If I made a game.

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**4oursword**

Hello there Dakka.

I'm looking into creating a game for Smartphones. As of yet, I have two concepts, and only vague ideas of how to implement them. I'm torn on which one to do. Regardless of which it is, it'd be a pixely art style (it's the only one I can make sprites for, I'm no artist).

The name I've got is Faceless Minion. It'd be a role-reversal where the player plays as either one of an evil minion or a group of them. It could be strategy or mindless tapping- I'm not sure which. Bosses would be different types of gamer- COD Fanboys, Self-Proclaimed Hardcore, etc.

The other's name isn't final. Basically, the player will choose a pair of characters out of four. Each would have different abilities like movement and weapons (I was thinking based on chess pieces, so Rook moved freely and carried a mace, Bishop did likewise with a pistol, Knight has a hit-and-run style and wields a dagger, and King would move slowly with a Sniper Rifle). Nothing is really fixed about this, but it makes sense to me. Each of the characters would have a name, with 2 male characters and 2 female (I'm adamant that there should be an equal showing for gender- especially if it challenges some stereotypes along the way).

So, thoughts, ideas, critique? Am I onto something, or wasting my time?

**Spyder68**

I think your looking to much into it.

Simple games like Angry birds.. which meets a massive group that would play it.

Compared to Gamer type games.

**Perkustin**

I think you should first look into some literature on game making. Look for a book that has an example to work towards, for example there are several good ones on the (free)'Unity' engine and many more specific ones on developing games for IOS. Buy the book, create the example and see if game development is for you. Then come back to us or whatever message board with your ideas, maybe even a prototype.

Unless it's something you think about when you're bored, i often think about game ideas etc when i'm trying to get to sleep or doing something monotonous at work. I dont really waste any time on it though. Mainly because i don't have even the faintest clue about programming. I would need to learn first.

In short try and create something, anything, first then think about what you want from a game. I would strongly recommend investing in a book, online tutorials are free for a reason and the obvious impetus gained from investing your money into something can't be ignored.

Finally (this applies to every creative pursuit) if your idea is too fully formed before you start actually creating it you will be facing disappointment and compromise at every turn. Unless of course you become a coding master overnight, which i wouldn't be judgmental enough to rule out.

**Gitzbitah**

4oursword wrote:

The name I've got is Faceless Minion. It'd be a role-reversal where the player plays as either one of an evil minion or a group of them. It could be strategy or mindless tapping- I'm not sure which. Bosses would be different types of gamer- COD Fanboys, Self-Proclaimed Hardcore, etc.

Interesting! What would the mechanic be? Some sort of inverted tower defense, where you have a certain number of lives to get the protagonist? Would it remain within one genre, or bounce between many? I'd avoid any direct franchise names- they are quite likely to get you a cease and desist letter.

**4oursword**

Thanks for the responses!

@Gitzbitah: Inverted Tower Defense was my first idea, but I thought that might be boring. And CoD fanboy was used as an example-I've seen enough of the GW vs. Chapterhouse case to know that big companies hate rthe little guy. It'd probably be done as ''Fps Champ'' or something like that.

I've made a few basic games, and one less basic one, in the past. I showed one off on Dakka a while back- i t got decent reception.

That Angry Birds comparison is one I need to make. It might seem like I've put a ton of thought into this, but alot of these ideas, I came up with while typing the post. I want to make something simple enough to be the next Angry Birds, Cut The Rope or Doodle Jump, while making it different.

Keep those posts coming- I can tell some real thought's been put into these replies.

**Perkustin**

Then i would recommend creating a prototype. Alot of games look good on paper but play atrociously and, more importantly, vice versa. It's a very iterative process. Tower defence is a fairly over-saturated market and every iteration has been tried or released imo. I would recommend something along the lines of the second game perhaps with the gamer archetypes from the first as characters. Multiplayer Brawlers are pretty rare on smartphone so it could be a pretty neat idea. Something with a couple distinct characters and some Rock/paper/scissors mechanics would be alot of fun. A VERY stripped down smash bros for example.

**DA's Forever**

A very stripped down smash bros would be very cool

**4oursword**

Now that's a cool idea. The problem with that is that Smash Bros. and similar games live or die on the success of their characters. A Smash Bros. Clone with generic characters won't really appeal, unless those characters are heavily developed.

**The Dark Apostle**

Hey 4, glad to see another person working on a game on dakka, something good to use for a kid and easy to use interface is game-maker. Download it, give it a try it's made for creating games on IOS and android. You may think "oh I wanna make a game" now, but is game making really for you? Do you like coding? Or just thinking of an idea?

Believe me, this can and might happen, In college I did both physical science and game design, which is a kind of every part of making a game course. Me and my 10 friends had a plan for a game, 4 of them dropped out, then when we made a "alpha" testing place it played horrible.....

Also, don't do it alone.... Believe me, get a gang, each guy does his part.

Lastly, of you hear of a game called "UN: final hour" please get it, it's currently in production and at this rate will be made on about 2 years, that's tge last thing, it tajes ages to make a game, at the start you'll see a rapid advancedment because it's basic and big stuff, but then you get to the small stuff, that's a bitch, and then you make the levels, it's very monotanus but can be very important, will there a lot of missions? If so, make them unique.

If you think you can conquer all of this, then game making and coding is for you, PM me if you need any help? But game-maker would be your best bet , please, believe me.

**BlapBlapBlap**

It's Smartphone.

Dumb it down.

**4oursword**

The Dark Apostle wrote:
Hey 4, glad to see another person working on a game on dakka, something good to use for a kid and easy to use interface is game-maker. Download it, give it a try it's made for creating games on IOS and android. You may think "oh I wanna make a game" now, but is game making really for you? Do you like coding? Or just thinking of an idea?

I've done Game Maker in the past, I can link to the game I made if you like.

@Blap: Oh, the irony.

**The Dark Apostle**

so if you've used GM in the past, will you use it for this game? what software will you be using? if any

**4oursword**

GM seems likely. The only Coding Languages I really know are Visual Basic and PHP. PHP is no good for making a game, and VB might be difficult.

The game, if you're interested: http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/games/189035-the-crystals-of-harmony

It was done for a school project, but I expanded it beyond the brief.

Previous reviewers have likened it to Chip's Challenge.

**The Dark Apostle**

I see, but if your gonna be making an app its gotta be very high quality compared to that school project, but it is really good, and better than anything I could do at your age

start thinking of designs for the game, characters, concepts, and trying them out in GM

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Let's start, I like your chess style game.

Let's start comparing the characters to popular archtypes
Rook=tank
Bishop=scout
King=sniper
Knight=assassin

Now do they have the same armour?
If so, let's give them a baseline 100, and say the enemy can do 10-30 damage. So then how much damage does the player do? How much do the enemy have?
Maybe the classes have different armour values, so if the took is tank, he gets above average 150, knight 120, bishop 100, king 80.

Know we get to speed, on a scale of 1-10, rook being tank should be slow.... Wait, in chess the rook is quite a mobile character, what do you do? what do you think 4oursword?

**4oursword**

The problem with using chess movements is that they only work in a turn-based setting. restricting Bishop to diagonals would be infuriating in an action game.
How about a dungeon crawler? If anyone's played any mystery dungeon games, you'll know the sort of thing. That is a hugely tempting idea.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
But sticking with the action style we have at present, Rook would be the same speed as Bishop. Roughly equal capability, on different planes.

**The Dark Apostle**

im not talking baou there chess movement, I meant speed, and agility, but good thinking, for the next few days work on small stuff like this, after a while, youll be ready to get in production!

**Dr. What**

I was thinking of something similar a bit ago (I can code, but I can't design any sprites that don't make one want to vomit).

What I'm picturing from what you've said is:

A battlefield set up like a moreso complex chess board (a turn based strategy). However, instead of a single bishop or knight, you have a battalion of some sort (perhaps a unit of knights or armed monks; pawns could be swarms of peasents/ men at arms!) Movement could be modified to represent the speed of units (peasants are slower than calvary).

When two opposing units meet, they battle. This could be determined by some sort of dice roll or it could unfold into a small RTS.

Depending on how much development was put into it, it could be anything from a game of Risk to something beyond the Dawn of War: Dark Crusade/Soulstorm campaigns (and hopefully better).

Heck, I can now envision a WWII/ Sci-fi version of this as well.

**4oursword**

Perhaps I'll be able to call on you for help, then?

You seem to be a similar wavelength to me with this.
I recently played some Fire Emblem (the newest one on 3DS) and that's pretty similar in the turn-based nature of it. Crossbreed that with random terrain generation, a quartet of lovable misfits (who are almost complete in my head), and some form of enemy, and I think we're on to something.

**Fafnir**

Start with a game design document. Here's a decent template for you to try.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CFYQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww-personal.engin.umd.umich.edu%2F~bmaxim%2Fcis488%2FBaldwinGameDesignDocumentTemplate.doc&ei=tzNrUYxkrsSLAt_ZgJgE&usg=AFQjCNEKwxb0SDkdvJYhGQbBj8T_ZBFrdQ&sig2=NvG0GpcLXpimoG6rtVJHJA&bvm=bv.45175338,d.cGE&cad=rja

After that, you'll actually be on your way to making something.

If you need artwork for your game, I'd be capable of doing some artwork/visual design, but I'd need to see a prototype first.

**Dr. What**

4oursword wrote:
Perhaps I'll be able to call on you for help, then? You seem to be a similar wavelength to me with this.
I recently played some Fire Emblem (the newest one on 3DS) and that's pretty similar in the turn-based nature of it. Crossbreed that with random terrain generation, a quartet of lovable misfits (who are almost complete in my head), and some form of enemy, and I think we're on to something.

Well, to start:

Map out the 4 characters and a basic idea of how the game will progress.

My thought is to have the four gradually navigate a series of dungeons, possibly with a village to shop at.

Each can be equipped and and controlled independently.

To complete a floor of a dungeon, you must get all four to the stairway/door alive. Movement/Attacking is done as a turn by turn.

**DemetriDominov**

K first, I know little about making any software so I'll stick to what I'd do if I only had my current skills (0) and needed to use your idea.

I'd stick with your first idea of Faceless minion where a the player and his NPC mob of cultists are trying to attain high favor with their patron god. Your character can call upon four avatars/spirits that can empower him/her along the way.

For example:

1. Increases your physical attacks but will cause you to take more damage.
2. You take less damage but deal less and move slower.
3. You move faster and can attack quicker but will deal slightly less damage and take slightly more.
4. Your attacks and movement are slowed, but you can throw fire/ect.

Hopefully this sounds familiar... so there should be no shortage of inspiration of additional abilities in each tree further down the line.

The game mechanics would be pretty easy as well. I'd make it a side scroller with the 4 spirits integral to your strategy at different points of the level.Very simple controls are important however. Simply point and click where you want your character to go then do a Fruit Ninja finger massacre should be the extent of the combat controls.

Furthermore, being the cult agitator, you can call upon your ultimate ability (some button on the screen someplace - perhaps in dire need) to hail a virtually endless supply of cultists to act as an amplifier to your 4 spirits. Your horde is fragile, but many in number and will quickly dissipate as they are flayed away from you in battle. However, because they embody whatever trait you currently possess, many seemingly impossible obstacles and bosses would be annihilated with relative ease. (Imagine a burning horde of cultists flinging themselves like angry birds at your target)

Finally, this leaves multiplayer.

I agree that this should be a platformer super smash bros type game, but I'm not going into any detail as to how this should be done - only that it should be.

**4oursword**

There's a small problem with a dungeon-crawler- the Bishop and the Knight won't be able to navigate the corridors.

@Fafnir: Fantastic, I'll get started on this right away.

@DemitriDominov: interesting Ideas! I'll bear them in mind.