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[ChevyRay]

Versus Compo Idea Pool! (read: communism, bitches!)

If you have an idea for a versus game, but are already working on one, or aren't able to join, or whatever, feel free to dump it here! This is kinda fresh pickings for ideas or inspiration, a smorgasbord of sorts! Any idea posted here is fair game for others to use as their own!

• A 2-player versus game where both players are controlling the same character, but they have different actions and goals, so they are constantly struggling against each other to get the "puppet" do to what they want and not their opponent.
   
• 4+ player chaotic platformer that has all players bumping into each-other on a platform/level of sorts, but pieces of the level are slowly falling off, making it smaller and smaller.
   
• A 2-player archery game that plays kinda like Battleship, in which you have to shoot arrows across a gorge (using aiming, power, and wind effect, etc.) and every shot helps you zero-in on where the opponent is located, and you can adjust your shots thereafter.
   
• I totally want to see a versus grappling-hook oriented duel game. That'd be @#$%ing awesome.

[ChevyRay]

• Competitive sperm game. Ram other sperm and be the first to fertilize the egg. Powerups!? Speed boosts!?

[JMickle]

> Stand-up standoff. To stand up comedians on a stage each side of the audience must gain more attention by the end of the round.

[BlueSweatshirt]

> Assassin
One play is the assassin, one player is the target. The target is given a set amount of time to place traps/defenses in their base. Afterwards, the other players comes in as the assassin and tries to kill their target.

> High School Competitive Dating Sim
Player 1 and Player 2 both want AI Character 1. Battle to win their heart! 

[mcc]

> Rip off Wario Ware "Listen to the Doctor"--

Make a game in which each player's performance, rather than being based on something objective like points, is based on something subjective, like writing a Haiku. The winner of each round is based on something like a vote or "applause meter" by the other players and/or spectators.

[Cthulhu32]

> Bears & Chairs

A room full of bears are playing musical chairs, which can only wind up in mortal combat when it goes down to the last chair. Either use a betting system, fighting system, or mini-game system when the bears go 1v1, but with a large group of people it could be very fun.

[ChevyRay]

Cthulhu32: I love that idea

[mcc]

Okay here's a serious idea I actually like the idea of attempting someday if someone else doesn't first:

> Rogue Fighter

Make a roguelike fighting game.

A slightly unfortunate thing about fighting games is that so much of the game really just comes down to mastering certain characters' movesets, and no matter how hard they try to balance certain characters will simply always be better than others. You do not learn to play Street Fighter IV. You wind up learning to play Juri.

A solution: Create a fighting game in which all characters are randomly generated for each playthrough. The movesets will be more or less standard from character to character, as in say the Smash Brothers series, but the exact effects, strengths and nature of each move will be randomly generated. Stats like size, hit points, and basic strength of each character will be similarly random for each character. The game would have Vs and Story modes, like a normal fighting game; in the Story mode you are given a single random fighter and you will see if you can face 12 increasingly difficult random opponents with them. Once you game over (or win) you never see that particular random fighter again. Like a roguelike, the challenge will be not in mastering a single set of skills, but rather in how well you can adapt to new circumstances and take advantage of whatever particular quirks chance gives you in a particular gameplay.

The random fighters conceit would seem to suggest a couple of other fun gameplay modes, like maybe a continuous "king of the hill" type thing where one player faces off repeated random fighters controlled by the other player until they finally drop; the other player then takes over and sees how many fighters they can beat without healing. Nfinit (he's this guy... you don't know him) suggested that the "final boss" of the story mode could be the machine that's generating all these random fighters, just going nuts and spitting randomly fit together assemblages of arms and legs and torsos at you until you destroy it.

[Mitiz]

• Competitive sperm game. Ram other sperm and be the first to fertilize the egg. Powerups!? Speed boosts!?

↲this was actually the first idea that popped into my head. Was going to make it mario karts racing style.

[ChevyRay]

I'd play it.

[Draknek]

I want to play a three-way duelling game.

I tried making one a while back, the idea was you could either shoot one of your two opponents or you could fake your own death. If you did it right you would fake your death just as you were about to get hit by a bullet so it looks real, do it too early and it's obvious you're faking, do it too late and you actually get hit and die.

Prototype didn't work out though and I never revisited the idea.

[mcc]

I want to play a three-way duelling game.

I tried making one a while back, the idea was you could either shoot one of your two opponents or you could fake your own death. If you did it right you would fake your death just as you were about to get hit by a bullet so it looks real, do it too early and it's obvious you're faking, do it too late and you actually get hit and die.

Prototype didn't work out though and I never revisited the idea.

Isn't something like this a canonical problem in game theory?

[Draknek]

There is a nice logic puzzle about a three-way duel but I'm not aware of it having any mathematical significance.

[AuthenticKaizen]

here is my game idea that fits the theme.  
wip name is "extreme encounters"



(basic idea is this: you control various animals/things on a mission...
and all those creatures will meet each other at the end of every level!)


1st level A (first form) : you control a new born water drop (from the water tap in the kitchen) that got this party invitation. big party is going on in the jacuzzi!!
so you control that thing in a sidescrolling obstacle course style... and then you jump to your friends into the tub!!
now a thirsty cat appears and drinks the whole water!!
in the 2nd level (1st part) you will control the balloon shaped big fat rolling cat (2nd form)

1st level B (first form): you control an ant that is grabbing a cheese from the kitchen table... but watch out for the hungry mouse that also wants some cheese and hunts you!
make it to the finish line... but no matter what you do.... the ant + cheese will be eaten... now in the 2nd level you are the mouse (2nd form)

now its time for the clash of the 2nd forms in the 2nd level!

2nd level: (1st part)
(player can choose which character he wants to play.... if the mouse is choosen you run away from the cat (3rd person crash bandicoot style... you run toward the screen)
and the big rolling cat is chasing the mouse...

if the cat is choosen you control the extraordinary big fat rolling cat in either 3d (=katamari damacy style)....or in 2d ("tasty planet" style)

----->when the cat gets the mouse the game continues with the cat. when the mouse can escape the game continues with the mouse....


2nd level (2nd part)
---->you control a humble little bee that is flying around and is busy with bee related things ... unfortunately when the bee goes back into the bee hive a bear appears and eats the whole thing.
now you control the bear.
bear chases cat!

---->in the garden theres a pond with fishes... now a crazy bird appears that is hungry for a good meal.... a fish!
bird skydives into the pond and tries to get the fish. fish eaten.... good meal acquired...mission accomplished!
ehhm what next.... bird chases mouse i assume! :D

--------------------> the game continues with the same structure... and constantly new encounters!
beside the platforming stages (2d, 3rd person and first person) there can also be different styled encounters inspired by various classic games...

environment inspirations:
micro machines, re-volt, twisted metal small, toy story, army men, honey i shrink the kids... stuff that features miniature things....


VERSUS EDITION:
splitscreen! (inspired by jazz jackrabbit 2)
both players have to reach the target zone asap.

[AuthenticKaizen]

classic mashup:

a mix between
defender
silkworm
pooyan

(sidescrolling arcadish horizontal shooter.
jeep wants to save people while helicopter wants to kill them)



jeep:
(core gameplay inspired by silkworm)

one player controls the jeep at the bottom that equips people with a nice balloon so they can fly into the sky. at the top of the screen there are 4 clouds. the people have to reach them. when a certain amount of people reach a cloud it will float away (bonus points). if enough people sit on a cloud with the same colored balloons it will even give extra combo points.
(like in silkworm the jeep has also to jump over gaps and mines).


 

helicopter:
(core gameplay inspired by pooyan)

now the helicopter is equiped with a mighty bow.
(shooting range: not straight, because gravity pulls arrows down)
the helicopter is attached to the left side of the screen and can only move up and down like in pooyan.
moreover some balloons are stronger than others and therefore require more hits.

as usual both players have also to fight against a big amount of enemies.




CO-OP VERSION

heli and jeep are friends.
heli protects the people from enemies that want to steal (or shoot) them.
heli has also a bigger range of motion and can also move forwards and backwards.

[Zachary Lewis]

> Puzzle game+ Avoidance Platformer
One player is playing a standard falling-piece game (Tetris, Puyo, et cetera), while the other player is attempting to not get crushed. The puzzle player is trying to get the most points, but the platformer player can disrupt him by placing a limited number of blocks or interacting with powerups that exist in the falling pieces.

[J. R. Hill]

Bullfighting

One person is the bull, the other is the matador.

[David Pittman]

I'm hoping to see some asymmetric games (even though I'm not doing one myself). Things like:

Boss Fight: P1 is the diminutive hero and P2 is the big bad boss. The challenge here would be making things interesting for both players (imagine playing as Donkey Kong, just throwing barrels down the ramps at a very distant Mario--not very fun).

Versus Shmup: P2 controls a flock of endlessly respawning chumpy cannon fodder. Perhaps take a page from Nidhogg, and when P1 dies, the roles get reversed: P2 takes control of a single ship, P1 controls the waves of baddies, and the screen starts scrolling down (or left, if it's a horizontal shmup).

Versus Brawler: Same deal, but with more kicking and less shooting!

Also, it would be neat to see games that rely on audience participation in interesting ways; maybe something where P1 is an evil Dungeon Master setting up a devious trap-filled labyrinth for P2 to navigate; but the audience can see everything P1 sees, and they're free to shout it out, so P2 can use their noisy (and perhaps conflicting, or even intentionally misleading) advice to try to suss out where it's safe for him to go.

(I sort of want to steal that one for myself, but I'm sure would never have a great opportunity to showcase it...)

[yokomeshi]

On the subject of asymmetricity, how about an FPS vs RTS? I.e. P1 is the gun and/or sword-toting hero carving his way through the armies and bases of the Evil Generican Empire, while P2 is the Glorious Generican Republic, trying to build up armies and bases to stop the gun and/or sword-toting psychopath.  On both sides, there's a difficulty ramp, since the hero will level up and find equipment, while the empire will tech up and field more and better units.  Multiple heroes and empires also welcome.

[PsySal]

• Competitive sperm game. Ram other sperm and be the first to fertilize the egg. Powerups!? Speed boosts!?

NOwait im not posting that joke here...