Game Mechanics

Not sure if there's a pre-existing thread for this, but in any case...

I'm just going to put whatever ideas come up in my mind here, and you feel free to do the same.

A horror game where your flashlight does not recharge, but eventually goes out and you have no way of turning it back on until you reach the end of the level. The only indication of when it will go out is that the light will grow steadily weaker and eventually flicker out.

edited 20th Mar '14 1:46:35 AM by Alceister

Maybe, but most convenience stores carry either torches or batteries, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem, unless they're out of the batteries you need.

You could be in a cave or something, trying to find survivors and get new batteries after you find one (or their remains) which signifies the level's end.

That's why he wants you to have the money. Not so you can buy 14 Cadillacs but so you can help build up the wastes

Would you be able to see at all once the flashlight goes out? If not then I'm not sure that it would work well in all horror games—the loss of the light could all too easily end up being more frustrating and annoying than frightening. (In fact, I seem to recall seeing a let's play in which something much like that did happen.)

I could see it working in a third-person roguelike, however, where it could essentially be a softer analogue to the common "hunger" resource-management element: roguelikes are more expected to be unforgiving, while the third-person view (hopefully coupled with the ability to see walls within arm's distance at the least) might at least allow the player to follow walls in the dark.

If you can see in the dark then it could well work; in fact, I seem to recall seeing something similar (albeit with only one level, and thus no refill of batteries) in a game called Toward the Light (a let's play of which should be found here).

edited 20th Mar '14 8:09:24 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

My Games & Writing

Basically a glowstick then. Disposable flashlights.

Okay, my turn. If we're just talking horror/survival game mechanics, how about the player or the enemies gain or lose strength based on ambient light. I have a Metal Gear Solid 3 'camo' sort of mechanic in mind, where the player's strength can be affected by their equipment. This isn't '+10 SAN' or anything; I mean the character's physical STR stat goes down due to environmental conditions that are favorable to the shadowy horror in the dark.

MMOTBS/RTS:

The TBS aspect takes place on a strategic map and involves 4X elements; RTS takes place on timed tactical maps with different scenarios. Factions are clan-based. Unit design would be entirely customizable by clans, who would pay money to create the template and submit to the server.

An RPG with a Cannibalism Superpower instead of EXP leveling or Stat Grinding. Your character has a Horror Hunger that compels them to eat whatever they just killed, and instead of choosing to put some skill points into magic or whatever, you splice genes with certain abilities or attributes into your DNA.

edited 9th Jun '14 1:38:08 AM by dvorak

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An RPG where your have the power to create copies of characters from a story (a la Inkheart) and bring them into your world. Depending on what character you take out and when in the story you do so (as you keep books, you'll get farther along in their stories, allowing you to either take out a character now or wait until they're stronger), the character will have different statistics and skills to use in battle, and once a character's story is complete (you finish the book), they are whisked away.

The key is that any character could be useful. For example, read out the hero and you'll have an extra party member. Read out a group of monsters and gain free XP and items. Read out a cat, and it could help protect a town's food supply from rats. Have that one boss you can't quite beat? Read out a freaking dragon to reduce it to ashes. Robots, spaceships, people, you name it. Sometimes, however, the characters you read out are pointless, but that doesn't mean you've wasted your ability; it just means you'll need to reread the section to get a useful character. (There's a relatively short fanfiction found in the game that has an extremely powerful hero you can summon, but after she's gone, the hero doesn't want to read it due to the terrible quality.)

You could apply this to powers and abilities as well. You want to shoot out fireballs from your hands to decimate those ents? Read a copy of The Pyromaniac and for a limited time, you can do just that. You want to be a good strategist with a number of party-wide buff and status upgrades to help trudge on through a difficult battle. Then The Art of War is the right book for you! You want be skilled in a number of weapons instead of just one at a time? Well, there's The Quintessential Guides to Weaponry and How to Use Them over there on the shelf. Same thing as last time, though: you finish the book, you lose the abilities. So how do you keep them? It's simple: bookmarking and kitty-corners. Bookmarks are great for learning strings of abilities and traits easily, but they can't be used in library books and you have to buy your own, while kitty-cornering, while free and it works on all books (some kid might unfold it, but the imprint's still there), only lets you obtain a single ability at a time.

So what about your party members? The ones accompanying you on your journey most likely won't have this power, and you couldn't possibly transpose abilities with each other, so what do you do? Don't worry; they have their ways! For example, a younger character would most likely try to imitate what other characters are doing as well as what they see in movies or comic books. A computer nerd could download programs to not directly utilize abilities and skills, but to transpose them and maybe even corrupt data or change code to add strengths and weaknesses to your party and the enemies', respectively (or not...). An artist uses different colors of the rainbow and white, black, gray, and brown, to create elemental fields, elemental attacks, and other elemental abilities. A duo uses a camera and a computer loaded with a video editor to create attacks based on time (fast forward, slow motion, splitting and clipping, etc.) and special effects that vary in power based on how well the effect is rendered (If one is incapacitated, the other must take both roles, which takes twice as long.). And finally, a cop with a gun who does lots of physical damage and can never miss, making them rather dependable if an enemy with high elemental resistances swoops in and dominates your party.

These elements could be mixed in a Science Fantasy setting with computers being more like a futuristic tablet or Google Glass, but the style and architecture of the world being more antiquated. Final Fantasy X did this pretty well, and having a similar (but still unique) style could certainly help tie everything together. Also, give these powers to enemies and other people as well. If this is a society where these kinds of things are available, then the main characters shouldn't be the only ones to wield them.

If anyone uses this idea, I demand royalties.

Similar to the above, a usual Turn Based Battle RPG, with a literal Story-Breaker Power. The written word is basically the Force, and certain people (for a very loose definition of the word) can literally rewrite reality. This is where you come in. You have a text parser like the oldschool text adventure games, and can input "[x enemy] suffers a heart attack", upon which, it does. However, this breaks the Willing Suspension of Disbelief, which corrupts the game world a little-not enough to really notice at first, but if your character becomes a Mary Sue, it starts to look like the scary bits from Eversion. However, it's explained that your character can do this, and can collect words from special tablets and murals, similar to learning new Dragonshouts in Skyrim. These can be arranged into pre-executable commands, and can mesh properly with the story. Making Bandit A suffer a heart attack is pulling things out of your ass; hitting him with a fireball isn't, untill you find the words "attack", "heart", and "enemy", largely because You Shouldn't Know This Already.

edited 7th Mar '18 10:14:57 PM by dvorak

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I really like the idea Deus Denuo had about a light driven turn based strategy/RPG game.

I imagined a possible futuristic earth setting where solar power is the main form of electricity and wars break out for living spaces close to the equator, fought in large mecha.

The key mechanic would be that every turn you spend in the shade or in low light causes you to use stores of power which are only replenished by standing in sunlight. As more of the emergency power is used, you have to divert power from other systems to maintain basic functions, dropping stats such as strength, speed and aim to avoid losing health.

Done right, the system could be played with to present players with challenging strategic decisions, like whether to attempt to hold an advantageous position in the shade at low power or risk going out in the open to recharge.

I am smiling

A space combat RPG with Casual Interstellar Travel-with the twist that the Faster-Than-Light Travel engines aren't mutually exclusive, but have Competitive Balance. Jump Drives allow instant travel anywhere in the galaxy, but take IRL months to recharge, even with a dedicated reactor, and are restricted to very specific points in spacetime to use. Since everyone knows where the jump point is, they're heavily fortified-which can be a problem if you jump into an enemy system. Therefore, they're considered to be the disposable camera/spare tire of Stardrives. Hyperdrives travel slower, but recharge faster. Since Hyperspace Is a Scary Place/Acid-Trip Dimension, you have a risk/reward system, where you might come out with a buff but you might come back with a debuff (or have to fight a battle with the locals). Warp drives have much more consistent results, but you take hull damage while using it (since even a dust particle at that speed is disastrous). The fourth kind is an experimental Slipstream Drive that only certain ships have, which combines the Warp and Hyper Drives to make something faster (and safer) than both, but it's a bit finicky and energy intensive-although not in the sense of "we could walk there before it recharges" like the Jump Drive.

edited 19th Sep '14 11:04:13 AM by dvorak

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A Shoot 'Em Up Boss Rush reversal- you're the boss, and you fight incoming waves of "player ships". It's been done before, but this would be more complex- your "bosses" have multiple destructible parts that can attack separately, and can even perform combination attacks.

...eheh

This doesn't actually represent a large change in the game play but would still be a nice cosmetic touch. When you train a unit in from your base in a RTS, Rome: Total War size groups come out. Same mechanics overall with one group controlled as if they were a single unit in a traditional RTS. Buffs affect a group of units, orders are given to a group, etc. So really tactics and mechanics wise it's mostly cosmetic with one "group" = one traditional unit with there only being a few differences such as groups getting weaker as they take damage, small bottlenecks being more effective with a powerful unit etc.

It would however make a base look more epic. You can have a barracks train one footman at a time which is close to the same height as the building, or you could have 50 smaller guys run out under one flag. A stable in a game might produce a cavalry man 1/4 the size of the stable but it'd look cooler if 25 of them rode out of the front gates.

Also I like the idea proposed by Carbot Animations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWz5uYWnI5k&index=10&list=PL0QrZvg7QIgoJEcraU6roT0G-Q3plJNBY . When training units or researching the "portrait" for the building (think Starcraft) should show what it happening. When training you can see in the portrait a pre-recorded image of a group of knights waking up in the barracks and hastily putting on their armor, then running out the front gates. The length of the video should coincide with the training time so when you see them run out the door in the video, the unit runs out of the equivalent door in the game.

Probably too much for games today but maybe soon.

edited 30th Sep '14 5:49:31 AM by matti23

This is a call out to all Age of Empires fans who might be reading this. What I've written is merely a very rough draft and may need a lot of changing but I'm wondering what ideas the community may have for this to make it workable. Post your comments below.

A combined Age of Empire game. You can select from any age from the Stone Age right through to Age of Empires 3's Imperial Age. Single player campaigns would have restrictions on which range you can play through, a level may restrict you to going from iron to Castle, or Castle to Discovery.

In multiplayer a game probably won't last for the entire range so you can just press "multiplayer", then move the "starting age" and "finishing age" sliders to wherever you please. This can mean multiplayer games can be just 2 ages or the all of them if you and some friends really want to try it out.

Some unit creation and tinkering around may be required to make it work and that's where I'm curious if you had any ideas. Most unit lines can continue from Age of Empires 1 to 2 if the first two ages from Age of Empires 2 is removed. Scout Cavalry from Ao E 1 can continue into the Ao E 2 progression and Cavalry from Ao E 1 goes into the knight. The Axeman can become Pikeman.

A problem might occur with the academy and castle both producing unique units but maybe they can coexist. The castle is more expensive and takes longer to build but the weakly armored and faster building academy suffers a penalty to build times for unique units past the castle age (maybe they could also be limited to not being able to create the upgraded versions of unique units?).

I look forward to hearing what Ao E players have for such a game, or any other Ao E ideas.

edited 1st Oct '14 4:44:37 AM by matti23

Agree with the cavalry side, but axemen need to stay as axemen, and eventually be upgraded to warhammers.

I think one problem you'll have is that you'll need to account for the end of the Roman empire and that it didn't happen everywhere, which actually kind of screws up the whole primitive-to-advanced advance for some of the civilisations.

Also, don't tie yourself to the Age series for all the mechanics, shop around a bit, you might find some good ideas elsewhere.

edited 1st Oct '14 3:39:03 PM by MattII

A game where every weapon is an Evolving Weapon. Say you have a pistol. That pistol can become a magnum, or an SMG. Those can become a sniper rifle or an assault rifle, respectively. This isn't strictly for FPS' either.

A bounty system on other players (MMO games). You take down a greifer's playername, and make a "Wanted!" Poster which is placed in every in-game quest board, and puts said greifer in PVP, wether they like it or not. The poster must include which Terms of Use violation the greifer is guilty of, such as, for example, kill stealing, monopolizing a boss fight, or misuse of the chat system. Rewards could include money (premium currency or otherwise) or special loot unavailable anywhere else.

edited 3rd Oct '14 9:41:27 PM by dvorak

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A Survival Horror where your weapon is an Evolving Weapon... but is perpetually low on ammo. It is in fact 'recharged' by being out in the open, as it feeds on your character's fear, but recharges far more slowly than the time it takes to kill your way through the monsters you have to avoid (and who have good hearing, too). You can either charge your weapon or heal your wounds, but not both at the same time, and you're very likely to get attacked if you just wait around.

A horror game where you get one loaded gun but I doesn't have the power to permanently kill anything. The moment you drop a monster and it leaves your field of view it teleports away slenderman style, then continues stalking you after a random time delay. Extra mindscrew for having monster corpses scattered around, some that never wake up, others that do.

Neat! And it seems viable, too.

A Survival Horror where the player character is a young woman trying to walk home at night in a normal city. Pretty much everyone she meets (mostly men) has a chance of attacking her, for no reason other than because she's there. The enemy character designs are assigned randomly from police lineup-style lists of facial characteristics and physical features, race, etc., and their chance of attacking the character is assigned randomly on every cold boot-up (that is, when the console/system you're playing it on is turned on).

You get to assign physical characteristics in much the same way as the enemy characters do, and certain combinations are stated to make you less of a target but no, not really - the only thing that affects the enemy AI is the enemy AI. Your character can look the way you want her and carry whatever firepower you like, but because it takes place someplace where 'stand your ground' hasn't been implemented all that'll do is get you into trouble.

Any attempt to defend yourself preemptively will be seen as justification for an attack; any attempt to defend yourself will be largely ignored by other non-violent A.I.s; any attempt to simply run has a 60% chance of failing. The police will sometimes drive by and make the area temporarily 'safe', but they won't show up more than once per night, and never on your most direct path home.

Your goal is to get home safe and sound, and brush your teeth before bed. You get a score based on how 'safe' your actions have kept you and your actions have absolutely nothing to do with how 'safe' you are - there will occasionally even be an intruder in your apartment, bathroom, or bed.

...orrrrr all the enemies can just be zombies, the player character a roid-raging wreck of a ramblin' rancher, and give achievements rewarding how well the player attempts Video Game Cruelty Potential. Either/or.

An RPG where you use your words instead of your sword. Each battle, you can initiate a dialouge with a monster. Persuading it to be helpful in some way gets more EXP than persuading it to leave, and both get far more than just killing it. Certain enemies cannot be directly reasoned whith, but can be otherwise tamed, such as throwing a ball for a Angry Guard Dog to chase.

edited 4th Oct '14 2:09:58 PM by dvorak

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Wondering how this would work:

Infantry, contrary to how they are used in many games are now a specialist or end game unit. Vehicles and buildings that have been destroyed leave wreckage that block vision and weapons fire but only infantry can climb over wreckage. Infantry will lose in a one on one match up, most have shorter range than the anti infantry buggy and main battle tanks. They are also slower than most tanks and the buggy. To make up for this infantry can garrison inside buildings, they can all fly (its a sci-fi based game) and are more cost efficient if they get in range (rocket infantry cost 1/6 a tank but 4 of them can kill a tank. Is this enough to make infantry viable? Would players figure out how to use infantry on their own?

Rocket infantry are glass cannons (high damage for low relative cost) and can counter expensive tanks by mobbing them. Tanks kill machine gun buggies which are fast firing but low damage. Machine gun buggies can kill rocket infantry who they out range.

There are artillery, fast moving but close ranged aircraft and vehicles that counter machine gun buggies but some of them seem to need specific orders to attack the buggies in a battle (aircraft need to be told to charge the buggies). In an environment with many units TA style, would this be too much micro for most players to handle?

EDIT: Just wondering whether the thing I'm working on counts as an ass pull. An RPG where you have 5 tabs in the quest screen for 5 areas. In the previous 4 areas you always start in a safe zone where you can buy stuff and get quests. Is it an ass pull if the entire 5th area is the final boss battle?

The characters in the story act like you're headed to a legendary civilization where you will meet the people that will help you defeat the big bad. As soon as you teleport in the entire place is in flames. The final boss is waiting within sight of the entry point and the screen is filled with powerful enemies who will immediately swarm you. For extra impact the final boss is freakishly fast, so you get half a second to take in the scenery then there's a blur of something huge, spike covered and bat like, followed by your HP rapidly going down.

edited 3rd Dec '14 11:57:03 PM by matti23

A board game detailing an airship race; one of those RPG lite affairs available at the local hobby shop. Basically, you choose the gondola, balloon, engines, crewmembers, and a sponsor. Each "part" has a benefit and a drawback. For example, a military spondored ship has an extra point in Durability, but one less point in speed to represent the extra armor and ballast of shells.

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A game that lampshades video game logic. There's a ramp which can make things jump on land and at sea. Deliberately put no limiters on what can use the ramps. You can kill a single soldier by ramping the USS Enterprise onto him or fend off a super carrier by ramping a Landkreuzer onto it.

I'm thinking of a post apocalyptic road warrior scenario where about 99% of the world is completely deadly and will almost certainly destroy you if you go into it. The only known safe spot is your starting location and even that is only temporarily and will soon be swallowed up by the things that ended humanity.

However, you can send scouts off into the deadly and unknown wilderness (probably by choosing points on a map) and, occasionally, they will come back alive and reveal a piece of the world to you. And rarely, they bear news of other relatively safe places as well as treasure, resources and abandoned machinery you can use to upgrade your vehicle and become more powerful. You must balance your meagre resources between producing more scouts, staying fed, fending off the horrors, learning how to read the dangers so you can predict when to escape a safe area before it falls, and upgrading your wheels so you take on greater dangers. And you must also choose where you go to next carefully, keeping in mind that safe spots (including the one where you stand) could cease to be safe at any time.

I'd like to know what folks think of this mechanic. Does it make sense, and would you like to play a survival game like this? It could either be the whole of the game (essentially a strategic survival game) or could tie in with a action driving / shooting sequences.

edited 17th Jan '15 3:53:54 PM by betaalpha

So it's like Rage, but with more focus on surviving than auto racing then?

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