Desert Fox Chronicles: Love life and death in the sand: help needed

[TT Snim]

Hello, some of you may know me as just another person on the forum who's looking to make a game and learn.  Others my know that I am, in fact, crazy. 

So crazy that I'm making a game that is inspiered by the hit TV show on animal Planet called Meerkat manor.  Now I'm not going to use meerkats as my sprites, but small fox looking things.

I am making this game to help me learn game making before I dive in to my BIG project Kingdom Melody (A non fantasy game that's set in the time of castles and knights).  I have some one working on the sprites AND tiles of that game, and it may take quite a while before I have any visible progress there.

Now about D.F.C.

I already have about 40 maps all laid out, linked, and given the needed warps.  I need a mapper (Or Mappers) to make them look nice and desert like. 
There are 25 desert maps all liked up in a big square.  On these maps are little rocky places with what look like holes in the middle.  Those are entrances to the burrow maps. Three holes indicate a LARGE burrow, two holes a smaller one, and one hole as you may have guessed, and very small burrow.  (Also known as a "Bolt hole")

I also need script writers.  Even though I need to learn scripting and this will be my class room game I'm still going to need a lot of help. 

I have all of the sprites for the game, but I can always use more NPCs.  I'm looking for bugs.  Ants, spiders, any thing that creeps or crawls basically, as that will be the character's main food. You'll have to kill what ever you eat.  Large predator NPCs are also on the order, even though I'm happy with what I've got in TE.  That would be a happy little bonus.

Sprites!


Some scripts I want to make/have made!

Scripts for DFC

~~HSP~~ means High score points, and indicates this script will give you points and keep track of them.  It won't affect game play, but when you die (And you will) your legacy will be remembered.

Health script:  The health script uses a timer to take away HP from your character constantly.  You can have varying degrees of health, ranging from a robust a scale of 10, to a punny score of 1.    You start out in life with full health.  To help your health up, and hopefully manage to "Level up" you'll have to hunt for food in the vast and sandy landscape of the Golden Sun  Desert.  While some members of your lunch menu may go down easily enough, others may fight back, like the scorpions.  A scorpion sting may damage your health, lowering you from that robust ten, to a more un steady seven.  A bite from a predator may lave you even worse off.  Some foods may increase your health.  Most damages will heal over time.  Rare plants, or even a rare bug, may help your health score dramatically as well. Should you be unable to locate these hard to find treats you still have other options to improve your health score.  Some one may be kind enough to come by and groom you. 

Grooming script:  Using the targeting system any one individual can come up along side another and "Groom" them.  Grooming will improve the health of the one who is receiving the attention. 
New Player script:  When you first enter the world of Desert Fox you find your self in a lowly burrow with only one exit.  What this script does is look through another script (The Mother's Day Script) and tries to find you another player who has "Matted". (More on that latter)  Should a mated female character be found you will be teleported to her side.  This script will then remember who your mother and your father are.  If a female who has mated is not avaliable you'll be teleported to a world map where you must decide where you'd like to start the first dangerous days of your life as a orphan. 

Matting Script  (Or how to make your game rate T for teen and not K for kid):~~HSP~~  Once more the target system is called in to play in this script.  When a female character and a male character wish to add to the number of their family members they will "Mate".  The script will check a number of things before a matting can be successful.  First of all it will look at the age of the pair.  If your level is to low you are to young.  Next it will look at your health.  Only those who are fit will be able to  mate.  Then it will check who the parents of the two love birds are.  A sister and brother, or half sister and brother, will be prevented from matting.  Finally, if every thing checks out, the deed will be done (Asking confirmation from the member who didn't enact the script) and the female will be put on the Mother's Day script list. 

The mother's Day script:  When a female and male character have "Done the deed" the female is remembered on a list.  Only a certain number of females can be on this list so that the script does not become a lot of bloat.  When a new member is brought in to the game all of the females on the list will be searched through.  The one who has matted first will get the new comer. (First come first serve)  Also he script will be on a timer.  After a number of days the one who was there first will be booted and a message will be delivered to the female.  This give every one a chance.

Burrow chore script:  The entrances to the burrow degrade with every use, and if left un checked they will become hopelessly clogged.  Should this happen the door way will be sealed and any one trapped in side may starve to death.  To keep the entrances clean the burrow owners should regularly scrape away at the aria around the holes to kep the dirt and sand out of the doorway.  This script will be a skill every character should and will learn. 

Rare food script:  ~~HSP~~  Some items of food can only be found tucked away in special places.  it will take skill mining these things out, but the only tools you'll need are the claws you are born with.  Some of these foods will be very, very hard to get at.  These will be things like snake bite cures and other health restoring things.  But be careful, some things lurk in these places, things that may look good to eat, but could be very harmful.  Pay attention to what you stick in your mouth.

Territory marking script?:  ~~HSP~~ You can't be every where at once, but you can "own" land.  It's only polite to let your neighbors know what land is yours so that when they invade they do so prepared and  knowing full well that you'll be happy to fight them off, instead of them having to apologizing while running like mad back to their own homes shocked and startled.  Scripted tiles will alow you to do this as here and there you'll be able to simply walk up to a tile and claim ownership of the map.  Now any one can do this at any time to any map so it's important to know where you have "marked" your territory and check the borders regularly.  Should you find some of your land "Marked" by another it's up to you to take it back.  Even if that means messing with some else and their kin.

Bite Script: The only way to get enough to eat is to be able to hunt all over the land.  Unfortunately others, who are not in your family, will also be hunting the same sandy landscape.  Should you encounter another party you could fight like you fight with your food, but you also have sharp teeth.  A good strong bite may be the key to winning your battles. Because this is a skill you have to master to be any good at  you may from time to time "Play fight" with your friends and family.  Te bites are the same, but you wouldn't use it in the same way.  With a lot of grooming mixed in, and a lot of good food, and a good since about what you are doing, and it is a safe way to play.  Be for-warned, bitting some one weaker than your self may hurt them a lot, so play on some one your own size.  Also an Alpha, who is the strongest of your family, may bite some one to punish them.  So be nice to your elders/parents, they could rip your guts out.

The death script:  There comes a time in every one's digital life when they die.  Even an alpha may pass on.  Fights, predators, even mutiny may end the life of an Alpha.  When you die your taken back to the burrow you were first in when you were new to the game, returned to level one, and offered to take new first steps in to the ever spinning circle of life.  *Elton John starts to sing in the back ground*  Should you take those steps you'll get to go through the New Player Script all over again.  Your old life will be remembered and it's core will all ways remain, for you to beat, or just as a reminder of days gone by.

I'm getting (I hope I hope I hope) a new job soon, and one thing I can assure you all, is that I will be getting my self a server.  (I may even host other's games if I like them, but, that's a big maybe)

I'll be letting this game out in Alpha when I have the scripts I want installed and I need people to build up the community right of the bat.  One of the games aspects is that you need to live in a group to survive, unlike other games where you have to have items.  Your suit of armor and your best shield and sword will be your online family. 

People who are helping me:

Script writers:

Mappers:

GFX people:

People who want to help me test the Alpha when it's ready: