The planned structure is pretty simple: 3-4 Playable characters with a mix of male and female. Every element will be original pixel-art spriting. That's the easy part. What I may need help with would be the actual development and coding. I planned to use Game Maker 8.1 as it looks pretty simple. I'm just a little hesitant to go full bore into it, only to find out that some element I want to implement simply can't be done within that dev. engine.
Basic premise:
Our characters are aboard a trans-Pacific airship, The Verdent Lady, travelling from the orient to west-coast United States. Think roughly 1920's- early1930's era, including character appearance and mentality as well as all tech, such as the airship (like Hindenburg, except less on fire... mostly. At first.) The airship, in order to avoid a severe storm, takes a slightly altered route to reach its destination. As it is traveling near a remote, uncharted island, it encounters multiple mysterious technical failures which result in it breaking up over the water and crashing into the island coast in flames (well, that didn't last long...). So far as the playable characters are concerned, only one will ever survive the initial crash (seemingly because the player is controlling them) and the rest will be seen either at the main wreck site or possibly encountered further into the game where more pieces of wreckage will be found. Dotted around the landscape will be evidence of many other wrecks of aircraft, ships, and strange advanced technology. There will be a small number of other survivors out of the original 30-40 passengers aboard the airship, which will also be encountered around the island aaaaand promptly killed off in various ways. Your task is pretty simple. Guide your character through the game in an effort to find some way to get off the island and back to civilization. (Hint: It's not going to be easy and may, for some characters, never actually be possible. Woo hoo! Multiple, character-dependent resolutions!)
List of planned features:
* Character select screen
* Original chip-tune or SEGA-style MOD music
* Original chip or 16-bit sample sound effects.
* 3-4 Playable characters 2 female, 1-2 male with scattered, mixed male/female interactions around the game.
* Action side-scroller/platformer game-play with enemies and environmental hazards.
* Enemies will have mixed range of attack and kill animations.
* Environmental hazards will have mixed trigger and kill animations (such as arrows firing from a trap, triggered by a pressure plate; spike pit, flaring fire trap, lava, acid, water, etc.)
* Deaths will be punctuated (post-animation) by a dialogue with a graphic dedicated to that death and featuring black humor observations by the deceased character or from an unnamed, omnipotent narrator of sorts; similar to Monkey island or the best Sierra point-and-clicks.
* Character portraits featured in a portion of the on-screen GUI to display health status or be used in sparse dialogue situations. Their primary use will be similar to that of Doom or Get Medieval and various dungeon crawlers. (lower right, upper left. depending on the elements featured in said GUI)
* Damage and death animations will be fully animated pixel sprites.
* Players will be given up to 5 attempts at each level, life-counter style (think Mario and others) before 'Game Over' is declared; final death resulting in...
* Post-death dialogue graphics, which will be full-pixel art graphics. No cheating on my part with vector or Photoshop illustrations.
* Game-play will incorporate status effects such as poisoning or damage over time from burns/fire and will be rather harsh about fall damage.
Things that will likely not make the cut
- No voices or realistic recorded sounds, UNLESS I can find decent voice-actors. It's a bit awkward when you have something that just sounds so terribly phoned in. It also gets really awkward when you come across a game that seems to have pulled clips from a porno to serve as player sounds where a decent voice actor could not be found or, that's the ONLY kind of 'actor' that could be found.
- Not planning on score tracking, but it may happen.
- Level-tracking saves. No checkpoints! The levels will be short enough and move fast enough that, hopefully, it won't be too frustrating. Think Jill of the Jungle, Vinyl Goddess From Mars, or Duke Nukem 1-3. Just like the old DOS days.
-advanced movement like roll/jump-dodging, crouched movement, ledge hanging to allow players to clamber up to slightly out of range areas.
Ideas I'm considering, but still may or may not make the cut:
# Letting the player fight back. Throwing weapons, melee weapons, projectile, found item?
# Tossing around the idea of an overworld, similar to Commander Keen.
# Death/damage animation gallery
# Death dialogue graphic viewer
# Concept art gallery
# Sound & Music player
I have no time-frame for completion. Life tends to get in the way of 'labor of love' projects. HOWEVER(!) As proof that this isn't complete vaporware, these are a few sprites I've got made up for this project thus far. These took only about 2-ish days to throw together, so I don't foresee the individual sprites being an issue. Death and damage ones, maybe a bit. Movement, just tedious. Enemy movement and interaction... that'll be interesting and a bit of a pain if they don't implement in the game engine the way I expect them to. Anyway, enjoy!
Two characters in progress and a couple graphical assets near completion.
Character/Status Portrait Container
Portrait spread and two in-progress sprites for 1st female playable: Johanna Von Schott (Joanna Scott); a young, aspiring actress from Dayton, Ohio who has just finished filming her first role in the exotic romance "The Lover & The Orient."
- Game play will be based on nimble movement and ability to work through tight spaces. She will be more vulnerable to status effects such as burns and poisoning, as well as DOT. Physically, she is not remarkably strong and so jumping/climbing/pushing may be impeded. Melee/throwing attacks will be reduced She is, however, an experienced dancer and so speed and agility will be increased, balancing her physical limitations with her abilities. Knockback effects may still be a problem.
Three WIP portraits of 1st male playable, Nicholas Rutherford; Bartender aboard the airship 'The Verdant Lady.' Before seeking a life of luxury and travel abroad, Nick was a star pugilist in his college years.
- As such, he will enjoy a boost in upper body strength, enhancing his physical melee attacks and climbing abilities. Throwing weapons will be left neutral. Hardier; he will be more resistant to status effects and DOT. Will suffer the lowest impact of knockback.
Two remaining characters will comprise of another male and female:
Gordon Perry; an entrepreneurial international trader of goods and an important figure in the burgeoning far-east travel craze. He is the chief investor and contractor of the Pan-Pacific Aero-Liner Company; owners and operators of 'The Verdant Lady.' He once dispatched an opponent so handily, in his first bout of kendo, that the man felt honor-bound to become his fiercest and most powerful business partner. The honorable bout has led to a mighty friendship and industry alliance.
- Not particularly blessed of physical strength, but a highly skilled fencer; Gordon will enjoy a boost in dodging and agility, as well as extra competence in melee weapons. His speed and dexterity will be balanced by a slightly impaired resistance to physical punishment and status changes. Meaning: he will suffer from burns, poison, DOT similarly to Joanna. Knockback effects will be reduced, though to a lesser degree to that of Nicholas.
Hanako Mishima; The daughter of Gordon's friend and business partner. She has been offered the chance to study abroad in America with Mr. Perry as her sponsor, provided she agree to be his 'companion.' Her father agreed readily to this arrangement, seeing it as the gateway to a bright future for his only child. Not-so-coincidentally, the two have had a secret romance since the beginning of her father's business dealings with Gordon.
- Under her father, she was trained in the disciplinary arts and physical conditioning. As a result, she will enjoy a slightly hardier constitution and a boost in melee and throwing weapons as well as increase in jump height and ability to squeeze into small spaces. She will be competent with handheld weaponry, though not as proficient as Gordon. Her hardier constitution will allow her to resist DOT and status change damage. However, as the smallest playable character, she will suffer from stronger knockback effects which could lead to some... unpleasant results if in high places.
Game level / environment ideas include:
Escaping the downed airship wreckage (up to 3 iterations)
Coastline
Seaside cliffs
Light rainforest
Heavy jungle
Jungle caves
Volcanic tunnels
Emergence into medium density jungle leading to a clearing containing...
Ancient ruins and a large temple, peppered with traps
Mysteriously well-maintained high-technology area buried deep within temple
Transported to apparent alien craft from which characters who make it this far must attempt to escape and make it back to Earth, and civilization.
Artwork for all will go up as it is produced. This is really just the basic layout for what I have in mind. ... Well, basic for me. This would be enough to sell most IPs to publishers.
When will it finish?
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