Game design docs uploaded - please don't vote here

Dear friends,

Edit: We've got one more doc that was posted in another thread - sorry for that. Please don't forget to read "Dungeon Souls" as well and vote again.

I am opening a new poll in a separate thread; I can't edit the poll from this thread.

Me, Myself and My Enemy:
While I like the idea that the enemy and the player are the same person, I see a problem on how the future I doesn´t know about what he did in his past and how it ended or if it doesn´t end, where he gets evil...
I see that this is a general problem with time travelling and that one could may even find some kind of explanation which could be enough for such a game, but the gameplay doesn´t seem unique enough for me and seems to lack variation.

Broken Planet:
It seems to be able to offer a unique style, even though those floating environments seem to get more and more common at the moment. On the other hand it seems to be baicly just another jump and run which would need some really special elements or puzzles or what ever to spice it up.
But the projects scale could may work and the result may wouldn´t be the worst.

Sorcerers:
Seems to be just another turn based game to me, or didn´t I read carefull enough? A great thing for mobile platforms but in my opinion not for a high tech computer, even though one can of course make it visually demanding

The Arcade Room:
Realizable, but I don´t like the idea of a arcade game collection, even though the customizing part makes it at least a bit more interesting.

Mars Runs Red:
Doesn´t seem to be very unique to me and like a lot of work.

Enemies:
I don´t understand the gameplay actually, but I like the idea of the environment being procedurally generated. But it again needs something more then just shooting down the enemies in always the same way.

Slacer:
Could be a unique style for such a game, but none I would really enjoy...

Superku:
I like the basic idea a lot, but the exact design is of course missing here.


I will vote for "Broken Planet" or "Enemies", which one could may even connect in some way. But all of these will need a lot of more work, until it gets a really unique and fun game...

I would suggest a jump`n`run / platformer game, with
an open levelstructure
(levels can be compiled to
"level-campaigns". The Player can choose the campaign (level-bundle) at startup, and try to archive the objective (time, points, limited lives)

with a core-team that develops the core-architecture
(logic of the platformer) and an editor or specific (WED)
level specifications.

Then others (artits, newbees) can edit and submit their
own levels to the game, that work with the provided mechanics.

This way experienced users (program/mechanics), artits (levelspecific props) and newbees (level-editing)
can work together.

The game can then grow with the new leves provided.

I've only taken a few projects into further account, as the ones I did not list did not have enough information to actually do sth with it or were not clear to me.


Me, Myself, and My Enemy
This game sounds really fun, but it has a lot of effort to do on the artist's side, as it needs several time periods - and we are lacking artists for sure. This means a lot of different textures, sounds, and models are needed.
Also I'd like to see more detailed information of the kind of puzzles, available items, etc. Basically just some more details.


Broken Planet
I like the idea, but in order to really make something out of it, more than this short document is needed. Too many things are unclear . it's not even possible to do a very rough effort estimation - but I think it would be a very psychedelic fun game.
With a real design doc this one could have been a winner...


Sorcerers
Also I like that idea a lot, but I'm not sure if the overall concept will work out well this way. Also it needs GOOD AI (use IntenseX?) and possibly multiplayer support.
Still, the multiplayer game seems to lack due to long waiting times (turn based). At least some sort of sabotage should be possible to perform by the waiting players.
If this was brought over to realtime in a proper way, I would be highly interested.
The role of the "manna" could be explained a bit better. It was not fully clear to me after reading the document.


The Arcade Room
The idea is ok, but it feels like 8 teams are doing 8 games, and the 9th team is building a wrapper around. While this is ok for many people with not so much time, imho it defeats a bit the original goal to have ONE team...
Interesting however is the trophy part. This would allow to add a lot of long time motivation with easy things like I mentioned earlier in this thread (when I took Onechanbara as example).
Also it is realistic that this project can come to a finish.


Enemies
The best and most detailed design document which was presented up to now.
The gameplay sound solid and fun - but for long time motivation some more nifty stuff has to be added - like special game modes or some more abstract tasks.


For now, Enemies is my favorite. Also concerning the resources it seems to fit quite well. A lot to do for coding (procedural level generation), some nifty shader stuff and a managable amount of graphics work.

what i had in mind for my game idea is a 3rd person action adventure. i wouldve put more into the gd, but i thought the team was going to develop the idea, if it was going to be one man's idea completely, then why would a team even be needed? thats why i left the concept open to be further developed.

I like the Enemies documentation, it is nice indeed. The gameplay itself could use some work, though.
I made a real doc for my platformer idea, have a look:

Platformer Doc

EDIT: The time travel part seems to be stolen from Blink's idea but I wanted to implement this in my own sidescroller some months ago.

well my vote is for slacer, wondering how he'd pull off the multiplayer though, split screen? would be very easy to do online though, i like the fact that this has never been done/seen, reminds me of digdug but in 3d.. i can totally picture it using this type of graphics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmG5i6ZgYGA&feature=channel hope alpha_strike doesnt mind me posting his vid here..

but i could picture a 4 player online game or a 2 player split screen game doing that, would be awesome

The superku doc was updated on Conitec's server as well.

Thank you.

Enemy: the only think not like is
if the scenery is never the same, why the player
is limited to move in a way.
If was possible to change a little like the player
move to all directions, and a suggestion more is multiplayer
2 ibots

note: I edit this post while read all the documents

Thank you

There are several reasons why I did not push the idea more in the original thread.
- Most important was the decision _agains_ multiplayer for the community game.
- I don't think A7 builtin physics engine is able to handle a network game with lots of physics objects very well. But you can prove me wrong or show me that we don't need physics at all to create the visual effect.
- Using bubbles to glue opponents onto the ground or let them float in the air is a nice effect but there must be more for a complete game.

I was surprised to find this idea on the list because I provided just a few lines of description and no game designs docs at all.

Choosing this game would mean that the team needs to spend some time to create more flesh for the game itself.
This - would be a single team driven game developed around the simple idea of using bubbles as fun factor.

Can you rise to the challenge?

My vote definitely goes Superku . The story is original and interesting, unusual and very good gameplay, all that is needed for a good game. I was pleasantly surprised when I looked Superku gameplay on YouTube.

I think the idea is great, especially because it is a sidescroller jump'n'run adventure game one of my favorite genres. I'm working on a similar game so perhaps it decided my vote for Superku

I miss something that makes a game unique in all documents.

!?
I Do not know what to vote.

But i will vote

I would vote for SuperKu and ennemies !

Ive voted Superku.

Nice simple storyline, simple controls, near-unique game design.


But I would just like to see two changes made, if agreed upon by the community.

1> The "amulets" unlock new skills based on number collected, cool.
But USING a skill requires a "mana" system of some kind.
Re-fills over time with collectables to replenish supplies...

2> Limited multiplayer option. Story...
"You are not the only Entity here destined for god-hood.
You must gain your powers and 'complete this area' in order
to advance up the stairway to heaven ahead of you enemy.
If you can kill him he will be sent back to his last 'spawn point',
battle it out toe to toe, or lay traps. Its up to you..."