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[Zack Bell]

Often, indie developers create a game by improving upon a classic. I find this to be a cool way of doing things. My favorite example would be Super Meat Boy. In my opinion it improved the platformer genre and surpassed 2D Mario. I think that the improvements were speed, difficulty, and reward.

My question is: "How would one go about expanding upon the Megaman series?"

I feel like speeding up the game wouldn't work. Minimalistic aiming abilities is what makes Megaman the game it is. If the game moved at a faster pace it would take away from the action and probably be more platformer based. Megaman is already a fairly difficult series. How would you improve/recreate this classic?

[Paul Eres]

i think any "improvement" in one aspect usually detracts from some other area, so i don't think you can improve on any game. you improve on parts of it, but then you lose other parts of it. for instance, super meat boy is faster than mario as you said, and better in some ways, but not as varied, the levels are smaller, less colorful, and it's more stressful since it's more about performance than surprising the player with wonderful things

so i think we should reject the idea that you can improve someone else's game; a game is what it is, you can change it, and fix problems in it, but not improve it in any drastic way without sacrificing something good about it

there's also tastes that vary. simple example: let's say you hated the disappearing and reappearing blocks in megaman and think the game would be better without them, and less frustrating. that'd improve the game for some (probably most), but others who enjoyed those puzzles would be disappointed since they enjoyed the memorization and timing challenge those posed

[Painting]

"How would one go about expanding upon the Megaman series?"

I wouldn't. There are a billion interesting original ideas to be made and the Megaman series is so well-done and so expansive that there's no point in "improving" it.

If you really want to improve something, remake some old awful games - what would Menace Beach be like with actually good controls? What would Jaws be like if it wasn't a useless waste of time? Most importantly, what would Monster Party have been if the gameplay had been anywhere near as interesting as the enemy designs?

Personally, I would rather play an "improved" version of any of those rather than yet another Megaman fangame.

[Zack Bell]

i think any "improvement" in one aspect usually detracts from some other area, so i don't think you can improve on any game. you improve on parts of it, but then you lose other parts of it. for instance, super meat boy is faster than mario as you said, and better in some ways, but not as varied, the levels are smaller, less colorful, and it's more stressful since it's more about performance than surprising the player with wonderful things

so i think we should reject the idea that you can improve someone else's game; a game is what it is, you can change it, and fix problems in it, but not improve it in any drastic way without sacrificing something good about it

there's also tastes that vary. simple example: let's say you hated the disappearing and reappearing blocks in megaman and think the game would be better without them, and less frustrating. that'd improve the game for some (probably most), but others who enjoyed those puzzles would be disappointed since they enjoyed the memorization and timing challenge those posed

Great reply. Thanks for the time and input.

How about we reinvent the question then?

How would one go about taking the main gameplay elements from Megaman (simple forward shooting, wall jumping, linear levels with bosses) and make something amazing out of it? LIke Team Meat did with Meat Boy vs. Mario.

Is that better? I have nothing against Megaman. Megaman is amazing. I just want to do something different with the style of gameplay.

[Zack Bell]

"How would one go about expanding upon the Megaman series?"

I wouldn't. There are a billion interesting original ideas to be made and the Megaman series is so well-done and so expansive that there's no point in "improving" it.

If you really want to improve something, remake some old awful games - what would Menace Beach be like with actually good controls? What would Jaws be like if it wasn't a useless waste of time? Most importantly, what would Monster Party have been if the gameplay had been anywhere near as interesting as the enemy designs?

Personally, I would rather play an "improved" version of any of those rather than yet another Megaman fangame.

Sorry, didn't see that you replied too. I guess I don't really want to improve Megaman. I'm not too sure if that's actually possible. I also don't want to make something that appears like a Megaman clone. I want to make something that feels different but would appeal to people that love the series.

[Paul Eres]

are you thinking of the mega man x games? because the mega man games don't have wall jumping, only the mega man x games do (as far as i know)

also i wouldn't really call the megaman games simple shooting, there's a lot of strategy that goes into playing one. for instance, you have to figure out which weapons are good on what bosses (unless you cheat and look those up, but no true mega man fan cheats!)

if you want to do something "similar but different" rather than better that's fine though. i'd suggest taking the basic idea of choosing from a set of levels and getting the boss's weapon at the end of each level and apply it to some other motif; for instance, instead of robots they could be wizards or something, and you could be collecting each of their spells, or they could be martial arts dojos, and you could be collecting their hidden martial arts techniques

[Zack Bell]

I suppose that's really the best way to do it. Maybe take the bosses and abilities idea, but then maybe not focus on shooting. Maybe melee weapons. I get your points though. Thanks for all of the input.

[Painting]

...or they could be martial arts dojos, and you could be collecting their hidden martial arts techniques

I like this. A sort of a fusion of Megaman and beat'em'up sensibilities woul be pretty awesome.

[XRA]

well, super meat boy for example.. from what I remember the analog controls felt pretty sweet and really finely tuned. 
One thing to focus on with Megaman is to exploit the analog controls, some people would hate that I'm sure, but it could be pretty awesome to have a platformer that requires high-precision and speed but with analog stick movements (or at least it seems awesome in my head).

[Zack Bell]

That could work. I was only worried about the speed and precision of platforming taking away from the shooting mechanics. It is difficult to focus on so much at once.

Also, with an acrobatic character like Meat Boy, most players would have the urge to run, jump, and slide around enemies rather than shoot at them. That's just how I see it.

However, I did a Meat Boy clone a few months back to prove that I could program controls that were that incredibly slick. I suppose I could open that up and throw a gun on his arm and see how it feels.

[leonelc29]

I want to make something that feels different but would appeal to people that love the series.

How would one go about taking the main gameplay elements from Megaman (simple forward shooting, wall jumping, linear levels with bosses) and make something amazing out of it?

if you wan something like this, i remember i played a game(indie, of course) that similar with megaman. if not mistaken, Gigadeep. It's from the creator of Houkaimura(you will know this if you follow the indiegames.com blog). Pretty similar style with megaman.

How would one go about expanding upon the Megaman series?
I won't. Although some level are really frustrating, but the frustration level are just all right to prevent me from ragequit. Most of the time, it let you learn the timing of the jump and improve your skill in platforming. The music are way too great that lead me to play Megaman 6 for over and over again(i wonder why no one favor the Megaman 6 music...). I never use the special attack except in boss fight as i somehow find it to be not that powerful than normal blaster, and the energy were draining too fast. This is never a problem, though.(SCARCITY MAGIC!) The only imbalance boss i think is the final fight with Dr.Willy in Megaman 7. But i somehow beat it.(with like over 20 try.)

[Zack Bell]

Thanks for that. I think I know how I'm going to approach this now. I feel that precise platforming while aiming and shooting would lead to frustration. I have a way around that.

Off to go prototype this sucker!

[Gimym TILBERT]

It's a shame, the point of the basic mechanics of megaman is precisely constant "positioning" ie moving around on platform to supplement with the limited aiming. Maybe if you have less pure platforming and more positioning sequence (platforming to deal with foe instead of navigating).

Also the deal with megaman is weapon, each weapon is a new pattern of interaction with positioning as they work totally differently. Some weapon also create new opportunity of platforming (ie freezing enemy to have new platform). Enemy themselves had different movement pattern to emphasis positioning challenge.

A way to improve the game would be therefore to increase movement capability to have new pattern  of positioning with different weapon. Better, instead of each weapon only have new aiming pattern, you could have them add new movement capability too. For example you could have a directional attack like metal man with wall clinging but without the jump.

[Zack Bell]

Interesting ideas, thanks again for the input.

How do you feel about Aquaria-ish shooting? Basically inaccurate homing missiles lol.
I thought about keeping fast paced platforming but eliminating the issues of aiming while running, wall jumping, etc.

[Gimym TILBERT]

So you want more emphasis on platforming? try gunstar heroes with megaman like progression