Well...

Subject: Well...
Author: someone132
Posted on: 2014-09-01 01:39:00 UTC

(Word of warning: I'm not a regular poster on here, so I might come off as overly blunt.)

First off, if Halo and SST are your inspirations, then I would advise you to drop the term "hard sci-fi" as soon as possible. Halo is anything but hard, with practically all of the Covenant technology violating the First Law of Thermodynamics, and the chances of Spartan armor actually being usable (rather then a dead weight after the power runs out in five minutes) are slim at best. SST is considerably harder, especially if you're using films for the reference point, but it is still not at the level of true hard sci-fi like Alastair Reynolds' works.

As to the rest, you need to give a LOT more detail. Right now it reads a bit like a blurb at the back of a book: sure it all sounds very nice, but it could mean practically anything and everything. Please tell me what kind of customisation you actually have in mind, as well as more details about the story, and then I can give proper feedback.

Finally, a word of advice from someone who played a few games, tried to design one a couple of years ago and read close to a thousand game reviews: whenever you face the choice between making the player more powerful/advanced or making the enemies more advanced, it's best to improve the enemies first. Otherwise, all the customisation/wide range of skills, etc. goes to waste, as the player will not need them and stick to the easiest weapon ability 90% of the time.

Once you've made the enemies uniquely challenging and powerful (i.e., not by simply increasing their damage/health, as far too many games tend to do), then you can be sure that all abilities will be useful, or have the potential to be useful depending on the playstyle.

I hope this was useful.

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Beta for my game by 7.65x54R on 2014-08-31 04:23:00 UTC Reply

If you've been on the IRC, You know that I'm working on a video game concept. well, *apologizes in advance* since no-one is willing to forgive me for "The sentence incident"on the IRC and my 2nd cousin(who's helping me)is too busy, I think it's time for me to ask other people for feedback.

My game idea is called Starhunter, a shooter-RPG set in an astral realm that resembles a hard sci-fi space opera like halo or starship troopers.

It's main feature is the massively deep customization mechanic, and a thought provoking story.

said story contains themes of social change and reactions to it, individual morality compared to group morality, what makes society advanced, what makes one culture superior to another, and differing viewpoints on events.

so, anyone like this concept? anyone want to give me feedback? please reply then.

P.S.:I apologize again for the IRC incident. I wasn't thinking at the time.

Oooh, I like customization. by Anonymouse on 2014-09-01 17:09:00 UTC Reply

A tip: If you advertise customization, add aesthetic customization as well as what-it-does customization, and don't make it only for one type of, say, armor. One of the few things I don't like about Minecraft is that only its leather armor can be colored in-game. (It's MORE than balanced by resource packs on that front, but still.)

Second, what platform are you shooting for? Android/iOS? PC? (Linux? Mac?) Flash? Console or handheld?

It has both aesthetic and functional customization by 7.65x54R on 2014-09-02 03:21:00 UTC Reply

and I'm aiming for the next-gen consoles,and PC.

Well... by someone132 on 2014-09-01 01:39:00 UTC Reply

(Word of warning: I'm not a regular poster on here, so I might come off as overly blunt.)

First off, if Halo and SST are your inspirations, then I would advise you to drop the term "hard sci-fi" as soon as possible. Halo is anything but hard, with practically all of the Covenant technology violating the First Law of Thermodynamics, and the chances of Spartan armor actually being usable (rather then a dead weight after the power runs out in five minutes) are slim at best. SST is considerably harder, especially if you're using films for the reference point, but it is still not at the level of true hard sci-fi like Alastair Reynolds' works.

As to the rest, you need to give a LOT more detail. Right now it reads a bit like a blurb at the back of a book: sure it all sounds very nice, but it could mean practically anything and everything. Please tell me what kind of customisation you actually have in mind, as well as more details about the story, and then I can give proper feedback.

Finally, a word of advice from someone who played a few games, tried to design one a couple of years ago and read close to a thousand game reviews: whenever you face the choice between making the player more powerful/advanced or making the enemies more advanced, it's best to improve the enemies first. Otherwise, all the customisation/wide range of skills, etc. goes to waste, as the player will not need them and stick to the easiest weapon ability 90% of the time.

Once you've made the enemies uniquely challenging and powerful (i.e., not by simply increasing their damage/health, as far too many games tend to do), then you can be sure that all abilities will be useful, or have the potential to be useful depending on the playstyle.

I hope this was useful.

when I said "Hard sci-fi", I meant more grounded in reality by 7.65x54R on 2014-09-01 02:09:00 UTC Reply

not exactly realistic, but starhunter has ballistic weaponry and fabric armor, for example.

the customization is based around having everything be able to be modified. you can customize down to the type of bullet or trauma plate if need be(and on higher difficulties, you will need to)

the story is about humans and aliens going to sleep one night after receiving several visions beforehand, and waking up in a world known as the hyper unconsciousness. the AI constructs that control that world (known as the old gods) brought the people there because they thought that the societies of the humans and the two other aliens were flawed and needed to change in order to survive. but then the main governing body of the old god controlled northern half of the hyper unconsciousness is attacked by some kingdoms to the south. to say any more would spoil the rest of the story, though.

you weren't overly blunt, IMO.

Still need a bit more detail... by someone132 on 2014-09-02 01:50:00 UTC Reply

Gameplay first: so, there's ballistic weaponry (I'm guessing pistols, shotguns, assault rifles and sniper rifles +/- a couple of more out-there weapons) that can be modified. Are gameplay-altering weapon mods (I'm ignoring aesthetic side for now, since that's relatively easy if you have a good graphical designer) the military-shooter stuff (underslung grenade launchers, laser/optical sights, extended/lightened magazines, etc.) or are there also things that modify stats, confer status effects, etc.?

About bullets, do you just mean the ability to change the ammunition type (which is nice, but not uncommon: see Bioshock 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1 and 3, Russian turn-based shooters, etc.) or some kind of bullet editor? I suppose it's the former, as it is a perfectly adequate mechanic, but it's best to be specific.

When it comes to armor, how pieces of it can you customise? Is it just one-two armor plates? Is it Dragon Age-like with helmet, boots, gloves and cuirass? Or completely detailed like recent Bound by Flame, where you craft leggings and shoulder plates in addition to everything above? Obviously, the latter options are more rewarding for the player, but are also progressively more complex (see Bound by Flame's numerous bugs and lack of polish), so it's important to make that choice early on.

Now, the storyline description could also do with a bit of work. Firstly, when you say "humans and two other aliens", how many characters do you mean in total? Is it one human protagonist and two aliens from two different races or something else entirely? It would also be nice to know what year is it when they're transported, and where they were/what they were doing before they went to sleep.

Now, I'm personally of opinion that spoilers only apply to the eventual customers/consumers/however you want to call them; if I agree to have input in a certain work, my perception of it will already be different from someone coming to it fresh, and so spoilers cease to have meaning, especially when they might well get changed at this point in time. So, fire away!

I suck at detaling by 7.65x54R on 2014-09-02 03:48:00 UTC Reply

I wrote my reply when my computer was ready to update, so I didn't have a lot of time to work with

anyways, the ballistic stuff aren't the only weapon type around. in addition to ballistic, you have laser, plasma, and pure energy. as for attachments, you have sights, grips, pretty much most of the standard shooter stuff. weapon customization works off a slot mechanic. each mod has advantages and disadvantages, and they can only go in the predetermined slots.

as for ammo, it's actually somewhat like an editor, but the only two parts you can change are the projectile/actuator and the powder load/generator. the ammo type itself determines damage and status effects

armor has 7 pieces which can be swapped out in addition to being modifiable. it's kind of similar to bound by flame. each armor segment has slots like weapons for attachments. whats unique is that armor attachments have slots for components(it is not necessary to change or upgrade components on lower difficulty levels).

the story takes place in 2027. most of the protagonists are human, with a few aliens. the game will have you recruit a small army of character (numbering in at around 32-35).
the spoilers I mentioned revolved around the patron deity of the southern half of the hyper unconsciousness trying to invade the upper half with an army of space barbarians, starting with a preemptive strike by a group of earth-native humans who believe the ideas offered by the hyper unconsciousness will corrupt society. this is discovered by the player at the midway point of the game. prior to that, said patron deity's preemptive strike consisted of the kingdoms to the south, who were tricked into attacking the imperium. the player must fight the kingdoms first, while learning about the world's rich mythology.

I hope that answered all your questions.

Just one more for now... by someone132 on 2014-09-03 00:41:00 UTC Reply

And that question is rather simple: how are you planning to get it made? By and large, every other question would be secondary to that one.

sell the concept to a company by 7.65x54R on 2014-09-03 03:03:00 UTC Reply

my second cousin could help with pitching the idea.

Short answer: Forget it by someone132 on 2014-09-03 08:54:00 UTC Reply

Check these two links out:

http://overdeepgeek.wordpress.com/2014/08/07/why-fan-requests-get-ignored-and-usually-should-be/

http://askagamedev.tumblr.com/post/74286420821/getting-up-from-the-armchair

I think they summarise it all pretty well. I will just add one more thing: not a single known AAA-class game has ever been made from a concept pitch by an outsider. The only exception is Portal, and that was made from an actual gameplay prototype, rather than a word pitch.

Thus, I you want the Starhunter to come into existence in a foreseeable future, here's the best path to it:

1) Forget about it being 3D. Prepare to accept that many mechanics will get stripped down due to limited budgets and timelines.

2) Work hard every day to create a full-fledged story, as opposed to a concept

3) While 2) is happening, try to forge connections amongst actual indie devs who will pick up the story once it's sufficiently developed.

It' brutal, but that's the way things stand.

From my experience... by 7.65x54R on 2014-09-03 12:52:00 UTC Reply

there have been entire forum arguments about whether an outside concept pitch works or not. and I'm willing to postpone it indefinitely if necessary.

Plus my cousin said: "They typically promote new games internally and hire writers to write the background content and "story", hand that to a couple concept artists. They do a review of market, a pitch to their producers ( the money ) marketing ( sales team ) and see if they think it can sell. If they don't think so, generally the game is dead. He said get good at something. Programming, writing, art, rendering, coding, debugging code, and know how to do at least two of the jobs in the field all the way. But be damned good at those jobs and make yourself ESSENTIAL to the company, because contracts for EVERYONE start at accepting and starting development and END when the game is done or gets cancelled. They go for 1-2 years and by the last three months you better have another job lined up. Its also 60+80 hours a week for a lot of people for most of the time. They burn out fast."

and:"I'd say keep working on it. If you want it bad and put in the work you never know what might happen. I always wanted to write and do art for d&d games, and even submitted art to a couple companies while I was in college and got rejected. Now I have been published for art and writing many many times."

plus, I could get an indie to develop a prototype and then forge a connection with a company to have it developed (I'm not making this game for the money, more for recognition).

Your cousin is right by someone132 on 2014-09-04 05:33:00 UTC Reply

Essentially, the market determines everything for the AAA sector, and the turn-over in AAA studios is also very high. However, you're unlikely to find any indie worth their salt for a prototype; about 95% of them would consider on par with selling out and so they won't touch it for that purpose.

Really, consider developing it in a 2D isometric format. That is both a relatively rare genre and one that offers good balance between development time/difficulty and visual fidelity/realism (check out Supergiant Games' Bastion and Transistor to see what can be done within the format).

Is that the only way to have it developed? (nm) by 7.65x54R on 2014-09-04 07:08:00 UTC Reply

If you want it to be up-to-date, yes. by someone132 on 2014-09-06 04:57:00 UTC Reply

This is because the developmental costs skyrocket with the transition to 3D, as there's suddenly huge range of models, textures and what not that will need to be worked on and processed, with the complexity increasing every year. That's not saying you CAN'T feasibly get it made in 3D, only that it would look like a 2004 game at best, while an isometric game can still look highly attractive.
One possible alternative... by the Irish Samurai on 2014-09-04 22:19:00 UTC Reply

...depending on whether you want to develop a computer game, or are just interested in seeing this idea as an actual game of some kind, would be to re-imagine it as a tabletop RPG. It'd be much easier to develop as a solo project, as won't need anywhere near the kind of specialist skills you'd need to do a computer game by yourself.

You'd still have to come up with all the setting details, concepts, rules and game mechanics, but all you'll have to do is write them all up and then you'd be ready for playtesting (OK, so it might be a bit more complicated than that, but still simpler than a computer game, I think). You may need to streamline some of the customisation options you were talking about - what works as a nice detailed system with near infinite variety on computer will probably just bog down a pen and paper game system.

Might be worth thinking about though.