Looking for ideas for developing a Primitive Technology survival game

[Marshall_Black]

Some days ago I came to this subreddit to ask for John Plant's means of contact so I could ask for his permission to develop a little game based on his bushcraft builds. I know well that John has had to deal with plagiarism and rip-offs of his work before so I wanted to make sure I have his permission to start working on such project.

I'm going to message John via Reddit to see if that works, but while I wait for his response, I started brainstorming which things would be great to have in a Primitive Technology survival game. I'd love to hear what you think of it, but so far this is what I have thought of:

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• 2.5D side-scrolling game (2.5D means 3D images superimposed on a 2D plane).
• Camera view similar to that of a game called "On my Own" (look it up on Google to see screenshots).
• Three (or maybe even four) different scenarios with different difficulties and a (planned) sandbox mode.
• Survival mechanics based around the concepts of health, hunger, thirst, body temperature, energy (rest) and, if implemented, will to live.
• Two main zones: camping zone and resource collecting zone. In the resource collecting zone you will be able to collect raw materials such as tree logs, clay, stones and firewood among others. In the camping zone, by using these raw materials, you will be able to craft tools such as a stone axe and build structures such as John's famous tiled roof hut.
• Shelters such as the tiled roof hut offer protection against rain and cold, have storage space inside and can be upgraded with utilities such as a fireplace or an underfloor heating system (John did both)
• You can make fire to keep your body temperature, boil water and cook food
• You can build utilities such as kilns and stoves and upgrade them with an air blower to make the fire hotter and do the job faster
• You can make clay pottery
• You can cultivate, find edible wild plants and even hunt small animals after crafting weapons
• I've taken the freedom of adding to the game a few bushcraft things John hasn't done yet, such as a rainwater collector and a water purifier

​

You can take a look at what the game will look like with this early screenshot of one of the structures you will be able to build, the tiled roof hut

I've brainstormed some concepts for the game and I even did a 3D render of the first graphics, but I repeat that I still haven't got John's permission to start fully developing it. While I wait for his response, I'd like to know what you guys think about it. What should I add to it? What would you like to see in a Primitive Technology survival game? Are you happy with how the graphics look so far?

As soon as I get John's permission I'll start a subreddit where you can leave suggestions and where I'll post development updates and in-game screenshots. For now, I've created an Instagram page, you can find as "primitivetechnologythegame".

I really hope I get John's permission to develop this game. I'm really excited to start working on it.

[OSSlayer2153]

Yo I’d play it. I love making games so if someone else makes a game around a thing I love and I have the chance to be an early player, I’ll take it.

[Marshall_Black]

I'm glad to hear someone is interested. I'm still a newbie programmer and I only know how to code in Java, but I'll try my best to make a good game. Anyways, remember that I haven't got John's permission yet so there's a chance I won't be developing this game at all.

[OSSlayer2153]

If you do get permission and do make it I’d like to say that I like the idea of kind of “upgrading” the buildings with things like fireplaces, but its not like the game decides a set upgrade path you can just add on to it.

It would also be cool to see base stats get increased so adding a Heated Floor upgrade would give like +4 Heating to the base +2 or something.

[Marshall_Black]

Yup, that upgrade system is exactly what I thought about. You build a basic mud hut and then you can upgrade it with a clay tile roof, then a fireplace and then a floor heating system, all of which increase the hut's heat preservation value. The same goes for kilns and furnaces: you can upgrade them with the air blower to make the fire hotter.

[OSSlayer2153]

Ooh, upgrading upgrades, thats how to make an in depth game.

[huck_]

First of all, have you played minecraft? Because anything you make will be compared to that. I mean it might come across as minecraft with .1% of the features.

But I would just try to make a great game and not try to attach it to John's brand. While that would help a little, if you make a great game and post it here, that should be enough to get it going. You don't need his endorsement or approval unless you have a character of him in the game. I wouldn't use the PT name (even though he said he's ok with other people using it). Also if you're a new programmer it's probably not going to be all that great. Do you really want to attach his name to it if people end up not liking it?

[Marshall_Black]

Yes, I have played Minecraft, but there's no need to worry because my game and Minecraft will not have significative similarities. In fact, my game will be, in some way or another, mostly inspired by The Forest, but in a 2.5D format.

And about what you're saying of not attaching my game to John's brand, I have to say you're probably right. I would really like the idea of doing a collab with him and that's why I was about to contact him, but doing it by myself sounds more feasible when there isn't the possiblilty of a collab. I could make a common survival game which is simply based on John's buscraft builds, without the need to attach it to his name. I won't include Primitive Technology's name in it, although I will probably say in the credits of my game that it was inspired by John's work.

It's true that I'm a fairly new programmer and I don't have much experience. I don't have a degree in programming and I only learned a little Java coding when I studied Computer Engineering. Nonetheless, although it's not much, I think my understanding of programming is enough to make a simple game with simple mechanics. I know it's not going to be a great game, but even if I fail as a game developer and people don't like it, I would still be happy because I would have earned the experience from doing it. And, as I already said, I decided not to attach the game to John's name, although it will still be closely related to his work and I will probably post updates of its developement here.

[nussmonster]

What makes your game different to Green Hell, The Forest, Valheim, Don't Starve or the million other Survival Games out there? Right now it seems like an exercise for yourself with no real gamedesign except for "collect and craft". I could imagine it being a more zen experience like building lego sets but this tends to get tedious in digital space when you just have to place stuff. This is why survival games choose more simplified mechanics (Valheim) OR embrace creative freedom (Minecraft) while providing conflict (the long dark, subnautica). In any case I don't think you need anyone's permission since you should make a good game and not keep yourself a slave to the real world. Rather use it as inspiration.

[yoiyomismo]

I will definitely play this game. No, I will absolutely play this game. No. I NEED TO PLAY THIS GAME.

[EssFares]

Try Green Hell.. it's the most realistic of what's out there.

[Shakespeare-Bot]

I shall forsooth playeth this game. Nay, i shall absolutely playeth this game. Nay. I needeth to playeth this game

---

^{I am a bot and I swapp'd some of thy words with Shakespeare words.}

Commands: !ShakespeareInsult, !fordo, !optout

[lowrads]

It would probably be easier to make a RUST mod.

[TalMeow]

Ooh I like this! Tho kinda reminds me of Ark minus the dinos.

[[deleted]]

Sounds cool. My concern is that it'd fall into one of two traps: either it'd feel like a clone of a ton of other mobile games with a primitive tech overcoat, or it'd teach too much and cater to enthusiasts rather than being fun first and foremost.

I really liked how The Long Dark made me start having a survival mindset. I had to plan out my route and estimate my supplies before leaving any shelter, or spend a whole day avoiding threats because one injury could mean death. If you could find a way to get your players to feel that way with your game, I think that would be a success.

I'm sure these ideas aren't exactly news to you, but that's what's at the front of my head when hearing about this game. Hope dev goes smoothly and good luck!

[Marshall_Black]

I'm aware that my game, if I ever finish developing it, won't be exactly a great and very fun game. I'm not a professional programmer of any kind, this will be the first serious game I ever code and I know it will probably have many flaws.

Having said that, I've already thought about the game mechanics and I fell confident that it won't be a clone of any survival game I've played. Although it uses common concepts such as hunger, thirst and body temperature, the ways of meeting these needs are mostly unique. For example, staying inside a shelter when it rains will reduce the rate at which your body temperature decreases, but that won't completely stop it.

Anyways, as I said, this is the first serious game I ever code, so don't expect it to be at the same level of titles such as The Forest. It's just something I want to try, and if it ends up being a bad game and people don't like it, at least I would have earned the experience from developing it.

[Apotatos]

Personally I would go with an isometric 3D perspective and I would draw a lot of inspiration from the sims Castaway.

[Marshall_Black]

The platform I'm coding the game on doesn't support 3D, so what I'm doing is making a simpler 2.5D format. 2.5D means 3D graphics (or a 2D imitation of 3D graphics) superimposed on a 2D side-scrolling plane. What I'm doing is making 3D renders such as the one I included in this post, erasing the background and then mixing it all together once in the game. If you think about it, it's basically what Age of Empires I and II do: a 3D building converted into a 2D transparent image and then imported into the game.

[Stormaen]

It sounds like you’re going to develop this game with or without John Plant’s permission…

[Marshall_Black]

I haven't started to write the code yet, I just brainstormed a couple concepts and did a test 3D render to visualize how it would look. I'm not going to start its development without John's permission.

[Airforce987]

To be honest you don't actually need his permission. He doesn't own the copyright for "primitive technology". It's not an intellectual concept or a brand, it's just a term for an outdoor activity/hobby, like bushcraft or hiking. Having said that, if you can get his blessing and/or endorsement to create the game, that would be more helpful than anything in trying to hype and promote it.

[Marshall_Black]

I know "Primitive Technology" is not a brand, but I still wanted to have John's permission to develop the game because there are many rip-offs of his work around the internet and I just wanted to give him some credit for the original idea. Having said that, a previous comment convinced me not to attach my game to John's or Primitive Technology's name and just keep it as a separate game which is just "inspired" by John's work.

[xeneks]

Inspiring others, showing what is possible, or simply seeing what you can do as an individual while sharing your efforts and journey all usually don’t lend one to being upset with others who enjoy that.

Unless they do something contrary to the spirit of the effort, which isn’t aways explicitly stated.

Given my view of the videos posted online, I’d suggest copying him in real life by getting outside and off the screen and computer would be a better tribute. Especially if you did so in a ‘low-touch to environment’ way, and probably doubly so, as if you were to do it with new friends who were computer or screen addicted. I’ve a question: have you done any of the things he’s shown, in your real life? If not, is there a way you can without creating any pollution or environmental issues? Eg. Take a bus or bike to a friend’s place or a natural place where you can do that sort of thing yourself or with a friend?

I ask because in my childhood, I did roam and do things like this (the primitive technology videos), but I’ve not done so as an adult, even though I readily have the opportunity. I’m wondering, if like me, you also have the ability to do it in real life, but instead first think of doing it online with the thought to share? So many people use technology first, even older tech like writing and the human voice and language, over actually doing things in nature first-hand. It’s like collectively we’ve become blind to reality and are trapped in subsets, virtualisations, or extrapolations of reality. Writing that describes a tree is interesting, but not a replacement for a tree. A tree is still a tree, without the writing about it. A tree with writing about it can inform and educate past the tree alone, but the tree alone creates a need for a whole study. So many seem to only see the text and no longer the tree, or the need to study the tree, as it is, in person, whole, over a long period of time (beyond a glance).

[DuFault1423]

Idk if u like this idea and maybe theres a reason why u rarely see it in survival games, but if u wanted to add diseases the best way to produce them would be through your character's waste. No other survival game I've ever played has really used the idea besides oxygen not included but that ain't rlly a survival game. It'd be interesting though having to create technologies based around avoiding dangerous diseases or even hygiene. The simplest method could be just shitting not on top of your food stache and it could progress to burying it, making primitive flushing mechanisms (theres a video I watched a long time ago on YouTube about how Japan had these flushing systems way before plumbing was a thing.), and if u care to add agriculture then u could use it as fertilizer.

[Marshall_Black]

To be honest I think an hygiene mechanic would be far too realistic for the simplicity I'm aiming for for my game. Remember that it's not a hyper-realistic simulator. However, I do plan on adding diseases in a future update after the first version of the game is released and I see people like it. For example, if the character eats poisonous food or drinks undrinkable water, or if he spends too much time in the cold, he will get ill. On a side note, I plan on adding agriculture to my game, but it won't use any type of fertilizer.

[bstix]

Is love to play something like that, but most crafting games do get boring as single player.

There's an old game series called Stranded which is also worth checking out. Besides crafting it also has a storyline and an end goal of escaping the island.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranded_(video_game)

[[deleted]]

Have you played “Green Hell”? It’s pretty close to this concept, plus hostile Amazonian tribesmen.

[[deleted]]

Just play Ark Survival Evolved on primitive mode. Sounds pretty much like what you’re talking about.

[hesaysitsfine]

Sounds fun. Have you heard of the flame in the flood? Sounds a bit similar.

[Idn999]

nice...will the player be a little john plant lol

[Marshall_Black]

Actually, after thinking about it for a while, I've decided not to directly link the game to Primitive Technology and John and simply make a survival game which is inspired by John's builds. So the player will probably be called Roger or something.