Game Idea: Plausible?

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Matrix98

Guest
I'm planning to do a major project and create a game I have been thinking about for some time now. I'm only in high school and have very little coding experience so when I say that I consider doing a major project, it may not be that much of a deal in the minds of people with more experience here, but for me it certainly is.

Here is how it would look:

The player would be able to fly around the earth and observe the different civilizations on earth during that time and what they were doing, where they were, what their philosophies were and the books that they wrote as records of history -- the inhabitants of a civilization will be seen moving around the city or settlement and do some daily work such as collecting resources and talking to each other.

There would be a small window where one could increase or decrease the years A.D./B.C., and as this is done, civilizations come on the earth and disappear, their cities get larger or smaller, there is a catastrophe or there is prospering -- all depending upon the time that the player sets, f.ex., if the Egyptians experienced a famine in year xxxx in reality and the player sets the year xxxx that will be shown in the game.

Because there are certain historical events where there is no consensus, or where opinions vary, I would individually like to write out the whole scheme of events from my own research and perspective. The graphics would be something like this, only the planet would be a bit larger than that, so the curvature is not seen but the distant lands disappearing in the horizon: http://hdfreewallpaper.net/wp-conte...3d-earth-hd-free-wallpapers-for-computers.jpg

I don't really know if this could be done?
 
Start smaller, friend - this idea is quite big in scope, and without much programming experience I foresee you giving up on it quite fast :) Now, if this game is your end goal, you can always divide it up and prototype parts of it as part of your "training" (where to start depends on your programming skills), you could for example pull out something like one of the civilizations, and build that as a stand-alone "game", or, if you find that to be too much, make a citizen, then make him interact with a small world, then add more citizens, and so on until you get there.

But start small, or your will burn out quick! :O
 
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Spesknight

Guest
I think this is feasible but I would do it 2d for a start. Basically it is like an rpg with lots of npc moving around.
 
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daruudaruu

Guest
I want to start noting that you must keep your excitement and motivation high, even if there are (and there will be) some responses you don't like.

Then again: forget about it.

It is as simple as that: you MUST do something small or you won't finish anything, ever. Everybody has a dream game, but there's a lot you have to put to make even a simple, tiny, two-day jam game. Those dream games must be put aside to think about smaller challenges. You will grow up with this, and you then will be able to sloooowly elevate your scope.

I have been YEARS without making anything due to too-high-expectation-levels. This doesn't mean you can't do anything you'd love doing. This means you have to look for smaller things you love.

One brick everyday.
 
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Matrix98

Guest
Hmmm, thank you all for the insight. I'm not put down by these comments, not at all... I don't have to make it immediately, I'll start out small as suggested.
 

RangerX

Member
If you want to recreate Earth history in a game like that, you will either take forever to make this OR skip 99% of Earth history. I don't know what you will choose :p
 
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Paolo Mazzon

Guest
Well, before I address your idea, pessimism. Making a 3D game is not a novice type project, even in GM. You have to basically be an expert with GML before planning of this scope. Is it doable for you right now? No, probably not; but that doesn't mean it won't be in the future.

Onto the idea. If you plan on doing Earth's history, stick to major events. 99% of Earth's history is extremely stagnant. Humans and their predecessors have been around for millions of years (According to Google), but only in the last couple thousand has any real progress been made in science and technology. You don't have to iterate over 100000+ years of nothing, just things like Ice Ages, specific times like prehistory, roman empire, dark ages, renaissance, and so on. Even with the game narrowed down to that, that would still be a massive amount of content that even though is possible for one person to do, you will likely need a team of artists, programmers, and designers.

If you're really into this idea, keep planning every aspect of it until you're ready to make it. If it still interests you by then, you will have the whole thing planned out already and the skill to back it up.
 

Yal

šŸ§ *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
I think this idea should be feasible, it's just a matter of limiting it to a reasonable scope. If every civilization has 3-5 phases (basic, growing, on its peak, catastrophe, ruins) you basically need 5 static rooms per civilization (possibly with NPCs moving around, but I'm thinking something very basic with them moving in straight lines and spawning randomly in an OK area etc) and just do a year check when you select a civilization. If you also limit your scope of civilizations to a set number (Egypt, Rome, Inca, Vikings, old China, etc), and only use the world view as a map (AKA no real details, just a map with icons) it should be very much doable.
 
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Matrix98

Guest
Well, before I address your idea, pessimism. Making a 3D game is not a novice type project, even in GM. You have to basically be an expert with GML before planning of this scope. Is it doable for you right now? No, probably not; but that doesn't mean it won't be in the future.

Onto the idea. If you plan on doing Earth's history, stick to major events. 99% of Earth's history is extremely stagnant. Humans and their predecessors have been around for millions of years (According to Google), but only in the last couple thousand has any real progress been made in science and technology. You don't have to iterate over 100000+ years of nothing, just things like Ice Ages, specific times like prehistory, roman empire, dark ages, renaissance, and so on. Even with the game narrowed down to that, that would still be a massive amount of content that even though is possible for one person to do, you will likely need a team of artists, programmers, and designers.

If you're really into this idea, keep planning every aspect of it until you're ready to make it. If it still interests you by then, you will have the whole thing planned out already and the skill to back it up.
Well, even history that goes back a few thousand years before Christ, for which we have detailed written records, is debated among scholars who can't arrive at the same conclusion: so if we don't know for sure what went on even back then, how much less would we know what went on before that, before we had written records? I would say very little... it's definitely blurry history that we do not have much facts about, it's more like a realm of speculation and imaginative guesses on how it could have been. What I would consider the closest to established history is from when the first actual, descriptive and organized writings appeared. We can have good guesses as intelligent people, but nothing beats written records from people that actually were there.

So, I wouldn't move it much more back than several thousand years B.C. to make sure the game is as accurate as possible, since it could be used as an educational tool.. and perhaps I'm hoping for a little too much with that last remark :)
 
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gamedev4life

Guest
great idea, but history of civilizations is a HUGE topic, which means your game would be HUGE. youd would need artists, programmers, historians and other academics, etc.

i suggest pick either art or programming--whichever you find more enjoyable--and get really good at at least one of those. make a platformer or something, THEN see whats up.
 
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