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[jeffrobot]

Hello out there!

I'm sketching out a 4 player coop action game, where each player has a unique mechanic that, when used in conjunction with the other players, helps them solve puzzles/defeat enemies and make their way through a platform-intensive world. Mind you, it's mostly a vertical scrolling world with lots of much-too-high ledges, so most of the teamwork involves figuring out how to get up to the next platform.

 I'm looking for ideas/inspiration for some of the players' unique mechanics.

So far I've got:

the  "knight". He takes care of the enemies while the other players are trying to hop up to the next platform. He has the most(might be ONLY) standard attack, so the other players depend on him for defense. This attack also reflects projectiles, so he can jump around the other players reflecting attacks, acting as a sort of shield. I'm thinking about also allowing his attack to strike players and send them up in the air.

the "grabber" - a dude with a mechanical arm on his back. He can grab anything in the game world. He can grab enemies and hold onto them, effectively removing them from the fight. Or, allowing the knight to make a pinata out of them. He can also grab the knight (and all other players) and hold him up, allowing the knight to hit out of reach enemies/get to out of reach places. I think the mechanical arm would also be a platform when extended, so the knight/other players could stand on it.

and then the next ones are just sort of tentative:

a "climber" who can climb all the surfaces in the game. The grabber could grab onto him with his claw, and then be carried along with the climber as the climber climbs. "All surfaces" includes enemies, so the climber can attach himself to (flying) enemies to be carried around. If the grabber then grabbed the climber, they could both be carried around.

a "horse". An actual horse. The horse's thing is it's the only player that wraps around the screen if it goes past the edge, ala Pacman. So it could uniquely navigate puzzles/platforms by doing so. If the grabber was grabbing the horse when it wrapped, the grabber would also wrap. I chose to give this ability to a horse because I like horses, and since horses run fast I figured letting it wrap around the screen would give a sense of the horses' unique speed.

I also thought about having a player that is a normal guy (maybe with a long ranged attack). However, he's attached by rope to a little flying creature. The flying creature doesn't attack, it just hovers above the player and follows him. However, it is terrified of the "knight", so it flies away from the knight when he gets too close, dragging the player it's attached to with it. So you could potentially shepherd this little flying creature around with the knight and get the attached player into some hard to reach places.

I think you can tell I'm sort of grasping around semi-desperately for some unique game mechanics. I don't want this to be another castle crashers. What I'm looking for is a set of mechanics that allow for lots of interesting, dynamic combinations.

If anyone has an idea for a unique mechanic that combines well with others and wants to share, please let me hear it. If I really like the mechanic and use it, I'll give you a mention in the credits!

Also, If you have a suggestion/criticism for any of the player types I listed, I would love to hear it.

[Drum]

I think you can tell I'm sort of grasping around semi-desperately for some unique game mechanics

This is not the impression I got at all, they all seemed pretty well thought out to me.

Couple of suggestions:

The horse could be a pantomime horse with two players inside it, and stretches in the middle, thereby slingshotting each other around.
If you are gonna have a mandatory four-player co-op game and don't have a giant robot they can all climb inside and take control of individual limbs, you ought to be arrested.
Those aren't really the sort of ideas you were looking for, I guess.

[jeffrobot]

Wow, I love both those ideas.     : o

The robot idea is great. Has that been done in a game before? I would love to play it.

As for the pantomime horse... that is awesome. That idea is definitely going to work it's way somehow into the first build of this game. i have to at least try something like that. If it works its way into the game - YOUR NAME WILL BE IN THE CREDITS! (You're gonna be famous!)

I probably won't use that idea exactly, since it seems a little too out of control, and maybe even exploitable? But the idea of players bound together and slingshotting each other around in some form might be feasible.

Hmm... you know what might be interesting - use the idea of the pantomime horse, but by default there's only one player inside the horse, so it can't really do anything. But one of the other players, like the knight, can climb inside the horse and unleash it's power. But the knight loses access to all his abilities while he's inside the horse helping out. But the horse could do a slingshot move, and the knight could jump out right at the zenith of the slingshot and just got totally thrown a million miles... that could be cool. Of course, the screen needs to be able to contain all this, so too much distance travelled becomes problematic.

Hmm. What's a game that uses that mechanic?

[SirNiko]

Check out Knuckles Chaotix - that used a two character tether mechanic similar to what you're describing for the horse.

One method is to make the camera pan and zoom to contain all the characters (See Super Smash Bros. Brawl). Limit character movement (such as making each puzzle take up a single "screen" similar to how Zelda: Four Swords Adventures handles it) to prevent situations where the screen becomes uselessly tiny, and make sure important details (traps, monsters) are clear enough to identify even at maximum zoom.

A better way might be to make the game mandatory to play by internet / LAN so each player gets a screen. Programming a game that can be played online is a significant technical hurdle, though. You ought to tackle that first if that's going to be your goal.

[Drum]

Zooming in and out could spell trouble for screenwrapping abilities, but would also make them a shit of a lot more compelling - so do that or so help me.  Actually, screenwrapping as a special maneuver would immeasurably improve Smash Bros too.  They should stick that in Indie Brawl (but they won't).

In addition to Knuckles Chaotix, you might want to take a look at: http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/a_walk_in_the_park
and Space Duel (Owen Rubin, the guy who designed Major Havoc did this!  He also did some work on Battle Zone and the not-legendary-but-should-be Night Stocker).
The original co-op videogame is also a tether game:  Fire Truck.  One person controls the front end and one controls the carriage.  You can both ring the bell.  I think it was released in 1978?  But Knuckles Chaotix is kind of the standard for the form.  Maybe also check out Jimmy Lost His Toilet Paper and Umihara Kawase (sp).

The robot idea is copyright my imagination 1994, when I came up with a sweet-ass Voltron arcade game in my head.
There are actually quite a few arcade games I know where you can join up with another player.  Side Arms, The Simpsons, I can't remember what else but there are more.

I guess also: Players should be able to stand on top of each other's heads, but there are some combinations that are better than others.  Like, the Knight would be a safe bet for the bottom, but maybe would wobble higher up.

[jeffrobot]

Ah, I remember looking at Knuckles Chaotix after seeing that awesome Flash video about it by EgoRaptor.

You have to watch this.
http://www.destructoid.com/egoraptor-awesome-chaotix-193334.phtml

And I'm definitely going to make them able to jump on each other.

[shig]

cool ideas but we can only know how much they'll have to be tweaked once you start playtesting

[jeffrobot]

too true.

I'm going to keep thinking about this, and if I decide to really commit to making it (at least a prototype) I'll set up a devlog.

That'd probably in a couple weeks if it happens.