New Game - When the Sky Falls

Hey all, I am building a new game called 'When the Sky Falls' its an apoclyptic game set in the not to distant future when the world is ending... The apocalypse.

Anyway it has all manner of stereotypical and mythical events occuring related to the end of the world, the dead walking, heaven and hell do battle, the horsemen riding across the world etc etc.

The game is going to be a point and click adventure game but with complete freedom of choice where a persons choices will dictate what happens in the game... hopefully with some random results thrown in so that every game will be a little different from the last.

<img src="http://www.tilleydesign.co.uk/images/room1mock.png" border="0" />

Heres a little screenshot of one of the survivors downstairs so you can see the art style I am building, but I was hoping people here might have some suggestions of story ideas, creatures or game dynamics that I could include in the game to make it better.

WOW. I love the game design. Those graphics are really beautiful. I don't know if you use the free edition or if you have purchased a license, but your project seems big. I hope you will be able to do what you want.

I'm not an expert in apocalyptic games and I think you have already thought about it. If there are survivors, I will suggest to add different class of people such as doctor, strong people, etc. Therefore they can interact with each other.

Do you plan do add monsters in the game or just survivors? I will stay tuned because I'm very interested in your game. Good luck on your game.

anthonykojima hi, glad you like the design I am working with a couple of excellent artists so hopefully more game assets will be coming soon.

Anyway the game will feature both survivors and creatures, zombies naturally will be included, demons, the devil, angels, various mythical gods and some other things.

I like your idea of the different survivors the game was for the most part going to see the player trying to survive alone. But including some other survivor characters is a good idea, both good and bad etc.

P.s. I have purchased a license... Originally i did it just to support development, but I am generally glad I did as some of my games even the fluxation one just keep getting bigger and a license is a must have to really get the most out of the software :)

Cool man. <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

your post makes me want to see the game even more.

This sounds like a great game, and the artwork looks excellent. I like the idea of a freeform adventure game -- I love adventure games, but it always bothers me when in the typical adventure game you can pick up two objects--say a shovel and a trowel--but can only use each in a particular location. If I have a garden trowel and I need to dig a little hole and the world is about to end, I'm going to try to use it!

I posted a possible solution to your how to question about enabling objects when the player gets near. I also suggested you include a "reach" instance variable (you could call it anything-maybe proximity would be better?) on your interactive objects. I suggested you could set it to different values so the player would have to be closer to some objects than others in order to interact with them.

Building on anthonykojima's suggestion about survivors, you might also have a reachFactor property for the survivors which you would use as a multiplier on an object's reach/proximity value. Then different people could use objects when they are closer or farther away. For example, a tall man could change a lightbulb just by reaching up, but a little kid would need to stand on something to reach it. Maybe not the best example for your specific game, but I think it gets the idea across.

kittiewan Hi thats a good idea for the survivors, i am unsure exactly how other survivors will play within the game, originally my idea was for the game to follow one survivor as he tried to continue to survive against every evil thing possible and a world gone crazy. I like the idea of other survivors but i will have to seriously consider how to implement them into the game without them appearing as a typical adventure game npc.

My problem with adventure games is similar to yours i loved some of the stories but i hated the you must use this with this and then touch this just so and then do this in order to move on. There is almost no deviation and like you say one item has one use which can be frustrating... E.g. one game i played i had diamonds in my inventory and gold... but the 'pawn broker' would only take a ruby in exchange which i had to get somwhere else in the game.

My idea is not only to change that aspect so that all the items have a fundamental use but also so that you can do what you want. Ideally I want players to be able to totally change the story by their actions. And the story wont be pointed to them, the story is the end of the world that will go on no matter what you do. The players job is simply to survive it, be that to keep themselves and their family safe or to go out and try and save the world... its up to them what they do and the game should cater for each decision.

Its a big project :)

Did you ever play the old Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (from the early '90s)? It was the first game I played that let you take different approaches to solving a problem. As I recall, you could fast talk your way, punch your way or think your way to success.

Anyway, it is definitely a huge project! But it sounds great. Will you release it in phases?

Sadly I didnt play that game.

I havent decided exactly how to release it, While I am waiting for new artwork I am building a website and preparing a level with placeholder graphics. Once I have a website up and some replacement graphics I will probably put alpha builds on the website to try and get interest and build a community and test bugs etc.

Beyond that I am not sure how I will release the game whether to keep it free to play or not. I had the idea of allowing people to play it online for free or pay to download it and play it on their computer (using a html5 exe wrapper) because I believe the final size of the game will be massive so downloading it to play online via a website could take a long time. Or I might consider attempting crowd funding, but as I am in the UK I will have to use IndieGoGo which doesnt have a good success rate for games.

Very cool idea for a game, a strangely familiar theme for myself too. I've been working on a series of sub-games that will eventually build up to a larger game that has a very similar premise to yours here, an apocalyptic, end-of-the-world type of game.

Yet more strange, the first game I've posted an early sample of here in the forum has a very similar name!

scirra.com/forum/when-darkness-falls_topic50839.html

Funny because you also have that ASCII shooter game, which is along the lines of something I'd do too. Seems we may have a bit in common! :)

Seems you might be right, I liked your game, wondered if you have taken it further at all? or what you intend, i really liked the art style, thats the main thing that holds me back, i am absolutely crap at artwork.