I'm thinking about making an online game. Opinons?

[8jgb]

Hello everyone. I was thinking about making an online game sort of like this one. In this game the player would be able to choose from a selction of animals, such as a lion. Then they would choose a game world to go into and try to survive. They could also see other people that are playing at the same time somewhere else in the world. The game would be in 2d but not completly 2d. Like in Pokemon Mystry Dungeon. Some features in this would be, hunting, foreging for food, drinking (water), building nests, raising offspring, and other features. You would also be able to talk to other players by typing in text in a text box and pressing enter. The text would appear over your head. I'm going to try to make this game in the E to E10+ audience so no blood or gore (no graphic mating!) So that's the idea. Now all I want is some opinions.
Game features, types of animals, resources for sprites and sounds (I can't create new sounds and I'm awful at making and animating sprites.), and of course genral ideas. This game would be completly free. I am making this in my spare time, alone. (Well most of the time alone if not all.) I only have a basic idea about coding, so I'm using Multimedia Fusion 2. So tell me what you think about it.

[Alexander]

This sounds quite interesting. Are you basing your game on one specific place? Or will there be multiple environments? If there will be multiple environments, would it be all connected or would all or some of the maps be separated? I'm basically questioning how far you will go with this game. d: I'm sure it would take a very long amount of time in order to make multiple environments with multiple animals and such.
If you get to the part where you are deciding on what animals to add, I would search on the place(s) you are adding on the game and look at what the main animal cycle is like. Not only that, but also ask people whom are interested in your game about what kind of animals would they like you to add.
The general age for this game would be nice for kids, although you would probably need to protect their eyes from bad language usage.
Also you may want to consider some sort of system to help getting rid of/disciplining naughty players if needed.

[8jgb]

Well the orginal game would be in one place. Such as the savanna. If this works I would probably add another type of enviorment but it would not be connected. I was gonna try to figure out if I can make a filter for the chatting as well. However, I have no idea what I would code for banning people and creating adims so that take a little while. But I'd get to it... somehow. Basically this gonna go in baby steps. First I'm going to create a one enviorment one playable animal sing player game. Then I would do a one enviorment sevral playable animal single game. Then it would turn into an online game without talking though... But then I would add talking (with the filter). That's when I'd probably stop and I would wait a little while and se if it's succesful. If it's not well it stops. But if it is succesful (and I'm up for it) then I will work on creating another game just like it but with a diffrent ecosystem. After that I would try to link the two games together. But it would use two rooms and not one room. So not to far for now. Just one enviorment, multiple animals to pick from, and a way to play and chat with other players. But maybe expansion. But I might get stuck at phase one xD.

[Scarikas]

Maybe you should ask WEO about this...

[Alexander]

I guess it would depend on how original you're going to make the game. You can't 'own' that animals can eat, drink, mate, make nests, and survive. That's basically just like Wolf and Lion too, though it's obviously still different than WEO is. I think that if too many people say that your game is closer to WEO's than it should be, I would consider thinking of something unique that would ultimately make it different than WEO's.
Maybe you could add in more animation? Like seeing the animal digging a hole, placing straw in its nest, watching the animal walk/run around the area, watching them attack/pick up something, drinking water, stuff like that, basically.
It would catch people's eyes a bit more if more stuff were added to it. It can even be just the littlest details that will attract more players to your game.

[8jgb]

That's a good idea. I was thinking of adding animations like running and eating and stuff like that. But adding other animations like digging is a good idea. Well I don't want to have people leave WEO so my enviorment is not going to be in the forest without his permisson. I'm actually leaning to using the savanna enviorment. Now there might be some similarity, like the size of the map and some of the begining stages, but I'll try to make it as different as possible. I don't want to distract players form this site. Now if it is to similar to WEO please tell me that I should make it different and some tips on how to make it different. Oh can one of you direct me to a place to see some animal sprites. I'm horrible at spriting. I can barely draw a stickman animation. Anyways thanks for the tips!

[Alexander]

Quagga may be able to help you with animals sprites, she's definitely a pro at it.
The savanna is probably one of the most requested in the suggestion pile here, so I think it would be a great add, yes. I also understand that you don't want to lure players away from here. Just glad you got it out of the way before the situation (might) happen. I will be sure to help you out on ideas if needed, especially on parts where it may be too similar to WEO. I know that people will be very sensitive and picky about how your game will run and how it compares to WEO's.
By the way, how small/big do you plan the animals to be?

[8jgb]

Thanks for the support Alexander! Do you mean the amout of animals? If so it would be no less than 5 (when the game first comes out) and no more than 20 (after the game becomes mor e devolped. Techincally it would be 10 to 40 because I'm going to use malr and female animals.) But maybe by popular demand after I reach 20 there will be more. (But probably not.) If you mean the actual size then the animal (such as a cheetah) would probably be the size of a quarter, more or less. I'm going to ask Quagga soon too. That's the latest update for now.

[Scarikas]

by "Maybe you should ask WEO about this" I meant both for permission AND for help or suggestions. I bet he could help alot

[8jgb]

Oh now that first message makes more sense! I'm just a little shy...

[Mook]

Ooo, a African habitat how fun

[8jgb]

Well here's the latest update. The first stage of phase one is going to be a chatroom used for mainly role play. The second stage is going to have objects that are useable (such as holes used for shelter.) However this stage wouldn't have NPC's bcause I can't code... and coding is pretty much required for AI... But I might figure something out in the future. I asked Quagga and he/she is now helping me sprite. Currently she's made a lioness standing still on a side view. I am currently following a tutorial to make this chatroom. Well that's all for now.

[Quagga]

lioness-1-bgtrans.png (1.7 KiB) Viewed 12223 times

^ Transparent background. Border doesn't show up if I upload it to an image hosting site... Just the forum's doing.

lioness-1-bgpurp.png (1.73 KiB) Viewed 12223 times

^Dark purple background.

Dark and light backgrounds to see how it looks on varying colors. The light looks nice overall, though the dark looks good to bring out the eyes and feet details. May improve a bit.

[8jgb]

Well as for the latest update, I spent 2 strait hours and completed the tutorial for the chat room! Unfortuanly I'm going to have figure how to do a chracter selector, and I hit some snags. So does anyone have Multi Media Fusion 2 that could help me so we could at least have a chatroom? (The first basic prototype is what I'm talking about, without animals in it even. It will eventually.) Well that's the latest update for now!

[Lysander]

I might be helpful
With the animation
But not much else...

HEY! Why no look at the old forum, look at some suggestions and take em into consideration?
http://www.webearthonline.com/forum/vie ... php?t=1921
Here it is!
There are some people who wanted to make a new habitat, but we'll ^^ nieh.