Paragon's Video Game Concepts!

Taya - Legend of a Fighter
Plot
The story is about the female martial artist, named "Taya". A young, brave and adventurous girl with a great sense of justice.
She just became 16 years old and thus finally it old enough to leave her village and go on a fighter's journey, in which youngsters travel the lands of Taiji and use their own strength and fighting skills to survive.
However, she eventually is dragged into a fight of destiny. Against the demonic-fighter "Ahumos" and his legions.
Can she defeat him and save the land?

Gameplay
The basic gameplay is just like the 3D "Zelda" Games.
You move around freely in a large world. And on your way, you fight enemies, explore the lands, solve quests and puzzle, enter dungeons, defeat bosses and collect items.
And most importantly, you improve your own fighting skills, learn new techniques and fighting styles and make Taya stronger, tougher and faster.

Of course, exploring, visiting towns, side-quests, dungeons and stuff are pretty much played like in the Zelda-games.
So there should be no need to explain them here.

The unique trait of this game is the way to improve your character, by TRAINING and LEARNING ABILITIES!
When talking to certain characters or interacting with certain objects, you will play MINI-GAMES in which you will improve your character.
If you clear those games, you will learn an ABILITIY, which makes your character stronger.
There are various abilities, like improving your jump-power, allowing you to block attacks you couldn't block before, allowing you to safely visit hazardous environments, enabling you to damage armored enemies with your attacks that couldn't harm them before, etc. etc.
There are A LOT of abilities you can learn.
Some are mandatory, some are optional.

You can also learn new FIGHTING STYLES.
Many towns have DOJO's, which learn different fighting styles and techniques.
Some persons you meet on your way might also be able to teach you some techniques.
You can customize your fighting style and moveset at any given time.
Go with whatever suits your liking the most.
Also, even if Dojo's teach the same fighting style, they always have at least one technique that no other dojo teaches.
So it is worth visiting each dojo in the game!

You can also visit TOURNAMENTS that are in certain towns.
If you beat all your opponents, you will gain a lot of Yen as prize and maybe even a special item or something.

The combat-gameplay is also similar to the 3D Zelda's, but with some adjustments.
There are different types of attacks:
Normal Attacks, Special Attacks, Spin Attacks, Knockdown Attacks and Counter Attacks.

As in terms of defense, you can Block attacks (though not all attacks can be blocked, at the beginning) or dodge them, by performing dodge rolls and backflips.

Now for KI and KI-TECHNIQUES
KI is pretty much what Magic is in Zelda. A special bar the is reduced, whenever a certain item is used.
If the bar is empty, then those items cannot be used anymore.
Of course, ITEMS will still show up in this game. But with the exception or one or two items, NONE of them is used for the combat.
The items from Zelda are mostly replaced with KI-TECHNIQUES which will drain your KI-Gauge, whenever they are used.
These are powerful attacks and can also interact with some objects (like melting ice, breaking walls or stuff), but drain your KI-Gauge, she do not use them too often or you might lack the KI to use them, when you really need them.


Lastly is the CUSTOMIZATION.
Like it was said above, you can completely customize your moveset and fighting style.
But I would also like to customize the character herself, by offering a vast selection of clothing that the character can wear.
And maybe even some parts of her personality.


Design
I would go for a slightly cartoony, cel-shading style. Similar to "Zelda: Skyward Sword".
Despite the darker nature of the game, that will come once the main villain is introduced, I still think it is a suitable design-style for it.


Extras
As unlockables I would firstly like to have a "Boss Mode", where you can freely re-fight bosses and even freely determine how much health you have, what techniques you have, etc.
Of course, the manatory stuff cannot be edited out.
I would also include a "Boss Rush" Mode, where you fight all the bosses in the game and try to beat them as fast as possible.

I would also like a "Monster Arena". A sandbox kind of mode, where you spawn any enemies you like (minus bosses of course) and then you go fight against them.

Next I would also like to include a "Dungeon Time Attack". Where you replay dungeons and try to beat them as fast as possible.

I would also like to unlock additional difficulties. Which makes the enemies tougher and might even change the dungeons a little.

And lastly, I would include "Second Playthrough" stuff, where certain stuff from a previous playthrough is transferred onto a new game, so you wouldn't have to get them again.
And also, I would love to remove all the customization-restrictions for a second playthrough.
You see, initially you wouldn't be able to assign moves to a fighting style they don't belong to.
But with this, you will gain a "Free Style" fighting style, giving the option to freely customize your moveset, without any restrictions.


So this is the shorter version of my game idea, which was previously named "Tales of Fighting Legends".
You can still find it on dA though. So if you wanna see what my original plans were, feel free to go there.

SCRIPT END!

Codename: Noria

Plot
A beautiful, yet deadly young woman, codenamed "Noria" is the protagonist of this game.
She works for a secret organization, that tries to serve mankind, by "bringing justice to evil". It does what many people call "vigilantism".
Noria is their best agent and cold-blooded assassin with a good sense of justice.
So your role as Noria is to travel around the world, and bring justice to the evils that you encounter.
However, a dangerous and powerful crime syndicate is also on the rise, that will eventually become Noria's primary target.
Can she crush it?


Gameplay
The basic gameplay is based on "Hitman: Absolution".
So one of the core elements is to kill assigned targets. And there are various methods to do so.
Be it the use of firearms, melee-kills, precise assassinations or "accidents".
Hitman-players should know about the variety of ways to kill targets.
From poisoning coffee and pushing off ledges to throwing a target into a shredder...
There is a wide variety of ways...

However, this is just one part of the gameplay. And here comes the unique thing.
OBJECTIVES ARE NOT ALWAYS ABOUT KILLING!!!
Sometimes you have to bust criminals, yet keeping them alive, by causing decisive evidence to leak somehow.
At other times you have to PROTECT people and sometimes you just need to retrieve certain key objects from enemy territory.
Of course, there are still more objectives...

And even if killing is the objective, sometimes the targets are unknown with only some details known about them.
So you'd have to investigate first and make out the targets, before you can kill them.

Hitman-esque techniques, like hiding bodies or using disguises are featured as well.
Though disguises are used somewhat less in this game. Especially gang-disguises are almost non-existant, since they wouldn't work that well, considering the protagonist is female.
So you'd have to rely more on stealth and staying out of the enemy's sight.
In "Hitman Absolution", if you wear a disguise, people of the same type as the disguise you'r wearing would grow suspicious.
But in this game, only certain people would grow suspicious, while others don't look closely.
But like in Absolution, a spot-warning will show, whenever someone is about to spot you...

Climbing and hanging on ledges and stuff is also present in this game.

One thing to note are NON-TARGETS!
Stunning or killing non-targets gives you a penalty, but how big it is depends on the non-target.
If the person to subdued or killed is a criminal, then there is little to no penalty.
If it's someone who is armed and dangerous but not really bad, then the penalty is bigger.
The biggest penalty you get is for KILLING INNOCENT CIVILLIANS.
And killing a certain number of them results in an INSTANT MISSION FAILURE!
A hard penalty, true. But since the protagonist is supposed to stand for justice, it makes sense...


Speaking of which, there are lethal and non-lethal ways of killing.
You can choke enemies until they are unconscious or snap their neck, killing them, when grabbing them.
And with nearly every weapon or items, you have the choice to stun or to kill.
Exceptions are weapons like knives, which always kill.
Unlike in the Hitman-games, NON-LETHAL firearms are in here as well. Such as Tranquilizer Guns or Stun Grenades.


Whether or not you have to fear getting spotting, depends on where you move.
If you move in a free area, where every person can roam freely, you have nothing to fear unless you pull a gun, attack someone or do something else illegal.
In a restricted area however, you can be told off or the enemies will attack on sight right away, depending if you're "Trespassing" or "in Hostile Territory"
One difference to Hitman Absolution, is that people mostly try to settle things peacefully, when you're "just" Trespassing, by telling you you're not allowed in there and thus ask you to leave.
If you do what they say, things are fine. (And this DOES NOT count as spotted.)

Other new things include the ability to TALK with certain people and, if the right words are used, you can convince them to do various tasks.
This can also be used to talk your way out of trouble.
At other times you have to interrogate people and make them talk, by threatening or hurting them.
Sometimes when certain actions and assassinations are performed, Noria will even comment it appropriately.
Or when she is sneaking up to a target about to kill him, she will sometimes also talk to him before she kills him.
(But this never hurts your Stealth-gameplay, as the target is always killed, before it alerts anyone.)

Another thing is that, like in "Metal Gear Solid" you can equip and use items.
Like Camera's, First-Aid Kits or Thermal Googles.
The Instinct-Ability from Hitman Absolution returns in Item-Form here.
And like in MGS, certain items have a limited battery-life. And they need to recharge by unequipping them.

A feature that returns from previous Hitman-games is the "Money Management".
Each time you clear a mission, you will get money as reward.
You can use it to buy new weapons, upgrade your weapons or purchase additional ammo.
Ammo is rather scarce in this game. So it's a good idea to stock up, every now and then.

However money can also be used in other ways, like bribing people in order to leak information to you, using it to lure certain targets to you (like street robbers) etc. etc.

Lastly, the Mission Selection is like the classic PC/Mac-game "Syndicate".
You travel between different countries and you clear missions there.
However, there are PRIMARY Missions, SECONDARY Missions and SECRET Missions.
Primary Missions are the mandatory, story-heavy missions, that you need to clear in order to beat the main game and story.
Secondary Missions are optional missions with little to no backstory. You don't have to do them, but they can give you rewards that might help you out.
Secret Missions are the same, only very well hidden and thus you can reap big rewards from them.


While all-out shooting is an option, the game is about STEALTH. And thus a stealthy gameplay, where you don't even let the enemies know you're there is also rewarded more, than stupid "run & gunning".
In fact, like it was said above, weapon ammo is scarce. So firearms should be used with caution.
So you might not want to use those arms, until you really need them.

Very few missions are about assault and run & gunning and in those missions, there are plenty of weapons and ammo.
But those are very rare. So mostly, it is STEALTH.

You can also distract enemies, by throwing items or weapons and thus generating noises that will lure the enemies away from their usual patrol patterns and thus you can either neutralize them in a more isolated area or walk past them.
Pretty much every weapon and item can be thrown and used as distraction.
And like in MGS, you can also use used up weapon Clips as distraction as well as knocking on walls.

Of course, you can also hide in cupboards or other enterable objects or using special hiding-spots.
But some can only be used with certain disguises.
Example: While disguised as a maid, you can walk over to a bunch of glasses and pretend to clean them, while safely looking around.
When doing this, nobody will be able to spot you.


The levels are designed so that there are always multiple ways to the same point.
For example: There is one tower, with the target on the balcony.
One way is to simple snipe him from below.
But if you don't have a Sniper Rifle, there are also some ways to get up there undetected and deal with him up close and personal.

So be sure to explore the levels too. You never know what you might find.


I think that's it about the gameplay...

Design
A semi-realistic and semi-cel-shading like style is what I would use for this game.

Variety of Weapons
Weapons range from firearms, like Pistols, Assault Rifles and Sniper Rifles to throwables like Grenades, Stun Grenade and traps like mines.
Melee-weapons range from bats, knives and blades to Noria's watch, that has a Fiber Wire hidden in it.
(A small reference to the James Bond movie "From Russia with Love" )
You can also use other items, like Bottles or Vases are weapons.

Satire
Since this game is semi-realistic, I would like to caricate several real-life organizations, as well as stereotypes and some other personalities here.
Of course, this would be a little exaggerrated, yet IMO still fitting for such shady organizations and personalities.

Multiplayer
I would like this game to have a full-blown multiplayer mode.
Classic modes like "Deathmatch" would definitely be here. But other, more game-specific mode would also be included.
Like the "Top Assassin" mode, where the players move through a level with many NPC, where certain people are marked as targets and then the players have to take them out.
The one who takes most out is the winner.
Just throwing out some examples here...


And that's all for now.
SCRIPT END!

True Fighters - Heroes of the Fist

Plot
There is a land, where unarmed martial arts is considered a holy art and the supreme way of fighting. As such, hand-to-hand fighters are highly respected in this place and fighters from all over the world have travelled to this place to live out their life-style to its fullest.
It's also had become a tradition.
So most children are being taught martial arts to become powerful fighters and become proud representantives of their land.
However, one day a large group of bandits, who are also gifted with martial arts skills, both armed and unarmed, invaded the land and cause terror all over the land.
Now it is up to the land's strongest fighters to fight those bandits and save their land.


Gameplay
The main Genre is "Beat em Up". Like in games like "Final Fight" and "Streets of Rage", you (mostly) move through the levels and beat up every enemy you encounter.

The game features full 3D-environments however, so it more plays like the "Beat em Up" sections of the "True Crime" games or "Sleeping Dogs".
You primarily attack hand-to-hand.

However, you can also pick up weapons like "whips", "bats" or other things, which might prove more powerful, than the regular hand-to-hand fighting.
But like in "Streets of Rage 3", they come with a "life-bar", that goes down with each successful hit. And once their "life" hits zero, they will break, leaving you with your fists once more.

The attacks you can perform are:
- Light Attacks
- Hard Attacks
- Spin Attacks
- Directional Attacks (move the stick/pad towards an enemy, while locking another, when attacking)
- Air Attacks
- Grapple Attacks
- Counter Attacks (tho not available from the beginning)
- Dash Attacks
- Super Attacks

If you hold a weapon, you can also throw it at the enemy.
And it should be noted that grappling and throwing works pretty much like in "Streets of Rage".
The throws you can perform depends on whether you grab the opponent from the front, side or back.
While holding the opponent, you can attack while holding him or throw him.

You can jump and attack from the air. Though those aren't combo's.
Light and Hard attacks on ground are the only combo-moves.
As you proceed through the game you might unlock various button-combinations that can result in fearsome combo's.

In fact, you can unlock various fighting styles and moves. And you can customize them to suit your liking.

It's important to learn the abilites, strengths and weaknesses of every individual move at your disposal, so that you can know which one best to use at a given situation.

But aside from attacking, you are also able to BLOCK attacks.
Though not all attacks can be blocked...

There are various enemies, each with their own abilities and moves.
Some might even have IMMUNITIES to certain techniques.
But each enemy is weak to at least one type of attack.
Be sure to make use of this weakness.
However, while each individual enemy might be easy to beat once you know the weakness, the are NEVER alone and ALWAYS attack in groups, which is the true challenge.

Boss enemies are tough enemies, with much more life than a regular enemy.
Each one of them also has a weakness, but might not be so easily exploitable as with regular enemies.

However, this game also has a few platforming-elements, like being able to jump over walls, hanging on ledges and stuff.
But those are just secondary.

Weapons are not the only pickups in this game. You can also pick up food, which recovers life or other goodies that can rack up your points (not present in Adventure Mode though).


Speaking of games modes, the main game modes are split into "Arcade Mode" which plays out like "Final Fight" or "Streets of Rage", aka clearing one level after another with limited life, trying to get the final level and beat the final boss.

The "Adventure Mode" however, plays differently, where you move through an overworld.
This mode has some RPG-elements. You talk with people, enter houses, buy items, etc.
Of course, you will also fight enemies here.
You can also visit dojo in towns to unlock new fighting styles and moves.
But you can also learn them through other means...
This mode plays more like the Single player mode from "Shaolin - Lord of Fist".

Then there are modes like "Boss Rush", "Survival", etc.

Lastly there is the "Multiplayer", where up to 4 human players can fight each other to see who is the strongest.
You can also do an "8 player match", but only 4 human players can compete here, the other players are always CPU-controlled.
The multiplayer-fights always take place in enclosed areas with various sizes.
Some features holes, gaps and pits that the players can fall into.
If they do, the lose through "Ring Out".
However, the players can hang onto ledges and climb back up, if they can reach them.
This should sound familar to players of "Shaolin - Lord of Fist".

As for the "characters", you can unlock various characters are you progress.
But they cannot be used for Adventure Mode.
You can CREATE your own character in this game, who is fully editable.
Name, Gender, Maturity (Child, youth or adult), muscle-mass, face-elements and placement, etc. etc.
Everything is fully editable. So you can create any body you want.

For clothes, pretty much all clothing-styles are featured here as well.
So their should be something for everyone.
Aside from that, you can also edit individual clothers, like cutting holes into them or adding pads or freely changing the color.
Speaking of colors there is an RGB-editor to get any color you desire.
You can even add decals, color-patterns and stuff.
The possibilites are endless.

In the end, everyone should be able to create any character they can think of, pretty much without any limits.

This character will then be the main character of the Adventure Mode and can also be used for any other mode.


Design
Anime, cel-shading style is what I would like to go for here.
It should also be noted that the land has elements from both the ancient and modern age.
Kinda like an amalgamation of ages.


Other notes
Unlike "Final Fight" or "Streets of Rage", this game is not as dark.
It is rather light-hearted and a little humorous as well.
The game plays mostly like a mix of "True Crime/Sleeping Dogs" and "Shaolin - Lord of Fists", with the control- and moveset-scheme from "Streets of Rage".

SCRIPT END!

Nai255 wrote:I actually like the idea of enemy weaknesses and resistances / immunities in a beat-em-up. It'd encourage strategy outside of just constantly jump-kicking like in all the really old ones

.Luke wrote:I see you settled on a good name for your concept. ^^ It took me forever to name my fighting game idea, Sol Champions. XD (The design doc hit 60kb on my R4 card before it got corrupted last year. ;__; It was terrible losing all that text, I had the entire idea laid out and half the character bios too. Might just rewrite it now that I have a laptop, instead of having to put up with DSOrganize and it's flaky FAT32 drivers.)

Anyway, I've got to chime in with Nai and agree with the originality there. Beat 'em ups by nature can (Usually) be extremely boring and monotonous, or at least on your own without friends, no matter what most developers do. (Although I think Turtles in Time did a lot to mix things up during the levels, like tons of different enemies and a 3D mini stage.) A lot of these ideas would actually make these types of games, I dunno, fun in single player guaranteed! =P I do like the focus on fist action too, and breakable weapons are never done in beat 'em ups! I don't see any that let you block either, just recklessly punch punch punch kick kick your way through baddies until it's over. XD (Which gets pretty boring fast without a friend; it's like putting meat through a grinder.)

RPG elements, immunity, fighting styles, infinite character customization, this would be any beat 'em up fan's wet dream. : O (Well, besides more classic remakes and whatnot.) And how many games let you choose to create characters of children? (Mii's don't count.) I can see so many people creating little girl fighters just to beat the big bad to a pulp in the most humiliating ways possible. > : D

Nai255 wrote:These are all good game ideas, but the first one is probably my favorite, and
sounds the most unique. I can't think of any action adventures off the top of my head that focus on martial arts and such rather than swords and sorcery

Platformer Fist

Plot
Muayo-Valley used to be a peaceful valley, until a mysterious robot-army invaded it.
Using their mechanical powers, they brought terror and dispair among the citizens of this valley, enslaving and ruling with a dictatorial iron-fist.
However, one girl, named Tamao, goes against the robot-army, using her martial arts fighting techniques to bring justice to these fiends and hopefully freeing the valley from these villains.


Gameplay
The game name should give you a good idea on how this game plays already.
It's a cross between "Platforming" and "Beat em Up".
Similar to Smash Bros, but only that it ain't multiplayer.

The game is seperated into several worlds and levels.
Tamao must clear levels in order to proceed in a world.
A world is cleared, once the Boss-Stage has been cleared, allowing her to proceed to the next world.
The gameplay is more based on "Mischief Makers" than "Smash Bros", in terms of level design and some gameplay-parts.
In each level, there are hidden objects for you to find.
Do you think you can find them all?

And there might be even hidden levels and even a hidden world, that only the best players can clear...
A lot to discover indeed.


The level however are designed to be much more open, with several ways to get to the end, instead of one linear path with occasional forks.
Sometimes there might even be hidden exits. But they are very well hidden.
Think you can find them?

As for the actual gameplay.
Tamao can walk/run and jump around. And she can hang onto ledges as well.
And she uses various attacks.
There are normal attacks and special attacks. But latter need to be learned on the way first.
You can customize your special attack moveset at any time, before you start a level.
BUT NOT WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING IN A LEVEL!!!
She can grab enemies as well and either attack while holding them or throwing them.
And she can block as well to either reduce or completely nullify damage, depending the attack she blocks.
HOWEVER, NOT ALL ATTACKS CAN BE BLOCKED!!!

And lastly there are also hidden super-moves, that require a certain combination.
But each of them has a different requirement in order to be able for use in the game.
One super-move might require you to fill a bar, by hitting enemies in rapid succession.
One other might require to block a certain kind of attack and then quickly hit a certain button.


So in short, the game plays like games like "Mischief Makers" only with some more "Smash Bros" elements in them.


Design
Anme/Manga-style, going slightly towards chibi-style.

And that is pretty much about this one...

Super Posesso-Droid

Plot
The Droid-Marauders are a large group of space pirates that raided several planets and gained more and more powerful battle and security droids.
Since they got more and more powerful, there seems to be no way to go against the ever rising force of the pirates.
However, the female inventor and droid-scientist Nastasha created a small droid that might be the last glimmer of hope to defeat the pirates and bring peace back to the galaxy.
While it might be undetectable by all radars up to date, it is only equipped with a puny charge-cannon, the absolute worst and cheapest of droid-weaponry. It wouldn't stand a chance against a battle-droid this way.
However, it's true strength lies in its ability to POSSESS and CONTROL enemy droids, effectively using their own forces against them.

Now it is up to you, to navigate the little heroic droid through the enemy ships and destroy the enemy.


Gameplay
This game is supposed to be a re-boot of the old Amiga game "Paradroid 90".
Thus it plays like it.
Visual Example

You must clear an enemy ship, in order to proceed with the game.
To do that, you must first destroy all enemy-droids on the ship.
The path to the Boss-Droid of the ship will then open.
Once the Boss-Droid has been destroyed, you need to use one of the escape-pads to escape from the ship and thus clear it.

Then you will proceed to the next ship.


The little droid you start with only has a puny weapon that does puny damage.
So you need to get better weaponry.
To do that, you need to POSSESS enemy-droids and take them over, their weapons and abilities will then be yours to command.
ONLY ONE DROID CAN BE CONTROLLED AT A TIME!
If you take over another droid while already controlling one, the previous one will be destroyed instantly.

Also, ONLY DROIDS CAN BE POSSESSED AND CONTROLLED!
On your way, you will also encounter human enemies, as well as non-droid enemies, like tanks.
Those cannot be possessed.


Each time you get hit, your life-bar will be reduced. Obviously, you die if you let it reach zero.
HOWEVER, if it hits zero while you're controlling an enemy-droid, only your host will be destroyed but you will remain alive.

Whenever you're attempting to possess an enemy-droid, you will need to play a little hacking-game, that is similar to the one in "Deus Ex: Human Revolution".
Visual Example

Basicly, you need to capture the enemy-node, before it captures yours and forces you out.
If you succeed you will take over the enemy-droid.
But if you fail, you will be thrown off and stunned for a moment, leaving you defenseless to enemy attacks.

The more powerful and potent a droid is, the harder it is to possess it.


On your way through the ship, you will encounter useful devices.
Computer Terminals have various functions. They can show you the map of the ship, give you info on all droid you encountered so far, display in-game statistics, etc.

Repair Nodes will slowly replenish your health, as long as you stay under them.
However, they can be destroyed.

Alert-Nodes will show you the alert status.
As the number of droids on the ship go down, it slowly ends up going from Green, to Yellow, then to orange and eventually to Red.
Once there is Red Alert, human-enemies from a rivaling (but less dangerous) pirate-group called "Raiders" will appear in cleared areas of the ship.
You do NOT need to kill them in order to clear the ship (since they will spawn infinitely) and essentially are just there to make escaping the ship more difficult on later ships.

There also Save Points that you can use to save your progress.

And lastly there are ELEVATORS, used to go from on deck to another.
Each elevator is connected to different decks of the ship. Obviously you can only go to decks, the elevator you're using is connected to.
You can use elevators at any time, except when facing a Boss-Droid.


Speaking of which, like it has been said before, once all enemy-droids on a ship have been destroyed, the deck to the Boss-Droid will become accessible.
In all cases, it is a droid much larger and powerful as the regular droids and it also takes much more damage, before going down.
Each droid-has a weak spot, so find it and go for it.
BOSS-DROIDS ALSO CANNOT BE POSSESSED!

Lastly, there are ESCAPE-PADS, that you use to leave the ship, once the Boss-Droid has been destroyed.


However, I would also like to add several more stuff here, to make the gameplay more diverse.
Like collecting objects, like keycards that unlock locked elevators and doors.
Just one example.

But yeah, that's it for the gameplay.

Design
Anime-style

And that is it!