*** Note: I'm now the owner of a shiny Nintendo Wii (at long friggin' last) so not only is this a note to say "I'll be playing the Wii a lot instead of updating regularly like I'm supposed to" but also to say "look out for Wii-related ideas in the future now I know how the technology works first-hand".***
So, this is a new section where instead of taking a genre or license to build a game idea around, I take a single element of.. well, anything, really. Generally pop-culture related, but often just a setting or item pulled out of thin air. I then try to craft some sort of newish game idea around that element. It's sort of like an Iron Chef (Steel Designer?) ingredient, if you will.
I'll just do a quick summary of dinosaurs in video games first of all. Usually standard fodder in various RPGs and Prehistoric-themed Action/Adventure games, dinosaurs are just mindless beasts that happen to be really friggin' big. Games that have put a little more focus into Dinosaurs include the Jurassic Park series of games (especially the Genesis version of the first movie, which allowed you to play as "the Raptor" following a storyline mirroring Dr. Alan Grant's) and the Res Evil-esque Dino Crisis. Tomb Raider is another series that likes to give you dinosaur-related challenges when you least expect them, including a T-Rex that comes out of nowhere midway into the first game. Turok was a famous console FPS series which identified the eponymous hero as a "dinosaur hunter", and so dinosaurs were regular enemies in the games.
You usually get the antagonistic and intelligent Raptors as common but dangerous adversaries in these games, whereas the gigantic and considerably more powerful T-Rex-types usually only show up as supertough bosses or as a challenge you cannot defeat with force alone and so must find another way of getting past them.
For this game idea, I'm considering taking the raptor protagonist idea and taking it to the next level: a game that utilizes their hunting pack structure. Half RTS and half squad-based strategy/action, your job as alpha raptor is to procure food for your clan/group by organising hunting parties and defending the creche (nursery) from harmful predators. As the younger raptors grow up, you can select them to join you in taking down bigger prey more rapidly. As your numbers grow, so too will the size of the dinosaurs you will be able to defeat as a group.
Your first task is to set up a nest in your beginning area and then scout around for smaller prey. This exploration is done on a scaled map, and functions in the same way as a map in an RTS game does. While exploring you can scroll back to the base to see how they're faring (and you'll receive warnings while away from the nest if something happens to it). Though limited in what you can effectively "build" (raptors aren't known for their technological prowess: opening doors is pretty much it), your nest area will advance as you naturally discover ways of protecting the eggs using the nearby geography. For example, you could block off one path heading towards your nest area by employing a gang of raptors to push a boulder from its place on a hill onto the offending path, protecting it from wandering predators.
Like most RTS games, you'll only grow as far as you need to to achieve the goal for that map/campaign; this goal condition may be increasing the size of your nest area to cover a certain percentage of the screen, or to have a large army of hunter raptors under your command, or even destroying one particularly deadly predator nearby thereby guaranteeing safety for all nests in the predator's territory. Once this goal is complete, you can move onto the next map and start anew.
The combat in the game will be squad-based, as stated previously. You'll need to scout a potential target and its movement patterns to find out when it is at its most vulnerable and then take it down with your raptors. Most prey in the game have a certain raptor requirement for you to defeat (which is given as an approximate number of raptors needed), but like the measures you can take to protect the nest, you can also employ tactics to take down huge creatures or at least injuring them for your raptors to finish off. If pressed, you can drag down the creature's energy with constant quick hit-and-run attacks (though be careful of retribution) or flank it so that your raptors can attack from an angle where they are safe (usually best to avoid the target's tail or mouth). Since the RTS map is out of scale, the game will "zoom in" on a target as you approach it so you can more effectively mount an attack. Like with most real-time squad strategy games, your raptor will be able to bark commands to his subordinates, instructing them to stay clear or attack when it is most opportune.
Though the game loses something in the strategy area by doing away with building, it also adds a pure strategic feel to the game in its place. You have nothing but your wits and your instincts to help you in this ancient world full of danger, and there's no excessive amounts of power plants or tanks in reserve there to save you. If the squad-based raptor combat system ends up being as fun as I visualise it (sic-ing half a dozen hungry raptors on an unsuspecting triceratops at a watering hole, for instance) then this could be something worth spending an inordinate amount of time on. But then the chances of something like this being made (if it hasn't already; I don't follow the RTS market that closely) are pretty good already, so I shouldn't worry.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Friday, February 09, 2007
New Update
The first part of my top ten favoritest games ever was supposed to be this week's update, but since I started it several days ago and Blogger is such a bitchy bitch bitch man, it's actually dated 29/01/07 and is somewhere else in the blog now instead of the front page. So there. Definitely updated this week.
Later this week: A game about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are still cool, right?
Later this week: A game about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are still cool, right?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Game Idea: Godhood
This idea is strongly focused around the (hopefully somewhat novel, though I'm not as well-read as I sometimes appear) plot, below:
In the fantasy world of Miret-Nida, the creators left behind an edict that all "caretaker deities" (of infinitely lesser power to the creators) be selected to guide and assist mortalkind with their ventures. Although blessed with fantastic power, well beyond human understanding, they are themselves mortal and eventually perish after several thousand years or through continuous, sheer exhaustion of their powers - usually a combination of both.
This is understood by all living creatures of the world, as is the prophecy that all Gods must be replaced upon death by a mortal of their choosing. Resenting that the choice of godhood is out of their hands, several evil elements plan in secret to usurp the transfer of godly power between the dying god and chosen vessel and use that channelled power to choose their own deity. These cults spring up as soon as a God is chosen and continually build their membership through the eras as their patron God edges closer to their demise. This is where you come in.
You are (kind of obviously, I suppose) the next to receive the powers of the Sun God, who is currently a quick-witted but kindly old man who has visited you since you were a child and is generally beloved among his subjects. A man that you treat almost as a grandfather. His true nature had been concealed from you until he eventually dies saving a grand city (one entirely devoted to the Sun God) and their just ruler from a mighty evil armada (one united with the God of Storms), part of an ongoing war that is the backdrop of the adventure. Despite being told of your immediate boost in power and ascension to Godhood, you instead receive a maddening burst of information and images which just as quickly disappears. It is enough to warn you about a mysterious cult and a group of assassins that are on their way to kill you in your sleep, and so you make preparations and escape your home. You head to the above big city for answers.
Now, the game itself: I'm sort of pitching it as an Action/Adventure with elements of Point & Click and RPG-esque power-gaining. You are a regular citizen of the world with no acquired martial training (though you are eventually - and quickly - taught how to use a sword) but you do have a subdued amount of divine power that the cult (your antagonists throughout the game) could not siphon from you in time. This small amount of godly power increases upon the death of cult members and the acquisition of artifacts on their persons. You discover that your power, being too much for any of the priests of the cult to handle alone (being unworthy as they are) have been channeled instead into solid gold objects - gold being the preferred conductor of sun energy. Occasionally, you'll fight monstrous bosses created through sun energy-enriched objects (such as a golden tiger statuette coming to life), and defeating them will rechannel the power used to create them into yourself giving you a huge boost.
Initially, all you have are visions which are small bursts of your godlike omniscience acting on you. Not only can you effectively predict the future with these, but they can also give you entire lessons and techniques of any kind of discipline almost instantaneously. This comes in useful during parts of the game where you suddenly need to know how to fight effectively hand-to-hand or drive a chariot, either of which would be difficult enough without trained assassins on your tail. You'll also acquire RPG-like stats, including the ubiquitous Health Points, Strength and Speed stats which raise from "regular human" to "trained human" to "superhuman" and beyond as you gain in power.
Throughout the game, you'll have your spiritual advisor (that is to say, a spirit that advises you) in the form of the previous Sun God to assist you with Godlike duties and powers and will also help somewhat in investigating where your powers went. He'll also provide much of the humor to the plot. Like a wacky ex-God ghost sidekick advisor guy. Maybe.
I'm also hoping to incorporate some Dragon Lair/Shenmue/Fahrenheit-like fast button modes for the times when you need to deftly avoid attempts on your life by various agents of the cult, using a sort of slow-motion "omniscience mode" as you predict or calculate sword attacks, arrow trajectories, precarious furnishings about to hit you (such as columns falling on you) and other disasters while you either escape or take down your pursuers.
For the overall visual style, I want to go for a sort of "Aztec at-the-peak-of-its-civilisation" feel to match all the Sun God and golden treasures narrative elements. The allusions to the enemy fleet being Spanish Conquistadors, only assisted by divine storms instead of modern technology (for the 1500s anyway), could work out pretty well too. However the setting may be moved around if the project ever becomes too much like Fahrenheit/The Indigo Prophecy (since that also used Mayan mythology). It is a fantasy world, so it wouldn't be a stretch have an Aztec city full of warriors with styles from medival England or ancient feudal Japan (since the cult assassins may end up using both). Thank gods for fantasy universes where nothing needs to be geographically logical.
In the fantasy world of Miret-Nida, the creators left behind an edict that all "caretaker deities" (of infinitely lesser power to the creators) be selected to guide and assist mortalkind with their ventures. Although blessed with fantastic power, well beyond human understanding, they are themselves mortal and eventually perish after several thousand years or through continuous, sheer exhaustion of their powers - usually a combination of both.
This is understood by all living creatures of the world, as is the prophecy that all Gods must be replaced upon death by a mortal of their choosing. Resenting that the choice of godhood is out of their hands, several evil elements plan in secret to usurp the transfer of godly power between the dying god and chosen vessel and use that channelled power to choose their own deity. These cults spring up as soon as a God is chosen and continually build their membership through the eras as their patron God edges closer to their demise. This is where you come in.
You are (kind of obviously, I suppose) the next to receive the powers of the Sun God, who is currently a quick-witted but kindly old man who has visited you since you were a child and is generally beloved among his subjects. A man that you treat almost as a grandfather. His true nature had been concealed from you until he eventually dies saving a grand city (one entirely devoted to the Sun God) and their just ruler from a mighty evil armada (one united with the God of Storms), part of an ongoing war that is the backdrop of the adventure. Despite being told of your immediate boost in power and ascension to Godhood, you instead receive a maddening burst of information and images which just as quickly disappears. It is enough to warn you about a mysterious cult and a group of assassins that are on their way to kill you in your sleep, and so you make preparations and escape your home. You head to the above big city for answers.
Now, the game itself: I'm sort of pitching it as an Action/Adventure with elements of Point & Click and RPG-esque power-gaining. You are a regular citizen of the world with no acquired martial training (though you are eventually - and quickly - taught how to use a sword) but you do have a subdued amount of divine power that the cult (your antagonists throughout the game) could not siphon from you in time. This small amount of godly power increases upon the death of cult members and the acquisition of artifacts on their persons. You discover that your power, being too much for any of the priests of the cult to handle alone (being unworthy as they are) have been channeled instead into solid gold objects - gold being the preferred conductor of sun energy. Occasionally, you'll fight monstrous bosses created through sun energy-enriched objects (such as a golden tiger statuette coming to life), and defeating them will rechannel the power used to create them into yourself giving you a huge boost.
Initially, all you have are visions which are small bursts of your godlike omniscience acting on you. Not only can you effectively predict the future with these, but they can also give you entire lessons and techniques of any kind of discipline almost instantaneously. This comes in useful during parts of the game where you suddenly need to know how to fight effectively hand-to-hand or drive a chariot, either of which would be difficult enough without trained assassins on your tail. You'll also acquire RPG-like stats, including the ubiquitous Health Points, Strength and Speed stats which raise from "regular human" to "trained human" to "superhuman" and beyond as you gain in power.
Throughout the game, you'll have your spiritual advisor (that is to say, a spirit that advises you) in the form of the previous Sun God to assist you with Godlike duties and powers and will also help somewhat in investigating where your powers went. He'll also provide much of the humor to the plot. Like a wacky ex-God ghost sidekick advisor guy. Maybe.
I'm also hoping to incorporate some Dragon Lair/Shenmue/Fahrenheit-like fast button modes for the times when you need to deftly avoid attempts on your life by various agents of the cult, using a sort of slow-motion "omniscience mode" as you predict or calculate sword attacks, arrow trajectories, precarious furnishings about to hit you (such as columns falling on you) and other disasters while you either escape or take down your pursuers.
For the overall visual style, I want to go for a sort of "Aztec at-the-peak-of-its-civilisation" feel to match all the Sun God and golden treasures narrative elements. The allusions to the enemy fleet being Spanish Conquistadors, only assisted by divine storms instead of modern technology (for the 1500s anyway), could work out pretty well too. However the setting may be moved around if the project ever becomes too much like Fahrenheit/The Indigo Prophecy (since that also used Mayan mythology). It is a fantasy world, so it wouldn't be a stretch have an Aztec city full of warriors with styles from medival England or ancient feudal Japan (since the cult assassins may end up using both). Thank gods for fantasy universes where nothing needs to be geographically logical.
Monday, January 29, 2007
My Top Ten (Part 1)
I was loathe to do this blog entry, simply because it exists in so many forms with better writers than I explaining what their favorite games are and why they were chosen. I figured these games were mostly responsible for how I approach game ideas and will probably explain a great deal about the ones I've created in the past, which is why I decided to put this list together. Like a "Behind the Scenes" feature, almost.
Generally, though, in most other cases I hate lists like these. A regular player has no reason to trust my opinions more than anyone else's (especially their own), a fact that seems to go over the heads of the general population of game reviewers out there. The inception of this whole idea blog was to bring something new to the internet besides more opinions that the world of gamers couldn't care less about (and instead have game ideas that the world of gamers couldn't care less about), so I'd only recommend reading it for the background thing I mentioned above and to at least try these games if you haven't before. My advice has always been to try out any game you like the idea of, or if the graphical style grabs you or if you've been a fan of games from that series or genre in the past. Common sense, I suppose, as is telling you to rent things before buying. I'll stop insulting y'alls intelligence and move on then, why not.
A last note: I've never claimed to be one of those aficionados - "hardcore" in the collector's sense - that have played a lot of $200 games for systems that were only around for 3 months before sinking or were only released in Japan (looking at you, Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood). So keep in mind that until I've played every game that's ever existed (unlikely), this list is not final.
10. Space Crusade
Gremlin Graphics
Amiga 500+/Atari ST 520+/C64
1992
Space Crusade was the first major Warhammer 40k game ever created that perfectly encapsulated that epic board-game of strategic warfare. You were limited to a squad of five marines (with a powerful Commander leading the charge) and were assigned missions on various creepy derelict ships or "Space Hulks" that had become host to various malevolent forces, sort of like the creepy spaceship from Event Horizon. While often generic and repetitive, these missions frequently challenged players by randomly assigning their stock of enemies over the stage, and the players could be easily taken down by approaching a force they are ill-equipped to deal with. Enemies could randomly appear in a corridor as you walked into it, or would ambush you in rooms as you passed. You had the ability to scan for lifeforms, but these lifeforms would then immediately know your position and hone in on you from all corners. Add to this Xenomorph-esque Soulsuckers (which are usually called Genestealers in WH40k), who would often drop down from just above you, and you have a game with the type of atmosphere that survival horrors and their ilk continually strive for to this day.
What I credit the most to this game was how it started my thing for strategy games, especially the squad-based ones like FFT or Vandal Hearts (both are well into my top 50, which I won't be covering any time soon). The fact that your men - though well-trained and genetically modified - were still human meant that they were frequently no match for some of the greater dangers that came your way. The only real way to survive was to act like a squad and approach danger methodically instead of charging in. Your strategy became all the more involved when you use the other two marine "chapters" (there are three in total), whom have different equipment and require a completely different approach to missions. Best of all, a friend (or two) could assume these other rival marine squads and be pitted directly against you, as you chase down each other as well as the mission objectives. Suddenly a small game (it only has 12 missions, a lot of which are interchangeable) becomes a huge game, simply through brilliant design and a desire to continually challenge the dark and unknown.
It had an expansion pack too, called The Voyage Beyond.
9. Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Sucker Punch Productions
Sony PS2
2004
Although a militant Nintendo fanboy, I have to grudgingly pass the crown to the Sony PS2 for the previous generation of consoles. Although plagued with faults with the technology and frequent crashes and system failures (my PS2 has yet to be affected, though it lost its drive cover a while ago), its game library has always been its biggest strength. Since multi-platform games tended to look better on the other two systems, what set the PS2 apart were its uniques. No other console put quite the emphasis on Platformers and RPGs (my two favorite genres), and the number of excellent PS2 Platformers is renowned.
The first Sly Raccoon was an excellent game in its own right. Some fans still prefer it to the two sequels. Although slightly generic with simple puzzles and a slightly forced stealth element, it was a solid gaming experience with some beautiful cel-shaded graphics which they, along with the overall comic book noir style, gave it a very distinct character - always a plus for a genre inundated with soulless child-pleasers. The sequel, in my eyes, blew it away.
You follow Sly Raccoon, daring Master Thief, and his two cohorts Bentley ("the Brains") and Murray ("the Muscle") as they plan a series of robberies to prevent a group of criminal masterminds from resurrecting the antagonist of the first game. Gone are the linear, straightforward levels of the first game and replaced with massive free-form stages with various points of interest to explore. Each stage starts with a reconnaissance level with Sly spying on the said points of interest (usually the weakest point of the level, since it involves nothing but hiding and photography), and relaying the information to Bentley who forms the master plan. The rest of the level involves putting the genius heist to work through various steps, possibly by finding some way to turn off the alarms or freeing a character who will come in useful later. The level then ends with the daring heist and getaway, in which you see all of the previous stages of the plan come together wonderfully. Each of these chapters of the game is a full game experience in of itself, and there are five or six more chapters like it to follow.
8. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Nautilus/Midway
Sony PS2
2004
The thing that impressed me the most with Shadow Hearts: Covenant is how vastly it improved on the sequel. Because of the nature of video games being half artistic vision and half technological competence, a game's sequel can (and often does) end up becoming much greater than the original, something almost unheard of in the movie/book world. Although the story's creativity suffers from what is essentially a repeated tale (though SH:C does a good job tackling a completely new plot by building on the original and expanding it), the game is significantly larger with many plot twists to become a more "complete" vision of what the designer(s) had in mind for the first game. A sequel that far exceeds the original (even if the original was already excellent, as is the case here) is something I (and I suspect everyone else) always loves to see.
Without giving too much of the storyline away (it's a vast, sprawling tale that continues from where it left off in the last game) you resume the role of a Japanese boy named Yuri who is blessed/cursed (depending on who you ask) with the power of "harmonixing", which is basically taking the demonic power from creatures you defeat and using them to change shape, in a story set in the middle of World War 1. Borrowing quite heavily from Christian/Aramaic/Japanese mythology and occasionally authors such as Lovecraft, the game is like a twisted view of world history where demons and angels directly intervene with the Great War and untold horrors lurk directly beneath the dying soldiers of the Somme, waiting for the mortal world to tear itself open to let them out. Despite the apocalyptic foreboding, however, the game is also rife with humorous interchanges and memorable bit players and recurring roles.
The greatest strength of this game is the Judgement Ring, which effectively takes the stolid "mash the X button" battle systems of similar RPGs and turns them instead into challenges of skill. The damage you give and receive is based on a timing-heavy mini-game, allowing you to play it safe (clicking a wide "hit" area allows you to give normal damage) or risking it all for a critical strike (which is a much smaller "critical" band of red after the "hit" area) by pressing the X button on a spinning clock as accurately as possible. As you get better, you can change the Judgement Ring in various ways to provide greater challenges with better awards. Likewise, many of the status effects of the game will directly affect the Judgement Ring instead of the character directly, either by shrinking it, making it faster or, worse still, making the "hit" areas invisible to you.
7. Katamari Damacy/We Love Katamari
Namco
Sony PS2
2004
A good year for video games, you might say. To be fair, this entry is actually for We <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Katamari, since the original was never released here, but I included the original in the entry since they're practically identical (I've been told the original had better music too). Where to start with Katamari? The basic goal of the game is to roll up a "katamari" or sphere by steadily increasing its mass by hitting objects that are smaller than the katamari itself, thereby collecting them in the katamari's gravitational field (from what I can understand, though it could just be the Katamaris are sticky). As it increases in mass, it is able to pick up larger objects, which boosts its mass further still. You could start with paperclips and build up to VHS cassettes and then soccer balls and then household pets, people, trees, houses...
As well as the goofy premise, you're also provided with a set of intuitive controls regarding the control of the sphere, allowing you a range of maneuvers such as rolling it to the side or reversing the direction on the fly if you so choose. The stages are timed, forcing you to find the best route through the cluttered settings to build up the katamari to the goal height as quickly as possible, piling on the bonuses for getting it even bigger than necessary. Add to this several catchy tunes, a large dose of insane humor, a collection subquest with an inventory in the thousands and you've got something that I personally couldn't put down for weeks. But then so much has been said about Katamari Damacy and so many people have tried it already that any further exposition on my part would be moot.
6. Secret of Mana
Squaresoft (now Square-Enix)
Super Nintendo
1993/94
Secret of Mana was the first ever Console RPG I ever played, so there is some element of nostalgia regarding its appointment to the sixth spot. To say I was hooked would've been an understatement.
The second of the Seiken Densetsu series of games (often just called the "Mana" series over here, due to the word "Mana" being in most of the titles of the English-language releases), Secret of Mana followed a party of three different characters as they fought an evil empire in an effort to save the world. Sort of a trite storyline by today's standards, but the 1993 version of me was blown away by the vastness of the story, as it took you all over the world in an effort to gain the powers of the Mana Spirits and prevent the resurrection of the Mana Fortress, a giant flying mechanical castle with unimaginable power. In fact, in many ways I would say this game was inspired by the Hayao Miyazaki movie Castle in the Sky, but that would probably just be me being a nerd.
Forgoing the standard turn-based RPG combat of other, slightly more famous Square titles around at the time, all the battles in Secret of Mana were real-time, meaning you had to be cautious and strike when the timing was right. Though Real-Time combat is now a popular design choice in later RPGs (most notably ChronoTrigger, which I dropped from the top ten in favor of this entry), Secret of Mana was one of the first proper Console RPGs to try it, and they nailed it perfectly. The gameplay was solid, grinding spell/weapon levels was rewarded but usually unnecessary (as it should be) and the 3-person multiplayer element made the whole experience even more fun. A perfect introduction to what would later become my favorite console genre.
OK, so, this thing's rambled on enough. If I ever get the notion to continue the list (that is to say: if, like this week, I'm unable to think of an idea in time) I'll reveal the top five games that I consider to be gaming crack. Until then, more nonsense about game ideas. Probably.
Generally, though, in most other cases I hate lists like these. A regular player has no reason to trust my opinions more than anyone else's (especially their own), a fact that seems to go over the heads of the general population of game reviewers out there. The inception of this whole idea blog was to bring something new to the internet besides more opinions that the world of gamers couldn't care less about (and instead have game ideas that the world of gamers couldn't care less about), so I'd only recommend reading it for the background thing I mentioned above and to at least try these games if you haven't before. My advice has always been to try out any game you like the idea of, or if the graphical style grabs you or if you've been a fan of games from that series or genre in the past. Common sense, I suppose, as is telling you to rent things before buying. I'll stop insulting y'alls intelligence and move on then, why not.
A last note: I've never claimed to be one of those aficionados - "hardcore" in the collector's sense - that have played a lot of $200 games for systems that were only around for 3 months before sinking or were only released in Japan (looking at you, Castlevania X: Rondo of Blood). So keep in mind that until I've played every game that's ever existed (unlikely), this list is not final.
10. Space Crusade
Gremlin Graphics
Amiga 500+/Atari ST 520+/C64
1992
Space Crusade was the first major Warhammer 40k game ever created that perfectly encapsulated that epic board-game of strategic warfare. You were limited to a squad of five marines (with a powerful Commander leading the charge) and were assigned missions on various creepy derelict ships or "Space Hulks" that had become host to various malevolent forces, sort of like the creepy spaceship from Event Horizon. While often generic and repetitive, these missions frequently challenged players by randomly assigning their stock of enemies over the stage, and the players could be easily taken down by approaching a force they are ill-equipped to deal with. Enemies could randomly appear in a corridor as you walked into it, or would ambush you in rooms as you passed. You had the ability to scan for lifeforms, but these lifeforms would then immediately know your position and hone in on you from all corners. Add to this Xenomorph-esque Soulsuckers (which are usually called Genestealers in WH40k), who would often drop down from just above you, and you have a game with the type of atmosphere that survival horrors and their ilk continually strive for to this day.
What I credit the most to this game was how it started my thing for strategy games, especially the squad-based ones like FFT or Vandal Hearts (both are well into my top 50, which I won't be covering any time soon). The fact that your men - though well-trained and genetically modified - were still human meant that they were frequently no match for some of the greater dangers that came your way. The only real way to survive was to act like a squad and approach danger methodically instead of charging in. Your strategy became all the more involved when you use the other two marine "chapters" (there are three in total), whom have different equipment and require a completely different approach to missions. Best of all, a friend (or two) could assume these other rival marine squads and be pitted directly against you, as you chase down each other as well as the mission objectives. Suddenly a small game (it only has 12 missions, a lot of which are interchangeable) becomes a huge game, simply through brilliant design and a desire to continually challenge the dark and unknown.
It had an expansion pack too, called The Voyage Beyond.
9. Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Sucker Punch Productions
Sony PS2
2004
Although a militant Nintendo fanboy, I have to grudgingly pass the crown to the Sony PS2 for the previous generation of consoles. Although plagued with faults with the technology and frequent crashes and system failures (my PS2 has yet to be affected, though it lost its drive cover a while ago), its game library has always been its biggest strength. Since multi-platform games tended to look better on the other two systems, what set the PS2 apart were its uniques. No other console put quite the emphasis on Platformers and RPGs (my two favorite genres), and the number of excellent PS2 Platformers is renowned.
The first Sly Raccoon was an excellent game in its own right. Some fans still prefer it to the two sequels. Although slightly generic with simple puzzles and a slightly forced stealth element, it was a solid gaming experience with some beautiful cel-shaded graphics which they, along with the overall comic book noir style, gave it a very distinct character - always a plus for a genre inundated with soulless child-pleasers. The sequel, in my eyes, blew it away.
You follow Sly Raccoon, daring Master Thief, and his two cohorts Bentley ("the Brains") and Murray ("the Muscle") as they plan a series of robberies to prevent a group of criminal masterminds from resurrecting the antagonist of the first game. Gone are the linear, straightforward levels of the first game and replaced with massive free-form stages with various points of interest to explore. Each stage starts with a reconnaissance level with Sly spying on the said points of interest (usually the weakest point of the level, since it involves nothing but hiding and photography), and relaying the information to Bentley who forms the master plan. The rest of the level involves putting the genius heist to work through various steps, possibly by finding some way to turn off the alarms or freeing a character who will come in useful later. The level then ends with the daring heist and getaway, in which you see all of the previous stages of the plan come together wonderfully. Each of these chapters of the game is a full game experience in of itself, and there are five or six more chapters like it to follow.
8. Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Nautilus/Midway
Sony PS2
2004
The thing that impressed me the most with Shadow Hearts: Covenant is how vastly it improved on the sequel. Because of the nature of video games being half artistic vision and half technological competence, a game's sequel can (and often does) end up becoming much greater than the original, something almost unheard of in the movie/book world. Although the story's creativity suffers from what is essentially a repeated tale (though SH:C does a good job tackling a completely new plot by building on the original and expanding it), the game is significantly larger with many plot twists to become a more "complete" vision of what the designer(s) had in mind for the first game. A sequel that far exceeds the original (even if the original was already excellent, as is the case here) is something I (and I suspect everyone else) always loves to see.
Without giving too much of the storyline away (it's a vast, sprawling tale that continues from where it left off in the last game) you resume the role of a Japanese boy named Yuri who is blessed/cursed (depending on who you ask) with the power of "harmonixing", which is basically taking the demonic power from creatures you defeat and using them to change shape, in a story set in the middle of World War 1. Borrowing quite heavily from Christian/Aramaic/Japanese mythology and occasionally authors such as Lovecraft, the game is like a twisted view of world history where demons and angels directly intervene with the Great War and untold horrors lurk directly beneath the dying soldiers of the Somme, waiting for the mortal world to tear itself open to let them out. Despite the apocalyptic foreboding, however, the game is also rife with humorous interchanges and memorable bit players and recurring roles.
The greatest strength of this game is the Judgement Ring, which effectively takes the stolid "mash the X button" battle systems of similar RPGs and turns them instead into challenges of skill. The damage you give and receive is based on a timing-heavy mini-game, allowing you to play it safe (clicking a wide "hit" area allows you to give normal damage) or risking it all for a critical strike (which is a much smaller "critical" band of red after the "hit" area) by pressing the X button on a spinning clock as accurately as possible. As you get better, you can change the Judgement Ring in various ways to provide greater challenges with better awards. Likewise, many of the status effects of the game will directly affect the Judgement Ring instead of the character directly, either by shrinking it, making it faster or, worse still, making the "hit" areas invisible to you.
7. Katamari Damacy/We Love Katamari
Namco
Sony PS2
2004
A good year for video games, you might say. To be fair, this entry is actually for We <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Katamari, since the original was never released here, but I included the original in the entry since they're practically identical (I've been told the original had better music too). Where to start with Katamari? The basic goal of the game is to roll up a "katamari" or sphere by steadily increasing its mass by hitting objects that are smaller than the katamari itself, thereby collecting them in the katamari's gravitational field (from what I can understand, though it could just be the Katamaris are sticky). As it increases in mass, it is able to pick up larger objects, which boosts its mass further still. You could start with paperclips and build up to VHS cassettes and then soccer balls and then household pets, people, trees, houses...
As well as the goofy premise, you're also provided with a set of intuitive controls regarding the control of the sphere, allowing you a range of maneuvers such as rolling it to the side or reversing the direction on the fly if you so choose. The stages are timed, forcing you to find the best route through the cluttered settings to build up the katamari to the goal height as quickly as possible, piling on the bonuses for getting it even bigger than necessary. Add to this several catchy tunes, a large dose of insane humor, a collection subquest with an inventory in the thousands and you've got something that I personally couldn't put down for weeks. But then so much has been said about Katamari Damacy and so many people have tried it already that any further exposition on my part would be moot.
6. Secret of Mana
Squaresoft (now Square-Enix)
Super Nintendo
1993/94
Secret of Mana was the first ever Console RPG I ever played, so there is some element of nostalgia regarding its appointment to the sixth spot. To say I was hooked would've been an understatement.
The second of the Seiken Densetsu series of games (often just called the "Mana" series over here, due to the word "Mana" being in most of the titles of the English-language releases), Secret of Mana followed a party of three different characters as they fought an evil empire in an effort to save the world. Sort of a trite storyline by today's standards, but the 1993 version of me was blown away by the vastness of the story, as it took you all over the world in an effort to gain the powers of the Mana Spirits and prevent the resurrection of the Mana Fortress, a giant flying mechanical castle with unimaginable power. In fact, in many ways I would say this game was inspired by the Hayao Miyazaki movie Castle in the Sky, but that would probably just be me being a nerd.
Forgoing the standard turn-based RPG combat of other, slightly more famous Square titles around at the time, all the battles in Secret of Mana were real-time, meaning you had to be cautious and strike when the timing was right. Though Real-Time combat is now a popular design choice in later RPGs (most notably ChronoTrigger, which I dropped from the top ten in favor of this entry), Secret of Mana was one of the first proper Console RPGs to try it, and they nailed it perfectly. The gameplay was solid, grinding spell/weapon levels was rewarded but usually unnecessary (as it should be) and the 3-person multiplayer element made the whole experience even more fun. A perfect introduction to what would later become my favorite console genre.
OK, so, this thing's rambled on enough. If I ever get the notion to continue the list (that is to say: if, like this week, I'm unable to think of an idea in time) I'll reveal the top five games that I consider to be gaming crack. Until then, more nonsense about game ideas. Probably.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Game Idea: The Ultimate Showdown
This game idea assumes the reader is acquainted with this flash movie: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285267
I won't go over its popularity with the internet crowd or the quality of the animation or anything like that, I'll just state that the satirical humor of the animation and song are based on the nature of the numerous internet sites that take the concept of "who out of popular culture would win against who" and debate it long past the point where it stopped being funny. Or healthy, for that matter.
But could a game version really exist? Logistically, no. There's way too many copyrights to keep track of and the sheer number of combatants of varying power, size and ability taking part (if we use all the ones in the song) would be too much for any advanced game engine (or computer processor) to cope with at the moment. But what the hell, I'll give it a shot anyway.
Essentially, the game would have to be online (simply because it wouldn't work without dozens of fanboys controlling their favorite characters on a server). That suggests something like Quake or Counterstrike, with a FPS interface and high turnover of casualties per game session. The Timesplitters series specifically is renowned for having many different character types and models - most of which are ridiculous and completely ineffective choices - competing in an FPS arena. Now here comes the many problems with this set-up (and how I've decided to tackle them):
Difference in Power - Simply put, the biggest problem is the fact that some of the participants are clearly stronger and more invulnerable than others. Take Indiana Jones, who's a pretty competent treasure-hunter and gun/whip user. Compared to Optimus Prime though, he's just a tiny squishy human. Rather than go on with reductions in height and power for the stronger characters, I've come up with a Life Expectancy Rating for each character, based on how likely the character is to survive a given "showdown" scenario.
As such, your overall score will not only factor in the the number of kills but the length of time you were able to survive. A person controlling Godzilla (who is practically indestructible compared to the other characters) would have a very high L.E.R., which means that he would be score very lowly upon surviving one game regardless of how many other characters he manages to defeat. This should dissuade power gamers (the ones that are in it for the scores and prestige) to choose the strongest characters and rule over the weaker ones. Instead, that privilege goes to the 14 year olds who are mad at their parents and want to take it out on a bunch of anonymous internet users.
Without going into too much detail about who is stronger than whom, there will be around three or more L.E.R. categories any given character could belong to. If you're playing a weaker character, therefore, you may end up with a multiple modifier to your kill count. As such, here's an estimate (since it would need to be tweaked constantly for balance) about how this modifier would work:
Playing an Overpowered Hero (Godzilla, Superman, Chuck Norris*) - x1 Modifier
Playing a Superhuman (Batman, Shaq**, Zombie Lincoln) - x2 Modifier
Playing a Competent But Entirely Human Fighter (Indiana Jones) - x3 Modifier
*This is the Internet Meme Chuck Norris, as opposed to the real one. You know, the one that has various axioms such as "Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits."
**This is "Shaq Fu" Shaq, the one who knows martial arts and can fire flaming basketballs at people as seen in the (ahem) hit video game Shaq Fu.
...and so on. Weaker characters will be taken out faster, but if they can kill a couple of opponents beforehand the choice will have been worth it. Some of the weaker ones may be designated "runners", which means they'll avoid all confrontations and go for a survival bonus - which would be a fixed score based on the timer, which is also affected by the bonus modifier. For example, a five minute game could give you 3 points for surviving the full five minutes, giving a weaker player 3 x 3 = 9 points for doing nothing but evading attacks. Therefore even if the player controlling Godzilla takes out 8 other characters, he'll still lose to this runner on the score table.
Difference in Height - There will be no shrinking/growing of certain characters to match a uniform height. Instead, there will be at an alternate playing map for players using characters that are gigantic (such as Godzilla or Optimus Prime). The map would just be the map everyone else is using, just shrunk down to match scale. Similarly, all the other characters will appear on that player's map as smaller models too, making them harder to hit (but easier to kill). The technology of FPS games has progressed far enough to allow for massive character models (though there would still be massive slowdown, unfortunately) which is how these
characters will appear to everyone else. Such an obvious target would be in a lot of trouble if the whole playing force gangs up on it.
Different Fighting Styles - This would be a pretty big problem, since all the characters fight differently and would need several unique modes for all the forms of attack they're capable of. For instance, Batman could use Batgrenades, Batarangs, Grappling Hooks and Martial Arts. Shaq would use Martial Arts and Flaming Basketballs. Godzilla would have his Flame (Radiation?) Breath attack, and so on. Programming all of these would be a hassle, so it would be easier to simply give each character a ranged attack and an alternate firing mode (a hand-to-hand attack most likely). Characters who don't use ranged attacks can have a primary hand-to-hand and an alternate hand-to-hand mode. Though limiting the characters to only two attacks would be limiting their fighting potential (since Batman alone is one who is reliant on his clever gadgetry), it's the only way at the moment to cut down on the amount of memory needed to store all these different attacks.
Popularity of Certain Characters - Can be handily solved like other games with a similar problem: Alternate skins. If two people want to play Godzilla, the second one could play in a Mecha-Godzilla skin. As long as the other character is perfectly identical in every other way (abilities, L.E.R., etc.) there shouldn't be too many disagreements - besides choosing the cooler looking skin, of course. Boundaries may have to be set though since the skins could also take up a lot of memory, so possibly a four person limit for each character would be enforced.
Finally, I'll just mention that each character would have a "Top Trumps"-esque readout for how effective a fighter they are (or how ineffective - allowing for a higher score by surviving in spite of their limited abilities) on the selection screen. Here's two examples:
Optimus Prime -
Armor Rating - HIGH (armor rating would measure immunities to attacks. Optimus wouldn't feel a regular bullet, so his armor rating would need to reflect this.)
L.E.R. - x1 (since he's so overpowered)
Size - L (so he would be on the smaller-scale playing map)
Optimus Ray - 60
Optimus Charge - 75
(These are the two attacks Optimus has: a ranged ray attack and a hand-to-hand charge. The damage they do is relative to a character with Medium armor with 100 Health. So, hitting a character with medium armor with his ray would remove 60 of his 100 HP instantly. A different armor rating would increase/decrease the damage done. Most of this data will be worked out 'behind the scenes' as it were)
Score This Session - x
Total Points Scored With This Character - x
Preference - x%
(These values will be personal to the player choosing the character. Like in Smash Bros and other fighting games, a second player viewing the account can see this player's character preferences and how good/bad he is with certain characters (Player 1 may have won a lot of games by using runners, for example). The second player can then adjust their tactics accordingly.)
Care Bear -
Armor Rating - LOW
L.E.R. - 3x (suggesting a good runner character to use, if a little ridiculous)
Size - S (This simply refers to their size compared to human-sized characters. A small character will still use the medium-sized playing map)
Care Bear Stare - 30 (AR is N/A) (A care-bear stare does as much power to one
character as it will do to any other regardless of armor due to its magical nature. This makes the Care Bear one of the few smaller characters to damage the huge armored characters like Optimus Prime, above)
Care Bear Hug - 5 (Unlike their powerful Care Bear Stare attack, this attack is almost completely ineffective, as it requires them to hold onto an opponent long enough to give them (minimal) damage)
Score This Session - x
Total Points Scored With This Character - x
Preference - x%
This is another of those game ideas I don't expect to ever get made by anyone, ever. I'm simply using it to stretch my design-power muscles and get around all these problems the best I can. It'd still be a pretty neat project for one of these internet fanboys proficient in coding to put together though.
I won't go over its popularity with the internet crowd or the quality of the animation or anything like that, I'll just state that the satirical humor of the animation and song are based on the nature of the numerous internet sites that take the concept of "who out of popular culture would win against who" and debate it long past the point where it stopped being funny. Or healthy, for that matter.
But could a game version really exist? Logistically, no. There's way too many copyrights to keep track of and the sheer number of combatants of varying power, size and ability taking part (if we use all the ones in the song) would be too much for any advanced game engine (or computer processor) to cope with at the moment. But what the hell, I'll give it a shot anyway.
Essentially, the game would have to be online (simply because it wouldn't work without dozens of fanboys controlling their favorite characters on a server). That suggests something like Quake or Counterstrike, with a FPS interface and high turnover of casualties per game session. The Timesplitters series specifically is renowned for having many different character types and models - most of which are ridiculous and completely ineffective choices - competing in an FPS arena. Now here comes the many problems with this set-up (and how I've decided to tackle them):
Difference in Power - Simply put, the biggest problem is the fact that some of the participants are clearly stronger and more invulnerable than others. Take Indiana Jones, who's a pretty competent treasure-hunter and gun/whip user. Compared to Optimus Prime though, he's just a tiny squishy human. Rather than go on with reductions in height and power for the stronger characters, I've come up with a Life Expectancy Rating for each character, based on how likely the character is to survive a given "showdown" scenario.
As such, your overall score will not only factor in the the number of kills but the length of time you were able to survive. A person controlling Godzilla (who is practically indestructible compared to the other characters) would have a very high L.E.R., which means that he would be score very lowly upon surviving one game regardless of how many other characters he manages to defeat. This should dissuade power gamers (the ones that are in it for the scores and prestige) to choose the strongest characters and rule over the weaker ones. Instead, that privilege goes to the 14 year olds who are mad at their parents and want to take it out on a bunch of anonymous internet users.
Without going into too much detail about who is stronger than whom, there will be around three or more L.E.R. categories any given character could belong to. If you're playing a weaker character, therefore, you may end up with a multiple modifier to your kill count. As such, here's an estimate (since it would need to be tweaked constantly for balance) about how this modifier would work:
Playing an Overpowered Hero (Godzilla, Superman, Chuck Norris*) - x1 Modifier
Playing a Superhuman (Batman, Shaq**, Zombie Lincoln) - x2 Modifier
Playing a Competent But Entirely Human Fighter (Indiana Jones) - x3 Modifier
*This is the Internet Meme Chuck Norris, as opposed to the real one. You know, the one that has various axioms such as "Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits."
**This is "Shaq Fu" Shaq, the one who knows martial arts and can fire flaming basketballs at people as seen in the (ahem) hit video game Shaq Fu.
...and so on. Weaker characters will be taken out faster, but if they can kill a couple of opponents beforehand the choice will have been worth it. Some of the weaker ones may be designated "runners", which means they'll avoid all confrontations and go for a survival bonus - which would be a fixed score based on the timer, which is also affected by the bonus modifier. For example, a five minute game could give you 3 points for surviving the full five minutes, giving a weaker player 3 x 3 = 9 points for doing nothing but evading attacks. Therefore even if the player controlling Godzilla takes out 8 other characters, he'll still lose to this runner on the score table.
Difference in Height - There will be no shrinking/growing of certain characters to match a uniform height. Instead, there will be at an alternate playing map for players using characters that are gigantic (such as Godzilla or Optimus Prime). The map would just be the map everyone else is using, just shrunk down to match scale. Similarly, all the other characters will appear on that player's map as smaller models too, making them harder to hit (but easier to kill). The technology of FPS games has progressed far enough to allow for massive character models (though there would still be massive slowdown, unfortunately) which is how these
characters will appear to everyone else. Such an obvious target would be in a lot of trouble if the whole playing force gangs up on it.
Different Fighting Styles - This would be a pretty big problem, since all the characters fight differently and would need several unique modes for all the forms of attack they're capable of. For instance, Batman could use Batgrenades, Batarangs, Grappling Hooks and Martial Arts. Shaq would use Martial Arts and Flaming Basketballs. Godzilla would have his Flame (Radiation?) Breath attack, and so on. Programming all of these would be a hassle, so it would be easier to simply give each character a ranged attack and an alternate firing mode (a hand-to-hand attack most likely). Characters who don't use ranged attacks can have a primary hand-to-hand and an alternate hand-to-hand mode. Though limiting the characters to only two attacks would be limiting their fighting potential (since Batman alone is one who is reliant on his clever gadgetry), it's the only way at the moment to cut down on the amount of memory needed to store all these different attacks.
Popularity of Certain Characters - Can be handily solved like other games with a similar problem: Alternate skins. If two people want to play Godzilla, the second one could play in a Mecha-Godzilla skin. As long as the other character is perfectly identical in every other way (abilities, L.E.R., etc.) there shouldn't be too many disagreements - besides choosing the cooler looking skin, of course. Boundaries may have to be set though since the skins could also take up a lot of memory, so possibly a four person limit for each character would be enforced.
Finally, I'll just mention that each character would have a "Top Trumps"-esque readout for how effective a fighter they are (or how ineffective - allowing for a higher score by surviving in spite of their limited abilities) on the selection screen. Here's two examples:
Optimus Prime -
Armor Rating - HIGH (armor rating would measure immunities to attacks. Optimus wouldn't feel a regular bullet, so his armor rating would need to reflect this.)
L.E.R. - x1 (since he's so overpowered)
Size - L (so he would be on the smaller-scale playing map)
Optimus Ray - 60
Optimus Charge - 75
(These are the two attacks Optimus has: a ranged ray attack and a hand-to-hand charge. The damage they do is relative to a character with Medium armor with 100 Health. So, hitting a character with medium armor with his ray would remove 60 of his 100 HP instantly. A different armor rating would increase/decrease the damage done. Most of this data will be worked out 'behind the scenes' as it were)
Score This Session - x
Total Points Scored With This Character - x
Preference - x%
(These values will be personal to the player choosing the character. Like in Smash Bros and other fighting games, a second player viewing the account can see this player's character preferences and how good/bad he is with certain characters (Player 1 may have won a lot of games by using runners, for example). The second player can then adjust their tactics accordingly.)
Care Bear -
Armor Rating - LOW
L.E.R. - 3x (suggesting a good runner character to use, if a little ridiculous)
Size - S (This simply refers to their size compared to human-sized characters. A small character will still use the medium-sized playing map)
Care Bear Stare - 30 (AR is N/A) (A care-bear stare does as much power to one
character as it will do to any other regardless of armor due to its magical nature. This makes the Care Bear one of the few smaller characters to damage the huge armored characters like Optimus Prime, above)
Care Bear Hug - 5 (Unlike their powerful Care Bear Stare attack, this attack is almost completely ineffective, as it requires them to hold onto an opponent long enough to give them (minimal) damage)
Score This Session - x
Total Points Scored With This Character - x
Preference - x%
This is another of those game ideas I don't expect to ever get made by anyone, ever. I'm simply using it to stretch my design-power muscles and get around all these problems the best I can. It'd still be a pretty neat project for one of these internet fanboys proficient in coding to put together though.
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