3000 Miles Under London - Board Game + Nerf Gun = ?? Page 2

Arden Canelo

Hi every persons! I posted a long time ago and I came back to post again now. As the title says, I'm working on a 1-4 player video game idea named 3000 Miles Under London.(3kMUL) (started like... 4/28/11?) It's a steampunk themed and survival horror inspired for a basis. For an analogy, think of Left 4 Dead meets Journey to the Center of the Earth. You essentially have a survival horror multiplayer situation miles below ground inside a durable metal house/bunker attached on top of a giant drill which is called a Drill House. Oh, and there's a cannon mounted on the roof for blasting various things, monsters, whatever needs blasting.

You have three key roles to fill as a single player with npcs or co-op with other players.
They are:
Captain/Pilot – Controls where the Drill House moves – needs other functions but don't know.
Miner/Defender – Uses the cannon and braves the tunnels in heavy armor to gather materials.
Crafter/Mechanic – Fixes anything broken and and makes beneficial things for the crew.
Here's a mock up I threw together with some love.

The game itself revolves around a 4 step dynamic cycle of
Exploration>>Missions>>Battles>>Crafting
By dynamic I mean that the cycle can be changed up at any given time, its really just an example of natural progression. The basic premise is that the surface world was abandoned by humans just before a predicted apocalypse occurring in 1888.


I'm open to ideas and criticism.
Why won't I abandon this like my previous ideas? Well, I've never combined my love of art and video games like this before, and it really gets me excited every day to work on it.

JohnTWM

Question(s). Are all of these roles intended to be performed simultaneously? I was a bit confused by your description of the "dynamic cycle" which made it sound as if they would be separate stages. If they are separate, won't the people whose roles are not currently in use be bored? Or will all players participate in all roles? Or, if simultaneous, won't the crafting be a bit... I dunno, lame compared to the piloting and shooting/mining?

Just some stuff to think about, I like the general idea. I assume this will be third person á la Soldat, like the mock-up.

Arden Canelo

@JohnTWM - Now that I think about it, yeah it would be boring to have to do one of the roles you didn't like. I think I may have the roles be able to be performed at the same time by npcs in a single player experience and selected pre game for multiplayer. Good questions. Yeah 3rd person and thanks.

The Fool

The drill house made me chuckle :P I think this idea is neat.

But since it's a 1-4 player game, won't you need another role to make it 4? I thought it interesting that the defender doesn't get his own weapon when traversing the mines, is all the battling gonna happen by the drill house? I think this is a cool start, can't wait to see what it solidifies into. Keep at it man.

Arden Canelo

@The Fool - the ideas I have for it now are kind of spilling over from when I designed it to be a board game. So, there's that stuff. Making it a single player game would be nice and solve some problems, but I like the idea of multi player horror stuff. Being isolated in a situation with others and maybe sometimes close to them, but you can't reach them or something. Anyway, the roles can be reworked and diversified more without much of a problem. I was thinking that there would have to be split screens involved for the different roles, but then thought that each of the 4 players could put on battle armor and vote to go outside. And there would only be one captain per team and it's kind of getting into MMORPG territory in my mind. Also thanks.

oscarman

So the drill goes down a level and you have to fight monsters and collect things to power your drill to continue going down? If not thats what it should be. You have to collect fuel, supplies, etc etc then bring them back to the drill so you can keep going down.

I like the sound of this very much.

Arden Canelo

@oscarman The basic idea of collecting items after killing monsters is a good one. However, I don't want the game to be too linear in progression. I want to have the drill house be able to drill in every direction, but you can only exit it when it's facing drill down house up. Like you drill some, that attracts monsters, you kill the monsters, then you go out and gather supplies then repeat.
Another thing is the missions idea. You have a radio or something that tells you distress calls or something and you can respond to them or not. Maybe a cavern town is in trouble and they need help and they're offering rewards so you go help them.
The end product I have in mind right now is a sandbox type game like GTA, except you know, not on the surface.
Oh! and the game world is an enormous 2D circle the player can travel around within.

EDIT - forgot to say thanks for you saying you like my idea

Arden Canelo

Update on the mock up.
So, you're drilling along searching for monster rich areas. Monster parts are worth lots of money (thinking of calling the currency "Ru$t") to the right buyer in the right cavern town after all. Then you find a good area and face your drill house right side up so you can exit. You turn the lights on to see how much and what is out there. The thing is, the monsters don't like the light since they have sensitive eyes from living underground. They do, however, like eating you and are attracted to the noise of ray gun blasts.
You exit the drill house and see pairs of red eyes start to shuffle closer to the light now that they see you. You charge your ray gun to full and pew off a large shot. A monster explodes from the kinetic force and they begin to advance from the corners of the screen faster.


I'm still working on ideas for the controls, but that's not a priority right now. Getting the mock up looking all fancy fresh is what comes first. It's based on 32x32 tiles more or less right now as well.

The Fool

Since one of the player's only job is to control the house, I would make it as important as possible. Maybe all crafting happens there, and maybe you can restore some HP nearby it, if it's damaged too badly there's some consequence, and if it's destroyed it's game over. Give the captain some means to defend it (maybe give him control of the cannon instead of the defender?)

If that's how you ended up making it, I would make the monsters attracted to something about the house and not just any death ray. That way you constantly need to defend it while also sending out individual players to collect items, save people, explore, etc.

Arden Canelo

I do plan to have the house as a central feature, like it's in the center of the game screen a majority of the time. The more I think about having it multiplayer the more I think it should be single player, but from multiple systems or PCs. Like online co-op. I kept going back to split screens and stuff that just didn't sit well with me if it was played by 4 players all in one room.
Yes, crafting will happen inside it the house or maybe since it's so small you can only store materials for crafting in it and you have to go to a cavern town to craft with the materials or sell them off.
As far as game overs go I was thinking that the house would have a damage meter like you said and if it gets destroyed then yes, you lose, good day sir. But what if the player dies as well or before the house goes? What then? Where would they respawn? The cavern towns could be like a hub for exploration and etc and you could come back to life there. You could send out a team to retrieve your drill house or purchase a new one with cash on hand.
The monsters could be attracted to light, but then there would be constant attacks on everything that had light and it probably would go on well after your resources were depleted, ammo, armor, health, etc.
You've been most helpful with input so far Mr. fool.

Arden Canelo

Level/Stage progression concept -


What I was think of is that you start in a safe chamber where you arrive some how from the cavern town at the end. How you get there? Teleportation, safety tubes, maybe some kind of regen pod thingy. Point is your goal is to get from the the starting chamber to the cavern town again in one piece. There may need to be checkpoints, time limits or other game mechanics involved as well. I was also thinking of how SNES star fox level map went and maybe I will have split paths too.

Arden Canelo

Update. I now have the main character actually being unique in the way that he now has a given name - Edgar Edison. The player can change it from that default of course like in an RPG. He now rides a type of heavy buzz saw wheeled unicycle, which he grinds into enemies by doing cool looking tricks with it. Although since I think of that now, he's on dirt, yet applying video game physics he could be riding on very hard dirt? Hmmm.

Took the cannon off the house, seemed too much of an advantage for the player in the setting. Working on a 3 point leveling system of Discovery Points (gained by mapping the level) Item Points (gained by making items to survive and upgrade your stuff and Gore Points (gained by brutally slaying enemies in the level.)

I kind of feel that not many people here like pixel art, or my pixel art isn't finished looking enough? Something like that. I think I'll go post in a forum about pixel art and see if I get better crits. And still post here of course.

Arden Canelo

Trying a hand drawn concept approach. I like it a lot more than pixels so far. Done in Photoshop of course:P
Some kind of idea where in you kill monsters and gather raw materials then craft them into items then sell those things to otherwordly patrons. Trying out a new logo sketch too in the upper left. The beacon on top of the store drill thingy would attract customers or something. Like let them know it's safe to shop there. How would I make a main protagonist sell items and the player have fun? I'll think of something.

EDIT - damn it, does it look like a well fortified public restroom now? argh

Arden Canelo

'nother concept art update. The main point of the game now is to drill to certain locations underground, kill monsters, gather raw materials, then craft things from those mats, and finally sell them to otherworldy customers. Maybe humans too. With the sales money or RU$T you buy better equip to fight monsters with. The player can choose from 1 of 3 different robots/store owners and 3 kinds of shops to run. There is an underlying story for each shop choice and it won't be just selling and buying every level of the game. Exploration and finding new items will be encouraged when having the shop closed. Your patrons will be more civilized versions of the monsters you kill for mats basically. I want to keep it in an old Victorian feel to it as well. I think I 'll finish this up later tonight/morning unless you guys have any thoughts on it?

The Fool

Got a couple of thoughts, I dunno how legitimate they are lol First though, it's shaping up nicely. The transition from pixel art to the hand drawn has, I think, added more character.

Speaking of character though, Edgar and Winston look very similar to me. Same mustache, same unicycle, same classy tastes in hats. Only big difference seems to be their size/shape. And though I know one is a shopkeeper and the other a barkeep I couldn't tell you which does which. Maybe some variation would help, like hints in their design/clothes about their jobs?

Love the martini ghost.

Arden Canelo

So I've been having thoughts of trying a webcomic again. My problem in the past and now has been that I think of new ideas that I like over the old ones and let go of the old ones too soon. It's like I need an artistic outlet to portray my ideas as they come, all my characters and ideas.
I think I've come up with something to remedy this. I'm keeping the drill house/shop idea and the underground theme idea, but I'm thinking about making the webcomic about the store owner of the drill shop.

The point is that the store owner is a shape shifter of some kind (that keeps a few characteristics every shape , say his mustache never changes and body changes once a night to anything within some limits) who sells my ideas for things to any character I can or have come up with. With that I can easily portray any character I can imagine or have in the past wanting to buy any item I can imagine in a weekly 3 page format. Or greater than that like a new customer for every 2-3 weeks worth of pages and update MWF.

Literally a store containing all my ideas being sold to all my characters past and present by a shop owner that I can decide what they look like given certain limitations.

That's where I am with this idea for 3000 Miles Under London right now. The comic may not even be called that. (I always wanted something shorter.) My intention would still be to make it a video game too. The great thing about this web comic idea is that I have all the characters and ideas from my past drawings/notes to use in one single concept

I'll try to post some sketches later tonight or tomorrow morning~!

The Drill House/Shop may also be turning into a giant robot's head with a drill for the neck that the shop owner lives in. Oh and almost forgot, I want to include a lot of video game elements in the comic as well.

Yay for paragraphs!

Arden Canelo

Yeah still tryin' to make sense of this idea o mine. Did a sketch of what I think the shopkeeper might look like in one of his forms. I still like this idea, the one of a character of mine selling my ideas to other characters of mine in a store. It's just been a little slow going the past few days.
Proportion reference on the right, well its more of a silhouette. I think this is better than what I drew last in this forum?

Arden Canelo

Trying a more simplified approach to the character. Since, you know anatomy isn't something I'm good at. Is this a bad idea? I like this version of the shopkeeper more. He's kind of a magician salesman guy now. Or something. Like, he keeps all the inventory of the store in his hat and pulls out what he thinks customers want? That's the basic idea.

The Fool

Darn, I was hoping to play this game at some point :P

Simplified version looks good, but almost seems a little too cutesy and happy for a guy making a living selling and buying from miners in an underground, haunted world of tunnels.

Arden Canelo

The Fool wrote: »

Darn, I was hoping to play this game at some point :P

Simplified version looks good, but almost seems a little too cutesy and happy for a guy making a living selling and buying from miners in an underground, haunted world of tunnels.

I want it to be a game some day. I just need a programmer type person. Maybe someone who knows more about game design too. Cutesy huh? I'll try to raise his mysterious factor some more. Maybe have not so anime eyes.

EDIT- Forgot to post this colored doodle I did of Edgar.

Arden Canelo

Trying some more real (as real as I can muster) proportions for Edgar.
Someone maybe show me some errors, I'm sure there are many.

The_Glad_Hatter

you look like you're far better at the cuter smaller stuff than the realer ones, so i'd stick to that personally.

Arden Canelo

The_Glad_Hatter wrote: »

you look like you're far better at the cuter smaller stuff than the realer ones, so i'd stick to that personally.

I'm in agreement with that, Hatter. I just need to make him look not super cute and still maintain squished proportions. Which is where I'm at right now. I did some more sketches, but stopped when I started heading towards bobble head territory. I'm sure I can do some more, but will anyone provide some more input maybe?

The Fool

The Glad Hatter is the man to listen to here. Always trust the one with headgear.

Maybe one approach could be trying a different shaped head for the smaller version? Like the more squared face from the taller Edgar. Though I don't suppose there's anything wrong with a cute looking character. Depends on the kind of story you're planning to tell I. Can ya tell us anything more about the atmosphere of the comic? Is it gonna be funny? A drama? Dark? Upbeat? Will there be roller skating martini ghosts late for parties?

Arden Canelo

The Fool wrote: »

The Glad Hatter is the man to listen to here. Always trust the one with headgear.

Maybe one approach could be trying a different shaped head for the smaller version? Like the more squared face from the taller Edgar. Though I don't suppose there's anything wrong with a cute looking character. Depends on the kind of story you're planning to tell I. Can ya tell us anything more about the atmosphere of the comic? Is it gonna be funny? A drama? Dark? Upbeat? Will there be roller skating martini ghosts late for parties?

Hey, The Fool, thanks for all your replies so far.

Atmosphere of the comic – It's about isolation (of the main characters) and dealing with that while having a small group of good friends there for you. The tunnels outside the store are so dangerous that a majority of the main characters never leave the store itself. Like, they fear for their lives even though they're not human. They're used to it by now, but still have bouts of cabin fever sometimes.

I suppose you could compare it to being on a really cool spaceship with all your closest friends, but you can only go planetside rarely.

Also I'm planning a 5 character main cast. A security guard, a pilot, a hunter, a manager, and a clerk. They all will be mostly humanoid, but be monsters or supernatural in one way or another.

Arden Canelo

Creature concept for the comic's general theme. Kangearoo. I'm a sucker for word combinations if anyone could guess.

Arden Canelo

So, I had this idea to make the comic's panels the pages of an old book. And use the edges of the book cover along with the ... in between page parts as the gutters for the panels. I know it could use some more development, but what I want to know is - does this seem like a good idea? Does it look bad that they're just 2D images overlapping? Do they need shadows under them? So many questions

The Fool

Ha, frozen zombie kitten popsicles.

I like the book idea, enough to really want to see what the finished product would look like.

I'd take a lesson from Squidbunny's Next Town Over though. Her default is a lean gold frame (Like http://squidbunnies.com/nto/?p=418) but every now and again she'll spice it up with an ornamental frame (like http://squidbunnies.com/nto/?p=65). I'd encourage a similar approach, since the books might get distracting. Maybe just a worn looking piece of paper for the majority then use the books here and there to add interest (and maybe a tear in the paper for a dramatic moment!)

I would try the shadows too. It looks weird to me that the books have shadows on them but don't cast any. Keep at it man! It's been cool to see the idea progress. Looking forward to reading it and tasting zombie kitten frozen treats in a variety of flavors!

Arden Canelo

Mock up of a 3-4 panel strip coming out of a wallet type idea. The wallet contents would possibly change every week and I would try to crank out 3 strips every week as well. The idea came to me because the comic (3kMUL) is about a crew of supernatural citizens of an underworld running a store of sorts. So, what better way to have this portrayed than a comic strip stuffed in a wallet? I think it may be too dark right now (used multiply in photoshop a bit too much maybe.) What do you all think of it?

The Fool

I dunno man, this I'm skeptical about. Half of your comic real estate isn't going to be contributing to the story at all. After the first few installments I think the reader would just get used to the wallet and ignore it.

Mustang

This^, plus it would make more sense for it to be printed on some kind of an old timey store ledger, which would also be less intrusive as far as framing goes.

Arden Canelo

Mustang wrote: »

This^, plus it would make more sense for it to be printed on some kind of an old timey store ledger, which would also be less intrusive as far as framing goes.

Thanks for the comments guys. I think I got carried away with experimenting there, but it was fun. I like the idea about the store ledger Mustang. I'll see what I can work out with that.

Arden Canelo

I am still doing things with this. It's just kind of slow at the moment. I thought up a few more things.
The majority of the planet's lit areas are called the USK - United Subterranean Kingdom.
The light source for those areas are large phosphorescent plants.
The citizens eat the plants and have over time gained luminescent skin like biological light bulbs.

Maybe I shouldn't give away toooo many secrets! Still I needed some kind of update.
I'm trying to get the retro video game feel right along with sepia toned drawings. Will post some of that soon I hope.

Arden Canelo

Update with a new idea for portraying this story/world idea as a board game of sorts. Take the game board from say, any board game with pieces and spots to move on, and stretch it out over a plastic gun. You might get something like this. You hold the game board while you use it as a tool to advance on the game board at the same time.


The game piece is a screw that you twist into the gun's holes after you've accumulated movement points by shooting a target with suction darts. Yes, that is a 3D model of a Nerf Maverick. I have a real one drilled with the holes I need, but no camera to show it off. I'm going to work this into the story of the comic and use that world as a way to have the player use the gun for certain things. Like, fighting monsters, collecting things, etc. It'll probably be more like what I first started posting in this thread. That's what I'm working on right now. I need to make friends with someone who has a digital camera >_>;

The Fool

Honestly, I have no idea what you just described lol

Arden Canelo

The Fool wrote: »

Honestly, I have no idea what you just described lol

Right! I'll just have to work on a better way of showing it off/ explaining it then.

Mojo_Jojo

How is that related to the original concept?

I think it would help if you decide on what you want to make and then you just stick with it. You've gone from computer game to cartoon to plastic gun. It's sort of interesting I suppose, but it's hard to give feedback when you change the fundamental idea between posts.

Arden Canelo

Mojo_Jojo wrote: »

How is that related to the original concept?

I think it would help if you decide on what you want to make and then you just stick with it. You've gone from computer game to cartoon to plastic gun. It's sort of interesting I suppose, but it's hard to give feedback when you change the fundamental idea between posts.

Well, you see, that's sort of a problem I've been having with my art in the past however many years. I can think of ideas I like, but never like them enough to finish them beyond the concept stage. I keep thinking I'll eventually make something that I like so much that I'll be able to work on it for a longer time, but it just doesn't happen for me. I guess I'm just a concept artist? Does that sound right? Either that or I have artist ADD or something. It kind of makes me sad to come to this realization, in a way.

Or I feel that I can make concepts and tie them all together into one cohesive idea, but that doesn't work too well.

Mojo_Jojo

Yeah, I don't buy that. It's fine if you're just idling doodling things that will never go anywhere, but that achieves nothing, they remain doodles.

I suppose if you're having fun, then it's okay, but there's no feedback you can be given except "Pick an idea, and stick with it."