Gaming If you became a game designer...

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

Ok so yeah it's one of those "if you were..." threads. But I think it's interesting to see what game ideas people have come up with. I [i]know[/i] everyone's come up with something at one point or another, and run it by a friend or two. So then, here's MY idea:

[SIZE=3]A 3-d Gradius game[/SIZE]. I have thought it out to a good level of detail, but based a good amount of gameplay around the Gamecube controller. And... dammit, I can't find my notes on the game I wrote during materials science recitation... ok I'll try to remember what I came up with.

It's gotta be 2 player CO-OP. Not 4, because there's too much to worry about and the way Gradius is done you'd need like 80 powerups per level to properly equip all those ships. So it's 2 player.

The game is 3-d, so that means 2 dimensions of movement (left,right,up,down) with constant flight forward through the levels. It's like Starfox except you can't accelerate or reverse direction (why? because it's 2 player).

There are two planes perpendicular to the flight path on which the ships can be. What this means is one ship in front, one ship behind. The ships also have the option of being on the same plane at the same time, though. But the ability to switch depths allows for the following:
1. Protecting the guy with less powerups by staying in front and unloading all your wrath at whatever lies ahead.
2. Dropping powerups for the player behind to pick up and assimilate (new mechanic which I think would be very useful, especially if you pick up a powerup you don't want... well by that I mean you overshoot powerup levels... this only makes sense to those who know how Gradius games work).

If the ships are on the same level I don't want them to crash or get in each other's way at all, so I figure they'll just phase through each other or something. Gradius games get hectic enough that if ships actually got in each other's way while trying to avoid enemy fire, it would be a nightmare and extremely frustrating.

This game would not be 1-hit kill. Players would have shield condition meters and hull condition meters, and could pick up repair items throughout the levels which would be applied immediately (none of that "press B to use a shield battery" like in Freelancer).

There would be a picture-in-picture display on the lower corners for both players (lower left for P1, lower right for P2), which would be like a level-mapping radar. It would be useful for navigation when one ship gets into a short tunnel and the other doesn't and the guy in the winding tunnel can't see his ship on the screen. The picture-in-picture display would show the ship from above, as well as some distance ahead. It'd be small and not too detailed, so it would be only good for navigation; not for fighting enemies. I figure the one-ship tunnels might have powerups or something, but not enemies.

Ships would normally shoot straight ahead, or rather in the direction their nose is pointing. So if you press up on the joystick to move down, the ship's nose would dip and it would fire slightly down. Simple enough. But the ships wouldn't turn too much (though they'd move fast), so that knocking out things right in front of you would still be possible.

Also, to take out stuff along walls or something behind an obstacle (so you can't simply fly right at it and shoot straight ahead to kill it), you can press R and activate "free aiming" mode. Movement of the ship would temporarily change from the left joystic to the right joystick, but the aim of its weapons would be controlled by the left joystick. The reason I wouldn't keep this setup throughout the game (i.e. not toggle-able with R) is that moving and aiming simultaneously and independently would take some serious concentration and relative "safety" in the level. Also I'm thinking that only the missiles will be directed (missiles were always the wall-clearer in Gradius, besides well-placed "options" (a special Gradius-specific item)). The other guns will keep firing wherever the ship is facing.

The ships will be upgradeable in-between levels. Players will be able to add more weapon bays, increase their shield and hull strength, etc. (Weapons are acquired via in-level powerups; they last only as long as you don't die and you can't purchase them).

I figure the game would be long enough that players can save between levels. [i]But only between entire levels[/i]. There's no point in making it too easy.

That's all I can remember for now. Tell me what you think, and what game ideas you have.

[Shiguru]

If I were a game designer.... I'd join EA and make football games as you only do minor updates and then when it comes time just update in engine and some play mechanics. And you get to meet your favorite players... that would be so frekin sweet. :D

But if I could make any game? I dunno really. I would have to think long and hard and I might post a game I'd make later. I would however like to update a game that Capcom decided to try and do... and failed miserably.

Super Street Fighter II X (or Super Street Fighter II Turbo in the USA) is one of Capcom's greatest achievements and one of the best fighting games in history. It was the first to create the super meter we know and love and it's character balance was nearly perfect.

A DC version was released with a bunch of new features for the game such as adding the bonus games and changing some features. But I would give it an update.

I would release a compliation of two versions. On one hand you have the original arcade perfect variation, on the other you have the enhanced version

The enhanced version would have a few new things such as extra animations for things like taunts and new win poses as well as smoother transitions into certain moves that didn't look right in combos (Zangeif's final atomic buster looked wierd when it was comboed into.). I'd also re-color and touch up the old CPS2 sprites for the game to give it a more updated look. I would not change the sprites as that would mess up the game in a big way but I would help get some better colors and add some things such as rips at the edges of Ryu and Ken's gi's, hair or headbands moving in real time and maybe put the old breakable objects back in the stages.

I'd also update the color system as all the characters get thier original colors (ie: Ryu wears a red headband and white gi.) by pressing JP rather than have to go into thier "SSF2" mode. Instead those versions would retain thier original models. Add in the revamped Game Boy advance artwork and portaits. Place the GBA only stages in as bonus vs. stages and even use the GBA character select screen and you have one helluva cool Street Fighter game.

[noelmvilla]

[SIZE=4]I LOVE SQUARESOFT/ENIX GAMES[/SIZE] so I would like my games FF style. Y'know, walk, buy, sell, run, fight, talk. All that FF stuff.

But new characters, story, battle tactics, blah.
I like that FF 10 characters-flip-in-the-middle-of-a-batlle thing.
Three people can fight in a battle at the same time, attack at the same time, real time 3-d graphics, cool character design, out of this world skills.
Maybe even add a "Cid" guy in it!!!
It's all RPG action!
All Square material crammed into a game of top rating omni-perfectness!!!!

[JuliasPeach]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]well.... i would probably join nintendo and make Zelda and Mario games!!! *drool* and maybe get nintendo out of the habbit of remaking games such as all the diferant mario Kart games and mario golf games and come up with something new like, um, .... , hmmmm, oh how bout a sim game ya know like create your own mushroom kingdom or somthing. i dont know but at least some thing bassed on Peach because they havn't made a peach game yet :( so i'll have to do it for them :D but yeah i might also join square because FF is like the second best! (to mario :D ) and then i could make like another Chocobo Dungeon or a FF with a chocobo as one of the characters!! well i have so many ideas i thought i would just post a few but boy would it be fun to become a game designer!!!!! :tasty: [/COLOR]

[Falkon]

Well, actually what kinda funny is i am PLANNING ON BEING A game designer ^_ ^

My only really good idea so far is something like an RTS game with geo mod....
havent you ever wanted to fire a caapult or launch a bomb and have the level...well...levelled? this is my kind of game.

also incorporated in it would be the option of being able to play a cert ain unit. so basically it is an RTS until you select a person and choose to play him. Then the building part of the game is pretty much automated and you can go around shooting your enemies from a first person view. when you get killed you can either become another unit (not respawn, just another currently live unit) or you can go back to "god" mode and tell everyone what to do.

sounds like agood idea to me...

better get working on the scripts :eek: :wigout:

[Ariadyne]

[COLOR=Navy]I AM actually making a vgame (it's in the rm2k, but I don't care!! did my own graphics!) right now *lol*. [/COLOR]

[COLOR=RoyalBlue]The game I'm making in the rm2k is called [I]Far Past the Rubicon[/I] and it's based on a story I'm doing (that is planned out, just not finished...) respectfully called [I]Far Past the Rubicon: A Requiem for the Light[/I]. It is NOT a typical "[I]vampyre game[/I]" but is kinda like the Anne Rice books, well, more or less like the [I]Queen of the Damned[/I] movie. It follows the main character Sorgoto (yes, the exerpt from one of my poems in my signiture is from his theme I wrote) who is a young more compassionate and curious pure-breed vampyre, but he betrays his mentor Zargato by walking into the light and speaking with humans. He changes his name to "Bryan" and vows to rid the world of all vampyres, expecially those like his former master, Zargato. It has the typical RPG elements and battle systems, but striped of all humor and "lighter enviroments", taking a very serious and thought-provoking route. I like it ^^ *lol*![/COLOR]

[COLOR=Navy]However, if I was gonna be a game designer for a living, I don't think I'd use my little "story" type game design based on the Lestat books, with some parts being narrated by the main character, and probably make [I]Final Fantasy[/I]-like RPGs, or probably even something like [I]Chaos Legion[/I], [I]Castlevania[/I], and [I]Devil May Cry[/I]. Those are the game types I actually play, so those would be type of games I'd actually try to design. Although most likely it would be an "[I]impossible-to-finish-in-your-life-time-and-find-all-the-hidden-stuff/beat-the-bosses-in-one-shot[/I]" RPGs . I like my games HARD, not a push-over like [I]Final Fantasy X-2[/I] (no offense to the FFX-2 fans). :smirk: [/COLOR]

[Gelgoog Pilot]

Heh....I'm currently taking a major in Videogame Art and Design so. This definetly applies to me.

I'm a big RPG fanatic so that's what I'll hopefully get into. Not that it matters I like most game types. Right now I have a program on my PC for designing games...as well as the good old RPG Maker2 yes, I know its a bit....constricting but after a while you realize you can still get alot out of it. And have made 2 short RPG's, it helps to send them in with your transcripes when allpy to an Art school like I did. :D

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

It seems that many of you are working on your own RPGs. Let me ask you, have you ever fiddled with the Neverwinter Nights Aurora toolset? It's very good, and gives you more freedom than I'd imagine RPG maker does. As long as you're not too busy for some scripting, that is.

[Gelgoog Pilot]

yeah I've played around with it before....its nice I'll say that. sadly it wasn't my program so I havn't used it as much as I'd like. :(

[Ariadyne]

I was seriously thinking about it, but I decided not to try it after. I do like my little RPGMaker 2000 though, and you can do just about anything if you can remember all your switches and variables. Most people think you don't have much freedom, but they just don't have a high enough IQ to come up with a way to make things work, or just don't have the patience to get it to work perfectly (like html coding).

What is the Neverwinter Nights program like anyway? (just incase I get bored and might want to try it out) :smirk:

[Zen]

[color=green][size=1]

If I were to become a game designer, I would probably work with either Capcom or Namco. Probably Capcom because I'm pretty good at creating characters with a cool, martial arts edge. I would love to work with Street Fighter's franchise or maybe Megaman or OniMusha, although its supposed to end with OniMusha 3. I would like to add some characters to the Street Fighter Universe. Like have Akuma take a student. Maybe have a samurai type character. I'm good at that sort of background/characterization/fighting-style thing.

I would love to work on a new franchise based around stealth-action or pure action like Metal Gear Solid or Devil May Cry. I once came up with an entire fighting game universe with characters and all. But that was in sixth grade, but if I did it today, it would probably be much better.[/color][/size]

[BlueGender]

[color=blue][size=1]If I were a game designer I would want to work for Rock* or Ubisoft just because they get to work on titles great titles. I am also going to school to become a Game Designer and once I turn 21 plan on moving to California as so I can apply for jobs. I know it's extremely hard to end up with anything other then a entry level position but im willing to work my *** off and would be happy working anywhere in the industry.

But if I could make a game I would want to work on a open ended style Grand Theft Auto crime game (if not the Grand Theft Auto series), a First Person Shooter series along the lines of Half-Life or Far Cry, or a Stealth/Action title along the lines of Metal Gear Solid or Syphon Filter. [/color][/size]

[Onix]

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][SIZE=1]I came up, today, with an idea for a video game. I was going to post a 'what do you think about my game' thread, when I realized that was egotistical and kind of short-sighted. Instead, I'll make a thread so anyone can post their game ideas here, not just one of mine. Please be serious. If you have a stupid game idea (and you know it's stupid. Some people just come up with bad ideas, and we shouldn't be too mean to them here), post it [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=39674]here[/URL].

Anyway, my idea. It's kind of stupid sounging at first, but read the whole thing through, okay?

[CENTER][COLOR=DarkRed][U][B]High School Volleyball Chaos[/B][/U][/COLOR] (working title)[/CENTER]

It begins with you playing a senior at Ridgecoast High (working title as well). You are great at Volleyball...but the school doesn't really even know there is a volleyball team at the school (much like the Go team Hikaru no Go, early on anyway). So, you decide, since it's your senior year, to take over the Volleyball team and win the *area* Championship.

Your starting objective is to recruit some team members. There will be a wide cast of characters, some that will join and some that will pour gatorade on you.

Once you've assembled your team (after a limited number of days, of course. You can't take forever), you must do a variety of other things. Pick a mascot, team colors, etc. Then comes practice, which is where the new Volleyball Chaos-Edition Rules come in.

In my PE class today, we were playing Volleyball, and we had a sub. Since the sub didn't really care how we played Volleyball, it was pretty chaotic. People would wander between teams, there was no scoring, serves were made anywhere. Utter chaos.

The Chaos-Edition Rules are as follows: If the ball hits the court, it goes to the other team; if the ball goes out of bounds, it goes to the team that didn't last touch the ball; if it goes under the net, it goes to the team that didn't last touch the ball. And that's it. Anything else goes. There will be a taunt button, tackling other players is allowed...you can even pick fights and go into a fighting mode (a simple one, with each person having a different style based on their personality and stereotype).

The characters will be stereotypical, with some developement between matches and practices. The various schools will be even more stereotypical, with the Boy's School, the Poor School, the Snobby School, the Catholic School, the Black School, etc. Each team will have stereotypical players from each environment.

In addition to the main RPG mode, there will also be a free-match mode, where you can take any character from any team and challange your friends or the computer. There will even be a Tutorial, which will appear in the RPG mode of course.

Also, if this goes well, there can be similar titles, like High School Baseball Chaos, High School Football Chaos, High School Basketball Chaos...there could even be a High School Chess Chaos if it did well enough.

I'd like to know what you think, and also what ideas you have. It could be quite interesting.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Aanallein]

Hmmm. I think the title should be reworked, but that's just me.

As for the game itself, it isn't my style of game, but I do know of several people who I'm friends with that would enjoy something like that. It almost reminds me of the Sims really. Know what I'm saying? Other than that, it is a new twist to a new sports game. I think if you can get more in depth there are actual producers out there that might take a look at an idea such as this.

[Terrax]

first, i'd get a job at Activision, the guys behind doom and quake, among others, and i would a 3d shooter with huge levels, heaps of weapons, lots of enemies, and alot of killin', also with a bit of role playing mixed in, like system shock 2 or Neocon.

[Rei_Man]

I'd definitely go for RPGs. Nothing beats a Squaresoft kinda job. I wouldn't want to just make my own little take on the Final Fantasy series, but to make it a little different. Go for a materia-esque abilities system, but also give the characters their own unique abilities. As they level up they could gain combination attacks, random instant kill moves, etc, depending on their speciality.
Also, a kind of 2-way tolerance/adaptation system would be...... interesting. As the enemy uses particular elemental/status spells, your character begins to adapt to them and grow a greater defence to that spell. As your tolerance of one spell grew, the tolerance to others would fall, eg. if ice went up, fire would go down. Elemental/status effects on weapons would only be temporary - their effectiveness would slowly fall over time.
On a finishing touch, characters would need to be more customisable, just for the fun of it. You should be able to edit them as you want, design your own weapons and armour (custom equipment would be more expensive, and available attack/defense values would depend on your progress), design your own clothes - and be able to change when you want to. If you want to be an absolute freak you could even design a custom hairstyle (:drunk:!?!?!).

Stick with the good ol' Limit Break system all the way.

[Rachael]

if i created a game it would be to mesh ff 7, ff 8, ff 9, ff 10, and ff 10-2, I love the realtionship that rinoa had with squall. I probably have the the soundtrack to ff 9 ( i like how there are different sounds of there feet depending on what floor there steping on..........If you play the game you'll no what i mean) i like that battle system of ff7 and how you can chose to flirt with either aeris tifa or yuffie in the game. In FF 10 i like how you can switch charaters in a battle field and from ff10-2 i like how they have multiple costumes (sure some of them look alittle slutty but still) it kinda ticks me off how in these games they go on these huge journeys that probably take weeks to complete but in the end there still wearing the same clothes as they did when they started the mission....thats just wrong

[MoRbIdYuLiA]

I would either have to go with...Tenchu types of games. Have any of you ever played Tenchu "Wrath of Heaven"? If not I suggest you do. But anyways back to the subject I would go with that because it's so graphic or FF just because I like the fact it's like a story and it never ends...



-yulia