Today's idea seemed like such an obvious and fun way to combat the omnipresent irritation of spam email that I was surprised that some shareware game developer hasn't come up with it yet. Perhaps they have, though I did do a bit of checking prior to writing this entry (as I do with all my game ideas, before someone suggests otherwise).
The idea is simply thus: An anti-spam program, which you can program to check Outlook or internet e-mail accounts like any other anti-spam tool, configured with three different game modes to defeat the evil spam messages personally. Since spam is often encoded with bizarre information - if you've ever read one, they tend to have very creative means to avoid word-filters and the like, sometimes ending with several lines of bizarre idioms and passages from Great Expectations - they're ripe for being turned into a sufficiently unique set of numbers to use to create simple game environments. What this program will do is intercept the spam mail from your spam folder or what have you (after you check the email in case they're not spam first, of course) and then generate a game environment using passages from the oft text-heavy spams - using bits and pieces from the email text to create parameters and the like - and the player will have the aforementioned three game modes to "fight" the spam head-on, rather than simply (and boringly) delete them. This way, you might actually start to anticipate the next wave of "S0ft C1ali$!" and "want cheap mortgage?!" emails.
Mode 1 is simply the Barcode Battler mode, made up of RPG-ish one-on-one fights. The spam email selected will randomly generate a fighter complete with HP, Speed, Strength and Defence stats and it'll be up to your guy (which you can generate with a different spam e-mail, or simply create your own from scratch) to take it down. You can save your fighter's progress after every battle and the program can even hold onto spam emails which create fighters that are too tough for you to beat for a later rematch.
Mode 2 is a little more complex, and will need a seasoned programmer to properly come up with the right kind of generator model. It'll be an R-Type like stage with the enemy waves generated by the spam email, including the direction they fly in on and the type and difficulty of the enemy fighters. Alternatively, the spam email can be turned into some kind of big gunship boss (sort of like Panzer Dragoon's bosses, or the bosses in most rail shooters) which you take down in parts and the generated stats can be used to create all the gun turrets and weak spots for you to aim at. Perhaps the gunship can be comprised of several junk emails, and once you've destroyed one "side" of the gunship you can move onto the next.
Mode 3 is a lot like the previous mode, only instead of it being your spaceship versus a bunch of enemy ships it'll be a scrolling beat-em-up like Double Dragon. The actual stages will be pre-created for the program and be randomly selected for use. So you might get a city level, a forest level, a warehouse level and so forth, all of which will be in the program already. The enemies that show up will be generated by the email, perhaps using the generated values to make several "grunts" and one "boss", selected from existing sprites/AI in the program. The order you fight these guys, plus how many you take on in one area before moving onto the next, will also be derived from generated stats from the email.
For the rest of this update, I'll take a control email (taken from my inundated Gmail spam folder) and give examples of how it would translate into the three modes. Of course, this is prior to actually creating some kind of stat generator and the program itself, so I'm just making up stuff for the purposes of this exercise.
The email (I used one of the less pornography-related ones):
"Buy Canad1an m.e.d.l.c.a.t.i.o.n.s. Same High-Quality m e d i c a t l 0 n s as US meds do but lower prices!
Don't go to your local drug store, don't strain yourself with unnecessary prescriptions.
Everything you need at High Quality here: [link deleted]
Instant shipping, secure purchase, friendly support!
--------------
claudia t afghan codify 7 birch
cholesterol dive b chartreuse carey bmw
castor chordata athletic 5 carboxylic clifton chevy"
So, a few things to note before we start:
1) See that bit at the end? About Claudia T Afghan? That's the sort of random variable I was talking about that's added to these spam mails when they're created. Don't ask me what the purpose of it is. Maybe a form of identification or some kind of cryptogram, I have no idea. And don't really care. But they're on a lot of these spam emails and they're perfect for making some semi-unique generated models.
2) Any links or the email sender will be ignored by the program. Simply to be wary of viruses and spyware and the fact that the sender account probably belongs to a real person who's computer has been infected with spyware. Obviously this program will take great measures to delete anything with any malicious viruses attached instead of using them to generate game stuff and allowing it onto the player's PC.
So, for Mode 1:
The frequent use of the letter C will make the opponent a prolific fire magic-user (pulling this out of my ass incidentally, the generator'll probably be a lot more complex than simply how many letter Cs are in the email). It'll have high Strength also but low HP, so it shouldn't be too problematic if you hit it hard and fast.
Mode 2: It's a short email, so it won't create a very long stage or particularly complex gunship boss. Perhaps the frequent letter Cs will create some kind of crescent wave weapon the boss would use on you.
Mode 3: The very first letter of the email is a B (as in "Buy Canad1an...") so it'll use stage B, an underground nightclub stage. The Cs in this case could be used to create a bunch of thugs with chain whips? The boss will be a helicopter you have to fight, simply because helicopter bosses are a running joke for me whenever I play a new game and, lo and surprise, one shows up. Even if the stage is underground. Has anyone noticed how tough they tend to be?
In closing, I'm guessing there are various other game modes that could be programmed to accept these generated stats and turn them into some kind of short, fun arcade-like game to play during lunch breaks when you're checking your email (which is where you'll find a new batch of "levels" to play with). I simply picked these three modes because I know Mode 1 already exists for numbers generated off barcodes and I figure Mode 2 and Mode 3 aren't particularly complex genres that require much design work that may easily run off a system based on randomly generated numbers from a spam email (though I may be erroneous in that belief).
If this game is going to be a relatively inexpensive shareware game that won't take up much resources (since you'll want to open it on the PC checking the email and only play it for 15 minutes or so), the stages and graphics will probably be sort of basic. I don't know whether using models and stage backgrounds from existing games (like Streets of Rage stages for Mode 3 or models from Super R-Type for Mode 2) would be the way to go, since there would be problems with copyright. Probably a better idea to just make them from scratch.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Game Idea: Freak Show Simulator
I've been considering more Theme/Sim games recently, since they're a lot of fun to plan out ideas for. An internet pal of mine came up with an idea based around building and maintaining your own cemetary (called SimEtary); keeping mourners happy (well, satisfied with the service at least) and making sure to clear out any infestations of vampires, zombies and highschool goths sneaking in to take pictures of themselves next to the tombstones at midnight.
My idea will be on somewhat equal-footing in terms of macabre humor as it will be a simulation of one of those dodgy "off the road" attractions akin to all the giant balls of twine and flea circuses that pepper the great American highways.
Structurally, the game will play somewhere between the park management of the genre's quintessential Theme Park series and the horrific mutation management of something like Theme Hospital (or even Dungeon Keeper come to think of it). You'll need to "breed" freaks to attact customers to your sleazy corner of the woods while making sure the "attractions" don't give in to their malicious mutated natures and end up rampaging through the park. Your reputation might suffer for one thing.
You'll start off with a small clearing in the woods with a not terribly well maintained path leading from a highway of your choice - the state you choose to set up in may have its own rules and advantages, which usually balance out: for example, a well-travelled state like California may give you lots of people passing through but will also get more press coverage if something goes catastrophically wrong. After setting up the location, you'll build all the necessary parts of your park to begin: a shack for yourself to live in as well as a barn with the patented "Monster Maker" freak-making machine to lure unsuspecting clientele into expanding your menagerie of mutants.
Then all you need to do is build quarters for your "staff" to live in, making special preparations for the slightly less human members of the entourage. Whenever you recieve new guests, you can either charge them for a show (you'll need the money to keep everything running), or knock them unconscious for turning into freaks later. Or both. Eventually, you'll become too conspicuous for all the local federal forces following up all these missing person reports and will need to make a quick getaway from your freak farm, absconding with enough money to start over fresh (and possibly with a bit of extra cash than you started with previously for an improved park).
I'm thinking the actual freak-creation system will either be random (providing lots of different outcomes with minimal effort), use a recipe-type system (allowing players to experiment with different volumes of radioactive waste for different creatures, for instance) or be even more elaborate and user-defined, since sim gamers do tend to like that high-level of interactivity. Players may need to use moderation with their creations however; the less human the freaks get, the harder it will be to control them. Of course, if they can afford enough chains and manacles (or simply don't care if their creations go on killing sprees), they can feel free to make them as twisted as they want.
Followers of obscure MTV cult movies of the early 90s may recognise the general focus of this game having been lifted from the excellent Freaked (or "Hideous Mutant Freakz" as it's sometimes known), which it has been somewhat, but the game will expand far further into that universe, allowing the villain of the picture Elijah C Skuggs to experiment to his heart's content in making the perfect sideshow attraction (as well as the perfect killing machine). If anything else, I intend to make sure the game will share that same chaotic and bizarre pop culture reference humor of the movie.
My idea will be on somewhat equal-footing in terms of macabre humor as it will be a simulation of one of those dodgy "off the road" attractions akin to all the giant balls of twine and flea circuses that pepper the great American highways.
Structurally, the game will play somewhere between the park management of the genre's quintessential Theme Park series and the horrific mutation management of something like Theme Hospital (or even Dungeon Keeper come to think of it). You'll need to "breed" freaks to attact customers to your sleazy corner of the woods while making sure the "attractions" don't give in to their malicious mutated natures and end up rampaging through the park. Your reputation might suffer for one thing.
You'll start off with a small clearing in the woods with a not terribly well maintained path leading from a highway of your choice - the state you choose to set up in may have its own rules and advantages, which usually balance out: for example, a well-travelled state like California may give you lots of people passing through but will also get more press coverage if something goes catastrophically wrong. After setting up the location, you'll build all the necessary parts of your park to begin: a shack for yourself to live in as well as a barn with the patented "Monster Maker" freak-making machine to lure unsuspecting clientele into expanding your menagerie of mutants.
Then all you need to do is build quarters for your "staff" to live in, making special preparations for the slightly less human members of the entourage. Whenever you recieve new guests, you can either charge them for a show (you'll need the money to keep everything running), or knock them unconscious for turning into freaks later. Or both. Eventually, you'll become too conspicuous for all the local federal forces following up all these missing person reports and will need to make a quick getaway from your freak farm, absconding with enough money to start over fresh (and possibly with a bit of extra cash than you started with previously for an improved park).
I'm thinking the actual freak-creation system will either be random (providing lots of different outcomes with minimal effort), use a recipe-type system (allowing players to experiment with different volumes of radioactive waste for different creatures, for instance) or be even more elaborate and user-defined, since sim gamers do tend to like that high-level of interactivity. Players may need to use moderation with their creations however; the less human the freaks get, the harder it will be to control them. Of course, if they can afford enough chains and manacles (or simply don't care if their creations go on killing sprees), they can feel free to make them as twisted as they want.
Followers of obscure MTV cult movies of the early 90s may recognise the general focus of this game having been lifted from the excellent Freaked (or "Hideous Mutant Freakz" as it's sometimes known), which it has been somewhat, but the game will expand far further into that universe, allowing the villain of the picture Elijah C Skuggs to experiment to his heart's content in making the perfect sideshow attraction (as well as the perfect killing machine). If anything else, I intend to make sure the game will share that same chaotic and bizarre pop culture reference humor of the movie.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Super Smash Bros Brawl #3
After preordering the Nintendo Wii last week and listening to the ochestral soundtrack of SSB:M, I was inspired to make another one of these "stages I'd like to see in the new game" entries. This'll probably be the last SSB update before the game actually comes out, so I'll either stop doing them or just concentrate on the crazy, "no chance in hell this'll get made" ones.
#7 - Mario Stage - SMB3
Well, they've covered every other NES Mario game, so I figured they should give the best one its own stage. I have a few ideas for a Super Mario Bros 3 level they can adapt for a SSB stage:
a) World 1: Specifically, the stage with the weird square colored platforms that Mario could sneakily get behind for the first Warp Whistle of the game. Players likewise can do the same trick in this SSB stage if they find they're in trouble, and simply duck behind the level to avoid getting hit by other characters. They'll be forcibly ejected back into the ring if they stay hidden too long (otherwise games would go on forever), and they can get back by leaving the side of the screen (in that small "safety" area where they get the microscopic view before actually going too far and dying) and walking back into the arena. Pros for this stage: Interesting hiding gimmick, very memorable level. Cons: The gimmick could be abused by cowardly players.
b) World 8 (Tank): This rail level was one of the more interesting deviations from the usual Mario stage structure, in that instead of a regular geography-based platforms, Mario was right in the middle of a huge armada of tanks mobilising presumably towards the kingdoms he had just saved. Instead of being able to defeat the tanks, he had to simply get past them by jumping up and under the moving machines while avoiding their fire as they trundled along. Obviously, this stage would be one of those rail stages in SSB:M where players need to be continuously aware of their surroundings, lest they get left behind or trapped and end up losing precious lives. While difficult, I enjoyed the stage challenging players to keep and eye on each other as well as the stage itself, and I especially liked the devious tricks you could play such as stunning or otherwise debilitating someone long enough for the moving stage to finish them off.
This level could also work for any of the rail stages in SMB3, including the Submarine and Airship levels (which were a lot harder because of how easy it was to fall off and die), as well as the individual airship missions of the Koopalings at the end of each world.
c) World 2: I just liked the idea of a stage with that angry sun in it. It could randomly home in on players, perhaps choosing the one with the most health or the one doing the most damage to other players. The quicksand in those worlds could also give the players something to watch out for.
#8 - Roy/Marth Stage - Fire Emblem
These two characters were sort of downplayed in Melee for fears that not too many Western players would be familiar with the Fire Emblem series, Nintendo's (though it's actually made by Intelligent Systems) excellent Strategy RPG that has been running in Japan for a while on various Nitnendo consoles. This can be evidenced by the fact they don't even mention Fire Emblem in their bios/trophy description. They do have their own theme tune in the game, but not their own stage (using instead Hyrule Temple).
Based on the game's generally chaotic warring between two factions of fantasy-esque troops, I figure the level should be a battlefield - such as a field or castle, though somewhere memorable and specific to the newer games would work better - that is constantly being besieged from various units from the games, such as Pegasus Knights, magic archers or the various beastmen units. It would sort of work like the Pokemon stage from the first game, in that the various units/Pokémon would randomly show up and cause damage to anyone in their fixed animation path.
Obviously, the stage would be centred around the new Fire Emblem for GC in order to sell it, and it may even end up using the main character(s) from that instead of Marth or Roy (though those two are better known by fans of the series, and by fans of Super Smash Bros Melee of course). I have yet to play either of the GC games, so I sort of base my knowledge of this stage around the GBA game and a few of the earlier games I've played on emulators.
#9 - Alucard Stage - Symphony of the Night
This stage assumes that Alucard will make it into the game (he's one of the fan favorites, though there will probably be quite a few licensing issues considering Nintendo shares the license with Sony currently). Probably both the best and most disturbing of the recurring Castlevania bosses, Legion is basically a big ball of human corpses covering a malevolent psychic core that fires bolts of energy at you and otherwise attempts to crush you with the quivering mass of bodies that covers it. Legion stages tend to be very large square-ish rooms with platforms on either side to help you jump over Legion while attacking it.
The SSB stage will be the same, with Legion following a set pattern of rolling around the room and shooting energy bolts in random directions. Another one of those "be aware of your surroundings stages". I'm thinking the players could defeat Legion or make it less of a threat by taking apart its "human shield" with concentrated attacks, maybe for it to return several minutes later to avoid the rest of the match taking place in a big empty room. Like the previous stage idea, particularly cruel players may decide to stun players and leave them somewhere where they may accrue hideous damage from Mr Sunshine himself as he rolls over them.
Unlike the Castlevania level however, the stage won't be inside a box since the players would never be able to leave the screen (and therefore be invincible). The sides and ceiling will be left purposely open, perhaps allowing Legion to leave the screen and reappear somewhere else (which would be daunting for players, I think). Also, as an added annoyance, perhaps those flying medusa heads could also show up to immobilize or otherwise aggravate players already trying to dodge the Big Ol' Ball O' Bodies.
#7 - Mario Stage - SMB3
Well, they've covered every other NES Mario game, so I figured they should give the best one its own stage. I have a few ideas for a Super Mario Bros 3 level they can adapt for a SSB stage:
a) World 1: Specifically, the stage with the weird square colored platforms that Mario could sneakily get behind for the first Warp Whistle of the game. Players likewise can do the same trick in this SSB stage if they find they're in trouble, and simply duck behind the level to avoid getting hit by other characters. They'll be forcibly ejected back into the ring if they stay hidden too long (otherwise games would go on forever), and they can get back by leaving the side of the screen (in that small "safety" area where they get the microscopic view before actually going too far and dying) and walking back into the arena. Pros for this stage: Interesting hiding gimmick, very memorable level. Cons: The gimmick could be abused by cowardly players.
b) World 8 (Tank): This rail level was one of the more interesting deviations from the usual Mario stage structure, in that instead of a regular geography-based platforms, Mario was right in the middle of a huge armada of tanks mobilising presumably towards the kingdoms he had just saved. Instead of being able to defeat the tanks, he had to simply get past them by jumping up and under the moving machines while avoiding their fire as they trundled along. Obviously, this stage would be one of those rail stages in SSB:M where players need to be continuously aware of their surroundings, lest they get left behind or trapped and end up losing precious lives. While difficult, I enjoyed the stage challenging players to keep and eye on each other as well as the stage itself, and I especially liked the devious tricks you could play such as stunning or otherwise debilitating someone long enough for the moving stage to finish them off.
This level could also work for any of the rail stages in SMB3, including the Submarine and Airship levels (which were a lot harder because of how easy it was to fall off and die), as well as the individual airship missions of the Koopalings at the end of each world.
c) World 2: I just liked the idea of a stage with that angry sun in it. It could randomly home in on players, perhaps choosing the one with the most health or the one doing the most damage to other players. The quicksand in those worlds could also give the players something to watch out for.
#8 - Roy/Marth Stage - Fire Emblem
These two characters were sort of downplayed in Melee for fears that not too many Western players would be familiar with the Fire Emblem series, Nintendo's (though it's actually made by Intelligent Systems) excellent Strategy RPG that has been running in Japan for a while on various Nitnendo consoles. This can be evidenced by the fact they don't even mention Fire Emblem in their bios/trophy description. They do have their own theme tune in the game, but not their own stage (using instead Hyrule Temple).
Based on the game's generally chaotic warring between two factions of fantasy-esque troops, I figure the level should be a battlefield - such as a field or castle, though somewhere memorable and specific to the newer games would work better - that is constantly being besieged from various units from the games, such as Pegasus Knights, magic archers or the various beastmen units. It would sort of work like the Pokemon stage from the first game, in that the various units/Pokémon would randomly show up and cause damage to anyone in their fixed animation path.
Obviously, the stage would be centred around the new Fire Emblem for GC in order to sell it, and it may even end up using the main character(s) from that instead of Marth or Roy (though those two are better known by fans of the series, and by fans of Super Smash Bros Melee of course). I have yet to play either of the GC games, so I sort of base my knowledge of this stage around the GBA game and a few of the earlier games I've played on emulators.
#9 - Alucard Stage - Symphony of the Night
This stage assumes that Alucard will make it into the game (he's one of the fan favorites, though there will probably be quite a few licensing issues considering Nintendo shares the license with Sony currently). Probably both the best and most disturbing of the recurring Castlevania bosses, Legion is basically a big ball of human corpses covering a malevolent psychic core that fires bolts of energy at you and otherwise attempts to crush you with the quivering mass of bodies that covers it. Legion stages tend to be very large square-ish rooms with platforms on either side to help you jump over Legion while attacking it.
The SSB stage will be the same, with Legion following a set pattern of rolling around the room and shooting energy bolts in random directions. Another one of those "be aware of your surroundings stages". I'm thinking the players could defeat Legion or make it less of a threat by taking apart its "human shield" with concentrated attacks, maybe for it to return several minutes later to avoid the rest of the match taking place in a big empty room. Like the previous stage idea, particularly cruel players may decide to stun players and leave them somewhere where they may accrue hideous damage from Mr Sunshine himself as he rolls over them.
Unlike the Castlevania level however, the stage won't be inside a box since the players would never be able to leave the screen (and therefore be invincible). The sides and ceiling will be left purposely open, perhaps allowing Legion to leave the screen and reappear somewhere else (which would be daunting for players, I think). Also, as an added annoyance, perhaps those flying medusa heads could also show up to immobilize or otherwise aggravate players already trying to dodge the Big Ol' Ball O' Bodies.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Design Licenses #5: Invader Zim
OK, since the previous Game Idea blog entry seemed pretty similar to Invader Zim's premise, I figured I should do a Design Licenses for what I think should be in a Zim game. This entry follows on from last week's, so check that first before reading if you haven't already.
Basically, the game mechanics will be the same as last week's game idea: a sort of free-range sandbox in the form of an Earth city, in which Zim would run around (or use his ship) fulfilling mission objectives either stealthily incognito or by causing lots of incidental mayhem. There will be a few differences based on Zim's universe, which I'll list below:
* First, there'll only be the one city, which is the one depicted in the cartoon that holds all the human characters and Zim's base on Earth. It'll still be pretty big and fully explorable, with many locations from the show (such as the school and places like Bloaty's Pizza Hog and the heavily-guarded shopping mall).
* Second, instead of the mothership being the base of operations and the place where Zim sends and receives objects, it'll instead be his somewhat labyrinthe underground headquarters located under the fake "human habitat" he set up on the planet in the first episode of the show. It will still be expandable and customizable, digging extra room for new areas if needed.
* Third, Zim may end up not being the only controllable character, depending on the missions you'll be undertaking. Both Gir and Dib will have their own missions to fulfill.
* Dib's missions will involve recon of Zim's base and thwarting his plans, allowing the player to impede his own progress in taking over the planet. Some story chapters may follow the player helping Zim set up his latest scheme for dominance and then controlling Dib to stop it.
* Gir's missions will probably end up being completely off the wall and unrelated to either saving the planet or taking it over, considering Gir's charmingly chaotic disposition. Possibly in the same manner of mini-games that GTA has in abundance.
* There may even be mini-games in the form of Gaz's Game-Slave, the handheld console she's always seen playing. Other ideas for mini-games involve: Using Zim's ship to stop some orbital/outer space threat to his operation (usually ending up saving the planet he's supposed to conquer), some kind of collectible quest involving valuable radioactive material scattered around the city (that the locals don't seem to react to, despite it being deadly), Dib filming or photographing various activities of Zim's to send to "Mysteries of Strange Mysteries", a show (his favorite) which documents paranormal activity.
Generally, Zim will be going around raising funds by selling things he finds to his Irken brethren and inventing and purchasing new means to take over the planet, possibly following some research or reconnaisance of some new Earth thing he's discovered. Sometimes the players will have certain missions to follow, either given to Zim by the Tallest (the leaders of his race) or inspired by something he learned about Earth from watching TV. He may even be in direct competition from other Invaders on other worlds - which he can monitor from his base - and being successful at various missions will put his own Invader Rank higher and provide him with better equipment and praise from the Tallest. Short of actually taking over the planet, raising his Invader Rank and pleasing his superiors will be Zim's biggest concerns.
As far as I know, there isn't a Zim game currently out or being made, considering its relatively short lifespan compared to other Nicktoons. This is probably a good thing so far, since Nicktoon licenses tend to become the least inspired games on the market (an observartion which is frequently made by critics and developers alike). The guys and gals behind Zim (including the creator, Jhonen Vasquez) seem like pretty cool people though, so they might have decent ideas of their own for a video game should the opportunity to make one ever arise.
Interestingly, I even found this in an interview Vasquez did with IGN:
"ZIM could have been a children's' television version of Mork and Mindy, with zany misunderstandings of Earth customs and a moral at the end, but that's not at all what I wanted to make (even though a show like that would have likely been a monstrous hit, spawning hoards of negligible Gameboy games)."
He may have a point with that final bit...
Basically, the game mechanics will be the same as last week's game idea: a sort of free-range sandbox in the form of an Earth city, in which Zim would run around (or use his ship) fulfilling mission objectives either stealthily incognito or by causing lots of incidental mayhem. There will be a few differences based on Zim's universe, which I'll list below:
* First, there'll only be the one city, which is the one depicted in the cartoon that holds all the human characters and Zim's base on Earth. It'll still be pretty big and fully explorable, with many locations from the show (such as the school and places like Bloaty's Pizza Hog and the heavily-guarded shopping mall).
* Second, instead of the mothership being the base of operations and the place where Zim sends and receives objects, it'll instead be his somewhat labyrinthe underground headquarters located under the fake "human habitat" he set up on the planet in the first episode of the show. It will still be expandable and customizable, digging extra room for new areas if needed.
* Third, Zim may end up not being the only controllable character, depending on the missions you'll be undertaking. Both Gir and Dib will have their own missions to fulfill.
* Dib's missions will involve recon of Zim's base and thwarting his plans, allowing the player to impede his own progress in taking over the planet. Some story chapters may follow the player helping Zim set up his latest scheme for dominance and then controlling Dib to stop it.
* Gir's missions will probably end up being completely off the wall and unrelated to either saving the planet or taking it over, considering Gir's charmingly chaotic disposition. Possibly in the same manner of mini-games that GTA has in abundance.
* There may even be mini-games in the form of Gaz's Game-Slave, the handheld console she's always seen playing. Other ideas for mini-games involve: Using Zim's ship to stop some orbital/outer space threat to his operation (usually ending up saving the planet he's supposed to conquer), some kind of collectible quest involving valuable radioactive material scattered around the city (that the locals don't seem to react to, despite it being deadly), Dib filming or photographing various activities of Zim's to send to "Mysteries of Strange Mysteries", a show (his favorite) which documents paranormal activity.
Generally, Zim will be going around raising funds by selling things he finds to his Irken brethren and inventing and purchasing new means to take over the planet, possibly following some research or reconnaisance of some new Earth thing he's discovered. Sometimes the players will have certain missions to follow, either given to Zim by the Tallest (the leaders of his race) or inspired by something he learned about Earth from watching TV. He may even be in direct competition from other Invaders on other worlds - which he can monitor from his base - and being successful at various missions will put his own Invader Rank higher and provide him with better equipment and praise from the Tallest. Short of actually taking over the planet, raising his Invader Rank and pleasing his superiors will be Zim's biggest concerns.
As far as I know, there isn't a Zim game currently out or being made, considering its relatively short lifespan compared to other Nicktoons. This is probably a good thing so far, since Nicktoon licenses tend to become the least inspired games on the market (an observartion which is frequently made by critics and developers alike). The guys and gals behind Zim (including the creator, Jhonen Vasquez) seem like pretty cool people though, so they might have decent ideas of their own for a video game should the opportunity to make one ever arise.
Interestingly, I even found this in an interview Vasquez did with IGN:
"ZIM could have been a children's' television version of Mork and Mindy, with zany misunderstandings of Earth customs and a moral at the end, but that's not at all what I wanted to make (even though a show like that would have likely been a monstrous hit, spawning hoards of negligible Gameboy games)."
He may have a point with that final bit...
Friday, September 29, 2006
Game Idea: Alien Abduction
OK, today's idea is one that sort of blends elements from GTA and the sort of collect-a-thons I'm always going on about. You play as an alien (which is a pretty popular topic for me, since the concept of aliens is something which is highly variable and has a lot of scope for imagination) who has visited Earth to research the place for an invasion. Sounds pretty Invader Zim so far, so I'll quantify what exactly our alien friend is doing here and how he goes about doing it.
He has various objectives on the planet, which take place on locations all over Earth. His first and foremost is the research itself, which can be done by surreptitiously stealing and "beaming up" various samples of fauna and flora, before moving onto things like Earthling technology and valuable minerals. The alien is also interested in the culture of the planet, though without making it too educational, it plans to take as many examples from one fandom as possible (say the alien is interested in Sci-Fi, so it steals toy robots until it has upgraded the ship to be powerful enough to steal the 60ft long plastic UFO sign from a themed diner). Ideally, it should try to do this under the cover of darkness to avoid arousing suspicion with all these mysterious thefts for as long as possible.
He can choose to be discrete about his extra-terrestrial activities, or go nuts firing on the populance while fulfilling his goals, generally having a harder time of it but will ultimately having more fun. You'll be disguised as a human, though the disguise will be pretty poor to start with, so you'll be hiding in shadows a lot for the first half of the game. It'll be more sophisticated as you upgrade that element of your reconnaissance, allowing you to get into more places by fooling the Earthlings guarding the building. You'll still have a hard time avoiding UFO nuts and the local law enforcement and like GTA, repeated exposure brings up a sort of "sightings" star system which when filled up brings FBI and Black Ops types snooping around following up all these reports of an extra-terrestrial visitor. These stars show up whenever you're spotted doing something odd, such as beaming an item back to your ship while someone's watching or fluffing a conversation with an Earthling (sometimes amusingly) by saying something very wrong.
Again, similar to GTA, the world you'll be visiting will be several cities large with a lot of space between areas. Your "Flight of the Navigator"-like ship can transport you between cities quickly enough (good if you've been spotted one to many times in one area) but you can still explore the planet itself if you tire of the cities full of people. Of course the planet will be down in scale somewhat compared to the cities (the available cities will probably be whatever scale GTA:SA was, around 1:50 I think, with the planet being closer to 1:1000). I plan to make the cities a lot more explorable than most of these types of game allow, by actually letting you enter practically all the buildings and taking whatever's inside (though with stealth if possible).
Gameplay will flow in sorties to the planet, beaming a certain amount of objects per day (in a certain amount of total volume per day, based on your ship's cargo hold) from all over the planet and storing or selling them through your intergalactic contacts through interested parties. You may accept missions where a gourmet restaurant wants so many special food items (such as cows or sodas, or maybe even humans) or a rich citizen wants artifacts a certain color (so you'd be hunting around for purple objects, in a sort of homage to Bart Vs The Space Mutants). Selling goods and acquiring various rare specimens increases your funding and reputation, which go towards ship upgrades and equipment to assist you "on the job". The following list has the sort of upgrades I'm thinking of at the moment:
Disguise: Upgradeable from your original model. Currently, your disguise is only vaguely human and you can be easily spotted by any human as not being "local" if you're too close or in bright light. With upgrades, it'll be easier to convince Earthlings you're one of them and eventually convince them you're someone important enough that they would let into their homes or banks. Eventually, you may even be able to turn yourself invisible and avoid the humans altogether. A side-quest to acquire a better "human suit" may involve abducting a certain amount of test subjects to use for a convincing disguise, making the game slightly macabre as you walk around with pieces of people sewed on you trying to blend in.
Zapper: A weapon that discharges a certain amount of power can have all sorts of uses, ranging from shorting-out security devices to briefly stunning humans. Upgrades would allow you to charge things like generators or battery-operated gizmos with a sharper degree of accuracy (whereas normally you may end up frying electronic equipment with the wrong voltage).
Cargo Hold: A ship upgrade, you can use this to increase the size of the objects you'll be transporting from Earth. You can configure it to expand your capacity for biological specimens also. Initially, you'll only be able to beam certain sized objects a very limited amount of times, so in the early stages you'll want to beam worthwhile stuff only. Keep in mind a unique sample will be worth a lot more than the second and third pieces of that sample, so even the first piece of trash beamed off the planet will be valuable to start with (though you could probably avoid beaming up any more like it).
Transporter Beam: Another ship upgrade, this will be handy for moving huge objects from the planet. To start with you'll have a severe size restriction as to the type of things you can transport, probably limiting you to things smaller than a soccerball. The beam will need to be upgraded in tandem with your cargo hold in order to hold the bigger items.
So instead of a just a regular "aliens take over the planet" game, many variations of which have already been made (from the perspective of the attacking aliens and the defending humans alike), the alien in this case is simply using the planet to get rich and achieve fame and power before taking the planet by force, using what it has learned to take us out. It'd be cool to sort of take on an Invader Zim sense of morbidness and the humor inherent in the major culture clash of a vicious imperial alien race and the otherwise backwoods inferior human race, but the chances are the game will need to veer away from that angle to avoid too many comparisons.
He has various objectives on the planet, which take place on locations all over Earth. His first and foremost is the research itself, which can be done by surreptitiously stealing and "beaming up" various samples of fauna and flora, before moving onto things like Earthling technology and valuable minerals. The alien is also interested in the culture of the planet, though without making it too educational, it plans to take as many examples from one fandom as possible (say the alien is interested in Sci-Fi, so it steals toy robots until it has upgraded the ship to be powerful enough to steal the 60ft long plastic UFO sign from a themed diner). Ideally, it should try to do this under the cover of darkness to avoid arousing suspicion with all these mysterious thefts for as long as possible.
He can choose to be discrete about his extra-terrestrial activities, or go nuts firing on the populance while fulfilling his goals, generally having a harder time of it but will ultimately having more fun. You'll be disguised as a human, though the disguise will be pretty poor to start with, so you'll be hiding in shadows a lot for the first half of the game. It'll be more sophisticated as you upgrade that element of your reconnaissance, allowing you to get into more places by fooling the Earthlings guarding the building. You'll still have a hard time avoiding UFO nuts and the local law enforcement and like GTA, repeated exposure brings up a sort of "sightings" star system which when filled up brings FBI and Black Ops types snooping around following up all these reports of an extra-terrestrial visitor. These stars show up whenever you're spotted doing something odd, such as beaming an item back to your ship while someone's watching or fluffing a conversation with an Earthling (sometimes amusingly) by saying something very wrong.
Again, similar to GTA, the world you'll be visiting will be several cities large with a lot of space between areas. Your "Flight of the Navigator"-like ship can transport you between cities quickly enough (good if you've been spotted one to many times in one area) but you can still explore the planet itself if you tire of the cities full of people. Of course the planet will be down in scale somewhat compared to the cities (the available cities will probably be whatever scale GTA:SA was, around 1:50 I think, with the planet being closer to 1:1000). I plan to make the cities a lot more explorable than most of these types of game allow, by actually letting you enter practically all the buildings and taking whatever's inside (though with stealth if possible).
Gameplay will flow in sorties to the planet, beaming a certain amount of objects per day (in a certain amount of total volume per day, based on your ship's cargo hold) from all over the planet and storing or selling them through your intergalactic contacts through interested parties. You may accept missions where a gourmet restaurant wants so many special food items (such as cows or sodas, or maybe even humans) or a rich citizen wants artifacts a certain color (so you'd be hunting around for purple objects, in a sort of homage to Bart Vs The Space Mutants). Selling goods and acquiring various rare specimens increases your funding and reputation, which go towards ship upgrades and equipment to assist you "on the job". The following list has the sort of upgrades I'm thinking of at the moment:
Disguise: Upgradeable from your original model. Currently, your disguise is only vaguely human and you can be easily spotted by any human as not being "local" if you're too close or in bright light. With upgrades, it'll be easier to convince Earthlings you're one of them and eventually convince them you're someone important enough that they would let into their homes or banks. Eventually, you may even be able to turn yourself invisible and avoid the humans altogether. A side-quest to acquire a better "human suit" may involve abducting a certain amount of test subjects to use for a convincing disguise, making the game slightly macabre as you walk around with pieces of people sewed on you trying to blend in.
Zapper: A weapon that discharges a certain amount of power can have all sorts of uses, ranging from shorting-out security devices to briefly stunning humans. Upgrades would allow you to charge things like generators or battery-operated gizmos with a sharper degree of accuracy (whereas normally you may end up frying electronic equipment with the wrong voltage).
Cargo Hold: A ship upgrade, you can use this to increase the size of the objects you'll be transporting from Earth. You can configure it to expand your capacity for biological specimens also. Initially, you'll only be able to beam certain sized objects a very limited amount of times, so in the early stages you'll want to beam worthwhile stuff only. Keep in mind a unique sample will be worth a lot more than the second and third pieces of that sample, so even the first piece of trash beamed off the planet will be valuable to start with (though you could probably avoid beaming up any more like it).
Transporter Beam: Another ship upgrade, this will be handy for moving huge objects from the planet. To start with you'll have a severe size restriction as to the type of things you can transport, probably limiting you to things smaller than a soccerball. The beam will need to be upgraded in tandem with your cargo hold in order to hold the bigger items.
So instead of a just a regular "aliens take over the planet" game, many variations of which have already been made (from the perspective of the attacking aliens and the defending humans alike), the alien in this case is simply using the planet to get rich and achieve fame and power before taking the planet by force, using what it has learned to take us out. It'd be cool to sort of take on an Invader Zim sense of morbidness and the humor inherent in the major culture clash of a vicious imperial alien race and the otherwise backwoods inferior human race, but the chances are the game will need to veer away from that angle to avoid too many comparisons.
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