Hi all, I would kindly appreciate any feedback on this, I''ve just finished writing it out, the actual idea come to me about a week ago. Thanks in advance. Sorry for spelling errors and such. I have not proofed it!! Concept for ''JumpWorlds'': A free platformer game and level-editor played over a web browser, tied into an online community. Players can create an account to record their fastest times on levels, create levels and rate other players levels, etc. Other ideas include being able to customise the look of your character, etc. Emphasis on simple, fun gameplay and the ability to create and share new levels which can be rated by player. For now a 2D game, with gameplay served via Java Applets embedden on a website, with a PHP/MySQL backend providing additional interaction (Forums etc) and database. For people who just want to play without getting too involved, you can play levels without an account. Having an account lets you get your name in fastest time lists etc (Players will have a ''trophy cabinet'' in their profile, with little cup and ribbon icons given for any levels they currently have a top-ten time in). You can rate (a simple plus or minus) levels you have played, to reward level makers, and help indicate the best levels to other players. Having an account also gives you access to the level editor so you can make levels. Possible options include being able to string levels together (eg/ Complete level 1 to get to level 2 etc), and have a system that can automatically validate a level (Eg/ make sure it is possible to complete), and possibly rate the difficulty of a level. As mentioned, players can rate levels, so this may provide incentive to try and make the best or most popular levels. Once this ''core concept'' is complete, there are a heap of directions the game could go in. Some sort of item inventory (and the ability to use items ingame), which could lead to players being able to collect, sell and trade items or have shops. Virtual pets (which perhaps could be ridden ingame.) I''m thinking alot of Neopets (http://neopets.com) here. Another idea would be to write a mobile app to download the play the levels on cellphones. Ultimately I would like to make a multiplayer platform game where you can play the levels with other people (I can''t believe that hasn''t been done yet -- I mean geez, and MMORPG that is actually fun to play), but I don''t know if this is practical with the technology I''m going to use, and for the mean time it''s not a priority. All up I think this is quite plausible, and would hopefully be fun for people. It will be a couple of weeks before I can start writing at code or anything so I was hoping for some feedback, ideas, or things I''ve overlooked. Please bare in mind I''ve not written every little detail I''ve thought of, but this gives aa good overview.

Uhh, I should have added a couple points.

First, this is not an MMORPG. You would browse forums, and for levels to play, using the website. It's just the actual levels would be played with an Applet to provide the power I'm after. It's more of a 'shared one player experience'. Like I hinted at tho, it really would be nice to let two or more players run through a level together, possibly helping, or hindering each other somehow', but perhaps not a realistic goal for me.

Second, when I say platformer, I mean, your classic Sonic, Mario, Crash (hey it's a 2d game in a 3d world), etc. Though with origional characters, settings etc.


[edited by - botman2 on May 15, 2004 11:16:08 AM]

Well hopefully the lack of responce is the ''nothing to say, your''ve got everything covered'' kind...

Sounds like an interesting idea, I''d love to play it
One suggestion: For each level, record which players have beaten it (And which have tried)
So for levels, you can have something like: "Played by 47 players, beaten by 12". And for players, you can have "Beaten 62 levels, attempted 97". I think it''d give valuable feedback about; A. The difficulty of a level, and B. The skill of players.

BTW, I doubt the validator will be all that hard to cheat. Sure, it may be possible to walk through a level, but what if I put all the enemies at the start of the level, and all the healthpacks/ammo at the other end? Beat that, will ya!

Hi,

that''s a good idea about recording attempts and such.

I didn''t go into too much detail about the validator. I did consider how people would try to cheat it, and I came up with a solution, I''m just not sure if it''s a realistic one.

What I had in mind was, some sort of pathfinding script would try to find the SIMPLEST path through the level (it would need some way to rate the difficulty of required jumps, and overcoming enemies etc), and that would be the main factor in how difficult the level was. Any alternative platforms or enemies, that didnt HAVE to be used or defeated to finish the level would only have a very small effect on the difficulty. Yeah, having multiple paths can make a level harder as the player might go the wrong way, but they only need to finish the level once to avoid that mistake again, and yeah like you said, it would easily be abused (putting in a hundred enemies... in a box, for example), so it would really just have to rate th edifficulty of the easiest path and assume players find it. Not perfect, but it''s all I''ve come up with. It''s certainly not something I''d try to add for a while.

Thanks again for feedback.

You should let members review levels for difficulty and fun, and let others rate their reviews, like on Amazon. Then you''ll eventually have a corpus of reliable reviewers that you can give the position of "official reviewers" to. Perhaps after some point in time, if there are many people creating low-quality levels or creating levels to win to get themselves points, you might only count levels that have been officially reviewed for the final statistics.

I don''t think that running a validator is enough to tell you whether a level is winnable. How about you just don''t count it as winnable, and don''t count player losses from it, if nobody [except the level maker] has won it yet?

Anyway, it sounds like a good idea, especially the part about adding bonus objects and pets that you can carry around from level to level. If you give the players powerful enough design tools as well as the ability to import art (or submit it for a checkup and then have it show up in the global list of art), it could grow into something quite big. I''d suggest also making some kind of "chat" level though, where players can talk to each other and show off whatever they gained in their in-game personas rather than just as figures on a messageboard.

Hi, again good points.

In relation to reviews and people making low-quality levels, after thinking about your post, I think I will use some sort of karma type thing (from Slashdot), where basically, a player who makes a level, and has a history of making good levels (levels rated highly) will start with their level rated a bit higher than someone who has low or no ratings.

It sounds like no-one has much confidence in the whole validator thing, so I will leave it as something to think about later. Your idea in this regard sounds good.

Lastly, I think the idea of a chat level, where you can show your items and pets, is great. I would still have a forum of course, but the graphical chatlevel would be a much more immediate and fun way to talk.

Many thanks.

This sounds like an intriguing idea.

I was just wondering what sort of platformer game, and also if you have done any work on it yet in any form.

One warning though. Don''t allow players to earn things in unofficial levels because there are very few who wouldn''t take advantage of this fact.

Perhaps people who make the best rated levels could also become honorary level makers, with permission to create official levels where you can earn items. Of course these levels would have to be checked before play.

The rating system is a good idea, don''t need much quality control or difficulty checking as long as the people who play the game are honest in their voting.

I was thinking perhaps allow people to create one level of a very small size to get a feel for what they can do. No time limits or construction limits except for a very small canvas and only one level allowed at once.

Just a few ideas. I''d like to know more and see how this project turns out.

Parthon

Hi,

the actual type of platformer game will obviously start out quite basic. Collect points, jump on enemies, get to end type stuff. As I make progress on the level-editor, I''d like to give level designers the power to choose various options for their levels. For example, things like (but not limited to) "player owned pets allowed", "enemies can be jumped on" "time limit" "double jumping", etc. And of course, various different graphical themes. As many creative options as possible really, while keeping things realistic. It would probly be a case of players submitting ideads on what they want/need to make the levels they want, then looking at how to add that feature.

Sorry if that was all a bit vague, I''ve really not got anything solid yet.

And no, I havn''t started any actual work. Between my job and uni it will be a week or two before I do. I have been planning things though which is something. Eg/ how to store the levels, and I have access to all the resources I''ll need to make a good start (hosting and what-not).

You''re definately right about how people would abuse the ability to create levels which give them items and such. I''ve not yet decided how items would be handled because of this. What you suggested is a good idea, only I want to keep this thing as open to all as I can, though I guess I have to be realistic, and accept some people would exploit anything they can. So yeah, something to think about.

Could you pelase elabourate more on your last idea? Are oyu saying people would have to sort of earn the right ot make levels? Starting out with only a few simple tools? Sorry if I''ve got your idea wrong.

Anyways, thankyou very much for feedback. I have to go now though, I''ve just been told off by my gf to go to bed (it''s 6am), so goodnight all.