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WILL
30-03-2012, 12:16 PM
Hi folks, I figured I'd show you some ideas for level selection since there is a bit whopping bonus for being able to REvisit other locations after visiting them before. Here are some game videos to show off some ideas.

Clash at Demonhead (Interlinking Lane Selection)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Cy6IR6TbJpg

Mega-Man (Select from a set of boxes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SwZ_YwvYHo4#!

Contra Hard Corps (Choose in-story interactive dialog choice)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Wcf6yImd0

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (Select from a given lost of travel options)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdRmei1-7kc

Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (Completely connected world, no selection, free roaming allowed)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l4A_dVarZE

WILL
01-04-2012, 06:24 PM
I was kind of hoping that this thread would encourage discussion about ideas for your entries. Come out of your secret lairs and talk amoung each other guys! :)

de_jean_7777
01-04-2012, 06:53 PM
One of the ideas I was having for level selection would be some central place in a level, where a portal would allow the player to go to any other level already completed (a selection probably). This place would only be available after the main objective of the level is complete (e.g. a hidden door opens after defeating all the enemies, or solving a puzzle). I'm still not sure on the details since I've only just started working on my game today. This will allow free-roaming between levels, while still keeping levels separate.

WILL
01-04-2012, 08:10 PM
Yeah I kinda liked the free-roaming style of gameplay from the old NES games. Free-roaming platform games seem to be a thing of the past.

I tried to create something similar using 'teleporters' for my own platform project, Cyber Crisis (http://redantgames.com/Games.html), but the project obviously didn't get too far. :) I may get boarded and pick it up later on.

Ñuño Martínez
02-04-2012, 12:18 AM
In "William Shatner's TekWar" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shatner%27s_TekWar) you can select the mission using the subway, and also there are a Virtual World. It was very original. Sad that the game were horrible* but had great ideas like the subway and the "almost inteligent" policemen and citizens.

Another pioneer game: "Catacomb". The first levels are pretty lineal but after lever 4 or 5 each level has two or more exits and the game became a 3D labyrinth.
_______________

* It was the first game made with Build, the engine used in Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior and Blood, and it was unfinished when they published TekWar...

User137
02-04-2012, 12:51 AM
Unfortunately i'm not an artist :) Making games involving animated humanoid characters, especially common side scrolling game can be very challenging to make textures to. Overall designing an rpg game has much more work in it than would think from first glance.

WILL
02-04-2012, 04:25 AM
Oh no, for this 4 week competition, I do not recommend something as big as an RPG. You could add RPG elements, but I wouldn't go full blown RPG.

There were a few genre types that I thought I'd see (and probably hoped to see) due to the theme; platformer is one, scrolling shooter is another. I would have loved to see another top-down too.

3D will be a challenge for this amount of time so for those who have taken up the 3D content challenge, good luck! :)

I know I'd be itching to try another game like Clash at Demonhead. That game rocked! The lane selection for travel was pretty cool and the fact that you had to visit different locations to find things was neat. Thn again I'd also love another Castlevania 2 type of game as well.

Keep in mind, I'm not judging this year so don't just go with what I'd like. ;)

Kapitany
02-04-2012, 06:12 AM
I think a scrolling shooter where the player can "travel" from one level to another can be an acceptable idea.

Or a Terra Cognita (http://www.mobygames.com/game/terra-cognita/screenshots) remake with different levels should be a good choice.

Eric
02-04-2012, 08:55 AM
Will going back or replaying the locations (without selection) count as revisiting? Or should the locations be player-selectable to count for a revisit?

WILL
02-04-2012, 12:21 PM
Will going back or replaying the locations (without selection) count as revisiting? Or should the locations be player-selectable to count for a revisit?

Absolutely. You can do either, however to keep the world open and explorable, you'd have to have distinct locations within that world so they would be best to define them rather than leaving it up to the judges have to count them. As the rules state, they must be all distinct with their own visual style. So in the case of Castlevania 2 style play for example, you'd have to create 3 distinct looking areas or locations.

Example 1) You have a forrest, a village and a cave for example. You labeled each by having some text showing above when you arrived in each area.

Example 2) You have 3 different looking cities or towns, but the path connecting each is all forest or just something common to each. Again when you got to the town or cities a text label above or a city/town sign at the entrance showed that you were at it.

The idea is to define 3 locations which each have their different visual theme and figure out how to travel to/from each. How you go about it was left open so long as you have at least 3 locations minimum.

Ñuño Martínez
02-04-2012, 04:28 PM
I've remembered another nice game that uses "travel": Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. This video is long but it shows the concept with a lot of different places:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv2Z_b8If1k

SilverWarior
02-04-2012, 05:47 PM
Can I asume that multiple star systems would count as multiple locations since theese star systems differ from each other by the number of planets, planets types, etc.

WILL
02-04-2012, 09:48 PM
Can I asume that multiple star systems would count as multiple locations since theese star systems differ from each other by the number of planets, planets types, etc.

Well see there is somewhat of a challenge with free-roaming 3D space too. You would, just like 2D, have to define that location either visually or by indications (labels, shown on a map and such). You could have a 'warp drive' that allows you to warp or jump from location to location, or auto-pilot, etc, but then there is the challenge of being in one location and decorating it in 3D so that when in another location you decorate that one so they look different from each other.

That's the main work of the theme depending on how you design your game, make locations that are "visually" different from each other which you can do other things to enhance that already visual difference. Different music alone doesn't count as per the rules, it has to look different.

Now having different planets does do a little to help define a difference, but I'd go a bit further than that and give more than just the planets as a feature. Maybe an asteroid field, different coloured space dust, a few nebulae and have your 'HUD' tell you you are in ____ system or something. That would do it I think. The scores will somewhat reflect how well you design towards the theme too.

SilverWarior
02-04-2012, 10:14 PM
Actualy if I'll have enough time I will include planetmaps aswell. This should definitly count as different locations becouse each planet will have its own texture representing its surface. And becouse there wil be various types of planets it would be perfectly clear that those a truly different locations.
But for now I don't want to get ahead of myself.

WILL
02-04-2012, 10:47 PM
Actualy if I'll have enough time I will include planetmaps aswell. This should definitly count as different locations becouse each planet will have its own texture representing its surface. And becouse there wil be various types of planets it would be perfectly clear that those a truly different locations.
But for now I don't want to get ahead of myself.

Yeah, planet maps show a location of where you are at the top of the HUD or screen or something... those types of things help show the players (and the judges) that you are at location X, Y or Z. However the idea is that each must be visually different, hence this part of the rules:


"LOCATIONS: Each individual location must have it's own visual theme or style. Music can be used to help improve the theme, but will not count if used alone to differentiate from a past location."



So if you are visiting a planet it's self then yes that would count, but if you are visiting X, Y or Z system then that system must have it's own look, it's self. It must look distinctly different from the other systems, not just have a different number of different coloured planets to really count.

ie. if it's all plain black with white stars and 3 planets in System X and you travel to System Y and it is all black with white stars and has 5 planets then the judges would not count each of them as having their own visual theme or style. You'd have to add more features like nebulae or space dust, etc so that there is something there that makes it look different, not just the planets.

Now if it's 1 system and you are traveling from planet to planet then they would have to be big enough and have things around them that make it behave like a location rather than an object in space. It would be even better if you could visit the planet it's self (repair ship, shops, etc) because then you are actually visiting that planet (location).

Ingemar
04-04-2012, 09:34 AM
Interesting question, and I like your examples! Indeed, there are a few different ways to connect the world.

For me, some kind of interconnected world seems natural, a continuous world where you can go anyplace you like. The question is rather how to travel. I first thought about driving/flying from place to place, but there is a risk of the travelling either gets dull, or it is so short distances that it doesn't really count as travelling (can be helped by some accelerated mode or "space warps"), or the transportation is spiced up by combat, which would then have to be so integrated with the game that it controls what the game is really about. Hm...

Now, I consider some solution more based on "portals", moving instantly from location to location, possibly with some animation between to symbolize the actual travelling.

Darthman
04-04-2012, 10:36 AM
In my case there will be different locations with able to warp from one location to another.

WILL
04-04-2012, 12:01 PM
Another alternative, if you are looking for a more "seamless" look/feel approach, could be to enter some kind of warp sequence or such. This could provide an opportunity to make the act of traveling it's self a part of the gameplay AND you could add in a set of new gameplay that takes place in between locations should you want to go that way too.

Games like Ratchet & Clank Future do this and it's quite fun if done well.