[MLP Fan-Game] Adventure is Magic: Road to Arath

Started by Xeno Aura, 2012 Oct 21, 15:38:23

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Xeno Aura

2012 Oct 21, 15:38:23 Last Edit: 2012 Dec 15, 13:02:15 by Xeno Aura
Welcome to the Adventure is Magic: Road to Arath discussion thread.

Here's the key features of the game


  • 2D Platformer, with RPG elements

  • Local Co-op play for up to 4 players (Same Computer)

  • Network Play, currently 2 players only, via Direct IP (Experimental) Not yet publicly available

  • Features activities such as Mining, Combat and Exploration.

  • Storyline, boss battles, all fully playable with 4 players.

  • Hundreds of different items.

  • At least 2 different types of enemy!

  • Choose from the 3 main races

  • Character customization

  • Learn new skills, and become more powerful as you progress and level up your character.



I'm really interested in suggestions for the game, specifically enemies at the moment. I can program a lot of things, but I have trouble coming up with something different than everything else, hence why the only shown enemy is currently Slimes, a common enemy in many games of this type.

Also feel free to suggest other things, such as items, skills for the 3 races, and perhaps even core gameplay ideas. I will look at every suggestion, and may add one if I think it's a good idea.

Screenshots:


Dev Logs:
Spoiler: show

November 17th 2012:


November 25th 2012:



System Requirements:

Currently AiM: RtA runs on:

Windows:

- Windows XP or later
- Any Dual core CPU (Tested on 2.0GHz Core 2 duo)
- 2GB of RAM
- 20MB of storage space
- DX9 Graphics Card (256MB VRAM or more)
- Keyboard & Mouse
- Xbox 360 controller or PS3 controller emulating a 360 controller required for multiplayer.

WINE:

The games single-player mode is playable in WINE for Linux, Xbox 360 controller and Network do not work in WINE.

WINE for Mac has not been tested.

These system requirements are subject to change, chances are they will increase slightly as development progresses.

AiM: RtA is not associated with any other projects of a similar or same name. This is made purely by me, and those mentioned in the games credits.

Download Link:
http://www.mlprpg.darkfire-ent.com/AiM%20RtA.rar

Julius

Like Terraria without the mining and creation...

Hmm...

Care to tell me a bit about the story? Not anything major... Just the main plot and the main character, without too much details.

I may come up with something if you do. ^-^

Also, I must say you got me interested in said game. B)
Purr~

Xeno Aura

It will have mining in it, but I'd rather not include altering the world, to simplify it for myself. Crafting of items.... something I'd like to do, but I may leave it out in favour of making the player loot or buy better items, like TorchLight/Diablo/Borderlands...

I wanted the game to have a freedom to it, where you can wander around the world, level up, get better items, become more powerful, face stronger enemies. etc.

An under-lying storyline would be something I'd probably want to add, to make the game have some sort of purpose. Terraria had the ultimate aim of defeating a series of increasingly hard bosses which drop epic loot, no story at all, I'm not sure whether I should follow a similar vein or try a more conventional approach... Terraria approach is easier to do.

Here's an idea I came up with in about 3 minutes:

Have multiple bosses dotted around the game world, and perhaps some form of castle/stronghold, with the final boss, which can't be accessed until all previous bosses are defeated?

That would probably mean I could have a simple story-line, instead of a in-depth one like an RPG would have, but it would also give players an objective in the long run, on top of getting the best items, there would be a sort of goal to aspire to...

Perhaps I should have waited until I had a backstory to the game before posting this topic...

I guess I was drawing inspiration from a group of games with no/very little storyline, so I hadn't thought about it much...

Julius

2012 Oct 22, 09:15:33 #3 Last Edit: 2012 Oct 22, 09:17:52 by Julius
Now I am DEFINITELY interested in this game. I love Borderlands. ovO

How about...

Terraponies, the mix of Terraria and Ponies! lol

I can come up with something better later I'm sure (Even though I'm likin' Terraponies). I'll let you know! ^-^

... Hey, does this mean I get to be in the credits of a videogame? If so, that is SO awesome! :3
Purr~

Xeno Aura

Yeah, I'll probably mention a few guys from here in the credits.

Terraponies is a good start, although I hope it doesn't give the impression of there being Humans in the game. :D

Julius

2012 Oct 22, 09:35:10 #5 Last Edit: 2012 Oct 22, 09:39:56 by Julius
Yay!  :D

I don't think about humans with that name really. But if you did, it means others probably will too.

I'll get back to you as soon as I come up with something.

I should add that with "Terra" in mind, I made a few translations and I found a really interesting one, "Aarde". Now I don't think it may be the best name ever, but it's worth pointing out anyways.

Again, I'll be back with whatever I come up with.

Edit: Wait, wait! Here's a very silly take on Borderlands!

Wait for it...

Here it comes...

FLUTTERLANDS!

lol

... I'll be serious now.

Purr~

FimFan14

Is there a specific player you control, or is it customisable names and/or sprites?

Julius

Hmmm... Ponies of Aarde?

Think about it. Aarde sounds sort of... Medieval, you know? Kind of Elder Scroll-sy. Last boss is in a castle that can only be reached after certain conditions are met and your pony's might and courage have been proven via several trials in different parts of the world. And there's the name of your world, Aarde.

Why go kill that last boss? What's your motivation? Well, maybe he's threatening to destroy the world of Aarde (Or Equestria) and you're the chosen one.

Yet... At first you're too weak, therefore having to prove yourself in the trials to be able to reach the castle.

You mentioned Co-Op, perhaps this last boss (King of Darkness? No?) captures your friends and love interest and sends them to the depths of every dungeon. That way you get a nice story which can be developed further if you wish, new allies to choose from (Each with their own playstyles) after completing each dungeon, and the possibility to implement an A.I. That fights with you when in Single Player!

Quote from: FimFan14 on 2012 Oct 22, 10:06:26
Is there a specific player you control, or is it customisable names and/or sprites?


I'd like to know as well. If it's a set character, it'd be a neat little touch to be able to play as my pony, though that's asking too much. lol

I'll stick to helping you come up with names and suggesting things for the game unless you say so. :)

Depending on how you wish to develop the story, you may or may not want voice acting for the game. If you do, I'm here for you. B)

Also... Will I be able to play on Mac? ^-^
Purr~

FimFan14

There isn't much I can do to help, but I can offer my assistance. My specialty is instrumental music. While I'm not the best, I may be able to help if you need a composer for bg music.

Xeno Aura

Not sure which you wanted, but all 4 players can customize their ponies in terms of colour. 1 colour for body, mane is split into 2 colours. Custom names aren't in yet, but could be added fairly easily. You can choose between the 3 races, however beyond that, I haven't added any customization, doesn't mean to say more won't be added however.

I like some of your ideas Julius, I'm not too keen on the idea of friendly AI, they'd probably have to be fairly intelligent, and AI is very hard to code. Friendly AI moreso than enemy in my opinion. Not sure if you meant co-op would be unavailable at the start when you said "rescuing friends"? But 4 player co-op (Again *same computer* I will not be coding network play) will be available right from the beginning.

As for Mac, I'm pretty sure I can get it working on Mac.

I did a brief look at music a while ago, but I never chose anything for the game, ideally at the moment I'd be looking for fairly peaceful music, for the starting area.

Julius

2012 Oct 22, 10:54:33 #10 Last Edit: 2012 Oct 22, 10:57:21 by Julius
Alright! Nice to see we can customize. Also, I have a Mac so... Yeah, it'd be appreciated! ^-^

About the A.I., it's your decision. It is not really needed so... It's up to you.

An easy way to have Co-Op from the start without removing the rescuing concept is to make a few choices available from the beginning. Then you get more choices as you rescue friends.

Say you start by being able to choose between six different types of ponies and you end up being able to choose between twelve, for example.

It would be silly if you couldn't play with other people from the start. X3

Also, another idea, is to have the enemies scale to your level like in Borderlands. That way the whole game is challenging. It would also be nice if the bosses respawned, again, like in Borderlands.
Purr~

Xeno Aura

Scaling level is something I'd have to look into. The plan at the moment is to have harder enemies the deeper you go, so that sort of edges me away from scaling difficulty. There will be some combat above ground, but you have to venture deeper down in order to get better equipment and loot, like Terraria. I will have to implement this to a degree, as obviously the game will be easy if the enemies are the same strength in multiplayer as they are in singleplayer.

I haven't really thought bosses through yet, but ideally I would also like to go for a method which allows them to respawn, perhaps if they possess a rare item, you would want to defeat them more than once if it didn't drop the first time...

Julius

Exactly! :)

If I knew how to make games I'd try to help you make it online Co-Op but... I've absolutely no idea. X3

Perhaps a nice pony who knows how to do that will show up and offer his/her help!
Purr~

Xeno Aura

Unfortunately I use a programming language that most game developers don't use. I know a couple of others on here who use the same as me, but I don't know if they have the knowledge to program network code, especially into a game which hasn't been designed with network-friendliness in mind.

I have coded basic networking, but this game is probably my biggest project, and it would be a big task to make it work over a network. Even for someone experienced with it.

Although network play is nice, and if I had good knowledge of coding it, it'd almost certainly be in the game, you can't beat some good co-op play with everyone in the same room. :)

At the moment I'm trying to quickly get the basic game engine together, and remove serious bugs from it, so I can focus on expanding the map, it is literally tiny at the moment, takes about a minute to see all of it.

Julius

Yeah, that is tiny. :P

I know Co-Op in the same system is nice and all but... Well, not a lot of people willing to play ponies where I am, heh.

But anyways, whatever you need that I can help with, let me know.

Still looking for names, or are we sticking to one of the names already suggested?
Purr~

Xeno Aura

Feel free to suggest more names. :)

Yeah I thought about the not finding anyone who would agree to play a game like this with you. Unfortunately I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, either do network coding, which would delay the game for a long time, make it more buggy, and probably lower the overall quality, or make the best of it and do a fairly solid shared screen experience, but less likely to find someone to play with.

Julius

I got a few suggestions. Not very good but... At least it's something. :P

- Pony Tales.

- The Journey Of Hoof.

- Hoof Warriors.

- Adventure Is Magic.

Having a hard time trying to come up with names. :c
Purr~

Xeno Aura

Quote from: JuliusHaving a hard time trying to come up with names.


Tell me about it. :P

Should be getting some more work done on this today, this is sort of my hobby project, and my main project until my friend is free, then we'll start a joint project, and this game will become secondary. But don't worry, I have lots of free hours in the day for the moment, so it should get a decent amount of time plunged into it. :)

Julius

Awesome! Let me know if you develop the story and the world further. I noticed that most games base the name on something related to the story or lore of the game.

Borderlands? Pandora is a border planet.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent? Well, this one's obvious.

Gears Of War? We play as the Gears and we're at war.

Halo? The whole games are based around the Halos.

You get the idea.

Reason why I'm having such a hard time coming up with a name is because I have little to work with I think. :P
Purr~

Tekner

Quote from: Xeno Aura on 2012 Oct 22, 11:25:20
Unfortunately I use a programming language that most game developers don't use.
And what language would that be? I'm going to just take a wild guess and say Python, Perl, or Java. Also, who's providing the resources for the game? It sounds like you're going to need a lot.

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