Okay. So I started off with a nice, grandiose project that every part of my designer mindset still wants to create (and anything less ties right back into the systematic thinking involved in it). Meanwhile, I'm hitting coding walls left and right because it's clearly something that's still above me.
So, what I have:
25 unsprited character designs meant to fit a grip of niches. They're amalgamations between SF/KoF fighting styles and personalities, MegaMan robot masters (and weaponry thereof), popular tropes like pirate/ninja/furry/etc., and popular game protagonists. You could maybe even tie superhero comparisons to them rather easily. 5 of them are, at this point, considered 'unplayable boss characters,' meant to fill the roles of major recurring antagonists. They're male/female balanced (yes, even the bosses) and can naturally, through these themes, have inherent friction between them.
Somewhere in the sands of time, I also have a scheme where they can all be adequately animated in 80 frames apiece to cover just about every kind of gaming out there... maybe 84 if going for four-directional attack animations. Once I dig that out of my paperwork, I could at least mash together a Pivot StickFigure output of that.
Digital art, much as I love and admire it... is just not my jam!
15 settings, mostly based off of Sonic the Hedgehog and MegaMan level design; some more fleshed out than others. The itch I'm having is originality, which is tough to do while staying true to how they play. At it's lowest common denominator, I'm trying to associate these zones with colors, and some are fitting less naturally than others.
Critter-type enemies, I'm totally going with MegaMan here (along with some DKC), based on simple functionality. Again though, struggling with originality in this department, combined with not being real good at digital art; and not just wanting to make 'a MegaMan game.' Also toying with the idea of 3-stage evolved versions, to cover PokeMon-style gameplay and miniboss bases (or should I just color-change and scale them?); but that's another of those... probably unnecessary things.
Weapon system, unillustrated so far, between swords, axe/hammers, spear/staffs, and whips; each with utility usage beyond mere combat. Firearms are just Castlevania subweapons (Rogue Legacy caught that perfectly!); and explosives like bombs, missles, and grenades, but in some odd way where they can all be tied to the same type of ammo.
The weapons (and armors? ...but I'm not about to graphically overfork myself illustrating all of THAT, per character, per frame!) were also going to do the whole material/color upgrade crap, mostly in regards to Terraria-feeling progression - but in retrospect that also seems very extraneous. A sword is a sword, no matter how it looks, right? All that would change is a little math, which does nothing if something is balanced properly already.
Lucky charms of the game are Hearts, Stars, Keys, Bombs, Food (refills timers?), and Gold/Jewels/Cash. Was toying with the idea of potions (and different kinds of food) having shuffled effects on the player, like Rogue's potions or Isaac's pills.
There's a variety of shot types too (triple burst shots, angled triple-shots, cardinal/diagonal/combo spread shots, that sort of thing); but I'll level with you - they're mostly just there for the sake of enemy design.
A spell system, based on colors, where lighter colors have positive effects and darker ones have negative effects, neutral ones do 1/3 of both. Reds would be health-focused - so light reds (like pinks?) would heal, dark reds would do damage, and medium reds would effectively be life drains/vampirism; if that makes sense. Blues would buff/drain/reduce 'levels' (another 'is it necessary' thing), and greens would affect status conditions. This combines with geometric ranges like lines, radials, rapid-attacks, or the 'all of one side' ala FFVI; which each mathmatically adjust the result.
<i>But for one, would I even use this outside of RPG context? Could it work in, say, a fighting or racing game? And secondly, would it even be necessary for the RPG experience? It's not like most pro RPG titles even use status ailments or geometrically-ranged spells more than twice a game anyhow. Either spells hit one thing, or they hit everything.</i>
The RPG-aspect also included a directionally-sensitive defense system, where defending would double the effect of a future action, and could stack up to 5 turns, and could be critical'd for 4x that (in total: 128 x effect!!). And a small arrangement of relics and talents, again, ala FFVI.
There was also a convoluted 'plot system' that broke everything into 5 chapters: "Here's the hero(es)." "Here's the villain(s)." "Disc 1 Final Dungeon." "Gasp... it's the TWIST!" and "The Actual End (give or take the optional secret extra super-boss)!" And then it would generate endings based on 3 factors: part 1 would be wins vs. losses (you could 'fail' a chapter, and the story would continue, rather than game over), then a speck of each chapter, based on whether you've fulfilled a certain condition, and then finally the conclusion, based on your cash on hand. See, failing a level would mean you would earn less, and spend more buying gear you could otherwise discover! Better players = better cashloads = better final endings.
As far as quest systems go? Screw fetch quests, it's more like 'there's this kind of cool thing here, see if you can find/do it!' Simple as that.
Five kinds of vehicles - two standard kinds of cars, one geared towards traditional racing and the second towards drifters, a heavy truck/SUV for off-roading and smashing through barriers, a motorcycle for fitting in tight gaps and big leaps/hangtime, and a 'highflyer,' which is like a lowrider with tricks like being able to turn sideways to fit in some tight gaps and being able to jump on its own with it's hydraulics. This is mainly with racing games in mind, and I don't know if I'd tie it in with 'space shooter' territory, but it's not out of the question.
Systematic layering of different... note sequences x beat timing patterns, made to fit together in differing forms of actual music theory. And I've long since lost the instrument samples I was going to associate with this. But this also included charting sequences for dance games as well, which may 'flip or rotate' based on the number of steps it had. For instance, one measure with 7 steps would be followed by a mirrored sequence in the next, so that it maintains flow and consistency.
And finally, the Level Chunker scripting process of randomizing scenarios to alternate between three tides of gameplay. For action-adventure purposes, I call them 'navigation', 'combat', and 'trap' rooms; although their dead-end versions would be designed to serve different purposes, such as stores or treasuries.
These could be scripted to fit most of the different styles of gameplay (aside from the fighting and music gaming?), using different instances of the stuff above; and then again for the different settings they would be taking place in and the kind of gameplay they would be geared towards. For instance, the standard jumping height of 5 tiles would easily tie into a screen that is 10 tiles tall, already providing (sometimes!) a 'high road' and a 'low road.'
Right now it includes inclines and curves too, but I'm not savvy enough to get the character hit detection/scripting together to make it work properly. That's one of them there 'brick walls' I'm hitting.
<i>In fact, once upon a time, I had a number of these 'level generator' ideas; including a 6-corridor looparound system for an in-world 'level select' - where each corridor was a level, and they all came back to a 'feedback path' once it was completed; and then a 'final boss' path that would open upon their completion. Another one is an 8x8 screen grid, organized in a layout that just makes a big linear track where variables within it could be randomized, even though the levels themselves would not be. It has boss chambers and one 'fork in the road' that could lead to differing outcomes, this was mostly made with 'story games' in mind.
And a third is a system of horizontal/vertical paths to make a Metroidy world, where you could only hop between the upper and lower parts by going to the far sides of it, and the bosses were all conveniently located in the corners. Each of the corridors would have a directional flow about them - left to right, right to left, free-roaming, inside-to-outside paths that would generate entrances above and/or below them... so even if the world was 'semi-static,' you would have to adjust your navigation within it.
But in the end, felt those were too static to convey the kind of variable adventurey gamefeel I was going for, and the story-like elements would be more easily scripted between stages anyhow. But I could be wrong!</i>
All of these together would function as a framework, to recreate all kinds of wonderful gaming experiences, like they're all a cohesive whole; and that's the kind of result I'm going for!
One point of indecision I stumbled upon is the matter of persistence. Making it character-oriented? Or maybe building a metagame about game players that are just playing these differently-produced titles and their inevitably overwatered sequels? Another is going with metered life versus heart containers - naturally each one fits different gameplay more smoothly than others do. And then, how much 'progression' is necessary, if each of these playthroughs is supposed to be 15-30 minute plays apiece?
The other thing - can this idea be 'demade' further, without losing the meat that would make these kinds of games fun? Should it be?
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