Game Plan

hey dudes, welcome to my independant project blog for my game [argh, still working on a title, but it doesn't matter at this stage]. This where I will be keeping you posted on the design and development of this game. so here is where it goes down

...Let me first start with what kind of game I will be making, it will be a 2D action platformer that incorporates some RPG elements. This game will be developed in Adobe Flash CS3 (using actionscript 2),but keeping in mind that it will be implemented as a XBLA game. The basic plot is set in a post-apocalypitic world where nightmares rule their host. The levels will consist of nongridded, parallax scrolling backdrops that consist of dexterity-based platforms. I think these mechanics will be the starting point in developing the game engine.

Player Presentation: The player controls a hunter [protagonist] that has various abilities in harvesting souls from defeated nightmare creatures that spawn from the host's unconcious, well, anyways from these elements the game consists of different mechanics that are required to level up the character to improve his weapons and abilities. There will be different types of magical souls that can be absorbed by defeating different types of nightmares, such as orb powers [a stock system that fills a guage that executes special attacks] can allow the player to replenish health, use exp.souls, shape-shifting soul abilities [the character having the ability to shape-shift into the nightmares it has captured] etc. The GUI will visually represnt the player's collection of soul types in real-time, except the health, which will be shown in a more uncoventional way that is less boring and more stylised to become one of the game's ISPs.

I will discuss more about the game in a later posts and will add screenshots of the game's progress. I don't want to be going into too much detail at this stage, things are still open to change, plus this game at the moment seems to have a little too many gameplay features to develop for just one game. I think I will start with coding the core gameplay in and getting it relatively stable, then I'll move to developing the ISPs. These are the things I've been doing over the summer holidays and that I've done so far:

1. Parallax scrolling background in Flash
2. Level design sketches
3. Character design sketches
4. Particle-generated effects in ParticleIllusion
5. Concept art [backgrounds]

Things that need to be done for next week:

1. Core 2D parallax scrolling engine [with easing]
2. Level design and UI mockups in Photoshop
3. Finalising main character and nightmare designs [need to vectorize in a 2D perspective]
4. Protagonist's template walk/run cycle
5. Start writing up the game proposal document in InDesign
6. Finished Level Design in Flash

..and finally the game plan:

1. Create a demo with at least 2 playable levels
2. Add character movement and collision functionality
3. Add combat functionality
4. Er, that will do for now, will add other things later on in the development, prototyping might be a good idea once I have the overall structure of the game to experiment in making innovative gameplay.

..kay, lots to do.