OK, I'm three days late, so I'll do three game ideas today to make up for it. I think that's fair.
Continuing on from the previous Design Genres article, I wanted to come up with more ways an RPG subgenre can be latched onto games that traditionally don't feature any kind of in-depth character development.
Idea #1: RPG/Pinball
Video game Pinball has come a long way from the simple bonuses and buttons on one or more highly-realized pinball tables (because why not just play the real thing?) to franchises like Pokemon Pinball, where you have a separate goal beyond just breaking into the highscore table to find and collect as many Pokemon as possible and evolve them, completing the in-game Pokedex. Also, and more relevant to my own idea, are the Odami and Metroid Prime pinball games, which have enemies on-screen that you must defeat with the pinball to proceed with the game.
The RPG Pinball idea is similar to the Worms/Strategic 2D Platformer idea last time as it involves a PC (player character) wizard who uses the pinball itself as a sort of magic missile to defeat enemies. Exploring a dungeon, which may be four or five "tables" in length, you can defeat the guardians to proceed further and unlock all kinds of treasures and equipment to use. You may even gain additional powers, allowing you to adapt the regular pinball into something more damaging (like a fireball or a cannonball) to do more damage or unlock specific hidden bonuses - you could shoot a fireball into a tapestry, burning it down and revealing a treasure chest.
The game would have XP (experience) and GP (gold) like a regular RPG, and between dungeons you can use these values to purchase new skills or power-ups to use in the field. Your XP will also dictate what dungeons are available, as tougher ones will continue to open up as you climb XP levels. As well as the pinball spell and variants (fireball, etc.) you can use special spells such as Lightning Bolts (which bounce around the arena at random, damaging enemies sometimes deflecting the pinball) or Time Slow to stop faster enemies from moving around too quickly to hit. Instead of one or two highly-complex tables to work off, there would be several smaller ones with their own traps, bonuses and enemies to take care of. They could range from normal castle-like dungeons to natural (maybe volcanic) caves to goblin fortresses to ancient marble temples full of undead.
Idea #2: RPG/Sports
Now, this one sounds a little daft. First off, I should point out that there are many sports games that allow your players to gain stats and get better between games by training or what have you. There are several managerial franchises that depend on this sort of development from a young potential signing to eventual star player.
However, this is where the "daft" comes in. The game is set in a vaguely Middle Earth type world where demons are spilling out of dimensional portals and generally causing a ruckus. A group of wizards have found a feasible way to create magical anomalies (which are in various shapes) that will close any portal it is sent into. There are special conditions for each one, however, which means each dimensional portal can only be closed in a specific way.
You control the leader of a group of mercenaries/adventurers who will transport these anomalies to their portals and try and get them past the defending demons to seal the dimensional portals forever. Each of these scenarios will be played out like a sports game, where the demons are actively trying to recover the anomalies you've made and destroy them before they can close their gate to this world. The adventurers have to pass/kick/throw the anomalies between each other to get it out of the demons' way and then somehow get it to the "goal" to finish the match. As you move around the world, you will have to play a different sport for each new area. For instance, in the cold arctic north, you may need to play Ice Hockey. In the aquatic island region it could be something like Water Polo or Volleyball.
Obviously the game would have to be a little tongue-in-cheek to adhere to the respective sports' rules, instead of just having the team of adventurers kill the demons and reach the portal like in a normal RPG. Maybe some kind of magical gaeas or something. As well as traditional sports stats such as endurance, strength, reactions and speed, you would also have a miscellaneous RPG trait or two. For instance, your winger could be an Elven Archer who could shoot an attacking demon if he's about to tackle another player, distracting him long enough for the player with the ball to get past him. In which case, he would need an accuracy stat for his bow. Likewise, you could have special attacks and tricks for other players in the field: An Illusionist could recreate a clone of the player with the ball, potentially fooling a demon into going for the fake one. A Dwarven Berserker could take the ball and charge downfield ignoring attacks made by the demons. You would have to configure and train your group of adventurers and use them for the appropriate sports. Casualties are to be expected, so make sure to heal often and hire new talent to replace those lost.
Idea #3: RPG/Katamari Damacy
OK, it may seem like my desperation for trying to come up with three different genres to attach an RPG element to is becoming evident. But this is as far from the truth as you can get. Maybe. The goal of Katamari Damacy is to build one's Katamari as big and as quickly as possible. It really doesn't need an RPG element, since the gameplay is nearly perfect in its simplicity as is. However, I'm not one to shy from a challenge, or at least a chance to ruin a better game designer's great idea out of spite.
In each Katamari level, there are various hidden or rare items that may take a modicum of searching or a bigger Katamari than can be feasibly expected to roll it up. These items give you a big "happiness" bonus, as they happen to be one of the King of all Cosmo's "favorite" things about Earth. More often than not, these bonus items will be pictures, sculptures, origami models or engraved coins which all feature the King himself in some way (the modest type that he is).
Let's take the usual first stage of a Katamari game as an example; someone's living room or bedroom. As well as the usual objects, there are five of these special "King" objects; A coin (which is inside a box full of other items), a shampoo bottle (which is high on a shelf), a statue that resembles an Oscar (which would be very heavy/big and therefore need a large Katamari to find), a novel about the King (which would be on the bookshelf with other books, so you'll need to roll them all up) and a child's drawing of the King (which is underneath a box or something on the floor). All of these objects would be hard to find/reach/roll-up, but they'll give you a bonus at the end of the level.
These happiness bonuses can then be traded in for powers and accessories, sort of like those available in the second game. Powers include: Iron Prince, which stops you losing so much from the Katamari when you get hit; Eye For Taste, which allows you to spot hidden King items when you're close enough; Camaraderie, which lets you identify what cousins are available and where they are in a stage and Magnetic Personality, which allows very small items to actually be attracted towards the Katamari.
In the levels where success is determined by the type of items you rolled up over the sheer quantity (such as that level in We Love Katamari where you needed to roll up expensive items), the King items would be worth considerably more than others. Finding all the King items from every level may even unlock a surprise or two. The King is a very vain fellow, so pleasing him with all these fan items will no doubt have beneficial consequences.
Well, three more ideas about how specific game genres could employ an additional RPG trait. Of course, whether or not these games would actually prosper with this RPG aspect is entirely academic.
