A few updates


MoO project - See update section.

C21 online - This is a Japanese MMO that I researched. It has some nice robot design here and there.

Paradroid - Cleaned up a few of the roughs.

Elite game - I've added some scribbles at the bottom of this half finished Elite-I-don't-know-what-I-derailed page.

10 comments:

Aritz said...

Man, you do a insane amount of work, and very well done. Are you actually making any game you have designed? I would like really see those games running, with exactly same drawing style.

Anonymous said...

yeah, such awesome designs cannot go wasted. hopefully someday someone will go with these ideas, if not yourself.

Anonymous said...

yeah. how about games where you were involved? i'd like to see them. did you draw stuff for cortex command?

Arne said...

I'm doing work on Cortex Command from time to time. I occasionally write code for my own projects, but I've never really approached a release-worthy build. I released a freeware game back in the 90's but I doubt that it managed to spread very far...

Some month ago I got quite a few emails from people offering to help program the MoO game. I'm guessing that it was linked somewhere, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary in my web stats.

Out of all my projects, MoO is a 'Top-5' on want to finish list. The potential for great replay value puts it there. I've also have a soft spot for certain kinds of 4X games.


A game project which I want to work on but won't make my 'Top-5' list by far, is a '3D Adventure game' - Sierra used to call them that, I believe. Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle are two examples.

The advantage with these kind of games is that they can be very diverse, narratively. Anything can happen. It's not like certain game genres with... story intermissions, then you return to shooting people in the face or building up a base.

I used to find adventure games quite interesting as a kid and I had the patience to put up with the trial an error puzzles just so I could see what crazy thing would happen next.

Nowadays it's easy and tempting to find a walkthru or a let's play.

An adventure game would be demanding on the art asset side, while ultimately having a pretty poor replay value. Coming up with consistent, waterproof and satisfying puzzles is tricky too. I have some ideas which I think are novel, but it's not enough to give an overall... bang for the buck.

MoO has a better replay value, and the art assets would be used more efficiently. I want it to be one of those games which people play at least periodically for decades, like Elite, Civ, Fallout/Baldur, X-Com.

Anonymous said...

http://www.mobygames.com/game/reunion

Yet another spaceship strategy

Anonymous said...

Love the idea of the MoO one.

I have to say, MoO1 is vastly underrated. I think the extreme-fleet stacking gives it some well-deserved dislike, but for me the simple stat-bar based construction on your planets makes the game beautifully smooth without the agonizing micro that plagues most other 4X games. MoO1 is a 4X you could run as an RTS.

That said, in your list of 4X games to try, you neglected a favourite of mine: Master of Magic. MoO2 was basically a fusion of the gameplay features from MoM and MoO. MoM stands apart from most 4X games that simply duct-tape a new skin on Civilization. Instead of unlocking new units and equipment through research, the tech level of the main development units is totally static - to unlock high-level units, you have to build the high-level buildings as in an RTS.

Instead, your research goes into unlocking *spells*, and spells are used for combat boosts, for summoning special monsters, for enchantments and curses, or for global worldwide effects.

Not that it's a fantastic game or anything, but for an orthogonal approach to the 4X genre it's a must-play.

Anonymous said...

Cyberstep brought over C21 as Cosmic Break if you are looking for more info.

Anonymous said...

I saw the list of 4X games - maybe this will fit in there somewhere too: http://www.neurohack.com/transcendence/index.html

You got some really interesting drawings and ideas - get the ass out of the chair, man! ;)

-=Y=- said...

'That said, in your list of 4X games to try, you neglected a favourite of mine: Master of Magic."
Arne, you should check this too because of your Skeleton Lords. I see couple similarity between them. May by you will get some new ideas from that game.

Arne said...

I've heard about Master of magic, but.... somehow sci-fi is more appealing to me, so I haven't taken time to check it out. IIRC, Stardock did a MoM remake recently.