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[Salsacookies]

Hello, I am an aspiring game designer, and this is my idea of an apocalyptic survival game.

First, theme music to set the tone of the game. http://youtu.be/i6OtF7daIPM

I've been thinking of making a game around the concept of every Friday the 13th, monsters would come into the world and wreck everything and kill everyone they come across. In between invasions, you do your usual scavenging and survival against the elements and hostile animals or bandits

I've come across the issue that there is a lot of time in between invasions, so I'm thinking of a time unit sorta mechanic to try to not bog down time between invasions. I've also thought about having mini-invasions on Friday and the 13th day of the month, which causes you to come in contact with the monsters a bit more often. However, I'm split between making the monsters more common, or having the encounters VERY tense and challenging.

Gameplay wise, it would run like an X-Com game, with a Sims element, probably. I think the Sims 3 trait system and general gameplay would work pretty well for an apocalyptic survival game.

[Araph]

So... is this a game you're currently working on? Or is it an idea post? Not a problem one way or the other, but it's not quite clear from your description.

[Salsacookies]

It's an idea I'm working on, what do you think?

[IndigoFenix]

Well, you already are including fights against mundane enemies, so I'd say making the monsters show up rarely but making them extremely challenging would be the way to go.  You can make the monsters become harder every time they show up, which would lend a sense of urgency to the game, and can build the overarching plotline around that.

Find a point in time where there were/will be several Friday the 13ths in a row, and set that as the endpoint of the game's story.  Start several years ahead of that point, and make the plot build up to that climactic period; by that point the characters will already know what to expect.  Maybe it could be used as an opportunity to attack the monsters at their source somehow.

[Salsacookies]

Alright. How would a world like that look like. The monsters definitely wreck everything, and kill anything they come across, and they appear everywhere on Earth, but they only have a day on Earth to do anything, and it can be anywhere from a month to 14 months before they come back. would Earth be a wreck, or would things be fairly normal?

[Salsacookies]

Also, could I make this on mine craft? Is it possible to generate cities on it?

[Araph]

You, ah... might want to give a bit more thought to the technical side of things before getting started on this. Procedural generation is a difficult topic to start on, and (someone familiar with Minecraft modding correct me if I'm wrong) I think you have to decompile the game to its Java files and edit the class definitions in those to create a mod, so that might not be the best jumping-off point.

You might want to check out Unity if you're just starting game development. It's a lot easier to understand than most other engines.

[Arx]

(someone familiar with Minecraft modding correct me if I'm wrong) I think you have to decompile the game to its Java files and edit the class definitions in those to create a mod, so that might not be the best jumping-off point.

Yup. I found it hellish, to be honest, but I'm in many ways not a coding master.

[Retropunch]

Also, could I make this on mine craft? Is it possible to generate cities on it?

Simple answer - no. I'm sure it's technically possible, but (and really no offence meant) if you're asking these sorts of questions it's doubtful you've got the technical skills at the moment.

Really, anything of this complexity needs proper coding and a proper engine - you're not going to be able to do it with either minecraft or anything similar.


I'd start with python and check out a few tutorials and example games. It's not an easy thing to do, but you could actually get the game you want out of it.
It just depends how much you want it really!

[Araph]

I'd start with python

UNITY, YOU HERETIC

(I kid, Python's another good choice.)

[Retropunch]

I'd start with python

UNITY, YOU HERETIC

(I kid, Python's another good choice.)

THERE SHALL BE NO 'UNITY' WITH THE ANTI-PY!!!

PYTHON IS LOVE. PYTHON IS LIFE!

Seriously though, either's fine. Python has a heck of a lot of tutorials and help though - if literally anything goes wrong (from the smallest error to the most confounding bug) you'll be able to find the answer after a quick google search or forum question.

That was what I love about it more than anything else, the fact that you never get completely stumped as there's always hundreds of people who have already had that problem (unless you use weird libraries).

I'm sure unity is starting to be similar now though.

[Salsacookies]

Yeah, I have no clue how to program, most experience I had is making macros on WOW for my dad. I don't have a computer to play on, so I can't learn to program just yet. Thanks for the recommendations though! Anyways, just trying to get a concept for my game first though. What do you think so far?