Game Bunny Ranch

Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby JamestheFox » December 5th, 2014, 4:28 pm

What is this?

Short version, Plot Bunnies for Games, as opposed to stories.

Long Version... Well, none of us are really... game designers, right? At least VG-wise. But we're all kinda idea guys, deep down. So I propose this thread, to serve as an outlet for video game conceptual stuff. Mostly, we're talking game design, but plotlines can be included, too.

Have a beloved game series that you think a few changes could make even better? Bring it here!

Have a beloved non-game series that you'd love to see adapted, and you have JUST the plan for it? We're interested.

Have an idea for a wholly original (do not steal) game idea you've thought up? Share your vision, if you like!

I'll kick things off.

Pitch: What if, instead of Dungeon Completion, Zelda plotlines furthered themselves via a collection subquest? Something akin to Mario's Power Stars/Shine Sprites. You hide them throughout dungeons and the overworld, and when you collect a certain number, you get a call to finish the local story arc, at the end of which you open up more of the overworld, more dungeons, and allow you to progress the story.

Story/Justification
Spoiler: show
Hyrule in this era is under siege by a dark foe who has cursed the lands and all that venture within them to petrify at an astonishing rate (In-game, you start losing hearts when you enter cursed lands, and when you run out (and you don't have a fairy to revive you), you turn into stone). However, his/her curse, like many in the Zelda universe, have a physical component... Most of it has become Skulltulas all over the land, but larger portions of it have materialized into more powerful creatures. By killing them and gathering their souls, you can restore more and more of Hyrule, loosening the grip the curse has. You start by killing enough Skulltula to save your hometown and the surrounding area from the petrification, and progress forward, opening more and more of the land. Sometimes you have to choose which part of the land you want to restore first (do I go left or right to fulfill my goal?), but the end completionist goal is to free ALL of Hyrule.
Dungeons/Overworld:
Spoiler: show
Dungeons are branching paths, more or less, and you'll find paths in both dungeons and the overworld that can't be accessed without equipment you most likely don't currently have. Thus, you can have reasons to return to older dungeons (akin, perhaps, to the return to the first dungeon in Skyward Sword) to collect Heart Pieces, Skulltula, or new items.

Your advice fairy keeps track of your current goal, and will tell you if you ask. If you need to progress in the quest by heading over to a certain location, they tell you where you need to go. If the path to the next objective is blocked off by the curse, they'll tell you that you need to find and kill more Skulltula.

In most cases, it's possible to progress both by simply beating all the Dungeon Bosses you currently can and without even entering a Boss Room, opening the game to several kinds of challenges and speedrun routes.
Items:
Spoiler: show
Item collection is a mix of being rented (later bought) at a shop and being found in dungeon chests. As you progress the story, more items become available in both (IE a new shop is available in the next part of the overworld, or an item you obtained in a later part of the game opens up a path to another item in an earlier dungeon).

Alternatively, many items can be bought at the shop OR found in a dungeon chest. If you buy an item and then find the dungeon chest containing it, you earn back a chunk of the item's worth in cash instead.

ALTERNATIVELY alternatively, if you obtain an item in the shop first, the chest containing it instead has an upgraded version of it. If you obtain the item in a chest first, the shop will have the upgrade.

Most-to-all items have variants, with different utilities, like...

Hookshot:
-Longshot (longer range, can pierce into materials that other Hookshots can't)
-Clawshot (can climb gratings you've latched onto, and with two you can launch from spot to spot)
-Switch Hook (you swap places with whatever you latch onto.)
Bomb:
-Aqua Bomb (can be brought underwater)
-Bombchu (Remote Controlled bomb-bots, good for tight spaces, can climb walls)
-Big Bum-Bomb (Gargantuan bombs that don't explode until disturbed)
Boomerang:
-Homing Boomerang (can lock onto more targets than the others)
-Fairy Boomerang (Picks up nearby elemental properties, such as wind (by default), water, ice, and lava by passing over them, carrying them with it on its path.)
Roc's Feather:
-Roc's Cape (Can hover after jumping, and ride wind trails. In a 3D Zelda, this is basically Batman's Arkham City cape.)
-Roc's Boots (Can walljump a few times after leaping.)
Bow:
-Hawkeye (Longer Range, with telescopic sights)
-Crossbow (Shorter Range, but rapid-fires)
-Bomb Arrows (Equips one of your Bombs to the arrow. When the arrow impacts, the bomb's normal effects activates. Combine with Bombchu for shenanigans?)

Also in chests are means to learn new sword skills, such as the Mortal Draw, Back Slice, Downthrust, Hurricane Spin, etc.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby Bezzerker » December 5th, 2014, 9:19 pm

I'm actually going to school to learn programming so I can make video games, so talking about some of the projects I have in mind sounds like fun.

I have several ideas for remaking numerous games, but for this first post I will focus more on "three" games in particular.

The reason for the quotes? This Idea is for the Oracle games.

The first major change for this would be increasing the number of games from the two it currently has up to the initially designed three games. We should have the technical capabilities to pull off the three game continuity now, and I would like to see the oracle Farore get more screen time as a unique character rather than being just the girl who gets you your secrets stuff.

Another change that would affect all of the games would be the increase of Essences from eight to twelve. My reasoning for this is that at the moment, the number eight doesn't have any significance beyond being how many Siren Instruments 'Link's Awakening' had before. Twelve, on the other hand, has more impact behind it when connecting the themes used in the games. Basically, each Essence represents a month in a year, the basic cycle that moves through both the Seasons and Ages.

Beyond that, my major area of focus has been on the Ages game. For Ages, I want to include a Future Age to round out the Eras that Link visits, as well as have more dungeons that utilize the time travel mechanic in the course of solving them.

I haven't placed as much thought into this remake as I have other games in the Legend of Zelda series, but I think I have a good starting point for making a good gaming experience.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby MEKristian » December 9th, 2014, 2:42 pm

There's a few other things to mention, for your re-imagining of the original Oracle games concept, Bezzerker; what does the "Future" era look like, since advances never happen in Zelda, what item differences are between the three (In Seasons you get an upgrade to the Roc's Feather, for instance, while ages gives you an upgrade for the Flippers).

Just something to think of, I suppose?
What is this?

Short version, Plot Bunnies for Games, as opposed to stories.

Long Version... Well, none of us are really... game designers, right? At least VG-wise. But we're all kinda idea guys, deep down. So I propose this thread, to serve as an outlet for video game conceptual stuff. Mostly, we're talking game design, but plotlines can be included, too.

Have a beloved game series that you think a few changes could make even better? Bring it here!

Have a beloved non-game series that you'd love to see adapted, and you have JUST the plan for it? We're interested.

Have an idea for a wholly original (do not steal) game idea you've thought up? Share your vision, if you like!
Oooh boy... I am a master of coming up with ideas I don't have the talent, skills or resources to make a reality... so, here's a whole bunch of ideas for Fan game stuff, possible Super Robot Wars to follow at some point.

Here we go~:

-Pokemon-
Just let Ice take a level in Badass, like Bug did in Gen V. A Ice/Steel or Ice/Poison type with the Filter ability or something, please.

-Fire Emblem-
Bunch of random hodge-podge ideas:
-A Lord with a Myrmidon build who uses axes (with allowances in Con/Strength to allow for Axe use)
-A Game using the "Demi-human" (Nagas, Harpies, Centaurs, Vampires, ect.) as a race class system. There has to be a Vampire Cleric for lulz.
-An Alternate Universe FE7 plot, using a combination of new characters, old characters, and enemies from FE7:
Spoiler: show
Nergal and Athos switch places in the plot as a result of their backstory fight.
Instead of Lyn in the plains, the first saga involves a "gang war" between Mercenary groups caused by the same villain from the Lyn section. You play as a small mercenary group caught between the larger groups like the Black Fang, who come across the truth of the War.
Eliwood's section is traded for a young Noble from Caelin who's learning to be the new Marquis. He ends up running into the Black Fang plot as he decides to go out for a "break". Hector is replaced by a mage using Light and Dark magic.
The original Legendary weapons are still fully locked away because Athos is evil now, so Nergal points your team in the direction of making their own.
The Ice Dragons still live in Illia, Ninnian is the Queen of the nation. You have to actually visit it in your weapon creation quest.
Two new unit types; possible alternate of the Sniper class, "Outlaw", uses Bows and Swords and takes no penalties on any terrain or weather effects. Other class is a non-mounted flying unit that uses spears, and possibly adds bows when it upgrades.
-Touhou-
A whole general Fan-game plot? Okay!
Spoiler: show
Gensokyo is in general disarray... well, far more than usual, at least. So the varrious protagonists take off the solve the strange inncident of why everybody seems to be fighting each other.
Stage 1: Mystia
Stage 2: ???
Stage 3: Remilia

Remi's the one to point you in the right direction, only for stage 4 to prove itself a real difficulty spike in one move: Two of the other protagonists show up to stop you, and fight you as a Dual boss (with the specifics of which of the three other protagonists shows up depending on your shot type).

Stage 5 shows us the true culprit: a Tsukumogami of the Yata no Kagami, who fights you... but transforming into you. The Fifth stage boss fight is facing your own player character.

Finally, the Sixth stage is facing a reincarnation of the Goddess Amaterasu, who was completely oblivious to what you were doing, but hey, it's a Touhou game, so you may as well settle this with a fight?

EX stage has two possible final bosses; either a human who was sealed away for trying to kill all Youkai, and having the power to steal powers from others. Or, a hybrid half-youkai who fights you to protect a small settlement of Youkai and Humans who are living in peace.

Playable characters are, of course, Reimu and Marisa.... but player 3? Everyone's favourite vampire, Flandre Scarlet.
Player 4 is undecided, maybe Alice(using shot-types based on when she teams-up with Marisa in other games), Reisen(using the PoFV shot-types of her an Tewi), or Yuuka.
And that's what I have for now, I guess.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby JamestheFox » December 10th, 2014, 2:44 pm

Touhou Game Ideas
As someone who hasn't played Touhou... I guess I don't really have much of anything to say here.
Oracle Remakes
Interesting. I do have a few questions/comments, if you'll allow.
Spoiler: show
First, game focus. The Oracle Games were each focused on a a specific aspect of the Zelda series. Oracle of Ages was focused a (teensy) bit more on puzzle solving elements, while Seasons was (a little) more about the combat scenarios. What element of the zelda series, then, is this third game focused on showing off? And how do you manifest this?

The "Eight Dungeon" deal is of a bit more significance than you state. Zelda 1 also had this element, and remember, these games originally were meant to be related to a remake of the original. If you're going to set the Essences from 8 to 12, that also means an increase in dungeons (and equipment). That's an additional 4 new items per game, at least (assuming you don't need new items just to GET to the Dungeons). This can bring out the temptation to overlap items and/or bosses between the games, especially if you've got a THIRD game with 12 new dungeons. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's definitely something to think carefully about before you do it. If you're doing it just for story purposes, remember the lesson Miyamoto taught Capcom regarding this series: Mechanics first, story and themes later.

A note: Early on, Capcom was having trouble with development (because they put scenario design first). Miyamoto then suggested a "Triforce Series," based on each of the three pieces of the Triforce. As some inspiration to you, I'll post the ideas below:
The Chapter of Power (Eventually became Oracle of Seasons) had a season theme, featuring the Rod of Seasons to alter the four seasons and solve puzzles.
The Chapter of Wisdom featured an item called the Magic Paintbrush which was to be used to solve color-themed puzzles.
The Chapter of Courage (Eventually became Oracle of Ages, and its Oracle changed from Farore to Nayru) was to have a theme of time, using morning, noon, evening and night (eventually swapped to straight up two-era time travel) to solve puzzles.

As for the Future Era idea, I'd go with it, if you think you can mesh it into the already-existing storyline and gameplay, which is going to be hard. If you just shoehorn it in, it can make the game become very disjointed compared to the way it was before. There's a reason beyond technical limitations that they stuck with two games, and two eras in Ages. It was cutting out some of the complexities, and streamlining it so as to not be quite as confusing for players. If you can keep things streamlined and simple with three eras, then go for it. Otherwise, it may not be worth the effort.
Moving along...

It's-a-me, MARRRRIIIIOOOOO

Pitch: Mario 3D World 2.0. More characters, more diversity, more differentiation.

Basically, a Mario game that is similar to Super Mario 3D World, with upgrades to one aspect of the game: The multiple character choices. In 3D World, every character has different traits, ranging from Toad being faster than everyone else but not able to jump as high, to Peach's hover. This... is basically an upgrade to that, with two goals:

Goal 1: Differentiate the characters further through how they interact with Power Ups.
Goal 2: More Characters.

The Stats
Spoiler: show
To track characters' basic capabilities, here are traits to track how a character plays. All stats are measured on a x/5 ranking system.
Acceleration: How quickly the character hits full speed. 5/5 can go from standing still to full speed immediately. Add another second or so of running for every point below 5.
Speed: How fast you actually move at full speed.
Brakes: How easily you can stop yourself. Some characters can stop on a dime even on ice, some... aren't so lucky. Also affects how quickly you slide down walls.
Jump: How high or far you can jump. Arguably the most important stat.
Power: How well you can carry an item (like a Cannon-Blockhead or Shell, or another player) without reduction to your other stats. Carrying items like this messes with every stat but Brakes, unless you've got 5/5 Power. Also affects how far your can throw your allies.

If a stat isn't mentioned in a character's bio, assume the stat is 3/5.
Characters
Spoiler: show
Mario: Mr. Nintendo himself, Mario is the bar on which everyone else is compared. In a 5-star ranking system, all stats are rated as 3/5. He has no other special qualities.
Luigi: The second fiddle. 5/5 Jump and Acceleration is awesome, outdoing even Mario by a landslide, but his Brakes are a dismal 1/5. Gotta be careful with that precision platforming. He can waggle his legs as he falls, slowing himself down just a little in midair, giving him plenty of hangtime.
Toad: The mushroom-hat. 1/5 Jump is a horrible thing, but 5/5 Acceleration and Speed is perfect for speedrunners. His 4/5 power makes him pretty good at carrying others' weight.
Wario: The doppelganger. 2/5 Speed and Jump can mess him up, but 5/5 Brakes and Power are his forte. He can perform short dashes in quick succession by tapping the dash button, smashing right through most enemies.
Yoshi: The Dino. A 5/5 in Speed, Jump, and Brakes, but can't use items. He can swallow enemies with his tongue, though, and his Flutter-Jump essentially gives him half a second jump.
Peach: The damsel eternal. 4/5 Speed makes her a bit faster than Mario, but 2/5 Power will really slow you down when you're carrying something. However, she has one of the best special abilities in the game: hovering for a short period of time in midair.
Daisy: The... um... HI I'M DAISY. The Luigi to Peach's Mario, her 1/5 Power and Acceleration will disappoint you, but her 5/5 Speed and Jump, once it's built up, is a grand thing. She can pull out an Umbrella to slow her descent in midair, giving her a great deal of hang time.
Toadette: The... girl Toad? 2/5 Jump, 4/5 Acceleration and Speed makes her a slightly less speedy, more athletic Toad, but she has a trick up her sleeve: if she runs or jumps at a wall, she can climb on it for a very short duration, as though she had the Super Bell. Obviously, this also translates to a more powerful Super Bell in general.
Rosalina: The girl of the stars returns, with 2/5 Speed, 5/5 Jump, and a spin attack that can grant her a small boost in midair, while harming nearby enemies.
Items:
Spoiler: show
Mushroom: This item makes you a little bigger, and lets you survive a hit. We all know what this is. Moving on.

Fire/Ice Flower: Grants projectiles to whoever takes it. The kind of projectiles actually depends on who takes the item...
--Basic Fire/Iceballs: Mario and Peach both get these. Essentially the basic Fireballs of the Mario series. They bounce a little along the ground, and can bounce a few times against walls.
--Float Fire/Iceballs: Luigi and Toadette get these. They don't bounce, at all. But when fired, they go straight ahead, laughing at gravity all the way.
--Roll Fire/Iceballs: Toad gets these. They roll along the ground, clinging to whatever surface they run into. In midair, they go straight down.
--Bounce Fire/Iceballs: Daisy gets these. They bounce hard off the floors, walls, and ceilings. A bit difficult to control, but can easily reach places more easily than the other Flower powers.
--Fire/Ice Breath: Wario alone gets this. Wario gives up his Dash Charge to be able to breathe a constant stream of fire/ice.
--Fire/Ice Luma: Rosalina alone gets this. Her spin's area of damage widens with the help of a Luma following her around. In midair, her spin looses a ball of fire/ice in a random direction.

Super Leaf: Gives you a suit, usually capable of hovering. Depending on the character you get...
--Tanooki Tail: Peach gets this. This vastly increases her air-time, and gives her a nifty tail attack.
--Tanooki Suit: Mario gets this. In addition to the effects of the Tanooki Suit, Mario can turn himself into stone with a ground pound, making him impervious to damage.
--Fox Suit: Luigi gets this. His flutterjump is very nicely bolstered by the suit, and his tail attack has longer range but is slower.
--Bunny Suit: Daisy gets this. No tail attack, but she now has short midair jumps.
--Cape: Toad and Toadette of all people get this beauty. By jumping at max speed, they can jump significantly higher, and float safely down to the surface. Ground Pounding in this state can be catastrophic for anything below you.
--Jet Hat: Wario gets this. Now he can perform his dashes for longer, and can do them in midair.
--Red Luma: Rosalina gets this. She can now float, akin to Peach.

Super Bell: Gives you a suit that lets you climb walls. Also comes in a Lucky Bell form, which lets you turn into a gold statue and collect coins through Ground Pounds.
--Cat Suit: Mario, Peach, Rosalina, and Toad all receive this. In addition to climbing walls, you can also perform a variety of pouncing attacks, especially through the air.
--Squirrel Suit: Luigi, Daisy, and Toadette receive this instead. In addition to climbing walls, you can also make darting attacks, especially along the ground. Not to be confused with the Flying Squirrel suit from New Super Mario Bros U.
--Bull Suit: Wario gets this. In addition to climbing walls, Wario can climb along the ceiling as well.

Bros. Suit: Grants you armor that protects you from damage from behind, or all damage if you're crouching. Also grants you a projectile used with the dash button...
-- Hammer Bros. Suit: Mario, Peach, and Toadette obtain this. The hammers fly in an arc, making it a bit tricky to aim, but even enemies immune to Fire and Ice Balls take damage from these, and they can destroy bricks or activate question-mark-blocks.
-- Boomerang Bros. Suit: Luigi, Daisy, and Toad obtain this. The Boomerangs fly forward, then come back to you. If you dodge it, it'll fly a ways behind you before turning around to try and return to you again.
-- Sumo Bros. Suit: Wario gains this suit. Pressing the crouch button has Wario stomp the ground, creating a shock wave around him. His dashes also send a shock wave a ways ahead of him.
-- Yo Bros. Suit: Rosalina gains this suit. Her spin's range and duration is vastly extended as she sends out a yo-yo to spin around her.

... And I'm sure there are other items that can be used. Maybe some are the same for everyone, but some have unique effects for each character, allowing for very different styles of play.
If you wanted a plot to go with it... maybe have Peach, Daisy, Toadette, and Rosalina kidnapped by Bowser... but escape. When you beat a World as Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Wario (going from World 1 to World 8), the game shifts gears and gives you Peach's party for a World (going from World 8 to World 1). They eventually meet on the border of World 4 and 5, and we have the final stages somewhere around there, finally granting full use of all 8 of those characters. Yoshi is a bonus character, akin to Rosalina in the original 3D World.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby Bezzerker » December 11th, 2014, 9:57 pm

Interesting. I do have a few questions/comments, if you'll allow.
Of course! I like to share my ideas and see what others think of them, as that can help me come up with a more solid proposal than what I can do by myself

Game Focus
Spoiler: show
First, game focus. The Oracle Games were each focused on a a specific aspect of the Zelda series. Oracle of Ages was focused a (teensy) bit more on puzzle solving elements, while Seasons was (a little) more about the combat scenarios. What element of the zelda series, then, is this third game focused on showing off? And how do you manifest this?
Before reading your comments, I had not thought terribly hard on what aspect that the third game would focus on. Most of my thoughts had been on Oracle of Ages and how to incorporate the ideas I had for it into the game, as since I am not even a novice or rookie game designer I wanted to start off by experimenting with already existing products before moving on to building from scratch.

That said your comment caused a flash of inspiration regarding the third games focus; Exploration.

Combined with the focus of the two current Oracle games, the three games neatly encompass the three major aspects of the Legend of Zelda games. Exploring the lands that you find yourself in to discover its secrets, solve the devious Puzzles that you encounter, while Combating the malicious hordes that would block your path. It also fits with the Triforce theme, with each triangle having an aspect to it.

Manifesting the aspect of Exploration in the Zelda games would be a bit trickier, though taking the idea of non-linear dungeon delving might be an interesting idea, as well as having dungeons that are not necessarily one contiguous location.
Items
Spoiler: show
The "Eight Dungeon" deal is of a bit more significance than you state. Zelda 1 also had this element, and remember, these games originally were meant to be related to a remake of the original. If you're going to set the Essences from 8 to 12, that also means an increase in dungeons (and equipment). That's an additional 4 new items per game, at least (assuming you don't need new items just to GET to the Dungeons). This can bring out the temptation to overlap items and/or bosses between the games, especially if you've got a THIRD game with 12 new dungeons. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's definitely something to think carefully about before you do it. If you're doing it just for story purposes, remember the lesson Miyamoto taught Capcom regarding this series: Mechanics first, story and themes later.

A note: Early on, Capcom was having trouble with development (because they put scenario design first). Miyamoto then suggested a "Triforce Series," based on each of the three pieces of the Triforce. As some inspiration to you, I'll post the ideas below:
The Chapter of Power (Eventually became Oracle of Seasons) had a season theme, featuring the Rod of Seasons to alter the four seasons and solve puzzles.
The Chapter of Wisdom featured an item called the Magic Paintbrush which was to be used to solve color-themed puzzles.
The Chapter of Courage (Eventually became Oracle of Ages, and its Oracle changed from Farore to Nayru) was to have a theme of time, using morning, noon, evening and night (eventually swapped to straight up two-era time travel) to solve puzzles.
I actually hadn’t known about the Zelda 1 remake plan, though based on what you later mention and what I quickly Wiki’d, it seems to have held back the games development until it was dropped. That said, I don’t think that increasing the number of essences will be that detrimental. Although, again, I am no game developer yet.

As for the items, only two items (one in Seasons, one in Ages) do not overlap between the two games. Of the two, only the one in Ages (Cane of Somaria) is actually useful, the other is the Fool’s Ore that the Scam Subrosians give you.

Despite that, both games have a large number of unique items (6 for Seasons, 7 for Ages) that do the same thing as an item in the other game, but with a different twist to it.

The first example would be the Power Bracelet and the Roc’s Feather. Both games have these items, but the upgraded forms of these are only in one game or the other. That helps to give the games a different feel, despite having almost the same inventories.

The other example would be the projectile weapons and the gap crossers of each game. Both games have an item that fills this role in them, but each is unique in how that item fulfills its function. For Seasons, its projectile weapon is the Slingshot/Hyper Slingshot and its gap crosser is the Magnetic Gloves; while Ages’ projectile weapon is the Seed Shooter and its gap crosser the Switch/Long Hook.

The Slingshot starts off as a straight forward weapon; it shoots a seed in one of four directions in a straight line until it hits something. No bells or whistles. The upgrade changes the Slingshot from a single-shooter into a shotgun, firing three seeds in one direction. Very fitting for the Combat focused Seasons; allowing Link to use more Power in his fights.

The Seed Shooter allows Link to fire a seed in eight different directions, and the seed bounces twice off of surfaces before bursting. This gives Link the ability to hit targets that he doesn’t have line of sight of, though to use it properly requires an understanding of angles and trajectories. An item the needs a Wise user in order to use it effectively.

The gap crossers have similar unique spins that fit in with the overall theme of the game they reside in. The Magnetic Glove gives Link the ability to utilize magnetics, pushing and pulling either himself or ferrous materials around the area. The Switch Hook on the other hand, doesn’t push or pull but swaps two objects almost instantly. To cross a gap with the Switch Hook requires there be an object he can switch with on the other side, for the Magnetic Gloves that there be a large ferrous object that won’t move.

In addition, the more complicated puzzles for each item also reveal that divide. For the Magnetic Gloves, it’s about pushing and pulling Link across a void, with only the power of the glove keeping him from falling into the abyss. The Switch Hook on the other hand is about chain swaps, and being in just the right spot in order to move objects that you can’t otherwise push into the place they need to be in.

So while overlap isn’t avoided in the games, I would still need to come up with a unique twist to differentiate the third game from the other two. The bosses on the other hand don’t overlap, so that will definitely be more of a challenge.
Future Era
Spoiler: show
As for the Future Era idea, I'd go with it, if you think you can mesh it into the already-existing storyline and gameplay, which is going to be hard. If you just shoehorn it in, it can make the game become very disjointed compared to the way it was before. There's a reason beyond technical limitations that they stuck with two games, and two eras in Ages. It was cutting out some of the complexities, and streamlining it so as to not be quite as confusing for players. If you can keep things streamlined and simple with three eras, then go for it. Otherwise, it may not be worth the effort.
Gameplay-wise, I think it will be actually kind of simple to mesh into the game, with the gameplay informing how to mesh it in story-wise. My main idea for adding in the Future Era is giving each of the three eras a unique advantage for puzzle solving.

The Past Era is all about Influence, nudging people and events into altering the Present and Future in a manor favorable to Link.

The Present Era has Tangibles (need a better name). This era is where Link goes to pick up that item that won’t be done for decades or that is all but dust in a few years’ time.

The Future Era grants Knowledge. This is where Link goes to find out how things progressed as well as how to alter them.

This is not a straight-jacket though, as each Era can still have some of the other advantages in them as well. These are just the guidelines to help shape the puzzles in the game.
There's a few other things to mention, for your re-imagining of the original Oracle games concept, Bezzerker; what does the "Future" era look like, since advances never happen in Zelda, what item differences are between the three (In Seasons you get an upgrade to the Roc's Feather, for instance, while ages gives you an upgrade for the Flippers).
Strangely enough, there is quite a bit of higher technologies scattered around the Zelda games. From the robots in Skyward Sword to the Goron Mines in Twilight Princess, the residents of the LoZ-verse don’t seem to be strangers to advanced tech.

That said, I’m imagining the Future Era to be somewhat of a Magitech version of today’s level of tech, with certain techs being further ahead in the LoZ-verse while others lag behind.

For the items, the main differences will be along the themes of the games. For which, I would probably move the Roc’s Feather upgrade to the third game, the Power Bracelet upgrade to Seasons, and I kind of want to create a third item that fills out this trio with its upgrade in Ages.

Although, depending on how things work out, I might have the Mermaid Suit be the upgraded item for Ages. I’ll have to think more on that.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby JamestheFox » December 11th, 2014, 11:12 pm

The other reason that the addition of the "Future" era would be hard to pull off is because you're working with an already established story, with a focus on the progression of a certain location's construction in the distant past being the major crux of the story. The Future Era complicates the use of the mechanic in terms of the plot. Both the present and the past eras have something to do, plotwise, where I'm... not really seeing how the Future would have a place in things (technically, up til you change the past by stopping Veran's schemes, there IS no future for the land). Most of what you would do with a future era is already accomplished by the present era in the original (The Tree is a sapling in the Past, fully grown and filled with knowledge in the Present, etc.). Thus, simplified.

That said, if you ARE adding four more dungeons for 12 Essences, a Future Era could potentially let you do that without messing too much with the maps of the Present and Past. You'd just have to fit this into the plot (since this is a remake, not a spiritual successor).

For the third game, one way you can run the exploration bit is by not having straight up dungeons. Instead, having the Essences (and the dungeon items) be hidden throughout the land, and you have to explore carefully (In essence, the whole WORLD'S a dungeon with countless items, minibosses, bosses, and essences within). Items would focus more on the "get to new places" aspect than the "solve this kind of puzzle" or "beat this type of enemy" aspects. Roc's Cape would appear in this one as well as Seasons (by the way, their choices for upgrades were also very, VERY suited to the games. The Power Bracelets allow for puzzle solving elements, but the Roc's Feather and Cape are PERFECT for dodging and weaving through enemy attacks. If this were Minish Cap or Four Swords, you'd also have a diving stab attack for use with them). You'd have a straight up hookshot (maybe a double hook?). Maybe Digging Mitts as an upgrade to the Shovel, letting you dig into pure underground areas akin to Skyward Sword?

One weird quirk in the development of the originals is that the Magic Boomerang (an upgrade for the Boomerang that is entirely under Link's control after it flies) is only in the combat-oriented game, where you'd think it'd be better suited to the puzzle oriented game.

In fact, let's do a quick inventory of Link's Oracle Items and what might work well in each of the three games.
Spoiler: show
Oracle Games Only
Action Heavy Items:
Bow, Boomerang, Slingshot and Hyper Slingshot, Magnetic Gloves (for the semi-platforming sections, and for removing or manipulating foes in armor. Force push, anyone? Too bad that wasn't directly possible in the original), Roc's Feather/Cape

Puzzle Heavy Items:
Bombs, Seed Shooter, Magic Boomerang (even though it didn't make it in there), Power Bracelet/Gauntlets, Shovel, Cane of Somaria, Switch Hook.

Exploration Heavy Items:
Bombs, Magnetic Gloves, Roc's Feather/Cape, Power Bracelet/Gauntlets, Switch Hook. Maybe others, if you can find interesting exploration uses of them.
Now, beyond that, I'd probably swap the Switch Hook for a straight up Hookshot in the Oracle of Secrets. Maybe include the Spinner and Iron Boots?
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby rbear1231 » December 12th, 2014, 3:41 am

Not sure what this topic is asking for,

Are you intrested in ideas for any or all games i can think of?

or are there games you wish to talk about, most mentioned so fare i don't know of.

i have been writing my own game, hoping to find a person with the programming skills i lack.

It is an RP game, mean i encourage role playing above all.

but i am not sure if anyone wants to hear it, or if it is right to speak about it on this thread.

the main concept of my game is this.

'you must earn everything you get, nothing is given and almost everything is possible to gain.

thank you.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby jgkitarel » December 12th, 2014, 9:46 am

I would look into some of the available game design software programs already out there first. Some don't require coding skills to use, though having them can allow you to really make use of the strengths of a lot of those programs.
Also, I have to punch you, jgkitarel, because I spent a lot of time on the nanoha wiki trying to locate information on mages being trained due to being above a certain rank, only to remember and confirm that you were the one that came up with that. - Phht
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby MEKristian » December 15th, 2014, 9:07 pm

Touhou Game Ideas
As someone who hasn't played Touhou... I guess I don't really have much of anything to say here.
I wasn't really expecting you to; I figured there might be a slight chance one of the regulars who are interested in Touhou might find the pitch interesting. And on the vaugely related note that's more a complaint, why has nobody done a video series detaining shot-types in the games. *grumble grumble*

It's-a-me, MARRRRIIIIOOOOO
All of these ideas sound intriguing except for one fairly glaring issue, which I am going to dub "The Nabbit Problem".

If you all remember, Mario is not a playable character in Super Luigi U; instead he is replaced by reoccurring villain Nabbit, who can't use power-ups, but doesn't take damage from enemies.

If you can't see the problem, the crux is that Nabbit's play-style is so different than the other characters, compounded by essentially being broken in a Mario game format, that effectively nobody wants to play as him, particularly in Multiplayer.

And that sort of becomes the issue here too; the characters are so different that people will have trouble playing together, for example Warrio not being able to follow Luigi and Yoshi jumping up somewhere, thus limiting one half the group.

---

And since I've been working on this most of the day... here's a Mega Evolution!

Mega Haxorus (Normal Stats in Brackets, along with changes)
Steel/Dragon
HP: 76 (76, No Change)
Attack: 167 (147, +20)
Defense: 100 (90, +10)
Special Attack: 60 (60, No Change)
Special Defense: 90 (70, +20)
Speed: 147 (97, +50)

And it gets a completely made-up Ability, "Metal Body" that works exactly like Normalize, Aerilate, Pixilate, and Refrigerate; All Normal moves become "Steel" type and have a +30% damage boost. Primarily because Haxorus normally gets exactly one Steel move as of Gen VI (probably due to the Fairy Type's weaknesses), so "Metal Body" gives it access to more Steel-type STAB moves that don't require tutors or Egg Moves.

If Haxorus' move-set was changed to include more Steel-type moves, than it could have a different ability, though I don't know what. Also, if 147 speed seems too high, cut it by 10 and add that to Special Defense.

Don't suppose anybody else has some Mega Evolutions they've been thinking of...?
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby JamestheFox » December 15th, 2014, 10:15 pm

Indeed, the Nabbit problem is a... pretty nasty thing. That said, at least in Mario 3D World, the differences in character weren't really dealbreakers, at least when I was playing with others. I mean, yeah, Peach has the BS floating powers, and Toad's jump SUCKS, but in general the party was able to stick together without much problem. I think a lot of that stemmed from cooperative methods; most times, the characters were able to use their differences to get to items in nooks that were out of reach for others, or the characters could lift and carry each other to get through parts their character was too weak at (this especially became true with the ability to bubble-fy yourself to warp to your teammate's location in multiplayer).



Pokemon Mega Evolutions? Hmmm. Well... are you aware there's a Pokemon Tabletop game? Yeah. Two, in fact. And there's a pretty huge homebrew booklet made by the fans for one of those systems that is precisely that: homebrewed Mega Evolutions. Most of these wouldn't work well with the VG, because of the changed rulesets, but... yeah. Might be inspiring.

Also, I feel like Gallade got the shaft, Mega-wise. Compared to Gardevoir, Gallade's Mega didn't really get much that screams "I AM AMAZING, USE ME!" like other Megas. I think a major reason for this is that he got a HORRIBLE Ability, which is about par for the course for him. Inner Focus? Really?

But I do have an interesting mechanic for you: An extension of Mega Evolution. We'll call it Mega Burst. It's not quite Mega Evolution, but it has certain benefits and rules:
-You can only use a Mega Burst if you haven't used Mega Evolution yet. You can use Mega Burst twice in a single battle.
-Mega Burst increases the Pokemon's favored stat (the one that its Nature boosts) by about... 30 to 50 points. Not sure yet.
-A Pokemon under the effects of Mega Burst uses its Hidden Ability, if it doesn't already have it activated. So a Mightyena under Mega Burst replaces Intimidate or Quick Feet with Moxie. That... could actually be pretty useful!
-Any Pokemon can undergo a Mega Burst. Not sure whether or not you'd need an item for it. Probably depends on whether the Mega Burst boosts by 30 or 50 points. Maybe make just how many points the stat raises depend on whether they're holding an Item or not?

This way, even while we're waiting for MEGA FLYGONNNNN, we can have something to tide us over. And hey, this would mean that certain Pokemon can finally show off their Hidden Ability!
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby MEKristian » December 16th, 2014, 4:18 pm

Pokemon Mega Evolutions? Hmmm.
I didn't really know about Pokemon Tabletop games... primarily because I don't play table top games. So I'm trying to keep in Game-logic.

And Gallade's not the only one who gets kinda gimped in terms of Ability; Mega Slowbro, of course, has Shell Armor, Mega Alakazam has Trace(which is exactly what the Ralts line had to begin with, and not exactly better than it's other available abilities), Mega Mewtwo Y (Insomnia isn't really helpful compared to Pressure or Steadfast), and Mega Audino (Healer is one of the two non-hidden abilities of audino, and considered the worse one). At least it's not Hustle, I guess?

The "Mega Burst" could be interesting, I guess? It just seems odd for the way Pokemon goes, I guess?

And speaking of Mega Flygon, allow me to go over what I can about what could go into it:
Flygon's base stats are
Ground/Dragon
HP: 80
Attack: 100
Defense: 80
Special Attack: 80
Special Defense: 80
Speed: 100

Ability is Levitate, no Hidden Ability.

So, we're dealing with a Jack of All Stats with a slight leaning towards Attack and Speed... hmm, that sounds kind of familliar...

Thus, it might be best to do the same thing and go for "Mega Flygon X" and "Mega Flygon Y", with stat spreads leaning to different roles, same as the other X and Y evolution splits. The trick becomes what to do with the 100+ point spread for each and what abilities to go with.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby Bezzerker » December 26th, 2014, 1:50 am

Okay, this post took much longer to write than I expected it to.

=====

Future Era 2: Electric Boogaloo
Spoiler: show
The other reason that the addition of the "Future" era would be hard to pull off is because you're working with an already established story, with a focus on the progression of a certain location's construction in the distant past being the major crux of the story. The Future Era complicates the use of the mechanic in terms of the plot. Both the present and the past eras have something to do, plotwise, where I'm... not really seeing how the Future would have a place in things (technically, up til you change the past by stopping Veran's schemes, there IS no future for the land). Most of what you would do with a future era is already accomplished by the present era in the original (The Tree is a sapling in the Past, fully grown and filled with knowledge in the Present, etc.). Thus, simplified.

That said, if you ARE adding four more dungeons for 12 Essences, a Future Era could potentially let you do that without messing too much with the maps of the Present and Past. You'd just have to fit this into the plot (since this is a remake, not a spiritual successor).
For me, I feel that the Time Travel mechanic was under-utilized in game, especially compared to the use of the Season Changing mechanic in Seasons. Part of the issue, again to me at least, is that the two current Eras seem unbalanced in terms of importance to gameplay and story (to a lesser degree). The Past feels more like a place you visit on occasion, with most of the major stuff happening in the Present.

In fact, a quick check shows that of the eight dungeons in the game, only three take place in the Past (Dungeons #2, #6, & #8) with one of them being split between both Eras (#6). Part of my desire to add in the Future Era is to get a little more balance between the Eras, so that each feels like it brings something to the experience. That's also why I came up with the division of "puzzle elements" for the three Eras.

Story-wise, saying that the land has no Future until Veran's schemes are foiled would also suggest that the Present shouldn't exist either. Having the Future Era also gives a chance to give the player an area that reacts in a very visible way when the player saves it.

In fact, why is it that Link seems to be the only person in Ages whose changes are felt immediately? Among other things; the Maku Tree isn't affected until you go a talk to her the first time, Lybranna City still exists more or less intact, and Ralph is alive and seemingly unaffected throughout the game.

Yet when Link changes things, it has immediate and sometimes drastic effects like saving the Maku Tree and Symmetry City, or placing the missing Tokay Guardian's Eye in its socket. Heck, the Tokay thing is changed *before* Link even has a reason to do so.

The bottom line for me is I feel that the Time Travel Mechanic can be used better without negatively impacting the current plot or gameplay.
Dungeon Planning for Fun and Profit
Spoiler: show
For the third game, one way you can run the exploration bit is by not having straight up dungeons. Instead, having the Essences (and the dungeon items) be hidden throughout the land, and you have to explore carefully (In essence, the whole WORLD'S a dungeon with countless items, minibosses, bosses, and essences within). Items would focus more on the "get to new places" aspect than the "solve this kind of puzzle" or "beat this type of enemy" aspects.
I’m thinking for the dungeon layouts, is less the whole world is one dungeon and more each of the “regions” are the dungeons. Skyward Sword did something very similar to this suggestion with its three provinces; not only were the three provinces home to the various dungeons of the game, the Overworld leading to the dungeons were almost all in essence mini-dungeons complete with an Item to gain.

The way I would like to implement “Dungeons” in the third Oracle game would be to have the different regions you visit be in effect the dungeon complex, somewhat similar to the way the Skull Dungeon from A Link to the Past but with the area being a bit larger. I would probably make it so that there are “safe zones” in each of the regions, basically being the entrance to the dungeon as well as potentially a path that you can use to get to the other regions.

I would need to explore the options for implementation, but that’s a bit further in the creative process than I am currently at. The Items I would definitely have focus more on enabling Exploration.
On Power Gloves and Roc's Cape
Spoiler: show
Roc's Cape would appear in this one as well as Seasons (by the way, their choices for upgrades were also very, VERY suited to the games. The Power Bracelets allow for puzzle solving elements, but the Roc's Feather and Cape are PERFECT for dodging and weaving through enemy attacks. If this were Minish Cap or Four Swords, you'd also have a diving stab attack for use with them).
I actually disagree with the choices for upgrades in the games. The level one Items are certainly useful in both games, opening up possibilities for action and puzzle solving. The level two Items on the other hand, don’t really fit with the game they’re in. The Power Glove allows Link to lift even heavier objects, while the Roc’s Cape let’s Link Jump farther.

The Power Bracelet and Glove are much more of an Action-oriented Item. The basic function of the Items is increasing Link’s lifting and pushing strength. The puzzles that are solved by this Item are invariably some form of move the obstacle out of your way. That seems more like an Action solution to a puzzle to me.

Game – “There’s a boulder in your way, what do you do?”

Power Bracelet – “I pick it up and throw it.”

Game – “Oh, but it’s a really big and heavy boulder!”

Power Glove – “I PICK IT UP AND THROW IT.”

The Roc’s Feather and Cape are more of an Exploration item, but failing that would fit better (in my opinion) in the Puzzle-focused Ages. The basic function for these Items is enhancing Link’s ability to jump, with the Roc’s Cape giving Link a limited ability to glide.

The hang time of the Cape allows Link to control his trajectory mid-flight, with Link able to turn very easily for either ninety or one-eighty degree turns. This means that mazes can become much trickier to navigate that require jumping around a corner to land on solid ground.

Both of these Items are certainly useful in combat, with the Roc’s Feather letting Link jump out of the way of enemy attacks while the Power Bracelet give Link his first set of ranged attacks with thrown objects. They’re also useful for exploring, jumping over gaps and moving boulders out of the way. There are also puzzles that both enable, with platforming and block pushing respectively.

But the feelings that the upgraded Items invoke seem at odds with the games that they are in. In Ages, you’re primarily putting your wits to the test against devious puzzles with most of the unique Items rewarding being clever like the Switch Hook, the Seed Shooter, and the Harp of Ages. The Power Glove, on the other hand, is more likely to make you feel strong and powerful, but not necessarily clever.

The Oracle of Seasons has you testing the might of your arsenal against the vile hordes that stand against you. The unique Items tend to invoke feelings of strength, with the Hyper Slingshot, the Magnetic Gloves, and the Rod of Seasons. The Roc’s Cape, while useful to combat, invokes more of a sense of freedom and adventure.

Also, it seems to me that the Power Gloves got the short end of the stick when it came time for upgrade designing. While the Roc’s Cape does increase how far you can you jump, it also adds a new dynamic when jumping with the hang time. Now not only can you jump over a gap three holes in a straight line, you can jump through the air like a Knight in Chess. That’s an interesting new thing to play with.

The Power Glove, however, just lets you pick up stuff that the Power Bracelet couldn’t. It doesn’t change anything about how you pick stuff up and it doesn’t provide any other benefits. It makes the Power Glove seem like a somewhat arbitrary upgrade, as the statues that it lets you pick up are only in the last dungeon and the area just before it. I think a neat idea would be for the Power Glove to allow Link to pick up certain enemies and throw them around, but that’s just from a very brief brainstorm.
One Liners
Spoiler: show
You'd have a straight up hookshot (maybe a double hook?). Maybe Digging Mitts as an upgrade to the Shovel, letting you dig into pure underground areas akin to Skyward Sword?
The Digging Mitts sounds interesting; I’ll definitely keep them in mind when coming up with the Items for the third Oracle game. Also, I had an amusing thought of the Shovel being how you get to Subrosia, with you digging thorough the ground, only to pop up in a completely different area.
One weird quirk in the development of the originals is that the Magic Boomerang (an upgrade for the Boomerang that is entirely under Link's control after it flies) is only in the combat-oriented game, where you'd think it'd be better suited to the puzzle oriented game.
I completely agree, the Magic Boomerang is oddly placed. Especially sense you have to stand still while using the remote control function.
Item List
Spoiler: show
In fact, let's do a quick inventory of Link's Oracle Items and what might work well in each of the three games.
Oracle Games Only
Action Heavy Items:
Bow, Boomerang, Slingshot and Hyper Slingshot, Magnetic Gloves (for the semi-platforming sections, and for removing or manipulating foes in armor. Force push, anyone? Too bad that wasn't directly possible in the original), Roc's Feather/Cape

Puzzle Heavy Items:
Bombs, Seed Shooter, Magic Boomerang (even though it didn't make it in there), Power Bracelet/Gauntlets, Shovel, Cane of Somaria, Switch Hook.

Exploration Heavy Items:
Bombs, Magnetic Gloves, Roc's Feather/Cape, Power Bracelet/Gauntlets, Switch Hook. Maybe others, if you can find interesting exploration uses of them.

Now, beyond that, I'd probably swap the Switch Hook for a straight up Hookshot in the Oracle of Secrets. Maybe include the Spinner and Iron Boots?
For the Item List, my main consideration will be what niches I can come up with, then creating/borrowing Items to fill the niche, depending on the circumstance. For the two current games, that should be just four more Items, with the third new Oracle game getting quite a few more.

For the list you made, I would have the Roc's Feather and Cape only in the Exploration section.

Also, what was your reasoning for putting the Shovel in the Puzzle section and not the Exploration?
=====

The first game I would like to remake, as my first project is Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Though my idea is more of a re-imagining than a remake.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby jgkitarel » December 26th, 2014, 12:53 pm

A reimaging? How so? Making the game more challenging? Using the various inventory items to their fuller potential (the climbing abilities of the claws were well utilized after their introduction, but other items were less so)? Expanding the world?
Also, I have to punch you, jgkitarel, because I spent a lot of time on the nanoha wiki trying to locate information on mages being trained due to being above a certain rank, only to remember and confirm that you were the one that came up with that. - Phht
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby Phht » January 30th, 2015, 7:57 am

So, having seen the likely Ghostbusters crew for the reboot/remake, I got thinking about the various ways to make a new Ghostbusters movie without tossing out the current continuity. And given that it'd likely be set in modern times (like Ghostbusters 1-2 were for their time), that'd rule out having it occur immediately after the video game (following the "rookie" as they start up their own franchise). But the idea of following that rookie off starting their own franchise stuck with me.

Have a business sim(?) type set-up. Have your starting location (let's go with a fictional warehouse area with its own dock so there's room to expand), a few pieces of starting equipment to be installed (containment unit, proton pack storage station (one fully operational proton pack (GBtVG end version, no non-plot upgrades), 3 bare bones models (GB2 era version), other gear storage, etc), and enough money to get a vehicle (free modification of the first vehicle to Ghostbuster usage), a secretary, and 1-2 Ghostbusters (not counting yourself).

Initial city would be Los Angeles. DLC/Expansions could add other cities with unique jobs and plot so you're not replaying the exact same story in a different city.

Franchise
Spoiler: show
The franchise would have Reputation and Visibility scores. Reputation is what other people think of your franchise. High Reputation good. Negative Reputation bad. You gain Reputation for completing jobs, completing tasks, achieving hidden goals, things like that. You gain less Reputation for completing jobs with sufficient collateral damage, while you gain more Reputation for completing jobs with little to no collateral damage. There's also bonus rep for speed of job completion and good PR/communication with the client. Visibility is how well known in the city your franchise is. The more visible the franchise, the more jobs that come in. The more visible the franchise, the more opposition notices you as well. Become visible enough, but have a reputation for collateral damage, and the city might form something like P-COC to regulate you. Become visible enough and have a reputation for minimal damage and quick job completion, and dark powers might put into motion plans to distract or close the franchise.

As you get surplus money, you can add new rooms/locations to the franchise, upgrade rooms, upgrade equipment, buy/build new equipment, hire more people. New rooms/locations include things like containment units, firing range (to practice proton pack accuracy), shoot house (to practice fire control and tactics in room/building mock-ups), library, car garage, employee rooms, design spaces, construction spaces, and so forth. Upgrades to rooms would include things like adding a platform and a second 'floor' of targets to the firing range to allow shooting at targets at much different heights than within the same floor level, adding moving targets to the range or shoot house, adding computers/internet to the library, car lift to the garage, etc.

To upgrade or build equipment on site, you need an employee with sufficient skill in the required construction skill to perform the task. Otherwise, you have to wait for a Ghostbuster from New York to come out and do the upgrades, or pay the NY office to build and ship new equipment to you. In the case of upgrading equipment, it adds more time to task completion, while buying equipment adds more time and cost to the task (shipping and handling). Construction of rooms/upgrade of rooms may take longer with insufficient skill or require paying a contractor to do at least part of the work for you. Researching supernatural leads without someone with that skill locally would take longer (having to pass the request to NY, let them research and collate, then they get back to you), or you could pay a local supernatural expert to do the research. If you have someone with design skills, they could do R&D and develop new upgrades or gear locally instead of hoping the NY office comes up with something randomly. Having someone with mechanic skills means saving money on taking the car in for tune-ups and other maintenance (also means saving time on making a new vehicle Ghostbusters ready instead of waiting for Dr Stanz or maybe Dr Zeddmore to come out to do the conversion work).
Stats and Skills
Spoiler: show
All characters in the game have five stats - Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, and Personality. There are 14 general skills in three categories and a number of specialization skills available.
  • Ghostbusters
    • Accuracy - shooting what you aim at (Particle Thrower, Slime Thrower, DM Generator, CPS specializations available) (Dex+Str)
    • Fire Control - not shooting things other than what you intended (Dex+Str)
    • Sensors - skill in using the various sensors and gadgets (PKE/PME Meters, Paragoggles specializations available) (Int)
    • Tactics - skill at dealing with situations (Int+Per)
    • Trap Placement - skill at putting the trap where it needs to be (Dex+Str)
  • R&D/Construction
    • Knowledge (Research, Supernatural, etc specializations) (Int)
    • Design (Gear, Room, Vehicle specializations) (Int)
    • Construction (Gear, Room, Vehicle specializations) (Dex+Str)
    • Maintenance (Gear, Room, Vehicle specializations) (Dex+Str)
  • Business
    • Public Relations (Per)
    • Accounting (Int)
    • Legal (Per)
    • Bureaucracy (Per)
    • Communication (Per)
Stats affect skills, resulting in an effective skill level. Both stats and skills use E/D/C/B/A/AA/S rank scale system, with --/-/ /+ modifiers to indicate progress towards next rank. Given that S-rank is the top of the scale, it caps out at S+ rank. E-rank is rank value 0. D-rank is rank value 100, and each rank higher increases the value by 100 (S rank sits at 600). The "-" modifier adds 25 to the value, no modifier adds 50, and the "+" modifier adds 75. The Effective skill rank/value is the average value of skill+stat(s)+(gear/misc bonus). If skill and relevant stats are capped at S+ and no other modifiers, the effective skill value would be 675.

Skills receive exp for performing actions using those skills. Training (using firing range, reading books on a subject, attending classes, etc) can give exp and potentially give a specialization to a character. Rooms have a cap on what rank they can increase a skill to through training. Each time a skill increases rank (E to D, C to B, etc), the character gains a number of points equal to new rank's value divided by 100 (D = 1, C = 2, B = 3, A = 4, AA = 5, S = 6), with specialization skill rank ups giving +1 total points. These points are used to progress Stats towards their next rank.
  • E to D - 4 points
  • D to C - 8 points
  • C to B - 12 points
  • B to A - 16 points
  • A to AA - 20 points
  • AA to S - 24 points
  • S to S+ - 21 points
Jobs
Spoiler: show
There would be three types of jobs - story/mission (requires player character on the job), optional (likely not a requested job, but a task that could reveal something useful or unlock something good), and routine. Routine jobs are skippable (just assign Ghostbusters to the job and automate the completion) but steady completion of them are needed to stay profitable. Optional jobs are skippable, but may provide new avenues of progress (side quests of sorts?), new equipment, some sort of bonus vs an opponent faction, etc. Story/Mission jobs require the player character to go on the job, but you could technically hit the "auto-complete job" button and not technically do the mission while clearing it.

If the player chooses to manually play a job, this results in gameplay similar to either Ghostbusters the Video Game or maybe Valkyria Chronicles. Manually controlled characters are unaffected by Fire Control or Tactics skills, though their range/accuracy with placing traps is affected, and the shot "circle" for proton pack use is smaller with higher accuracy.

Automating the completion takes the effective skill values of the dispatched Ghostbusters accounts for load-out restrictions, and uses the average values of the team to determine the results.
Player Character
The player would start out with pre-set stats and skills (to cover the events of Ghostbusters the Video Game and some training for running their own business), and then would have some spare points/exp to put into skills and stats to customize the character. Probably allow visual customization as well.

Plot
...I'm not entirely sure what the plot would be. Something kinda tailored to the city. Given that it would be set 1991-1992, could perhaps put a bit of supernatural spin on the 1992 race riots in the city?
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby Bezzerker » March 1st, 2015, 8:04 pm

A reimaging? How so? Making the game more challenging? Using the various inventory items to their fuller potential (the climbing abilities of the claws were well utilized after their introduction, but other items were less so)? Expanding the world?
Sorry for the late response, my computer ate the last one.

But basically, all of the above to some degree. I would like to take FFMQ and overhaul it so that it is more in line with the main series Final Fantasies with regards to story and gameplay, while still retaining the characteristics that make Mystic Quest unique such as the ability to use your weapons outside of combat to solve puzzles and facilitate exploration.

=====
Have a business sim(?) type set-up. Have your starting location (let's go with a fictional warehouse area with its own dock so there's room to expand), a few pieces of starting equipment to be installed (containment unit, proton pack storage station (one fully operational proton pack (GBtVG end version, no non-plot upgrades), 3 bare bones models (GB2 era version), other gear storage, etc), and enough money to get a vehicle (free modification of the first vehicle to Ghostbuster usage), a secretary, and 1-2 Ghostbusters (not counting yourself).
This sounds like an interesting idea. The way you've presented the idea kind of reminds me of descriptions of X-COM games, though I've never played one personally.

About the only real critique I have is with the distribution of skills by stats. I would like to see more combinations of stats impacting the various skills, as at the moment Dexterity and Strength are always together when impacting a skill, while Stamina doesn't play a role in any of them. An idea I had was instead of using Dex and Str for Fire Control, use Sta and Str to represent needing to hold the Particle Thrower steady and keeping it steady.

Other than that, I like basic outline you've got so far.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby JamestheFox » March 7th, 2015, 8:11 pm

Okay, so I've had these ideas stewing around for... well. A long time. Long story short: FFXIII was what I like to summarize as "Interesting Experimentation, Ruined by Fundamental Decisions."

So I'm going to devote this post to the task of coming up with a version of the combat system that doesn't suck.

First things first: Remove the "Auto-Battle" command from the menu. If you're going to give me an Auto-Battle option, make it one that I don't have to press every time my turn comes around. Make it something I can toggle on and off.

Second thing: Don't make getting Game Overed be as easy as losing your current party leader. That is annoying.

Now then, let's move on to the good stuff.

Paradigms and Party
Spoiler: show
In FFXIII, instead of jobs every character has Paradigms, which have varying purposes in battle. Debuffing your enemies, healing, drawing attacks, dealing damage, buffs... Outside of battle you can set up groups of Paradigms, such as "Ravager, Synergist, and Medic," or "Synergist and two Saboteurs." At first, each character is limited to a few Paradigms, but even after everyone gains access to all the Paradigms, each character has one or two unique skills within the Paradigm.

However, in FFXIII you are limited to three members of your group of six (Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Vanille, Fang, and Hope), and can only switch Paradigms within that party in battle.

I would change it as thus:

In the formation menu, you divide your group into two or more Parties, and in battle, you can swap Parties. For example, if you start a battle with Lightning, Snow, and Vanille, you may swap to Sazh, Fang, and Hope mid-battle. If your party leader is KOed, you swap to one of the other Party Members. If your group of three is KOed, you swap with one of your other Parties automatically. However, it is in your best interest to swap before then: the swapped out party will automatically recover a chunk of their lost HP over time. However, KOed members must be manually revived with Phoenix Downs or Life spells, while their party is on the battlefield. In other words, if you lose one of your parties completely, they cannot be swapped back in.

You can also set up tinier parties, including parties consisting of one character. For example, this is a potential set of Parties if you think you can make it work:
1: Lightning
2: Snow
3: Fang and Vanille
4: Sazh
5: Hope

When setting parties, you may also make preset assignments of Paradigms for quick and easy access. These Paradigms are available for any party whose members can swap to the Paradigms assigned. You may also manually swap up Paradigms more meticulously in the heat of battle, though the battle will rage on as you're deciding whether to swap Lightning to Medic or Saboteur.
Stagger
Spoiler: show
In FFXIII, enemies have two gauges: HP and Stagger. HP causes the enemy to die when it hits zero, while Stagger causes the enemy to drop its guard, allowing for massive damage. Generally, you use Ravagers to fill Stagger to that point, while Commandos deal direct damage. While this system is... interesting, it could use some fleshing out.

In pretty much ALL Final Fantasy games, there are enemies with unique strengths. Elemental resistances, being able to fly out of reach, heavy armor, etc. Others have ridiculously powerful moves at their disposal.

Stagger should let you bypass these for a varying amount of time, ranging from "a few attacks" to "the rest of the battle." Enemies find themselves incapable of using their party-destroying attack that they were just charging up, or the shell on that giant enemy crab has shattered. The jetpacks on the flying snipers fail, and they fall to the ground, taking damage from the impact and finding themselves in easy melee range, which sucks because their armor isn't built for that kind of fighting!

Enemies also tend to have weaknesses, and I would suggest that instead of dealing more damage, exploiting these weaknesses can result in quickly filling the Stagger gauge. Got a slow enemy? Cut his speed further and wail on him with lots of attacks from your faster characters in quick succession. Got an enemy weak to ice? Freeze that sucker. An ememy with pretty decent armor with a nice little crack in an easily reachable location? Hammer it with your hardest hitter. Flying enemy? Shoot it down or use Smite (which allows the user to slam an airborne enemy into the ground).
I might add more ideas to this, but I think I've rambled enough for now.
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Re: Game Bunny Ranch

Unread postby Phht » March 8th, 2015, 10:58 pm

This sounds like an interesting idea. The way you've presented the idea kind of reminds me of descriptions of X-COM games, though I've never played one personally.

About the only real critique I have is with the distribution of skills by stats. I would like to see more combinations of stats impacting the various skills, as at the moment Dexterity and Strength are always together when impacting a skill, while Stamina doesn't play a role in any of them. An idea I had was instead of using Dex and Str for Fire Control, use Sta and Str to represent needing to hold the Particle Thrower steady and keeping it steady.
After you mentioned it... yeah, it kinda does sound like an XCOM game. Except the body count is far lower than a proper difficulty campaign of those games.

Stamina, I forgot to cover. Probably because I had an idea for how to do things on a job, then got thinking of doing it more like GBtVG or Valkyria Chronicles, and so never mentioned it. Stamina has no skill use because is the most important stat for field work. Your stamina factors in to how much energy your people have each day.

My original idea was more or less:
Spoiler: show
Out of combat on a job, you recharge 1 energy/tick (3/tick if you rest (lean against something and relax), and 5/tick if you take a break (actually sit down somewhere and relax a bit)). Using sensors is a "free" action, so you can walk and scan just fine. Walking takes 1 energy/tick, running takes 2/tick. Jumping/diving/dodging eats stamina,firing weapons eats stamina, taking hits eats stamina. During combat, you can't recharge stamina normally. Ways to recharge would be taking cover and then taking no actions (2/tick recharge) or hunkering down (4/tick recharge). Taking Cover requires cover that you can put between you and at least one opponent. While not taking actions, stamina recharges, but leaving you in a position to easily fight from there when you desire (hence the lower regen vs resting) and reducing chance to get hit. Hunkering Down has you "holstering" your weapon and kneeling/sitting. This can be done anywhere, but doing so in the open invites getting hit, which would knock you out of regen mode (but the hit would do reduced damage). Energy use is increased/decreased based on how much equipment is carried - light load (0 - 1/3 max weight load) decreasing energy costs by 50%, normal load (1/3 - 2/3 max weight load) not affecting costs, heavy load (2/3 - 1 max weight load) increasing energy costs by 50%. Energy damage from enemies is not modified by a Ghostbuster's weight load.

Running out of energy during a fight has you hunker down automatically, and taking additional damage would knock you out. The entire team getting knocked out results in essentially failing the job (some jobs can be repeated a limited number of times/days for chance at successful completion, some can only be attempted once). Finishing a mission win or lose imposes a fatigue value on the person's max energy for the day. A job's fatigue value is equal to a base value according to job difficulty, plus 10-20% of energy expended during the job. For the rest of the day, the max energy at the start of a job cannot exceed max energy - fatigue value. Each job's fatigue value stacks for a given day. A full "night's" sleep resets the fatigue total. If the fatigue value at the end of the day/shift is equal to or greater than the person's max energy, an overworked fatigue penalty is applied at the start of the day, giving a lower max energy total for the day. This penalty is cumulative, so overworking several days in a row causes the penalty to stack daily. A day of light work (no exceeding max_energy overall that day) reduces the penalty by one day (to a minimum of 0 days). A day off from work reduces the penalty by two days (to a minimum of 0 days penalty).

Energy regens to a total equal to "max_energy - fatigue_value" between jobs. Doing training/paperwork/work at the office doesn't take up energy, but it removes the person from the roster of usable personnel until their training time frame ends.
The problem with skills is, there are five general skills using each stat (other than Stamina). Shifting what stats affect what general skills can unbalance the spread. Combat skills were largely thought of with the idea of strength to hold the weapon steady (or throw the trap far enough), dexterity to handle aim adjustments or trigger discipline, etc. In the case of Construction/Maintenance, I probably don't need to identify the line of thought regarding str/dex. Doesn't mean the skills can't be altered, but I'd like to keep an even spread of skills between stats (other than Stamina). Also, stat connections to skills that don't require leaps of logic or extended train of logic.
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