[Prototype] Please Give
In fits and starts I'm trying to work on a game. What I have at the moment is a very skeletal version of it made using Construct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construct_(game_engine)).
Please Give is essentially a begging simulator in which the player takes on the role of a beggar and attempts to survive as long as possible through begging individuals who enter the street outside of the alleyway he calls his home. The beggar is bound by the various needs we all experience as human beings and these will be demonstrated across a series of stats which need to be maintained so as to ensure survival. We're talking needs here. So things like a good night's sleep, a full tummy, having the energy required to shuffle about and do things, moderately well-maintained hygiene, and bladder care will all fall under this scope. This is character upkeep reminiscent of the Sims, in my mind. Beyond this, a couple of begging-related stats like appearance (how pleasing to the eye a passerby finds you) and charm (how well your begging routine works on a given passerby). There's obviously interplay between these stats meaning the player has to strike a balance between them all so as to ensure long-term survivability.
The begging routine is chance-based (how close to life is that??) and is influenced by a bunch of variables. Obviously the beggar does his best to be charming and decent-looking but the passersby themselves will be of varying types and will react differently when faced by a beggar. A vanilla passerby will effectively be a good baseline for understanding how the mechanic works. The beggar initiates a beg, a progress bar appears (with a pre-determined countdown, in this case), and the characters will have a corresponding animation demonstrating that they're occupied being the beggar/beggee. When the progress bar fills, game will roll the percent chance of a successful beg and, if won, awards the player with cash money. That being said, I've got a boatload of passersby stored in my noggin, some of which take longer to beg like old people, some of which have more money than others, some which are dangerous to beg like prostitutes or muggers, and then some which grant the beggar certain perks in place of or on top of the cash they give. The rate at which these passersby enter the play area is related to a number of factors like time of day, weather type, their own rarity, or the play area being inhabited by another type of passerby. Essentially the passersby types will be generated and enter the street randomly based upon these conditions. There will probably be some kind of cap as to how many can be on screen at a time.
The money the player generates whilst begging is obviously used to fuel the beggar's survivability. The player will be putting any money they earn towards buying a variety of items which are designed to help them out. I hear every single one of you asking 'but where do these items come from?' and I'm going to tell you, friend. Just outside the alleyway in which our titular character lives will be a series of shops (these too will change, coming and going over time so as to alter their wares). These shops will vend items which help the player to squeeze as much out of their lives as possible. I'm not just talking food for when you're hungry here. The items I have in mind range from pretty normal to quite zany. I'm talking a miniature robot which does a little begging for you. I'm talking questionably 'magical' potions which boost the beggar's speed for a short period of time. I'm talking peanut butter traps which a beggar lays in the street so as to stick victims in place thus forcing them to hear his routine. You'll be eating food which buffs hunger but slows you down. You'll be drinking beverages which give you speed but make you sleepy. If you can't afford food you can always rummage around in the dumpster behind where you sleep at night! Alongside these sorts of items, the beggar will have clothing items which affect his attributes and/or also provide a variety of different perks or status changes. X-ray specs which allow you to see how much money a person is carrying. A very brightly-coloured Hawaiian shirt which attracts those weaker-willed passersby Hell, I've even got creature companions which the beggar can enlist, making the people he begs that much more sympathetic to him, but just like the beggar, these require food to survive. One of them's a platypus. Besides being available from shops, there's a chance you'll see items dropping from or being offered by certain passersby.
Now, as a beggar you face various threats to your existence beyond those stats I've described earlier. It's not just hunger, poor hygiene, and lack of sleep. You could develop some kind of interesting illness which requires medical attention. You could be mugged whilst chatting to a fellow who you thought was a decent chap. You could have a rival beggar enter your turf and attempt to steal your soon-to-be hard-begged money. You could be faced with horrendous weather conditions which force passersby to avoid the streets. Natural disasters like earthquakes could make sections of your street impassable. A blood moon could appear in the sky. A zombie apocalypse could happen. Clowns might come out of sewer grates.
TL:DR - Please Give - a Poverty Simulator.
Please Give is essentially a begging simulator in which the player takes on the role of a beggar and attempts to survive as long as possible through begging individuals who enter the street outside of the alleyway he calls his home. The beggar is bound by the various needs we all experience as human beings and these will be demonstrated across a series of stats which need to be maintained so as to ensure survival. We're talking needs here. So things like a good night's sleep, a full tummy, having the energy required to shuffle about and do things, moderately well-maintained hygiene, and bladder care will all fall under this scope. This is character upkeep reminiscent of the Sims, in my mind. Beyond this, a couple of begging-related stats like appearance (how pleasing to the eye a passerby finds you) and charm (how well your begging routine works on a given passerby). There's obviously interplay between these stats meaning the player has to strike a balance between them all so as to ensure long-term survivability.
The begging routine is chance-based (how close to life is that??) and is influenced by a bunch of variables. Obviously the beggar does his best to be charming and decent-looking but the passersby themselves will be of varying types and will react differently when faced by a beggar. A vanilla passerby will effectively be a good baseline for understanding how the mechanic works. The beggar initiates a beg, a progress bar appears (with a pre-determined countdown, in this case), and the characters will have a corresponding animation demonstrating that they're occupied being the beggar/beggee. When the progress bar fills, game will roll the percent chance of a successful beg and, if won, awards the player with cash money. That being said, I've got a boatload of passersby stored in my noggin, some of which take longer to beg like old people, some of which have more money than others, some which are dangerous to beg like prostitutes or muggers, and then some which grant the beggar certain perks in place of or on top of the cash they give. The rate at which these passersby enter the play area is related to a number of factors like time of day, weather type, their own rarity, or the play area being inhabited by another type of passerby. Essentially the passersby types will be generated and enter the street randomly based upon these conditions. There will probably be some kind of cap as to how many can be on screen at a time.
The money the player generates whilst begging is obviously used to fuel the beggar's survivability. The player will be putting any money they earn towards buying a variety of items which are designed to help them out. I hear every single one of you asking 'but where do these items come from?' and I'm going to tell you, friend. Just outside the alleyway in which our titular character lives will be a series of shops (these too will change, coming and going over time so as to alter their wares). These shops will vend items which help the player to squeeze as much out of their lives as possible. I'm not just talking food for when you're hungry here. The items I have in mind range from pretty normal to quite zany. I'm talking a miniature robot which does a little begging for you. I'm talking questionably 'magical' potions which boost the beggar's speed for a short period of time. I'm talking peanut butter traps which a beggar lays in the street so as to stick victims in place thus forcing them to hear his routine. You'll be eating food which buffs hunger but slows you down. You'll be drinking beverages which give you speed but make you sleepy. If you can't afford food you can always rummage around in the dumpster behind where you sleep at night! Alongside these sorts of items, the beggar will have clothing items which affect his attributes and/or also provide a variety of different perks or status changes. X-ray specs which allow you to see how much money a person is carrying. A very brightly-coloured Hawaiian shirt which attracts those weaker-willed passersby Hell, I've even got creature companions which the beggar can enlist, making the people he begs that much more sympathetic to him, but just like the beggar, these require food to survive. One of them's a platypus. Besides being available from shops, there's a chance you'll see items dropping from or being offered by certain passersby.
Now, as a beggar you face various threats to your existence beyond those stats I've described earlier. It's not just hunger, poor hygiene, and lack of sleep. You could develop some kind of interesting illness which requires medical attention. You could be mugged whilst chatting to a fellow who you thought was a decent chap. You could have a rival beggar enter your turf and attempt to steal your soon-to-be hard-begged money. You could be faced with horrendous weather conditions which force passersby to avoid the streets. Natural disasters like earthquakes could make sections of your street impassable. A blood moon could appear in the sky. A zombie apocalypse could happen. Clowns might come out of sewer grates.
TL:DR - Please Give - a Poverty Simulator.
Comments
http://makegamessa.com/discussion/2215/cart-life-is-freeopen-source#Item_1
Cart Life does seem much more technical too. Another reminder of Jones for me - you've got this life which you maintain across a Monopoly-boardish game area. So you're covering rent, visiting the bank, hitting the shops, using telephones, picking up kids from school etc... I'm hoping to keep things more contained here (which may or may not be a good thing), in the hopes that it might ease the learning curve.
Edit: been watching a Let's Play of Cart Life and I'm getting the feeling that it's quite reflective of how life is when starting out small or having to make ends meet. Tough, gritty, and sometimes shitty. Black and white, very pure, basic pixel art graphics, and the locales themselves are eerily mundane or simplistic but beautiful for being this way because it sort of echoes that getting on your feet is tough. Reminds me of how Papers, Please presents itself as well. I'm hoping to have Please Give come across as being lighthearted and tongue-in-cheekish, but still relatively challenging for the player.