Robotted

[Draygone]

Yes, I didn't spend more than a minute thinking of a name. Yes, I know I have a tendancy of blurting out ideas when I'm probably not going to do anything with them. Well, I don't care.

This is an idea I had for an RPGM2 game. I think I mentioned this before, but I didn't go into any detail. In this game, you play a mad scientist. The story is, you accidentally hit a button that sets free all your robots (every mad scientist needs a hobby). None of the robots are dangerous, but the townspeople might get freaked out if there was an army of robots wandering around.

To capture them, you must somehow lure them into special rooms where they'll be transported back to their cells. Of course, this won't be easy; this is a puzzle game of sorts. Some robots run away when you get near them, while some other robots will wander aimlessly unless you find a way to give them commands. And there's booby-traps laying around as well. Not only would it be a problem if you stepped onto a mine, but you wouldn't want one of your robots to do so either. Those robots are expensive to replace!

So, uh, yeah. That's kinda all I've got right now. The idea is really premature. But I figured a game like this might be easy to pull off on RPGM2, which would be nice since I haven't had enough practice with it. It'd just require a little planning is all. Gotta make sure the later areas are difficult.

[Jugem]

It may be premature, but it sounds like it could make for a fun, addictive game. I'd be curious to see what further ideas you had for this...

[Deleted]

Me too.

[Draygone]

Well, I wanted to have five different types of robots that you have to capture. So far, I've got...

A robot that wanders back and forth, and changes direction by use of remote (I'll probably use the [] button for this).
A ball robot that can be pushed around, and rolls down hills and bounces off angled walls.
A robot that runs away from you every time you come near it, stopping only when it runs into an obstacle.
And a robot that is more than willing to get into the special room (no special name yet), after it gets a crate to a designated area.

And I can't think of the fifth robot! I've spent a few hours thinking it up, but no luck so far. Any ideas I've had seemed too similar to the other robots.

[Dungeon Warden]

How about a robot that flys and you need to use a fan to blow it in the direction you need it to go.

I also though of a swiming robot that you control by switching the flow of water in a reservoir.

I like your game concept. Only five robots makes it seem short, but if short means that it will actually get done then I'm all for it. I look forward to seeing this game in action.

[Draygone]

I'm gonna try to avoid any sort of flying, as I don't want to have to deal with making anything that hovers over the ground. The water robot sounds interesting, but it sounds similar to a mine cart robot that I thought of that sounded too similar to the robot that you control the direction of with a remote.

And yeah, the game will probably be a little short. Maybe two or three hours at the longest. Depends on how difficult some of the puzzles wind up being.

[Dungeon Warden]

I don't see how running around hitting switches (either for a mine cart or waterway) is the same as using a remote control on a robot directly, but I'm not sure how the remote control works in the first place (beyond turning the robot).

Would building a path to free a robot that has become traped be similar to something else you've come up with? Your descriptions are vague on the actual puzzle elements so I'm not sure what your plans are.

[Draygone]

Opening/altering paths is something you'd have to do for all robots. Whether it's making a bridge pop up for a robot to walk over or moving an angled wall for the ball robot to bounce off of.

I guess the swimming robot isn't really that similar to the one you control by remote. Still, I want to try and think of something different. Ooh, just thought of something. Might take a little work, but it should be interesting. I'll keep it a secret for now.

Still have to think of some of the obstacles.

[NASH7777]

How about a robot that copies your moves. Just set his action script to a loop that waits for button pressed than moves the direction you do. Of course if you hold the button it won't keep following but it could still be something. Also maybe a sliding robot, like a robot on ice, but it always slides all the way till it hits something.

[Draygone]

Thought about the copying robot once before. Decided against it. The sliding robot is too similar to the robot that runs away in one direction until it hits something.

I'll probably add ice-type puzzles, though.

[NASH7777]

the sliding ne isn't anything like the running away one. Just have it like a push block that moves the robot fast 25 spots to each direction. It will stop when it hit's something.

[christi]

I was thinking about this last night and came up with: a robot that was controlled with a remote, but went the exact opposite of the way you told it to. It'd be cool because it'd call for a lot of quick backwards thinking. Or maybe it could just go any way but the direction you told it to. That'd be frustrating and require a lot of "hit and miss" for the player, so to speak, but it might be kind of cool.

If you're thinking these are too similar to the robot that wanders back and forth and changes direction with the remote, well, it probably is. But also, that'd probably be one of the easiest robots to control, so maybe you could have a point in the game where the remote gets broken or reprogrammed in later levels? I don't know, just something I came up with last night...

[vespuleth]

Christi, i like both of your robot control ideas.

Dray, i like the idea of this game, and its a good concept. when i read the intro, all sorts of ideas started popping in my head. you should release a demo with a very easy level or something.

[Draygone]

Robotted has been canned.

KIDDING. I haven't come up with anything lately, but I do intend to make this one sometime. I've just got other stuff to worry about right now.

when i read the intro, all sorts of ideas started popping in my head

That happens to me about every time I come up with a new game idea. It's absolute torture how the majority of them never get made.

[vespuleth]

ive run into problems like that before. in fact, thats the way the majority of my stories end up. i just keep them until i gain some more inpiration.

[Jugem]

Draygone said:

Robotted has been canned.

You had me there for a second.