Hi, I''ve just started work on a game, and I''d like to get some feedback on my idea before I get to far into it to find nobody likes it. I assume most people have played Unreal Tournament, or if not you definately should have, I love it :-). What I am planning is very like UT but with a GTA-style top-down view. Obviously this alone lacks originality, and I have many small ideas which should make it more for to play. One of the points I want to focus on is multiplayer play. I also plan to produce three versions, for Windows, Linux and DOS. Could you tell me if you think you''d play this kind of thing, and maybe any things you think I should definately include... thanks in advance for any advice you can give me, - Ashley Oliver Lead Programmer, Interplanitary Productions

Unreal Tournament is AFAIK another FPS, forgive me if I''m wrong.

I don''t quite see how it can work. If the camera is directly above the player, you''re saying that they can''t go undercover, or inside? Or would the camera ''zoom'' to keep above them?

BTW, it''s difficult to infer from your post what your level of experience is... I know this is meant to be a game design forum, but it will probably elicit some ''start small'' responses, unless you make your abilities clear...

Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates
- sleeps in a ham-mock at www.thebinaryrefinery.cjb.net

I had plans for writing something like this about 5 years ago. Never happened, of course. Can''t tell you what to include, though... it depends what you want to achieve.

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superpig: No, the game will probably just not have any ceilings. You''ve never seen a 3D top-down game before?

allsorts: Don''t develop for DOS. It''s harder than developing for Linux or Windows, and also much different. This is mainly because of the available libraries for Linux and Windows... you can just use GLUT with OpenGL for easy portability.

But if the gameplay is 2D, then it''s much different from an FPS. It''s very easy to aim, is the main thing. You might want to balance this by relying mainly on slow-projectile weapons... you know, shooting "energy bolts" or whatever. Also, since the game would be simpler than an FPS, a large weapon variety would be nice, though isn''t required for a good game...


~CGameProgrammer( );

Uh thanks for your help so far... just thought I''d better specificy a few things after looking at your answers:

1) About the ceilings... I''ve decided on what is probrably a unnecesarily overcomplicated method to handle this; The levels are built from several layers all piled up. When a player is on one layer, only that layer, the one below and the one above is visible. There ceiling is not shown on the current layer, so there is never anything in the way of the camera.

2) Writing for DOS... Obviously you feel different to me, but I find writing for DOS far easier than windows or linux.

3) As for my skill level... Well, Im only 15 but I have been programming in C++ for many years now, having gone through BASIC, Assembly and others along the way. I consider myself farily good and Im confident that I havent taken on to much with this game, but then this is my first ''real'' project, and Im mainly doing it just to get some kind of reputation, and to get my company name known.

4) Large Weapon Variety... Well of course :-D

5) Using OpenGL... I know very little about OpenGL except basicly what it is. I have played several games made with it though (mainly on my linux machine) and found them to run very slow, Of course my PC is only a 266Mhz, but I want my game to run acceptably on at least a 300Mhz, and I see no reason why not. This aim mainly comes from being annoyed at how all modern games seem to require 500000Ghz and 60 billion MB of ram, and I cant see why. Unreal runs fine on my PC. I am using...

6) Allegro... Because I cant seem to succesfully use any true cross-platform compiler, Im using GCC from the command line in linux, MSVC 6 in windows, and DJGPP in DOS. So far the code compiles fine in all of them. I''m using the Allegro library, which also works on all my target platforms.

7) Linux and Windows... Although I own both Windows and Linux, and use them regularily, I do not have very much experience writing for them, especially linux which I have only had for about 4 months.

Oops I seem to have written far more than I intended, but at least I should have covered anything. Thanks again to those who have replied,



- Ashley Oliver
Lead Programmer, Interplanitary Productions

Now that you have stated your experience, the 'start small' response comes anyway...

Allright! I think the game idea itself is pretty cool. Not original, but 99.999% of us don't come up with truly original ideas anyway so who can blame you for that? Kinda reminds me of an old game for the Commodore platform called "Crack Down" which I was very fond of.

A couple of pointers though:

1)You say it is your first 'real' project, (and here we go again - maybe it's a bit too big. Now I definitely don't want to rain on your parade but that's just my experience with 'first projects'. Take it or leave it.

2) Easier to write for DOS? In what way? I've written a lot of DOS stuff but now I'm in windows heaven thank god
In any case, DOS is obsolete and no one will be able to check out your work. Ok, 3 platforms you say. I'd go for getting it to work on one (windows) and then port the code if I'm still interested. That will probably save you some time in the long run. Oh, and like CGameProgrammer said, if you want to use OGL - forget about DOS.

3) You're 15 and this 'company' is you? (btw is it supposed to be Interplanetary, or is it purposefully misspelled?). Unless you're registered (Inc. LLC. etc) I'd advise you to use the name in the context of your programming group, team, website or something. Avoid the word 'company' unless you actually run one.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not one of the 'armchair types' who likes picking on people. If you really feel you can pull it off, you probably can so have a go for it!
I know there is often a fine line between words of advice and pessimism, so take it with a grain of salt

[edited by - Fred S on March 31, 2002 4:58:21 PM]