sargent_stick

Hello, i'm not sure if there already is a topic about this, but i did a search and couldnt find one.

I was wondering what type of movement is better in a Top Down Shooter game:
Fixed movement: When you press any movement keys, you move directly in that direction. You body still points towards the mouse.
Or
Mouse movement: Like the other one, your body is constantly pointing towards the mouse, however when you use the movement keys you move towards or around the mouse.

I had a little debate with myself, and thought of a few pros and cons.

Fixed movement:
Pros:

• Easier to move and shoot in another direction
• Easier to navigate with less thought, ie. you can just glimpse at were your character is and move him easily while not worrying about the mouse
• Generally easier to use, especially if the game is fast paced
• Feels better to some players

Cons:

• Not realistic, ie. your body is facing in a completely random direction to the way your walking
• Very hard to animate the sprite due to the way his body would act.

Mouse Movement:
Pros:

• More realistic, because you wont be walking in funny directions compared to where your looking
• Easier to animate
• Better for a slow-paced game as you cant run in and shoot
• Better for non-linear maps, as in your not stuck on a set path

Cons:

• Cant move through maps quickly
• Strafing is very annoying, making it hard to poke around a corner to kill someone

I just touched on some pros and cons there but i will add more if anyone comes up with some more. But i was wondering what your views about them are, which do you prefer? Also, which do you think would suit an open-ended game, a bit like GTA?

The other day i was playing Ouverture-Facile
I was stuck somewhere and stopped in frustration (as one does). However there were help websites in which people got together and discussed how to achieve certain puzzles. I thought to myself that this could be a really cool idea for a game.
For example, the first few levels would be simple ones, in which they are easy enough to solve alone, but still teach the player. Then much harder puzzles could appear, with very limited clues, each person recieving a different clue. They then connect to a forum or multiplayer chat room, etc. where they present their clue and help solve the puzzle.
Still confused? Imagine a game in which 5 players are each given a letter to a 7 letter word. They each hold a clue, and must work together to solve it, however not all of them is nesscary to complete the word.
Of course the puzzles would be much harder and more sophisticated than these, however they will still contain the same elements.

Possible Problems:

• If there was a forum to discuss how to solve the problems, once a puzzle is solved by a group of people, the puzzle becomes solved for everyone. Thus requiring no skill to get to a harder level, therefore no learning curve.
• If a question is just too hard, it causes all players to stop playing, even if one player is extremely good, he is possibly unable to solve it for everyone.

However a possible solution to the first problem could be to have a separate chat room for the game. (But that raises problems of people having to be online at the right moment and up to the same level as them).
Another possible solution is to have some sort of private discussion or chat room, for groups. Groups, depending on how the developer has set it, could be determined by either:

• Allowing the user to choose his own group with set ID's, for instance his friends from school. Teams could also be matched if someone doesnt want to play with people they know.
  OR
• Assigning every person to a group depending on what time they registered. For instance every 10 people would form a group together, roughly starting at the same time. (A problem can occur if someone just wants to give the game a go for a couple of mins, realises they don't like it and leave, leaving the team with 1 less player.)

I just wanted to see what ideas you could have for this and what your opinion about the idea is. This isn't exactly a game i'm planning on making, i just thought of the idea. And if someone was to make it related to the environment or the planet, everyone would be helping do their bit, for the greater good.

hello,
this is a short but addicting game to test how long you can survive against an army.
It is a top-down shooter and the controls are explained in game.
You control the blue guy and it gets harder the more men you kill.
*note:you can hold down the mouse button as the gun gets faster during the game.
screenshots:

screenshot 2:

Have fun:
Download Survival 1.1

[upcoming]
vehicles
multiple modes
--story
--classic
--progression
--multiplay
difficulty settings
+ more
[upcoming]

Has anybody got any designs for this years 4 elements contest that they would like to share? .... or would like help for ideas? Are you having troubles in featuring an element in their game? need people for their team? Discuss here:

I for one have some problems in importing the emotion    into my game as it is a statergy and that makes it very hard to put in emotions... i was thinking about putting in a storyline with special characters   . Or make some teams very scared    of you or make natives that are feared from workmen but are scared of soldiers or sumthing...

what do you think?

What is the most amount of money you have ever made selling a GM game. And what is the most effective way?

What game was it?
How much did you make?(can remain confidential)
How much did you sell it for?(including currency)
Where did you sell it?(Store?,Ebay?,etc)
How did you advertise it?(GMC?,internet ads?,etc)
Did you achieve how much you wanted?(In total)
What did you want the money for? (eg. Dev Tool)

I just thought it would be nice to know...
And im not sure is this topic is allowed so mods close this if needed.

Sgtstick