So I was tinkering around with some Javascript and put together a top down scrolling engine for a game I was thinking of putting together, and then I thought hey, why not see what other people think I should do with it instead. I've uploaded the engine to a free hosting site so people can have a peek at it and maybe give me some ideas on how this game should develop. First thing that needs to be decided is a theme for the game. Any Ideas? I haven't had a chance to test it on any other browsers other than explorer, so if it doesn't work on your browser, let me know what you're running and I will adjust the code. http://www.projectz.comxa.com

Looking forward to hearing your comments.

doesn't seem to work well with chrome.

the avatar just turns towards the mouse. no movement. left click gets you a drag and drop ground texture. dropping it sometimes generates a rock or tree.

the avatar is too small. then again, i sit at least 4 feet away from my monitor. further than most folks.

what kind of game did you want to make when you started the "engine"? or did you not have anything particular in mind?

Thanks you for the feed back, Norman. I think I know where I need to add some additional code in my script to cater to chrome. I should hopefully be able to make the changes in a couple of days. I'd do it sooner, but I'm a single parent and work full time, so I do this burning the midnight oil. lol.

I've had some comments from others who think it would lend itself nicely to a zombie/post apocalypse style of game. The character would roam the map shooting up zombies and collecting lost items that they would exchange at a trade post of some sort for ammo, weapons, and other resources. Personally, I like the idea but I would also add a limited amount of wild animals (wolf pack, bears) that would roam the map and attack the player if stumbled across to limit the boredom of just shooting nothing but zombies. The trees could be hidden under to try and throw off pursuing enemies, which I think is a good idea, but I would program the AI so that hiding would give the player a 50/50 chance of it working. Ideally, if a player is out of ammo, or near death, they would have to find their way back to a safe zone or compound where they could restock and be healed.

As for the avatar and other graphics, they are temporary graphics only being used for the demo. I'll be seeking out a game artist when the game is done to redo all the graphics. As for the size of the Avatar, maybe I can add a zoom feature which would zoom in on the avatar making him appear bigger.

Thanks for your comments.

Top Scrolling games are an interesting format.

Perhaps you could do an endless runner where you're trying to escape from something? Maybe you're a fox being chased by hounds or Bonnie and Clyde trying to outrun the police.

Or if you wanted movement along the X and Y axis together you could do something where the start point is an origin, maybe you're tethered to a post, and the further away from the origin you move, the higher the danger. If the tether is elastic, the further away from it you move the less responsive the controls are and if you let go you're pulled back to the origin.

Thanks Benni.

The map is basically an endless run. A player can continue in any direction forever, if they wish. As for the elastic tether, I don't think it lends itself to the style of game it's going to become, but thanks for the suggestion. I've fixed the problem and tested it on Chrome, and it runs fine now. I've added some more to the game. You now have a food meter which goes down. If the meter reaches 0, then your health meter starts to drop. If the health meter reaches 0, you die. There is no way to refuel your character yet, but it will be added later as I work on it some more. There are rotating question marks which act as areas on the map a player can search for items by running over top of them. The player remains still while searching, and continues on after searching is complete. Waiting for the whole length of the search time guarantees finding an item, but ending the search prematurely will yield an item based on how much time a player has spent searching. (eg. If the meter is 75% complete, there is a 75% chance you will find something.) The player now has a backpack to store found items, Once the backpack is full, a player cannot search anymore. I will add a feature later on that will allow the player to remove items from the backpack. Items in the backpack will be taken to a central compound where they can trade in the items they find for weapons, ammo, armor, etc but I still have yet to code that part of it into the game. Clicking on the backpack toggles the backpack inventory view on and off. Moving the mouse off the game area pauses the game. http://www.projectz.comxa.com

That's as far as I've gotten so far. If anyone has any other ideas as to what should be added to the game play, I'd love to here from you.