Duck Duck Blues. For the Meta Game Jam

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SwordPlay
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Duck Duck Blues. For the Meta Game Jam

Post by SwordPlay »

THE NEWEST VERSION IS AVAILABLE HERE:

https://lightsword.itch.io/duck-duck-blues

So download that ^ version rather than this version V

EDIT: There is a new prototype. But it is half-finished. The above link has a more complete game experience, so it is recommended. You can download the one below, but it's more for the development side. Feel free to check out either if you are interested.


FUTURE PLANS
I think there would be different scenarios and objectives in story mode, maybe with some obstacles you can't fly past, and varying amounts of water. There would be different strategies for getting past monsters using puzzle elements, and you could stop or kill monsters with powers of some kind. That was always planned, I just need time to do it.



NEW PROTOTYPE
try to save all the chicks. they're on the islands with monsters!
I was thinking a fishing / diving mini game

UPDATED
extremely new version. some HUD stuff.
It includes bait for monsters (press G,H,J,K) but no way to delete the bait. yet. so don't use it.
the ability to lock/freeze monsters (press C)
and the ability to kill monsters (1 use. press V and touch them)
next is sound design and putting it together...
MORE UPDATE. Water.
Press A to dash a little.
Changed lock/kill monsters

~~~~

Here's a thing.
You probably need to be using the latest nightlies though.

First of all. I am aware this has basically no bearing on what I said I was going to enter for the Meta Game Jam.
But I ended up here, so I'm going to run with it.

Skip to the PLAYING section if you just want to play.

I would love to get feedback, and to find a collaborator or 3 to help me finish this. Specifically to add or suggest gameplay/design elements.
Teams of upto 4 are permitted, and you will be credited. Only a few more days left til the deadline. It closes on the 31st.
https://itch.io/jam/metagamejam

The only thing that changes as you play is that monsters (and rescuable creatures) are spawned. That's it.

## ## FAILED IDEA
The original spec had the player take on the role as a interstellar being navigating an enormous void where complete randomness and odd characters/events would occur.
You can look in Large Enemy Graphics and maps to see roughly what it might have resembled.

But this was against the spirit of 'design' even if I performed it well.
It is much more difficult to bring good design to a world with lots of rules, I feel.
But I still would like to have many of the ideas transplanted somehow (see the last paragraphs)

## ## WHAT ITS ABOUT
Right now, it's about a duck looking for its children and family, but I might have it just be about innocent woodland creatures.
Various monsters spawn as you play.
I would like to allow the player to choose e.g. sprites/skins for all that, or change it to something more dramatic. I would also like to spruce up the sprites (polish if there's time)

The creatures to be rescued keep spawning as you rescue them. So they shouldn't run out.
But maybe in the final release, there will be unique creatures to save, with some kind of narrative/gameplay framing device

## ## WHERE I'M AT
The houses will be quite important.
This is intended to add a few dimensions to the basic game.

I want houses to be linked to different monsters, and ways of navigating, by-passing or defeating them, as well as saving innocent creatures from possibly horrific torture/murder devices.

Planned content:
A story. Romance. Intrigue. Themes. Comedy.
- comedy. treating the game seriously. acting as if the duck is a heroic figure. light-hearted roleplay.
- romance. familial themes. having to save important creatures (drama)
- intrigue. where do the monsters come from? mystery. reasoning for exploring, and unlocking the houses
- themes. one plucky duck against all odds

Showing the internal workings or allowing users to manipulate the game is planned.

## ## PLAYING
If you want to spawn monsters, press N and M a few times
I = teleport
O = generate slices
W is a wip feature. (maybe) where you can type in some words with perhaps magical effect.
Q shows your co-ordinates. Intended for use with a very large environment where the player needs to navigate somehow.
Z = Running and moving Fast. But you can toggle it from the menu.

Mouse enabled. So have at it and check out the pathfinding if it's too difficult (sorry)

Music will probably be this for the main game
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Split ... _magnetism
and something from "Filmy Ghost"'s "Ghost Drone Collection" for the subverted game (see the last paragraphs)

I HAVE LEFT MUSIC OUT TO MINIMISE THE FILE SIZE.

## ## ADDTIONAL CONTENT.
I want there to be quite a lot of different content, like conversations, and hidden/secret stuff.
Maybe some extra powers, like removing and placing obstacles.
I'm trying to have it so that the player can sneak past monsters whilst standing in grass.
I need to rejigger the map a bit. It's a bit of a pain to do, because it's done via zones.
I want to include an extended area outside the border of the game map that the player can wander around and see different stuff, like annotated slice collections, or showing various features, gameplay, bits of the engine, and describing how things work.
As well as personal commentary on games/ game design

## ## PACING. ACTIVATION
Something quite important is pacing.
Most of the stuff will not be accessible to the player.
In fact, the player won't even know about some things at ALL. Until a few hints are dropped.
I want the player to start off thinking its one kind of game, but quickly changes genres and gameplay.

Some stuff activates conditionally. Points, no. of saved creatures, monsters on the map, time left, steps taken, houses visited, various unlockable contents.
This is not implemented.

## ## NEW AREAS
I want to surprise the player, for example, by turning off a boundary around the game map, and allowing the player to wander off it.
There would be some stuff that becomes visible, sitting just beyond the game boundary to show that this area can now be walked on.
Similarly for foreshadowing opened areas (houses)

These newly opened areas would allow for the subversion and alteration of normal gameplay, as well as it's dissection/explication/annotation
We might have scenes where the duck takes on the role of a typical hero in a typical game scenario, but still a duck, and responding to everything with "Quack" :p
I think I would like to include some of the ideas for the original concept in this game as well!
Last edited by SwordPlay on Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:28 pm, edited 24 times in total.
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