot have a waterproof system that protects them water. T.I.M. does not have this waterproofing system. When it rains he needs to find a solution to walking in rain.

Developer Information
I didn't think of a company name but, i'm one person and I'm an artist and I'm self teaching myself how to program games in blender. I'm working on mostly art now and I'll upload pictures later. I'm also making the music and sounds in the game. And I'm starting a video blog on Youtube and a website/blog.

What do you think about my game?

So long as it doesn't copy LBPs control scheme. Otherwise, looks alright. You should develop a design document with artwork and submit it here for further approval (leave out anything you don't want us to know about yet).

it's alright. the story & gameplay are very nice. but the gameplay mechanics lacks "something special"

moci wrote: The question for me is: why would a robot have these "human" problems? There's not much meat to your description.

People ask me this on other forums but, it's a surrealistic game and robots have human qualities. But human have mental and physical problems and robots have mechanical problems. Humans get sick, Computers have viruses.

Guiboune wrote: it's alright. the story & gameplay are very nice. but the gameplay mechanics lacks "something special"

That's true. But, I don't know what I need.

formerlyknownasMrCP wrote: So long as it doesn't copy LBPs control scheme. Otherwise, looks alright. You should develop a design document with artwork and submit it here for further approval (leave out anything you don't want us to know about yet).

It will not have Little Big Planets control scheme and I'm making a development and design document and I'm thinking about a Devlog on Youtube and a website/blog.

.. id suggest if its just you and some buddys making this forget the gdd.. it only upsets your ability to create stuff as a group.
Surrealism is not an easy thing to do... but if you pull it off then fantastic
I strongly suggest you checkout some art gallerys on that matter before you head down that pathway as it could prove harder then you initially think.
.. most of the surrealist used perpective distortion to some degree how will your 3d objects actually relate to being surreal ?
also how will the controls work.. this maybe something you can disscuss with those helping you achieve your goal.
If you dont have a team id strongly suggest you spend some time finding some help as youd be surprised what available help is out there
just be careful not to make too many promises you cant keep. ... my own forpar there and serious doubts are arising as to me keeping my november release date.

Team members you should try and seek :
Coders .. believe me you can really use more then one..
Artists 2d -Concepts , menu art , most importantly banner artist.
3d- modellers .. more the merrier.
animators ..
Sound Guys : Voice actors , menu music , game music,game sounds.
then you got the community group team and everything inbetween.

Lastly a note.... legally you cannot pirate or use other games assets and must be vigilant to ensure no slip ups occur.
that means everything you are given by others must be checked or searched for online to ensure its not violating some copyright or trademark.
you may well wind up needing more then one coffee by the way none of these icons are mine and by no means do i claim ownership of them..

now please dont be upset .. but have you also considered how much work is actually involved ? and how much time you are going to give this project ?

Remember your game once completed will not be played unless people know about it... start thinking about how your marketing approch will start and make sure you spend enough time not only working on a cool game but at least some telling folks about it.

Final words :
Talk is cheap .. ideas are cool but practical approches work nicer for me for instance this post would have been better if you had included a picture of a charector or even just some sort of background artwork that may give us a better idea of your game.

The_splat wrote: .. id suggest if its just you and some buddys making this forget the gdd.. it only upsets your ability to create stuff as a group.
Surrealism is not an easy thing to do... but if you pull it off then fantastic
I strongly suggest you checkout some art gallerys on that matter before you head down that pathway as it could prove harder then you initially think.
.. most of the surrealist used perpective distortion to some degree how will your 3d objects actually relate to being surreal ?
also how will the controls work.. this maybe something you can disscuss with those helping you achieve your goal.
If you dont have a team id strongly suggest you spend some time finding some help as youd be surprised what available help is out there
just be careful not to make too many promises you cant keep. ... my own forpar there and serious doubts are arising as to me keeping my november release date.

Team members you should try and seek :
Coders .. believe me you can really use more then one..
Artists 2d -Concepts , menu art , most importantly banner artist.
3d- modellers .. more the merrier.
animators ..
Sound Guys : Voice actors , menu music , game music,game sounds.
then you got the community group team and everything inbetween.

Lastly a note.... legally you cannot pirate or use other games assets and must be vigilant to ensure no slip ups occur.
that means everything you are given by others must be checked or searched for online to ensure its not violating some copyright or trademark.
you may well wind up needing more then one coffee by the way none of these icons are mine and by no means do i claim ownership of them..

now please dont be upset .. but have you also considered how much work is actually involved ? and how much time you are going to give this project ?

Remember your game once completed will not be played unless people know about it... start thinking about how your marketing approch will start and make sure you spend enough time not only working on a cool game but at least some telling folks about it.

Final words :
Talk is cheap .. ideas are cool but practical approches work nicer for me for instance this post would have been better if you had included a picture of a charector or even just some sort of background artwork that may give us a better idea of your game.

I am the only person working on this game. I know this will be extremely difficult and talk is cheap but this game will be a work in progress for months.
I'm the artist, programmer and I'm making the audio. Marketing is harder because I can't always find people that are interested but, I think this game can be successful. I don't really want a team for a few reasons. 1. I know some people in my school that are making a game but, I'm not really friends with them and they said there making a game but there not making progress. 2. I want to work with people that understand my game.

And your question about the art; I'm a surrealistic artist and to add surrealism to 3 dimensions is mostly color but the characters are also surreal. (I will upload pictures of characters today)

P.S.
I'm not going to pirate other game assets.

I voted "Doesn't suck but it's not good"
Reason:
When reading your original post there is nothing there that makes me interested in playing such a game. Either you are not explaining your ideas for the gameplay and the game mechanics properly, or your idea is not as solid as you might think it is.
Platformers can be great, but you have to realise it's one of the oldest genres there is. Comming up with something new and interesting is hard. You are competing against games such as Mario and Sonic and you need to have a game mechanic that makes the game truly unique. Take a look at Braid for example with it's time manipulation mechanic: That's original, that's unique. And most important of all: it's interesting and entertaining. People want to play it. If no one wants to play your game/mod then there really is no point in developing it (unless ofc you are only interested in learning).

You talk about TIM's abilities - magnetism and jetpack - yet you fail to explain these mechanics in detail. How does the magnetism work? Is it long range or close range? What items in the level does it affect? How will these abilities work with the problem-solving puzzle element of the game? I could probably write a hundred more questions but I'll just finish off by saying that you need to cover all bases - you need to think things through before you jump into mod development. Else this mod is going to fail just like most others do. Poor planning and bad gameplay mechanics ruins things just as much as poor group management/organization does.

Niteshade wrote: I voted "Doesn't suck but it's not good"
Reason:
When reading your original post there is nothing there that makes me interested in playing such a game. Either you are not explaining your ideas for the gameplay and the game mechanics properly, or your idea is not as solid as you might think it is.
Platformers can be great, but you have to realise it's one of the oldest genres there is. Comming up with something new and interesting is hard. You are competing against games such as Mario and Sonic and you need to have a game mechanic that makes the game truly unique. Take a look at Braid for example with it's time manipulation mechanic: That's original, that's unique. And most important of all: it's interesting and entertaining. People want to play it. If no one wants to play your game/mod then there really is no point in developing it (unless ofc you are only interested in learning).

You talk about TIM's abilities - magnetism and jetpack - yet you fail to explain these mechanics in detail. How does the magnetism work? Is it long range or close range? What items in the level does it affect? How will these abilities work with the problem-solving puzzle element of the game? I could probably write a hundred more questions but I'll just finish off by saying that you need to cover all bases - you need to think things through before you jump into mod development. Else this mod is going to fail just like most others do. Poor planning and bad gameplay mechanics ruins things just as much as poor group management/organization does.

I know I need to explain my gameplay and mechanics more but, indie platform games are popular now. And Mario and Sonic, the gameplay is running and jumping and the game is 2D. My game is 3D and my character has different mechanics. I need to describe the mechanics more but I thought about it more since I posted this. This GAME (not a mod) is planned but I didn't write it all when I posted this thread.

I have no ideas how the game plays. I understand that you get hints while you sleep and you get to apply them when awake. Now if you don't show everything up and let the player make connections then it can be great as a basic idea. But the possible actions you can do are fuzzy. Go ahead and add more.

I looked here again and on your profile to see some sort of picture.. was a lill dissapointed you didnt deliver on your statement..
but got over it pretty fast goodluck game making man.

Guiboune wrote: it's alright. the story & gameplay are very nice. but the gameplay mechanics lacks "something special"

My thoughts exactly. This has alot of potential. Also, why not just name it T.I.M.? Wouldn't be the first game to have its protagonist's name as the game name.

And please don't name it TIM.
TIM is the name of a fairly well-known retro, puzzle game series (The Incredible Machine).

Niteshade wrote: And please don't name it TIM.
TIM is the name of a fairly well-known retro, puzzle game series (The Incredible Machine).

I didn't know that D: I can't think of another name now.

Niteshade wrote: And please don't name it TIM.
TIM is the name of a fairly well-known retro, puzzle game series (The Incredible Machine).

I played the incredible machine! I loved that game. Never knew the name until I Googled it.

Oh come on! Use your imagination!
I'm sure you can come up with something fancy.

Niteshade wrote: Oh come on! Use your imagination!
I'm sure you can come up with something fancy.

idk.

I can't think of a good acronym

Edited by: peakdap24

Niteshade wrote: And please don't name it TIM.
TIM is the name of a fairly well-known retro, puzzle game series (The Incredible Machine).

Dude, I've played the NES version of the Great Gatsby... and I've -never- heard that.

peakdap24 wrote:

Niteshade wrote: Oh come on! Use your imagination!
I'm sure you can come up with something fancy.

idk.

I can't think of a good acronym

You don't necessarily need an acronym. Just grab a thesarus, look for words that relate to your main themes, and maybe even consider hybriding two words if necessary.
Or be like me and just randomly piece words together until something fits.

Paradigmthefallen wrote:

Niteshade wrote: And please don't name it TIM.
TIM is the name of a fairly well-known retro, puzzle game series (The Incredible Machine).

Dude, I've played the NES version of the Great Gatsby... and I've -never- heard that.

peakdap24 wrote:

Niteshade wrote: Oh come on! Use your imagination!
I'm sure you can come up with something fancy.

idk.

I can't think of a good acronym

You don't necessarily need an acronym. Just grab a thesarus, look for words that relate to your main themes, and maybe even consider hybriding two words if necessary.
Or be like me and just randomly piece words together until something fits.

I wanted to use acronyms for my character but, I'll look at a thesaurus.

peakdap24 wrote:

Paradigmthefallen wrote:

Niteshade wrote: And please don't name it TIM.
TIM is the name of a fairly well-known retro, puzzle game series (The Incredible Machine).

Dude, I've played the NES version of the Great Gatsby... and I've -never- heard that.

peakdap24 wrote:

Niteshade wrote: Oh come on! Use your imagination!
I'm sure you can come up with something fancy.

idk.

I can't think of a good acronym

You don't necessarily need an acronym. Just grab a thesarus, look for words that relate to your main themes, and maybe even consider hybriding two words if necessary.
Or be like me and just randomly piece words together until something fits.

I wanted to use acronyms for my character but, I'll look at a thesaurus.

Also I think he meant don't name the GAME T.I.M., n ot your character.

Where's the concept art? Just curious..

Procrastination!

DJspace wrote: Check out DJ_space, new kickstarter project about creating music with Kickstarter.com

I smell selfish and questionable self promotion. I've seen this same exact post on several threads....