Writing events is way harder than I initially thought. I figured it would be a breeze. I mean, who doesn’t want to write for video games?

Here’s a sample event I’ve tried to flesh out. Options with parentheses are only available if you have the technology unlocked. This idea came about when thinking about the Fire technology, and how it could be used in different events. It obviously can burn things, and scare beasts and people alike. But it can also be used for exploration. Enter, the cave.

Event Name: Unknown Cave

Description: You see an overhang of rock in the far distance. It reminds you of your home. The differences are so slight you aren’t exactly sure it isn’t your cave. As you approach the darkness, a whistling noise grows louder and louder, making you shiver despite the warm day.

<Cave is about to collapse>

Option 1: Enter the cave.
You hesitantly enter the cave. The rocks above your head stir ever so slightly…it’s going to collapse! You make it out right as the entrance cascades behind you.
Lose one hour of daylight.
Option 2: (Fire) Light a torch and explore the cave.
You create a fire before entering the cave, and confidently head in. As the outside light fades away, the entrance to the cave collapses! You frantically claw and dig your way back to freedom. You head back, scratched up and out of breath.
Lose five hours of daylight. Lose 50 stamina. Gain 10 stone.
Option 3: (Common Sense) Leave immediately.
Nothing good can come of this. You turn around and put your back to the darkness. Whatever was in that cave is not worth the risk.
Option 4: (Trap-making) Examine the rock overhang.
Taking a closer look at the overhang leads you to believe that this cave is about to collapse any minute. You leave without a second thought. Nothing in that cave is worth the risk of injury, or even death.
Option 5: (Stealth) Sneak into the cave.
You stealthily examine the entrance to the cave, as far as the daylight reaches. Seeing nothing of use, you leave as quietly as you came.
Lose three hours of daylight.

<Cave is home to another caveman>

Option 1: Enter the cave.
You hesitantly enter the cave. You can’t see anything beyond the light of the outside, but you are able to see another caveman’s possessions littered throughout. You struggle to see as you rifle through the stranger’s things. Suddenly, fur stirs. You flee in terror, dropping most of what you looted.
Gain 10 food. Lose two hours of daylight.
Option 2: (Fire) Light a torch and explore the cave.
You create a fire before entering the cave, and confidently head in. This cave clearly belongs to another caveman! Grabbing the juiciest food first, a fur in the back begins to move. Another person! You hightail it out of there, loot in hand.
Gain 30 food. Lose one hour of daylight.
Option 3: (Common Sense) Leave immediately.
Nothing good can come of this. You turn around and put your back to the darkness. Whatever was in that cave is not worth the risk.
Option 4: (Trap-making) Examine the rock overhang.
Taking a closer look at the overhang reveals nothing. As you are stumbling about outside the entrance, you hear…something stir from inside the cave. Not wanting a fight, you run as fast as your feet can take you.
Lose one hour.
Option 5: (Stealth) Sneak into the cave.
You stealthily examine the entrance to the cave, as far as the daylight reaches. This is clearly someones home! You take your time, looting what you please, and eventually leave, the owner’s occupants none the wiser.
Gain 60 food. Lose three hours of daylight.

I wanted to showcase the non-obviousness of choosing what path to take. Sometimes the cave is going to collapse no matter what, sometimes it contains food for the taking. No choice is clearly the best.

I’m not sure if this is fun though. In FTL, there’s an event where you can choose to fight the mantis. If you fight, you either gain a little loot, or you lose a crew member, which is devastating most of the time. Most people choose to flee. Would people enter the cave at the risk of collapse? Choosing the Stealth option loses three hours either way, but there’s a chance for a lot of food. Is the fire option worth the risk of losing five hours and 50 stamina? Will players just choose Common Sense every time? I guess only playtesting will tell.

Also, this took a significant amount of time to write, and there’s not even any jokes in it! I may limit future events to one default choice, one cheap tech choice, and one expensive tech choice. We’ll see.

I’ve been trying out a few tech trees, and currently leaning towards the one pictured below. With some tinkering, I think it could be a really fun feature. Techs are logically separated, and most of the branches lead towards something interesting.What I like about this tree is the inter-connectivity. Technologies split and recombine to form new techs. Areas that need improving are the Cause & Effect and, to a lesser extent, Weapon Training branches. While Regrowth (the ability to kickstart a location’s resources back from zero), Wolf, and Stealth are powerful in their own right, the branches themselves lack player choice.

Population Control is awkward as well, since it’s on it’s own level higher than any other tech. And I can’t find a good place to fit sling. Part of me doesn’t even want it: I can’t think of any events that would incorporate it that won’t involved combat, which Spear already does. So although Sling is a uniquely historical tech choice on its own, it doesn’t add anything new.

Throughout the iteration process, I found certain techs naturally grouping together. Spear/Weapon/Athleticism/Stealth all evoke the image of a proficient hunter. Name Power/Wolf/Sic is a logical process for training a wild animal. I also like how Crafts splits into Weaving and Woodworking, each with very distinct techs of their own.

My favorite tech so far is “Cool Hat”. I’m gonna try my hardest to see it in the final tree, whatever that may look like. Because logically, who won’t to listen to the caveman with a hat? That guy just has to be important!

There’s the (relatively new) rule of thumb: if an article title ends in a question mark, the answer is ‘no’. While I hesitate to say that Caveman Sim is “feature complete”, it’s becoming more difficult to add more to it. So I spent the day figuring out the new technology tree. It took me awhile to realize that nobody’s gonna do it but me. Well, the meat of the thing anyway. The events will probably be the same situation.

First iteration of the new tech tree

Is it too early to enter beta? (FYI generally alpha is when you add all the features, and beta is testing). I think the core mechanics are done. We’ll see after writing the tech tree and a few events. We may yet need another feature or three.

Play the current build here!

Vince sent this image to me. He actually managed to beat 4,320 B.C!

I thought this was impossible to do. His strategy was going for all tech ASAP. He did so by Day 20. Then he only had to wait 70 more days…

BTW, the grade is based on surviving family members. A is all four survived, B is three, C is two (what Vince got), D is one, and F is when you all die. Can anyone get an A???

Attempt it here: 4,320 BC: The Story of Caveman

Last week my brothers and I had a post-Ludum Dare talk. We decided we want to see where the game goes, as we envision it in our heads. Since I have a little more time to do things the right way, I’ve scratched the game and started completely over. Here’s the current build:

Caveman Sim 0.2a

Features: Map traversal (only four locations so far). Additional exploration opportunities (try exploring from the Lake). Ability to harvest resources from a given location.

To Do: Event rewards. More content. Sounds. Day cycles.

Bug: Travel button has to be clicked on twice before working. Online build not showing how many hours it takes to travel to each location (You go from river to lake to cave to hunting grounds, a total of 3 hours. River to lake is only one hour).

4320 B.C: The Story of Caveman is a text-based simulator of the life of a caveman family. You play as Mathias, who must gather enough food and wood to help his family survive the upcoming winter. You will explore various locales, experience unique events, and learn innovating concepts such as fire and grass clothing. Are you fit enough to survive?

WARNING: It’s not a fun game. It’s not a unique game. I don’t even think you can beat it. But we made it! So there’s that.

• Audio: Louis
• Game Design: Leo
• Graphics: Vince, Brent, Jessica
• Programmer: Anthony

Adding more of the same. A LOT more. So much more that features are being cut left and right. I’m in the middle of night summaries, where it tabulates your daily progress. I’ve cut two thirds of the locations, and thus resource depletion and replenishment by location. The tech tree seems to be in a final state. Everyone else is busy adding assets.

Now featuring day cycles!

AMAZING work by newcomer Jessica. This makes me want to be a better game designer just to justify the art.

African woods by Vince

Really cool Axe by Brent

Funny sound effect by Louis

Things are in full swing as Ludum Dare day one ends! I’m already sore and tired. Thankfully the temperature isn’t hitting 90 degrees anymore.

This year’s theme is Ancient Technologies. We are going with a Caveman Sim, where you try to save up and survive a year. I really tried to push for time-traveling robots, but I was unanimously voted against. Maybe next time.

Somehow the game is even less interactive than my previous games. It feels like I’m programming a complicated menu. Just take a look at the current build:

Caveman Sim aka Unity Menu: The Game

None of the artwork has been added. Same with the audio. Still need to implement a day / night cycle, where random events happen each day, after your resources deplete. Since I seem to wake up in the middle of the night anyway, I’m gonna try to go to bed early tonight.

Perspective from within the home cave

Sound file: acquiring tech

Tech icon: tracking

Tech tree

Hopefully it comes together tomorrow.

Just something stupid I whipped up for the depot. Needed a horse, and found a some animation frames to trace over.

Blob-headed horse

Afterwards, I wondered why I didn’t make it a blob like the rest of the characters. Oh well. Placeholder artwork is interesting too!

How do users purchase objects in game? Unsurprisingly, there are a number of alternatives available to us.

Instant vs Build: Should purchases happen instantly, when at the click of a button the item springs up out of nowhere? Or a blueprint option, where the user places a “ghost” of an item and an in-game character acquires it from a depot and places it without user intervention?

Resources vs Money: Do I want to use resources such as wood and stone as currency, or something more abstract, like dollars? Should it be a combination of both?

Age of Empires II’s bankable resources

Bank vs Vault: Should the chosen currency be portrayed in the overlay, or should it be represented in the world as an interactive entity?

Buffet vs Unlocks: Do I give the user access to all purchasable items from the get-go, or should users unlock items throughout the game?

Replaceable vs Artifacts: Should all items be purchasable, or should the world contain unique, irreplaceable artifacts that can be fought for and lost?

The feature I think would be most fun is an in-game Vault. A place to store your precious loot and guard against would-be thieves. The concept opens up several possibilities. Items can be acquired and protected. Characters can guard entrances and patrol surrounding areas. Allies can betray you and swipe some coin when you’re not looking: sticky-fingered rogues! Traps (magical and mundane) can be set to capture intruders when your guards fail you.

Evil Genius’ vault full of gold bars, which are often stolen by both enemies and allies

If we assume the Vault is the way to go, then the other choices should support that feature. Items need to be a real thing: no instant-placements. If we want piles of gold, we need a use for it: items are purchased with gold rather than stone or wood. Gold exists as physical items, but the total amount needs to be displayed on the menu. The question of buffet versus unlocks is irrelevant for this feature, so let’s go with the easier option: everything purchasable is available from the start. To create a sense of real gain and loss, not everything can be bought: some items are unique and irreplaceable.

Dwarf Fortress has no currency. While everything has a value, players barter for items and resources they want with merchants at the trade depot.

Now I just need to implement everything. Easy, right?