How to make a multiplayer game fun for people of different skill levels?
Hello
After debating on the FIGHTING GAME thread and reading this thread:
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=9408.0I have tried to come with a concept that would be a canonical Nintendo like game, assuming the game would be on WII.
- Accessibility: these game simplify the control and how to get in the game.
- Preserve depth of the core mechanics: Those game remove the fat down to what matter.
- Expension of core while keeping accessibility: drifting and snaking as exemple, in mariokart expend, the take a turn sharply.
- Hazard: environmental hazard play a big role.
- fair randomness: Random is never really random, and even smash bros choose items to spawn according to play styles and performance. As randomness act on predefine rule, it's easy to anticipate.
- Pushing risk: Taking the lead is taking risk, risky maneuver is usually meet with satisfying pay off. Randomness as it follow rules encourage pushing risk (gambling appeal).
- rubber band: the game has in built rules to keep everyone on toes, it use fair randomness as part to achieving this.
- skill counter: Whatever bad happen to you there is always a way to counter it or to minimize its effect. Even the awful wii blue shell can be deflect with a banana or a musroom in the correct time frame/positioning. It helps mitigate randomness
- Favor adaptation skills over brute force: Dark room isolation training" still count but what make the difference is the capacity to assess situation and take advantage of it.
- Combinatorial explosion: situation, core mechanics, basic movement, items, randomness, hazard, all combine with themselves and together to create an infinite set of situation. There is always something to discover or to create. Single mechanics can spawn entire strategy books (see "nade" for snake in SSBB). Eveything interacts with everything.
- Gameplay realism: Reality is bend towards fun, using nintendo character just emphasis that.
Nintendo would do something BOLD move here. The problem with FPS is essentially that moving is hard for beginner, Moving and aiming is even worst. As the dichotomy between moving and aiming is important for tactical play (like the multiplayer mode of MODERN WARFARE show) the two would be actually separate!
Movement mode:
Basic movement would be like classic 3D zelda move, the player could dash but not jump, instead interaction with the environment would be contextual. Just like in zelda, Jump would be only available on edge at run or dash speed, climbing small height would be accessible by pushing the wall and using contextual key. The camera would focus on immediate surrounding and less on far sight. This would be handle with the NUNCHUCK STICK.
Action like picking/tossing objects/characters, opening doors, climbing, pushing/pulling big object, any interaction is handle by the contextual button, let say A on the wiimote.
Dashing (smashing the stick) + A would result dodge move.
The C button recenter the camera behind the character.
The B button is to use picked items. You can only have one item at a time.
Holding A will open a radial menu around the character that let the player aim to select an option.
Waggle of the wiimote result in a melee attack, with dashing the character smash everything in front of him.
Waggle with the nunchuk result in a "shine", a very quick shield that deflect projectile or guard melee attack. Think barrel roll or fox shine in smash bros. But it also stop the character for a moment. Sucessfully deflecting shot can result him to get back to his source.
Aim mode:
You enter aiming mode by pressing the aiming button and the character draw his weapon. It set the camera close behind the character head (like RE4 or crossbow training) and make the character crouch and strafe resulting in slower move. In aiming move the character also cannot go down cliff or interact with environment. AIMING would be VERY different than in typical FPS it would be more focus on direct aiming a point of the screen (Cross bow training, RE4 WII) and slow camera turning.
The A button allow direct control of the camera like in typical FPS but does not allow firing. Useful For quick adjustment.
The B button is to use to fire the weapon. You can charge it by holding B, it will widen the target reticule and lock an opponent (like in starfox 64) but the camera would not follow it, and if the locked character get outside of view, lock is loss.
The C button block the camera and allow to zoom according the weapon held. You can use the angle of the nunchuk to lean.
Waggle wiimote reload some weapon.
Waggle NUNCHUK result in using ballistic type weapon like grenade. It takes the angle from the wiimote when toss.
Most of these element favor intuitive control mode while giving increasing finesse on control. Every advance option come with a cost and help balance the game. Actually i have take inpiration in splinter cell pandora multiplayer mode, except here we can switch between spy and mercenary mode on a push of a button. A lot of control is also directly take from older nintendo game convention (zelda and starfox as exemple) to keep continuity with the nintendoverse and build on fan expectation.
The core of FPS is simple, moving to dodge hit, aim and fire target. Recent game already have trim lot of fat of early shooter, no more medic, weapon drop or huge weapon inventory to tighten the pace and keep focus the game on his core: killing!. Item in FPS ask to know the map and create choke point that beginner would not known and keep knowledgeable player having a huge hand over them. Modern warfare remove that by letting the player choose their weapon at the start and loot amno on dead body, creating dynamic placement of items, Like halo a limited amount of weapon can be held the same time, player have to choose within weapon that fall from dead body and exchange their weapon with. By always having weapon to loot it create opportunities. We should keep the one weapon at a time model.
Aiming and firing could be expand and twist in new sort. Think the flower of mario, or old shooter spread weapon, you may end with weapon having multiple non centered reticule instead of one.
Like mario kart. Environment also react to player interaction, for example freeing a CHOMP by meleeing his chain. Bottomless pit are also there, but you can only fall if someone toss/push you there. Bumper of all sort exist, and water can drag you around.
There would be Surprise crate like in mariokart that give random item, when break with melee move, according to your play statistic to rubberband and balance player. But crate can be used like a projectile instead like in smash bros, different crate could have different property or can explode. Crate randomly appear at some spawn point in the air and fall slowly on the ground with a parachute. Firing the parachute make the crate fall faster and hit player.
When a player die, it release coins, by picking coins you upgrade the power of your weapon. the more coin you get, the more powerful you are but you glow much more and the more coin you release when you died. It push player toward closer battle and attract everybody to the most powerful player.
When a player respawn he have limited amount of invincibility but cannot shot until it end.
What do you guy think?
Developer
