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Author Topic: Darkseed:Asphyxia & Blade of Arkhan'a - Writer/Programmer Advice Appreciated  (Read 1374 times)

Ehndras

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 ;D Welcome, fellow RPG lovers!

At the suggestion of a fellow Cataclysm & DF player here on the Bay12 Forums, I've decided to post a request for programmers & writers for a RPG project. As I have absolutely NO programming knowledge, I have no idea where to start. I've got the actual ideas, geography, and tons of storyline, but NO practical programming know-how to apply it with.

I have two different projects I'd like to work on. Both would be single-player 2D/Text Turn-Based RPGs, like our beloved DF. :)

One revolves around a number of scifi-themed short stories, the three most-significant being 'Decadent Beauty in Silent Desolation', 'Darkseed:Asphyxia', and 'To Wish Upon a Fallen Star'.

Darkseed:Asphyxia: Miscellaneous Idea Set:

http://gjstruck.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/darkseedasphyxia/ <--- Warning: Its chaotic!

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The second, larger idea would be to bring my epic Fantasy-themed novels into an RPG setting, which would be a much more complex undertaking as this world consists of specific geographies, multiple dimensions, many pantheons with many gods, its own language systems, monarchs, kingdoms, etc. I'm open to suggestions on both of these but, before anything, I need to figure out how I'm putting these ideas onto 'paper'.


--- --- ---


My first order of business would be speaking to individuals with programming and game-writing knowledge to figure which programming platform(s) would best suit these two games. Due to their styles and nature, I'm assuming each would be on a different system.

Darkseed:Asphyxia would be most suited to a Cataclysm/DF-style system, the best example being the Game Gothador, who's dimensional system is PERFECT for what I need, the 2D/Text based game-play being pretty good as well. The world could be randomly-generated or not, unsure of this yet.

Now, for Blade of Arkhan'a, a placeholder name, it would most likely be a set world with randomly-generated regions/caverns.


Both of these game worlds would have a HEAVY influence on CRAFTING. I LOVE me some crafting! Though combat would be there, my main love is for exploration and crafting, be it mechanics, tools, weapons, armor, etc.



--- --- --- --- ---


Anyway, first of all, I need some advice from people with programming knowledge. WHAT DO?



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Angle

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I'm actually working on a Roguelike framework thing in C++, and would love to collaborate. I've only just begun, but if your interested I'd be happy to post it.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2011, 09:02:20 pm by Angle »
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Ehndras

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I'm actually working on a Roguelike framework thing in C++, and would love to collaborate. I've only just begun, but if your interested I'd be happy to post it.


Sounds like a good place to start, mate. All the good ideas I've seen so far are roguelike C++ formats, so that'd be the way to go. :)
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Normandy

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Eh, I guess I'll help out. I've programmed mostly in Java for the past few years though, so my C++ is pretty rusty (that being said, I do know my way around the language), so I'd like to make a recommendation for the game to be in Java. Weblaunch and applets are more convenient forms of distribution for small projects like these, IMO. I actually have a rendering engine for graphical roguelikes (like DF) I wrote in using Java's built-in graphics sitting on my computer, gathering dust, so we could use that if you'd like. It's fast enough for most purposes (though I haven't really stress-tested it), and has fun features like transparent overlays, "dirty" boxes built-in (i.e. so you only redraw the parts of the screen you need to), and a scenegraph to abstract away all rendering calls (okay this last one is actually a lie, but I think I've finally learned enough to implement a good scenegraph).
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Ehndras

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Eh, I guess I'll help out. I've programmed mostly in Java for the past few years though, so my C++ is pretty rusty (that being said, I do know my way around the language), so I'd like to make a recommendation for the game to be in Java. Weblaunch and applets are more convenient forms of distribution for small projects like these, IMO. I actually have a rendering engine for graphical roguelikes (like DF) I wrote in using Java's built-in graphics sitting on my computer, gathering dust, so we could use that if you'd like. It's fast enough for most purposes (though I haven't really stress-tested it), and has fun features like transparent overlays, "dirty" boxes built-in (i.e. so you only redraw the parts of the screen you need to), and a scenegraph to abstract away all rendering calls (okay this last one is actually a lie, but I think I've finally learned enough to implement a good scenegraph).


Hmm, sounds like a great start. :) Is the current game/engine usable in its current form? I wouldn't mind poking around in it, if you'd just help me get with the basics. :)
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Normandy

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http://www.mediafire.com/?if19p41b3rz42 <- The files you will need should all be in this folder. You will at least need jroguex.jar and terminal.png to run the demo; jrogue.zip contains the source code and vecmath.jar is a library that the source code needs to compile. I use Eclipse (jrogue.zip is just an exported project), so you'll need to get it if you want to compile the demo (all of the library functions should still be accessible though). Use WASD to move around the map (don't walk off of it; there's no collision detection, so you'll crash it). Notice the flashing "Hello World" overlay with transparent text and background (the transparency isn't very high, so you might have to look a little hard).

This is a rather simple, if outdated, demonstration of what the engine can do. I haven't touched this code in a few months, so I don't recall exactly where I left off, but a quick glance over my library reminds me that I need to add in additional functionality for moving overlays, work out a graphical glitch or two, and add functionality for printing strings, but other than that the graphics are pretty much done. It's all done "software" side so there should be few, if any, compatibility issues. I've recently learned OpenGL and a few other graphical tricks though, so there is room for improvement if necessary (I don't think it really is necessary, though).

Graphical tiles and unicode tiles work in theory, but I need to expand my tile loading code if I wanted to use those features (currently the tile loader can only handle the nice 16x16 tile format DF has). You should be able to swap out terminal.png for any of the tilesets on the DF wiki with minimal changes (rename the file to "terminal.png", and replace all the magenta with an actual alpha layer using GIMP or photoshop). I don't recall precisely how I colored tiles, so you'll have to figure out how tile color interacts with rendered color (I think I used multiplicative scaling, but I could be wrong. I'm too lazy to check right now).

Java Swing uses a different event-handling paradigm than most novice programmers are used to (i.e. event listeners, rather than event polling), and the design I currently have in mind is inherently multi-threaded (since the rendering is mostly software, I put it in its own thread, and the event-driven nature of Swing lends itself well to multi-threading, but not to single-threading). This increases the initial complexity a bit, but does carry its own benefits (such as enforcing cleaner code). However, the initial Map-Entity design I wrote is a bit clunky and outdated, and I'd need to rewrite it before actually using this library to make a game. Otherwise, the fundamentals should all be there.

Compared to other roguelike libraries out there, my library is a lot higher-level, and is more graphically-oriented (i.e. it doesn't emulate or recreate a console, it just draws a bunch of ASCII tiles like DF). Once I rewrite the Map-Entity system, it should be possible to implement most graphical effects without referencing the console window even once. It can also handle both step-based and real-time action, and even mix the two (this library was originally the foundation on which I was going to build a hybrid step/real-time rougelike), so there's a lot of flexibility in that regard.

EDIT: Oh right, no programming experience. Basically, once I work out how to properly do a map/component system, and build a GUI system (haha, that makes it sound so much easier than it is), it'll be like making a game in GameMaker, except even easier.

EDIT2: Oh, and I also need to write a state machine. I'm not sure I have one written up any more, so I'll have to make it from scratch.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2011, 06:34:10 pm by Normandy »
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Lord Dullard

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Good luck. Practically speaking, most gamers have thought 'I have a great idea for a game!' at one point or another. If you don't know how to do the coding yourself, you're unlikely to find a programmer who will do it for you, since s/he is probably just as likely to have their own idea(s) they'd like to work on (unless you're willing to pay them, of course).
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Neonivek

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I can't get over "Darkseed". Everytime Is see this I go "What? someone is writing an ending to Darkseed? YEAH!".
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Ehndras

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LMFAO, never heard of Darkseed, it was a random name idea from a plot idea in my Fantasy series.

Explanation:

A friend of mine calls my extra-dimensional invasive pantheon of gods 'the dark gods', even though its more like Cthulhu and the Elder Ones had an orgy and these guys are what came to be, lol. Not necessarily 'dark' or evil, just... Very, very disturbed by human terms.

I once had an idea that these odd meteoric, glowing 'seeds' would fall to the Earth, crashing in a jungle somewhere, preferably the Amazon (As I'm Brazilian on my mother's side). Visually, they're huge chunks of Obsidian on the outside, made up of lead and other odd metals, while inside they're full of membrane, fluid, and other surprises. They'd spread residual radiation into the local plantlife and cause all sorts of interesting mutations. The fact is, taking inspiration from Lovecraft's Mountains of Madness, my favorite childhood/teenage short story(odd childhood, I know), the Seeds would actually be egg-sacs housing a cluster of these alien beings, who's are by nature parasitical. They'd trick humans into carrying them into populated areas so they can feed on them, while causing the meltdown in human culture via radiation poisoning, diseases, gradual insanity in a number of individuals, before the Seeds reach maturity and all HELL breaks loose.

That's just the backstory, really. :P A prequel to the main story, explaining how humans got the alien DNA we eventually experimentally spliced into humans to create super-soldiers, which led to the whole damn global meltdown, racial tension, skirmishes, and eventually thermonuclear holocaust.
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Ehndras

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Here's a short descriptive summary:

Darkseed:Asphyxia:

Skyborn were the children of the Parasite God; known as the Darkseed.

From the heavens they fell in a rain of onyx and jet, bathed in atmospheric blaze like the blackened tears of a fallen angel. As they crashed down and pierced the earth’s flesh, thin black tendrils began to spread from each Seed, burrowing deep into the life-bearing soils of our world.

Over the course of many months each fallen seed began to sprout into tiny buds which bloomed gloriously in bursts of orange and red. Beautiful and pleasant they were as their discovery puzzled the local population by which they were found. A few inquisitive individuals decided to experiment with the medicinal properties of this plant while others tested its culinary possibilities, determined to profit from their new discovery. Both of these groups came to the startling conclusion that this plant had healing properties far beyond that of honey, though individuals reported experiencing a vast array of pleasant smells and tastes including vanilla, Cinnamon, rosemary, and honey itself.

As the miraculous range of uses of this plant became widespread knowledge, the flowers were uprooted by profit-seeking corporations and re-planted in select locations across the globe. These plantations were not able to function without the presence of a Darkseed though, so too were they uprooted and moved as well. Their black roots were spread again, as the flowers bloomed anew. Proud of their conquest, Men grew complacent and assumed the darkseeds were a divine gift... Oh, how wrong they were.

Slowly they began to asphyxiate all life within the crash sites and plantations as their twisted tendrils destroyed entire forests and strangled their wild inhabitants for the Seed to consume. Brown soil transformed to ashen gray and both stalk and leaf were blackened by the Seed’s plague-like rot.

(1)Flowers bloom, hypnotizing beauty, sickly sweet scent, entranced animals and humans alike

2) Humans discover and harvest for exquisite taste and smell, make plantations.

3) Flowers found to be extremely parasitic and warned that they will destroy other plantlife. Humans ignore warning, continue planting for profit.

4) Begin to create vast plantations of flowers, re-planting fallen Seeds and populating Seed-laden areas.

5)Humans begin to fall under mysterious sickness. Loss of concentration, dizziness, dehydration, fever, Immune system weakens, inner mouth, nails, tongue, skin, eye discoloration, hair loss, blindness, nerve-system failure, necrosis and death.(In that order)

6) Seeds found to be dangerously radioactive and made of unknown substances(highly complex crystalline form, partially organic).

7)Humans found to be infected with unknown disease, begin to die en masse. Survival chance: 0%.

8) A small number of infected seem to be immune, genetic makeup permanently changed and adapted by infection. Afflicted regions are quarantined, survivors are examined to ensure that infection is not active.

9) Apparently, infection is stabilized within survivors, and functions as a sort of biochemical recycling factory, aiding in waste removal, oxygen intake, nervous reaction, eyesight, cerebral communication, etc. To general populace, all infected are declared dead, quarantined cities are firebombed, and outbreak is eliminated. Life goes on as usual.

10) Secret experimentation done on survivors, in order to extract source of genetic change. Modified DNA spliced with human genes in various experiments, first on jailed criminals and the insane, and once stabilized, on select soldiers; human adaptive gene treatment created. So begins the ascent of Disolatus, the beginning of the end for Humanity.)
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You're never too old to enjoy flying body parts.  
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Ehndras, you are the prettiest man I have ever seen
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"I am a member of Earth. I enjoy to drink the water. In Earth we have an internal skeleton."