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Prototyping and Ideas
It’s time to prototype some ideas! I have a chance to play with my new barrels and hearts!
But let’s take a step back and try to come up with some ideas. Assuming you play as the hero in the game, what are the various ways you could use enemies as weapons?
1) You could use the enemy’s body as a projectile. Your attack might send Enemy A flying, but when A hits B, B is hurt. Maybe A is immobile, especially if they are somehow stuck together now, as below:
2) You could force the enemy to use its own projectiles, which happen to be damaging to all entities in the game, including other enemies. Somehow, you have to provoke the enemy into attacking. In this example, you can see that the enemy throws out its spines, leaving it naked and vulnerable. It would probably need to head home to reload, and the other enemies in the vicinity were killed.
3) You could pick up the enemy, causing it to panic and flail. Until it can get itself free from your grasp, you can move it close to other enemies and let it destroy them.
4) You could use bait to lure enemies into combat with each other. When they see the steak in this example, the two enemies can’t help themselves. They love steak! Unfortunately, only one of them can have it, so they end up in a dust cloud. Only one will survive. And get steak.
5) You could take control of the enemy in various ways. First, you could attack an enemy, bring it under submission, and train it to fight for you. It’s kind of like a Pokemon or the monsters in Rune Factory, if you’ve played that one. Second, you might have the ability to control an individual enemy’s mind or take possession of it’s body. It’s kind of like the game Space Station Silicon Valley for the N64. Third, maybe the enemies all follow whoever holds a certain token or item, like a wand or staff. If you are in control, now the enemies are yours to command! Fourth, you can find a way to mount and ride an enemy. If you can do so, you can then use it to ram into other enemies.
So these are some of the ideas I have running through my head. Even though I’ve been thinking about sending enemies after an AI hero for much longer, I’m starting to like the mechanics listed here. Any thoughts?
Hey, this reminds me, I should break out my prototyping kit from Game Balance Concepts last year too.
One of the ideas in (1) brings a Katamari-eque mechanic to mind – throw one enemy at another, and it sticks, and they both become immobile. Then you can pick both up, but now they are heavier so you move slower and can’t throw the heavier enemy-ball as far.
Thanks for sketching out these ideas. The one I’ve been thinking of mostly is the protagonist being the bait between enemies with projectile weapons. Then getting the heck out of the way so they shoot each other. I like the intensity of this play style, though one could also mix in other mechanics, like mind-control/confusion.
These are really great. I’ll try really hard not to rip you off.
Rip away! I wanted to share these ideas in case anyone was wondering what to do. B-)
Creds for doing some real prototyping.