Gamedev.org Expo 2008 and other things of Interest

Over at http://www.gamedev.org there is a competition going on over the next few weeks and I'm definitely getting in on it. I came up with a concept the other day and spent an hour or so fleshing out some of the details. I'm really excited about what I've come up with so far and thought that I would share my some what hacked together design document with the masses. So, without further ado, here is be :


2008 GameDev.org Expo

This Game inspired by Keep It Simple Stupid

This Game in dedicated to those that have passed away over the years your wit and creative spirits will be missed, but you are remembered.

Juho Vainionpää & Jam Rest In Peace.


GameDev.org Spam Bot Defender


Concept:

The premise of this game is a simple one. You are one of three forum
moderators who have been summoned by the Global Moderator Mikkom to help defend the virtual space of GameDev.org against an ever growing attack of porn spam on the website.

The enemies are actual spider bots who come by and drop porn images down from the top of the screen. As the images fall down towards the websites front end , it is up to the moderator to stop the image before it reaches the front end where it can be seen by the masses.

The spam bots have the help of distracting posters that come by and spam the forums with questions in regards to making mmo's, it's also up to the moderator to remove these posts from the forum front end as well. (This could be an added difficulty after the first few rounds.)


Actual Implementation :

Title Screens:

The screen fades in from black and displays the play area for the game, which consists of three different images each representing a different area of a virtual world.
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The top of the screen (possibly done in a binary looking circuitry) represents the digital world, the internet. This is where the bots will be attacking and dropping the spam from.

The mid section ( this is the buffer zone where the player will have an opportunity to catch and destroy the spam. It will be most of the space of the screen and can have a simple image as a background.)

The bottom of the screen( the banner from gamedev.org) represents the forum front end. If spam hits this the forum is damaged and so is the reputation of the moderator.
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At the fade in an image that says DecipherOne Productions Presents

GameDev.org Expo 2008

Spam Bot Defender.

Below this will be options for the player to choose one of three moderator
avatars.

Hymmerman
Ravuya
SDGamer
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Each one will have different defense powers.
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SDGamer will use disks of his movies to defend the forum.

Hymmerman will use small cities that resemble his city in the skies city.

Ravuya will use buckets of chicken to defend the forum.

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Outside of the different avatar the player will see on the screen
and the different type of defense that will be used there is no difference between the moderator that is picked to represent the player.

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After the player selects their avatar :

-- If time allows, core game mechanics need to be concentrated on first ---

A small story will unfold, presenting some god like eyes and a voice that talks to the player. IT is MIKKOM lord of the forum asking the player for their help in defending the forum against the hordes of spam bots that have been plaguing the forums lately.

This voice and and other classic characters from the forum will interact with the player throughout the game.

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The entire game takes place in one area. Also, bots will attack in waves that get progressively harder with short periods of rest between each attack.
The player will be able to defend the forum using two types of devices that must be purchased from the armory.

The armory is where the player gets their defense devices. Each piece of spam that is destroyed leaves behind a karhma point (either 1 or 5) that the player must then use to buy defense devices.

Attack arsenal - These are standard range type defense devices.
Cost - 10 Karhma = 20 Rounds

Defense Barriers - Defense Barriers can be placed anywhere in the buffer zone. They destroy any spam they come into contact with, but they are also destroyed in the process.
Cost - 15 Karhma = 7 Barriers.



There will also be special weapons that the player will be able to purchase.

Arius's Cynicism - Completely obliterates any MMO posts from the forum.
Cost - 25 Karhma

Neko's Cry - This annihilates all spam currently on the screen.
Cost - 25 Karhma

DecipherOne's Ultimate-Defense - This creates a wall of defense barriers across the mid section of the screen. It last for 30 secs, after which all remaining barriers that have not be obliterated through being hit by spam, disappears.
Cost - 35 Karhma

Johnl's Wave of Wit - A wave goes through the forum turning all MMO posts into barriers that remain until they come into contact with spam or until the end of an attack phase. Also destroys any spam currently on the screen.

Cost - 45 Karhma

(A Note on MMO posts. These accumulate at the forum end of the play area and slowly stack. If not removed and bot spam comes in contact with one of them, it is considered a hit on the forum.)



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Core Game Objectives

The player is given a Mod Reputation rating.

It starts off at 25 and can range from 1 to 100.

With each Karhma point collected the same value is added to
the players reputation.

The same amount is also added to a Score tally that keeps track
of the overall score throughout the game.

If spam comes into contact with the forum, what ever karhma points
the spam is carrying is then subtracted from the players
reputation.

If the players reputation goes below 1, then the Game is over.

It is the overall objective of the game to allow for an exponential increase in difficulty, fast play mechanics, a huge nostalgia factor for fun, and to allow for a comparison of scores to promote replay and competition.




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I'll be using Troglodyte to make the game and can't wait to get started.

In other news I let my http://www.decipheroneproductions.com domain expire today. The registrar I was with wanted entirely too much money to renew it and plus even though I've had that domain for five years, I always thought the name was too long. I instead registered decipherone.com for ten dollars through enom and google, which is a great deal. I won't be doing much with the domain for a public end until I get into a new place and get a server setup as well as an office, but I'm also pretty excited about that. Speaking of which, I have the day off from work today and am going to go house hunting as well as get resources ready for Spam Bot Defender.

There is still a lot of work to do for the engine as usual, but I'm putting that stuff on hold to participate in the contest. Wish me luck.