Another Horror Hotel entry today. I feel like I should stick with one project before expanding on any of the other ideas in this blog: Partly because I don't want to be concentrating on lots of different things at once, but mostly because this is a blog intended for demonstration purposes and it'll only require one of my game ideas to go through a detailed design process to fulfill that goal. The fact that most of these games will go unmade for various reasons is another draw to not doing more work than I need to.
Before I begin, links to the previous two blog entries on Horror Hotel for anyone not checking the archives:
http://incremento.blogspot.com/2006/06/game-idea-horror-hotel.html
http://incremento.blogspot.com/2006/07/game-idea-stage-2-horror-hotel.html
Instead of posting more of my hyper-realistic MS Paint renditions, I'll be concentrating on the meat and potatoes of the game: Statistics. That is, the items, treasure, dungeon levels, monsters, golem types, etc. I'll be sticking mostly with the dungeon-mode today, though I will cover the finer points of the hotel mode in a later update.
Golem Models:
Starting with the most interesting feature, the golems. Golems are what you'll be playing as for the dungeon segments. Well, you'll technically be playing as the main character who is controlling the golems, but no matter as the golems will be what the camera is focused on and what the player will see and control. The head golem will be controlled by the player, and will be the one all the other golems will follow (these will be controlled by a specific AI type by the way, which will be detailed below in the golem descriptions). If the head golem "dies", leadership will simply swap to the next golem.
All golems require parts to create and a blueprint for Crazy Uncle Pete to follow. The exception being the Helper Golem, which is your starting golem type. Because of how cheap it will be to make the Helper Golem (since it is an original class) you may be able to make several before descending into the first dungeon. Golem parts can be bought or found in dungeons, and blueprints are special items that are given to you after fulfilling certain goals (like getting past one level of the dungeon, defeating a boss or accommodating a specific guest in your hotel).
Golems have experience levels also, and can be upgraded once they reach a certain point. This will require additional parts (which become rarer as the upgrades get higher) but no additional blueprints are required. For example, your original Helper Golem reaches level 5 and has the option of upgrading to Helper Golem II. It'll require some parts to do so, but can otherwise jump up a class without delay once level 5 has been reached.
Golems may also have equipment, but it ties in with the upgrading above. Rather than pieces of clothing or weapons, Golems can be augmented with various stat boosts and powers and the number of available boosts is limited to whatever version of the Golem you're using. So the early Helper Golem model will only have 1 such slot for an augmentation, but the next upgrade up may have two or three.
As a final note: If a golem "dies" it simply breaks down, and can be transported like any other item in the dungeon. If a overloaded Helper dies, then you have a problem as all the stuff it was carrying will also be dropped. Any broken golems brought home can be repaired for a specific amount of money based on its level and any upgrades it has received.
Golem Types:
Helper Golem Class: Very slow and weak fighters with no magical ability. Basically mules for carrying items found in the dungeons, and since that's your main goal for being down there they are at least useful for something. Various safety features are included once they start getting upgraded.
Look like: Mechanized Igors.
Upgrade Powers: Higher Carrying Capacity, Safety Transport (transports self out of dungeon when in dangerously low health so you don't lose all the items its carrying), Damage Resistances, Immunity to Lava (for reaching hidden areas).
Fighter Golem Class: This is what you'll be wanting to use once you get down there. Strong fighters who are lacking in magic power but get some spells in later upgrades. Use them as tanks to protect the ranged units and helper golems.
Look like: Tin Soldiers.
Upgrade Powers: Bonuses to Augmentation Boosts, Can Branch to either Knight Golems (high defense, low speed) or Berserker Golems (high speed, low defense), Various Special Attacks, can attack more than once at higher levels.
Wizard Golem Class: These can support your troops or fight with devastating magic from a distance.
Look like: Orko (from He-Man)
Upgrade Powers: Bonuses to Magic and MP, Branch into Black Hats (attack spells), White Hats (healing spells), Silver Hats (healing, boosts, ice magic) or Gold Hats (attack, boosts, fire magic), can fly.
Archer Golem Class: Great ranged units, useless up front however. Very quick, so can quickly escape from enemies while shooting at them. They're fairly cheap to make too, which is good since they won't last long when cornered.
Look like: Crossbow wielding soldiers, upgrades to a miniature catapult and finally a GI Joe-esque machine gun soldier.
Upgrade Powers: Despite stronger bullets and a faster rate of fire, archers can also hit targets regular Fighter Golems cannot.
Jester Golem Class: Various support abilities, can distract enemies without getting hit, can unlock chests and doors and spring traps without being harmed. A useful little guy in various situations but not a very good out-and-out fighter.
Look like: A clown doll
Upgrade Powers: Resistance to Magic, Increased Evasion, Distracting Insult power, Spot Secret Passages, Invisibility.
Elemental Golem Class: Heavily dependent on one elemental type, takes more damage from opposing element but absorbs magic from same element. Very powerful magic casters, and quite strong fighters also.
Look like: Depending on the element; an ice carving, a floating fireball, a miniature tornado or a rolling boulder.
Upgrade Powers: Full Magic absorption of similar element, Resistance to non-opposite elements, special upgrades for each elemental type. High level Elemental Golems can merge to form new Elemental Golems. Ice + Wind = Blizzard, Ice + Earth = iceberg, Fire + Wind = Lightning, Fire + Earth = Lava. If two opposites merge (i.e. fire + ice or earth + wind) they become Chaos Golems. If the two different Chaos Golems merge they become a Soul Golem, who has all sorts of gnarly powers including shapeshifting to any other golem class.
Robot Golem Class: Once you reach the ancient repository, which is a giant warehouse full of electronic gadgets and gizmos of the ancients, you'll need a robot golem to get around some of the electronic devices and failsafes that are still operational. There's tons of cool sci-fi stuff down there which will help you with some of the stranger hotel guests' room requirements. Robots are also heavily defensive and powerful ranged fighters (lasers), so they're like a much tougher version of the Jester robot above (though without the evasiveness, not that they need it).
Look like: 50s-era robots, but each upgrade makes them look more modern and sophisticated.
Upgrade Powers: Naturally gifted with augmentation slots, allowing for twice as many augmentations as usual. Later models can fly, shoot lasers, have T-1000-esque liquid metal mimetic polyalloys to fight with. Very very expensive though, to both build and upgrade.
Monster Golem Class: Oddball Golem type that gets stronger after eating the carcasses of monsters (though it's not so much eating them as simply incorporating them into their bodies). It cannot be upgraded and nor does it level up, but it does gain in stats based on the monster it eats. After a while it starts resembling the type of creature it most often eats. It may also start to gain that creature's abilities after a while. Keep in mind that enemy carcasses have their uses and market value, so this Golem class will continue to eat at your potential profits. Literally.
Looks like: A blob at first, with medium-to-lowish stats across the field. If you only feed it a specific kind of monster (like strong fighters) it'll gain quicker in that stat. If it eats a certain amount of creatures it'll gain its second form (which could be bestial, undead, an aberration or something weirder).
Upgrade Powers: Depending on what you're feeding it, it will gain the stats and powers (and weaknesses) of that particular monster class. To gain a monster's main attack it'll need to eat around five instances of that particular monster. Each form (the Monster Golem's equivalent of an upgrade) has a limited number of monster attacks it can learn, and once it reaches its second form it will be trapped in that particular monster type. I.E. if you turned it into a undead golem, it'll only learn attacks from eating undead enemies, though it can still gain stats from eating others. Each form is more powerful, and requires eating various monsters of a specific class to proceed. For higher forms, it'll need to have eaten a specific monster (usually a boss or a particularly dangerous monster) to be able to upgrade to the new form.
That's all for today's upgrade. Thought I could squeeze more stats in but talking about the Golem Classes alone has made this entry a lot longer than I anticipated. Expect more lists in store for future updates.
