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Possible Community Projects

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 6:14 pm
by GirianSeed573
Okay. I've been debating on bringing this up for quite a while now. This topic is in regards to a possible community development project (as the name implies). For the past several months I've been trying to sort out what I'd like to work on as a fan project. Unfortunately, there is no absolute demand for something such as the Policenauts Translation. That project brought us something missing; I'm looking to see what people would like to see be created. What we could do ourselves, rather than working off of something precreated, as there is currently no demand for any official products to be brought the the fan community, aside from the possible translations of various incarnations of different games.

This thread is a means to keep ideas flowing and to acquire a gauge on opinions in regards tor various concepts. Even if no agreement can be reached, or if nothing can be expected to come to fruition, I'd like to see what other members here have to say. Please, take some time and consideration to ask "Hey, what about this?" or "couldn't you do it better if...?". I would love to hear even your own ideas, and know that I'll offer those questions in return.

In this thread I would like to see everyone pitch ideas (and thought on others' ideas) for what could become a possible fan project. Such topics could include newly designed fangames, remakes, translations, etc. A good description of these proposed projects would include the main concept behind your idea, what you feel the target audience for such a project would be, what we would expect to see out of it, such as gameplay, features, art styles, sound, etc. Be descriptive. Be creative. Any idea doesn't have to start out set in stone. Feedback and opinions are going to be a must here in this thread if anything is to be discussed. Remember, I'd like to hear what you like, what you would like, what you don't like, what you think needs to be changed, what needs to be added. Anything you can comment on.

I'd like to put on record that I understand that this isn't a very active community. All I ask is for anyone who happens read this that they take some consideration and at least respond in some way so that things are given a fair chance. Remember, even the smallest of ideas can start to get things moving. Everything starts small, so don't worry that something isn't feasible, or that it's to large of a concept; It only has to interest people to get things rolling, and I don't fell we'll have a hard time doing that. This site does submit many interesting concepts.

As a means of starting out and getting the blood flowing for discussion, I'll pitch my own ideas.
Prepare you body. Are you a bad enough dud to read some guy's post?


- SD POLICENAUTS -

Yes, SD Policenauts. I came up with this idea while playing SD Snatcher. The idea behind it is that it's a sequel to SD Snatcher; the "Next Generation of SD SNATCHER" if you will. Many aspects of the game will be heavily inspired and taken from SD Snatcher and improved upon. In the same way as SD Snatcher before it, it will retell and adapt the story of Policenauts in a manner reminiscent to SD Snatcher's hanldling of the Snatcher narrative. New scenes and different scenarios will be wriiten for the game. Gameplay will take the basis of SD Snatcher's RPG elements and expand and improve upon them buy rebalancing the difficulty and rearranging progression so the game becomes less tedious to play than it's predecessor. Artwork and music styles will also be inspired by the routes taken by SD Snatcher. These aspects will focus on recapturing Policenauts through lighthearted, parody-esque stylings such as Super Deformed character designs and catchy, upbeat music.

One of the largest improvements over SD Snatcher in game design will be a more open world to explore. Set inside the Space Colony of Beyond Coast, SD Policenauts would allow for greatly sized maps to be explored and investigated. Large maps taking up entire districts allow for more to be done, however the game will still remain mostly linear in terms of events. The openness will give the feeling of a non-linear game, but certain scenarios that must be completed will be set in stone. This doesn't not mean that the game is completely one-directional, as multiple branching paths and alternate event chains will be worked into the design to increase replay value -- something SD Snatcher did not feature.

That's it for SD Policenauts. I may add more later, but again I'd like to see what you have to say or add.

[I will add other projects later. I'm done typing for now.]

Re: Possible Community Projects

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:30 pm
by AwesomeBrand
.....Is SD Policenauts going to be a romhack of SD Snatcher or will it be made in RPG maker or something? :P

Re: Possible Community Projects

Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:34 pm
by GirianSeed573
AwesomeBrand wrote:.....Is SD Policenauts going to be a romhack of SD Snatcher or will it be made in RPG maker or something? :P
It'll be a new game. Working from SD Snatcher would severly limit our capabilities. Thanks for asking, Dave.
Also, stay tuned in around tomorrow when I roughly detail Snatcher 2 and Project JUNKER!

EDIT: Or sometime. Whenever I feel up to it.
Don't worry that'll be soon.

Re: Possible Community Projects

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:48 am
by Kyrill
GirianSeed573 wrote:Everything starts small, so don't worry that something isn't feasible, or that it's to large of a concept; It only has to interest people to get things rolling, and I don't fell we'll have a hard time doing that. This site does submit many interesting concepts.
I like the concept of submitting ideas and reading everyone's thoughts on what could become a project.
But how can it be done ? I mean, for SD Policenauts for instance, this project would need some people who know about RPG game programming, graphics, sounds, etc, and people who have time for that.


Anyways, I would really love a SD Policenauts, I think the first hard thing to do would be to redefine the game so that it fits to a RPG gameplay.
In Policenauts, there's a lot of dialogs with the characters, a lot of investigation, some things that wouldn't be possible in a 2D RPG game.

When you play Snatcher, I think it's hard to imagine making a RPG game out of it, but Kojima Productions managed to do that, mostly by using Insectors as enemies in SD Snatcher, and by doing a relatively great job for the maps.

In Policenauts, there's not a lot of fighting, and it's mainly with Redwood, so I think in SD Policenauts, the story has to be redesigned so that Redwood has some accomplices, maybe the mafia, who buy the Narc from Tokugawa.

When I think about the beginning of the game, in Old L.A., I think the chase of Laurraine's killer would be cool in SD Policenauts, in an "open"-environment like SD Snatcher, with some duel fights from time to time with the killer, following the white blood's trail, maybe having some fights with some other unknown enemies as well, accomplices of Redwood.
Adding the possibility to interact with some random people in the streets, to find out where the killer was heading, etc.

The sad thing is that the flight part, with Tony Redwood, wouldn't be possible in a 2D RPG (lots of dialogs, no real possible interaction with the environment, that would be boring I think), so the first interaction with Redwood has to be redefined later in the game.

I won't go through all the game like that, it was just what I had in mind for now...

Re: Possible Community Projects

Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:26 pm
by GirianSeed573
Kyrill wrote:I like the concept of submitting ideas and reading everyone's thoughts on what could become a project.
But how can it be done? I mean, for SD Policenauts for instance, this project would need some people who know about RPG game programming, graphics, sounds, etc., and people who have time for that.
Keep in mind these are all projects to be done in free time.
No one here is making any money. It's not our profession -- just a hobby.
If a person is interested and wants to jump on board, that's good.
Kyrill wrote:Anyways, I would really love SD Policenauts. I think the first hard thing to do would be to redefine the game so that it fits to a RPG gameplay.
In Policenauts, there's a lot of dialogs with the characters, a lot of investigation, some things that wouldn't be possible in a 2D RPG game.

When you play Snatcher, I think it's hard to imagine making a RPG game out of it, but Kojima Productions managed to do that, mostly by using Insecters as enemies in SD Snatcher, and by doing a relatively great job for the maps.

In Policenauts, there's not a lot of fighting, and it's mainly with Redwood, so I think in SD Policenauts, the story has to be redesigned so that Redwood has some accomplices, maybe the mafia, who buy the Narc from Tokugawa.
Yes that would be it. A partial scenario rewrite would be required to make the story work with RPG gameplay.
Obviously, there must be differences, and that's good. It'd supply something fresh for people who play the game.
As for enemies, yes. I agree. Since Jonathan pals around with Ed, Dave, and Meryl -- who's job it mainly just to cuff low-lifes -- I figured most of the enemies would end up being criminals or Narc distributors/suppliers until the later part of the game when you go up against AP and the EMPS's.
Kyrill wrote:When I think about the beginning of the game, in Old L.A., I think the chase of Lorraine's killer would be cool in SD Policenauts, in an "open"-environment like SD Snatcher, with some duel fights from time to time with the killer, following the white blood's trail, maybe having some fights with some other unknown enemies as well, accomplices of Redwood.
Adding the possibility to interact with some random people in the streets, to find out where the killer was heading, etc.
Certainly. That’s a good concept for that part. It could prove useful. Thanks.
Just remember, right now I don’t have any game planning or scenario writing completed, so there’s nothing I can really compare others' ideas to. I’m mostly just throwing the basics around. I also have two other projects going around in my head, and those are Snatcher 2 and Project JUNKER.

Also, I wouldn’t really call this game’s – or SD Snatcher’s – environment open.
It’s just so expansive it gives the illusion of being open.
SD Policenauts will essentially be SD Snatcher done better.
Kyrill wrote:The sad thing is that the flight part, with Tony Redwood, wouldn't be possible in a 2D RPG (lots of dialogs, no real possible interaction with the environment, that would be boring I think), so the first interaction with Redwood has to be redefined later in the game.
It'll be a cutscene. Most of the investigation will be narrowed down to simplicity to make way for the new RPG mechanics.
However, that doesn't mean that just the gameplay will be the sole emphasis.

Re: Possible Community Projects

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 12:36 am
by AwesomeBrand
I dig the SD Policenauts idea very much, and I know that ideally you might have to rewrite certain details to get that shit to work right in an RPG setting but there'd be something regarding the combat. I think we'd need more enemy variety. in SD Snatcher, out of what I played, it had a big variety of enemies of different sizes. Sure some of them were probably functionally the same damn thing, but all of them were unique. Would we pull some extra mecha suit designs out of our butts or maybe steal some enemy designs from SD Snatcher?

Also the aiming system. I don't know if your standard RPG maker or w/e you use to make a game like this allows for something like that.

Re: Possible Community Projects

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:10 am
by GirianSeed573
AwesomeBrand wrote:I think we'd need more enemy variety. in SD Snatcher, out of what I played, it had a big variety of enemies of different sizes. Sure some of them were probably functionally the same damn thing, but all of them were unique. Would we pull some extra mecha suit designs out of our butts or maybe steal some enemy designs from SD Snatcher?

Also the aiming system. I don't know if your standard RPG maker or w/e you use to make a game like this allows for something like that.
Ah, yeah. I was thinking about this.
Yes, there will be many different enemies to design for variety, but that in itself is no a big leap over SD Snatcher. Also, in SD Snatcher, pretty much every enemy is just presented as the enemy with no landscape or anything, save for a few cliché puzzle battles which involve not hitting something. To improve upon this, I came up with a way to introduce a new realm of strategy with the battle system. This will be cover and environmental objects. Say, if an enemy starts a fight near a certain piece of the environment, that object(s) will go into the playing field for the battle in which the AI will be programmed to take advantage of. Think of all the clever things we could put in!

Another thing I want to improve on is fixing SD Snatcher's repetitive battle system. First, the number of enemies will be largely cut down, so you don't end up walking like two feet in game only to run into another. This obviously means more XP per battle. My second idea is to have battles occur in ambush type situations, as to cut down on the ridiculous nature of every little hallway being crammed with like 50 robots. Now, you can actually walk for some time without getting thrown into another battle every seven seconds. It's less tedious that way, and less annoying.

Okay, just typed that up.
It's 3:10 AM, so I'm going to bed.

Thoughts, you guys?