Flare Vision
Flare Vision
Loristan asked: "Clint, what is your vision for Flare, what are you trying to ultimately achieve?"
I haven't thought of Flare in exactly those terms yet. So here goes.
First, a list of big goals in approximate time order.
- Implement the minimal number of features to create a simple game
- Build enough assets to create a rich game in the medieval/fantasy genre
- Release a solid medieval/fantasy game
- Begin plans for a new game. Still action/RPG but a different genre most likely.
- Refactor the engine code so it works for the new game and for previous games.
- Build assets for the new genre
- Release a new game
- GOTO #4
I plan to keep going until I at least release one game (task #3 above). If I'm not sick of it by then, I'll continue the cycle of making new games and polishing the engine. As I get tired of code I'll focus on new assets, and vice versa.
Meanwhile I will help (to some extent) any team that wants to build a game with Flare. This might include helping with art assets or implementing new features.
So the ultimate goal? Release a fantasy action RPG.
Then if I'm not insane yet, maybe, release a zombie survival game (heavy on action, light on RPG). Then if I'm still not insane, maybe, release a steampunk intrigue game (heavy on RPG, light on action). Meanwhile, each step of the way the engine matures into a stable, proven framework that does a few things very well.
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If you want to get existential, my vision for Flare is to make something I'm proud of. I've been toying with game development for 19 years yet I don't have a real game I can point to and say "I made that."
I’ve played Flare and, as long as I’m concerned, you should already be proud. But I really like your plan, and hope you eventually get to the zombie part :)
The existential part is what I can comprehend most easily. Pretty two lines of solid mission statement ;)
I really appreciate this ambitious project - especially the open source enthusiast and gamer in me. But referring to the initial post and the other information I read about FLARE I would like to make a point here why I am afraid the goal of creating a fully featured medieval/fantasy action RPG might be a bit too ambitious - at least from my point of view.
The genre is very well known and former commercial games were very popular by gamers. Always during such an open project people will show up an start requesting and comparing - not the engine/framework itself which has a really great potential - but game play, game design and especially game content. This might be very helful and inspiring to some degree, but for me from my experience this is the most annoying thing when something reaches a certain point of popularity. One is never right with what one creates and it is never enough - just because people have expectations from what they know. Do not get me wrong here, it is of course a fundamental part of developing to fulfill potential user's expectations. But, while a big amount of work is linked with the develoment of such an ambitious project this is the last thing keeping one motivated.
And now to get back to what i wanted say actually, you should try some less known genre/setting. Nobody can complain about things one does not know. E.g when the setting does not provide an opportunity to add a fantastillion of equipment - like medieval/fantasy does - developers can concentrate more on quality instead of feeling impelled to add new stuff each day somebody is missing for whatever reason. After testing FLARE for a while I stopped thinking about what is missing and started to think about what kind of setting I would use to build a game on the current state of the engine. A short ancient greek saga was my first idea - all features provided by the engine, common equipement from these times fits the PMOD system exactly, lots of historical documents and references for inspiration, and the genre/setting is less known by potential players. Now after reading the initial post I maybe would rather recommend the zombie survival game, because of its higher replayability which is a great opportunity to get a lot of testing for the framework development.
Anyways, I hope you do not get me wrong here, just wanted to get rid of those thoughts which came to my mind in the last days.
I am really looking forward for more FLARE and wish all you contributors a shitload of success with this project. Keep up the good work!
I completely agree that we should go for a less known theme. Players simply have less expectation for such genres. However we have a small problem. There is already a lot of art, and it would not be a good idea to waste that. My suggestion is that we should choose a genre.
What about choosing some genres and exploring on the wiki the potential benefits / problems, what can be reused and what cannot?
Later on we'll choose (maybe vote, with Clint having veto) between those genres.
I like it the way it is. The typical fantasy setting (well, kind of) is nostalgic for me. And if the game is fun (which it is already) the setting becomes secondary anyway.
Something to consider: if I stay with a traditional "medieval fantasy" style, the assets will be much more reusable than if I go for some untapped niche.
Already I see my sprites used in lots of game experiments; I run into a new one every few days.
Cool. Is there a list of these projects somewhere?
manwesulimo2004, there isn't, but I should probably start keeping such a list.
As far as I'm concerned, Clint has been doing justice to the fantasy/RPG setting, and I've got confidence he (perhaps with assistance from the rest of us) will make a rich game, both visually and story-wise.
Edit: Actually, to tell the truth, Clint's plot is basically already more complex than Diablo II, and that's a very popular (and successful) fantasy/RPG. IMO, Diablo II doesn't really do justice to the fantasy setting, it simply creates its own setting, and does a good job of it.
I think you should definately fit a game editor in there somewhere. Possibly along with a simple scripting language.
I would like to restate that your work is of the highest quality I've seen in some time, and I have no doubt you'll make it. A game editor would help involve even more people, and hopefully create something even more amazing.
Anyways, thanks for the hard work, I'm watching every step of progress intently as I'm sure a lot of other people are.
--Alex
Great stuff thanks for the reply. I shall keep a close eye on Flare ! All the best.
Even with a generic fantasy setting as a base, there are plenty of ways to mix it up.