Oh yes, and it's being made with Game Maker. It wouldn't be the first game i've made (which would be
this one), but it will be much more ambitious and innovative than the previous one. For one, i actually have a name for it! I call it... Sketchwobl. It's a reference to the sketchy style of "art" i will be employing, in a Toady-esque moment of realization. I do enjoy making sprites, but it takes a lot of time. If i just doodle down stuff instead, it will both look unique and take 40 times less time. Plus, the name rings well in my ears.
So anyways, on to the more documentative stuff. Sketchwobl will be a side-scrolling platformer type game, but with a focus on combat rather than jumping around. Fighting will be done by means of a mouse-controlled hand, with which you swing your weapon into the face of your foes. Damage and such will be calculated with pseudo-physics (i'm studying geology not physics), meaning that faster strikes with heavier weapons pack more punch.
If i get around to it, i will also try to differentiate between types of strikes. For instance, a sword can both stab and slash, which is two different kinds of wounds. A spear can also do both, but it probably stabs a whole lot better than it slashes/bashes. A mace would swing with a lot of force, but thrust with comparatively little. I might just pull the faster = stronger stunt though, because trying to get Game Maker to know the difference between a slash and a stab is likely to be hard.
If i fail to get the mousehand to work properly, i'll probably fall back to click-to-attack and such. I don't think it would be bad, i just like the other idea better, since it relies more on the player than arbitrary stats. Also, blocking will be done with a shield, which you raise by holding a button of sorts. You can then move the shield around with the mouse, and even bash people in the face with it (if it's not too easymode).
The protagonist will be a circular caveman called Oogba. He somehow gets into the randomly generated situation that starts the game, and then pursues that story till you either die or succeed. There will be NO saving your game, but fortunately, a playthrough won't take all that long. A bit like The Binding of Isaac, if you ever played that, except that i can't guarantee any unlocks. There will be plenty of random events to find though, so a single playthrough won't even show half the possible content. I intend to keep much of this content secret myself, since i'd otherwise ruin the joy of exploration. :U
The levels will have randomly generated terrain, as dictated by a seed. This seed allows players to share awesome levels they've found with each other, and to replay these levels if they so desire. Each level will also have some event-spots, where a roll of a die decides what will happen next. What does happen can vary between a minor gimmick and a change to an entirely different level, so there will be much to find.
Each playthrough will have you start with a certain number of lives, here dictated by pairs of golden pants. Since there is so many random things, i'm going to try and make it so that the first time you die from something specific, it doesn't detract a life. This will also allow me to do some really dirty tricks, but without actually hurting the player significantly with them.
And now, what i've actually made so far.
Random terrain generation, and a controllable circle. It obviously has a long way to go, but i think this will be a fun project. Although there's not much to do now, here's a pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-alpha for you to play around with.
http://min.us/mbieqLZDZzMove with arrow keys, R to reset and generate new terrain. I intend to make the terrain generator more variable, and include things such as hills and floating islands. Everything seen is no sure indicator of the final version.
Thoughts?