Well, here is what a story should sound like (You will definately recognize this):

You wake up in a sterile chamber with nothing more than a toilet and a radio. With the disembodied voice of GLaDOS as your only companion, you traverse your way through a series of chambers, each testing your problem solving skills with spatial puzzles. The whole set-up seems innocuous at first, but soon the tests become wrought with physical danger instead of merely being difficult. A sinister edge takes shape, as GLaDOS slowly reveals layers of her own personality, not all of which have your best interest in mind.
Cracks in the perfect, clinical facade begin to appear, both physically (when you're able to go behind some of the walls and see the work of a troubled graffiti artist), and in GLaDOS's erratic behavior. But your tester has taught you too well, and you're able to escape from the testing area into the facility itself, where you confront GLaDOS's main hub, destroy her (or not - psych!), and explode onto the surface outside. And after all, the cake is a not a lie.

Does it mention portal guns? How they work? How the puzzles actually work? Any dialogue? NOPE. Characters and what happens over a span of time. That is the story.

Good example! It sounds a lot like some other game I've played...

I've never played Portal. But in any case it didn't really help much...

I'll just try to build off what AP said here. I'll probably put it on Google Docs too, that way you guys can see my progress, and suggest changes or imporovements.

Edit: Here's the link to the doc. It's probably a good idea to bookmark it. And don't be too critical, some ideas will just be quickly done and improved on later.

I think that the idea by giving the basic Portal plot was that you could say what the game is about, rather than giving any part of the game away.

(Also, why didn't you pick up Portal from Steam the few days it was free? )

I was thinking of some kind of storyline, too, and here's what I came up with so far, for a backstory-type-of-thing:

You find yourself waking up. Blurry, dark shapes fill your vision, and as you strain against the unconsciousness, you can start to make out rocks and stalactites around you.
Vaguely, you begin to hear voices, snarls, and muffled screams, but they are slowly fading into the distance. As you groggily stumble to your feet, you remember your expedition, the many long, hard days fighting to gain access to this mountain, and the final confrontation with one of the evil Wizard's Mages. You remember dimly his incredible use of magic; how he had called down spells from the heavens to slaughter hundreds of your companions, and how you fought him yourself, sword-to-sword, on the edge of a bottomless chasm. You remember your last moments on the top of the cliff, and how you forced him off the edge, and fell off yourself only moments later.
But somehow, you survived. The huge chasm you fell into had a bottom, and as you listen to screams fading into silence, you realize that of the three hundred men who set out to battle the evil Wizard, only you have survived. You limp towards the only light you can see: a crack in the wall, and nearly stumble over the body of the Mage. One glimpse at him tells you that he is quite dead, and you notice that he is clutching some kind of scroll...

"I've never played Portal." -Puggsoy

http://i51.tinypic.com/hu15ig.png

"And don't be too critical" -Puggsoy

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSIywAz1untbyglho9e5xwx3fRteZ3ku...

Could you give me access to the document? It says I don't have permission.

Anyway, MOM's idea sounds cool, but I'm not sure how we could make that into a cutscene. Maybe some kind of flashback?

@MOM: Portal? Free? AND I MISSED IT?!?!?!??

@Howitz:

@AP: Why not? I set it to viewable to anyone with the link, and I can view it while logged out. Meh, I'll just make it 100% public.

And Portal 2 is still 50% off!

IT IZ?!
*goes to see*

O YAY!
*installs*

Thanks, I totally don't keep up right with these Steam sales.

He means we can't edit or post comments on it.

Oh, MOM play co-op with me later. I still need to get Professor Science achievement.

Same here!

I also want to try that new DLC course.

Hey guys, I really need your input on the story. It'd be a great help, there are a few things I can't decide.

Such as?

Isn't the idea that it's ALL underground, and you need to find a way back to the surface?

how about:

you live in a peaceful world and you are relaxing outside. some terrible event happens and you fall down a large hole, while the hole walls collapses around you.
later,you wake up and some friendly underground creatures have nurtured you back to health, and you stay for a while. although, you start to hear rumors about some evil organization or something. you decide to investigate.
a friend stops you before you go. (s)he tells you about a strange hermit that the town doesn't like (kind of like obi-wan)and he teaches you the way of (insert magic-ish name here), which is like a tutorial for your powers. When you master the ways of ___________, he gives you a gift, which includes some essential items.
you then precede with your new friends to defeat the evil who-ever. The path to do so is dangerous, however, and you encounter many villains. in these battles, you use your spells to defeat various bosses.
Near the end, only you can go because some field blocks them. apparently, you are the for seen chosen one and only you can pass.
alone, you discover the most difficult part of the game. some enemies you can pass if you are stealthy enough and not have to encounter. if you are encountered, you have to defeat them.
then you meat the leader of the evil scheme. He is very powerful to defeat. eventually you destroy him. After you do, the "curse of the land" is lifted, and every one is friendly again the bad guys you encountered were controlled by the head of the evil plan.
then your friend and the hermit (you call him master) are exited because, when you threw the head baddie through a wall, a hole to the upperworld is revealed and you and your partners exit. when they go into the light, the sun removes their fake identity. the are, in fact, friends you knew from before the disastrous earth-shattering event. they had fallen down holes, too, and forgotten who they are.
some how, they were imputed fake memories and were assigned to help you. they can still remember the events, though, and are happy to be free from the underworld.
all the bad guys and people who gotten you back to health and everybody come through the hole, and are turned into their old selves again. everybody celebrates you and your friends and you are given awards by some authoritative, famous figure. There's a big party and then the music is all happy and it rolls the end credits.

How's THAT for a story line?

Good start. Needs some work, though. For example:

Another thing that I just thought of that is good for a story, especially for an RPG (where the story is a really important part of the game!) is to have more than one plot thread starting out. Example is the Cave Story story (no, that's not redundant). When you first start the game, you're left with a lot of questions. Who are you? Who are the Mimigas, and why are they so scared of red flowers? Who is Sue? Who's that guy trapped in the building trying to reach her? Of course, as the story unfolds, the plot lines all converge and it all makes sense, but it's an important way of keeping players' interest as they start playing the game.

*waits for others to comment*

A good story does NOT revolve around the plot. Its the little things that make a story good. Honestly, if Mimigas were named something else, I might not like the game as I did when I played it.

Have you seen my King of the Hill story? (search the threads).

Do not copy what I did there. That is not a story, more of just following the main character (Albino Pokey) to the end. Important events can be explained in 2-3 sentences flat. A war, for example. Here:

The player then travels to Somaran for a final battle against the Garuda. Though valiant in their defense, the Somaran army fell, and the great city was captured by the Barbarians. The player flees to North Pointe, angry at himself for being a failure as a hero.

Maybe we shouldn't do a cave-themed game after all. Heh, it really depends on how it all looks on screen. I think I should do the mechanics with actual physics. I may need to implement box2d..

Maybe not. Would we want something where all the different limbs on the body are moving separate, unique motions, or one with just generic sprite-sheets and animations? (done in most 2D games)

Also, should we have a resource manifest file like in WoG, or my original plan where we would just include the paths within the map files and such?

@AP: Well, it does start underground, and you wake up in a cave but "outside" is still underground. I'll elaborate that later on. And the plant comes out of cracks in the ground or something.

@MOM: Check out the Google Doc, there are a few bits that you can see are undecided.
And I agree with your suggestion, the player should want to know what's going on. That kind of stuff appears, but at the very start here I just want to get this sorted.

@Red: I think that we should just use sprite-sheets and animations. It's simpler, and easier on the artists.
And I hate the resource manifest files in WoG. Sure, it might be a bit tidier, but WoG is the only game I've seen with this, and for modders (or me anyway) it's just hassle.

Okay then. Your two decisions make it easier on me, actually.

I would have to implement actual physics, which would take me a few weeks to do. I know you guys want results sooner, so I won't do that. I'll write a custom mechanics engine just for this game. It would be easier to set custom gravity values and such.

Resource files ARE a bit tidier, but it is still a little easier to code with less files. This would also make the game run 0.2% faster. (statistic made up on the spot)

I personally do not care about "sooner" results. Quality > Sooner Release.

So, which options would you prefer?

I don't see any other better way to do this? lol

Especially if you want customization...

@Howitz Look at my earlier comment..the one about drawing different limbs separately for cooler physics.

Also, can you do additive and/or multiplicative drawing? That way you could color something (multiplicative) or shade it (additive) with a color overlay. Easier for player skin color, hair color, etc. than making separate files for each, and could allow them to use a 'slider' to select a color.

I am not sure what that is AP, but I plan to split the character into multiple sprite sheets for the body AND the armor.

RedTheGreen wrote:

Howitz wrote:

I am not sure what that is AP, but I plan to split the character into multiple sprite sheets for the body AND the armor.

LIKE MAPLESTORY!

Yea. I mean maplestory's sprite system works great. It allows for customization of skin color, eyes, facial expressions, armor of all kinds, weapons, and you can add little things to it too.

What AP is talking about is something Red would have to implement, Howitz, not something you would have to draw. I know that SFML and HGE have that sort of thing, but I haven't looked into using it in SDL.

Howitz, it's like the "blend mode" on a layer in Photoshop. YOu know how you could take a color layer, set it to "Multiply", and have it colorize the stuff underneath; or how you could use Screen or Difference or SoftLight or any of the others? I was wondering if we could implement that into the game. LinearDodge (Add) especially would be important, for lighting.