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Thread: Farmer Joe

  1. #1
    Legendary Member cairnswm's Avatar
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    Farmer Joe

    This is a game idea I've had for a few years.

    Farmer Joe needs to get his animals from one place to another. The animals walk along the farm roads until reaching an open gate through which they will go. Farmer Joe has a number of items to help him herd the animals. His trusty dog, his old tractor and of course himself.

    Sounds nice and simple but, goats will jump onto and over the tractor, pigs ignore the dog etc. By creating a map of the farm and using gates, the tractor, dog etc the player must herd the animals from place to place.

    Animals I had thought of
    Sheep : dumb animals that do exactly what is expected.
    Cows : Similar to sheep but maybe they ignore farmer Joes son.
    Bull : only affected by the tractor and will ignore Joe, dog etc
    Goats : ignore the tractor
    Pigs : Ignore the dog

    The roads of the farm have many gates. Gates can be opened or closed by farmer joe or his son. Animals will not walk through gates so the player can open and close the gates to affect the directoions the animals can walk. Using the various tools at the players disposal (Farmer Joe, the son, the dog, and the tractor) the player can also modify the paths availabel to the animals. Obviously the tractor needs a driver before it can be moved.

    Various levels can be created
    Level 1. A simple farm, with one gate. The gate needs to be changed and the farmer needs to chase the animals
    Level 2. As above with more gates
    Level 3. As above but with a circular road requiring one of the gates to be changed after the animals have passed by.
    Level 4. Add in the dog and road junctions without gates
    Level 5. Add in the tractor (possibly removing the dog)
    Level 6. As for level 2 but two sets of animals to move to two different locations
    etc
    etc
    etc

    T junctions are easy to use in a level. The gate would be hinged on one corner and would be able to close off two different routes.
    A four way junction woudl be possible with two gates or with the aid of a tool.

    Issues...
    1. What happens if a herd of animals gets to a juntion witrh more than one exit. (I think depends on animals type - sheep/goats go only one way, Cows/Pigs split into two groups). Could this be used as a strategy to accelerate results?
    2. What negative effect do various tools have. A noisy moving tractor may scare the cows, the barking dog may panic the sheep.
    3. Scoring, possibly timed levels, possibly other goals.

    Let me know what you think.
    William Cairns
    My Games: http://www.cairnsgames.co.za (Currently very inactive)
    MyOnline Games: http://TheGameDeveloper.co.za (Currently very inactive)

  2. #2

    Farmer Joe

    Sounds like a cool idea, a few questions and comments :-)

    Have you thought about the graphics side of it? I was just sitting here thinking on how it would look from a isometric or top-down view of a game like that, since I found 3D could make thinges difficult (atleast in my head).

    Another animal for your farm:
    Horses, only affected by the people.

    Things that might make the levels harder later on, like:
    - Wolves: chases/scares the smaller animals like pigs and sheep
    - Bears: chases/scares everything

    Issues...
    1. What happens if a herd of animals gets to a juntion witrh more than one exit. (I think depends on animals type - sheep/goats go only one way, Cows/Pigs split into two groups). Could this be used as a strategy to accelerate results?
    I guess that'll depend on the size of the herd, and the speed (i.e. if they are just walking it's easier to follow than if they are running from something that scares them). Also if one of the junctions are narrow and it gets crowded, the rest might just turn to the other one since there is free space.

    2. What negative effect do various tools have. A noisy moving tractor may scare the cows, the barking dog may panic the sheep.
    There is another aspect, because, they can end up getting used to noisy things as they grow older. Some goats in the real world don't even move if you use the carhorn on them, so they get used to anything. But the offspring (or whatever it's called) of all these animals might be running away as soon as something makes noise :-)

    3. Scoring, possibly timed levels, possibly other goals.
    reduction in points if some of the animals walks of a cliff, or gets nailed by nasty animals.

    Would be nice to see one of the maps just to see how it looks like in your head. For all I know I could be far off on this one, but it's atleast my 2 cents :-)
    _____
    Eriken

  3. #3
    Legendary Member cairnswm's Avatar
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    Farmer Joe

    Mostly I was thinking of a 3D tile view - not isometric because when it comes to puzzles I think it can get confusing.

    I hadn't considered the idea of adding other 'enemy' animals and I really think its a good idea. However I think 'tools' have to be added to stop/kill/cage the enemy animals.

    Horses are good - also can be used by the farmer to move quickly from place to place.

    reduction in points if some of the animals walks of a cliff, or gets nailed by nasty animals
    This makes me think of a lemmings type scoring system. "You need to get 10 of the 15 cows from the Field to the Milking Shed in 3 minutes".

    Thanks for the feedback
    William Cairns
    My Games: http://www.cairnsgames.co.za (Currently very inactive)
    MyOnline Games: http://TheGameDeveloper.co.za (Currently very inactive)

  4. #4

    Farmer Joe

    Hi,

    i have played a game on a similar concept, its called Herdy Gerdy! i cant remember if its PS2 or Gamecube, but it is by Eidos Interactive and the idea of the game is a kid 'Gerdy' basicly herds these animals in to desginated pens while avoiding enemy animals eg bears. This a rough thought on the game but the website for Info is:
    http://www.eidosinteractive.co.uk/ga....html?gmid=113
    M109uk
    <br />--------------------------------------------------------
    <br />www.pulse-soft.oneuk.com

  5. #5
    Legendary Member cairnswm's Avatar
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    Farmer Joe

    I seems to have a similar concept. I dont think I would have used a 3rd Person 3D view to the game

    I still think as a puzzle game it would be interesting to do in a more 2D view.
    William Cairns
    My Games: http://www.cairnsgames.co.za (Currently very inactive)
    MyOnline Games: http://TheGameDeveloper.co.za (Currently very inactive)

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