Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Ianator · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:33 am Post subject: Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

A'ight, fellas. Dis here's where I's gonna be puttin' words about mah up'n'comin' vidja game, whether ya like it 'r not. Keep yer eyes on dis here post, 'cuz I'mma gonna be stuffin' it full a' new stuff like ev'ry hour an' what ya saw a minnit ago mite not be dere anymores!

Welcome to my journal on my upcoming game, Motor Max! This is an RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world full of western style. This is a place where anyone with a gun can make a name for themselves - but you're not going to get far unless said gun happens to be a 160mm cannon mounted on your Abrams!

Progress:
Map Graphics: World map and one town set complete; one indoor set in progress.
Hero Graphics: 2/8 characters, 1/? vehicles complete.
Enemy Graphics: One minor enemy complete.
Maps: World Map 5%, one town nearly complete.

The World and Story

Nobody remembers exactly what happened, or why it happened, or really even when. All they know is, the computers decided that humanity was through having its way with the world. Between the rebelling security systems and the hijacked laser satellites, humanity was nearly wiped out within a night.

But there were still survivors - enough to bring Earth's "dominant species" back from the brink of extinction. Of course, global disaster tends to bring out the worst in us as well; innocent towns were often raided by punks using salvaged tanks, and once well-meaning scientists went mad, creating biomechanical nightmares in their twisted attempts to re-seed the world.

Of course, there are those who are willing to help protect the common people against such horrors - for a price, of course. Every little boy hopes to grow up to become a monster hunter with their very own tank, bringing justice to the bad guys, and such skilled soldiers are highly sought after.

It is into this world that we find our two heroes.

One is a young man. Bored with life in a small town, he rejects his father's dreams of him becoming a simple mechanic; he hopes instead to become a monster hunter and make his name known throughout the world.

One is a young woman. Her village the victim of a deadly raid, she hopes to save what's left of her friends and family - and maybe prevent such a terrible fate from befalling any more innocent people.

These two will travel the dead world, meeting new allies to fight with and many enemies to fight against. They will explore the ruins of a civilization that once prospered a very short time ago. And they will find that which once brought an end to society - as well as a new beginning of themselves...

...that is, if their corpses don't wind up in a ditch somewhere first!

The Game

In Motor Max, you will play the parts of a number of people living in a deadly near-future world. You can find weapons and tanks, chase bounties, wander about the ruins of cities, or just take a seat and down some drinks at the ol' watering hole!

Each character fits into one of four "classes," each with its ups and downs. There are hunters, who live to drive tanks; mechanics, who live to fix them; soldiers, who don't need tanks to blow stuff up; and even a couple of dogs, who aren't too shabby with bazookas themselves. Each character has a fairly colorful personality that fits their professions.

There are also tanks, those wonderful wheeled and/or treaded killing machines that hunters love. The player can collect more than enough tanks for the whole party (minus the dogs, of course), and each one can be outfitted with a variety of guns and equipment.

More to come!

Newbie_Power · Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1762

Story sounds kind of coming of age for a post apocolyptic story (then again Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was kind of like that), but from what I've seen of your project I'm far more interested in the gameplay and mechanics and what you'll bring to the table.
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TheGiz> Am I the only one who likes to imagine that Elijah Wood's character in Back to the Future 2, the kid at the Wild Gunman machine in the Cafe 80's, is some future descendant of the AVGN?

Ianator · Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:28 pm Post subject:

I guess it might be, probably because I think I'm making up for the game that inspired this, which had like five minutes of character growth for the whole time. I'm actually planning to do two games of this kind, doing whatever I can in this one and working out all the kinks for the sequel. That might be getting a tad ahead of myself, though...

Anyways, thanks for the input! I'll make sure not to disappoint too much!

Ianator · Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:22 am Post subject:

I'm still alive! Though distracted at every turn like I always am, I'm proud to say that Motor Max has entered the "Barely Playable" stage! I've got three hero graphics basically complete, one of which is a pickup truck. My original plan was to draw the tanks essentially facing the player, but lack of a "Standing Strike" animation will put a damper on that for a little bit. I've got a bunch of music from a game I used to play that has since gone Open Source; I'll be asking its dev community about using it very soon.

I think my next post will be about my character archetypes. Would I get flamed off the board for using Gaia Online avatars as early placeholder pictures?