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[Thndr]

When I'm bored I've been entertaining the thought of many game concepts. However since I don't know how to code, nor the time to learn, it's always just an idea and it stays at that.

So since I have a specific idea pertaining/inspired by DF, I thought it'd be best just to post the concept file I have written here just to get it out of my head into the ether so it doesn't drive me mad with more braincrack than I already need.

Please excuse the horrible way the text is setup. It's all jumbled and probably incoherent at times.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Dwarf Foreman
Platformer style DF game. Reminiscent of 2d Dwarf Fortress.
Focusing on a lighter style of playing along with user created and procedurally generated content.

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Project Overview: A fun lightweight DF inspired Platformer/RPG style game.

Game modes:

Fortress Mode. -Dig into the mountain, find stone/ore and water, defend against ambushes and wild creatures.
Misnomer due to the fact that the mode will focus on a significantly lesser amount of dwarves overall. (At the very very most, 50)

Adventure Mode. -Venture through a campaign/2d world.

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Project Goals:
-Map editor for user made Fortress sites and Adventure campaigns.

Fortress Mode:
-Dynamically generated fortress sites.
-Emotional spiral of doom
-Smart seiges
-Easy management of dwarves

Adventure Mode:
-Procedurally generated adventure world. (Generates as you go.)

====
Roadmap
====
V0.00.dev1

Sprites 12x12.
Tiles 16x16
Floor tiles 4x16

Platforming engine defined.
-Jumping
-Moving
-Attacking

Ground tiles destroyable via mining (Game automatically creates a slope when a tile is dug virtically)

Interacting with the enviroment.
-Mining (Digging left right up and down, remove ramp)

Background objects added

Loads external map file (A file easily editable and can potentially be dynamically generated.)
Saves modified map file along with another file for game data other than map structure

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V0.00.dev2

Ground tiles drop object
-triggered by flag on ground tile.

Background objects interactable
-Trees can be chopped
-Plants can be harvested
-Cave walls dug (Has to be a flat surface, no ramp)
--Stairs (Allows digging out of stairs/block 1 square above/below while keeping floor)
--Stockpiles (Doesn't do anything at the moment)
--Shops
--Other Buildings

Structures can be built.
-Walls(they do not auto-slope from ground)
-Stairs
-Ramps
-Doors
-Bridges

Territory claiming
-When dug into
-Manually flagging an area

----
----
The Future:

Overall:
-Emoticons from NPCs telling mood
-NPC emoticons colored based on neutrality. Green=Friendly Grey=neutral Red=Enemy
-Equipment for your dwarves/character

Maps:
-Flags and flag areas can modify terrain and spawn creatures.
--Towns, Fortresses, Keeps, Demons, Elvish Trees.
-Water generation, location, manipulation, and interaction without breaking platforming engine

Fortress Mode:
-Succession when Foreman dies (Chooses another dwarf in your fortress as Foreman, you take control of them)
-Dynamically generate map based on variables selected in map generation.

-Enemy AI can build structures too
-Enemy AI can contest territory
-Map can expand when seige gets heavy to make room for Enemy Encampment, an area that is claimed by the enemy and has buildings
--If left alone, it'll be like a perpetual seige.
--Enemy encampment AI has the ability to grow, gradually taking more territory in the map.

Adventure Mode:
-Quests given out based on flags in the map
-Map procedurally generated as the user moves through the world.
--Small chance to encounter beach/ocean. Any maps into the ocean are difficult to travel in without danger, has a chance of generating a island land map and has only a slim chance of generating a mainland land map.
---Island map: Limited size, guaranteed ocean after certain distance
---Mainland map: Unlimited size, small chance of meeting an ocean in either direction.
--Maps are generated in groups
---Flag areas always generate 3-5 maps in either direction. Game then looks for procedurally generated flags in already generated maps a certain distance away from the flag itself, and then assigns relation between them. (A quest)

If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, the gist of it is basically a comparatively simplistic 2d platformer version of Dwarf Fortress. Not all that unique or anything in terms of general concept. Mostly reminiscent of 2d DF with Down being the new Right.

[SolarShado]

Since you're calling this a platformer, I assume it's side-view? Then "z-levels" would be vertical slices instead of horizontal ones?

[Shades]

You mean DF Inspired not Inspired DF.

(mostly posting to follow any potential progress)

[dwarfguy2]

yeah, good idea. for the game and the feedback post.

[SiN.Daeus]

Nice idea.

Sorry it if has been covered in your ramblings, but will it be possible to freely switch between Adventure and Fortress mode? Also, is it going to be ASCII or tiled or graphical?

[SolarShado]

I'd guess graphical, something was mentioned about sprite sizes. Of course there could always be an ASCII graphics set

[Jack_Bread]

Sounds neat, though complicated for a platformer. :\
*cough*

[timmeh]

This looks interesting... I googled random map generation for platformers and found something, very interesting read, even if you don't care for programming.

http://www.sokath.com/papers/smith-fdg09.pdf

[Supermikhail]

Ahem, thread forensics.
I've got another link: Jump'n'run dev.
Yesterday I decided I wanted to program, and the best compromise between beginning and fun thing would be a platformer game.
In my future plans I have run into the following problem:
Digging, graphics and tiles do not match very well. You either need to dig out whole tiles and this brings up a question of choosing tiles which can be tricky if the player isn't very well positioned against some particular tile.
Or, if it's all graphical, like in the link (there is a section about worms-like explosions), then procedural ground generation becomes... unimaginable. For me.
Any ideas?