O.K. Here are my current plans and unless they prove impossible or you lot make suggestions I'm going to stick to them rather than keep changing my mind.
Game Play
I'm going to aim for mostly hack and slash with RPG bits thrown in. I think for now going for a too deeply story based game would be too hard and may not get finished. I'm planning one of two things and would like your opinion:
Mission based - Like LOTR:ROTK. You have to run through the missions in order but they are not directly linked. You can't save mid-level. As you go through you get given new weapons to make the game more varied. Once you complete the whole game you can go back through all the levels with any weapon.
Normal - Can save mid-game. You don't select a level to go to and levels follow directly. This would be better if I'm going to include a story line. Battles occur like in Sudeki. When you enter certain areas your exits get blocked. You have to win the fight to proceed. Levels would be joined by the player going to a certain place or killing a boss. The screen would fade out and the new level would load.
Which idea do you lot think would be better?
Control System
My control system so far is like this:
W,A,S - Move forwards, right and left.
D - Complete turn. The player will keep walking in that direction until it is released.
Left Click - Speed attack.
Right Click - Fierce attack.
Space Bar - Finishing move
The camera follows the player smoothly from behind and the camera height can be adjusted by moving the mouse up and down.
I'm planning to add:
Q - Parry
E - Use/Action
I will also add magic attacks and combos by mixing the other attacks in quick succession. I already know how to do this and have done it before.
Levels
As much as I would love to outdoor terrains, I can't model them at all and the advanced terrain plugin requires internet access and I don't have internet access on my computer. They are also hard when it comes to collision. I will be including some simple outdoor sections but most levels will be indoors or based around a building. Levels will include:
NPCs to talk to and possibly fight with you.
Monsters - well duh!
Items to collect.
Interactive items. eg. A breakable wall to access another part of the level.
Atmospheric effects like fog/fire/water etc. - hopefully!
Areas to go to complete levels.
Bosses.
All levels will be lightmapped. Pickups will be in breakable crates/barrels or treasure chests.
Weapons
Player usable weapons will hopefully include:
Twin swords
Sword
Axe
Flail - animating the chain will be an asolute nightmare but if it works it would be so cool!
I also thought of including a staff for magic attacks or some kung-fu style fighting.
Level Editor
The level editor will:
Import the .x files and place them accordingly.
Place interactive objects.
Place pickups.
Place enemy spawnpoints.
Place the player.
Add effects.
Add the target of the level.
Help
Mainly help with effects. I have only recently looked into these seriously. Any help with fast fire/smoke/fog etc. effects will be greatly appreciated. I've got some fire and smoke code that Baggers released but any other help would be brilliant.
I hope to show you some progress soon and please let me know of any ideas.
Thanks,
Andrew.
