Universal Galactic Keep: Dice Battles - Create a Creature Contest!

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by gildedskull, Feb 14, 2014.

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Which creature would you like to see in GALACTIC KEEP: DICE BATTLES?

Poll closed Mar 15, 2014.
  1. [B]Ooze type-D[/B]: A formless puddle that takes the form of things it consumes. Submitted by sbxsat

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  2. [B]Kalamari[/B]: A squid-like, galaxy scouring artifact hunter. Submitted by sbxsat

    3 vote(s)
    20.0%
  3. [B]Wormhole[/B]: A whirling mass of darkness, discovered to be sentient. Submitted by sbxsat

    1 vote(s)
    6.7%
  4. [B]Flermish[/B]:Clown-pant, bird legged violent commercialist. Submitted by I Can See Your Skeleton

    2 vote(s)
    13.3%
  5. [B]Alpha Witch[/B]: Time-traveling witch, swings chained rocks. Submitted by I Can See Your Skeleton

    3 vote(s)
    20.0%
  6. [B]Taarsian Vault Keeper[/B]: A canine, engineered killing machine. Submitted by VeganTnT

    6 vote(s)
    40.0%
  1. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

    Welcome to the first CREATE A CREATURE contest for Galactic Keep: Dice Battles, a sci-fi, dice-based adventure for iOS.

    Create a creature, post it here (in this thread) and have it chosen (by TA user vote) to be featured as an enemy in the game!

    Here’s what you’ll need to do. Tell us about your creature:

    Species: The name people use when referring to your creature.
    SubSpecies (if any): Is it a particular ‘version’ of the species?
    Size: Small, medium, large...XXXL?
    Diet: Carnivore? Yes please.
    Physical Description: “Holy s**t! You won’t believe what I just saw. It had a...”. Add a quick sketch if you want!
    Narrative Description: A brief description (3 to 4 sentences) to, you know, give your creature a backstory, bring it to life!

    We will pick our top ten favorites, they will be announced in this TA thread on March 7th (entries must be in by 6pm EST on Friday March 7th). After the ten choices are announced, toucharcade users will choose the top three in a poll. The winners will have their creatures featured somewhere in the first module of the game!!

    Next, after the voting ends and the three winners are chosen, we’ll sketch up the creatures in the style of the game and post them for all to see. As soon as they are programmed into the game we will post a video of the new enemies locked in mortal dice combat with a player! You create it, we’ll kill it!

    You can also follow us on TWITTER and tweet about your entry: include your creatures name and a little something about it, make sure to add @gildedskull and #galactickeep to the tweet. Quick and easy! At least one of our ten choices will come from an entry that was also tweeted!

    As an example, here’s a creature that is already in the game:

    [​IMG]

    Species: Tonelit
    SubSpecies (if any): Bear
    Size: medium to large, twice the size of a human
    Diet: omnivore, scavenger
    Physical Description: It has a head that resembles a human skull, very large (hulking) shoulders and a virtually hairless body. The forelimbs of the creature are fitted with bone-like claws that can grow in excess of a full meter in length.
    Narrative Description: These creatures fear nothing. The appearance of their skull-like head is a foreboding message that usually leads to anguish. They are known to stalk their prey for hours before striking when their mark is most vulnerable.

    Learn more about the game HERE on the GALACTIC KEEP WEBSITE and in the TA forum thread HERE!

    If you're not inclined to click links (I feel bad, that must make the internet hard for you) here is a short summary covering the basics of the game:

    The world of Galactic Keep: Dice Battles is rendered to feel like a tabletop role playing game. Roll a die to move, explore maps and to battle enemies. Puzzles and mysteries set into the world require choices that redirect the game story. Collect weapons, battle strange and unique creatures and seek out new classes of playable characters as you protect the universe from an unseen, evil hand.

    [​IMG]

    In the past, we hosted a 'create a character contest' for the game that had some *very* amazing entries and a rather cool winner who will be featured as one of the first seven playable characters in the game. Here's a link to that thread.

    Good luck and we hope to see some curious and bizarre entries!
     
  2. drelbs

    drelbs Well-Known Member

    Jun 25, 2009
    11,200
    7
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    Gonna have to take a crack at this, and no - it won't be a drelb, I promise! ;)
     
  3. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    You can enter as many creatures as you want...so there's no reason that you couldn't have a Drelb too!

    Also, Please feel free to simplify the entry, you don't need to have all the classifications. As long as you have a name for your creature, a little bit of a physical description and some backstory you should be good.

    We'll try to make sketches of as many of the creatures as we can, for fun. We like to draw creatures!
     
  4. sbxsat

    sbxsat Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2011
    207
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    Species: Ooze
    Subspecies: Ooze type-D
    Size: Variable
    Diet: Variable
    Physical Description: With no axial skeleton to speak of, this creature appear as a puddle on the ground. That is, until it has had something to snack on in which case the type-D takes on the appearance of the unfortunate 'individual' it had just consumed. The term 'individual' is all-encompassing, ranging to the discarded metal spanner to a full-sized ape. Four to six hours post-meal, it gradually lose form as its digestive system slowly reduce its latest quarry into nothingness where it then return to its initial formless puddle once digestion is complete.
    Narrative Description: Having no axial skeleton, the type-D lack the structure necessary to hold a brain up. Consequently, it lacks any form of intelligence and with the absence of IQ comes no great power, or fear. It does however, have a potent acidic substance that it uses to breakdown food. This acid doubles as a projectile that upon hitting its mark, will cause a great deal of pain as the acid slowly corrodes away the target. To counter this Digestive horror, many savvy adventurers carry with them a flask of caustic material, the bane of the type-D.
     
  5. sbxsat

    sbxsat Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2011
    207
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    0
    Species: Mind-flayer
    Subspecies: Kalamari
    Size: Humanoid
    Diet: Carnivore
    Physical Description: Head of a squid, body of a human. Smooth shiny skin.
    Narrative Description: The Kalamari, unlike its psionic kin, has no psionic powers. When provoked, it spits jet-black ink at its aggressor, a move that only infuriates its foe even more. It is however, an avid explorer and travels the galaxy far and wide in search of lost artifacts. A chance encounter with this squid-like creature can yield unexpected wares.
     
  6. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    Ooze Type-D

    Preliminary sketch for Ooze Type-D:
    [​IMG]
     
  7. saansilt

    saansilt 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Mar 23, 2013
    3,291
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    36
    I'll get something up soon.
     
  8. sbxsat

    sbxsat Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2011
    207
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    Interesting take on the ooze ape. I was thinking maybe half the face should 'melt' off to reflect how the ooze's overall form is breaking down and reverting to its original formless self.

    Also, i think the playing board is quite confusing. It is difficult to tell where a wall is just by looking at the images in your art gallery. Is there an indicator for which tile is traversible and which ones block passage? Perhaps some kind of graphical addition like tile elevation can be made to make the walls stand out?
     
  9. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    In many of the screens we have shown, there are no walls! There are many sections in the first module maps that are (more or less) wide open spaces. So, to be clear, your move radius for a turn is shown with a bright blue glow (currently). You can only move to blue blinking tiles. This move distance takes walls into consideration and is revised with each tile moved to show you the exact number of tiles you have left to move.

    There is also a 'fog of war' effect that helps to display viewable distance. This fog is dispersed in a line of sight from the token. Any walls block fog clearing. The walls themselves are much easier to discern while the game is in motion, when the fog is being cleared and your move radius is blinking.

    In the screen below, you can see that the fog has been cleared in a 'room'. The character (purple token) has one more move in their turn (the blue area). There are walls to the left, right and below the player's token...and there is a doorway directly to the south of the player. On their next turn, if they roll a high enough number, the tiles on the other side of the doorway will become lit, clearly denoting the doorway.

    [​IMG]

    We're in alpha so all of this is subject to change, but as far as we have seen, 'walls looking like walls' hasn't been a problem, especially when you are in a dungeon-crawling scenario and the fog is cleared as you move through tunnel and cave terrain...like what's in this screen:

    [​IMG]

    In some cases there are 'fences' that might be difficult to discern...but you can't see through them (fog isn't cleared with line-of-sight) so it is quite clear that you cannot move through them.

    Okay! Back to the creatures!
     
  10. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    ...One more thing.

    Here's a screen showing the player on their next turn on the more 'room-like' map. They have moved south two tiles from where they were (through the 'door') and from here they can move another seven tiles. With creatures flanking the player, they are slightly restricted. There is a passage two tiles to the west. There are enemies blocking it so the player cannot travel there (until those enemies are...dispatched). Once the enemies are killed, the player's move radius will be updated and they will be able to move there.

    [​IMG]
     
  11. sbxsat

    sbxsat Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2011
    207
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    Species: Wormhole
    Subspecies: Unstable wormhole
    Size: 5x5m
    Diet: -
    Physical Description: A whirling mass of darkness darker than the night sky. Peering at it is akin to peering into the abyss. Only the lightening of the darkness marks its passage.
    Narrative Description: Wormholes have always fascinated physicists. Theories abound as to what happens when they collapse or where they lead to but no one ever thought to ask if they were sentient.
     
  12. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    So, I think that we have to tread lightly with this entry...all things considered. Oh, and this too. Anyway, here's a sketch-up. Remember, this is a first take. Specific characters could look dramatically different. For example, this guy is mad. Another portrait might show members of this species as more sly, devious...wearing clothing!
    [​IMG]
     
  13. sbxsat

    sbxsat Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2011
    207
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    It was definitely a shameless rip-off of D&D mind-flayers but i didn't realise Star Wars have that name too ;)
     
  14. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    The War Shadow

    Here's another creature from the game, for inspiration:

    [​IMG]

    Species: War Shadow
    SubSpecies (if any): NA
    Size: medium
    Diet: carnivore
    Physical Description: These serpentine creatures have several sets of vestigial claw-limbs that can propel them along the ground at great speeds. They are barely visible in the dark, save for their glowing green eyes.
    Narrative Description: A common pakall military tactic is to release hundreds of these creatures into enemy camps at night, throwing them into chaos before an attack.
     
  15. BazookaTime

    BazookaTime Well-Known Member

    Really looking forward to this.
     
  16. sbxsat

    sbxsat Well-Known Member

    Apr 17, 2011
    207
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    IAP - d6 and d20 dice!

    Imagine if Gilded Skull Games collaborated with Subset Games...world domination?
     
  17. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    That would be awesome. I'd love to do a spacecraft sim: "...Traveling between GK modules becomes an adventure unto itself!"

    One game at a time :cool:
     
  18. SirHanet

    SirHanet Well-Known Member

    Aug 5, 2013
    563
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    Halifax
    Supported Devices?

    What devices are supported?
     
  19. gildedskull

    gildedskull Well-Known Member

    When the game ships we hope to support anything that Apple supports:
    - iPod touch 3rd generation and later
    - iPhone 3GS and later
    - All iPads
     
  20. SirHanet

    SirHanet Well-Known Member

    Aug 5, 2013
    563
    0
    0
    Halifax
    Thank you!!!

    You my sir, are one unique dev that wants to support some older devices:)
    And yes my device is iPod touch 3rd generation and yes it's a old device:(
     

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