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[magnum_opus]

I think shooter meets RTS should be expanded on. There are squad games, and Battalion Wars, but I'd really like to see a a game that flows more. Or rather, has more action and more tactics.

if you mean like FPS shooter look into Battlezone and Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising

[Bree]

Okay, this is a really random thought, may be totally stupid, but whatever...

The point of a first person game is that you have direct control over your avatar, yes? Unless it's a light-gun type o' deal, but yeah. So what could you do in a first-person rhythm? It wouldn't necessarily have the traditional falling gems style of Guitar Hero and its ilk- the player would not be forced to follow the exact beat created by the developers. But, how do you make that rhythmic? What if, instead of your normal FPS gameplay, every single event was placed in synchronized loops, like samples on a track? We encounter this a lot already, with enemies having set paths to guard and pace back and forth. But suppose that everything you did was based on the rhythm of the level. It'd be a little difficult to put into words exactly, but think about it like this: When a lot of people play a game like Ninja Gaiden or even bullet hell shmups, they play to the rhythm of the stage- even if it's not outright musical, the stage has a specific flow that the player can anticipate and react to, in the same way they anticipate and react to colored gems. Only in this case, the gem would be a guard, or a grenade, or a chasm you needed to clear. So, what you could have is a rhythm game disguised as a FPS, in the same way that Minubeat was a rhythm game disguised as a shmup. With a multiplayer FPS, you could have people playing multiple instruments to add extra layers to the sound, rewarding players who follow the basic beat, but not punishing those who decide to deviate a little. Each level would have a basic beat, indicated by stimuli in the level- scenery could thump in time or whatever- and a player could review his last run with a cinematic camera, like in Rock Band. Extra modes could allow for increased/decreased tempo, to change up the difficulty...

...I'm gonna stop for now. My brain's a little fried.

[Inanimate]

Excerpt from the pitch thread:

An old idea I had that is ALSO a mash up:

A fighter where to build up combos, you have to attack to 'the beat', and after doing that for a while and perfectly 'syncing' with it, you gain access to these attacks called 'Waves'. The story is, a mysterious energy hits the Earth, and imbues people with access to The Beat, essentially giving life to things, and giving powers to living things. But only to a select chosen. The problem is, mysterious beings from space called Audians are arriving... and everyone is hunting down the Impact Site of where the Wave hit, to get it's ultimate power...

[Bree]

Square-Enix made a rhythm/beat-em-up called Bust a Groove on the first Playstation. Got a sequel, too. Haven't played either, so I couldn't really say how good they are.

[Kegluneq]

First: Side-scrolling brawler / RPG mashup: Ragnarok Battle Offline. Great game.
Second: Idea for rhythm fighter: Each song stage would be very similar to DDR, arrows scroll along the bottom and you have to press the right direction at the right moment in time with the beat. But beating the level isn't done by getting a high-enough score on the song beat, but by beating up a bad-guy that an avatar of yours will fight as the music plays. The left and down arrows dodge, and the up and right arrows attack. Each time the song tells you to press an arrow, that is to either dodge his attack or take advantage of an opening in his defense. You could defeat the enemy before the song ends by watching the enemy for openings that the song doesn't indicate. Difficulty could be rated on song speed and how much the song guides your fight.
Hmm, I kinda wanna make this now...

[gunswordfist]

Innovation is one of the biggest things we look for in games. That being said, something that really raises eyebrows is when a game combines two genres. Toribash mixes fightering with strategy. The new DS game Henry Hatsworth combines platforming and classic block puzzles. What genres would you like to see mashed up?

I'd personally like to see RPG mixed with shmup. You can level up your weapons and character, but when you start up a battle, it becomes a shmup.

I'd also like to see an FPS mixed with a 2.5D platformer. Crazy platforming sections are sidescrolling, but then you get into a room filled with enemies and it turns into an FPS.

Astro Boy Omega Factor is the greatest example of a Shoot Em Up with RPG elements.

Anyway, I'd like to see a pure First Person Beat Em Up (Riddick and Condemned don't count). There's nothing like catching punches and throwing accurate head kicks in first person view.

[Bree]

You might wanna check out Zeno Clash. It's a first-person brawler with a trippy art design that's coming out in a little bit.

[William Broom]

tbh I don't really like genre mash-ups. They always seem very forced, like the developers just wedged together the most prominent elements from the two genres without much thought as to whether they would actually work together. Henry Hatsworth is a perfect example: there's such a horrible disparity between the platforming and the block-matching.

[Mikademus]

tbh I don't really like genre mash-ups. They always seem very forced, like the developers just wedged together the most prominent elements from the two genres without much thought as to whether they would actually work together. Henry Hatsworth is a perfect example: there's such a horrible disparity between the platforming and the block-matching.

Most stuff new has come from combining prior models.

[Ego_Shiner]

I would really like to see more fighting game/beat-em ups. I know they're already very similar, but there's not many beat-em-ups with the depth of street fighter 3.

[Mikademus]

I would really like to see more fighting game/beat-em ups. I know they're already very similar, but there's not many beat-em-ups with the depth of street fighter 3.

Are you talking about a mixture of a scrolling brawler game and a fighting game? There haven't been many. Way of the Exploding Fist 2. The special bonus Tekken and Bushido Blade game modes. It would be a very cool game...

[Ego_Shiner]

Thats it exactly. I know there are a few (spawn from the SNES is another good example), I would just like to see more.

[null & void]

William, I agree. But when it's done right, I always, always love it. Anything Q? touches is a great example. (With the possible exception of Ninety-Nine Nights, which I haven't played...) The key is to integrate both aspects of the game seamlessly to the degree where you don't have to stop what you're doing with one to do the other.

[GregWS]

Rez. 

Everyday Shooter. 

Yes, music mash-ups are key. 

OK fine descriptions: both games kick ass because the spatial dimension of the level is synced with the music.  I've heard Rez described as the opposite of the classic Goethe quote "architecture is frozen music," with Rez being "music as fluid architecture," and I haven't experienced anything quite like that since.  And making music in Everyday Shooter is so incredible; the procedural side keeps that game feeling so fresh, and the music is so good. 

[null & void]

Rez is one of the first games I played for the 6th generation consoles. There won't ever be anything else like it unless Mizuguchi decides to make a sequel or someone finally completes a Rez clone. (I've seen two for the PC, neither ever got past the earliest stages...)

[GregWS]

Well, I've heard more-or-less solid rumours that Miz is working on a sequal.  And equally legit rumours that he's working on a Wii game, so maybe they're one in the same.

Rez needs head tracking.  Nuff said.

[gunswordfist]

You might wanna check out Zeno Clash. It's a first-person brawler with a trippy art design that's coming out in a little bit.

Sounds interesting. What platformer is it coming out on?
EDIT: Saw the trailer! HELL YES!!!!!!!!

[Inanimate]

Oh, Space Invaders Extreme is a music shooter, in a sense. Killing enemies adds sound effects to the music. Every enemy adds a different sound.

[Kneecaps]

Oh, Space Invaders Extreme is a music shooter, in a sense. Killing enemies adds sound effects to the music. Every enemy adds a different sound.

Oh crap.  Now this is going to turn into a "games as music" debate.

Yes, any game with sound can be a music game, but is it high music?

[Bree]

There's a game that was recently released on WiiWare called Bit Trip Beat that is essentially a rhythm game disguised as Pong. I wasn't terribly convinced until I saw the trailer. I'll have to look around for it, though...

Oh, and games are totally music.