First up, sorry about the crappy last blog entry. I wanted to write one, but I had a nasty headache :(

Weeeeellll… This one is prolly going to be just as crap, and possibly pretty long. I thought that today I could share a few of my game concepts. Most of them have been put on hold cos I couldn't do something that was important, like graphics or some coding. But I'll get around to finishing a few of them some time.

Anyway, here we go - the M Chronicles, part one:

SHOOTERS:

Splatman - Splatman I did actually finish, but it was the first game I made with GM and it sucked big eggs IMO. Other people liked it though. I don't get them <_< Basically you clicked on this little grey dude, and he exploded into gore and respawned in the middle of the room. you had to keep him from hitting the walls, while bad guys tried to MAKE him hit the walls.

Splatman 2 - A much-needed improvement over the first game, Splatman 2 will offer a progressive storyline, better graphics and BETTER GIBS :P That is after all, Splatman's only saving grace. On hold because its pretty boring to make (very fun to play though)

Red Sequence - A vertical scrolling shooter in the vein of Tyrian or Raptor. Red Sequence offered a technology tree, and an interesting take on the idea of 'lives'. You actually had a few different ships at your disposal, and you could pick between them between missions. However, if one was destroyed, it was gone for good. It was going fairly well, but then version 6.0 came out and everything changed :( I might try again one day.

Starscape - my only other almost finished game, Starscape: Asteroids was an asteroid shooting game, but was HEAPS of fun to play, on account of the weapon powerups. You have four weapon types, which were just different colours. As you pick up powerups for a weapon type it got more powerful (up to level 5). So the level 5 green weapon shot bullets in a spiral pattern, while the red weapon just shot heaps of bullets in all different directions. The game is great fun to hotseat multiplay. I may even upload it here after I'm done writing this blog.

Danse Machina - I don't really have to go into this one much, because I assume anyone who is reading this blog will have played the demo. Incidentally, a new demo is very, VERY close now…

PLATFORMERS:

Carnal - players take control of a marine onboard a spaceship. An alien infestation has killed everyone else on board, and its up to you to prevent the ship from encountering another vessel or even worse, a planet. The interesting thing about this game was that your weapons actually did little damage to the enemies, rather just pushing them back - the only real way to kill them was to lure them into traps like pitfalls, exploding consoles or swinging stabby pipes. You also had a nasty boot-kick if things got really hectic, because your weapons had 'jam meters' - if you fired too much, the weapon would jam and you'd have to clear it. Stopped mainly because of sprites, but also due to one or two little coding problems.

Warriors of the Three Lands - This is a pretty recent idea I had, of three warriors who were sent by their nations to fend off a nasty demon… thing… The warriors were based on ancient civilisations (roman centurion, egyptian archer and persian immortal) and each had different strengths and weaknesses. You played through alternating missions, with each mission offering a different variety of gameplay. For example, the roman was more of the hack and slash type, the egyptian used her bow to get past obstacles, and the immortal used magic. The immortal levels were the most platform oriented, with the romans being the most action oriented. The egyptian fell somewhere in the middle. Stopped makin it before I started because I couldn't make the sprites.

STRATEGY:

Breach - Breach was inspired by the Space Hulk board game. It was a multiplayer turn-based game where the players controlled squads of terminator space marines (from the Warhammer 40k universe). There were set missions to complete, or just straight deathmatch style gameplay. I had actually got pretty far with this, but that was before GM even had particle systems. I lost the GMD ages ago, and I'm still in mourning.

Red vs Blue - I can't remember if I ever came up with a better name for this game. Basically, it was a side-scrolling RTS, although almost like Cannon Fodder. You controlled the red base in a battle against the blue base. You had very little control over the actual units, but you could drop in squads of men (which rappeled out of a chopper - looks cool), and you can control the squads with the arrow keys (advance, retreat, hold position, scatter, etc). You could also drop aerial bombardments and a few other nifty things. Ultimately the game was just kind of boring, so I stopped making it. It DID look really cool though, especially when tanks, jeeps and rocket infantry got involved witht he choppers blazing overhead an all. Nice graphics for this one.

Terran Legacy - TL was designed as a hotseat multiplayer game. in fact, you HAVE to play it hotseat multiplayer. It is a turn-based/realtime game. Players take turns moving fleets around, then when they come into contact with an enemy, the two ships battled it out like an arcade shooter. Great graphics, 36 ships over six races, and plenty of carnage and strategy. The game was designed to include a 'diplomacy' phase (much like the boardgame Diplomacy). I don't think I'll ever release it, although its VERY good quality and stuff, the game requires someone to explain how to play, and you NEED six people to play it.

RPG:

Call of the Night - Call of the night is a very interesting idea for a game I had, which I can't actually make due to spriting problems. Basically, you get to play as a vampire. Not a pussy vampire, a CLASSIC vampire. You are lord over a small village. The idea of teh game was to just be vampirey, and drink the blood of villagers without them knowing that you are a creature of the night. You could summon up gothic servants like ghouls, zombies and wraiths, and invade neighbouring villages and such. I thought it was a great idea, and I may get around to making it one day.

Number of the Beast - Number of the Beast was partly inspired by one of HappySister's games, Isaac's Quest. Again, I really wanted the characters to be the center of the story, so its all about the dark anti-hero and his quest for vengeance against his brothers and sisters. It was almost a puzzle game. In order to win battles with monsters, you had to find the right spell or weapon. Nice idea, but never got around to making the game.

"OTHER":

Novastorm - My baby. I have written book upon book on this game - there is a huge backstory which spans thousands of years, a dozen major and dozens of minor factions, over a hundred systems to explore and conquer. Travel through space, engage in diplomacy with planetary factions, order bombardment of a faction base, invade with your soldiers. It is a massive game, with a very deep plot and story development. The game actually takes many other games and integrates them. For instance, something like Red vs Blue would be used in planetary invasions. I really wanted to give the impression of SCOPE with this thing, but at the same time, be reasonably realistic. I have been working on this game for a long time, and each iteration gets better. Nobody else has seen this thing in action, and I want to wait till it really is what I wanted it to be.

*PHEW* That was long. That pretty much sums up all of the games I've made or will make. More MalNews on the morrow!