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[Endorya]

This is a project I've been brewing for quite some time now, and this is my 4th attempt at it. It seems I finally got the right formula!

The project itself is very complex and it is already in the move. The editor will let anyone modify the core functionality of the game by using just the mouse (and possibility the keyboard to type names and descriptions), no coding necessary. I'm creating the editor in which will allow  anyone to fully configure or change the whole game. From the editor we can:

- Define main attributes (Done)
- Define related attributes (which are connected to primary ones) (done)
- Define skills and skilltrees (80% done)
- Define materials from which items are made off (Done)
- Define item models (from which items will be dynamically generated in the game)
- Define item passive and active actions (attack, cast spell, increase attributes) (90% done)
- Define item sockets (done)
- Define item families (axed, sword, bow, book, potion, ammo, armor, clothe, acessory etc...) (Done)
- Define item qualities (decayed, broken, flawed, crude, ordinary, balanced, fine, superior, exquisite etc...) (done)
- Define places (models for cities, dungeons, lairs, caves, villages and others scenarios)
- Define quests
- Define dialogs for characters
- Define character races, personalities and mood types
- Define dynamic text in which words will be randomly used from a huge bank of synonyms and other predefined phrases and conditions.
- Define creature models including body parts, internal organs, loot etc...
- Define Historical events (famous characters, places, and other events of interest)
- Defining world settings for world generation (average temperature, humidity, precipitation etc...)
- Defining world seasons, months, times of day etc. Each one with their own attributes and modifiers

The list is not complete because some of these steps still require my attention and will be further subdivided.

Now, I have a major problem, I would like to increase the rate at which the game is being developed, but for this I need help. I don't need coders but people with ideas towards game play, formula assistance on how to keep track of variables and how variables should interfere. I also need researchers to help me out understanding how metals, rock and other crafting should proceed in medieval era.

Most things are open for discussion and I'm a very flexible guy as far ideas are concerned. So if there is a feature you've always wished for and  that never ended being implemented in a game, well I think this is your chance.

I've lost the count of how many times I tried to recruit people for this project, which people seem to love once I get into details but unfortunately people end up doing nothing because either they are too busy or are not really committed to such task.

If you have spare time and would love to be part of some major production with some fool that no one knew nothing about, do feel free to post or add me at skype:
efiletahi-a

I've been brewing this little sucker for 7 years now, with many pauses, redesigns and long periods of negligence due to not having someone to whom I could share my vision and thoughts. I can say that my wife has helped me with race design, but she does not share my enthusiasm...

Thank you for reading this and I really hope this shows interest to someone.

******************************************************************
Bellow is the link to some screenshots showing the result of the world generation function as well as the editor itself which is bringing the project to life.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ryuei1b5gf3dw1z/Screenies.zip

Please, the map generation screen is part of a previous version which I discarded, pay only attention to the world map presented in it.

NOTE: The editor is for developing purposes only! It is NOT what the player will download in order to play the game, but what I and those interested in the project will use in order to produce the game! The editor is just MY OWN tool to develop the massive roguelike game I have just described.

[EDIT]
So basically the editor offers the flexibility to anyone change the game at any time. Those that will work with me will be able to add skills and attributes without requiring my coding skills to do so. They will be able to include those features they always wished for and if the editor doesn't have a place for them I can make that happen (if they are relevent). I'm focusing on offering tremendous choice and possibilities for each time the player used the game. Each world generated will breed his own creatures, items quests, and historic figures. I'm pretty curious to see it in action!

[zombie urist]

What do you have so far? Any downloads?

I'm confused as to what your final goal is. A roguelike or a game-engine?

[Endorya]

What is done so far is those features marked as "done" in the game's editor. The first step is developing the game's editor in which the whole game will be configured, so that later on the game can collect the data which was inputted through this editor.

This allows users without coding skills to easily modify the game's settings. And basically this is what I need, people willing to feed the editor with data while adding ideas and game play mechanics.

For example, someone could say to me: "It would be nice if the game could track the pheromones of each individual and use them to evaluate the success of seducing an NPC." So we could add a new attribute called: Pheromones in the attribute list and make a specific race having a bonus to this attribute or creating a spell capable of increasing the pheromone level of a target character. Many things could be done around this addition.

In sum, I need people willing to design a Roguelike game.



 

[hops]

How about you tell us first what you mean by "a new type of roguelike"?
At the moment you sound like a conman running a Ponzi scheme.

[Killjoy]

I need people willing to design a Roguelike game.

This is the post title you are looking for then.

[Endorya]

How about you tell us first what you mean by "a new type of roguelike"?
At the moment you sound like a conman running a Ponzi scheme.

Sorry to hear that. Let me fix it:

What I mean by a new type of roguelike is a game retaining the complexity of a roguelike while changing one major game-play key. There will be no "enter-wilderness" option where the player guides its char or party of chars ("@") using the cursor to explore that zoomed-in portion of land. Instead, the game will feature a huge map (a full planet sized map, generated on the fly) in which the player moves his character or party around between large portions of land. The map will have 400x250 areas, giving the total of 100k places to explore, excluding most tiles regarded as sea.

So, is this a good thing? I can't really say it is better or worst for everyone. I know I prefer it this way. I prefer party management to (sometimes) boring exploration sessions. Not that I don't love exploring, in fact it is the thing I love most about roguelike games but sometimes exploration can end up lacking interest, depending the game we are talking about. So in other to fix this "issue" I offer the following game play:

You will have to maintain your party between traveling periods which can last from days to months, depending on distance and terrain type. This means you will have to pay attention to supplies and dress accordingly to climates you may pass by or that may be your destination. Resting will be far more complex, you get to choose who takes care of the food and shelter, how stands on watch (including shifts) and even who helps the wounded. I'm also planning to build some automatism for those not wanting to feel overwhelmed with possible tedious tasks.

You will hit the explore button to explore the current land you are in. During this process many things may occur like locating exploration sites such as dungeons, ruins, camps, lairs, cities, lonely houses and other places of interest and being ambushed by wild life, bandits or enemy forces of the opposing alignment you might be with. Other things will include fortunate and unfortunate situations like a character slipping down a ravine or finding a hidden chest in the woods. There will be a huge set of Skills responsible to change the success rate of everything that can happen during the exploration period.

The exploration of dungeons and other places will then proceed (more or less) as in any other roguelike game, that is, having traditional movement in a zoomed-in view of his char/party as found in roguelike games, though many things will be described in text. Combats will be detailed and deadly as expected, with many unexpected situations making readings like: "Player hits the troll in the left arm causing a massive bleeding" less tedious and repeating. For instance I plan to show the target's body divided in parts where wounded parts will be marked in different colors, depending on its damaged gravity so you can keep track of the target's physical condition as if you were there in the battle.

The game will be operated mostly with mouse has it will have a graphical user interface. Some people will enjoy this others won't. From my understanding, a roguelike's steep learning curve is mostly about the non-intuitive user interface (I still remembering playing ADOM and spending a great deal of time memorizing keys before I could actually enjoy the game), says me, my wife and so says other players I've come to met during my existence.

When in cities a complex interface is planned to show everything it has by categories, like towns persons, buildings, services etc. Every NPC in the game will have a story, background, needs, a personality and can bear good or bad intentions and I want to let the player know each one of them. The cities info (like many other interactive assets and places) will be displayed in a datagrid where filers can be applied (similar to EVE Online). This will let you keep track of everything in an easy way (I guess).

So basically this is it. I'm really not sure how well this "innovations" will be received by you having into account this forum is about a game that plays against some of my game's features. I only ask you to hold your shotgun and friendly discuss these key features with me.

[Dansmithers]

Game "designers"? Do you even know what game designers do?

Read, it'll help.

If you do just want idea guys, I'd be happy to join.

[Gamerlord]

Hell, I can do ideas. More or less anyone on these forums can.

[Endorya]

Game "designers"? Do you even know what game designers do?

Read, it'll help.

If you do just want idea guys, I'd be happy to join.

Hell, I can do ideas. More or less anyone on these forums can.

When I say game designers I really mean people that can come up with ideas but that also know how to plug them inside a game, resulting in a complexity that varies with the project's magnitude and the kind of idea itself. Of course that if we take game designing into a greater scale with many persons involved, game designers will also take the role of team leaders and team coordinators to coordinate coders, sound engineers, concept artists, modelers, texture artists, writers etc...

Giving ideas is cool but only if you know how to intersect them with the actual game play mechanics. I'm glad anyone can give ideas but making them work efficiently falls into the game design category as the designer will need to understand the consequences prone to happen from implementing a given idea.

Anyway, I'll be more than happy to discuss further details with any of you. But do you have the time for such commitment, or you are just planning offering support once a while, whenever chance triggers? This is a large project and to be able to formulate ideas towards it means to have full knowledge about its entrails.

[Dansmithers]

Game "designers"? Do you even know what game designers do?

Read, it'll help.

If you do just want idea guys, I'd be happy to join.

Hell, I can do ideas. More or less anyone on these forums can.

When I say game designers I really mean people that can come up with ideas but that also know how to plug them inside a game, resulting in a complexity that varies with the project's magnitude and the kind of idea itself. Of course that if we take game designing into a greater scale with many persons involved, game designers will also take the role of team leaders and team coordinators to coordinate coders, sound engineers, concept artists, modelers, texture artists, writers etc...

Giving ideas is cool but only if you know how to intersect them with the actual game play mechanics. I'm glad anyone can give ideas but making them work efficiently falls into the game design category as the designer will need to understand the consequences prone to happen from implementing a given idea.

Anyway, I'll be more than happy to discuss further details with any of you. But do you have the time for such commitment, or you are just planning offering support once a while, whenever chance triggers? This is a large project and to be able to formulate ideas towards it means to have full knowledge about its entrails.

No, just adding context.

[Endorya]

No, just adding context.

Somehow I saw that coming.

[freeformschooler]

What are you planning to pay these recruited designers? If it is "zero dollars and zero cents," don't be surprised when

they are too busy or are not really committed to such task.

Otherwise it sounds cool. I'm not good at coding but it definitely looks like you've designed the game to be moddable from the ground-up. Sadly, no screenshots or anything to provide context.

[Endorya]

What are you planning to pay these recruited designers? If it is "zero dollars and zero cents," don't be surprised when

they are too busy or are not really committed to such task.

Otherwise it sounds cool. I'm not good at coding but it definitely looks like you've designed the game to be moddable from the ground-up. Sadly, no screenshots or anything to provide context.

I will add some screenies of the world map generation and some shots of the editor itself to let everyone have an idea of what is going on, once I get home.

PS: I don't need coders but someone able to share the same enthusiasm I do, with ideas, concepts and game play mechanics.

[freeformschooler]

But to implement an idea in the game, a designer needs to be able to code, no? Or at least understand your code. Otherwise they're just idea people.

[Dansmithers]

But to implement an idea in the game, a designer needs to be able to code, no? Or at least understand your code. Otherwise they're just idea people.

Actually, that's pretty much what a designer does.