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chaser324

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Ice Cube on Hold. Working on Something A Bit Smaller in Scope...

By chaser324 26 Comments

First, let me just say that while I still very much want to finish my Ice Cube game at some point, I just simply don't have the amount of spare time that I think would be necessary for me to fully realize it at the moment. Additionally, I'm still a bit of a newbie when it comes to generating 8/16-bit pixel art and Flash/AS 3.0 programming. I'll definitely go back to Ice Cube at some point, but I think I would be better served by just knocking out a few smaller games right now that I can take from start to finish in just a few weeks or months.
 
So, I've just recently started work on something a bit smaller in scope that I think I will be able to complete in only a month or two worth of free time...

No Caption Provided

The game is tentatively titled Escape to Alpha Centauri. The plot is fairly simple. The solar system is under attack from a hostile alien race, and the only chance you have of saving your own life and the lives of your friends and family is to take a small ship and attempt to make your way to an isolated human colony in the Alpha Centauri system.
 
The basic concept for the gameplay is Alpha Mission + Oregon Trail. Essentially it will combine the resource and time management aspects of games like Oregon Trail, but all of the travel from Earth to Alpha Centauri will be in the form of a vertical shooter. You'll have to weigh decisions like improving weapons and engines against purchasing additional food, oxygen, or environmental control units that are essential for maintaining the health and morale of the people on board your ship. Traveling at a faster pace means you'll reach your destination sooner, but it will increase the difficulty of the vertical shooter portions and could negatively impact health and morale by tiring out your party.   

Gallery
Gallery image 1 Gallery image 2
If the enemies manage to penetrate your ship's armor plating, rather than just blowing up, essential ship components may become damaged and require repair or people on board may become injured. Along the way, you'll encounter random events and choices that will increase the challenge. For instance, you might reach an FTL relay where you could pay a toll to bypass a portion of the trip, or you might encounter a wormhole that you can decide whether or not to risk travel through (in Oregon Trail terms, it's like deciding whether or not to ford a river).
 
So, what do you guys think? I'm just getting started, but I already feel like I've made more progress towards a full game than I did with Ice Cube. Expect a short playable demo at some point in the next few weeks.
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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator

First, let me just say that while I still very much want to finish my Ice Cube game at some point, I just simply don't have the amount of spare time that I think would be necessary for me to fully realize it at the moment. Additionally, I'm still a bit of a newbie when it comes to generating 8/16-bit pixel art and Flash/AS 3.0 programming. I'll definitely go back to Ice Cube at some point, but I think I would be better served by just knocking out a few smaller games right now that I can take from start to finish in just a few weeks or months.
 
So, I've just recently started work on something a bit smaller in scope that I think I will be able to complete in only a month or two worth of free time...

No Caption Provided

The game is tentatively titled Escape to Alpha Centauri. The plot is fairly simple. The solar system is under attack from a hostile alien race, and the only chance you have of saving your own life and the lives of your friends and family is to take a small ship and attempt to make your way to an isolated human colony in the Alpha Centauri system.
 
The basic concept for the gameplay is Alpha Mission + Oregon Trail. Essentially it will combine the resource and time management aspects of games like Oregon Trail, but all of the travel from Earth to Alpha Centauri will be in the form of a vertical shooter. You'll have to weigh decisions like improving weapons and engines against purchasing additional food, oxygen, or environmental control units that are essential for maintaining the health and morale of the people on board your ship. Traveling at a faster pace means you'll reach your destination sooner, but it will increase the difficulty of the vertical shooter portions and could negatively impact health and morale by tiring out your party.   

Gallery
Gallery image 1Gallery image 2
If the enemies manage to penetrate your ship's armor plating, rather than just blowing up, essential ship components may become damaged and require repair or people on board may become injured. Along the way, you'll encounter random events and choices that will increase the challenge. For instance, you might reach an FTL relay where you could pay a toll to bypass a portion of the trip, or you might encounter a wormhole that you can decide whether or not to risk travel through (in Oregon Trail terms, it's like deciding whether or not to ford a river).
 
So, what do you guys think? I'm just getting started, but I already feel like I've made more progress towards a full game than I did with Ice Cube. Expect a short playable demo at some point in the next few weeks.
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CaptainObvious

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Edited By CaptainObvious

Ice Cube game? YAY YAY!

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Video_Game_King

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Edited By Video_Game_King

Yea, I was wondering what the hell happened to that. Last I remember of it was a small-scale test Flash thing.

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davidwitten22

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Edited By davidwitten22

They didn't have Ice Cube so he got Vanilla Ice.

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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@Video_Game_King: 
Yeah, I've made more progress on the Ice Cube thing than what you guys have seen, but I feel like I still have a long way to go before it's the game that I want it to be. Unfortunately I just don't feel like I have the free time right now to make it happen.
 
So, I've backed off of the Ice Cube game for now and decided to try rolling out one smaller flash game every few months just to build up my art and flash skills a bit more. It will also hopefully help me build up a bit more of a portfolio of games rather than just having one beastly Ice Cube game in there.
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FunExplosions

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Edited By FunExplosions

I love where you're going with the "Space Dysentery." May I suggest more things like that? I love me some Flotilla-ish humor. I'm pumped to play the demo as soon as you release it.

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Edited By jakob187

Psyched!

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Edited By TotalEklypse
@CaptainObvious said:
" Ice Cube game? YAY YAY! "
 
lol same thing i heard in my head. granted i dont know what the game would even involve. 
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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@FunExplosions: 
The first entry actually says "Space Dementia", basically the culmination of spending way too much time in space and getting really stressed out. I'm thinking about having some of the illnesses that you contract actually have an effect on the shooter gameplay in some way. Maybe dementia makes your controls reverse momentarily or lack of oxygen makes the screen get blurry...stuff like that.
 
@jakob187:
I'm sorry it's no Ice Cube epic, but hopefully I can manage to make this entertaining and fun in its own different way.
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Edited By Scooper

Sounds really really interesting. The fiction and setup you're writing out, although only semi-formed this early, sounds really cool and unique. Genuinly looking forward to seeing more.

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natetodamax

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Edited By natetodamax

This looks pretty cool. Hope it turns out well!

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Edited By BrickRoad
@Chaser324: I'm liking that starfield. Reminds me of Starwing, which is a good thing.
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Edited By FunExplosions
@Chaser324: Well hey, there's no reason you can't put a little comedy in there, right? Of course, unless you don't want comedy in it. It's all up to you!
 
I will say that it seems to me that comedy is an almost effortless and great way to make an "enjoyable" game into a "very enjoyable" game. Take Flotilla or DeathSpank. Flotilla had some quirky humor that helped suppress the monotonous gameplay, and DeathSpank had some childish humor that kicked some of the blandness under the rug. Not that your game needs comedy to succeed, I'm just saying that a lot of people will overlook some flaws or repetitiveness if there's at least a little humor along the way. But again, I'm rambling on, do what you want.
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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@FunExplosions: 
I definitely agree that a little humor can go a long way to keeping a game fresh. Since certain aspects of this game will be randomized, hopefully I can avoid someone hitting the same joke on any two consecutive playthroughs.
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Edited By CowMuffins

Boo!

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Edited By mikemcn

Admit it you sold the rights to Activision and Bobby Kotick is putting out 14 new ice cubes games this year.
 
But seriously, im sorry to hear your need to put it off, but your new games should still be very cool! Im pumped!

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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@Mikemcn: 
I'm thinking Ice Cube might have some objections about me selling the rights to Ice Cube.
 
In all seriousness, I really want to finish the Ice Cube game, but I also really want it to be awesome. Unfortunately those two things are at odds with each other, and the fact that I have a full time job that consumes 50+ hours every week makes it basically impossible. I'm just hoping that by building up a small library of competent games like this one, I might get lucky and get the attention of some people that might hire me to do more stuff like this.
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Edited By Fallen189

What have you been making them both in?

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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@Fallen189: 
Flash and ActionScript. I would do it in C/C++, but I want to make it easy for as many people to see and play these games as possible without me having to do any extra work to port to additional platforms.
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Edited By Fallen189
@Chaser324 said:
" @Fallen189:  Flash and ActionScript. I would do it in C/C++, but I want to make it easy for as many people to see and play these games as possible without me having to do any extra work to port to additional platforms. "
Ah yeah of course. They look superb. Are you doing all the art assets yourself? It looks really quaint and nice.
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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@Fallen189: 
Yeah, I'm doing everything myself. The art actually tends to consume most of my time on these things. I'm a fairly experienced programmer so I've been able to pick up ActionScript pretty easily, but I'm a total noob when it comes to pixel art. With the scope of the Ice Cube game I had planned, there were a lot of art assets to generate...way too many in fact. However, I've dialed things back a lot in terms of the animations and number of enemy types with this game so I've been able to progress much more quickly.
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Edited By DanielJW
@Chaser324: Good to hear Ice Cube is still on the docket, I was wondering how it was doing.  
 
Until then this is looking great. The art is fantastic. I'm looking forward to playing some of your stuff.
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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@DanielJW: 
Hopefully, you'll be playing this sooner rather than later unlike that Ice Cube game. I guess I just didn't realize when I was starting on the Ice Cube project that finishing my Master's degree and getting a full time job would so completely monopolize my free time. Fortunately, I've been getting more and more breathing room recently so I might actually be able to complete this game.
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Edited By buzz_clik

Well, in lieu of what will doubtlessly be a hot hot hit in your Ice Cube game, I'll certainly take this in the interim. Sounds great, mate! Can't wait to give it a shot.
 
Awww, poor Stacy! At least she only got normal dysentery - that space dysentery is what you've really gotta watch out for.
 
EDIT: I just pondered the ramifications of getting dysentery in zero gravity. I hate myself.

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chaser324

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Edited By chaser324  Moderator
@buzz_clik: 
Liquid poo in zero gravity is not a good image.
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Edited By pablodiablo

Awesome idea. I can already imagine hearing the guys on Idle Thumbs raving about it.