Blogs - JohnColburn

Currently participating in the Ludum Dare 19 competition, where I'm trying to make a game in 48 hours. I figure I'll probably post the result of this activity here on IndieDB since it will be a game that I made all by myself.

It's actually turning out pretty well so far, considering how much time i haven't put into it.

Wow, almost forgot about this site. Still seems like a pretty cool place and I'm still working on coming up with a decent game.

Lately I've been experimenting with libtcod a bunch. Naturally that means I've been making ascii-style games, but there's a pretty good reason for that. I feel like I know a lot more about graphical interfaces and effects than I do about actual game design. I can program all sorts of graphics engines without even breaking a sweat but I never seem to get around to implementing real gameplay.

So basically I have a bunch of neat-looking tech demos that never actually do anything.

So now I'm working with a library that does a very good job of implementing almost every graphical feature necessary for a complete roguelike game and I'm holding myself to that limit as far as graphics go. When you actually start to think carefully about the "limitations" of ascii-like graphics, you start to realize that almost any good game could be made this way. You could make an ascii version of Civilization 4 and it probably wouldn't detract from the actual gameplay. Real-time first-person games would probably need quite a bit of rethinking to fit the core gameplay concepts into an ascii display but I'm pretty sure you could pull it off.

Not that I've decided to reject graphics forever or anything. Well-done graphics are an important part of any good game. I'm just moving to an extreme so that I can focus on designing and implementing actual gameplay mechanics without the distraction of tweaking the ui or cleaning up the sprites.

Anyway, as I said before I'll probably post something as soon as I think it's "playable". I use the term loosely, but I do think a game should cover all the basics (atart point, end point, and some defined activity between them) before you start throwing it around the internet.

It goes without saying that my previous blog post thing was a bit optimistic. I have no idea when I'll be posting an actual game. Things like this happen a lot.

Just posting this for anybody who wanders across my profile page, since I don't like to leave "Coming real soon!" style message up forever when it's obviously not happening. I'll probably be back when I have an actual finished thing to post for everybody.

Till then, keep watching the skies!

I'm currently working on a game titled "Deep Space Survival". It's a personal project that I'm working alone on. It's been in the works for about six months, and it's pretty close to a playable release now.

To summarize the idea of the game in the most misleading way possible, I could describe it as a "Command line driven survival horror game portrayed through text and additional supporting media.". I can tell you want to play it already.

The game is mainly text based BUT that doesn't mean it's ugly or difficult to play! I've put a lot of effort into the font selection, colors, and typesetting to make it not only readable but also attractive to look at. Alongside the text are maps, illustrations, and graphical displays for most important information.

Interacting with the game is done by typing your commands into the command line, but not in the frustratingly ambiguous way you may have seen in various MUDs or Interactive Fiction games. The command line features extensive built-in documentation for the commands, makes it clear what commands and targets are available, and even has tab completion to save unnecessary keystrokes!

The theme and setting of the game can be described as "science fiction survival horror". The classic System Shock games are one of my main inspirations, and I think of this game as a sort of "tribute" to those games. Not intended as a "remake" of any kind (obviously!) I just hope to capture some of the feeling and atmosphere present in those and other similar games.

I'll be posting some media and screen shots over the next couple weeks, leading up to a release sometime in July. I can't be too specific about what features will be included in that release just yet, because I'm not sure what will fully complete at that time. At the very least you can look forward to exploring parts of a creepy space station and trying to find some way to get out alive!