Open Development: "DEVELOPMENT HELL" for Multicart *new name

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SwordPlay
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Open Development: "DEVELOPMENT HELL" for Multicart

Post by SwordPlay »

EDIT: It's now called "Development Hell"

It might have been suggested as a joke, but I started having ideas for a game in which you play as game developer...
This is for the multicart, hopefully, and it shouldn't be too difficult to create.
I think I have the mechanics down, and am open to suggestions.

What I would like is some ideas for funny things to put in the game, a suggested implementation, advice etc.

You can see what I have so far here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

You can comment, copy etc., freely,

Structure
There are 4 departments: executive, graphic, sound, code
- there are 8 parts to the company:
- DEVELOPER: creates; concept, story, design, direction
- MANGER: has an effect on other departments. bullies or charms (atm)
- CODING: creates features, mechanics, and puts assets in the game
- PRESS: responsible for hype, marketing, reputation
- BG: Creates all backdrops, settings etc. (painters are preferred)
- OBJECTS: Creates all sprites and animations (animators/spriters preferred)
- SFX: Creates sounds/sound effects
- TRAX: Creates music


Here's how I think mechanics will work
- slice based game controlled through menus
- use heroes to represent departments,
- equipment represents workers
- spells represent skills
- departments have collective stats like (work power, motivation, logic, creativity, loyalty, respect, pay, etc.)
- games get bonuses and penalties depending on design, cohesiveness, features, and things like that
- not sure about many, many things. I think it will be text driven, with an emphasis on humour and surrealism

Interested? check the link to see all the stuff/ideas I have so far. It is not concrete, and I'm happy to work alongside, or turn it over to someone else.

EDIT
I developed it a bit. It's ongoing, and makes a good first project for me.
So far, I'm saving data to zones. This happens by moving the player above the appropriate tile.
It also displays info.

The next step is to semi-randomly generate data to be saved to a zone.
Then I would like to make it dependent on the stats of appropriate party members.

The end product will use an average of various Assets, as well as apply modifiers like Bonus/Penalty stuff. Hopefully I will get style specifics done as well, so assets will match or not with the project.

That kind of stuff won't be visible to the player, but it will appear in (in-game) reviews of the game (in-game), and if the player has a playtester equipped in the coder department, they should catch it.

At the moment, it looks really messy, due to being tile based. Eventually, I want the player to enter the zone and jump to a view of its data, interpreted as the Asset qualities.
In other words, the player should walk over a tile and something should pop up letting them know what the asset is, what qualities it has, and options to insert it into the compiler


To stop things getting boring, I plan to have events with the employees, including but not limited to violent events ending in death, and sabotage, defection, and maybe rival companies....
EDIT
Made some progress. Now I can debug any kind of asset into existence
EDIT
Okay, now all the assets are implemented, and a finished product can be compiled from them.
EDIT
Reviews are scathing now. Will flesh it out later.

I still need to make assets generated somehow, preferably using hero stats/
I also need to think about asset storage and how it will be handled.
Then after these basic things, I will work on descriptions again, and make sure the "reviews" work.
Last edited by SwordPlay on Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:46 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Post by SwordPlay »

I made some progress on the game.
Here's where I'm at so far:


Only one kind of asset can be worked on at a time, for each department.
But progress on the other kind of asset is not lost
(need to add visual indicators of asset progress)
(need to add quality indicators for asset)

Asset created by a relevant stat (either logic or creativity)
Asset creation progresses by a relevant stat (dedication)

An asset can be compiled into a game

A game can be reviewed according to its assets.

(I need to add something to stop the final quality being determined solely at the end.
I should take an average of the used stats each step (for the end result))

There is a name generator (present, but not finished or implemented)
There is a review system (basic. need to make it more complex)

EDIT
Added coffee and beer. They increase stats when equipped, and that affects the quality of assets. (logic and creativity respectively)
When progress is made, they are consumed (actually removed and deleted)

I added a debug menu accessible from the main menu.

EDIT
Added cola. It increases productivity.
Added unique items for each department, which also raise productivity (for now)
Attachments
working on graphics. I want to have other locations too.
working on graphics. I want to have other locations too.
supergamedev0008.gif (8.92 KiB) Viewed 2540 times
can compile a game. and review it
can compile a game. and review it
supergamedev0006.gif (391.21 KiB) Viewed 2553 times
Last edited by SwordPlay on Tue Apr 11, 2017 5:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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SwordPlay
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Post by SwordPlay »

I've got stuff done. Not proud of it, but it's something.
There are office workers who iwlll show up when equipped in a department, and work only gets done for an asset if you have the appropriate dept in your party.

I was also working on the pacing a bit.
I think the game will revolve around releasing a game every 7 days, due to some evil upper management thing.
In the beginning, the player can just about get a game done and released, albeit with poor stats.
The player gets money and rep, and is able to buy dept. members and items/equipment to help the game making process.
That's the positive parts (for the player) and mostly done(ish)

OFFICE POLITICS
Then there are negative events, including all sorts of bad slime that can happen to workers, games, the office and company.
It will probably be random events every day, with a sliding scale of severity.
That scale will be based on stats of depts. which is affected by player actions.
Still not sure how to handle individuals in departments, since I'm using "heroes" to represent whole groups.
Maybe I will store extra data for each equippable worker/dept.member and handle it like that.
I would like it if employees had an effect on each other, but it is quite complicated.
I'm playing with the office design. I want there to be more locations, and give the game a nice feel, such as taking employees to bars, musuems, strip clubs and silly things like that.

END GOALS
I also need to implement win and loss conditions, and money, wages, revenue and things like that. Not to mention marketing/publicity/press.

MAKING GAMES IN A GAME
I'd like to flesh out the game making aspect, with reasonably complicated descriptions of games, as well as reviews of games. That will mostly be pulled from strings.
E.g. a game with the string "aardvark" in the title might have it thrown into the review somewhere "Aardvark Panic was .... The scene where the Aadvarks made love was memorable. The scene where the Aadvarks fought the giant robot was poor..." etc., always using the string from the game title to ensure relevance.
It is complicated though, because I want to have different genres, and that will involve many switch/case thingies to specify what is allowable in the generators.
At the moment, there are no rules, and the generator pulls any 2 strings from the list and combines them.
Eventually I want the player to choose a genre, title, and generate specific assets for that game, with employees having a reaction to that (e.g. not wanting to make assets for a specific genre, due to having certain stats or attributes)

SUMMARY:
So far in the game, you can get workers, required to make assets, equipment is available that boosts production and gives player benefits. The assets can be used to make a game that can get feedback/review.
I still have a long way to go however.
Last edited by SwordPlay on Wed Apr 12, 2017 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Wendigo »

I'm impressed how quickly your game makes progress. I really like the art. The idea of a game developing company is also quite unique. Looking forward to play your game.
Do you intend to keep the office chair as the main character? I absolutely like it, very funny.
Just one thing: Could you leave the text boxes in you gifs open a little bit longer? I can't read anything.
Last edited by Wendigo on Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by SwordPlay »

Y-yeah. Sorry.
For now, the chair is a silly development joke.
In-game the player might be able to change their graphics to bizarre things, like an alien or robot or something.
I might add a twist in the game: the games being worked on are the games of the multicart (vaguely alluded to) and each successive game release brings unspeakable and calamitous horrors on the game company in the game, resulting in a change of gameplay and tone, shifting towards absurd surrealism (maybe. I might play it straight and have it as a regular game-making game)
Don't know yet, and I haven't set any victory (or fail) conditions or anything.

EDIT
I also want to include weird creatures in the teams, such as being able to hire aliens or bigfoot. I see the theme of the game changing as I try to write it.

EDIT
I might go in a direction such as "the company is evil or ruled by malevolent overlords and the games are also evil"
The games might have traits like:

Causes Confusion
Hypnotic
Turns itself on/off
Causes tumours
Causes amnesia
Robs players of their sight
Causes nightmares
Robs players of their hearing
Destroys the soul
Makes the heart cold and hard
Players hair falls out
Players teeth falls out

etc., and therefore, such arcane pieces of work require arcane workers, or an arcane source.
Therefore, I want to root it in the magical/fantastic.

EDIT:
I think I need to rethink/rework the underlying principals and assumptions of my game :s

EDIT
These graphics are not representative of the finished product.
The fish is merely a placeholder. Don't sue!
Last edited by SwordPlay on Wed Apr 12, 2017 2:55 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Post by Willy Elektrix »

Sorry I haven't had much time to comment on this. I've been slammed with work, illness, and multi-cart related tasks.

Your description of the game is a little abstract, so I'm not sure what suggestions to offer you. When you have a playable demo (even something simple), I can give it a try and provide some more insightful feedback.
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Post by SwordPlay »

EDIT: please note these are placeholder graphics and not necessarily intended for use in the final game...

It's in a working state, but it's super complicated on the player end atm.

It is basically an un-fun process where you navigate menus and somewhat tedious if I am honest. I need to streamline the player experience so they don't get board navigating through myriad menus.
That's basically all there is in the game right now: menus.

Right now I have the basic mechanics working;
creating assets, compiling a game, getting reviewed and earning revenue.
Various employees and items are present, albeit not fully functional.
(I want to have some sort of development/path ladder)

Currently I'm using debugging keys to speed things up, but I'll probably leave it in as a shortcut for the player.

Tomorrow I hope to implement random events that occur each day, and hopefully that will make it more interesting. I think that should be relatively easy, but I'm not sure what the specific effects should be.
I also have dialogue I want to implement. (also taking suggestions in case anyone has ideas)
I have been thinking about the setting a lot, and I think it is based in Hell or some slimed up universe/dimension, and various odd creatures will work in the office and strange/bad things will happen.
Right now the characters are very... nasty... I'm trying to make it a little edgy.
Bigfoot and alien both work in the office and it's planned that you can have sex with them... yeah...

Future development plans (1 or 2 days from now?) will add requests towards the player from various directions.
-Higher ups will request games with certain criteria, and give rewards
-Stuff will happen to the company when it gets reputation. Industrial and corporate sabotage, infiltration, and stuff like that.
-Employee interactions based on personality
-Employees will ask to make certain kind of assets based on their personality.
-Employees will ask for things. Annoying things.

Far off future plans (2 or more days from now):
-More specific game-creation criteria/values. I'd like to use extra data to record info about games, such as whether they are unspeakable evil, or whether or not the graphics match the game type (so far, there isn't even a game type. All created games have no distinction, except their score.)
-Other locations. I'd like to take the slimed up employees out to bars and clubs and potentially struggle with the balance between a social life and getting the game finished, as well as being loved/hated by employees.

Are you unwell? It's okay to take a break. I hope you get better.
Don't get stressed out, okay? Look after yourself. No greater wealth than health.

Thanks for your kind offer. I will try to post a working version tomorrow?
I think I see at least 3 or so days in development, but I would honestly like a bit longer, and I'm ashamed to ask for more time, what with me jumping in right at the end and all.
Sorry to be 'that guy' and I really don't like being burdensome
I hope this is not a problem!
I realise it's my fault, so that makes me want to do this properly even more.
Last edited by SwordPlay on Thu Apr 13, 2017 1:10 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by SwordPlay »

I think this is quite an ambitious project to attempt to release in a short time.
Therefore, I don't think I will enter it into the multicart, since it lacks polish and probably needs to be cleaned up considerably.
I could do it within a few days, but by rushing and little bug-testing.
It's okay if you don't include it in the compilation, it's not the best game ever..
I'm actually quite happy to turn it over to the community or something like that, but it is genuinely quite boring as it is.
"Imagination. Life is your creation."
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