tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post112122763920313891..comments2023-11-03T01:45:11.288-07:00Comments on Lost Garden: Space Crack: The Space OperaDaniel Cookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-1121708268464508052005-07-18T10:37:00.000-07:002005-07-18T10:37:00.000-07:00More cool beans, Danc. The captain naming idea is...More cool beans, Danc. The captain naming idea is brilliant -- simple, but effective. Keep up the good work -- I'd love to be a beta tester! ;-)<BR/><BR/>A couple comments: to keep the emotional attachment of the randomly-generated captain names, the source lists must be long enough to prevent recurrence over a short period of time. Also, I think it would be good to prevent names from being shared across players during a given game; otherwise you end up with Joe "Super Defender" Rocket up against Jim "Super Defender" Rocket. (Though that does suggest an interesting possible intra-family rivalry? Hmm...)<BR/><BR/>P.S.: Congrats on your engagement. Other than this comment, I'm resisting the perv in me that wants to ask you for a pic. ;-) (What do you expect when you post something like "Hot Girl"?)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-1121394173434920232005-07-14T19:22:00.000-07:002005-07-14T19:22:00.000-07:00Side quests will be a play balancing pain if I mak...Side quests will be a play balancing pain if I make them too exception-based. At first it will be a rather tightly bounded system.<BR/><BR/>One thing about plot is that it is very easy to write 'outside' the capabilities of the game engine. For example, I could easily jot down a quest "Save the world from a nuclear bomb that will wipe out planets in a 10 unit radius". The only problem is that I've introduced a whole new game token (the nuclear bomb) with unique abilities. That's fine if you have the resources to waste on this custom effect, but in my experience programmers hate exceptions. <BR/><BR/>The trick is to write meta-game rules that manipulate existing game mechanics without introducing exceptions. The quest system might seem deep on the surface but ultimately it can be generalized into: <BR/>- When a token changes state<BR/>- Give player reward or penalty. <BR/><BR/>I'm a lazy designer so heaven forbid I actually write a real plot. <BR/><BR/>take care<BR/>Danc.Daniel Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10437870541630835660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-1121346725088528382005-07-14T06:12:00.000-07:002005-07-14T06:12:00.000-07:00Hi Danc,you've had another great idea for Space Cr...Hi Danc,<BR/><BR/>you've had another great idea for Space Crack! I'd just like to highlight (i)a potential problem (ii)an opportunity.<BR/><BR/>(i)the potential problem: balancing the side quests system will be a real pain! Although it will be time-consuming, I strongly suggest to prototypate them during early development stage; <BR/><BR/>(ii)the opportunity: focusing the microstories on ships'captains is a really cool idea. And I think the dynamic "at first only his last name, then his first name" should be expanded to include bit and pieces of our captain's "past life" as he proceeds in his conquests.<BR/><BR/>waiting part 13,<BR/>SplashAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-1121295812024209812005-07-13T16:03:00.000-07:002005-07-13T16:03:00.000-07:00Depending on the exposure and audience of your gam...Depending on the exposure and audience of your game, plot and story can also be the factors that (in leiu of copycat gameplay design)<BR/> imprints the game company in the minds of players. RPG's today are the best example of this - there are hundreeds out there from many different studios, most of which only tweaking the basic mechanics of the generic RPG, but whomever comes up with the most entrancing story is the "better" company. Square locked itself in with the whole Playstation crowd before all other RPG makers with FF VII, solely because they tapped that emotional spot in the minds of teenage gamers before anyone else could. As for myself, FF VI tapped me first and this it will always be considered the "best" one in my opinion (ah, the power of nostalgia!). <BR/><BR/>Always Enjoyin' The Articles,<BR/>-Appreciative ReaderAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11719805.post-1121273107139167702005-07-13T09:45:00.000-07:002005-07-13T09:45:00.000-07:00I like your ideas in this article (despite the spa...I like your ideas in this article (despite the space boobies) and think that your approach is pretty decent. In fact in my superhero tile game design (that I showed you way back), I'd more or less done this same exercise, breaking the game mechanic into basic functions and then giving almost random elements meaningful names, so that the story is generated in an almost random order, superhero teams form, and break apart, some go evil, some stay good, according to the "Angst-o-meter", all the while you try to take down villains. <BR/><BR/>I think another way of creating more flexible stories (especially with origins and computer generated backstories) without a lot of work, would be to create a sort of "Madlib" origin. (With superheroes, that tend to follow a preset set of possibilities (Mutant, Alien, Industrial Accident, or Psychological Trauma... Take your pick!). <BR/><BR/>For my design it became an exercise in manipulating massive databases of game elements... Villains created doomsday devices out of random elements provided by the game... Heroes defeated villains by using random elements... Even the settings were random... And it didn't have to make sense either, because it added a kind of douglas Adams type of humor to it, to have a supervillain named "Evil Egg" trying to corner the world's supply of "grapefruit" so he could blow up the "Grand Canyon" and could only be stopped if "Captain Destiny" could locate a "Blue Scarab" and combine it with the "Golden Spatula" on the top of "Mount Darkness". <BR/><BR/>Best regards, <BR/><BR/>--RayRaymondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07035842500415940617noreply@blogger.com