Let's make some games! Woo!

[Gizmog]

In terms of productivity, last year was PATHETIC. We had like.. 24 games released. That's two a month. They weren't even good games, necessarily! How would you have liked the month where you got a 5 year old Spoony re-hash of Lemmings and a 2 minute horror snoozer? Anyone could've done better! None of us did. This year we're changing that.

My proposal, based in part on Taco Bot's blog, One Year: Twelve Games, is that each of us man up and release twelve games this year. One a month or save 'em all to the end, whatever. So long as you've got twelve. If even two of us are able to follow through (and Taco Bot's already done for this month!) we'll have single-handedly matched last year's production.

Now, I wanna clarify that I'm not asking you to spam the gamelist. The Review Contest did a pretty good job of establishing gamehood. You want to be on the top list, not the bottom. Not to say you'll get disqualified or anything for 11 games and one tech demo, but the goal here is to make games, to take the extra steps to turn those tech demos into something fun. To figure out what it takes to complete a project, to complete that project, and to move on to the next one. Figure out what kind of game you like to make before you marry one for the HOTOHR Contest.

A game a month doesn't seem like a lot to ask and I'm not gonna pile a lot of rules on it, because I haven't got a damn thing to give you except a review and fatherly advice. Collaboration is okay. Plotscripting's okay. Jokes are okay if if there's enough meat to 'em. I expect you to do your best and not half-slime it. The real reward is going to be improving as a game maker, making this community look livelier and the thrill of reloading in battle.

I realize too that it might be hard to get 12 "good" ideas for a game and fortunately there's resources out there. I don't remember where it is, but I've seen some good "Goofy Game Idea" generators out there that I'm sure you could find on google. We've also got a thread here where some of our cleverest minds are coming up with concepts they have no intention of making. Some great material to be had there and I'm sure once the games start gettin made there'll be plenty more where it came from. There might be some cross-over, some ideas that get more attention than others but the worst case is that we end up with 4 different interpretations of "Dumbbutt's Wild Wizard School" and that's a worst case scenario I'm looking forward to living in.

To summarize:

1) There were 24 games released last year.
2) There are 12 months in a year.
3) That's a pathetic games per month ratio.
4) We're going to improve it by raising our own ratios. 1 game = 1 month.
5) Those of us who participated take our experience and run the table at 2016's Heart of the OHR
6) I go crazy tryin' to review all this stuff next year. It's a win-win!

Feel free to ask any questions, share your progress, trade ideas, whatever. Feel free to synergize with other contests. It's a great idea on Taco Bot's part and I hope he doesn't mind us stealing it.

[The Wobbler]

2014 was actually the first year since 2000 that I didn't release even a crappy little OHR project. I feel like a complete Dumbbutt for that. I did do some major scripting work for other games, but nothing to call my own. I'm going to have at least three legit games this year if schedules for everyone work out but I like the idea of going all out nuts and releasing 12.

I should probably post the terrible contest I've been planning now then instead of waiting. Yall gon hate it!!

[Gizmog]

2014 was actually the first year since 2000 that I didn't release even a crappy little OHR project. I feel like a complete Dumbbutt for that. I did do some major scripting work for other games, but nothing to call my own. I'm going to have at least three legit games this year if schedules for everyone work out but I like the idea of going all out nuts and releasing 12.

I should probably post the terrible contest I've been planning now then instead of waiting. Yall gon hate it!!

Lookin' forward to it! But no need to rush, 12 months is a long time.

[FnrrfYgmSchnish]

A game per month?? Huh... I guess technically possible (Chapters 1 and 2 of Okédoké, or at least the earliest, super-unpolished versions of them, were done in a month after all... and those chapters alone were longer than a lot of OHR games, even if you don't count stuff like 48 hour games, so a completed game in a month can be done)...

...but probably really hard to pull off unless most of the games are super short, or if you do nothing but make games all the time. XD

Still, I do plan on releasing at least one, maybe two, never-before-seen (well, seen in one case, if screenshots count, but never-before-playable) games in 2015. And probably release an updated version of Puckamon, if the planned expansions to number of heroes/party size end up happening this year.

[The Wobbler]

Enter the contest, Fnrrf, I want to make you rich.

[marionline]

I like this idea.
It sounds so motivating!
Will people report their monthly gamemaking and their progess somewhere?

What about unfinished games that were started in 2014: If I'd finish one, would that count for this project?

[Gizmog]

I like this idea.
It sounds so motivating!
Will people report their monthly gamemaking and their progess somewhere?

What about unfinished games that were started in 2014: If I'd finish one, would that count for this project?

Depends on how unfinished the game was, how finished it ends up. I don't particularly care, just so long as there's 12! Dozen up!

[Taco Bot]

Okedoke! I can manage a game a month, and since I basically already gave up on my blog (and the 1 engine / as many jams as I can shove down my gullet idea) I could make them all in the OHR (No guarantees).

I guess I'll post my January game on here, but be warned that I kiiiiind of did the no-no "make a game about what you don't know much about" thing.

And maybe I'll change my signature so no one else stumbles across my poor dead blog.

Or not, since I'll still update it once a month.

I'm going to leave now.

[Spoonweaver]

Anyone could do better? We'll see about that. I'll be taking part.

[Taco Bot]

OH! One last thing! The one game a month thing wasn't my idea.

(Don't wanna take credit for what isn't mine!)

This is the website I'm doing it for. (But also for here. I swear.)

[Mogri]

I tried to 1GAM last year after producing Brood in January. It fizzled out, but I made some good games out of it.

This year, I'm working on a text adventure in Inform7 that will probably end up being too ambitious to finish in January, so I'm not willing to commit to 1GAM at this time. It's a great idea, though, and if you're in a position to do it, you should go for it.

[Gizmog]

To keep myself honest I've decided to keep a public journal of development. What follows is


Development Journal
January-February
Project Title: "Who Left all These Clowns Here?"


Having taken a day or two to weigh my options, discounting a Pie Fighting sim as too cheesy and a regular RPG as too talky, I've settled on a general course of action. My intention is to make a Maniac Mansion-like, following in the graphical adventure footsteps of pretty much anything Sierra ever made, Leisure Suit Larry (Which technically is still Sierra) and of course, Maniac Mansion itself. The genre is traditionally rife with things I want: nonsensical puzzles, witty dialogue, and a thinking man's kind of action. I hope to avoid some of the... well, megaslime parts of the genre like brutal game overs for tiny mistakes.

It's an ambitious course of action, one I've thought about in the past but never finished for one reason or another. There are a number of problems that seem daunting right now and must be solved if the project is to be succesful. In no particular order they are

• 1) Mouse controlled player movement. Due to the Use/Take nature of the genre, I have to streamline motion and picking things up as much as possible. It is my hope that I will not have to use "WaitForHero" to slow things down, and that you'll be able to "Undo" a move or pick up command by simply clicking somewhere else.
  
  2) "Tool-tip" style text when you hover over something. How can you pick something up if you don't know it's a thing? This will mean a slice for every interactable object, text for each interactable object, and checks to make sure that the text isn't displayed off screen. If I screw up, it'll lead to slice errors and I'll look like a jackass, so it's gotta be SUPER smooth especially in relation to
  
  3) Picking things up from the map, putting them in your inventory, USING them from your inventory and possibly putting them back down. In theory these are simple re-parent commands, and to an extent I'm sure they will be, but it means there needs to be checks in place and that nothing overlaps each other and generally that it will all play nice together. Again, Slice Errors are a menace to be avoided at all costs!
  
  4) Art will be mixed blessing. The larger size will make things easier to deal with in many respects, but will also ask for a certain level of detail and style. Puzzle solutions (serious or jokey) will have to be somewhat obvious (or at least solvable) by looking. I've never had to draw houses or tables or things like that and I fear that I might be biting off more than I can chew. Preliminary work is promising.
  
  5) Puzzle design. It can't be too obtuse, it has to be a little bit silly, but most of all it has to be fun. I have no idea how people design puzzles, designed these kinds of games or even the kind of thought processes you might theoretically use. In many respects, this is the most important challenge.

There's other concerns, some major, some minor. These five however are the most critical to my success and I will be monitoring them throughout development. Those are my long-term goals. In the short term (IE: Today), things are much simpler. If I am to succeed, this project must advance as quickly as possible from the abstract to the concrete. To that end I will be advancing as rapidly as possible in the practical aspects of the game, the moving and shaking. The sooner I have an actual "game", the sooner I can start testing out weird ideas and getting enthused and going overboard. This first week will be critical to the overall outlook of the project.

So for today, the first official day of development, I must set as grueling a pace as possible. By the end of the day, I must hope to accomplish the following:

• 1) Implement "WalkTall" functionality: Either through the official version or a poor-man's knock-off.
  
  2) Implement the mouse movement functionality: The player must be able to click anywhere on the screen and walk to that location. For the most part I imagine things will be constrained to the horizontal, but verticality may be necessary and mustn't be overlooked. Future map design MUST be taken into consideration!
  
  2a)In addition, care must be taken that the player can "undo" moves to run the other way or try something else before they make a mistake. This prohibits WaitForHero, and means there will need to be another way to find out when the player has reached their destination/hit a roadblock. This must NEVER leave the player desynched with the grid.
  
  3) Begin implementation of the "tool-tip" interface. For the sake of this goal, I must be able to hover my cursor over an item entity on the ground and see its name and the text must be automatically repositioned so that it is always on screen. This repositioning is the most important part, as item text and dialogue haven't been finalized (or hell, considered!) yet, but you're always going to want to make sure it can be read.

If I can complete all 3 to my satisfaction, it will have been a hell of a day of development. In the near long term, I must consider how character dialogue is to be handled and if/how it is to be differentiated from tool-tips or actions. I must also consider my GUI and popping the inventory up and down, though fortunately I snuck in a lot of practice for that in Typewriter 3. In the interests of getting the wheels rolling I will be stealing graphics. By the end of the project they will have been replaced, but it's easier to draw stuff when you know what you need.

Progress reports will follow as they develop and as I need to mull things over.

DAY 1 GO!

[Urkelbot666]

reading through that post, Im really excited about this game!

[Gizmog]

Mouse movement is already proving to be tricker than I had hoped. I think I've got it licked (for now!) but there's a little bit of goofiness if you click spasticly around an X/Y junction. My intention was that movement would be limited to a single horizontal plane (which I call the avenue) and that the only vertical movements would be up and down stairs, in and out of doors. It was my belief that by utilizing such a system, I could simply say "Get to your X first, and once you're at your X, THEN worry about Y".

The problem with that theory is.. well a lot of things, but most importantly if you're just entering a door you're not at "the Avenue" and thus aren't ready to go in an X-erly direction. I've got something working right now that's okay, but doesn't look as fancy as I'd like. I hope I can preserve the cornering, because it looks super cool when you go around a corner, for just a tick or two you're going both down and left and with the Chrono Trigger sprite I stole it's a grand spectacle. My new idea, and maybe what I should've gone with in the first place, is that of a very simple waypoint system.

Using the power of slices, I intend to create a destination at the tile the player has clicked on. If there is a direct path between the player and their destination, we need nothing more. If the path is blocked, or involves travelling in two axies, we shall create a waypoint using the avenue as a common.. node? in the plane of X. It is thus imperative that all positions on the map have a connection to this avenue.

I've drawn an example of what I mean to help myself think. Tiles in light gray are fair to travel in the vertical plane in the new system. these could be stairs, doors, a refrigerator to investigate, whatever. The darker gray represents the common horizontal line that all places must be able to access. The blue x's are waypoints the player must reach. In this case, the player clicked on that promising looking door and will be able to reach it in 3 moves. If they click again, those waypoints will be destroyed and new ones generated. The red square is an example of what cannot happen: The player would be on the same X level as their destination, but with no easy Y solution to get there. In theory you could code around this, but for needs it seems excessive; a decision I may come to regret.

WalkTall IS working, and I am using James implementation. His is way more elegant than mine, I had NO IDEA you could just replace a walkabout with a hero and it'd automatically do all the animations because they're both 8 frame sprites. My old script factored in all kinds of things it never needed to! So worst case, we've completed one of today's goals. I've done some preliminary work on the hover text, I have no reason to believe it won't work, I just haven't had time to work up a good test case yet. Lots of implications as to how items will be implemented down the line and I don't want to rush something hard to work with just to say I did. Lot of day left, no reason to think I won't get to it.

One potential downside of this is that it could limit the number of NPCs we have and how lively they can be. Then again, with zones being the way they are, I'm probably imagining things. Isn't exactly a "chase you" kind of game anyway and if it turns out to be one there's plenty of ways to go about it. Not that hard.

[Gizmog]

Final Update for the night, and it's.. mixed news.

Mouse Navigation without a wait remains problematic. I tried to save time by making assumptions and my assumptions were incorrect. I intend to devote tomorrow to strippin the sucker to the ground and doing it right. It works right 99% of the time, but if you start spazzin around a corner occasionally you'll get sucked right into the wall. Not very good! I've tried a bunch of things to fix it and nothing seems to totally eliminate the problem. I have a few things to try.

I can either go back to my old, No-Waypoints system with my new conditionals and see if it eliminates the cosmetic issues I was suffering. In an absolute worst case, I can live with the ugliness. So long as nobody's gettin stuck.

The dumber option, the crazy option, and thus what I'm going to try to do is to actually do it "right" and create waypoints in a more sensible order. In my current script, for example, if you were standing directly adjacent to your destination, but weren't in "The avenue", instead of walking one tile left to be home, you'd walk down to the avenue, one tile left and back up. I already "probe" for passability before I create my east/west waypoints and I should be able to extend the same thing to up/down and actually create a proper path and give proper orders in such a way that nobody'll end up in the corner. Don't wanna upset Swayze.

Finally found time for the text check and it worked basically how I thought it would. Where I was adapting my "What'd I just click?" script from Typewriter 3, I did have to add some stuff. Very rarely is there a time you want to run a script every tick when you aren't clicking on something, but it's nice to be able to tell a text label to go away when you aren't hovering over it. So I can do that now.

I guess my goal for tomorrow is to get walking straightened out one way or another. After that or alongsides I'll try to clean up this code a little. Right now some of it is dealing with very specific test cases and it needs to move towards a more abstract "I can make a whole game with this without even thinking!" model. If I can start on my user interface, that'd be a major bonus. Not countin on it. Movement is gonna be killer. At least there's no basketball games to distract me tomorrow.

Including a screenshot. Hover over text is working, and the text has been compensated to the left to keep it from being off-screen. Also visible is Marle from Chrono Trigger, three way points and a little rectangle that I use to probe whether or not I can move left/right... that's actually part of my trouble I think. Sometimes it's like "yeah, you can move left or right!" and that's messing with it. That's a third thing to try in the morning. At any rate, I have got to quit half-assing this and trying to get by with hacks. There must be a solid, elegant answer to these problems, even if they take me a day or two longer. I've tied my own noose too many times with these kinda compromises.