Long time around, silent.. Time for a blog!
by Henri Aalto · 09/14/2008 (9:19 am) · 4 comments
Hi everybody!
I've been around the GG community for some years now, remainin pretty much silent for most of the time. Now I think it's finally time for a blog.
I started off with pretty much no experience in game development and the learning process has been rather painful and slow for a full-time employed family-man. Finally, I'm starting to feel like having a well-rounded picture of all the required aspects and I've gathered some rather quite nice tips and tricks along the way.
I originally set out to make a multiplayer hybrid RTS/FPS game set in a post-apocalyptic setting with the ultimate goal of producing something of minor commercial value (likely through sponsorship or adds) to raise some funds for charity (Blood: water mission, Donate-a-cow, PLAN to name a few). No religious intents are buried here, I just think that a game as a medium can be harnessed for a good cause -- as long as it's fun!
The vision has been strengthened and refined with the time passing and I've played around with a plethora of ideas, discarding many of them while some have become core features of the design. My vision is to combine many familar features into a new mixture with a original twist (yeah I know, it sounds like a marketing cliche, just bear with me) seeking a gameplay atmosphere that might appeal to more mature gamers who like sci-fi shooters but are turned off by both the constant respawning of fast-paced FPS games as well as the one-shot-game-over mentality of the more serious ones (e.g. Flashpoint). The core of the project team is formed by myself and few other finnish IT-workers but we have some voluntary contributors as well.
On a larger level the game's basically "another game of Risk" set in a persistent world where the players conquer sectors for their tribe by commanding a small platoon of (disposable) RTS-units with their persistent "party of heroes" (the FPS-characters). The players are divided into (8) tribes trying to conquer the game region until the end of the game round (several weeks), whichafter the world will be partially reset (the actual effects depend on the endgame condition).
Unlike many mainstream RTS and FPS games there will be no unit building nor respawning during the battles and even the heroes can die permanently (depending on a number of factors they'll either end up wounded/disabled and after a course of battles ending this way they'll run out of luck and may become fatally injured). The game does incorporate some RPG features, like limited hero development as well as few simple strategy game features which are based on "collective decision" inside the tribe but the main emphasis is on the fighting.
From technical perspective, the most central piece of the architecture is the "master server" which makes the world tick and arranges the fights between the players. The game is strictly on-line multplayer, with most fights are 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2 fights between the players, hosted on their computers but there are also some dedicated servers for upto 10 seat battles lasting several hours with players dropping in and out.
I'll post further details when the project matures, but for now I'll end with a few pictures on some blended terrain testing (it's supposed to be suitable for both RTS and FPS scale of action). I'll glady answer any questions regarding the project (working title: Future Lost) once I have the energy, also critique and dubious comments are welcome!
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot66.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot68.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot70.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot74.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot77.jpg
Edit: A quick way to ruin your blog by cutting it from the middle is to use word "cliche" with the correct punctuation character on the last "e" ==> the blog engine thinks it's some kind of break control character and terminates the rest of the entry :)
I've been around the GG community for some years now, remainin pretty much silent for most of the time. Now I think it's finally time for a blog.
I started off with pretty much no experience in game development and the learning process has been rather painful and slow for a full-time employed family-man. Finally, I'm starting to feel like having a well-rounded picture of all the required aspects and I've gathered some rather quite nice tips and tricks along the way.
I originally set out to make a multiplayer hybrid RTS/FPS game set in a post-apocalyptic setting with the ultimate goal of producing something of minor commercial value (likely through sponsorship or adds) to raise some funds for charity (Blood: water mission, Donate-a-cow, PLAN to name a few). No religious intents are buried here, I just think that a game as a medium can be harnessed for a good cause -- as long as it's fun!
The vision has been strengthened and refined with the time passing and I've played around with a plethora of ideas, discarding many of them while some have become core features of the design. My vision is to combine many familar features into a new mixture with a original twist (yeah I know, it sounds like a marketing cliche, just bear with me) seeking a gameplay atmosphere that might appeal to more mature gamers who like sci-fi shooters but are turned off by both the constant respawning of fast-paced FPS games as well as the one-shot-game-over mentality of the more serious ones (e.g. Flashpoint). The core of the project team is formed by myself and few other finnish IT-workers but we have some voluntary contributors as well.
On a larger level the game's basically "another game of Risk" set in a persistent world where the players conquer sectors for their tribe by commanding a small platoon of (disposable) RTS-units with their persistent "party of heroes" (the FPS-characters). The players are divided into (8) tribes trying to conquer the game region until the end of the game round (several weeks), whichafter the world will be partially reset (the actual effects depend on the endgame condition).
Unlike many mainstream RTS and FPS games there will be no unit building nor respawning during the battles and even the heroes can die permanently (depending on a number of factors they'll either end up wounded/disabled and after a course of battles ending this way they'll run out of luck and may become fatally injured). The game does incorporate some RPG features, like limited hero development as well as few simple strategy game features which are based on "collective decision" inside the tribe but the main emphasis is on the fighting.
From technical perspective, the most central piece of the architecture is the "master server" which makes the world tick and arranges the fights between the players. The game is strictly on-line multplayer, with most fights are 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2 fights between the players, hosted on their computers but there are also some dedicated servers for upto 10 seat battles lasting several hours with players dropping in and out.
I'll post further details when the project matures, but for now I'll end with a few pictures on some blended terrain testing (it's supposed to be suitable for both RTS and FPS scale of action). I'll glady answer any questions regarding the project (working title: Future Lost) once I have the energy, also critique and dubious comments are welcome!
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot66.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot68.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot70.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot74.jpg
i177.photobucket.com/albums/w204/hkaalto/screenshot77.jpg
Edit: A quick way to ruin your blog by cutting it from the middle is to use word "cliche" with the correct punctuation character on the last "e" ==> the blog engine thinks it's some kind of break control character and terminates the rest of the entry :)
#2
09/14/2008 (12:48 pm)
I like you car..in you albums
#3
Although "limited" character development always turns me off. Overall, reminds me of a few games I have played and enjoyed for short periods of time.
Great blog, thanks ;)
09/14/2008 (9:09 pm)
Sounds like the kind of game I would love to play :)Although "limited" character development always turns me off. Overall, reminds me of a few games I have played and enjoyed for short periods of time.
Great blog, thanks ;)
#4
@Szzg007: you mean the Armadillo? Yeah, it's a preliminary concept of a vehicle "before to apocalypse"; the next revision will be the post-apocalyptic adaptation with more steam-punkish feeling
@William: by limited I mean maybe "5 or 6 levels" allowing you to access some new gear and pick a few abilities; I think there's no point in creating long (20+ level) character development mecahnics because the heroes are disposable and can actually die permanently pretty quickly :) However, we have few character classes to pick from (warden, scion, mechaniac to name a few) and at "higher levels" we offer the possibility to retire the character for some longer term bonuses for your hero party (the retired hero will leave sort of legacy or work as the mentor from behind the scenes).
09/15/2008 (2:41 am)
@Mike: yeah, took me a while to get a hang of the terrain stuff (I'm a DBA by trade, not an artist!). I'll really need some real artist to take a look at the ground textures.@Szzg007: you mean the Armadillo? Yeah, it's a preliminary concept of a vehicle "before to apocalypse"; the next revision will be the post-apocalyptic adaptation with more steam-punkish feeling
@William: by limited I mean maybe "5 or 6 levels" allowing you to access some new gear and pick a few abilities; I think there's no point in creating long (20+ level) character development mecahnics because the heroes are disposable and can actually die permanently pretty quickly :) However, we have few character classes to pick from (warden, scion, mechaniac to name a few) and at "higher levels" we offer the possibility to retire the character for some longer term bonuses for your hero party (the retired hero will leave sort of legacy or work as the mentor from behind the scenes).
Torque Owner Mike Rowley
Mike Rowley