Project Name: Trog Killer----A Plan, Part I
by Kevin James · 11/26/2006 (3:17 pm) · 13 comments
Part One of the plan for the game under the project name, Trog Killer (Not any reference to a retard. . .lol.)
This part of my plan covers the intended goals of my project and how they will be reached.
The Game, a Conglomeration of Key Features:
The best of:
"N" - Fluid physics, ragdoll, the ability to awe your audience with how much your ninja can jump, dodge, ect.
"Half-Life" - An intriguing storyline, with many Easter eggs/ secrets. Replay ability maximum and a build-up of difficulty to ensure maximum fun and reward. Intelligent NPC's (Pathfinding, squad tactics)
"Iter Vehemens Ad Necum" - Body part based damage. Ill-effects based on damage to head, legs, arms ect.
"Jedi Academy" - Epic saber battles, in this case melee weapons such as swords, clubs, axes. . .ability to follow a certain style of fighting (fast, medium, heavy)
"The Thief Series" - Stealth preferred to the masters, but violence and force an option to those less skilled. (Some fights will be required in Trog Killer (TK)). Light, sound and skill based stealth. Intelligent NPC reactions to startlement, detection or detection failure.
"Oni" - In-depth hand-to-hand combat (hopefully all melee weapons in TK.) Some find of Ki based powers. Attractive combat effects.
Thus I am left with these goals:
*Fluid physics, including ragdoll corpses
*Story/Plot Driven Gameplay
*Many secrets for the player to discover
*Body part based damage with ill effects depending on which part damaged. (Head=Dizziness, Leg=Harder to walk or jump)
*In-depth combat with special moves, depending on weapon, different fighting styles, some kind of Ki powers. Epic battles are more than button mashing, some skill required!
*Stealth based on light, sound, and skill (Sneak may or may not end up being a statistical skill).
*Attractive and polished GUI, HUD, Sprites, Animation and effects.
The Way to achieve such a lofty goal:
*Careful Planning with an open mind to new features, possible features to discard, and ones to change
*Time management for the scripting of the game, and in later stages the drawing and other art.
*Getting exciting and interactive gameplay down before drawing out the final art. (Consider "N")
The Process to Success:
1.) Planning the Game
2.) Scripting Gameplay and other Mechanics
3.) Production of "Just about" the final art
4.) Producing the content, and story.
5.) Polishing the final product.
Now we have a game. . .
The next part of my plan for TK will be on the plot and story. The plot as percieved by the player will be presented and also the plot as described by a 3rd person narrator.
------------------------
I have continued the plan:
Click here!
This part of my plan covers the intended goals of my project and how they will be reached.
The Game, a Conglomeration of Key Features:
The best of:
"N" - Fluid physics, ragdoll, the ability to awe your audience with how much your ninja can jump, dodge, ect.
"Half-Life" - An intriguing storyline, with many Easter eggs/ secrets. Replay ability maximum and a build-up of difficulty to ensure maximum fun and reward. Intelligent NPC's (Pathfinding, squad tactics)
"Iter Vehemens Ad Necum" - Body part based damage. Ill-effects based on damage to head, legs, arms ect.
"Jedi Academy" - Epic saber battles, in this case melee weapons such as swords, clubs, axes. . .ability to follow a certain style of fighting (fast, medium, heavy)
"The Thief Series" - Stealth preferred to the masters, but violence and force an option to those less skilled. (Some fights will be required in Trog Killer (TK)). Light, sound and skill based stealth. Intelligent NPC reactions to startlement, detection or detection failure.
"Oni" - In-depth hand-to-hand combat (hopefully all melee weapons in TK.) Some find of Ki based powers. Attractive combat effects.
Thus I am left with these goals:
*Fluid physics, including ragdoll corpses
*Story/Plot Driven Gameplay
*Many secrets for the player to discover
*Body part based damage with ill effects depending on which part damaged. (Head=Dizziness, Leg=Harder to walk or jump)
*In-depth combat with special moves, depending on weapon, different fighting styles, some kind of Ki powers. Epic battles are more than button mashing, some skill required!
*Stealth based on light, sound, and skill (Sneak may or may not end up being a statistical skill).
*Attractive and polished GUI, HUD, Sprites, Animation and effects.
The Way to achieve such a lofty goal:
*Careful Planning with an open mind to new features, possible features to discard, and ones to change
*Time management for the scripting of the game, and in later stages the drawing and other art.
*Getting exciting and interactive gameplay down before drawing out the final art. (Consider "N")
The Process to Success:
1.) Planning the Game
2.) Scripting Gameplay and other Mechanics
3.) Production of "Just about" the final art
4.) Producing the content, and story.
5.) Polishing the final product.
Now we have a game. . .
The next part of my plan for TK will be on the plot and story. The plot as percieved by the player will be presented and also the plot as described by a 3rd person narrator.
------------------------
I have continued the plan:
Click here!
About the author
Hobbyist game developer -- free and open source games FTW.
#2
11/26/2006 (3:31 pm)
Do you know what 'Trog' means? in the UK its a slang word for a person with learning disabilities. 
#3
Nice concept, though.
11/26/2006 (3:39 pm)
lol... hrm, might wanna re-think the name of your game if you're going to go global... :PNice concept, though.
#4
11/26/2006 (4:07 pm)
Makes me think of Trogdor!
#5
Oh really? *Stuffs Plan Part 2 into pocket*. . . .j/k
I actually didn't know that, Mr. Bond. "Trog Killer" wasn't going to be the final name anyway, but thanks for pointing that out. . .yeah. . .I got "Trog" from the word: troglodyte which means a cave dweller. I was going to change the name to something like "The Underneath" or "What Lies Below" because "Trog Killer" is a lame name, too closely related to Trogdor the Burninator (whom I would never kill! ;), and now it has come to my attention that it is a UK slang term for a retard. . .lol.
Oh, and thanks Tony!
11/26/2006 (4:20 pm)
Quote:Do you know what 'Trog' means? in the UK its a slang word for a person with learning disabilities.
Oh really? *Stuffs Plan Part 2 into pocket*. . . .j/k
I actually didn't know that, Mr. Bond. "Trog Killer" wasn't going to be the final name anyway, but thanks for pointing that out. . .yeah. . .I got "Trog" from the word: troglodyte which means a cave dweller. I was going to change the name to something like "The Underneath" or "What Lies Below" because "Trog Killer" is a lame name, too closely related to Trogdor the Burninator (whom I would never kill! ;), and now it has come to my attention that it is a UK slang term for a retard. . .lol.
Oh, and thanks Tony!
#6
That's the first time I've heard it used in that context. I've never heard the word Trog used other than as a shorter form of Troglodyte, those creatures characters kill lots of in RPG's ;)
11/26/2006 (5:23 pm)
Quote:Do you know what 'Trog' means? in the UK its a slang word for a person with learning disabilities.
That's the first time I've heard it used in that context. I've never heard the word Trog used other than as a shorter form of Troglodyte, those creatures characters kill lots of in RPG's ;)
#7
From IMDB:
Plot Summary: In England, some students are mysteriously murdered. A search team is sent out to kill the creature suspected of killing the students...
Runtime: 93 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Color (Technicolor)
Perhaps a recent development in slang? Sometime during the last thirty years? ( Although the film does go quite a ways in establishing the link between the word "Trog" and the concept of mental disability.
Anyway Kevin, good luck on the project. Looks like a pretty big plate! (good last name too).
11/26/2006 (5:33 pm)
From IMDB:
Plot Summary: In England, some students are mysteriously murdered. A search team is sent out to kill the creature suspected of killing the students...
Runtime: 93 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Color (Technicolor)
Perhaps a recent development in slang? Sometime during the last thirty years? ( Although the film does go quite a ways in establishing the link between the word "Trog" and the concept of mental disability.
Anyway Kevin, good luck on the project. Looks like a pretty big plate! (good last name too).
#8
Of course, none of that has anything to do with much of anything since it is not the traditional name anyway, and for the majority of gamers, even Euro-gamers, it would have more to do with goblins and ogres than mentally handicapped people. Of course, if your game sucked, I have a feeling it would become a convenient slur for the game as well...
11/26/2006 (6:43 pm)
Troglodyte is a Greek word for cave-dweller, but rather than being prophetic recluses, they were seen as brutish and primitive people. The sheltering of retarded people away from society (if not killed by Christian communities who often felt that they were an evil blight) rolled into them often being considered Troglodytes. When science rolled into the popular tradition, they moved from being virtue aberrations to being primitive aberrations or proof of questionable lineage. Lineage was not "genetic" at the time in the way that we think of it, but paternity had been an important issue far longer than modern biological science. Hitler's regime used the general fear and hatred of retarded people to engage in a number of medical experiments which were fueled by the idea of blood purity since it was assumed at the time that there as questionable blood mixing, and the medical practitioners in the regime had a large, unwilling group upon which experiments could be performed. If you wander into the dredges of white supremacy rhetoric, such issues are still strong today and interpretations make the leap from genetic anomalies to social deviation. Trog is simply a shortened version, which rolls off the tongue more easily. I'm not sure where it flows from. I could check the OED to see where it appears first in literature, but in film it appeared in the 50's as a derogative term. The written literature that I have seen (often English referring to French Intellectualism or Italians referring to German intellectuals of the previous generation from my own studies) have used it in full rather than shortened form. Why use street slang when you can prove your intellectual acumen among peers?Of course, none of that has anything to do with much of anything since it is not the traditional name anyway, and for the majority of gamers, even Euro-gamers, it would have more to do with goblins and ogres than mentally handicapped people. Of course, if your game sucked, I have a feeling it would become a convenient slur for the game as well...
#9
Never heard the UK slang term before.
Yep. Just adding to the pile.
11/26/2006 (6:48 pm)
There was a game called "Trog!", and I believe "Trogs" appeared in a game called "Number Munchers" as well.Never heard the UK slang term before.
Yep. Just adding to the pile.
#10
Oh, yeah. Subhumans have been part of fairy-tales and wives' tales for centuries. Of course, in many societies, mentally handicapped people were considered subhuman, which played into the use. In more modern use it has moved to a slur similar to racial slurs (often used nearly synonymously) and not in fantastic usage.
11/26/2006 (7:38 pm)
@MattOh, yeah. Subhumans have been part of fairy-tales and wives' tales for centuries. Of course, in many societies, mentally handicapped people were considered subhuman, which played into the use. In more modern use it has moved to a slur similar to racial slurs (often used nearly synonymously) and not in fantastic usage.
#11
11/27/2006 (7:52 am)
Agrees with Gary
#12
Alan,
Thanks for wishing me well, I hope my eyes aren't bigger than my stomach, and "James" is quite a suitable last name, eh?
11/27/2006 (7:55 am)
Thanks for the feedback! (I think. . .)Alan,
Thanks for wishing me well, I hope my eyes aren't bigger than my stomach, and "James" is quite a suitable last name, eh?
Torque Owner Kevin James
*
*Keep in mind I drew this when I was bored one day, any art in here may or may not be seen in the final *product.
*