The Dinodyssey Community

[misha]

Hej!

My name is Misha and I'm working on a dinosaur game. I'm an art student and I'm doing a project on my own, so the interaction is very basic, but I'm looking for testers! I want to create a world where players can walk around in a documentary-like dinosaur environment. If you think this is something you're interested in, let me know and I would love to show you what I've created so far and I would really love hearing new ideas - that way I hope to make my game appealing and fun for as many dinosaur lovers as possible!

So... what would you want to do when you travel back in time to a world of dinosaurs?

The easiest way to share your thoughts on what fun mechanics I could implement would be to comment on this thread, but if you want to test what I've built so far, you should definitely reach out to me on Discord! On Discord, you can find me via misha#7124 and the link to the testing server is as follows:

https://discord.gg/XWyedSUvAC

The game is a photography game where you take pictures of dinosaurs. If you get close to a dinosaur, a narrator will inform you about the dinosaur you're looking at, similar to a documentary. I would love to add multiple dinosaurs so you can really choose the dinosaur you like, similar to a book, but, as of right now, I've only made a Stegoceras.

Thank you for reading! I love dinosaurs and I hope you want to help me!

Misha

PS The image included (I hope it works aaah) is a screenshot of the game to depict the state of play.

[Halichoeres]

Welcome to the forum, Misha! I'm always glad to see Stegoceras get the spotlight. That screenshot looks really nice, the graphics style has some watercolor-y vibes.

Is it possible for players to be injured by dinosaurs in the game?

[misha]

Thank you! Thank you so much for the reply!

As of right now, the idea is that the player can't get injured by dinosaurs.

There are lots of games already that depict dinosaurs as vicious monsters and ruthless killing machines, but for this project, I wanted to focus on giving the dinosaurs more layered and animallike personalities. I hope this will result in friendlier and more accessible dinosaurs, causing the player to get more excited about learning more. As a downside, however, this might result in rather boring dinosaurs.

What do you think about that, Halichoeres? Do you agree with the potential of accessible personalities, or do you think it'd just make the game boring?

[GojiraGuy1954]

Will there be maps for specific fossil formations? Or will all of the dinosaurs from different time periods be in one map?

Also, will there be Aquatic and / or Aerial maps? It would be really cool to scuba dive with Mosasaurs or fly with Pterosaurs in a small plane or a hang-glider.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Thank you! Thank you so much for the reply!

As of right now, the idea is that the player can't get injured by dinosaurs.

There are lots of games already that depict dinosaurs as vicious monsters and ruthless killing machines, but for this project, I wanted to focus on giving the dinosaurs more layered and animallike personalities. I hope this will result in friendlier and more accessible dinosaurs, causing the player to get more excited about learning more. As a downside, however, this might result in rather boring dinosaurs.

What do you think about that, Halichoeres? Do you agree with the potential of accessible personalities, or do you think it'd just make the game boring?

To make non-aggressive dinosaurs interesting, you should have a variety of social / play animations to really bring them to life. You could include subtle details like Dinosaurs scratching themselves with their arms or rubbing on trees.

[misha]

GojiraGuy1954 thank you so much for the reply!

Eventually, I want to make a map for every geological age (Maastrichtian, Campanian, Santonian, etc.) for every continent. This way, I hope to really eleborate the evolutionary routes the dinosaurs took. However, this scope is way beyond a one person project, so, with the current resources, that's not possible for me. The project I'm currently working on should work more like a proof of concept, so I currently focus on creating one map of the Campanien age of the Late Cretaceous in North America.

I don't have any plans for the near future on making aerial or aquatic gameplay, since there are so many terrestial dinosaurs I want to focus on right now. However, I really like your idea and I'll definitely try to realize it when I have the core mechanics of my current game finished. I really like your suggestion, so thank you so much for that!

I really like your ideas on the small details in the animations! As of right now, I don't have that many detailed animations yet, but I'll definitely create them for future dinosaurs. For the pachycephalosaur I have animated already, I created an animation sequence that showed my little Stegoceras ramming into a dead tree, triggering insects to come out of the rotten wood. It's not quite on the level of detail you mentioned, yet, but I think it's a nice start! In what ways do you think ornitischian dinosaurs would play? Do you have any playing animals you would suggest as references?

Lastly, GojiraGuy1954, do you think aggressive dinosaurs should attack the player? That would make it harder to inform the player of smaller details of agressive dinosaurs, but it could make their behaviour a lot more true to nature. What do you think is more important?

[GojiraGuy1954]

GojiraGuy1954 thank you so much for the reply!

Eventually, I want to make a map for every geological age (Maastrichtian, Campanian, Santonian, etc.) for every continent. This way, I hope to really eleborate the evolutionary routes the dinosaurs took. However, this scope is way beyond a one person project, so, with the current resources, that's not possible for me. The project I'm currently working on should work more like a proof of concept, so I currently focus on creating one map of the Campanien age of the Late Cretaceous in North America.

I don't have any plans for the near future on making aerial or aquatic gameplay, since there are so many terrestial dinosaurs I want to focus on right now. However, I really like your idea and I'll definitely try to realize it when I have the core mechanics of my current game finished. I really like your suggestion, so thank you so much for that!

I really like your ideas on the small details in the animations! As of right now, I don't have that many detailed animations yet, but I'll definitely create them for future dinosaurs. For the pachycephalosaur I have animated already, I created an animation sequence that showed my little Stegoceras ramming into a dead tree, triggering insects to come out of the rotten wood. It's not quite on the level of detail you mentioned, yet, but I think it's a nice start! In what ways do you think ornitischian dinosaurs would play? Do you have any playing animals you would suggest as references?

Lastly, GojiraGuy1954, do you think aggressive dinosaurs should attack the player? That would make it harder to inform the player of smaller details of agressive dinosaurs, but it could make their behaviour a lot more true to nature. What do you think is more important?

Replied on discord

[Halichoeres]

I definitely like the idea of the animals having personalities. When I said injured, I don't necessarily mean that you'd spend your whole time running from rampaging monsters, only that, as with real wildlife photography, some animals get grumpy if you get too close. People get injured by buffalo, mountain goats, even rodents. Maybe it could be as simple as they leave you alone if you're quiet and approach from downwind.

[Faelrin]

Am I right in thinking this could be a chill Pokemon Snap type of game, but with dinosaurs (if not other prehistoric animals as well)?

The pic you've shown looks great.

[misha]

I definitely like the idea of the animals having personalities. When I said injured, I don't necessarily mean that you'd spend your whole time running from rampaging monsters, only that, as with real wildlife photography, some animals get grumpy if you get too close. People get injured by buffalo, mountain goats, even rodents. Maybe it could be as simple as they leave you alone if you're quiet and approach from downwind.

Great idea! I think it fits perfectly with the philosophy I've had in mind for this game, so I'll definitely try to implement this in one way or another. Thank you so much for your time and effort!

[misha]

Am I right in thinking this could be a chill Pokemon Snap type of game, but with dinosaurs (if not other prehistoric animals as well)?

The pic you've shown looks great.

Partially! Just like in Pokémon Snap, the gameplay focus is going to be on taking pictures. However, there's not going to be a fixed path players have to follow - so unlike Pokémon Snap, where you're forced to stay in the vehicle and follow the designated route. This way, I hope to encourage players to track down their favourite dinosaur, so that they don't have to waste their time on looking at dinosaurs they don't care about. (So, very simply put, if you think herbivores are boring, you could go straight to a carnivore.)

Thank you so much

[misha]

Hej!

I have a first testable executable for The Dinodyssey! If you can, filling out the form and/or testing the game would be hugely appreciated! I'm really trying to target everyone that's excited about dinosaurs, so the more feedback I get from you guys, the bigger the chance my project can actually be impactful.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXfQqsA9I7xigwWv8-WVePNa4KQ5QX2otIi2darHDrQZLQtA/viewform?usp=sf_link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jG7dRdkg0G7vh60zcDnMliD-c4DKqAGs/view

PS You can't take pictures just yet!! The controls would be WASD to walk around and LMB to take a picture, but in this version, trying to take a picture crashes the game (oops)...

[stargatedalek]

If you want the game to have a more relaxed feel but want to keep encounters with animals tense, they could always stun players, knock them on the ground etc., and then run away, ruining potential for more photos of them.

Perhaps attacking animals could cause the camera to shake, making it hard to photograph them as they approach (and preventing players from abusing the mechanic that they "attack" you to get easy closeups).

[misha]

Yes! I'll be trying to make it like that! I think the camera shake is a very nice addition and I think it would be really cool if the player, once spotted, could get knocked to the ground. Once on the ground, it won't be possible to take pictures, so it could be a simple concept (even) I could realize. Thank you so much for thinking along!

[Duck]

I'm on a mac right now, so I can't try the game out. My main suggestion as of today is to make the game accessible on both mac and windows, as it would allow a larger fanbase and number of players.