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[Danrul]

Aight.  First game idea I'm posting.  Mainly because It's one of the ones I spent time developing.  Anyway, without further ado, here are the sparknotes, taken from a conversation i spent rambling on about it:

Just to start, this whole idea is based on a metal arena with a floor made up of 2-4 inch metal columns, like those nails things which take relief of whatever you put in them. 

It'd play like a Third person shooter. You know  RAWR, I have a gun and you have one too.  We are destined to fight. *much muscle flexing*

Then, basically, Every player has a cyborg arm, with generator on their back or whatnot.  Anyway, the hand on this arm is magnetised, so you can pull up the floor of metal grids directly in front of you, as a sort of impromptu cover. AS for how long this lasts, I was thinking about it either:

• Lasting a couple of seconds, explained by a loss of magnetic charge
• Being permanent and having the columns fall down when hit with weapons fire
• being permanent until a player comes up and removes it

Anyway.  The idea, of pulling it up as cover can also be used offensively.  I was thinking something like having a rocket propelled mine, that pulled up the columns behind it as it passed.  Again, how long this wall lasts is sort of in the works.

Also, I was thinking for an area attack to just put your hand to the ground and send out a pulse.  This creates a undulating wave, or maybe a spreading wall that is think and dissipates the further out it gets.

When the floor is exposed to weapons fire, I was thinking small ripples that last about a foot in either direction and get about a quarter of a foot high, just for looking cool sakes. 

Then, because a flat arena makes the game a bit boring, i was thinking levels that start terra-formed, with hills and walls.  These could be set to be permanent or to be removable.  Of course, a level editor would also be there, so you could create buildings and shizz.


My major concerns are that this would be a motherloving pain to program, a genuine hardware drain possibly, and that the colours might be monotonous and boring.  Ways to counter the colour problem are to maybe have your attacks tinted, so if you pull up cover or send out a wall, its tinted to red or green.  Not fully colour changed, but more so you don't spend your days looking at a gray grid. 

Graphical stylings would probably be stylised smooth shading, with more a focus on aesthetic over realism.

Now, if you are as lame as me to be interested in reading this far, please leave impressions, suggestions, or general comments behind.

Just so you know, this is an idea only, and i would love it if someone with programming or graphical ability approached me to help make it (unlikely), and would hate it if someone stole it (now i sound like a noob). 

Aight, this post has taken far too long.  I'm out. 

[mewse]

You don't need to program it, it's already being made by LucasArts (PS3, XBox 360).

Variations on this idea have been around for decades.  You might be interested in Magic Carpet (and its various sequels), as just one example.

[Danrul]

Crap.  Well...Mine is better because...um...I thought of it.  That gives it insta-cool.  Anyway, after reading the game overview, mine is more differenter.

In summary, should done research of some kind to see if something like this was around, or in development.  Besides, I think mine has more potential to have uniqueness.  That one looks like generic shooter with somewhat fresh idea that will be poorly executed.

yeah...im fighting a losing battle here

[mewse]

My experience is that really unique ideas are very rare.  For any idea that might occur to someone, it's almost always true that somebody else has had a substantially similar idea earlier on.  I've worked on some pretty bizarre stuff in my time, but I don't think I've ever worked on something where nobody's been able to point out a similar concept being worked on by someone else at about the same time. 

IMHO, it's in the execution of the core idea that you find the real value and uniqueness of a game.


Of course, I would say that, being a programmery sort of guy.  So I'm probably rather biased. 

[Danrul]

I wasn't expecting it to be totally original, because its not that far out and crazy.  I was just planning to put the focus on it, because just from the sounds of things, that game should be like, I have a big gun and massive earth changing powers, i only have to use one at any time.  What i was planning to do in my one is either have the weapons non existent and have them rely on their hand, have the weapons affect the playing field only, say with like grenades, and stuff that just kick up massive shockwaves, or say a remote control thing that does practically the same thing as the Rocket Mines, except you can direct it, and its airborne.  Also, I reckon Air strikes would be tanky as, because an entire playing field suddenly becoming 5 metre high metal waves of pwn would be awesome.  Also, torque/tek bow weapons would be cool. 

Pah. Fwacha.  general sounds of annoyance.

[increpare]

You don't need to program it, it's already being made by LucasArts (PS3, XBox 360).

The first guy in the trailer is so full of shit.  Also: since when did 'terrain' have one one syllable'??

[Oddball]

That LucasArts site just killed my Windows. It's like Bill Gates and George Lucas are trying to make me hate them at the moment. Curse them both.





Addendum: I am actually aware that neither Bill Gates nor George Lucas actually had any part in making Internet Explorer, or the Lucas Arts website, but for the purposes of my vent I'll assume they did

[Danrul]

Pah.  Like Halo spawned a realm of copy cats, Gears of war has started a muscly armoured badass scene in third person shooters.  altough only gears is one i would play. 

Anyway, on a subject not related to whats probably gonna epic fail, i was really hoping for any ideas or suggestions or questions, because i like talking about myself and my ideas :D

[AdamAtomic]

Pah.  Like Halo spawned a realm of copy cats, Gears of war has started a muscly armoured badass scene in third person shooters.  altough only gears is one i would play.

Is this sarcasm?  I mean...muscly armored badasses have been around for a bit longer than Gears of War   And as far as halo spawning copy cats...you're referring to the game that is essentially Marathon 3D only with a story cribbed from Aliens, right?

On topic, I actually really like your idea and I think doing it in a relatively abstract, arena-like setting with simple controls could be really fantastic.  At the core though, in its current state, I'm not sure its radically different from the forcefield systems from games like Another/Out of This World and Flashback.  If there is a way that you can move this idea beyond simply being a cover system and push it towards being a more general system that affects movement and offense as much as it affects defense, I think you'll have something pretty swell.  Maybe the characters have like rocket skates and can ramp off of their cover mounds or something?  (this is a silly idea but an example of a way of broadening the mechanic)

[Danrul]

From the realm of delayed reactions, the Cosmic Fool Appears.

I'm a silly billy.  Its not that they were original in that regard, its just that Gears and Halo have permeated gamer culture, and thus every game trying to make a buck tries to copy them.

I was thinking maybe for the movement side of it, that maybe the Right Trigger on a controller could be used to affect the amount of power used.  There are 2 ways this could go, and both of them are needlessly complicated.  First off
maybe holding the right trigger in all the way raises the arena in front of you as high as it can go, and modulating it directly affects it.  Thus running while slowly pulling more in the trigger would create a ramp.  Maybe the rocket skates are too campy, but seeing as a i have rocket propelled min and magnet hands, I might as well come up with some silly way of adding in more mobility.

As for offense, maybe firing 'EMP' pulses or as stated earlier, grenades that kick up a wave that might knock people over.  I really want to make the focus more on using the environment.  Despite it being a contradiction of Cyborgs with magnetic arms that shift the earth, I was thinking that trying to make the fighter more agile, and bringing up platforms or walkways to Aid their movement could be cool. Maybe using a wall you bring up to wall run?  Pulling the trigger and jump at the same time to bring up the ground beneath you like a launcher?  Using the magnetism of the hand to ascend blank faces?  Finding any at all possible variations on this theme just so i can use more question marks?

I think the main problem with this idea is that movement is very limited with this system.  If its just the ground moving up and down, how can i create Variation?  Thats why I'm thinking about having a variety of different shapes for the arena.  Maybe one which is a parabolic curve, and the all the columns can meet up in a central point.  Maybe ones on the outside, inside of a sphere?  Another problem is that due to the terraforming being based on an uppy downy floor, i can't have multilevels unless I lame it up.  There can be no space underneath a platform.  Of course, this can easily be done, just how can you terraform a thin platform?  Maybe having walls on the sides of an arena, which go out across the uppy downies, could be fun. 

For movement, Rocket boots which give a boost, lifting a platform beneath you to gain more ground.

Offense, send the arena against them, knock them off their feet, and in contained levels, crush them. 

My real problem is, i can't see how to keep this simple, and if i can't keep the central gameplay simple, then this game is getting too complicated, at least to me.

So, if you  can figure out an easy way of doing this, intertube comment me at this address.