DRD Team

Awe ++

At this paticular moment of time I don't believe I have a healthier or more deeply felt respect for anyone in this universe than this here Skadoomer.

Wow... Simply "wow"!!!... I'm speechless... I too, have so much respect for you, dude... I'm working on a game right now (like at this very moment) and I have a tablet, but I can never create anything like that...
It's awesome... Make sure the gameplay matches the quality of texture art, though...
But I must add - everyone who attempts to do such things using an engine of a 12 year old game is THE MAN!
And that's all I have to say about that...

the foreverhood website has gone down temperarily and should be back up and running within two days to a week. (so the pictures and what not are down as well)

Make sure the gameplay matches the quality of texture art, though...

just what are you guys expecting from the gameplay? Foreverhood is pretty far from doom in many ways (ie no keys, no use button ect) so i'm open to ideas to what you guys are thinking the gameplay would be like or what you would like to see.

Hmm well I wasn't expecting this to play like doom at all. I thought it was going to be more RPGish? Oh well.

I expect a lot of nonlinearity. I like nonlinearity.

It's great as of now, though.

Perhaps more static enemies rather than appearing ones, but it's ok.

Not spoiling too much. too.

I would like to see something that requires exploration... Just because of the style of the world and of characters. The ability to talk adds to it. It's still has to be fun, though...
But the player always has to have a reason to do something. He has to have a goal... So you don't want the game to involve collecting stuff? Like a character might give you a quest to find an item and then you pick it up (well, just by walking over it) and then bring it somewhere (can be used automatically, when the player enters the sector). It could add some fun if it used right. Or maybe have some weapon involved puzzles? Like in King's Quest 8 you get an axe (which you have to look for to find) - it's weapon that you use in combat, but you can also use it to break barricaded doors to enter places where you couldn't enter before...
If you are trying to create a world - make sure it behaves like one. Like things happening around you that you have nothing to do with... Or make a player interact with the enviroment... Burn trees/bushes... Step on a touch-plate in a house to open a secret door and etc... Make it alive and it will keep the players going. It's interesting to explore and to get results.
Skadoomer what kinds of games do you like?

Cutmanmike wrote:Hmm well I wasn't expecting this to play like doom at all. I thought it was going to be more RPGish? Oh well.

Um yeah i did say it would do something like that didn't I? I'm still going for a semi-RPG system (namely a leveling up system like diablo II or more closely to the FPS geanre, HexenII) but i'm waiting on the next zdoom before i get back to ACS (or whatever the next scripting language will be)

I'm also working out the bugs on a distribution system for the characters. Since foreverhood has a bizzarre mapping style, it made no sense to just place the enemies into the map in an editor. So instead i build a system that distributes the characters through ACS. This is basted on where you are in the map (i have a system of distance checks that are preformed from one map spot to another) and using the game difficulty to decide how many and what kind to spawn. Of course there are added benifits to doing this, like making enemies grow fractionally stronger with each spawning cycle so they can become stronger and more challenging when you level up.

I have herd complaints from people in the past about automated systems like this one being more of a pain. In daedalus for example, it kinda got to me after a bit to be killing things where i already was, but since foreverhood is a different type of game, it makes a little more sense to always have something on the map.

Skadoomer what kinds of games do you like?

I'm a FPS addict, but i play games largely basted on which companies are my favorite. For example i've been on a Raven games kick lately (currently i'm working my way through Heretic II) I'm basing foreverhood largely on my main inflounces in gaming wich happen to include some of the following games: Earthbound, Strife, Hexen II, American McGees alice, Warcraft III, The Neverhood, and Diablo II (for the large ones) and more recently, inflounce from a collection of indy titles like Gish, seiklus, Avencast, and Doukutsu Monogatari.

Well, all these games are perfect source of great ideas!
Heretic 2 has a good exploration element to it...
Strife is great example of rpg world made using DooM engine - though it has both the inventory and a use button. I like dialogs and also the feeling that world lives around you - pesants walking, guys in the bar, secret base...
American McGee's Alice is one of my favorite shooters of all time, though it has a pain-in-the-ass style level design, but the style overall is awesome! It's a perfect example of a complete world set in a relatively small maps! You see wierd objects around, people talk to you, locations remind you somehow of real places (school, for example)...
The Neverhood - Yeah, hey! I still laugh at the longest burp from a fruit of the tree! Shows that puzzles that are kind of out of place (all codes, symbols and such) can be very well incorporated in a complete world of the game.
Having said that, I really can't understand why are you denying the use of inventory or a use button, because al these games had it for user to interact with a world. You are building a new gaming world and it's crying for interaction... Shooting is nice, I know, but with an art like that users just have to get a unique experience!
Play other games (not neccesseralily shooters) with wierd settings or unusual characters: Dark Eye, Bad Day on Midway, Bad Mojo, Sanitarium, Pencil Whipped... If you are interested in any of the above - PM me!

Having said that, I really can't understand why are you denying the use of inventory or a use button, because al these games had it for user to interact with a world. You are building a new gaming world and it's crying for interaction... Shooting is nice, I know, but with an art like that users just have to get a unique experience!

The inventory will most likely get incorporated into foreverhood, but you won't use it until half-way through the game. I never considered using it before because i wan't thinking about interaction in that sense. What i rely on a lot is the player to use their curisory to go and bump into things to drive responses. Lots of objects are pushable in foreverhood, as well as static elements responding to you when you touch them.

I never wound up going for a use key because when i was building the project in colledge, the professors that oversay my progress (as well as all the other students i was working with) wheren't video game savvy at all. So to make things easier for them i decided to go with collision basted interaction. So far i seem to be doing just fine with out it.

Yeah, I agree that use button is not necesserary... Quake didn't have it...
Pushing things is cool. In the game Bad Mojo it was the only availible action, and they pulled it off! It worked great! The more interaction - the better!

Brilliant as usual!

Well, this has to some of the worser news i've recieved lately, so i figure i'll share with you why foreverhood will be disqualified from the independent gaming festival:

Foreverhood, one of the games in the "emergency round," is based on the
http://zdoom.org engine. This engine is ultimately derived from ID software and other sources;
a historical outline is given at http://www.doomworld.com/10years/ports/ports02_1.php . I downloaded
the current zdoom 2.0.98 release from zdoom.org, and it contains a license
that specifically prohibits commercial use. This would be in clear
violation of IGF entry rules, which require the author hold all
necessary commercial rights. From Doomlic.txt:

3. Prohibited Uses: Under no circumstances shall you, the
end-user, be permitted, allowed or authorized to commercially exploit
the Software. Neither you nor anyone at your direction shall do any
of the following acts with regard to the Software, or any portion
thereof:

Rent;

Sell;

Lease;

Offer on a pay-per-play basis;

Distribute for money or any other consideration; or

In any other manner and through any medium whatsoever
commercially exploit or use for any commercial purpose.

Notwithstanding the foregoing prohibitions, you may commercially
exploit the software you develop by exercising the Educational Use
right, referenced in paragraph 2. hereinabove.

Because of the turbulent history of zdoom, it is possible that the
author may be able to demonstrate an alternate source code base with an
alternate license, such as GPL. A GPL doesn't prohibit commercial use;
it's just not usually profitable for games. I would note, however,
that if indeed the Foreverhood author produces a zdoom under GPL, the
contest entry would be in violation of the GPL. No source code is provided,
nor any offer for how to obtain the source code. I am not aware of zdoom
having any other licenses; I think the Foreverhood author has a burden
of proof here.

Seeing how zdoom is moving into polymost, i have to withdraw from the competition (and perhaps all like them) Oh well, i tried. I'll keep moving foward with foreverhood development, and even though i knew i wouldn't be allowed to sell the game for profit, it saddesn me to see that i'm more legally bound than i previously thought.

These are indeed very bad news.