Video game ideas that I'll never, ever, ever get to
I'm resigned to the fact that I'll never have the time and energy to make all the games I've wanted to make for years. Which is a bummer because I had like a bazillion ideas... which were all pretty good, IMO (at least, they were all games I would have been interested in playing).
#1 - The "Final Fantasy" style fantasy RPG
Back when I was really into these games (like...15 years ago) I first came up with the basic blueprint for story of this game and the general idea. The story became some interesting to me that I expanded on it over the next couple years. Fastforward to today (maybe ~12 years later) I still remember it vividly.
The story starts out generic and lame, but stick with it....
It starts in modern times with a ship with armed guards/military personells transporting prisoners. While at sea they get pulled into some kinda portal and end up crashing on an island in some other world. Typical RPG world, where there's swords and magic and stuff. Everyone is humanoid, but no actual humans (apart from you -- the people from our world).
Shortly after the crash survivors regroup (~5 veteran guards, one ~19 yr old guard, one prisoner), the island comes under raid and they get attacked. Of course the battles are easy because the humans are armed with modern weaponry vs. dudes with swords and spears. Island inhabitants meet up and explain the general situation and backstory:
~8 years ago a demon (who, basically is this world's version of Satan... all powerful evil entity) was devastating the world. Eventually a race of Dragonoid priests were able to seal him and all his minions into hell yadda yadda. Afterwards the priests left to their home island or whatever. But now one of those priests (the name I came up with was "Reign" but that's a lame name picked by a 15 yr old) basically came back and is waging war on the land to sort of conquer it. It's never clear whether he's acting independently or if it's part of a larger effort by the priests.. but that's a side point. The battle you just fought was Reign's invasion force attacking one of the few remaining strongholds of the resistance.
The natives don't know how you got there and don't know how to get you back, but say they're willing to help, but can't because of the war. They also have never seen anything like the human weapons and are thorougly impressed. You stay with them for a few days to recover from the crash and get familiar with the world.
Afterwards... one of the natives "joins your party" and you take a ship to the mainland... but are seized immediately as you get off the boat. The harbor you sailed to had also been attacked and is now under Imperial rule. Then you're introduced to 2 generals who oversaw the invasion:
"Wailer" (again lame name)... who is *gasp*Human.
"Chransic" (pron. "crayon-sick" .. this name I still love) who is a really evil looking guy with dark red skin, horns, etc, etc. Warrior + Wizard skills and awesome at both. Basically he's the super badass bad guy of the game.
After introductions and stuff you eventually escape (escept for the young human who gets captured, taught magic, and becomes a pseudo bad guy you meet up with later) and start looking for a way to get back home. And the more you look the more you realize you're not going anywhere until the war is over. So it quickly turns into a fight against Reign's forces.
The thing is... unbeknownst to our heros, several totes/crates of modern weapons have been washing to shore from the wreckage. The resistance gets the bulk of them, but some fall into the hands of the Imperials... and they show extreme interest in them as they appear to be a tide turner for the war.
More backstory gets revealed over time. But since it's not in game I'm just going to spill it out:
Chransic was one of Satan's generals during the original war. He has 3 lives... but used one of them to 'intercept' the Dragon priest seal to prevent it from being permanent. With 2 lives remaining he began developing a way to combat the dragon priests and to started experimenting for a way to break Satan out of hell. His experiments caused portals to open briding Earth with this world. One of his earlier attempts pulled Wailer into this world... and his more recent attempt was successful at brining him back, and also pulling your group in.
Wailer sided with Reign out of convenience, mainly because he didn't care about this world and just wanted to get back home, which Reign told him he could do (he is a dragon priest).
It turns out Chransic is effectively holding Reign hostage, as with his hell experiments he is now able to subdue the dragons with a magical artifact, but he is using Reign's war as a distraction to allow him to gather items needed to break the dragon priest seal. So there's a great animosity between Chransic and Reign. Wailer effectively gets put in charge of "keeping an eye" on Chransic but there isn't really much he can do because Chransic's such a badass.
Wailer's only real interest is in getting back home. Since he knows the humans share that interest, he becomes sort of an "insider" feeding the humans on imperial movements.
Chransic is the big bad boss... who you have at least 2 boss fights with (remember he still has 2 lives left)
Wailer+Reign are optional bosses depending on in-game decisions, though he ultimately is the only way for you to get back home. (There's no way Chransic is going to do it), so killing Reign gets you a "bad end" at the end of the game.
Other key plot points involve chasing down a repository of guns that was stockpiled by the resistance before the imperials can get to it. Chransic's first death triggers him to go ballistic and start rampaging and destroying allies looking for the humans.
And of course... since Chransic has found out about the humans... you realize that if he's successful, then even Earth isn't safe because he has already bridged the two worlds.
That's the general idea as far as story goes.
Gameplay gimmicks/characteristics
- Guns! You have them, and they're superior to all other weaponry (even end game stuff)... but ammo is limited and apart from spotty plot-triggered supplies you simply do not find more.
- Multiple paths/endings. You're occasionally confronted with decisions about going on the offensive against Reign, towards Chransic, or defending a resistance stronghold. Which events you follow determine subtle changes in how the story plays out... whether or not you fight Reign at the end, etc, etc.
- Multiple distributions. I originally had the idea where there would be 5 or so different distros, each with different subtle story line differences. But since that would be lame for someone looking to play the whole thing, I later decided on changing that to have all distros have all story lines, but each start with a unique one "unlocked". Beating the game would unlock a different storyline and you could select at start.
#1 - The "Final Fantasy" style fantasy RPG
Back when I was really into these games (like...15 years ago) I first came up with the basic blueprint for story of this game and the general idea. The story became some interesting to me that I expanded on it over the next couple years. Fastforward to today (maybe ~12 years later) I still remember it vividly.
The story starts out generic and lame, but stick with it....
It starts in modern times with a ship with armed guards/military personells transporting prisoners. While at sea they get pulled into some kinda portal and end up crashing on an island in some other world. Typical RPG world, where there's swords and magic and stuff. Everyone is humanoid, but no actual humans (apart from you -- the people from our world).
Shortly after the crash survivors regroup (~5 veteran guards, one ~19 yr old guard, one prisoner), the island comes under raid and they get attacked. Of course the battles are easy because the humans are armed with modern weaponry vs. dudes with swords and spears. Island inhabitants meet up and explain the general situation and backstory:
~8 years ago a demon (who, basically is this world's version of Satan... all powerful evil entity) was devastating the world. Eventually a race of Dragonoid priests were able to seal him and all his minions into hell yadda yadda. Afterwards the priests left to their home island or whatever. But now one of those priests (the name I came up with was "Reign" but that's a lame name picked by a 15 yr old) basically came back and is waging war on the land to sort of conquer it. It's never clear whether he's acting independently or if it's part of a larger effort by the priests.. but that's a side point. The battle you just fought was Reign's invasion force attacking one of the few remaining strongholds of the resistance.
The natives don't know how you got there and don't know how to get you back, but say they're willing to help, but can't because of the war. They also have never seen anything like the human weapons and are thorougly impressed. You stay with them for a few days to recover from the crash and get familiar with the world.
Afterwards... one of the natives "joins your party" and you take a ship to the mainland... but are seized immediately as you get off the boat. The harbor you sailed to had also been attacked and is now under Imperial rule. Then you're introduced to 2 generals who oversaw the invasion:
"Wailer" (again lame name)... who is *gasp*Human.
"Chransic" (pron. "crayon-sick" .. this name I still love) who is a really evil looking guy with dark red skin, horns, etc, etc. Warrior + Wizard skills and awesome at both. Basically he's the super badass bad guy of the game.
After introductions and stuff you eventually escape (escept for the young human who gets captured, taught magic, and becomes a pseudo bad guy you meet up with later) and start looking for a way to get back home. And the more you look the more you realize you're not going anywhere until the war is over. So it quickly turns into a fight against Reign's forces.
The thing is... unbeknownst to our heros, several totes/crates of modern weapons have been washing to shore from the wreckage. The resistance gets the bulk of them, but some fall into the hands of the Imperials... and they show extreme interest in them as they appear to be a tide turner for the war.
More backstory gets revealed over time. But since it's not in game I'm just going to spill it out:
Chransic was one of Satan's generals during the original war. He has 3 lives... but used one of them to 'intercept' the Dragon priest seal to prevent it from being permanent. With 2 lives remaining he began developing a way to combat the dragon priests and to started experimenting for a way to break Satan out of hell. His experiments caused portals to open briding Earth with this world. One of his earlier attempts pulled Wailer into this world... and his more recent attempt was successful at brining him back, and also pulling your group in.
Wailer sided with Reign out of convenience, mainly because he didn't care about this world and just wanted to get back home, which Reign told him he could do (he is a dragon priest).
It turns out Chransic is effectively holding Reign hostage, as with his hell experiments he is now able to subdue the dragons with a magical artifact, but he is using Reign's war as a distraction to allow him to gather items needed to break the dragon priest seal. So there's a great animosity between Chransic and Reign. Wailer effectively gets put in charge of "keeping an eye" on Chransic but there isn't really much he can do because Chransic's such a badass.
Wailer's only real interest is in getting back home. Since he knows the humans share that interest, he becomes sort of an "insider" feeding the humans on imperial movements.
Chransic is the big bad boss... who you have at least 2 boss fights with (remember he still has 2 lives left)
Wailer+Reign are optional bosses depending on in-game decisions, though he ultimately is the only way for you to get back home. (There's no way Chransic is going to do it), so killing Reign gets you a "bad end" at the end of the game.
Other key plot points involve chasing down a repository of guns that was stockpiled by the resistance before the imperials can get to it. Chransic's first death triggers him to go ballistic and start rampaging and destroying allies looking for the humans.
And of course... since Chransic has found out about the humans... you realize that if he's successful, then even Earth isn't safe because he has already bridged the two worlds.
That's the general idea as far as story goes.
Gameplay gimmicks/characteristics
- Guns! You have them, and they're superior to all other weaponry (even end game stuff)... but ammo is limited and apart from spotty plot-triggered supplies you simply do not find more.
- Multiple paths/endings. You're occasionally confronted with decisions about going on the offensive against Reign, towards Chransic, or defending a resistance stronghold. Which events you follow determine subtle changes in how the story plays out... whether or not you fight Reign at the end, etc, etc.
- Multiple distributions. I originally had the idea where there would be 5 or so different distros, each with different subtle story line differences. But since that would be lame for someone looking to play the whole thing, I later decided on changing that to have all distros have all story lines, but each start with a unique one "unlocked". Beating the game would unlock a different storyline and you could select at start.
Last edited on
#2 - The "Mech"-style tactical RPG
Heavily inspired by Super Robot Wars, Front Mission, and a dash of Star Fox 2 (the unreleased beta). The general idea is a turn based battle tactic RPG similar to Final Fantasy Tactics.... or more closely... Super Robot Wars.
The basic idea behind the game mechanics are below:
- You have "pilots" and you have "mechs"
- Pilot skill improves with experience points, but mech capability only improves with upgrades ($$$) and/or new mechs.
- Different "families" of mechs determined by how they are operated.
- Pilots have different skillsets with different families. IE, a pilot might use family A more effectively than family B.
- Pilots can switch to different mechs between battles.
- Have a base ship which holds ammo/fuel for mechs. Limited storage capability so you have to go to a friendly supply source and refill every so often. Base ships limits how much supplies, how many pilots, and how many mechs you can have in your squad at a time. Upgrade to bigger base ships as the game progresses.
- Pseudo real time events. Enemy movements and battles are adaptive to how the overall "war" is going. So if you decide to make a 5 day trip to a town for supplies, battles during those 5 days will play out. How many "rounds" your battles take may also affect how much time has passed.
- Plot is generic an unimportant.. it's mostly a strategy game. Finding/attacking enemy supply lines, weakening defenses, protecting resources, etc. The goal is to win the war.
- Encounters with enemies are not really "random"... but actually happen when your squad intersects with enemy units on the map. Might throw in the occasional random encounter to spice it up.
- Permanent death. Aside from your "flag character"... who if they die you lose the game. Other pilots can die, and you can recruit new pilots.
- Form multiple fleets/squads. Send one to attack an enemy base while the other stays behind and defends.
#3 - The SotN clone
I had a big old plot for this one too, but I'm too tired to explain it now. Maybe later.
Last edited on
| #3 - The SotN clone |
Castlevania dating sim FTW! Working on that right now actually...at least the SotN part of it. I have a plot and everything!
closed account (o1vk4iN6)
| - Multiple paths/endings. You're occasionally confronted with decisions about going on the offensive against Reign, towards Chransic, or defending a resistance stronghold. Which events you follow determine subtle changes in how the story plays out... whether or not you fight Reign at the end, etc, etc. |
So many games do this so poorly I stopped expecting anything when I hear a game has a feature like this. Biggest series is probably Mass Effect, it just gives the illusion that your decisions actually matter. (Bit of a SPOILER for Witcher 2) Actually Witcher 2 at the end of the game when you were given the choice to fight or not to, I half expected to get some other cut scene and get put into the fight anyway, was surprised that's not the case.
What kind of gameplay did you think for the FRPG? Action, first-person, turn-based, ATB, ect?
Last edited on
@Disch 17 years ago I thought of making an RPG that took parts of my favorite 3 RPGs and put them together. Story of Final Fantasy, huge cast like Suikoden, headquarters like Suikoden/Shining Force.
My point is, 17 years later, and I have never gave up on my game ideas. I have a 5 subject notebook full of them. I intend to make everyone one of them, even if I'm 90 years old doing it.
My point is, 17 years later, and I have never gave up on my game ideas. I have a 5 subject notebook full of them. I intend to make everyone one of them, even if I'm 90 years old doing it.
| Lumpkin wrote: |
|---|
How far along are you? Can you give us a screen shot? :D |
Never started on it, but it is still on my TODO list. As is my other games, even an adult zombie game I thought of in 1996 when I was a freshman after seeing Night of the Comet. The only thing I have is a Sourceforge place holder page for the project beck when I was Harbinger X of Destined Entertainment Limited (DE Ltd.)
http://wogmoi.sourceforge.net/
Now I'm BHXSpecter of Specter Entertainment, but World Of Gaia is still the name of the series 17 years later.
closed account (N36fSL3A)
Wait, 17 years? 15 years? How old are you guys? :P Your projects are older than me.
I programmed in BASIC during 7th and 8th grade ('94-'96). Near the end of '95 I bought C++ for DUMMIES and started learning C++. I'll be 32 years old on October 30th this year.
closed account (N36fSL3A)
Oh. Younger than I thought.
These are pretty cool ideas. Shame that they're going to waste :/
These are pretty cool ideas. Shame that they're going to waste :/
Topic archived. No new replies allowed.