...beautiful..just beautiful.
It looks like the .gif is moving a little..fast. Could you add some duplicate frames to slow it down?
Have you heard about the GameMaker engine by any chance? It can do some nice stuff is mostly free and really easy to learn.
Yes, I use this and I can confirm that it is totally awesome.
I'm using java because I want to learn the language. I'm wanting to become a computer programmer, and Java is a platform neutral language, so it seemed like a good place to start. I could use that to find out how to do things such as having the camera follow your character and collision detection.
Let me see what dragons we currently have available...
The types of dragons selectable: Fire, Ice, Water, Electric, Poison, Earth, Wind, Light, Shadow, Time (Maybe), and Psionic (Maybe).
Ok so we have constantly growing dragons of these elements. I assume time and psionics are the ones you are really banking on.
Because you wanted them to be "secret" we will put them in the "advanced" category. They will be atypical dragons who won't use the same mechanics the others use so straight forward, for example they lack a breath which all the dragons should have.
The Time Dragon could be nearly pure magic. While the Psionics would be a pure power
With that in mind there could be a third dragon who would be pure physical might, the Elementless Dragon or rather a Land Dragon.
Them being locked or secret should be because they represent a challenge as the others have multiple types of abilities to fall back on, but these only have their one gimmick.
Hmm so suggestions?
The three attributes I am thinking of as the three fascets at which dragons are balanced could be: Physical, Power, and Magic.
Physical are claws and teeth, while power are the dragons innate abilities like breath and wings, while magic are spells and intelligence. These can be further broken down but otherwise they are the idea.
What these mean to each dragon is different. It really is up to you whether this balance is up to the player to achieve or if it is the individual dragon element. As well how each one plays differently then the other should also be weighed in.
I'll stop myself here, because otherwise I'll just keep going on and on and frankly I am being pushy and probably antagonistic too.
I don't think you are being pushy or antagonistic. You're giving me some good ideas.
You mentioned having them initially locked. I could create basically a unmarked quest to unlock them. You hear rumors about the rare species of dragons, and if you are paying attention and have some good deductive skills, you can learn where they are. When you go to that location, you have to defeat a dragon whom can utilize every ability in the game, either through physical combat or diplomatically. Either way, a secret area is unlocked, and when you go back into it, you discover three eggs, the time, psionic, and land dragon unlocks. The guardian then comes up behind you and states something along the lines of that you may choose one of them to take with you and raise yourself. There would be two responses possible, one wherein you choose to take one egg, or try to take them all by force. The former initializes one secret ending, wherein your dragon is seen with the egg back at your 'home', and the latter has the guardian becoming angered and using the temporial and psionic abilities to turn you to dust, in a second secret ending. Only the former would unlock the dragons. After all three are unlocked, if you defeat the guardian again, the guardian takes you to a fourth egg, one that unlocks the guardian's race as a playable character.
May I suggest adding another 'attribute' - Corruption. Think of it as a measure of Power Vs Control.
High Corruption (HC) for power oriented dragons would amp up their abilities, but at a serious cost to their control over them. A fire dragon would mean huge infernos, but also a risk of them going out of control or injuring the dragon. A HC poison dragon might pollute the area around it by simply being there. HC time dragons might be prone to serious 'accidents' with rifts and shit while HC psionic draons would cause those around them to go insane.
HC for the more physical types would probably manifest in mutations and shit, making them stronger, but taking away their self-control and ability to interact peacefully.
Finally, HC for magic-based dragons would basically be OH DEAR GOD WHY ARE THERE SUDDENLY FLYING COWS WITH ANTLERS EVERYWHERE mode. Pure and utter chaos.
The point of 'Corruption' would be to force the player to strive to try and find a balance where they are strong enough to survive, but not TOO strong so that everything goes to fuck with their abilities, spells and body.
There's my little suggestion; read it or ignore it as you will.
Another good idea. This could be expanded with a second attribute, 'sanctified'. Power would also raise on this scale, but it slowly reduces what you are able to attack, to where you cannot attack at all when it is full. Both meters attributes could start at 0, but only one can be non-zero at a time. If you would try to raise sanctified, it would have to lower corruption to 0 first, and vice versa.
Neon I like your idea but IMHO Power isn't different enough from Magic like to be a different element.
Zan, when you get back on I'm curious about what you have in mind for these:
* Win condition(s)?
* Ways to die/lose?
* Plot/Events? (I did this so this happened, what can I do and how do my actions have gameplay relevant consequences)
Off the top of my head:
- I attacked a village and burnt it to the ground. This civilization is now hostile to me. I did it again and now rumors are spreading about my rampage; more civs hate my guts. But I eventually burn down every single civ in the world and make human race extinct ---> I win.
^--- Or I got overconfident and was defeated. My skull is now on display in my enemy's throne room -- I lose.
* Bonus points if I also seek out and kill all the other dragons so I alone can rule the world --> I get a different ending.
- I attacked a village but chose to take over instead of burning everything. I am now a member of this civ and enemies of this civ are now my enemies. I burninate all the enemies of my civilization so now my faction rules the world ---> I win
^--- Or my enemies were stronger and now nothing but rubble remains of my once glorious empire -- I lose.
- I don't care about humans. I decide to live the life of a wild dragon in the woods. Many adventurers are attracted to my domain try to kill me to make a name for themselves, but they perish under my talons. I steal cattle and more hunters come after me, but I kill them all the same. I manage to die of old age (?) --> I win.
^--- Or I am slain and the adventurer becomes a famous dragon-slayer -- I lose.
* At some point of the game I encountered a necromancer, killed him and freed an undead dragon from his curse --> I got a reward.
^--- Or I fail and become an undead slave for all eternity -- I lose.
** What if I want to be a dracolich?
Except for secret endings, all games would end with the dragon's death. After all endings, it would display a summary of the actions they took over the course of their lifetime. There isn't going to be any explicit 'You win' or 'You lose', but instead, 'You did this:...'
Events will be handled by a 'hostility' meter. Higher it is, the more likely you will be attacked, and the lower it is, the more likely gifts will be given to you. It will be affected on a town- or city-wide basis, with all of it being averaged to get a nation-wide basis. If hostility towards you is high on a nation-wide basis, an army will be sent to overpower you, but if it is only on a town- or city-wide basis, only small groups will come after you. Of course, there will also be a 'respect' meter that will offset the 'hostility', with greater respect necessitating higher levels of hostility to attack you.
I am going to include the ability to become a dracolich, but during the process, your regular element would be sacrificed to give you access to the death skill set, which only dracoliches can use. You would need maximum corruption to become one, and once you are a dracolich, you would need to get maximum sanctity in order to return to your previous form. When you are a dracolich, hostility would be at a maximum, with respect at a zero.