Coffeebreak animorphs game

[Blazing Angel]

real time top down combat, like Zelda. Hit a button to block and defend, some creatures might be faster or stronger than others.

As for puzles, again I draw massive inspiration from Zelda. Creative ways to things using morphs. You might find an anthill outside a building, on the inside thiers an incredibly tiny crack that only a bug could slip into. To get past a stubborn controller, you could morph int osomething particularly scary and then run at him.

[yunyun]

Aquiring morphs: well, if anyone's tried the animorphs yeerk pool game,  (which I personally don't like) you free animals to aquire them. Just saying, but yeah, it would be more fun if
 you aquire morphs

 battles: sure, you can do battling to aquire morphs. I personally like pokemons battle idea, but using that would make it too simuliar to pokemon.

Puzzle solving: maybe like how to get past something you need somethig else to. Like maybe getting past a bear, you give it some dead animal you found (if you don't have a bird morphs)

Also, maybemake it so you can collect like two or three things, but you leave some of them after you morph

[Aquilai]

@yunyun, I'm actually a fan of the turn based "Pokemon" combat idea. Technically Final Fantasy did that before Pokemon etc. Levelling? This might make the game last longer than 15mins.

Back on topic (@tigri):
Is one of your goals for this game to get people to come back and play again? The 15min/coffee games that I play whilst on a break or waiting for something are highly repetitive. They don't pretend to be anything more than a small game but are good enough that despite doing the same thing again and again I would still replay it.

These repetitive games are usually deterministic relying on the player's skill or desire to improve their skills. If you just want to make a small maze game that relies a lot on randomness/luck rather than skill then people might not play it more than twice. Gamblers play luck games because there's a chance of getting a prize but I don't think you'll have money for this kind of thing!

To some degree the "Animorphs" background will appeal to us fans but people will notice if it's "just a maze" game or something especially if it's going to be a small game.

I know, you're just getting information from us about the type of game we would play but at the most basic level you should have an idea of what type of game it is. Logic? Reactionary speed/skill? Story based RPG? Then you should go from there to consider things like combat or high score.

[tigri]

There's still some disagreement about the combat, so I won't work on that part of the game yet. It can be added at a later stage.

Blazing Fallen Angel & yunyun: puzzle solving
Solving puzzles by using the right morphs sounds about right for an animorphs game. Definitely adding that to the game.

yunyun: making acquiring DNA for morphs fun
I did play the yeerk pool game, don't think it is available on the scholastic site anymore. Anyway, I think acquiring morphs by freeing animals is not much fun and repetitive. We can have wild animals roaming around, each species behaving differently to the player. Here's an idea for acquiring the bear DNA for morphing. There's a wild bear in the game. As you get up close to the bear to acquire its DNA, the bear will charge. Either by dodging its charge or running away, you can tire the bear. Once it's exhausted, you can acquire the DNA by touching the bear and the bear will also calm down from the connection. That at least sounds more exciting than a simple "walk up and touch". Different species behave differently. Also imagine going on a butterfly hunt to acquire its DNA, catching it would be the challenge then. How does that sound?

yunyun: inventory system
Sounds interesting, but one thing I dislike about games with inventories is having to backtrack to get items. I wouldn't go for a limited inventory. Losing items by morphing could force the player to think more tactically before doing any morph, but we have to be careful not to frustrate the player with it. I don't know if this is a good idea yet.

Aquilai:
I would like to put out a game that animorphs fans can enjoy. The "15-minute" idea is simply to make sure that a game will get done. I don't want to really enforce a 15 minutes limit, but I do want to avoid getting so ambitious that the game will never be finished. I think working in layers, putting in ideas one by one and making sure that the game is playable after inserting each idea will enable me to make a longer game. The game doesn't have to be short, but it does have to be fun.

I do already have a vision of what the final game should be like. And I'm reshaping my vision using all the feedback I get on this forum. Right now it looks like we're going in the direction of adventure / action rpg. Leveling might not be a requirement, since we can advance in the game by acquiring new morphs. The actual acquiring of morphs, solving puzzles using the morphs and resolving new combat situations with the right morphs and strategy can already challenge the player and add variety over time. Level design does not have to be repetitive and should by no means be a maze. I'm very tempted to add a constant arrow to point the player to the destination at all times, since the destination itself should not be the challenge. Also, animal / enemy behavior does not have to be the same for everyone, so that makes for more variables throughout the game. Story telling could also drive the player and makes for a good combination with the aforementioned features. Along with the story telling we can add chapters or missions, so as a player you can always resume a chapter or mission. This design could enable us to create a longer game and adds expansion possibilities, episodic releases as that's probably called. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. None of this is set in cement and can still change depending on the feedback.

I don't want to think about the full picture as described above. It's probably a lot of work with a lot of unknowns. I'll just work on one idea at a time, updating the game online as I move along.

[Blazing Angel]

I'm really getting in to this. Sounds fantastic.

[Noelle]

I definitely like the idea of finding animals in the wild to acquire and having to use different tactics to get them.

I don't know how customisable the characters are, are you able to give different characters different powers?  For example different animorphs could have different skills to get different animals or help the other teammates get different animals.  Something like you could pick different animorphs in your 'party' to do different things to make the animal acquireable.

1) Cassie could 'sleep' the animal for a few seconds so it could be acquired
2) Ax could knock it out
3) Jake could outrun it to tire it out (I think he was a sportyish type, Rachel could do that too)
4) I don't know about Marco, maybe for humanoidish characters he could tell jokes or something
5) Tobias could distract them and they'd chase him but not catch him, since he's a hawk

And as people acquire morphs you could always do a 'tank' rotation to acquire different animals.  (One person takes hits while the humans acquire it.)  Also, if you're able to customize each character then you could do puzzle levels, like needing Ax to shut down a security system or something like that.  If you only want one person to be active at a time, that could work too because then you could just switch between characters as you complete each piece of the puzzle.  Not all of them would be able to get all the morphs if you program in different abilities, but that makes the game more interesting.

Then you could use different morphs to get through different obstacles.  A roach morph would get past human controllers, a bear morph would plow through Hork Bajir controllers, a rabbit could get past something slow, etc.


The nice thing about adding different levels is that you could get through a level in 15 mins, and people would keep playing it to advance in levels, so you wouldn't have the problem of it being too long.


I think you wouldn't have to add a leveling system with the different morphs.  And if you wanted to do the inventory drop thing, you could just have then drop everything when they morph, then be able to pick everything back up in human form, and some morphs could keep an inventory (a Hork Bajir, maybe Ax, or Ax could have a limited inventory since he doesn't wear clothes.)


But I like your idea about the login/logout system too to just save your progress.  The only problems I'd see with that is you'd need a 'save point' in case you fail a challenge, but if you make the characters just pop up somewhere prior to the encounter in a safe place once they died, that would work.

I'm not good at all with programming or anything, but I could probably come up with a 'storyboard' if you ever needed an idea for levels/puzzles or game progression.

[Aquilai]

@Noelle I like those ideas ^^

If we're talking about specifics then you could have certain morphs completely avoiding terrain/walls such as birds. If you don't want players getting around too easily have indoor levels (ceilings limit flying to pass through walls/gates). You could also have gaps in the walls (like mouse holes) to allow getting around as small creatures or hiding from enemies. Similarly if you want to bring back the "passing through walls" idea indoors then for certain ceilings (like those with panels) players could be allowed to hide there and pass into the next room if they're in the right morph.

One of the key points for most of Animorphs is also the idea that they couldn't be seen morphing. So to make the game a bit more difficult (in terms of AI/NPC "obstacles") you could show neutral human's line of sight (LOS) with a green triangle "torchlight".  If a human NPC sees you then the red torchlight would start to turn to yellow. If the player starts morphing within the human's LOS then the torchlight could turn red. Any NPC could have this property to show how suspicious they are. As the NPC moves around their LOS changes shape and the player has to sneak past using changing blindspots.

Human controller NPCs could be more paranoid than normal human NPCs. Different NPCs could also have different lengths of vision ie poorer/better eyesight for different aliens. Something that triggers the paranoia/awareness of NPCs would obviously be the morph the player is in. Ants being almost unnoticeable will allow the player to stay in an NPC's LOS for much longer than say an elephant (almost instantly triggering a "WTF?!!" reaction) and making the NPC go get a gun/dracon beam.

If you factor time into the equation, you could also have day/night/light-levels contributing to how quickly the NPC torchlight turns from green-yellow-red and then backwards to green if no suspicious activity occurs.

Just some thoughts anyway!

[tigri]

I like a lot of these ideas! But for an animorphs game, I'm hoping to stay true to the books as far as possible with the game. It's been quite a few years since last time I read the books and should definitely re-read them. In the mean time, help me through

Noelle, thank you for offering to help out with a storyboard. I could use one later.

Noelle: can we have customizable characters
We can do with our characters whatever we want, so yeah.

Noelle: giving characters different powers & team strategies
The characters having different abilities is a good idea. I don't know about the powers yet. The character abilities could give the player a slight advantage in selecting the right characters for the right tasks, but if possible I would not want to force single solutions to situations. Jake could be more agile than others, cassie could be easier with animals and tobias could scout around. And then we have the morphs which will give more advantages. Depending on the choices the puzzles and combat could become easier or more difficult for the player, but never impossible. As for acquiring animal dna through combat, should probably be an option. But not a requirement.

Noelle: levels, inventory and saving
I don't dare talking about levels yet. The inventory drop sounds like a bad idea, see my reply at yunyun earlier. And saving, well, losing a lot of progress because one of the main characters died is a big frustration we want to avoid. Checkpoints where the player quickly recovers could be a solution here, but that would also dictate more linear gameplay. Tt does sound like a good idea and might fit the game.

Aquilai: morphs getting around too easily
Well, tobias might get around easily as a hawk, but that doesn't mean he can get everything done (like muscle-work or some stealthy situations). Especially if we don't give every character every morph (technically, that would also be a nightmare for the one who wants to do the graphics). Some controllers could also become suspicious of birds, which means some areas are out of reach even for that morph.

Aquilai: the animorphs cannot be seen morphing
Yeah, even in populated areas you don't know who's a controller and who isn't. The player should be well informed about this. And given the "who's the controller" situation, sounds like there is room for some detective work in the game. That might be interesting.

Aquila: stealth and line of sight
Hehe, sounds like metal gear. But I have been thinking the same thing, a visible LOS is a good idea. Though LOS should only be visible in hostile environments perhaps, since a visible LOS for a human would implicate that that human is an enemy. Combined with the idea that in the game not every human should be a controller, we get a lot of room for interesting gameplay.

I always liked the concept of stealth in games. Also sandboxes, giving the player room for choice. Not using fixed systems, like a specific combat system. I'm tempted not to think about the game in terms of combat and puzzles. More like dealing with different entities (animals, humans, controllers), which can have different behaviors. Battles are an option, perhaps sometimes inevitable. But there might be more subtle alternatives. Here's a thought: what if the game isn't about puzzles and battles, but rather about terrain and individuals (both friendly and non-friendly)? There are tasks at hand, the goal and destination is known. The path and whom you meet along the path are the challenges. And more than one way to advance along the path. Get the key to a door, or try getting through the backdoor. Are some of the more dangerous animals worth facing to get their morph? It's a challenge and might make a later challenge easier (overpower the enemy). But even though the more subtle alternative is way more work, it might just be more your style of dealing with the situation. This kind of game would be very A.I. driven instead of hard-scripted scenarios. My challenge would be letting the A.I. make sense. They wouldn't notice a bug quickly. And you wouldn't be worried if a single controller notices you as an elephant, it would probably be part of your strategy. The goals and perhaps parts of the story would of course be scripted. Just not the path to the next goal. How does that sound?

[Aquilai]

Glad you like the ideas! ^^

How closely are you planning to stick to the books? Same plot progression? Same characters but different stories (as if the game events happen in between books)? Or do you mean in terms of the physics of the universe but with different characters and stories? I'll just throw the definition out here (correct me if this doesn't sound right). Chapters = Levels (each level might last 15mins?). Books = Campaigns. Several Campaigns = Major Story Arc = Game. If you decide to make another game it would be a new story arc. How much do you want the player's "style" to affect the level/campaign/arc outcome? The more possibilities that can be written in, the more interactive the game will feel. Luckily you're on RAF where there are writers aplenty!

About the human NPCs, I think all of them should have LOS not just controllers. If one of the premises early game is that "if the Yeerks realise the Andalite bandits are just humans then everything changes" then human NPC reactions should reflect this. There should be consequences to revealing that humans can morph. It fits in with your aim to make the game more dynamic because this could be the choice/style a player uses. Maybe the player decides to be a bit like Rachel, aggressive/uses a direct method which gets her identity revealed to a controller. Then she might have to chase the NPC and "deal" with the controller or risk changing the game dynamic for her friends. Lots of alternative game outcomes if you're willing! Who knows, maybe there'll be David type players and this will completely change the way the player should play (as an antagonist!). I'm probably going too far with the player choices -> alternative storylines thing.

All NPCs having a visible LOS is important because it can also be an important clue to the player if the NPC is a controller (some observation and logic). For example, bird morph: There are humans who are genuinely interested in birds like birdwatchers/nature lovers etc then there are controllers on high alert of Andalite/bird morphs. I suppose this does mean the colour of the LOS torchlight might give away whether a NPC is a controller or not so another way would just be to have 1 transparent LOS colour and have the NPC's LOS torchlight narrow (focus) when they spot "something". Reusing the bird morph example, this means most NPCs who don't look up will still show their LOS torchlight but only birdwatchers/nature lovers and controllers will narrow their LOS indicating they've spotted something suspicious.

To further add depth into a level, you could also have random non-morphed animals attracting the attention of NPCs. Giving the players an extra clue of who might be a controller. A controller NPC might "act cool" (maybe important/smarter baddie NPCs) or react more agitatedly (walk around more) or if he/she sees too many creatures of mother nature start shooting! Controller NPCs might not have a weapon so they might run away to call for help.

Is this going to be a game where you control multiple characters or just one in the same level? This would make the uniqueness of characters much more profound. Maybe only certain characters that a single player controls can acquire a certain morph. If you're following the Animorphs books word for word then Tobias won't even be able to morph after book 1 for a while. You could have the Ellimist represent a "Save game" so that players screwing up won't set them back too much (even if the Ellimist doesn't interefere ^^).

You will need artists to draw a lot of graphics anyway if you're going to make this game and to avoid linearity a good team of writers. Still if you're determined to make this work I'm sure you'll find the help you need!

[tigri]

On to the next update: http://bigcathq.nl/animorphs/
And the previous version: http://bigcathq.nl/animorphs_previous/

Don't forget to refresh. The update has a few tweaks:
- animation support for walking/flying
- smoother camera (not sure if this is a useful addition)
- playing as multiple characters
- scripted dialogue triggered by location and playing character proximation

I'm trying to get the game to run faster. Speed is the true challenge for me. How well does this game run for you?

So, what's next? Do the current game elements work well enough or do they require changes? Perhaps adding the acquiring of morphs as discussed before. I've also been thinking, when the player morphs for the first time, you do not control the animal mind yet. Taking the bear as example, maybe it could go on a rampage for a couple of seconds before gaining control. Maybe we should use something more elaborate. That could make the whole acquiring process more interesting, first facing the animal and next having to gain control over the animal mind.

Next to reacting to eye sight, we could also add sound. Loud noises could attract attention from NPCs. Sound could depend on the morph and terrain.

Aquilai: your definitions sound fine. And your descriptions too, more like a living world. I would like to hear other people their opinion on LOS though. It sounds good to me, the direction of LOS for now would also compensate for the lack to directional graphics since LOS can to be pointed at any angle. As for story, playable characters and where the game would fit in, I don't know yet. I'm open for suggestions.

[yunyun]

Nice! I really like it so far. So are there like only two diolage lines? Just wondering, since I'm trying to get Tobias to talk to Ax  XD

[Aquilai]

This is starting to shape up! In terms of speed it seems to run fine with barely noticeable CPU usage (Dual core 2.5GHz) Firefox Nightly, Win7.
Same computer, testing on Chrome it also seems to run at an ok speed. A barely (but) noticeable decrease in speed on Chrome than Firefox Nightly but everything else I've tested works the same.
Does it run slowly on your computer? Of course the more you add into the game then we might see slow downs. Sound might cause some stutters if they're not preloaded on slow computers but that's not implemented yet.

I like the morphing animation. Tying in with you're "not in control yet" idea it might be a good idea to decrease the "not in control yet" time the higher level/more experienced (levels?)/more times you use a morph. This might mean including extra (hidden) attributes to the morphed object like "number of times morphed" or "time in morph". "Time in morph" should be mandatory if you're going to enforce the nothlit concept but you would probably need to scale 2h down to something more realistic for a game.

As for morphing duration, likewise, this could decrease with experience or if you're like Cassie have a % decrease in morph duration because she's "gifted". Whilst morphing maybe they shouldn't be allowed to move at normal speeds. Also, if different characters have the same morph it might be a bit confusing so I think characters need a distinguishing identifier. Could be as simple as a coloured circle at their feet matching their character button?

Oh just noticed a "Missing image" icon when morphing and moving (Chrome only). Are the images requested each time it changes? It might mean that depending on internet speed the morphing might look bad. It was from Rachel -> bear morph. Thin/fat server model? If you can load all the pictures onto the client side then internet speed won't be an issue. On the other hand, this bug could have been down to the browser implementation rather than your coding.

Tobias can fly over water and trees at a faster speed than the other chars which is good. I've not noticed any other movespeed differences so did you just program "walking" and "flying" to have different movespeeds? If you're up for it, acceleration/deceleration might be on your list too. Large morphs take longer to get to their max speeds etc Small morphs might have slower movespeeds but accelerate instantly? Morphing insects might be a problem if they're hard to identify (size).

Maybe create a game border? Currently, Tobias can fly to the tree boundaries and stops before reaching the game's border limits (outer white space). Of course this is just cosmetic so it doesn't matter at this early demo stage.

The speech+thoughtspeech/thought ("square water!") comes up fine. Tobias and Ax don't talk to each other yet? I'm guessing the speech was just to show us and test things out. Which actually leads me to player speech. As a puzzle adventure game, what do you think about letting player's type stuff in to say? Text input allows story writers to be more creative with your game. Bare minimum, they could answer multiple choice questions "1", "2", "3" or later on for more advanced storylines the player might need to note down/remember a password or the game detects certain keywords for plot player decisions.

Similarly, I guess you'll probably consider custom keyboard shortcuts at a later stage. Clicking different characters could select them? For acquiring morphs, I do think a "combat" mode should be implemented because they have to be in their original bodies to get the morph which makes it risky. Since we can control multiple characters then it would be a good idea to bring the team together (same region) then change to a different mode where the other team members try to restrain the animal whilst the one not in morph can then move in to acquire it. I guess this is quite similar to a Pokemon combat mode where you try to catch one. And we all know Pokemon has turned out quite successfully!

[tigri]

yunyun & aquilai:
-> limited dialogues:
there's only some demo dialogues in the game right now. Rachel gives an opening line and reacts to the water. Rachel and tobias talk to each other at their first encounter. That's all there is right now. I'm pretty uninspired for dialogues, but anything can easily be scripted.

aquilai:
-> system requirements
Your system is top-notch, that's great. Chrome is a little glitchy with the animations, I did notice. It should keep all the images in memory, but doesn't always do this. All other browsers should do this. I'll look into it. As for system requirements, I also want to support people with an older computer running Windows XP. Maybe at some point I can add some option menu for enabling and disabling effects. Then I can add stuff like dynamic lightning and weather effects.

aquilai:
-> character morph experience
Hmm, so the animal instinct remains present, but becomes easier to resist over time? I should read up on this, but game-wise the first time could be expected. And any other time could just be annoying to the player. Maybe the characters can get more experienced by using a morph multiple times. Faster morph, perhaps improved strength and agility. On the other hand, that might also encourage the player to use the same tactic over and over again and getting rewarded for it. And punished when trying out something new (because of the lack of experience stats with other morphs).

-> character / morph speeds
Right now, different characters can have different speeds. I could expand on that by giving different morphs different speeds as well. There is no acceleration/deceleration yet, could add that. I think in this type of game deceleration is definitely an annoyance. Acceleration could add to the challenge, but could also contribute negatively to the responsiveness of the controls. Right now, when you click the character will walk. Very responsive. With acceleration, every time the character stops there is that start-up time again and again. I don't know if that is a good idea. By the way, tobias can fly to the edge of the screen. For now I think I'll leave it like this. When we start adding multiple levels, we'll have a better understanding of how to represent the limit of the screen. If this problem still applies by then.

-> user text input for interaction
Ah, the good old memories of Zork if given total freedom over text input. The problem with text input is that there are too many possibilities to take into account for any game. Though I have seen advantages of text input in a few games where it was present, but optional. When typing in the right keywords (taken from other conversations), new dialogues could become available and secrets unlocked. Otherwise, no additional background information or secrets. The player would still be able to play and finish the game if the text input is completely ignored. It gives the player the opportunity to try new words and getting rewarded for it. Interesting idea, perhaps a good one.

-> battle mode
I agree, battle mode is good idea. How that works in terms of gameplay isn't very clear to me yet though. I think what Noelle described earlier is the most detailed example I could think of. So here's my variation on that idea:

I think there should be a command where all characters can be gathered with a single click, even outside battle mode. Battle mode should not be the only option to acquire a morph or whatever the goal would be. Perhaps different characters can be assigned a different mode. Like some are in defensive mode (they can take the hits, tanking), some in aggressive mode (they do the damage) and one in normal mode running around acquiring the morph or getting that otherwise guarded item or doing something else whereas the other characters in battle are used as distraction. If the battle is the goal, then the player can choose who to control when, whatever is required or exciting. If this is done in real-time, then the characters must be able to auto-attack and auto-defend depending on which mode they are in when not in direct control by the player. Doesn't mean the player can just let the battle run wild, if a character gets low on health it should send a signal to the player so the player can control him/her and do what is necessary at that point. Perhaps the current strategy doesn't work out, then the player can switch roles real-time and use items where necessary. In turn-based, the player can control all characters one by one. So with turn-based, battles can be micromanaged. It also slows down the gameplay, especially with controlling multiple characters at once. When the battle should serve only to distract, turn-based is probably not favorable because all those battle character actions distract the player from the one character wanting to move in and out. And the purpose of the battle would not be to defeat the enemy, so in the end the player will retreat no matter how he managed the battle.

So I don't know if pokemon is a correct comparison. With pokemon, you only control one pokemon at a time, which works really well with its system. Also, when a battle occurs, the battle is always the focus. Nothing is ever going on outside the battle during the battle. This also goes for a final fantasy-type system. If we want to use a system similar to pokemon, we must make battles the main focus like pokemon where in the end, the enemy should almost always be defeated unless scripted otherwise. That's the limitation of that system.

I'm not saying we shouldn't opt for a pokemon-style system. Just making sure we all know the implications for the game if we'd opt for such a system.

[Pyrrhian]

I'm on WinXP! I don't use Chrome but Firefox 13 is showing high CPU usage when I move anyone around. Also the images disappear when they move! My computer is dual core too 2.5GHz

[NateSean]

I'm going to add a suggestion that doesn't have to do with the game as such. I suggest you use a Google Adsense account so you can rake in some revenue as more and more people use the game. I really think you have talent and that when you've finished this game and are ready to take it to the general public, you could really rake in the hits enough to make it worth while.