My Ideas about a sandbox Game, Feedback or help appreciated.

John Peel · 2012-06-14T22:30:30

A little bit about me [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#2A2A2A]First thing's first, Let me start by introducing myself as you can see im new around here and this will be my first post, and i hope it does not hit you like a wall of text, that is not the what i am going for, My name is John im 20year's old and i live in Bradford ( England ) I have wanted to create a game since when i was a youngster, the earliest memory i have of this burning passion was when i was about 4year's old and i was thinking "Man, if i made a game i would have sand bags that made it so you did not take damage and then you could throw them at people or peek around the corner to shoot them" That is the earliest memory i have of wanting to, I setup my first business when i was 19 Year's old and that business is still running today, but that's not who i am or what i want to do there are 3 Directors of that Company and i am one of them, but i know this is what i want to do with my life and starting somewhere is better than never starting at all.[/font] The game i wish to create I wish to push the boundaries within my game i want people to sit there in awe and sometimes wonder how the hell we managed to get away with putting certain things into a game and then releasing it, i want my game to represent real life emotions and struggles not meaning to end up been bad but been driven to it, The Image of the title would be like this, The Camera would be looking at the Main character the Gamer plays and the surroundings Like if you are sat at home watching the TV on a wall across from you but at an angle, it would be a street with an ally to the far left side of the camera, in this ally you would see a man with a gun and a women on her knees, a speech bubble over the Main characters head saying "This is the world we live in" the image would be in black and white, The Image on the title is quite controversial as you can see but with it dimmed in black and white i believe it would create a more real effect than it would with it been in colour. Of course, i have full scenes that i have thought of, the next seen i have already got planned, i get inspiration every day from looking at my surroundings and i jot them down and peoples experiences and my own experiences further my thought process and further my understanding of certain situations i want to make Real situations within the game that are not normally in games we play anyone can make a shooter or a kill this guy kill that guy but i want to make something more than that. People ask me "You need to know how to Code to do this Job" I disagree it would help sure but it maybe gives someone else a chance who can code to replace what would be me coding, pulling them out of a slump or giving them a full-time Job, or something to do while they are not so busy. I have ideas about what would go on around the Game world, not just the Main characters story but the surroundings would progress and things would happen that was random within the game, but i will save those details for another post. Programs im thinking about using I am thinking about using Euphoria Also interested in 3DS Max for the animation aspects or the Models to be drawn into there and imported into the game If anyone else knows of any good programs out there then please list them as all ideas and help is welcomed and encouraged. Platforms for the game Im thinking about Making this Game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Im undecided about the PC at the moment, i can push the Graphics and make the game look absolutely suburb on a PC, but again i myself always find myself playing Sand box games on my Xbox 360 and PS3, But you can make the world look lush and have everything detailed beautifully on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 but you would have to ship the game with multiple disks the other alternative would be to have a standard download when first launching the game, these are some of the ideas i have had. What about Costs? To be honest, this is the only thing stopping me doing anything, i have the systems to do the work but i do not have the money to pay Developers/Animation artists/sound engineers and i can not ask them if they want a % of a company that has not been created yet you may fall back on my Original Company, but i want this to be fresh, no ties, no hook ups, Like the gaming company's of Today they was started in a house or a dorm, with nothing more than 3 or 4 people coming up with ideas and then creating the ideas. I have friends who would do Voice work for me, but as i said i can have everything in the world but without the correct people who can Develop/animate/draw and have a valuable interest in a vision like i do, then i can not do anything, unless i get lucky and a big Publisher sponsors my game, but i believe that would be like finding a needle in a hay stack, but you never know i might get lucky. Why are you posting this here Well, what i am looking for is Feedback, Insight and maybe even a little interest, This after all is The gaming universe of Coding/developing designing. If you wish to help me then i would appreciate that beyond belief, if you wish to give criticism then that's fine too as everything needs to be looked at, if you wish to get in touch with me Please add me on skype - de.bug1 Thank you for Reading my post, and thank you for taking and interest or providing me feedback, i appreciate it. Thank you again John Edit, I will upload some concept pictures tomorrow so you can get a better understanding of how the Front of the Game cover would look.

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Authentic92 June 10, 2012 10:06 PM

22 comments, last by Authentic92 11 years, 10 months ago

Ashaman73

13,718

June 14, 2012 11:20 AM

Currently there are very few games that can push the 360 and ps3 which is why we haven’t had a "new" major console officially announced for quite a few years now
Point two.

Well, I think that the current top level AAA games are pushing the 360/ps3 really,really far. Once you really create a game and see with what limited resources (compared to a modern PC) they create amazing looking games (!=amazing gameplay), you will realize, that your assumption is could bewrong. There might be other reasons they don't push the next generation of consoles, one of it will be most likely business considerations (kinect selling like hell, new consoles are always a major financial risk due to the subvention model).

due the releases of major engines (such as udk and cry engine) making a sandbox game with high graphics with out "knowing" code is much more common

Most sandbox games (is there a definition of sandbox games ?) will be hard to develop with one of the standard(FPS) engines and to code a game, even with a hi-polished engine, needs still a lot of coding (game != graphic demo). Most studios, which are capable of building a AAA game, would be most likely able to create their own engine too, but why should they reinvent the wheel when already an engine exists which suits their requirements and only costs a few millions ?

Ashaman

Gnoblins: Website - Facebook - Twitter - Youtube - Steam Greenlit - IndieDB - Gamedev Log

Authentic92

109

Author

June 14, 2012 04:24 PM

Ahh, Lots of posts i need to catch up on.

Thank you all for the feedback and i understand you are not trying to derail what i wish to do in life, and i understand very well that many of you are pointing to the lack of programming skills, However if i can write a solid story and a solid design then that's something at least i will have put some kind of effort into making the game even without coding experience, and i can always pick up a few books and read through them to get a basic under-standing or i can get some E-books and read them to get a basic understanding.

I have one idea about how to get developers to help me or animation specialists to help me, and i understand my Game will probably turn out differently than what i expect or what i see or vision in my mind, and i also understand some things will just not be possible, but things can be changed and edited in the GDD, the people who will help me will have just as much say as i do, it will be a collaborative effort not just mine.

That said, as many are stating i think it would be a good idea if i picked up some books to help me learn the basics of programming, that would be a step in the right direction i feel.

Legendre

985

June 14, 2012 06:35 PM

Thank you all for the feedback and i understand you are not trying to derail what i wish to do in life, and i understand very well that many of you are pointing to the lack of programming skills

As far as I can tell, no one is trying to derail you. They are just trying to guide you away from the unfeasible.

However if i can write a solid story and a solid design then that's something at least i will have put some kind of effort into making the game even without coding experience

Unfortunately, development only start when you write the first line of code. Otherwise, its just "thinking about game development".

That said, as many are stating i think it would be a good idea if i picked up some books to help me learn the basics of programming, that would be a step in the right direction i feel.

Contrary to what others might tell you, books and learning the basics might not be the best way to go. Remember, we're game developers, not software engineers, we only need to code enough to get it to work.

Since this is your first game, may I suggest you come up with a small "preview" version of it? Say 15-20 minutes of game play. Then think about what programming tools you can use to quickly put it together. If you choose Adobe Flash, you can probably jump straight into making the game AND learn basic programming at the same time, saving you a lot of boredom. Its so easy to make a game using Flash you'll be done in weeks. If you impress enough people on Flash portals, I guarantee you will get funding to make it into a full game. By then you would have the experience in coding, art, game development etc to complement.