76% (36)
23% (11)What do you think the possible success level of a single player game is on BYOND and why?
Other things to think about
- Possibility of Co-Op
- Money making strategies in a single player
- Features such as leader boards and player to player markets that could potentially connect people who play
ID:1038120
 Nov 2 2012, 4:15 pm
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I would go with Red Hall Dev, if it hooks me in the beginning then I would more than likely stick with it. It doesn't need to be really snazzy with the freshest graphics on Byond to be fun game to play. Single Player games are very different than multiplayer games on BYOND and beyond, so your audience would be low on Byond unless "You" (Or someone you hired) draw others outside of Byond to your game. Why? Because most BYOND players want to play MMO type game. So possibility of success on BYOND...Huge, if you get your game's audience into it. I can make the most awesome puzzle game ever created but my sib would never play the game on her own unless I got her to sit infront of the screen and made her play. So aim for your audience because you will not get anyone to play your game if it doesn't cater to their taste of gameplay.
For example, OasisCircle's Alchemist is puzzle game that doesn't cater to me, but their multiplayer interested me, but the most powerful grab it had on me was the fact that I felt like I was playing with friends, then I played the game often for days and developed a taste for it due to the challenge of trying to defeat my friends. Strange thing is I enjoyed it even though puzzle games make me want to fall asleep and wake up before I played a puzzle game. Oh boy, why does the seeker rant? Don't know where I went but I hope you got something with it... - <3 | |
From a development point of view, single player games pretty much throw out what BYOND was mainly designed for: multiplayer games. However, there are some advantages to making a single player game instead: everything is always smoothest locally than over any network connection. This means you can have a high frame rate and some snazzy effects without the awesomeness being taken away (even a little) by lag. Take BYONDfall, for example. The tiny effects in there wouldn't be noticeable over a connection. Of course, your score persists, making it all worthwhile.
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I think a single player game could potentially, as Kaiochao(Which I generally agree with him) be one of the greatest BYOND games. Plus it is a very untapped well I believe. Plus personally I would enjoy making one, and have started projects in the past(Dorei is my most notable one, I made a demo available though it is probably not downloadable anymore since i'm not a member). 'Cos with single player games you don't have to worry about the network and can make a much, much bigger game with a more personal touch since you don't have to worry about other people. Thus you can make awesome cut-scenes(Which was one of my main features in Dorei) and all the great things modern consoles due for a campaign compared to it's multiplayer form, if you see what I mean. As said before i'd be interested in helping make a breakthrough in single player BYOND games; more like RPG and action type ones I would see being successful.
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Dorei doesn't seem to exist at all shame that I was curious :(
I think allowing a limited co-op (1 - 4 people) could also be fantastic the network side of things would be small you would most likely invite friends making it more personal. | |
Yeah sorry, and I can't upload it anywhere due to it being on my old hard drive in my last computer :/ Tho having a game being coop automatically loses every benefit of making it a single player game, unless you do something like Vengence 56 where there are 2 different games and you could import the save from your single player one to the coop game and be able to play with people just w/o the extra features
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http://files.byondhome.com/Bakasensei/Bakasensei.Dorei.zip
Actually there I found an old version of the Demo. Tho it seems some bugs rose up from the new versions of BYOND, so to be able to see the text first run the game then go and edit the skin, below the map make the Label invisible/delete it just leaving the default Output there. Then save and re-run the game and you'll be able to see the text in the white square at the bottom. | |
When I obtained the sword and walked across the bridge a runtime error occurred, it didn't mess up the game but the names of the procs and datum made me wonder if you were using the PantsQuest II code by Gughunter? I considered trying that in the past when I considered a single player game.
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Um I don't recall if that's what it was but I did find one demo/library about cutscenes and just used the same proc names and ideas from it, 'cos I had a problem with using libraries in a game some years back. Since then I always just read & learn the library then re-write it for my own uses; So when making it if the datums/procs etc have the same purpose I use same name.
Though this was actually the very first build of the demo I made just to show progress to the friend that drew the mob icons. In the latest build I had designed my own pixel movement system(The game was originally in BYOND 3.5 then 4.0 had came out a few days before this build) and had the game mechanics of Zelda: Such as the sword fighting with swing and stab motions using an actual object, pixel, hit detection system oriented the hard way. This was obviously before the client.pixel feature and forum_accounts' libraries on the simpler style of pixel movement. And I was trying to develop a way to keep a game local, yet have another player "join" cooperatively. The reason for this was I made use out of every single player benefit like the higher and smoother tick rate and faster client-side processing I believe(It's been a few years). What I did was have a NPC representative of each player on their own seperate local games. Then imported and exported the data of what each of them did and reproduce it for them; Via the same system you saw that handles every single action per tick with these special datums and procs. Which had 2 seperate area's, the cooperative spots and the player's world which co-existed. The other player could only effect things in the designated coop area; for example a store on a different Z-level would be a player area but once you walk outside you're back in the coop area and thus can be affected by your friend. This allowed me to control all the cooperative gameplay so the smallest amount of effects would be transfered to you're local game. Thus keeping the amount of things to import&export as small as possible to reduce any lag that would be made from two games being completely inter-twined. Though while playing you could hardly ever notice, and while I only did this with 2 players i'm sure it would work with say 4. Tho the more people the more you push it into losing any benefit and actually causing more problems than a network game would. Though still the amazing part of it is you could play offline the entire game, tho anytime you want could play online with a friend and switch back and forth as you please; Which I believe is the greatest benefit a single player game has over a multiplayer designed game. | |
Hmm Sounds interesting, really it quite briliant. i mean BYOND might have been aiming for a MMO gameplay, but honestly your all missing the point if u think that way BYOND is Build your own net dream. so take a game like call of duty. its ingle playter ut with multiplayer capabilities. now that would be awesome. was actually contemplating about making a zsombie shoot on byond kinda same concepts as "Castle by Abra" cept itll be a free for all and maps like cabin in the woods or something pretty fun. reason their similar is due to the fact that they are enjoyable to play by yourself and even better with friends. *BTW that zsombie game is actually really being contamplated so yea wanna join me add me to pager and chat.
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Including co-op play or similar does not remove the "singleplayer advantage" from your game.
On of the advantages of single-player is control over progression and the ability to have player decisions affect the entire game. In an MMORPG you might have a quest where you have to find someone's lost amulet (did I say might? I think I meant 'will'). But when you find it, you just get a reward - then someone else will come along and the NPC is like "Brave adventurer, I lost my amulet!" In single-player, once a quest is done, it is really done. And more importantly it can significantly affect the game. Maybe if you find the amulet, the NPC who has it can perform some magic deed for you like healing. Of course you can still do things like that in an MMO but it's never as convincing. Anyway, you CAN do this convincingly in a smaller multiplayer setting. Ever played call of duty campaigns on split-screen? It's a lot of fun, and it is basically identical to playing alone with a few minor changes. | |
That's what i'm getting at. Also the main benefit of making a single player game on BYOND is you are working on a client-side game, meaning no server for every action to run through. Therefor you can add 10x the effects without any of the lag, like make a game run at GBA standards, though if it we're multiplayer you lose all of that. So that's why I had made that way of running to seperate single player games and connecting them via import 'n export to simulate co-op play. And i'd do love to create a single player game(Maybe even re-vamp my coop system). And you could easily make the game have the single player bonus, with that coop system for 2-4 people to have that bonus. Then also create a 2nd multiplayer online version of the game and just export all of your single player stuff to that server. So it'd just be like your ex. of "CoD" where people could join the multiplayer server while continuing there single player scores and vice-versa. Gaku did a system like this in Vengence 56.
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Well, a single player game benefits from multiple factors.
1- No server lag. 2- More Detail is allowed in the world etc Of course if you feel like incorporating BYOND's networking capabilities it's relatively simple. You can do a lot of things that are network based. Score boards, PvP, Tournaments, etc. Of course when you play some games like Borderlands you feel like you're missing out if it's single player and I certainly have a lot more fun when I'm playing it with 3 other friends. | |
That's why I was saying you could incorporate the coop system I described to play with 1-3 more friends and still have all of the single player benefits.
I personally would be very interested in making a single player game(Maybe with the coop system) and also could have a multiplayer server that incorpates all the work and things youve done in single player | |
So just make something fun above all else.