yo! I'm vidak from the fediverse (:
I am going to be creating a game using the TIC-80 game creation software.
I want to join this game jam because I recently started designing a video game that is supposed to fit into only a few kilobytes, and I thought adapting this game for a 64x64 resolution would not necessarily be a significant departure from what I had already been planning.
I have always wanted to participate in a game jam, but have never been able to, and so I wanted to try really, really hard with this one to show everyone how diligent I can be at working.
Concept
The entry I am proposing to create is a little Pokemon clone game, featuring catgirls as the 'Pokemon' that you must catch and train. I'd like to use the TIC-80 software because it would allow very rapid prototyping results.
I usually code everything from scratch when I make a game, and it is getting very frustrating. I start with a text file in EMACS, and I usually get
90% of the way completed and then I get stuck or run out of steam and
end up with something that will not compile without having to exert a
lot of mental energy.
I think I should forgive or excuse myself
from the need to do everything from scratch all the time, and just aim
at having fun, instead of punishing myself like this (lol).
I think the biggest issue with basing this game on the TIC-80 game creation software will be trying to fit everything into 64KiB of storage. Luckily the ... paid version of the program (USD$5) allows up to 512KiB of bank switching, which is good. I think it is definitely going to need bank switching, for all the graphics of the little characters when you enter battle mode.
Mechanics
I think the 'battle mode' I
might call 'love mode' (lol) where you have to break the ice with a
particular catgirl you encounter in the wild and smarm/impress or
attract them to you, so that they will become 'catchable'.
Your
party catgirls will live in a big sleazy coat that you wear, and, I
think I might stick with the traditional Pokemon party quantity of six.
Perhaps there's some logic to that number. Otherwise, I might just make
it possible to access all the catgirls you've attracted all the time,
because we're no longer bound to anything like BILL'S PC anymore in
2020.
I imagine the following terms from Pokemon could be translated as follows:
Pokemon battle -> Catgirl attraction
Pokeball -> Coat pocket
Cursed -> Cancelled
TM -> ???
HM -> ???
The standard Pokemon menu:
FIGHT, PACK, PKMN, RUN -> ATRCT, PACK, CTGRL, RUN
The following Pokemon words retain their formal meaning, but have a completely new substantial meaning:
- Catgirl type
- catgirl egg (rofl)
- asleep, confused
- paralysed
- SP.ATK, SP.DEF
- Vitamin/Medicine
Catgirls
cannot be burned, poisoned, frozen, faint, and there are to be only
catgirl attraction moves which are non-physical, which Pokemon would
deem moves related to 'special attack' or 'special defence'. You cannot
trap a catgirl in attraction (battle mode), and it is possible to
attract a catgirl by putting them to sleep, because they've decided
they're comfortable enough to trust you, and so you'll be able to pick
them up and put them in your pocket.
There will be no concept of
gender in this game. I personally don't really see the point because
that would lead to philosophical and social commentary I do not believe I
am qualified or experienced enough to make.
Terms which are more or less identical to Pokemon are:
- evolution (yep, catgirls can evolve),
- experience points,
- levels (I might set the max level at LVL. 69 because I find it humorous),
- speed
- hit points and power points
I
am going to explore what kinds of types of catgirls you'll be able to
have a little further tomorrow, I think, but my prima facie ideas on the
matter are the following types:
- Faerie
- Slime
- Hacker
- Political
- Ecological
- Snake
- Fennec or maybe just 'furry'
- Robot
- Magical
- Anime??
I kind of want to put 'cheese' type in the list just because I find cheese to be quite a funny food/object.
I have some conception of how catgirl love mode ('LUVMDE') is going to
function, and the different types of catgirl love mode moves you'll be
able to make, but I think the description of that part of the game can
come later. A hacker type move, for instance, would be a 'CW' which
would make a wild catgirl respect you for helping people navigate the
fediverse without feeling upset. A furry move would be, say, 'REET'
which would be hella cute and help break the ice and lower the HP of the
wild catgirl that way.
What else? My brain has gone blank. More to follow. I am finding this to be rather hilarious and quite a bit of fun to develop.
Music
I did a little daydreaming about the music i wanna put in the game.
I would like to adapt the groove-lines/bass-lines from the following pieces of music for the game:
(forgive the use of youtube for the links, i am lazy today)
- love-mode (i.e. battle-mode): frequent flyer by ‘chromeo’ (0:00-0:40) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCeOTZetzBw)
- title music: the grooviest part of count basie’s cover of green onions (2:27-3:16) (https://youtu.be/M6EH7PJ3MrQ?t=147)
- music for some other purpose: the chorus groove from chameleon by the australian band ‘PNAU’ (2:24-2:54) (https://youtu.be/lI8-D-xVxUA?t=144)
i think i/we can adapt portions of the melodies and beats from these pieces of music without ripping them off too much and getting into trouble.
either way i could claim remix rights or fair use etc.
Wanna Join??
I am planning to code the game in Fennel, which is a functional programming language based on LISP, and can be processed by the Lua interpreter that runs inside the TIC-80. This is because I am most comfortable with LISP and functional/declarative programming languages, instead of imperative ones like C, C#, Python, vanilla Lua, etc.
I'd love for people to jump in and help me:
- Draw and animate the sprites of the catchable characters
- Compose groovy, funky music for the different towns and for 'lovemode'
- Write the dialogue
- Do the coding!
- Do anything!