Furrae/DMFA CRPG project (modellers/concept artists wanted)

[ITOS]

Be that as it may, I'm of the inclination that the player's first mission should be something akin to buying some soup from the local store.

But the store is out of soup and you have to go to Mt. Ominous Plothook to get it?

[Aridas]

I just think we should go about the plot while AVOIDING all the cliches while still delivering the plot. It's possible. And hell, maybe try tossing in some DMFA-type zany into it.

[thegayhare]

there was something in the first Discworld computer game that might work well as a joke against the cliche.

I the game you had to get a sword for rincewind, one that glinted in the light and goes Ting,  well you find a sword but it goes Tong instead so you go to some dwarves and they say they'll tune it for you.

"Wait you'll do it?  Your not going to make me run all over the disc to get you some silly nonsensical item first?"
"Well okay if you insis you could go get me a glass of reanual wine"
"Damn it"

[Reese Tora]

If we're going to go with the dark god theme and all, I think we should definently ask for permission to include dark pegasus as a villen character. (a minor one, though)

There are very few original plots left in this world, and, while I respect the level of creativity that us DMFA forumers posses, I don't think any of us are on the level to discover what few there are remaining.  In fact, I think I would find a tongue in cheek Furrae adventure to be much more entertaining than anything more serious trying to avoid all of the fantasy cliches.  Never mind the fact that cliches are cliches for a reason, that being that they are really very good elements, when done right.

[Aldoun]

Has this simply gone and died, forgotten and alone, or are people simply lacking in progress to post, or simply lazy?

[Tapewolf]

You'd have to ask TKG that, since he is working on the engine and thus the critical path for the project at the moment

[tkg]

Hi. Sorry for not being all that active here as of late, but I tend to go into 'lurking mode' for some while when I have much work to do. Additionally, being terribly slow when it comes to typing in English doesn't really help much either

The editor will soon be ready for tryouts, although there's still quite the heap of bugs present... many of them will be squished until it gets that far, but I'm pretty sure there are plenty more that I'm oblivious about. Also, it has yet only been tested under Windows XP, so I'm interested to see how well it runs on other operating systems (if it does at all, heh).

On another note, does anyone have any good experiences with free webhosts? The one I use (home.no) is only intended for very small file storage and has no PHP/MySQL support. I was thinking of using the e107-software for managing the project, which requires all of the above (or at least the latter two). Any ideas as to which one to go for?

[KarlOmega1]

I still say we make either a fighting game or a Dating sim game...the fighting one could be similair either to street fighter or Super Smash Bros.........

[Tapewolf]

On another note, does anyone have any good experiences with free webhosts? The one I use (home.no) is only intended for very small file storage and has no PHP/MySQL support. I was thinking of using the e107-software for managing the project, which requires all of the above (or at least the latter two). Any ideas as to which one to go for?

What kind of license are you thinking of for the software?  There's always SourceForge if you're going to release the code.

[Reese Tora]

There's always the next best thing, you can get cheap hosting from a ton of different companies (around $5-10 US a month, depending on who you use) and they usually give a fair amount of transfer and storage, PHP and SQL support, and even free email and domain name registration on some of them.  You just need to find someone who's willing to pay the hosting costs, if you go that route.

[tkg]

What kind of license are you thinking of for the software?  There's always SourceForge if you're going to release the code.

There's always the next best thing, you can get cheap hosting from a ton of different companies (around $5-10 US a month, depending on who you use) and they usually give a fair amount of transfer and storage, PHP and SQL support, and even free email and domain name registration on some of them.  You just need to find someone who's willing to pay the hosting costs, if you go that route.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'm not sure under what license to put the editor/game engine projects yet, which pretty much rules SourceForge out for the time being. Although I could live with paying a few $ a month for some cheap webhosting, I'd rather use one of the free options that are available - the Furrae game-project is a non-profit endeavour after all

I just searched around on several indiegaming forums earlier today, and found some software called Basecamp - they have a free solution (which is also the most limiting, of course) that can keep track of one project. The free plan doesn't allow file sharing, however, so we would have to use other means for that (opening a webhosting account to use solely for the purpose of storing and sharing files would probably do just as well).

We could try to set up a free account over at Basecamp just to see how the system works... although that would require having a name for our workgroup. Hmm....

Now, how about... 'TeamFurrae'? Or perhaps 'LostLakeLtd' (or 'Inc', although 'triple L' would sound a bit more fun)? Heh, I'm pretty sure you guys outdo me greatly in the naming department, so let's hear it

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

LostIncLake?

That way it abbreviates to lil.... "this is our lil game..." :-)

[Boog]

Yeesh, how did I only just notice this? Well, DMFA would make a great game. The style of writing that makes it so popular would translate well to game dialogue, but the real gameplay value that I think people would focus on would be the world of Furrae. I saw people talking about open ended gameplay earlier, and that's really awesome but hard to do. I guess your character's story would rely on who you talk to, who you choose to help and who to hinder, etc. The stuff I saw earlier about allying yourself with various characters would be one way of progressing the plot; hang out with Jyrras a lot and you get involved with the creature council, hang out with Alexi and it's all about saving lost lake from twinks, stuff like that. Just thinking aloud here.

[tkg]

LostIncLake?

That way it abbreviates to lil.... "this is our lil game..." :-)

Rearranging words in a name just for the sake of having a clever abbreviation is perhaps not the way to go, but it's a cute thought none-the-less
I'm all ears for more suggestions, though. Having a name that we can stick with should hopefully be found sooner rather than later, as I'm not so sure if it can be changed once the Basecamp account has been created.

Anyways, I guess it would be fair to set up a poll for the final decision if we can get enough suggestions in (maybe around ten or so?), so please keep them coming

Yeesh, how did I only just notice this? Well, DMFA would make a great game. The style of writing that makes it so popular would translate well to game dialogue, but the real gameplay value that I think people would focus on would be the world of Furrae. I saw people talking about open ended gameplay earlier, and that's really awesome but hard to do. I guess your character's story would rely on who you talk to, who you choose to help and who to hinder, etc. The stuff I saw earlier about allying yourself with various characters would be one way of progressing the plot; hang out with Jyrras a lot and you get involved with the creature council, hang out with Alexi and it's all about saving lost lake from twinks, stuff like that. Just thinking aloud here.

I agree, this is the type of game I would like to to aim for - freedom to do whatever you want, but still abiding scripted events to some degree - much like how the Elder Scrolls games work. As you said, it's probably going to be quite a struggle to get that balance of freedom just right, of which depends greatly on the rigidness of the story. Having the game too open-ended would leave us with very little control over how the story would proceed - on the other hand, if we were trying to write it just as one would write a book, we would definitely be in for quite a ride

By leaving open ends here and there throughout the script, however, getting some decent gameplay in the end shouldn't be all that hard to accomplish.

[tkg]

Starting the poll now, although there are only five entries to choose from (it'll probably do just as well, though). The voting will end in three days, if we can get enough of them - please consider spending a few of your highly valued calories on this. Thanks

[Tapewolf]

Starting the poll now, although there are only five entries to choose from (it'll probably do just as well, though). The voting will end in three days, if we can get enough of them - please consider spending a few of your highly valued calories on this. Thanks

I should have mentioned this before, but I really think that having 'Inc' or 'Ltd' in the name is a bad idea unless it actually is a limited liability organisation or officially incorporated - neither of which are likely.

[Rowne]

I'm actually stunned at how unpopular Team Furrae is, myself.  After all, if that was chosen, you'd have a slogan!

After all, new software can be buggy and crashy, right?  So ...

It looks like Team Furrae is booting up again!

Of course, it might be that it's only my code and bloated corporate software that happens to be buggy and unstable in its earliest versions.

Then there's always ...

Gotta patch 'em all!

Which would be apt if it became a big thing and you'd be releasing content patches.

So, there's that ...

And I'll stop now.

[Tapewolf]

I'm actually stunned at how unpopular Team Furrae is, myself.

I had to toss a coin between that and 'CrossWorks'.

[tkg]

I should have mentioned this before, but I really think that having 'Inc' or 'Ltd' in the name is a bad idea unless it actually is a limited liability organisation or officially incorporated - neither of which are likely.

Well, it was put there mostly for fun (like it being a fictional company in Lost Lake, or like the fictional 'Monsters Inc.'), but I get your point... perhaps we could find something else to replace 'Inc.' with to make it feasible? Since I'm not very familiar with those kinds of terms I can't help much there, but you guys probably know a few?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Lost In The Lake?
Little Invisible Lunatics?
Lonely Inattentive Lightbulbs?
Loquatious Inexcusable Lorakeets?


The possibilities are endless. :-)

[Aridas]

Not fair, "Team Kickass" isn't in the list. >_>

*runs*

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Neither is:

The Game
The Team
Us
Those Guys
Just A Few Lunatics
For Us, Real Reckoning, Yes
Fond Uncles, Ruined Rearrangment Yonder
...

[tkg]

Wow... all of a sudden we're teeming with suggestions here
Well, I don't think it would really be fair to add them now since the poll has seen a few votes already, as it isn't possible (to my knowledge) to withdraw one and put it elsewhere if one so desires.

[ShadesFox]

This time again already?  I'm just curious, how are you planning on making this game?

[James StarRunner]

I've seen this for awile now, but haven't kept up to date with it. Count me in for a voice-actor and possibly one to do some of the storyline. We still haven't decided on the genre of the game, have we?

[tkg]

This time again already?  I'm just curious, how are you planning on making this game?

It has been explained in detail elsewhere in this thread, but to recap:
- The game will be based on my own game-engine, which I also intend to use for other projects in the future
- To create the world that the game will revolve around there is a simple-to-use world builder tool (which will have its first official build ready tomorrow, if all goes well)
- We have gathered a team where all (or at least most) aspects of the game development has been covered
- Add some time, enthusiasm and determination for good measure

I've seen this for awile now, but haven't kept up to date with it. Count me in for a voice-actor and possibly one to do some of the storyline. We still haven't decided on the genre of the game, have we?

Great, I'll add you to the team then - we could always use more voices and plotholes throughout the game

And I'm pretty sure we've settled for a free-form style of role-playing game much like the 'Elder Scrolls' games (which I seem to constantly refer to as examples, and I like to think that it is for a good reason). This type of game gives developers a lot of freedom to plan out events that are only limited by their creativity (in theory, anyways), as well as having a nearly unlimited replayability value.
Note that free-form games in general will be the main focus of the game-engine, so while all this seems aiming a bit too high for such a project, the main concern should really be about the content (models, graphics and such). This still means we'll have to work pretty hard to succeed, but we don't have the pressure from any governing company on us constantly, which is a serious plus in my book

[ShadesFox]

Ah, well if you need any more coders don't be afraid to give me a shout.

[KarlOmega1]

or maybe we should call the project team "Team Amber"...named after the one who created the comic...

[Jack McSlay]

There's always the next best thing, you can get cheap hosting from a ton of different companies (around $5-10 US a month, depending on who you use) and they usually give a fair amount of transfer and storage, PHP and SQL support, and even free email and domain name registration on some of them.  You just need to find someone who's willing to pay the hosting costs, if you go that route.

I could help on that, my site's ultimate goal is for games, so, I woudn't find it much trouble to create a section for it on my site.

[Reese Tora]

Starting the poll now, although there are only five entries to choose from (it'll probably do just as well, though). The voting will end in three days, if we can get enough of them - please consider spending a few of your highly valued calories on this. Thanks

I should have mentioned this before, but I really think that having 'Inc' or 'Ltd' in the name is a bad idea unless it actually is a limited liability organisation or officially incorporated - neither of which are likely.

You would be surprised just how easy it is to incorporate... One of my history teachers in highschool had several corporations.