Alright, I have this sidescroller I'm making. Take place in the future, etc. First, it definately has robots. The next couple of things are kind of unclear though. First, there is one character that was brought back from the dead using bio-engineering and prothetics. Basically a cyborg. Does that count as a zombie? And my main character is ninja-esque in nature (maybe that's a stretch. You can find him at: http://members.gamedev.net/jackspace/ConceptArt/TheWasp2.jpg He dashes and jumps and kills people with a long blade of sorts. Once again, this one might be a stretch. Anyhow, what do you guys think? Cyborgs kind of count as zombies (I have plenty of other robots in the game, so I'm not worried about covering that base)? Is my character ninja-esque enough to make the final cut? Thanks! -IV

... if you rotate the blade 90 degrees, and make the shaft a bit longer, it would be a naginata (1 2 3)

Quote: Original post by Ksero
... if you rotate the blade 90 degrees, and make the shaft a bit longer, it would be a naginata (1 2 3)

Dude, a ninja can carry a gun and he's still a ninja - it's nothing to do with the weapons.

Quote: Original post by TraderJack
First, there is one character that was brought back from the dead using bio-engineering and prothetics. Basically a cyborg. Does that count as a zombie?

From your description of him, no. If you could say "Basically a zombie" about him then he would, but that would appear to be not his focus.

Quote: Is my character ninja-esque enough to make the final cut?

From his character design, no - he doesn't scream "ninja" just through appearance. However, if he /acts/ like a Ninja, he might qualify.

Just remember, the objective here is not to satisfy some definition of the elements that we, GDNet, provide - it's to have a random member of the public look at your game and 'feel' that it has that element in it (and by that, I mean you can't pass by just putting 'the Ninja' on the end of the character's name). You know what the common stereotypes of each element are - the closer you are to those stereotypes, the less at risk you are.

We're like the publisher saying, "Market research suggests zombies, ninjas, pirates and robots all sell really well at the moment. Give us a game with at least two of those in." You can try approaching us with a game that includes those elements tenuously, but the more we'll have to 'refocus' the game to bring out the Z/N/P/R elements, the less interested we will be in you. We want a game that sells itself without any creative marketing on our part.

The two characters that you have described do not, from what you have told me, fall close to those sterotypes. However, it may not be hard to salvage - for example, if your cyborg-zombie were to moan in the traditional manner, his recognisability would be increased. Make enough of those changes and you'll be safe.

Yeah, that's fair. I was just thinking that if I had a game which I was already making that also qualified for the contest, I might as well enter. But if not, that's ok. Thanks!

-IV

Quote: Original post by lucky_monkey

Quote: Original post by Ksero
... if you rotate the blade 90 degrees, and make the shaft a bit longer, it would be a naginata (1 2 3)

Dude, a ninja can carry a gun and he's still a ninja - it's nothing to do with the weapons.

Well, they tend to prefer weapons that do not wake up 3982 guards at a time when they want to kill the Shogun's son :)

Regards,

Quote: Original post by TraderJack
Yeah, that's fair. I was just thinking that if I had a game which I was already making that also qualified for the contest, I might as well enter. But if not, that's ok. Thanks!

Aye. We've put a bit of effort into preventing people from doing that - we don't want you to just reskin/rename things and submit an entry, partly because that's no fun and partly because it's not fair on the people who didn't have a suitable game lying around.

Quote: Original post by TraderJack
Basically a cyborg. Does that count as a zombie?

I'd think about sticking with the wikipedia definition of zombie:

"After resurrection, it has no will of its own, but remains under the control of the person who performed the ritual."

Regardless, there's lots of great ideas in the wikipedia entry.

Quote: Original post by superpig

Quote: Original post by TraderJack
Yeah, that's fair. I was just thinking that if I had a game which I was already making that also qualified for the contest, I might as well enter. But if not, that's ok. Thanks!

Aye. We've put a bit of effort into preventing people from doing that - we don't want you to just reskin/rename things and submit an entry, partly because that's no fun and partly because it's not fair on the people who didn't have a suitable game lying around.

How strict are the rules on something that i've been working on for a bit? I've got something I've been working with on and off since before the contest started. Take a look at my Developer Journal for more info and some screens (there's essentially no gameplay in it right now).

Basically, the finished game will have little or no resemblance to what I have now. It's currently 2D, but over the last couple days i've moved the rendering over to 3D with OpenGL, and am in the process of converting the levels to a 3D format as well. I was also planning on changing the sprites from 2D images into actual 3D models.

Here's a question that should be easier: Do lichs or ghasts count as zombies? True, lichs have their own will but they are undead like zombies. According to wikipedia, ghasts are supposed to be living beings but I prefer to use the D&D version, which makes them quite undead.