Attention Gamers! Pico 2!

[TomFulp]

The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

[ChaosMirror]

The original Pico interface was pretty good. You click the arrow for the new screen, but that's a bit dated now. What you wanna do is a Disorderly sort of game, but with a perpetual gun. But instead of the scrolling Disorderly used, you should use the arrow system again, only you'd have to kill all the enemies before progressing. Also Pico needs a new look, I have a great idea for one, maybe I'll post later.

[HGHRSR]

Hi Tom ! Seems I'm the first to post a response ! Hmmm, yes I remember that AVP game. It was kinda funny but got boring after a few levels. I think pico 2 should be something like the SuperMArio series, (of course with weapons in it) cuz Jump'n'Run fits best to the style of pico (just my oppinion).
EvilBus is watching you !!!!!

[Nervs]

Ha,,,the first to answer ,i hope,,,,,,well,however,,,it´s really cool that you guy´s are creating Piko 2,,,,im from sweden and i coulld tell you that pico and newgrounds got loads of swedish fans,,,,, newground rocks....

[Omniphilia]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

I have no idea!
I liked the first Pico, most cuz of the gameplay...

I SAY THE PICO 1 CONTROLS!

[ProwL]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

Finally, ever since i saw the first Pico a few years ago, I have been awaiting a second. I got excited when I saw pictures from the upcoming one, but it never came. This game is close to becoming reality, finally. Anyway Pico should be able to jump, and snap necks? Who knows, Tom was the creative engineer behind the first one, and It was great, so i'll leave it up to him. Later

[Lysdexic]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

just the directional keys:)
BTW tom, why was my password changed? because i didn't:(

[Theta]

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

Personally, I don't like the idea of locking in at all. You do need to be pretty free-wheeling in shooting games to not get nailed. Is it possible to adjust the sprites so that you can fire in eight directions with the mouse, but lock in a certain RANGE of fire depending on where the mouse is pointing (i.e. if Pico were facing right, he would have to turn around to shoot enemies behind him, but he could shoot in three different directions)?

[Lysdexic]

At 10/18/01 04:20 PM, pinba11 wrote:

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

just the directional keys:)
BTW tom, why was my password changed? because i didn't:(

and my signiture and profile keepsgetting changed!>:(
what the hell is going on?

[loooongview]

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

Give Pico 8 way shooting ala Robotron (I think.)
Also give him some better weapons.

[Rogan-YLS]

i think pico is one badass dude, so i eagerly await the game!

Peace!

[Kev-Dawg]

I've got a good idea for your Pico game. Here it is: I've played a game called Abuse that was kind of like old 2-d games (no forward or backward). The upper body and the legs of the character were seperate parts. The upper body would face in the direction the mouse was pointing and the legs would stay in their same position. You could run around, but you're upper body would stay in the same position until you moved the mouse. If you're confused about what I'm talking about, go to bungie.com and download the demo (it may be for the mac) and you'll see what I am suggesting the game should be like.

Hope you see this,
Kev_Dawg

[darkslide]

Obviously a Gun, a Large Semi-Auto Rifle. Some Sword where he pull it out and Hacks them up. Anthrax Blanket, Pole Stab, Board with a Nail, Awaken the Dark Lord Caratass, ummmm STD Blaster with 3 settings.. Herpes, Heppititus B, and AIDs, and ofcoarse as the Power Weapon, a VHS copy of Police Academy at him.. we know how that will take down just about anyone..

i think you should have the mouse as a primary setup, every game i dont use the mouse i do horrible, there are just to many buttons, just set up 2 sets of keys one for all keyboard and on for mouse and keyboard, let them choose when they play the game.

[EvilWallPaper]

I think the first control system sounded OK but try and restrict the fireing to where picos looking and it wont look shit when he's running anf firing in 2 diffrent directions. so u could post a little demo of different control methods for people to try out and decide which is the best

[lucidox]

I agree. A small demo of the 2 styles would help people better choose which control style to implement

[bomb]

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

For the first question, there should be a walk/run toggle. The idea behind that is that while walking, you can face any direction using the mouse (even walk backwards) but while running, you can only face the variants of forwards, that is to say, you can only face things inside a cone. Not sure effective that would work out though.

As for the second question: I wanna see lightsabres, sneak ability tied nicely together with piano wire garotting, and cameos from famous NG Portal dwellers, specifically Brian Beaton's Scrotum (I still love that pup), possibly as allies, or even enemies, perhaps bosses.

[NeeWee]

I personally see pico two playing like the old dick tracy game for sega genesis..Call me crazy..but pico 2 would be AWESOME like that..

[darkslide]

At 10/18/01 05:46 PM, -bomb- wrote:

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

For the first question, there should be a walk/run toggle. The idea behind that is that while walking, you can face any direction using the mouse (even walk backwards) but while running, you can only face the variants of forwards, that is to say, you can only face things inside a cone. Not sure effective that would work out though.

As for the second question: I wanna see lightsabres, sneak ability tied nicely together with piano wire garotting, and cameos from famous NG Portal dwellers, specifically Brian Beaton's Scrotum (I still love that pup), possibly as allies, or even enemies, perhaps bosses.

that would be good... but ofcoarse Clock Crew is a MUST for the game as a boss, Martial ARts stick must die first... Xiao Xiao is gay the stick must die! Eskimo Bob poster in the backround... and Osama bin Laden is a must...

[Septimus]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

Pico 2 was a joke?!?!

Anyway, I personally like the 8 direction firing idea more than left/right. (I was actually toying with using that kind of control for a game, but the collision detection might be a bit tricky with that perspective.) Also the locking idea is a big plus, just as long as it is easy to unlock and change to a different position. (Maybe you can use directional firing keys like Smash TV.)

Multiplayer, that might be fun to do. I can't think of any multiplayer front view multidirectional games; you might as well be the first to do it.

As for special items and powers, how about grenades or bombs. (If an enemy throws one at you, if there is enough time, you can pick it up and throw it back.) Other weapons: boomerang, tack stars (throw them on the ground and if enemies walk on them, they take damage), tazer, acid (to burn enemies and other things), flame thrower, and most importantly- the chainsaw. (Best weapon in Disorderly.)

-Septy.

[TomFulp]

At 10/18/01 04:36 PM, Kev_Dawg wrote: I've got a good idea for your Pico game. Here it is: I've played a game called Abuse that was kind of like old 2-d games (no forward or backward). The upper body and the legs of the character were seperate parts. The upper body would face in the direction the mouse was pointing and the legs would stay in their same position. You could run around, but you're upper body would stay in the same position until you moved the mouse. If you're confused about what I'm talking about, go to bungie.com and download the demo (it may be for the mac) and you'll see what I am suggesting the game should be like.

Hope you see this,
Kev_Dawg

I remember Abuse... That is pretty much how the early version of Pico 2 worked, except the animations didn't match up as nicely.

To answer some previous questions... The progression will be like in Pico 1 - you will walk from one static screen to the next (also like Resident evil). There may be a few moments of scrolling, but not much.

The game is not meant to be an intense blaster - it will be more story driven like the original, with action sequences. I want the whole thing to be more controllable, though - not just clicking arrows. I want to be able to walk around and explore, and I want the action scenes to play well.

Just imagine playing a game like Disorderly with a gun... When you are walking towards the top of the screen, do you want to be shooting UP or do you still want to keep shooting straight to the RIGHT or LEFT? Actually, in that case the right or left seems obvious... Pico 2 will be a bit different... But I think similar enough that 8-way shooting might be awkward.

-Tom

[eggatron]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

I'm of the thinking that just left and right would be more than fine. As for abilities, he needs a bag and a duck for no reason other than to prove the BBS rumours true about "Pico 2" :)

I had a massive speel that I was going to type out before I pressed the reply button, now my mind has gone blank. Oh, well. It saved anone reading my pointless ramblings.

[iFed]

All i want is tons of baddies.. so i can kick some ass.

[FightingSeraph]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote:

The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

Me,I'd make the controls where'd you point at an enemy
and use like an automatic lock like on mega man 64.That
surely help when fighting bosses but not when fighting
mobs of enemies.Since you got your ideas as well as
everyone else,choose what's best.

[PineappleClock]

this is a side-scroller, right? not a birds-eye shooter? While my idea would pertain more to the latter, here's my idea: a control system in which the arrow keys move the character up, down, left and right, and the 4 diagonals, and the mouse movement of up/down is translated into weapon rotation - (an arbitrary rotation) like SmashTV or heavy barrel. you could calculate the rotation, and use a trigonometric lookup table to calculate the vector of the bullet trajectory to increments, say pi/6 radians - so the gameplay would be a little more difficult. The fire command could be the left mouse button. a double tap of the cursor keys could be a run action, calculated by weighting each successive keypress into a falloff inverse square function against time -

I think a berzerk mode would be fun -
if (damage per minute) / (minutes playing the game) > (constant * randomN)

, and pico would turn red and go into bezerk mode, firerate * 2, random movement, random running, &c...

[ndmediaNG]

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

I think I remember... I think it only had multidirectional firing on the train bonus level (where aliens come at you from everywhere and you shoot as many as possible). Bleh, I dunno...

As for Pico, I don't have any suggestions. I'd rather someone else figure out what is fun for me. I think you and only YOU have to figure out what's "good". I mean look at Heinz, they survey some kids on what would make their product "cooler" and they wind up with green ketchup, BAH!

Your judgement has always been the best, so I'd say just do what you think is right.

-Nick Danzinger

[macdeth]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

I loved Pico 1 but I think this will be better!

[preshing]

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

Sounds good to me. You can strafe around pelting the bad guys with really high accuracy.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

Maybe you could fix it like this:
- when he isn't shooting, he faces the direction he's running
- when he is shooting, he faces the direction he's shooting
- also when he is shooting, you slow him down so he looks less goofy
- also set a timer so that when you let go of the fire button, it takes him a second before he faces his direction of motion again. that way, when you click the fire button like crazy, he won't flip back and forth like an idiot!

[thespook]

Just do it either resident evil style or metal gear style! Always firing directly ahead, and whatever movement engine floats your boat (up means up, right means right OR up means foward, right means twist countercloackwise).
If the game was primarily combat and stuff, a more maneuvarable move-and-fire engine might me in order, but a more brainy game like MGS style tactical/stealth or RE style keys/puzzles can get away with something less sophisticated
Keys complicate things a bit and slow the game down, so id have pico face the same direction as the mouse cursor, and follow it when the mouse button is down. and either talk to or shoot anything but open ground.

I'm all for cameos, and ill gladly lend a hand.

[Midnight-eye]

Personally, shooter games in which you can only fire horizontally give me the shits. I think you should go with the 8-directional firing. Maybe you could increase the size of the playing area, if this is a problem.

At 10/18/01 03:54 PM, TomFulp wrote: The original version of Pico 2 (which most of you have never seen) has pretty much been scrapped... the version you may have seen on the site was from April Fools and it is a joke (some people still haven't realized that). I may at some point release the scrapped version for fun, but for now I want to focus on plans for the NEW version of PICO 2.

I am having a hard time deciding on the control scheme.

In the scrapped version of Pico 2, the controls worked like this - you ran around using the A, S, D and W keys (in the same way as using the arrow keys, but with your left hand on the left side of the keyboard). The mouse was used to point... So wherever your mouse was, that is where Pico was looking. You could click on stuff to interact with it, or draw your weapon and click on stuff to shoot it.

The awkward part was that since Pico would look in the direction of the mouse, he was always facing difference ways than he was running. It just looked goofy.

So I have been thinking that I want to make it ALL keyboard, and not use the mouse. So the controls will be more like a traditional video game. But what game will they be like?

I was originally thinking you could face 8 different directions, and shoot in eight different directions. Then I was wondering if maybe you could just face either right or left - ala Disorderly. Both formats have their ups and downs.

I'm thinking of a system where you can face in 8 directions, and when you start shooting, you stay locked in that direction. So if you are running diagonally up and to the right and start firing your weapon, as long as you hold down the action key (probably the 'a' key), Pico will stay in that direction... So you can run up, down, left and right and Pico will keep shooting to the upper right of the screen. I remember some old games that did it this way... Last Alert for the Turbo Grafx CD... Maybe Rambo for the Genesis - my memory is foggy.

Something about this whole thing makes me feel uneasy, though... A part of me is thinking that maybe you should just face the right or left, no matter if you are running up or down at the time (ala Disorderly). Then, if you are firing your gun, you would lock to either the right or the left... So you could fire to the right while running backwards. The downside is that you can't shoot enemies above or diagonal from you - you always have to be horizontally across from them. But there is still something about this that I am ok with.

I think the playing field isn't big enough for Smash TV-style multi-directional firing. If it was a straight top-view perspective, that might work - but Pico plays from more of a Disorderly (Final Fight / Double Dragon) perspective... I haven't seen games like that pull off multidirectional firing, although I have seen plenty that use guns and work from the left/right perspective.

Does anyone remember the Aliens vs. Predator arcade game? Did that have multidirectional firing from the shoulder cannon? I gotta find a ROM of that one...

Anyway... I am rambling...

KEY QUESTION:
1) How should the control scheme for Pico 2 work? How do you want to control the character and what abilities should he have?

*NOTE: There are TONS of abilities for Pico that I haven't mentioned in this post, so don't get crazy if you think your idea is 'stolen'. :)

[Theta]

EXPLOSIVES!!! MURDER, ANNIHILATE, KILL, KILL!!!

Actually, aren't the Ghettobots supposed to be in this one? (for those who don't know what I'm talking about, PLAY UFA!) You should have them around, possibly like in the later Capcom games, with tag-teaming.