Re: Announcing release of Yellowbonnet from Valiant Galaxy Associates
Jeremy here:
Dark,
Agreed. My reservations on the generic engine come from just such a concern. However, that said, The generic system was to be more flexible than that. For instance, jobs might be quests in a different setting or missions. The generic nature comes more from how the game handles characters, objects, rooms, etc. In some ways, YB is a minimud and uses some of the same ideas.
As to Yb expansion, funnily enough both your suggestions have been considered. One idea was to explore some sort of resource management game, perhaps a farm or ranch based game though mining is also a possibility. I had actually thought seriously of just such an outlaw hunting game. There's others as well. However, one idea we've played with is just expanding the map for future games. So Yb is the center of a larger map, and just such interactions are possible further out.
As to the generic term in the copy and paste text, if this isn't a variable misfiring, we will probably adopt something of the sort.
Roustab is pretty good. I've encountered a lot of fun ones like that myself in the past, and you're right they'd make good names for aliens or monsters. Another favorite I always had was creating a fantasy game where all the features were named after pharmaseudicals: the Benedrille forest, the Tylanol Mountains, the spam river, the city of Zolaf and so on and so forth. Just some of those names are so nonhuman:).
Again, with YB a lot of the issue just comes in terms of scope. The new TKS expansion will be a different animal. Of course, for one thing, TKS already had possible infinite expansion in terms of length of career built into it. The other thing is we're thinking of using a different map approach with this one, and if it works it'll be a fun departure. One thing we try to do with any new project is to take what we've learned from other projects and apply it. Interceptor gave us a lot of our BGT vocabulary as far as menu-driven possibilities were concerned. In addition, Interceptor allowed us to explore a number of AI models and other issues that have come up since then. With Expanding Known Space, a strategy game that we have in development but have discontinued temporarily, it provided the map structure and way of displaying objects that led to TKS. A number of things we created specifically for TKS found their way into YB and YB itself provided a spring board for approaches to the next game.
We freely admit that we are still learning. We accept advice and help from other developers who have more experience, and we listen to players who, also, often have more experience:) Further, we do try and learn and expand each time we take on a new project.
One last comment: the pirates. Of your suggestions, I've played in games that explored all three though I have to admit, I find Zombie Apocalypse games fairly boring myself. I ran one for a short mini campaign in my table top game, and while it was fun, I don't see the fascination personally. However, the pirates. One mini-game idea we had on the cards was a pirate game. However, after I revisited the idea, it's one I think I'd like to expand. It might see the light of day again after TKS expansion hits the market. Some of the same ideas we're experimenting with in TKS's expansion would lend themselves to a larger scale pirate game.
Take care, and as always, thank you for thoughtful feedback.
Jeremy
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