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Don't Hang Me is the childhood game of Hangman
turned into a game show -- with a sadistic twist or
two. This game isn't so much playing Hangman
as playing someone playing Hangman. Confused?
Just run through the in-game tutorial, and it should
clear up everything. The Pretentious Pilot release
serves a couple of purposes, 1) to serve as a
freeware version of what will become a multiplayer
game which allows for future expansions (a la The
Sims 2), and 2) help extend the core functionality
of the Hot Spot Framework, on
which the game is based.
Like any decent TV show, Don't Hang Me has annual
seasons. As shows progress, new twists to the
gameplay develop, and new contestants enter the
scene, each hoping to make their mark. In the
full version, players will get to choose from these
available contestants as their avatars in the game.
As expansions to the main game are released, more
play possibilities open up: from playing through
single-player for an entire "Season" (elimination
ensures that you never get to the final "episode" of
the season, and therefore lose the game before it
ends), or multi-player with friends using one of the
available installed packs, or combinations thereof.
The Pretentious Pilot, then, is a pitch to the
network for the show to get picked up for it's first
actual season, or at least a TV special in prime
time...
Hot Spot Framework for video
games
Don't Hang Me is a surprisingly successful extension of
the Hot Spot Framework
(v0.11a). The HSF was initially designed for
adventure-style games, but the extreme
generalizations that make it a useful framework also
gave rise to surprising flexibility (and dare I say
elegance) necessary for Don't Hang Me to operate.
The result is that the game play runs entirely
off of the existing HSF scripting concepts -- with
only a few extensions specified by the Don't Hang Me game code.
Part of the extension process was creating new
Data Access Layer elements (upon which the default
implementation for the DAL is based in HSF v0.15a)
to read data from additional file sources for
Character data, Category and Phrase data, as well as
Game Studio Sets. Each of these elements are
modular to allow for future expansion -- new
characters can be selected from the Green Room, Sets
can be selected to play the game in more extreme
locales than a stuffy studio (such as the beach,
outer space, or your own living room), and puzzles
for older games and game types can be rejuvenated
with additional phrases and/or categories.
The process of creating the first iteration of
this game was very rewarding, enjoyable, and taught
me a lot. I hope the end result is just as
enjoyable. |
