Simple little game for young and not so young.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

In a world that is obsessed with taxing the most powerful graphics cards to the limit, I present a game of simple visuals and simple rules. I wanted to take the single user computer to a family computer for more than one person. I feel that too many people are playing games with people they don't know or care about so I wanted to make them considering playing with their family and the people they may be neglecting in their area. I want friends to get together and play in the same room again, sharing the screen and having fun. I plan to make a series of simple games that let players play a game on the same computer. I want the computer to be a family console and few games attempt this anymore.

Now for a simple demo game.

I'm sorry but this game will require a controller for each player. Playing with more than 2 players per keyboard is frustrating. For now I have opted to only use controllers. Currently there can be up to 16 players at once. I'll consider adding keyboard mapping if possible later. This is a game even my dad and mom can play. (Luckily I have 5 USB controllers) and a USB hub. This game is designed around my needs, so if you don't have a controller you have my apologies. Bad design?- maybe. However this is a game for a specific set of friends and myself. I just get extreamly bored playing FPS and Sports games nonstop. I wanted something simple and fast to break the 4 hour monotony of Halo and CoD WoW. I just prefer simple arcade games.

I've been working on this since after my entry into the Time Comp.
I program for about 2 hours per day.


If you have ideas for key mapping I will consider them. Just USB controllers for now please.

[benny!]

Hey Ryan ... the screeny looks very promising. And what you wrote
is a very good idea. I think such games of that genre (playing all
together in front of one single computer) are very rare these days.

I realize it just last weekend, that playing togehter on one device (in my case
X-BOX) is much more fun than playing via internet.

Unfortunately I do not own a joystick - so I will wait until you support
some keyboard mapping so that I can at least have a look at the game
itself.

[Clyde]

unfortuneatly im in the same boat as Benny; unless it supports an old style SideWinder Control Pad which is at my parents.

Be a bit carefull with naming files with fullstops in mate. Some systems might not like that.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Hey Ryan ... the screeny looks very promising. And what you wrote
is a very good idea. I think such games of that genre (playing all
together in front of one single computer) are very rare these days.

I realize it just last weekend, that playing together on one device (in my case
X-BOX) is much more fun than playing via internet.

Unfortunately I do not own a joystick - so I will wait until you support
some keyboard mapping so that I can at least have a look at the game
itself.

Could you give me an idea of what kind of default layout the keyboard might have? Also I'm glad to hear that people still vale face to face gaming.

unfortuneatly im in the same boat as Benny; unless it supports an old style SideWinder Control Pad which is at my parents.

Be a bit carefull with naming files with fullstops in mate. Some systems might not like that.

You are correct, a bit of late night coding and 4 cups of coffee before bed burrs the thinking a bit. I'll have to correct this one soon!
Yeah, I imagine quire a few people do not own a proper joystick. I think you may find a proper converter for the Sidewinder maybe. YOu might find a usb adapter but that is almost not worth the hassle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SideWinder

I might have to look into joystick key emulation via keyboard if possible.

There are some great deals going on for controllers.
http://shop.ebay.com/items/__PC-game-pad_W0QQLHQ5fBINZ1QQLHQ5fIncludeSIFZ1QQ_flnZ1QQ_scZ1QQ_sopZ15QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em283

[Clyde]

I came up with these while thinking of different game styles, in this instance Lego Starwars and most First Person games. The game style for your game judging it based on the title sequence says to me an asteroids clone.

A typical keyboard movement layout would be such like for player 1,

W - Up
S - Down
A - Left
D - Right
Z / X Strafing
F-L - Special Abilities

Left Ctrl or Left Shift - Fire Weapon

For Player 2:

Cursor Keys move accordingly.
Number pad used for special stuff.

Also add in option to assign keys and save to a preference file, as I gaurantee every player will have their own liking to which keys do the job.

[Shockwave]

The idea is really really good, sadly though, just like everyone else above me I don't have any usb hub or controllers so a multiplayer game would have to be keyboard driven which means that I cannot play your game with Mel. 

Interesting that you want to make a series of games and I applaud the sentiment behind it, this can and does happen, people get absorbed into the computer world and ignore what is going on in the environment around them.

Something good to look up on Wiki would be "combat by atari", it was a cartridge for old home video game systems that contained several variations of 2 player games with simple graphics but they were huge fun. Something keyboard controlled, preferably with just a few redefinable keys for each player would be excellent... And accessible.

[zawran]

I have one joypad which works with pc, and I am fairly certain that my brother has one as well, so I might try and get him to try this with me. I like the idea of playing with others in the same room. I have a PS3, and one of the most fun games is Buzz, which is a quiz game that I play with my brother and his wife, and we always have a laugh, and its especially fun to make fun of each other when we fail. We also play Little Big Planet every now and then which is a multiplayer platform game. Every now and then I play co-op games with my brother like Resistance and Army of Two which is first person and third person shooters. Those are split screen games, but still a lot of fun.

Its a great idea, and if you look at something like the Wii, its also an idea that a lot of people actually like.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Working on "bots" now.

Looks very fun with 16 players...

[benny!]

Yeah, I think Clyde's suggestions about the keyboard settings
will do. Those seems to be the standard keyboard settings most
ppl are used to. Definately worth a try.