Assembler Game

Here's the first boss:

 

So let's get serious

So are you guys serious about this? If you are then we should get organized. Somebody is going to have to be the "boss." So I elect whoever has the most experience in game programming to be the head of the team.

The team should be divided up into sections, including:

General concept/desgin: Whoever thought up the idea should get final say here. We will need somebody with a "vision" and we have to volunteer to stick to the vision and not throw in stuff that doesn't fit. Like if somebody wants a part where you rape an old lady but our game is PG rated, then that person has to be able to respectfully have his idea thrown out without getting mad and quitting the team.

Coding/programming/etc: Not jsut the people who actually write the code, but somebody who can say to the rest of us what is actually possible to put int the game and what isn't due to system limitations.

Art department: graphics, sound, character desgin, etc. I could help in this aspect.

Finally, we will need somebody to host a website for the game as since most of us live in different parts of the world it'll be much easier to do our work through a website that we can all FTP our stuff up and down when needed. I can offer my website.

And the Bosses job will be the assigning of tasks, keeping track of progress, and lighting a fire under somebody's bootie when they lag for six months. His reward will be the top billing on the credits at the end. If we all keep it together, keep it simple, and work at it every day we can knock out a decent game in under two years.

We're the people who've been playing games since the first pong machines, I have no doubt that a game by us would kick some major ass.

 

hahaha

 

Cool glad to see ther is interest in the idea. :smt023

I think a 2D game would be the best easiest thing to do, and most acheivable. So then, we can either do a space shooter like Mars Matrix, Mario Style platformer (although there is already the Giana sisters brew) or something like Metal Slug/Contra?

Yeah, lets get together and get this organised. Anime style artwork would be cool.

Ok, so who can program? Kalisto OS for the DC coding, I assume?

Need ppl who can do 2d sprite animation.

Level design, character design.

Sound.

So, who can fill the above posts, and is really interested then?

 

I am an Interaction Designer myself. I would like to help out with the gfx (character/level) since that is what I do for a living.
And helping out with the General concept/design would be cool too if there are still people needed in that area.
I never worked on a game before, so I don't got any experience with this.
Man let's get this thing on the road! :smt040

 

art for me

I'm all over sprites and character desgin. I will need to know how large to make them, how many frames of animation, etc.

But first off I think we should start by writing a plot. That'll make it a lot easier to decide what the characters are going to be.

Here's my idea for a plot: Somebody breaks into Assmebler's fortress of doom and steals all his game consoles. So Assembler busts out his trusty NES zapper and goes out to kick some bootay. The first few levels take place in the "real" world, with bad guys including gangmembers, rabid dogs, skinheads, bad cops, etc. After a while the game gets more and more surreal, and that's where all the mutants/talking dogs/cyborgs/zombies show up. At the end you get to kill whoever stole all the game systems and save the world.

Weponry could include famous perphials from game machines, like the Zapper, U-force, Power glove (to lift heavy rocks or something,) that Atari headband where you were supposed to use your mind (whatever it was called.) Also I like the idea of each game system granting you a new powerup too. Dreamcast makes you fly, SMS lets you climb walls or celiengs, CPS changer lets you do shoryukens, etc.

It would also be cool to have multiple endings based on what game systems you collect. Maybe if you get them all you get the "best" ending. Just a thought.

 

I was thinking....if we are going with the 2D platformer and powerup system then maybe we could just make it like Super Metroid style with health/ammo power ups ^_^ Also, on the topic of weapons, How about a VMU-grenade (flip of the cap and arm it ^_^) and we could use the SNES scope as a Later replacement for the Zapper...This is really kinda freaky but I have design sketches for a game like this...though it was nothing to do with the forum ^_^

 

I'm up for helping with either the design/coordinator position, or sprite art/backgrounds and stuff, but it's looking like we have some talent there already.

I like the idea of the Zapper as a weapon. If we're using gun accessories from systems, might I suggest the following: Super Scope (yes, already suggested and a good idea), the Guncon, and the nifty Silent Scope rifle on the XBox. Also, could we possibly use the Tiny Bee FFX-2 peripherial and the Onimusha Soul controller (the katana thing). And the CPS changer allowing hadokens or shoryukens is excellent. :smt043

The Power Glove is a great idea for moving rocks and such, but I'm wondering if that ventures TOO close to Zelda territory.

Here are some other ideas that popped into my head:

-The player could be either assembler, or some budding collector after assembler's collection (would assembler be the final boss then?)

-The final boss could be some evil dictator of some small country who has been buying PS2s and Network Adaptors and has linked them into a giant supercomputer capable of controlling all the worlds nuclear missiles (the missle part is a little cliche, yes, but does anyone remember back in the release days of the PS2 when there were problems with exporting it to certain countries because it was classified as a supercomputer (as was the mac G3 if I remember)).

-A boss could be the Macro$oft(tm) Mothership, a giant weapons platform in low earth orbit that looks JUST like everyone's favorite gianormous console

-The Virtual Boy could be found as a hidden powerup to spot boss weak points or something like that

-The VMU grenade idea was golden, I love it. What about looking for PS2/PS memory cards to open doors, or collecting CDs/DVDs/GD-ROMS/Gamecube discs to mimic the classic 'coins' or 'rupees'?

-Unreleased GD-R discs could be a 1-up

Alright, that's all I have right now.

Oh, is there anyone volunteering for boss or helpful characters? Just an idea, but maybe the mods should all be on one side, either major bosses or helpful characters, or something like that?

EDIT: Oh wait, I forgot something. Enemies. Enemies could be the useless gamestore clerks we have all encountered, eBay snipers, eBay scalpers, characters based on famous executives that have completely screwed over games or systems (hidden Nolan Bushnell boss, anyone?) or something. I like the idea with the reality being blurred as the game goes on - maybe when all the human enemies are gone, they could be replaced with robotic clones/real clones/zombie clones, and possibly even be attacked by systems - fleets of flying Game.coms, or exploding discrete-logic pong boards or something.

EDIT 2: And, while this may be a little close to a ripoff, what if the enemies did the little exclamation-mark above their heads when they saw you, accompanied by a sharp chord in the SFX? Or when you die, have a digitzed voice scream, "Player! What happened? Player? PLLLAAAAAYYYEEEERRRR!" (or whatever the player's name is)

I'm done now.

 

How about an adventure for some of the big unreleased items we have yet to get? I don't know how many big unreleased things are left, but maybe pick like a few of them and have to search for them and beat bosses to get them. For example, you'd have to go through the Capcom Japan building looking for the Archives to find a copy of BH 1.5, and once you find the Archives, you have to beat the big boss for that level (say, Shinji Mikami in this instance). I know not everyone is as interested in BH 1.5 as me, but I think this is a good concept and you can include several different unreleased items for different stages/levels. I think it'd be fun. And you wouldn't also necessarily have to beat a boss either. Maybe for a stage about Propellor Arena (though it is on it's way to being released, it is/was still a big item), your goal would be to gain a very large amount of points/cash to buy it from the "boss" Wyte, or something like that.

What do you guys think?

 

Game ideas

Player characters: We should start out with Assmebler (as without him none of this would be possible,) Yakumo (our "man in Japan,") and one other moderator as selectable characters. If we include anyone else they should be hidden unlockable characters. It would be dope to have all five moderators as players, I'm just thinking about practicality.

Also, if we do have more than one player character then there should be some difference in abilities. Maybe one jumps higher, one can do a sliding kick (and thus reach hidden areas the other's can't,) one has a stronger gun, etc.

I love the idea of the X-Box as a Boss! That would be cool! In my pathetic webcomic (also called "Hawanja") I have a company called Necrosoft, run by the evil billionare Gill Bates (whom his underlings call "Master Bates.") I would be honored to have Master Bates make a cameo in the Assembler game. I think we should feature the Atari 2600 as well, maybe like a box you stand on to reach a higher platform. Pay homage and bag on it at the same time.

I also like the idea of having e-bay snipers, game shop bozos who try to rip you off, etc. as generic Bad guys. I volunteer myself as a really cheezy one, like the guy who is a real pain in the ass to kill and you end up just skipping. Every shooter/action platformer has one.

Game CDS as coins/rings is definitely the way to go.

If we have famous game designers as bosses, then we have to honor the greatest desginer of all time, Shigeru Miyamoto. He should be sitting on a rocket powered throne with a big switch, and every time he pulls it a box opens and a famous Nintendo Character like Mario or Link runs out and trys to kill you. So you're on the ground and you're shooting him while simutaneously jumping over/ fighting off Goombas, Koopa troopers, octorocks, Diddy kong, Princess Peach, etc, all drawn like posessed zombies (like with blood and sores all over thier bodies.) Just a thought.

Plus there should be a part where you kill Pikachu.

I think we're off to a good start! Keep the ideas rolling, right now everything is open, we'll come to a final decision later.

 

The idea of more than one player character is a good one, however, as a cautionary note, more characters - especially with different skills - means more work. Now if the hidden character were basically a sprite swap (like the leotard Samus in the original Metroid when using the Justin Bailey code) that might not be too bad. I'm not sure what everyone else thinks, but my personal opinion is that we should keep this simple but fun, just like the old 8- and 16-bit days. Not to say that there isn't room for secrets, as some of those games were stuffed with them.

I like the Necrosoft and Master Bates idea - it could be the Hex Box, instead of the big X it could be a big hexagon or something..

And I like the idea of the 2600 as a usable object - maybe an inventory object, like your own personal stepping stone that you can whip out and use to get to other places? Or in yet another Metal Gear ripoff, maybe it's a 2600 lookalike that you could hide in to escape enemies or something?

And I love the idea of Miyamoto in the rocket chair sending Nintendo baddies after you - we could even possibly lift some original sprites from Super Mario and Zelda and then alter (zombify, etc.) them enough to avoid being a ripoff. Or, we could go for the total ripoff thing and just make them all a neat grey or green color or something, to go with the zombie/robot idea. Miyamoto could be the boss you must defeat to lay your hands on the Super NES CD prototype or something like that.


Also, if we have Miyamoto, we must have Yuji Naka and an army of Sonic clones or something.

And I agree Pikachu must die, but I hate that thing so much that I'd be loath to see it in a game about ASSEMbler. That's just my opinion, tho...

I do like the ideas of going through corporate headquarters to get rare games and stuff - you could have the Capcom building brimming with MegaMan, Street Fighter characters, etc. on your way to the Biohazard 1.5 disc. Or the Konami building could be populated with Castlevania baddies, DDR arrows, and Gradius ships and Moai as you are looking for the DreamCastlevania proto (my personal fave, hee hee...)

Do people think we should veer towards something more original and only include systems and peripherals, or should we go on an all-out parody/ripoff binge? I think either could work nicely.

So should someone start working things out into a design document or something when we get them solidified? I know this is still open to discussion, but I'll volunteer to start organizing the concrete things we do get down.

Lets keep the ideas coming! :axe:

 

Wow, I've been out of the loop for a few days and suddenly this topic is flooded with good ideas! (and an occasional photoshop'd pic of myself :smt033 ). I really like the idea of fighting Capcom characters in the Capcom building, maybe make some quest-based game where the player has to go to each game company's building and steal their respective holy grails? I'm all for some twisted parody gameplay as in Parodius :smt023
Really, if someone compiles a more rigidly defined 'storybook' I'd love to help implement the technical side of things.

 

what we have so far...

Okay, so I'll sum up:

The main player is Assembler, with different moderators as unlockable players, which will have different abilities (if we have time to include that. I'd be cool with the sprite swap Idea too, gives it more of an old school feel.)

You go to different countries to raid various game headquaters and steal the corresponding holy grails

Each level you find another rare game console that grants different abilities. Dreamcast makes you fly, CPS changes let's you do street fighter moves(shoryuken, Hadoken,) Virtua Boy can discover the bosses weak point (that's a cool idea.)

Weaponry are different console periphials, the Zapper, Super scope, Katana sword, the VMU gernade (love that Idea.)

Each "level" has sprites/characters from that companies' famous games. Sprites could be ripped straight from the respective games (which would save us some work actually) although I think it would be cool to give some a makeover. I envision a giant, ugly, puss-filled sore covered Mario with snot dripping out of his nose trying to step on you and you have to blow his brains out. Maybe as a mini-boss?

The big bad guy at the end is a world dictator/ evil corproate conglomorate who has a giant "Hex Box" that is trying to take over the world.

CDs are coins/rings that you collect, maybe if we include shops you could use them as money

Sounds good so far, and I think it's got enough humor that anyone who grew up with these games would be entertained, and maybe laugh out loud.

So I'm going to work on some sketches of Assembler and various bad guys, etc. Anyone else who wants to do art should do likewise, and we'll post the links here and all vote on changes/which one is best/whatever.

We're still going to have to decide who is the Head of the team, I personally think it should be whoever has the most experience in game programming. Anyone intereseted in the job please post your experience here and we'll all vote for you. If we choose to elect a head guy then we all have to volunteer to follow his "vision." I suppose we really don't have to have a team leader, I just think that having one guy in charge would make easier to come to decisions, like that person has the final say in what goes in the game. Like if I really want to kill Pikachu in the game but he says no then I'll be cool with that. I suppose we could keep it democratic, it'll just take longer to get the game rolling.

Ideas for levels:

Nintendo HQ: Mushroom platforms, Goombas, Octorocks, Princess Peach, spring boards, flamming barrels, Donky Kong. Boss: Miyamoto and the nintendo mascot machine

Sega HQ: Speed tunnels, Sonic clones, Frogger, Shinobi, DR. Robotnik, altered beast, the chicken dragon from Golden Axe. Boss: Yuji Naka and the Hedgehog gun (shoots spinning Sonics at you at lightning speed.)

Konomi: Moais, Bone towers (from castlevania,) Simon Belmont, paridous, Boss: Dracula

Capcom: This one would be fun- Megaman, Street fighter charcters, darkstalkers, strider, Ghouls and ghosts, etc. Boss: really huge evil Megaman (with corresponding game designer, don't know his name.)

More levels could include a Square/Final Fantasy level (with evil chocobos and Sid the mechanic,) an SNK fighting level, and maybe one devoted to all the other good games throughout the years (I think at least we should include the Gommander from R-type.)

Keep the ideas commin!

 

My idea is simpler.

A trip all around the world. From USA, to Brazil, then Europe, then final stage: Japan.

The main playable characters: the moderators + assembler. The other members will help given "special" items during the game.

 

No other members should be the enemy.. :smt040

 

perhaps we should get together on the IRC for a more realtime discussion... I'm really interested in this.

 

For the Konami type level I think we should include at least something Metal Gear ^_^ I definatley think the idea of using the MGS Exclamation marks would be cool here

 

I'm up for writing some music for the game. Remixes of game tunes I suppose?

 

Man, I think the IRC thing would be a great idea, but we need to come up with a time that the most people could be on. I'm not going to have much internet access, if any, until about Sunday as I'm going to be on spring break with my family, but I'd love to be able to take part in such a discussion, if possible.

Maybe everyone could keep posting ideas for a while until we think we're ready to vote on things, and do the voting on IRC or something like that?

 

IRC

Then let's schedule it for like next week or something on a day when we're all off.

I'm off from work tuesdays and thrusdays, and generally availible before 2pm and after 10 pm Pacific Standard time.