itch.io

https://the-wizards-tales.itch.io/theroadwars

I have been wanting to make this game for a while, and figured I'd hunker down and try to make at least a demo for a game jam. When I saw the theme was "Celebration," I decided to definitely do this and added a new mechanic... you spend development points by camping, and holding a ritual around a bonfire where the leader of the gang delivers a speech, and the different choices you make during the speech influence which characters and abilities get upgraded.

I can do everything... programming, 3d art, music, etc.. but this is going to be a lot of work. I've already spent a couple bucks on (and gotten a few free) vehicle asset packs.

Anyone wanna help?

I really enjoyed using it, and I'm planning to keep on with it to make a short Lovecraftian horror adventure game called "The Final Excruciating Moments of Mortimer Jones!" I'm also interested in helping make assets for the community, if that's possible. I already have a stack I could supply from the other game I'm working on right now, "The Papersack Man."

No, unfortunately, but if I know people want one I'll definitely start working on one.

If it's something you really are excited about being able to learn to do, I can help you figure it out. Email me at thewanderingwizard@thewizardstales.com

Absolutely, I'd be happy to help. Please let me know what you need. I can help you out with anything you want to know about any aspect of game design. 

Hi, I'm the Wandering Wizard Simon Kalimanus. I've been making games for 35 years, and I've never really promoted any of them. This is a link to the past five years of my work, which is about 15 games, so you can choose one that appeals to you instead of me promoting one to you. Among them are a game where you play a boy possessed by a killer clown trying to distract the class so the clown can kill everyone; a game where seagulls ate your lunch so you go berzerk and decide to eat them, where your health bar is how many poops you have on you and your score is how fat and slow you've become, and a TTRPG where you can play anyone you can dream up, tell any story you want, and do anything you can think of using very simple rules based on my study of the occult. Speaking of that, there are also a number of games in different styles in my The Occultist series, where you play as paranormal investigators in stories based on my own real-life experiences. I recently released a modernized combination of Pong and Tank Combat for the Atari. Not all my games are very finished, because I've never really gotten any feedback or community, because promoting myself is not something I'm terribly fond of. Also, because I'm a solo developer with a busy personal life who really should have looked in to building a team a while ago. 

...I'd like to remedy that. I'm an experienced teacher, so I'm looking to work with people of any skill level, even if you think you suck.

There. That's enough self-promotion for one day.

Hail, friend devs! I am the Wandering Wizard Simon Kalimanus, and I have almost 35 years of game dev experience. You can see an example of some of my solo dev work here. I am interested in putting together a team to make a game idea I have for this jam.

Major Tom, inspired by the David Bowie song Space Oddity, is about a cat astronaut floating in his space station, which is being destroyed by a meteor storm which is still underway. Inside the station is safe, but there are constant threats outside, and you must navigate around the station finding oxygen tanks and tools so you can go outside and do repairs. Sometimes sections of wall can get destroyed, which leads to vacuums that can suck you out into space. Instead of a health bar, you have three levels of health... how cracked your helmet is and how big your head and eyes have swelled. The goal is to keep the ship repaired long enough for help to arrive. 

 I am an experienced teacher and would be happy to accept devs of all skill levels, even if you think you suck.

I have an idea. Major Tom, inspired by the David Bowie song Space Oddity, is about a cat astronaut floating in his space station, which is being destroyed by a meteor storm which is still underway. Inside the station is safe, but there are constant threats outside, and you must navigate around the station finding spacesuits, tools, and upgrades for them so you can go outside and do repairs. Sometimes sections of wall can get destroyed, which leads to vacuums that can suck you out into space. Instead of a health bar, you have three levels of health... how cracked your helmet is and how big your head and eyes have swelled. The goal is to keep the ship repaired long enough for help to arrive. 

I'm an experienced solo game dev with a number of released projects, and would like to put a team together for the first time in my 35+ years of game development. I'm experienced at teaching and would happily accept you even if you think you suck. Anyone interested?

Coming soon, a game based on YOUR worst fears. The PaperSack Man is Coming...

...just for YOU!

Thanks so much, I've already uploaded the finished project. I was SOOO far behind, and I put a whole lot into it, but it's ready to go now. I present to you: The ROAD WARS, the greatest game that never got made!

Hi! I really put a lot of work into my submission, but there are a few parts of it I didn't quite finish... not necessarily important, but I'd like to get them in there. I have a list of TV and radio stations, a list of the types of people you'll find wandering in the wasteland of the game, a series of blank note pages like they used to have in old games, a reference card for how to load a fictional floppy of the game onto a Commodore 64 (entirely for flavor... i don't plan on making it a C64 ROM) and a back cover. As you can see, I got this in with less than a minute left in the competition. When is the jam considered completely over so I can add in what I missed? 

Right now there is only the unfillable pdf. I will work on a fillable form, but it may not be done any time soon.

What do you want? Look at his username.

Glad you enjoyed it! It's the only text adventure in the series so far (there's one long-lost one, but we don't talk about that one!), but there are quite a few entries in the ESPER series for you to try out!

It depends on what your goal is. If you are disrupting the class, this is the will of the demon clown of chaos. If his will is done, he breaks into the world and kills everyone. If the teacher yells at you, it brings order, which is the opposite of chaos and makes him retreat, thus saving the class. Was it your goal to kill everyone or to save them?

Thank you! Congratulations on making it to the end! There's more coming soon, and several other games in the series to check out!

Done! Thanks for the suggestion, I can't believe I missed that.

Glad you enjoyed it! Nice video, too: as far as I know, you're the first person to reach the end of the demo, so congratulations!

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the vid!

When I was 5, my dad bought me a Commodore 64. Back in the day, a disk drive cost a ridiculous amount, and so the easiest way to play games was these books they sold that would just list out the program. They didn't teach you to code, they just listed the program and you typed it out, typed "RUN," played the game, and when you turned your computer off, everything was lost and you had to do it all over again next time. I started with those, and then I changed things around until I figured out what they did. By the time I was 7 I had taught myself to make text adventures and other small games completely from scratch. That was in 1987. I never stopped making games.

Not with that attitude.

Just do it. Make what you want. Nobody gives a shit who you are or how old you are. What they will care is if you make something worthwhile or not. If you want to make something, make something. Don't spend an entire sentence wasting people's time about how you prefer to misspell a word.  The only reason anyone would even know you are 13 is because you made a post about it (and also because your mode of speech betrays that just a bit). Just shut up and make something. If it's stupid, you'll find out. If it's worthwhile, the community will let you know. Whether you're 13, or interested in sex, or have a good relationship with your mom, or like to misspell words is completely meaningless compared to what you create.

Just make something. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to give you some motivation. Don't bother what people say you can create. That's not art. As soon as you care that somebody tells you that you aren't allowed to make something, you are no longer an artist. An artist creates because they have to... because they know no other way to exist. An artist will find a way to create even if no one will allow them. Hell, if you need a hand, let me know. If you are actually creating something of value and not just, as most of the people who responded seem to think based on what you've written, some meaningless juvenile crap, then it doesn't matter how old you are... what matters is that art deserves to get made.

So before you concern yourself with whether or not you can or should make something based on how old you are, the question should be this... does what you want to make deserve to get made? If so, then you would be OBLIGATED to make it, even if you were only 7. Just don't confuse what your juvenile mind thinks deserves to get made with what actually is worthwhile. Most people your age think they have a clear understanding of the universe, but that's only because everyone at every stage of life feels like what they think is the only thing that is correct. This is related to what's known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. People think that what they know is the height of knowledge because they don't actually know how much there actually is to know. Don't be upset if you pour your heart and soul into some game, call it "adult concepts," and have adults snub it. If you are 13 years old, you will probably have a much better time making things that are meant to show your own point of view from your perspective rather than trying to make something you think will be deep for everyone. An adult would enjoy your game more if they knew they were spending some time looking at things from your perspective, rather than having you say "I'm thirteen and I think this is deep," because that will result, most likely, in scorn before people even bother to play the game... they simply will not believe that what you think is deep is worth their time. 

It's all about perspective. 

Thank you!

Hi! I noticed in the rules there is one specifically that says it has to be first-person perspective. I had an idea I've been kicking around for a while, and I was wondering if this would be okay... to illustrate what I want to do, I've taken a still from Pool of Radiance and added the effect I'm going for.

It still would look exactly like a dungeon crawler, but the party would be visible on screen, thus making it third person. I couldn't help but wonder maybe the "first person" requirement meant it had to look like a Gold Box game or The Bard's Tale, which it still does. The party image would really only be a UI, and the game would still be almost exactly like other dungeon crawlers.

This starts off reading like a creepypasta lol. 

I watched ManlyBadassHero play Opossum Country a while back (at least the PC version) and it looked really neat, with quite an interesting aesthetic. Your own RPG looks like a lot of work and detail went in to it for just playing around with a new IDE. Congratulations on the merger, I can only assume what you guys make together will be spiffy indeed!

Looks very interesting, and I love the art! I'm looking forward to giving this a try.

I finished my playbooks, but then went through so much crap in the past two weeks that I didn't notice the extension... or that Mork Borg put my playbook on their page and it's driven a whole bunch of traffic! I kinda want to make a few more, since I have time. Is more than one entry ok?

No, I just know when spending time is unnecessary. There isn't enough of it to be wasted. I'm technically homeless at the moment with a twenty year old laptop that won't run half the software I'm trying to use.  Putting effort into something to immediately find it downvoted is indicative that said effort is wasted and not worth the extra time, especially when you are in a difficult situation and all you're trying to do is create something that will make other people enjoy life for a bit. 

And what do you know of my spine? Walk a while in a man's shoes before you act like a trashburger. You never know what underlying issues may be affecting them.

EDIT: Let me add to this... I thought that downvoting was specifically meant for bad or low-effort posts, which is why I left the complaint. Otherwise, I'd have bowed out gracefully by just deleting my post. I was trying to point out to others that there might be someone going around downvoting out of bad will, as most of the game jams I've been in like to foster a positive attitude and normally like to encourage posting and sharing equitably. I can see from your response I was incorrect.

You want to know something about anarchy? I'm an anarchist because I feel everyone in the world is suffering due to their situation, and fostering positivity is part of that. Your idea of anarchy must be the spiky haired punks of the 80's. Look up Noam Chomsky. Look up Emma Goldman. Educate yourself on real anarchy and stop building straw men for things you know nothing about.  

That could work well, but be careful to make everything in the game happen for a reason. I used to teach screenwriting at a film school and one of the major things that make people roll their eyes at a story is the "it was all a dream" scenario retconning the whole thing at the end... in other words, waking up from a dream and realizing that everything you just did or saw was completely pointless. Think about Silent Hill... everything isn't necessarily real, but what happens in the "fake" world is driven by events in the real world. Creature designs are based on various psychological issues the characters face, and the strange events that take place in the dreamworld are connected to or metaphorical for something that actually effects the story.

Try to think of ways to connect what's happening in the dream to actual events in the protagonist's life. Puzzles and interactions should be indicative of something that matters to the character, some subconscious lesson their mind is trying to teach them, taking the form of the scary creature (which, in the reveal at the end, can be interpreted a number of ways... either the character gave so much mental focus to it that they actually created it in Tulpa fashion... or maybe it was real all along and was responsible for whatever took place in the protagonist's life).

The cool and fun thing about this is that you don't actually have to explain any of this in the game, and you really shouldn't. There's another rule in storytelling that video games (and anime) are especially good at breaking; show, don't tell. If you think of the entire reason for every creature, puzzle, event, etc. in your story, and let that guide your design, then players will be able to piece together the mystery of exactly what just happened on their own, even if you don't tell them or give subtle dialog hints (ie. "That voice over the loudspeaker... it sounds... no, it couldn't be... but it sounds just like HER..."), and make for a much more enjoyable experience. This could actually be a tremendous marketing help for your game if you get Let's Players to come up with theories about what they just played to add more mystery and suspense.

And, for good measure, I asked ChatGPT for some ideas as to what the subway car itself could represent psychologically:

"A subway car can represent many different things in a dream sequence, as it is a common symbol in dreams that can have many different interpretations. Here are some ideas to consider for your story:

1. Confinement: The subway car can represent a feeling of being trapped or confined, as the protagonist is trapped in a small space and unable to escape. This could reflect the protagonist's feelings of being trapped in their own life or situation.
2. Journey: The subway car can also represent a journey, both physically and emotionally. The protagonist's journey through the subway car in their dream could represent their journey through life and their internal struggles.
3. Anxiety: The crowded and fast-paced environment of a subway car can represent feelings of anxiety and stress. The protagonist's experience of this in their dream could reflect their feelings of being overwhelmed and stressed in their waking life.
4. Fear of the unknown: The subway car can also represent the unknown, as it takes the protagonist to an unknown destination. This fear of the unknown could reflect the protagonist's fear of the future or fear of change.
5. Powerlessness: The protagonist's experience on the subway car in their dream could also represent feelings of powerlessness and helplessness, as they are unable to control their journey or the events that unfold.

These are just a few ideas to consider, and the interpretation of the subway car in the dream sequence will ultimately depend on the individual story and the protagonist's personal experiences and fears."

That's a nice looking game, good amount of polish. The movement could be much tighter, and the control scheme is pretty bad. There's no real reason to use both mouse clicks and keypresses, and the keys are all over the place... you need three hands. There were some clunky bits where I got stuck after landing a jump, too. If you can make the game's controls tighter to where it feels a bit more fun to play (try watching this for some ideas), you have yourself a Minimum Viable Product that you should be able to get people interested in.

I would not focus on "investors." The way you are going to get this game funded is by patrons... people who enjoy the game and would like to support your work to see it get made. Focus your efforts on marketing it to players, not investors. Get on forums, start a YouTube channel, set up a devlog and start adding little bits here and there at least weekly. Set up a Patreon page. "Investors" are probably not going to be interested, especially at this early stage and if you have no other work or previous successes under your belt to show. But this is a nice enough project that you will definitely be able to get "real" people interested and involved.

Take it from me... you don't want investors. Investors are a hassle, and your project essentially stops being yours. Do you want to make money on games to escape the daily grind and not have to have a boss? Then don't get investors, because it will become a grind with bosses. You have a really great-looking project here, and I guarantee you if you redouble your effort looking for players instead of investors, you will have a much better time. Build a community for your game instead of just looking for money, and the money will follow.

I'd patronize you myself, but I'm a homeless vagabond wizard. My laptop probably won't even be able to play the finished project :)

But I wish you well, and I'll keep tabs on your project and help promote you once you get going if I can.

Why did you make a level design before you knew what you wanted it for?

Anyway, if you want to not have to animate any of the NPC's, how about this: early on, have the train running, with most people asleep (do small animations like breathing, tapping toes, looking on phone, etc. so it doesn't look like a traincar full of mannequins). Then, you notice that you start going through a tunnel that has odd stone and strange symbols etched into the walls. Suddenly, the train moves into a tunnel of some strange-colored light, which quickly becomes blinding. As soon as the light fades, you find yourself travelling through some strange cavern instead of a subway, and everyone on the car has vanished. You then proceed through the cars, solving strange cryptic and supernatural puzzles to allow you to move forward and find the secret of what's happening... HINT: It was a derailment... you died and are in hell.

I actually figured I'd go one better and I asked ChatGPT for you:

"I have a 3d asset of a subway car. I'd like to use it in a horror game, but I don't want to have to make many character assets or animations, so I'd like an idea for a horror game that takes place on a subway car with no other people on the train."

"Here's an idea for a horror game that takes place on a subway car:

Downvoted for a thoughtful post and a GIF of my character sprite, with no explanation? Forget it. I'm out.

Gettysburg college? 20 years ago I did a paranormal investigation of that place while being a camp counsellor for a youth program that was going on there. It was crazy, particularly the art building and that bell/clock tower thing. One of the most extreme cases I've encountered, and I've done a lot. Also, one of my campers poured an entire thing of Dawn dish detergent in the fountain, and it was launching bubbles into the sky for hours.

These are really neat! I totally love the idea of playbook-style games, I only just found out about them and it's been SUPER inspiring!

Shadowsandbag's idea is pretty solid. For each type of animal, you could say a number to roll for how many appear... 1 bear, 1d2 lions or tigers, 1d4 hawks or falcons, 1d6 wolves, 1d8 domestic cats or dogs, 1d10 rats, 1d12 bats, 1d20 tarantulas or scorpions, or a d100 swarm of insects. Also, make sure there is a different reason for the player to want to choose that animal over the others. If they are all just combat aides, everyone will just summon a bear or some lions. There should be good incentives to use them all. Consider choosing one special ability for each that gives it a completely unique reason to choose it, or ways that the player character can synergize with them. 

For example, the bats could have an ability called Echolocation where the player can listen for their shrieks and use them to triangulate the location of an enemy in the dark, mitigating some of the penalty for low visibility. 

How's it going? You haven't updated, and I was interested in what you were working on. I haven't heard of either of the systems you mentioned, and I only just found out about playbook-style games. I've been running myself ragged looking up all the different games. It's like a brand new world for me, and I've been playing TTRPG's for 40 years and making games for 20, so this is super-exciting for me!

This looks like a real neat system! Just looking over your character archetype kinda makes me want to give it a try!

Here's another:

I worked up the first page for my playbook. I'm going to do some MÖRK BORG content, starting with a new character class: the Muttering Madman! I know the typeface isn't standardized but my computer started freezing any time I tried to add a new font. Let me know what you think!!!