My First Distributed Game

Voltire · Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2010 7:58 pm Post subject: My First Distributed Game

I released one of my games recently, Bacon Origins. Sound dumb? Well, it kinda is...Er...well if anyone really cares, try it out. It's like an hour long, I think and it sure isn't TOO bad with the graphics (I mean it isn't eye-bleeding ugly). Just try it. Big grin

Please reply if you download it, and say what you think of it.

Ignore my signature...for now.

Pepsi Ranger · Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:47 am Post subject:

I tried to respond yesterday, but my power went out in the middle of typing, so I lost most of my reply.

Short version:

Your game is salvageable, but I think your approach is wrong. Too many games that should be RPGs aren't, and too many games that make no sense as an RPG are.

A party of bacon strips marching around a food-filled town to the tune of heavy metal music is very bizarre. And while I have no problem with the concept in general (the OHR is full of nonhumans waging war on the world), I think it's time to question whether or not the random battle system is right for certain games.

For starters, none of your heroes (that I saw) had an attack that progressed beyond the basic fight command. Granted, I stopped at the Blue Plane of No Return (I remembered the actual name yesterday, but I forgot it now), but based on your description, I'm assuming I'm at least halfway through the game. In that time, nothing new.

Enemies, including bosses, hit for 1 HP each. When your heroes are on the top half toward 1000 HP, it seems pointless. Why battle at all? It just interrupts the grooving music (which is the one thing, along with the flashing paths, that made me kind of like the Noir Void).

So, here's my suggestion. Don't make this an RPG. You've got the food theme going on. Why not do something more interesting with it? Maybe trade the battles for puzzles involving food trivia. This would actually be easy to do: Just use an input string command to allow the user to type in an answer, and string compare to test whether he or she has the right answer (you'd have to compare it to a string that already has the correct answer stored). I just think little things like this would make the game (and bizarre games like it) more interesting than an RPG system that really doesn't go anywhere or add to anything.

So, that was essentially what I wanted to say yesterday.

I will try to finish it soon. It doesn't suck. It just needs a refresh.

Oh, and showing a lack of confidence in your game in the Readme file is not the way to go. There's a difference between self-deprecating in a joking way, and doing it for real. Don't do it for real.

Like I said, this game could be interesting--maybe even a cult favorite if you spin it right, though that's reaching a little high--but it won't get there as a pointless RPG battler. The story isn't compelling enough--and even if it were, it feels too much like an eighties throwback to want to have a compelling story. I'd say, revel in the absurdity. Go all out. Food trivia and food puzzles will make this game so much better. And the beauty here is that adding these things and taking out the pointless battles really wouldn't take too long to do. If you learn how to load sprites (consult the plotscript dictionary), you could still use all of your enemy graphics for something. Maybe those heads of broccoli can force the puzzles on the player. I don't know. But something can be done to make this work. And the work it needs is pretty simple. Just think outside the box a little. Maybe you'll awaken something in the community by doing it. Who knows.

But do away with the battles. This is not the right kind of game for that.

Hope this helps.
_________________
Progress Report:

The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Extended Edition

Currently Updating: General sweep of the game world and dialogue boxes. Adding extended maps.

Tightfloss Maiden

Currently Updating: Chapter 2

Voltire · Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks a lot, Pepsi Ranger. I will try to use your ideas and make it better.
Right now I'm working on a Harry Potter game, (real original, I know) and I'll get back to Bacon Origins when I can. Cool

JSH357 · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Posts: 1705

Voltire · Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 8:44 pm Post subject: