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Game Programmer: What a good carribean pirates game needs

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Dreadlord

Landlubber
<img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hi.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":gday" border="0" alt="hi.gif" /> everyone,
I am a game programmer. I am currently making 2D games for xbox 360 and am in the process of starting up my own company. I've played a huge amount of games over the years, so I have a lot of experience with good and bad game engines alike. Pirates of the Caribbean (Sea Dogs 2) is absolutely terrible from a programming and completion view. It crashes constantly, has many game killing and save killing bugs, yet through all this it has a community of dedicated people who work really hard to make it better. I really was amazed after finding this forum and all the things people do for the games on here. Both are unfinished overall with bugs and glitches that cause gamers to lose interest and give them a bad name, yet you guys keep playing them. So for my next project, after my current game. I want to do a Caribbean pirates style game similar to the ones we talk about on this forum.

This thread is to ask everyone here what they think a good pirate game needs. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/duel_pa.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":ixi" border="0" alt="duel_pa.gif" /> Anyone who contributes to the development will get any and all builds of the game, as well as a full version if/when it gets released. I'm really interested in making a better game with this same style, and in my opinion there's no better people to help me make an amazing one then the people on this forum who have been improving on these games for so long.

Depending on how my current project finishes and how much money I make I'll be starting on this as my new project either full time or part time. If my current game does well then I'll use the profits to fund this one.

Let me know what you think. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/buds.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":drunk" border="0" alt="buds.gif" />
 
I've got PLENTY of ideas and I know so do many other forum members. I actually posted a lot of mine already. Elsewhere... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />
 
Ahoy Dreadlord, welcome aboard mate! We actually had a discussion going a few weeks back about the feasibility of trying to make our own pirate game. Unfortunately, none of us here really have the programming experience required for such an effort. We do have a great community full of other valuable assets though, and I am sure you will find many among these forums willing to help you in any way we can. Myself included. If your curious to read what we were discussing, you can find most of it in this thread <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showtopic=12710&hl=game" target="_blank">here!</a>

Good luck with your current project mate!
 
My advice is to communicate with your fans. It's quite ridiculous that game developers will shut off their fans completely from their projects.

Also support your games as much as you can. Don't abandon your game. Remember a loyal and happy customer is more likely to purchase a sequel than one who hated your previous game.
 
<!--quoteo(post=313949:date=Apr 17 2009, 06:32 AM:name=Thagarr)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Thagarr @ Apr 17 2009, 06:32 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=313949"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ahoy Dreadlord, welcome aboard mate! We actually had a discussion going a few weeks back about the feasibility of trying to make our own pirate game. Unfortunately, none of us here really have the programming experience required for such an effort. We do have a great community full of other valuable assets though, and I am sure you will find many among these forums willing to help you in any way we can. Myself included. If your curious to read what we were discussing, you can find most of it in this thread <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showtopic=12710&hl=game" target="_blank">here!</a>

Good luck with your current project mate!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I've got programming experience covered :p I'll start seriously going at this some time around august.

I know a lot of you have experience with the engines used in the games talked about on this site. So any experience you have with how they do things would be invaluable I'll probably take a really good look at every game out there I can get my hands on. As for the ships and models for the game I initially won't have anything to work with so anything you guys are willing to let me use would be amazing. Also I'm planning on having the models of the ships full explorable so if you have a ship model with a full inside then that would really be what I'm looking for. I'm looking to have low amounts of loading. So your ship will be fully loaded from top to bottom before you have access to piloting it. Therefore if you are in a fight there will be no loading between decks of inside and outside it will be realtime. I'm also looking into how to handle fights between pirates I'd like rpg elements in the game like a leveling system however combat will not be wholly based that way I want a lot of action involved. The more fun fights are the more people will play the game the more people will come back to it and the more people will want a sequel.
Thats all for now I'm currently on my way to florida on vacation and only using wireless from a hotel atm so I might not be around for the next little while.
 
How are you going to get this game done? It takes many people many years to make a game. You can't do it alone, can you? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />
 
Dreadlord:
It´s guys like you I have been advertising and searching for in a long time on jobforums for programmers, moddb, gamasutra etc.
What you just wrote was exactly what I used to write to get peoples attention - typical..once you stop looking, people are showing up by themself <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> I take it, you wont care for some bughunting, then? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo(post=314166:date=Apr 18 2009, 11:08 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pieter Boelen @ Apr 18 2009, 11:08 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=314166"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->How are you going to get this game done? It takes many people many years to make a game. You can't do it alone, can you? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Its not quite as impossible with todays tools as people think. As for doing it completely alone. I'm not an achomplished animator so I doubt that I can do it myself totally. However that being said I do believe that coding the entire engine myself is definitly possible in 1-2 years. Engine design is not so hard for an expirienced coder. The problem really lies in making everything "feel" right which is impossible to do without the art your going to be using. Therefore if I had everything I needed in resources the game would be a breeze to finish. (well compared to the normal situation programmers are in anyways)

<!--quoteo(post=314258:date=Apr 18 2009, 05:28 PM:name=PeterWillemoes)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PeterWillemoes @ Apr 18 2009, 05:28 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=314258"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Dreadlord:
It´s guys like you I have been advertising and searching for in a long time on jobforums for programmers, moddb, gamasutra etc.
What you just wrote was exactly what I used to write to get peoples attention - typical..once you stop looking, people are showing up by themself <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> I take it, you wont care for some bughunting, then? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Your welcome to help any way you want to. It doesn't have to be limited to bughunting but thats definitly gonna be needed eventually. And by eventually I mean no time in the near future, probably at least a year away from having anything testable.

As tools and technology get better in the next few years the game will get better too. This will mean that the game can have a significant edge in technology on any other games in the same genre. It probably will be a long hard road. But I don't mind working on this project even if only part time, for as long as it takes. I will probably be able to get a lot out of the engines that already exist. I mean its not hard to code something you understand. So I'll be working on understanding the engines out there.
 
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Your welcome to help any way you want to. It doesn't have to be limited to bughunting but thats definitly gonna be needed eventually. And by eventually I mean no time in the near future, probably at least a year away from having anything testable.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh, that was not the way I meant, actually it was the other way around:
I used to look for programmers, who wanted to make a name for themselves by helping us out! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />
We have been trying to convert this mod over to another engine for ages - although the attempts have been many, we never succeeded.
Would still be nice with some help for that, although you probably dont need to make a name for yourself anymore...

About choice of engine, would this include 3D-engines as well? (You mention, you are a "2D-games programmer", but I dont know if it makes a difference). I would say, the Crysis engine, or CryTek, is upright the most obvioust choice. It can be adjusted to run on almost any hardware-configuration and will not be outdated just like that. But it would probably be too expensive to license? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />

Anyway, I guess any engine with the ability to handle massive gameplay-area volumes - and the presence of at least basic physics - would meet the criteria for a pirate game.
No sailing and exploring, no pirate game = needs massive gameplay-area <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> We´we found, that its not funny to mod your way around the lack of physics with illusions. I.e. when you want a ship to throw anchor in a harbour, a character to sneak past a wall, jump down from a ledge or the like.
On my wishlist (most people in here, i presume) it would be great if the wind was not a programmed variable/generic, but a real ingame force of nature - imagine how your ship would act truly natural at sea! Wind´s impact on the waves?? Aaargh! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> Daydreaming again..
 
It's all very possible.. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":yes" border="0" alt="yes.gif" /> a good pirate game IS allways welcome. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":yes" border="0" alt="yes.gif" /> It will indeed be needing a large world plus a thing like "DirectSail" but without that scene loading.. everything must happen real time and on sea and no going to that unrealistic and arcadish map sailing. Such pirate game must have that sailing on the sea made interesting too.. like walking around your ship real time and catching fish or hoisting the colors (with animation).. and yeah, waves must be realistic and depending on wind and that water MUST have underwater (with effects and stuff and fish) so we could have a submarine in that game that is called "The Flying Dutchman". <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":yes" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />: Oh and don't forget to make a well detailed seafloor. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":yes" border="0" alt="yes.gif" /> also the lands and islands must be like in Oblivion.. free roamable. AND that game must have shadows and dynamic shadows (those that show up on the ground and water).. without shadows it wouldn't look realistic. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":no" border="0" alt="no.gif" /> I pretty much told the main reasons why I don't like playing PotC. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="xD:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />
 
That would be nice, I admit, but please tell me that <i>wouldn't</i> be ridiculously hard to achieve. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />
 
First of you'll need brains if you want it to be easy. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
 
Truth be told, a couple of weeks I posted rather similar ideas... elsewhere... <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />
 
And where that elsewhere is? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />
 
Is it personal? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />
 
Nooo..not everything from Pieter have to personal, Deep One <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

He means <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showtopic=13052&hl=" target="_blank">THIS</a> one..
 
It's out of date or broken. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />
 
That link won't work Peter.

Deep, we can't say anything much about it right now as nothing has been finalised but there <i>may</i> be a bit of PA! co-operation with another commercial game in the future and some of the game notes are written there.

At the moment that forum is mostly off limits, when everything is set in stone we'll open it up for everyone's input.
 
Well, that IS indeed where I posted it. And it's sort-of secret for now until we know what's going to happen with it.
Which, at the moment, I don't think <i>anybody</i> does.
 
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