Okay... if there are any places available, sign me up. After all, when I'm older I do hope to be a game's designer. I have no experience, and this would be a nice time to start playing around with things... I don't know what I could help with, small things if possible, but I would like to help out. If however people with more experience come along, by all means give them a place instead of me.

An excellent point! (well, the whole post had some very good points, but I wanted to comment especially one this one)
The beauty of having a big team working on several projects is also that the different projects should be able to borrow things from each other, meaning the progress on EACH one will be sped up (in theory).

But one thing I notice is that everyone on the list so far seems to be a programmer (although some may have other skills), so I wonder if you really need more people dedicated to other fields, graphics in particular. Because if I'm going to be contributing to this I think I speak for most of us here when I say I'd like the quality to be as top notch as possible.

Another thing I'm wondering is, how will the group best communicate? MSN and such are options, but that would cause problems with the different time zones etc. Maybe it would be a good idea to set up a dedicated forum for this group on invisionfree or something?


Now, onto the topic of an RTS, just some practical ideas from a programming perspective:

• Pathfinding - this is one of the big challenges in an RTS game - because everything has to happen quickly and you may have dozens of units trying to find paths at the same time, you can't really use things like the A* algorithm, as it would just be too slow. But you don't want to have the frustrating pathfinding of early RTS games such as the original Age of Empires where they just try to make a beeline to the destination and get stuck if that doesn't work. I could probably create a DLL that could do a rough calculation for pathfinding at a much faster speed than GML, but in order to do this there should be some file that both Game Maker and the DLL can read that has the necessary information. Which leads me onto my next point.
• File management - I personally don't like having all the levels and everything hard-coded into the game, so I think ideally we should have a special file format that will contain the level data. Again I could create a function in the DLL to read this into GM, or even just a GML script. This would provide the common file that the pathfinding function could use to read the level information and work out obstacles to plot around etc. Also this means it's a lot easier to make minor changes without having to recompile the entire game. My own turn based strategy actually used a similar system to the original Command & Conquer games how unit information, levels, etc were all stored in human-readable ini files, and it worked perfectly.

Also, from a gameplay perspective, while I like the idea of controlling one main character and directly commanding the others, we'd have to think it out thoroughly of how to work this in game - for instance, is it going to be a base building strategy game? If so, how would we implement things like managing your base while also leading an attack on the enemy? One option would be to go for a very realistic approach, where maybe you could have other mudokon chiefs who are under the player controlled one, who you could assign the duty of overseeing construction of given buildings or leading an assault, but this would require some heavy AI scripting and also it might not be terribly great for fun gameplay purposes. Just throwing some ideas out there.

As for music, I quickly threw together a midi file last night, but I'll do a high quality recording of it this evening and maybe attach it then if I don't get distracted by other things.

If you still have a spot. I'll join, i make side scrolling games in class all the time. i plan on making a mini oddworld game myself but yeah ill help with anything i can. voice/sprites/little code w/e you need.

Sign me up to if its a group :p So I've heard of forum groups, but what can you do with them?

Right, here's a little sample of what I can do in the way of music - I did the composition yesterday and the recording/mixing/editing tonight, so it's nothing fancy.

http://www.filehosting.org/file/deta...test_music.mp3

Composed and recorded by me, don't use without permission - though I wouldn't recommend using it anyway as it's VERY repetitive at the moment :p

Wow!
You have so much potential!
I shall remember your name for future reference and/or contact.

I wonder, do your abilities go to the extent of composing something like the music in the first Resident Evil film?
I'm talking about something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehjtt...eature=related
The music I'm talking about starts somewhere around 4 minutes 30 seconds and ends at 6 minutes 30 seconds.
You'll have to excuse the poor quality, it's YouTube after all. I have the DVD it's obviously much better quality sound on that and this part of the soundtrack sticks out to me. I really like it and think stuff like this would work good for Bosses and stuff in games.

Our own forum might not be a bad idea, but I wouldn't mind if we used something for instant messaging as well. Not that we'll all be on at the same time, but it would heighten communication for those who are on at the time. I'm quite partial to Skype myself, but anything works really.

@ Gretin: Also do you still have this project you worked on? I would love to take a gander at it. Oh and btw I love that thing you threw together. It sounds magical.

The game definitely has to have base building strategy. I vastly enjoy it myself. I figure we can try multiple things and see what ends up being the most fun. I think the most important thing is to give the game an Odd feel, but not at the expense of fun. I'm totally open for new ideas.

I'd love a base building game with Sligs. Maybe even Tower Defense? We can just post our projects in this topic.

Guys i'm very excited about this group it has huge potential!

Riasin ure in, Cottenha myour already in and I love the reisdnet evil film its awesoem innit! =) INNIT hahaah I sound so chavy.

Is anyone interested in making and RTS or helping me make backgrounds PLEASE PM ME or Venks

Do you have any other skills you can contribute? As T-nex and Venks have pointed out, there's no reason to limit the amount of people joining and I'm sure most of us will be happy to help you get started in small things game design wise, but as I pointed out, there seems to be a lot of programmers currently and not many people to do other tasks, so if you could contribute in other ways as well that'd be fantastic :D

I'll have to have a listen to it later, but I'm assuming you're meaning in terms of style? I can do quite a few styles, but I'll have to listen to it before I can answer that.

Also, does anyone have any comments on the sound quality itself? The biggest problem I have is getting the song to be a decent volume without clipping, I did some minor editing on that one to get the volume up a bit, but I don't know how good it turned out. I've been doing music for years, but I'm still fairly new to the recording and editing field of it so feedback is good :D

The only problem I could see with instant messaging was if several members discussed things and made some executive decisions without talking about it with the people who aren't able to be on at the same time, who may not necessarily agree. But yes, using both a forum and instant messenger could work. We could use the forum for important discussions and a place to store ideas and such, but being able to instantly communicate with things like programming issues would be very useful.

I think I do have some back ups of that project, but I might give you an older (less complete) one if you don't mind, because there's an important gameplay mechanic that was implemented in the later versions that I want to keep under wraps for the time being :p I'll track it down and either upload it here or send a PM later.

I think we all know by now that you'd love ANYTHING with sligs :p

I do have minor photoshop skills, and I quite enjoy designing little things like level art. I have been working on drawing stuff for a game I thought about making, I haven't done much, and it's not very detailed or anything, just a quick design idea. I'm sure with time I'd be able to improve, like with shading and what not.

Post your ideas here

I think we should have some ideas on what the gamemakers should actually do and make gamwise, i'm interested in platformers and RTS's and can make sprties, i'll also direct the games as the director of OWIGF! =D

My idea was either an RTS between industiralists and natives or

A platformer in paramoina, something small as a starter to utilise our skills.

If you decide to post then write your idea and also your skills (eg.)
Scrabtrapman:

Skills, director, sprite maker, cut scene editor/crator

if there are any places i would love to join. recently i was making a trial game where you play as a mudomonian chief and you can switch between him and his pet paramite to solve puzzles, so i have some sprites left over from it. i can sprite if you need someone to do that.

J_Dude = in but we need to propally think up some ideas

You know Scrabtrapman.... No offense or anything, but you seem to be acting very high and mighty without any justification for that. I mean, you're calling yourself "director" and "games developer," but where's the proof of your skills? I'm not trying to be harsh (even though it's probably going to come across that way), and I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but even if you can show us all that you are as great as you say you are, a little bit of humility goes a long way.

In short - I don't know about anyone else, but I'm happy to work with you and the others who have expressed interest in this group, but if you want to be project leader (which is a more fitting title for making a game than "director" in my humble opinion) I do expect you to prove that you're up to the task. Otherwise it looks like you're just asking other people to make a game for you.

But like I said, I'm not trying to be harsh, and I apologise if it came across that way.

On the topic of ideas, I think this is where having our forum to discuss these things would be useful. In fact, if no one objects, I might go ahead and create it myself and PM you all the link, then we can discuss ideas there and avoid cluttering up this thread here. But on the topic of what kind of game to create, I did wonder if maybe we could work on both simultaneously?

For instance, I agree that doing a simple platformer as a start would be a good idea, and a good way to see where everyone's strengths and weaknesses are. But at the same time, perhaps Venks and I (due to Venks' high interest in getting an RTS engine running and my experience with TBS) could have a go at getting a basic RTS engine up, to see whether it's going to actually work and such.

The main problem I see with any type of game, though, is what are the graphics going to be like? As much as I respect the hard work that went into creating the Mario and other style sprites, I feel they don't really do Oddworld justice. Feel free to disagree here, since I realise I'm being somewhat hypocritical - I couldn't even create sprites that good. But I do think we could at least try having sprites in a different style - maybe not the high quality of OWI themselves but less of a kiddy style than the likes of Mario and Sonic.

I could try shrinking my Slig vector Flash graphics and turning them into pixels? Not sure how good they'd look but I can try that.

I can also try recording some new Slig phrases that we could possibly use. Does anyone have any ideas for some new phrases?

It's because i have very few gameaking skills i mean sure i can make a basic platformer and i can make sprites and i can come up with stories etc but i'm not good.

So your happy now, I wasn't acting high and mighty I wanted a place to something

Rant over, smily faces XD

'Who's there?' 'I need a drink.' 'Got any smokes?' 'Boom! Hehe.' 'Pants!' '*Assorted swearing*'.

Sure I'll try that. I can use my "made up" swearwords.

@Scrabtrapman - I probably just over-reacted then, I just wanted to make sure you don't go mad with power or anything ;) However, my point still stands - if you do want to be project leader you need to do your bit. For instance, you're asking people to think up ideas, but what you could do is give everyone a good starting point. I mean, you said a platformer in paramonia, that's a good start, but can you give us any other details of what you had in mind? E.G. main character, point of game, gameplay, etc.

Of course, everyone needs to contribute their ideas, but as project leader you can do a lot to get the ball rolling. And, if you don't have a lot of skill in actual game making as you said, you can concetrate on the things you can do well - if we all utilise the skills we are good at we can hopefully make this as good as it can possibly be :D Anyway, I'll shut up now or I'll start sounding high and mighty.

@AlexFili - you might as well give it a shot converting the vectors to pixels and post them here for everyone to judge the result. It might not turn out very good but there's only one way to find out!

EDIT: Almost forgot to say, I started working on a simple pathfinding test engine yesterday, so once that's ready I'll be sure to upload it for you all to play with and test out to see how effective it would be for an RTS.

Here's a little test using my old Slig sprites;

Those actually look pretty good! Do you have any other sprites in that style? If we could get all the sprites necessary for the platformer game in that kind of style it could work pretty well. It did get a bit messy the smaller ones, but if we use the bigger ones this could work :D

Btw, I took the liberty of creating a forum on InvisionFree for OWIFG - I've sent everyone on the list a PM with the details. I hope I didn't miss anyone!

I literally just made them all in one go as a test.
In order to make a full spritesheet I need to know;

-What minimum/maximum pixel size you want
-All the poses required (and number of frames for each)
-Different forms (ie, pantless, pants, flying, etc)

I like the new forum btw.

Nice 1 alex.

@ Gretin, sorry man I was quite rude back there, I got a C in my GCSE science meaning I need tw oB's to take it to A level anywho enough about that.

The idea for the story is that your a slig called Grefilli (good?) on an abandoned outpost in Paramoina after the fall of Rupture Farms, as the radio goes offline he decides to get out of Paramonia and sign up for work elsewhere, (he's always wanted to be a lumberjack) he tries to escape to the edges of Paramonia and find the legendary Magog Matchtrees Lumber Corporated.

The game would be a platformer lasting as long as Zulag's 1,2,3 and 4 from OW AO I think. Is anyone interested? If so should I post a topic on our forum.

Yes, post a topic on the forum.
PS: Loving the character name :D

thoght u might