The Video Game Ideas thread

[WhoWhatMan]

Welcome to the "Video Game Ideas" thread! This is where you can share any game ideas and maybe get some new ideas from other users!

 

Your ideas can be original or based off of a existing game (EX: "I want to share my idea for a new Sonic game*").

 

So one of my ideas I made up last night due to boredom is a RPG called...

 

The Last Call

(If you guys have a less generic sounding name, go ahead and share it)

 

STORY

 

It’s summer in the city of New York (may change) and it the usual: Friends messing about, families having fun, and tourists crowded the street and everything seem to be normal until a loud boom was heard which was followed by a huge explosion.

After the Main Character (Can be named whatever you want) gain consciousness, New York is in ruins and MC later learned that the world is ending and can’t be stopped no matter what but you can stop it from happening ever again in the “New World”.

 

GAMEPLAY

 

It’s a turn based RPG that focus around your cell phone. When you save people from monsters, demons or whatever, you can add the saved people to your contact list and call them to back you up during battle but you can only have a total of 50 people to help you out. When your “helpers” come, you’re allowed to assign them to certain roles like Supporters (They cheer you on from the sidelines which boost you and your party’s stats), Researchers (Studies the enemies and tell you the enemies’ stats and such), Bodyguards (Fight the enemies and willing to take a hit for you or anyone else), and many more.

Your phone can also call services during battle and in the overworld (calling 911 to heal you, calling the cops to start shooting the enemies, or even ordering food and items without going to a store.)

In the overworld, you can go on your "Facebook profile" and check your stats, save your game and catch up on the story.

 

On "Twitter", you can see see how much exp you need to go the next level (It's shown by how many followers you have) and read up on tips and hints.  

 

You are also give the option to call the people you save either for the sake of talking or learning new stuff (EX: "Oh yea! I notice that if you defeat the "leader", the enemies morale is weakened".).

 

....

 

Damn, that took forever

 

With that finally out of the way; Let's get our brains moving!

 

*Please don't make this thread too Sonicy...

[Solkia]

I had an idea that I actually want to come to fruition.

 

It's beatumup with a really generic story called Fellbloods

 

I wanted to base the gameplay around Kingdom Hearts with some cues from the Arkham games like countering and fellburst (shock gloves)

 

and dammit I want an MMORPG set in space where you're a space colony battling other space colonies in all out war with giant mechs. There aren't enough mechshooter mmos.

[Spin Attaxx]

So hey I have an idea that I also plan to make a reality.

 

It's an as-of-yet untitled 2D Metroidvania. It has hand-drawn graphics and three playable charcters. Each of these characters embark on their own story and they have certain areas only they go to, but the main villain antagonises all three of them, and actions in one character's story can cause something to happen in the others' (for example, all three characters are on an aircraft carrier, then the ship starts sinking because Character A did something to make it happen, a fact not revealed in Characters B's or C's stories. Basically, think of things like Sonic Adventure.

 

The three main characters are a robot who starts off as a "Roomba", but becomes more humanoid as the game goes on, a scientist who is only armed with a science gun (of extreme science) and his wits and a teenage girl who gains magical abilities (my avi - also she could be considered the "main" main character given how she's the one most involved with how magic is in the game's world (basically, it forms a big part of the backstory)).

 

I could probably start making it now if I were more knowledgeable in coding in C++/10x better at art/better understood Metroidvania design/actually finished the story (an "early draft" of sorts is currently being written in my - I have a beginning planned and an ending planned, but I've yet to completely nail down the middle).

[Milo]

Repost from my thread.artwork thread, a new level based on an old trope.

 

A hypothetical take I did on a Sonic level. Part of something I was doing for a thread at the Sega Forums (Old trope, new level. Invent and describe by Nieves). Slightly revised from the original post.

 

A level that appears to be yet your typical "green and sunny" paradise, but everything feels...off, and "incomplete." In actuality it's a former paradise transformed into a trap by Eggman, who has done a half-hearted job to disguise the zone in it's original form as a means to fool and capture Sonic's unsuspecting animal buddies.

- Realistic-looking "water(falls)" that are actually very slippery glass that has some sort of liquid substance flowing in it. Oddly enough, it acts like a magnet for Sonic, in which he can run up/down the "waterfalls". Some areas have a bunch of jagged areas of "water" that act as spikes.
- Other areas of "water" are harmless-looking pools that actually turns out to be toxic waste. In a strange twist, the toxic waste doesn't slow you down or lower your jump height, but they deplete your ring count very quickly (a la Generations's Super forms).
- "Trees" that happen to have "coconuts" fall directly where you're standing. The size of these coconuts are half the size of Sonic. Some of these "coconuts" have a weird tendency to shoot projectiles at you and/or roll towards you, and release animals when they are cracked open.
- Other "trees" have "hatches" that when pushed on, open and transport Sonic through thick "branches" to other "trees."
- "Grass", "trees", and other "shrubbery" that looks to be made of plastic.
- "Rocks" that when broken fall apart to reveal a bear trap waiting for someone to activate it (and if Sonic is unlucky to fall on top of it, it will activate). Interestingly, you won't find any ground badniks (we'll get to those in a second) around these things. These "rocks" may also be pushed away to reveal mechanical work on the land.
- Unusually low-hanging "clouds" that house a badnik or two and look like balloons.
- "Vines" that have wires sticking out of them and "leaves" that rotate not unlike fans.
- "Backgrounds" of the landscape that rarely "glitch" and reveal the original landscape entwined with mechwork. Can also be used to sometimes reveal hidden rooms/areas in the land.
- Areas of the level that look like part of the landscape on the outside, but when entered inside are made up of machinery and/or are cages/traps. Some of the cages/traps may already have captured some animals, in which Sonic can proceed to break the cages/traps and free them.
- Other platforms/background of the level can have obvious robotic parts poking out of them, or be blatantly made up of machinery with paint thrown on them to match the visuals of the environment. Paint cans, paintbrushes, and other things may be left around levels.

Badniks

- Sleuthsloth - A "sloth" that hangs on tree branches and vines, and depending on Sonic's distance from it either shoots it's claws at him or tries to smack him by extending one of it's arms in a semi-circle fashion. Some even appear from the clouds. Some Sleuthsloths, move quite slow, others not some much.
- Mechapecka - A "woodpecker" that "pecks" on some trees, causing "splinters" that can fall on Sonic and hurt him. They can climb up/down trees in an attempt to avoid him, although they can only do this when they aren't "pecking" on trees.
- Boombunny - A "rabbit" that hauls "carrots" at Sonic once he is within a certain distance, and then charge towards him. Interesting to note that most "carrots" tend to explode upon impact with whatever they touch. Other "carrots" don't explode until a few seconds later.
- Enemole - A "mole" that hides within craters in the ground and leap towards Sonic. A few of them like to position themselves near level hazards and bottomless pits.
- Sprayfish - A "pufferfish" that inhales a lot of "water", and then spits it out like a fountain towards Sonic. They sometimes leap towards you too if the platform Sonic's standing is close enough to another area of "water," so that they end up landing there whether they hit their target or not. Some Sprayfish located on bodies of "water" beneath bridges also shoot the "water" as projectiles at Sonic.
- Skillcrane - A "crane" that has an unusually large mouth. Some stand on the ground, other fly in the air or hide in the clouds. If Sonic leaps into a mouth of a Skillcranes, they usually hold you in for a bit, rotate their heads to a random direction (out of five), and shoot Sonic out of their mouths in that direction like a cannonball. Their mouths only work in a semi-circle fashion, meaning whatever direction their mouths don't cover is their weak spot. Like Enemoles, a few tend to position themselves near hazards.
- Repeatile - A "snake" that uses it's far-reaching tongue to strike Sonic-repeatedly. If Sonic moves away from them, they will slither after you and try again. Repeatiles come in different colors and hide in areas that correspond to them as a means of camoflauge.

 

I'd think I'd like to take another stab at this sometime in the near future with another level trope, presumably a casino one...

[azoo]

- An RPG where you are allowed to hit enemies with your food. Sometimes people are allergic to edible substances, or even get food poisoning from moldy food. But be careful, because if you throw the wrong food it might gain their health some (or a lot). Pick your food fights wisely.

 

- A first person beat em up where you fight using the bumpers as left arm and right arm, kick with left and right triggers, and tap them incoherently to make impossible combos. The catch is... pressing the triggers simultaneously make you jump and pressing the bumpers simultaneously will make you ragdoll (both which may actually help make combos if used correctly). Good luck!

 

- A platformer where you can't jump due to wearing a heavy suit. Instead, there are levels built around using the environment to get up and around places (through gained speed and whatnot), and your only natural abilities are to run and dive (which transfers to a slide if kept up down slopes). Besides that, you have a jetpack (which works as your jump), but you're limited to three jumps per stage... although you can find extra capsules hidden around the stage if you look in the right places.

 

- A scroller shmup that takes place underwater. You control a shark. In this game, you find smaller fish, chomp them up, and then fight the terrifying kaiju growing in the bottom depths by shooting their skeletal remains out of your mouth at them at rocket speed! Simple, right? Small fish give 5 bones, medium fish give 10 bones, and large fish give 20 bones, but watch out, they shoot out fast. Your objective is to try to sidle carefully through these elaborate traps while consuming fish so you'll have enough to take on any monsters or obstacles that get in your way!

 

- A racing game where cars have built in grappling hooks. If you thought cars went fast enough, well you were wrong. In this game, you drive with relatively simple controls, but with these new grappling hooks, you can make clever shots across terrain, on walls, ceilings, etc that allow you to either reel into them and ride along or into them, or use them quickly reel and ramp your car off into the air at speeds previously thought unimaginable. Use your steering and drifting skills along with your sharp wit and physics knowledge to get the gold! But be warned.. it can get messy. In the explosive kind of way.

 

Five games. I just thought them up. Yeehaw. :v

[Nepenthe]

I feel like that third idea is just Bionic Commando without the Bionic Arm..... Shut up, don't judge me.

 

Anyway, I've been tossing out the idea of level tropes, and I don't think we've had too many based entirely upon the emotional state of your protagonist for the soul purpose of imparting that feeling of the character  upon the player. Like, what if in a Mario game, you were to briefly reunite with Peach in the second act- particularly after a succession of difficult levels- and the mere happiness of the two characters is played out with a special level that focuses less on difficulty and death and more on simply running around and having brief fun with Peach. Your platforming basics are still there, but the game gives you a playable moment to just allow the player to share a happy moment through interaction in, say, some abstract world of pink clouds and appropriate music. I don't know; I'd just really like to see more emotionally contextual gameplay and shit in platformers, I guess. xP

[Diogenes]

Ideas, I've had a few.

One idea that I think would be cool would be to have a game like Majora's Mask, where you've got this Groundhog's Day sort of time loop, except that a certain number of previous loops would run in addition to yourself. So for example, say Link A goes up to the mountains, bombs some rocks that are blocking a river, and then resets time. Now he's Link B, and a ghostly Link A will go off to the mountains and bomb those rocks. While Link A is doing that, Link B can go do something downriver and wait for A to do his job and for the river to start flowing again.

It's something that could get very complicated very fast, so it'd be important to give the player a lot of control over the system. Something like the Bomber's Notebook but for yourselves (so you could look up what important things you did and when you did them) would be a big help. And you'd probably want to have more direct control over time; if you need Link A to hold down a pressure switch, you'd want an easy way to advance time by a few in-game hours to make sure he stands there long enough once you're Link B.

Also you'd be able to destroy previous selves by attacking them (possibly with a specific item, so it's not accidental) in case they'd get in your way, and if you did something to change the timeline enough that their actions would be impossible (like talking to an NPC earlier so they go somewhere else when a previous self was supposed to talk to them) they'd automatically be destroyed.

---

One idea that I've constantly been rewriting is a 2D action and/or Metroidvania game with projectile weapons, melee attacks, and grabbing/throwing/wrestling enemies. To some extent this is my "throw everything cool into a big pile and hope it works" idea, but it's also largely built around the grabbing ability, since I think there's a lot you could do with it to make fighting with enemies more...tactile, I guess, than with just projectiles or melee attacks. Like, there are basic enemies that you could grab and throw to defeat. Or you can grab them and throw them at other enemies. Or you could pick up an enemy's weapon and use it against them. Or you can tear the weapon right out of their hands. Or you can tear their arm right out of its socket and beat them to death with it. And of course in a big fight you end up combining several of these in rapid succession.

---

I've mentioned around here a few times that I'm not a fan of most RPGs. So obviously I have my own ideas as to how to make one that isn't shit. First off, get rid of the pages of stats, equipment, items, etc, ditch exp and leveling, toss the huge list of redundant attacks. Put the focus on the strategy rather than the numbers; make the battles almost like puzzles to be solved rather than walls to beat down. To be specific to what I'd like to try, I'd take a grid-based battle style from a tactical RPG, and have enemies that can only be defeated by environmental hazards. Your Fighters would use their strength to physically push enemies around the map (ideally into hazards). Your Black Mages would be geomancers, altering the terrain to your advantage. Your Thieves would hassle enemies with status effects and set traps that enemies can't see. Your White Mages would cure status effects and buff your team. Interactions between gameplay elements should be logical (water beats fire, pits don't affect flying enemies) and numerically simple (if you see a two-digit number it is either a mistake or an endgame boss, if you see a three-digit number it is definitely wrong).

e: just had a thought; maybe some kind of chess capture-like system in addition to environmental damage.

---

A puzzle/platformer where you play as a cube-shaped robot and have a limited number of lives per level. When you die, your body becomes a movable block that you can use to solve puzzles. This one's more suited to a short flash game than a full game, but I think it could be fun.

---

Another idea, or maybe just the starting point for one...I kind of like the idea of having a game beyond the game. Sort of like Fez, only not boring. You'd have what seems like a pretty standard game on the surface; collect the magical whatsis, defeat the evil whoever, save the princess/world/universe/whatever. But if and only if you're paying close attention, you'll realize there's something you haven't figured out yet. So you scour through NPC dialogue, find some suspicious corner of the world, do some obscure sequence of actions, and suddenly it's like a whole new game has appeared, where "finding the game" is a part of the game.

The main problem with doing something like this, I think, is trying to strike a balance between "can this be found through reasonable methods by ordinary players" and "can this be made sufficiently obscure that the internet doesn't ruin it on day one". It only really works if it's something that the player can "discover", not if they just look it up in a FAQ. Maybe if it's partially procedurally generated? So everyone has their own puzzle to solve? ...although even that is probably just delaying the inevitable.

---

And, of course, I want a 3D Sonic game with Genesis-styled physics. Instead of the levels being made up of boxes and flat planes, build them on a U-shape (looking at them like cross sections).

[WhoWhatMan]

Another idea I gotten.

 

You play as a major's son or daughter and you basically live out their lives but there is a catch though: Your father expect you to be the next new Major in the family so while you're living out their life, you need to have a good reputation to get a better chance at winning the election.

 

The gameplay is Animal Crossing mixed with the social element of Persona 3 and 4.

[Milo]

Some ideas I had for a hypothetical (Genesis) Sonic game I posted as status updates:

 

One thing I've always wanted to see in a Sonic game are "alternate acts" like the Mario/NSMB series. Have a secret goal ring/goalpost in some levels that takes the player to or unlocks a "Act A/B/C" that stands separate from the regular acts. Among the changes I'd like/expect them to have are time, weather, and locations separate from from the main levels/storyline, though not to the point of Lost World's acts regarding the last one (a bog/swamp level in a forest zone, a mountain (peak) level in a sky zone, etc.). I'd also like/expect the alternate acts to (each) have music that's distinct from the "main act" music through melodies and/or instrumentation.

 

Another idea I was juggling around in my head was where the setting for a Genesis Sonic sequel would take place. Considering that all of the Genesis (and Saturn) Sonic games featured Sonic visiting some sort of island where the whole game takes place, I think an ideal setting of a classic Sonic sequel would be for Sonic (and co.) to visit multiple islands, not unlike Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Six islands with six zones, presumably with two or three main acts each. Maybe have a secret final "island" set in space, like in Diddy Kong Racing.

[Chaos Warp]

I had a rough idea in my head for a 1v1 3d fighting game that had the combo system of a Platinum Games Hack-N-Slash/Beat-Em-Up game (tweaked to work for 1v1 fighter of course). Since it was a 3d fighting game dodging and creatively moving around your opponent to get in for an attack would have a bigger focus then just standard blocking and comboing, even though blocking would exist as an option and a very well-timed block would lead to a counter ala Metal Gear Rising.  Maybe work the type of combos where you have to pause before hitting the next button imput as something that can trip up the opponent/require someone that's blocking to either hit the block button again or dodge.

 

Also some sort of MMO that had the above combat system for PvP fighting and a tweaked version of it that's more like a standard hack-n-slash for PvE. 

 

I also had the idea of something similar to Planetside 2, but with mechs. Since everyone's in giant robots, melee combat would be more of a focus ala Kid Icarus Uprising. 

[\Lennox]

Okay. Here goes, I have quite an idea, and it's spoiler-tagged, BTW, so that the page doesn't stretch out.

 

Name: Hubspace
Platform: Wii U

Genre: Conflicted Action RPG

Developer: Monolith Soft, Game Freak, Creatures, Nintendo EAD3?

 

TL;DR, Pokémon meets Kamen Rider Gaim meets Kamen Rider Ryuki meets a finished, high-def Xenogears.

 

Story:

You are Kakeru Wanao, and you and your four friends--Kurumi Gotou, Delaney and Dylan Terrences and Atsushi Kyourei are being forced to take arms and quell The Conflict that threatens the peace of the Touiki region. The Conflict is first felt by seeing two dragons of black and white fight each other within the first hour of gameplay.

 

You five, known as the Engrayed find information and to piece together why this Conflict exists as SPOILER WARNING, IN THIS ORDER--Atsushi falls in and out of a coma during the Second Battle of the Conflict, the FBI get involved as Dylan dimension-hops form one end to another while Delaney attempts a suicide because of that, Kakeru gains a split personality and falls into a coma and shortly after that; his re-emerging into Kakeru-Id, while Kurumi has to face the fact that she is the only person who denies her own emotional needs and personal goals by somehow helping everyone cope with their anxieties. Two more characters join in on the fun, but only at the end of the game (and still usable for post-game).

 

However, you realize that the dragons have split off into six different people who represent two sides to the Conflict (which are truth and ideals). They have been split up (into three people each) thanks to an insect that represents the collective anger of humanity attempting to invade their bodies, made in a lab centuries before the game even begins. This insect then becomes the final boss of the game, having possessed the man who was thought to have killed Kakeru's parents in Greece, with four of his elite, female bodyguards challenging you prior. Oh, and you get one red clone of the white dragon and a blue clone of the black dragon, and eventually, the real ones themselves for use with endgame and a sprawling post-game.

 

And then at the credits, you realize, WHAT THE FUCK!? THIS IS THE FIFTH GAME IN A SERIES OF SIX!? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?

 

Gameplay:

Now, the battle system in this game is called Seamless Combat Initiatives, due to the seamless integration of combat into exploring the world. However, you send out four Deathlies--the result of nanomachines accelerating the evolutionary rate of organisms and various objects, and they each get a number of action points. These action points are known as Time-Regulated Action Points (TRAPs) as they recover based on a Deathly's speed. Every attack you make--be it one of the four Techniques or the default Reflex Attack--consumes one TRAP. Note that certain techniques known as Link Deathblows can be used upon sequencing certain Techniques together.

 

Your Deathlies also have a AI system called the Flexible Attitude Programming System (FAPS) which allows you to give your Deathlies the freedom to adapt to their environment without having to switch character after every Technique or Reflex Attack is used. These can be customized outside of battle, where you give your Deathlies Responses to Stimuli, like using a Super Curative to heal 50 Health Points, using an Awakening Agent to snap out of sleep, or a Detoxifier to relieve a Deathly out of its Infected status effect. You can even link up to ten Stimuli and ten Responses together to create a Behavioral Shift, up to four of which can be swapped for another in combat.

 

Each of you must train various monsters over the course of the story for use with your Ability Utilization System, in the form of transformative belts known as AUSbuckles. AUSbuckles augment the stat of the active Deathly by merging your currently player character with it. As the character Taps In the Deathly in question, the stats of the Deathly are multiplied fivefold (on top of the other buffs the three other Deathlies provide), making your character zoom faster and hit harder than ever before. However, this can only be activated whenever the Deathly that is Tapped In has less than 30% of its maxmum HP, and it can only be used once per Struggle.

 

Other than combat, though, the scale of the game is meant to resemble X and Xenoblade and it takes place within the region of Touiki, formerly known as the Kanto region of Japan before 'the Change' had occurred in it and all other parts of the world. There are 108 Deathlies to collect, including about Eight Deified Deathlies that are present in the network of urban legends that form the game's mythology. They can be caught by using Capsulings, which have various makes and models. Deathlies are considered unique based on randomly generated Inherent Values for stats and further Cultivated by Equipped Items that can be Plugged In by Nanosupplements or Cultivation Percentages that help each individual stat grow based on what kind of Deathlies are battled.

 

A function which can be activated by the zL and zR Buttons on the back of the Wii U GamePad letterboxes the camera, locking the player on a foe, otherwise known as Z-Targeting. Jumping in and out-of-battle can be conducted with the A button on the GamePad, while running outside of Struggles is held by holding the B Button as you move the Left Control Stick. The X Button activates an ability Deathlies can use outside Struggles, while the Y Button activates the uSe--a familiar-shaped tablet computer with two control sticks and face and shoulder buttons, which allows you to navigate the Miiverse-compatible Brocast (which like Twitter but you can gain player-created sidequests from it), use the Internet, read the Deathly Compendium (DeathCom for short) and  play old Pokémon games.

 

Sidequests, in this game, are called Solids, and you have to do those Solids in order to increase your Reputation within the game. Neg Rep comes with consequences (that affect inside and outside of battle, while Pos Rep allows for rewards and even the acquisition of rare drops. All game come with an NCF-compatible Deathly Strategists' License that they can take with them on the go. The data of the Deathly Party inside the player character's Struggle Storage Spacebox is copied onto that license, which the holder can write on. Competitive battlers can take this with them and scan it on the Wii U GamePad in order to upload their parties to a console during tournaments, or act as proof of their love for Hubspace.

 

So yeah, it's Pokémon, but made by Old Square into 3D.

[Sir Spacebar]

A megaman game that actually explains what happens between the classic megaman series, and the x series,

Yeah everyone wants it, we're not gonna get it.

[WhoWhatMan]

I recently thought up a idea for a Phoenix Wright -esque game called

 

Soul Detective

(Yes, every title need to be in big writing)

 

In this game, you're playing as a Detective who can speak to the ghost of the victims.

 

But here the catch: The ghosts only remember the last seconds of their life before they die so you need to recreate the murder or find certain items to "trigger" their memories.

 

It pretty much a first person point and click type game with some Phoenix Wright elements.