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"Path for Justice" by Adam Cook
'Story Line'
You play the role of Karl Cooper. A common businessman, who leads a normal everyday life. Until one day, on his way back home from the cinema with his girlfriend (Katie), they are dragged into a back alley by a group of five men. In the back alley the group pin Karl and Katie against a wall. They steal Karl’s wallet, and his girlfriends expensive Jewry. They then knife Katie in the stomach. She falls to the floor and Karl dives down to help her out. At this point the group start to kick Karl all over. Then from the end of the alley a guy walking by sees what’s going on. This man suddenly runs down the alley, leaps into the air, kicks two of the men in their heads, lands, does a spinning side kick to another of them, followed by a jump spinning turning kick, side kick to finish them all off. At this point Karl collapses unconscious to the floor. The man who rescued Karl kneels down next to one of the men he knocked out and lifts up his sleeve. On the wrist of the unconscious man is a dragon tattoo. The man then picks up Karl and walks off with him.
When Karl comes round he’s lying on a bed in a place he doesn’t recognise. He gets up and looks around. He sees a door and goes through it. On entering the next room he sees a man sitting at a table. Karl asks the man where he is and who he is. He finds out that the man is Master Mike Smith. And he’s in Mike’s Taekwondo dojo. Karl talks to Mike about what happened and Mike tells Karl that his girlfriend died. Mike also tells Karl that the muggers were from a notorious clan called the Tokogara.
At this point Karl vows to get revenge for his girlfriend’s death. Mike tells Karl that it won’t be an easy task. The Tokogara are the biggest clan in the city with people spread all over. Also with no training Karl would get himself killed pretty quickly. Karl thus asks Mike to train him in the art of Taekwondo. Mike agrees to train Karl up to an adequate level so that he can stand a chance to defend himself.
After three months of intense training Karl gets to a competent enough level of skill to stand a chance on his path to get revenge. Karl bows down to Mike and thanks him for all his help. He then asks where he should start on his quest to track down the people responsible for the death of Katie. Mike tells him that the best place to start would be to go back to the alley where he was mugged. Find the people who mugged him and to try and find out who their boss is.
As a final comment before you leave on your quest Mike tells you that on your journey your skills will improve. There will be other dojos you may come to on your travels. Do not hesitate to go into them and to ask for guidance. Also, these dojos should allow you to train there to better you skills, learn new moves, or even new styles.
From here on you go in search of the Tokogara clan. You travel to many different places in your search for the head of this clan so that you can get revenge for your girlfriend’s death.
'Reasons why the game is fun'
My game is going to be fun because it takes all the good parts of a beat-em-up type game and applies them to an RPG style game. These are two popular types of game and so I think this game will be very enjoyable.
The player will be able to craft the main character to their liking. The way that the player will do this is as follows. From each fight the player gets into and wins, they will acquire money. This money can be spent in places like dojos and certain shops. In the dojos the player will be able to pay for training which will increase the stats of the player. The stats the player will be able to increase will be such aspects as arm strength, arm speed, leg strength, leg speed, and stamina. Also, in the dojos the player will be able to pay to be taught new moves. All the different dojos will have a different fighting style, and so the player will have to pay an initial fee to learn the basics of the style, and then they will have to pay additional money to learn new moves for that style.
From the shops the player will be able to buy such things as clothes and weapons (when the time come to using them). In the clothes shops, the player will be able to buy new jackets, trousers, caps etc. I want to include this in the game because the player will be able to have fun designing the character to look how they want the character to look. In some games where you can’t change what the character looks like, the player feels like they are just controlling the character, but when you can change the appearance of the character it allows the player to relate to, and become the character. As for the weapon shops. At a certain point in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon. One of the options for acquiring a weapon will be to buy it from a weapons store. In the store will be various weapons at varying prices that the player can purchase. The player will then be able to take the weapon to a dojo that specialises in weapons, and then learn new moves for using it.
One of the main fun points to this game is that when the player gets into a fight, during the fight, if a player has learned more than one fighting style, they will be allowed to press a button which will change the style of fighting the character is using. This will lead to some interesting and tactical fights, which the player should find new and exciting.
Other fun aspects in this game will be that throughout the game the player will have to enter a number of different tournaments. There will be reasons for entering these tournaments, for example a high-ranking member of the Tokogara clan may be taking part, and so this is a chance to get revenge and learn some new information. But each of these tournaments, as they will be in different parts of the city, will have slightly different rules. For example, in a certain tournament it may be a requirement to know a certain style of martial art, or that for this tournament it is a weapons tournament and so you need to acquire a weapon.
Another one of the major fun aspects of this game will be the feature in which you have the option to join certain clans. The Tokogara clan is just the big main clan. But there are also many smaller clans. You will have to prove yourself to these clans if you want to join them. By either defeating one of their main people in combat, or by proving yourself to them by completing tasks. The advantages of joining a clan are such things as, they will then teach you new moves, they will give you access to new weapons. But also, one of the main advantages of joining a clan is that at some points in the game you will have to go up against multiple opponents. If you are part of a clan, you will be able to get support from some of the members, which will make big fights a bit easier for you.
This game will not only just be a one-player experience. There will also be a multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode will have different modes of play to it. These are things such as, a normal one on one fight mode, a tag team mode, and a mode where you can both compete in the tournaments you have beaten in the one player game. There will also be a wealth of characters to choose from. Most of the characters you come up against in the single player mode will be unlockable characters to be used in the multiplayer mode. Along with the in-game characters the players will be able to save their main character to a memory card, take the card round to a friends house, and do battle with their own unique character. I believe that if these options were implemented into the game then players would be playing this game for a very long time.
'A description of how the game will look, play, and sound'
The city that you are in will be split into different sections (towns) that have quite different looks to them. I picture there being a normal every day town section where you start the game. This town will look like your average run of the day pleasant”ish” town. A ruff, dirty looking town. This town will be a gangster/hood type town, covered in graffiti, and lots of people who think they’re really hard walking around etc. A China town. This will be an oriental looking town. And there will also be a town wherein everything takes place underground. The way this town will look is that it will have really narrow underground streets and people living in really small rooms, pipes running along the roof, rubbish all over the place, a generally unpleasant place. There will be a normal town above the underground town, but all the action in this section will happen in the maze of tunnels underground.
For the way in which the game will sound. I envisage each different section of the city to have a different style of music to it. For example, the ruff/gangster town will have more of a hip-hop soundtrack to it, and the China town will have traditional Chinese music playing to it. Also for the game I want to use in-game style music to. What I mean by this is that some characters in some of the back alleys will have ghetto blasters (big stereos). I want the music to appear like it is coming from the in-game stereos instead of just background music. What effect this will have is that when you get nearer to the ghetto blaster the music will get louder. I think that this would add another level of realism to the game, and would also make the game have a more tense edge while the player is walking round risky areas.
For my game there will be two different ways that the game will play. One of these is for the part where you walk around, and the other is for the fighting parts of the game. For the walking round parts, it will be in a third person perspective. The player will be able to run around and talk to lots of different people. They will be able to go into shop and other places for such things as mini games. When the play comes into contact with an enemy the camera will shift into a side on view, to give the player an easier view to fight from. In this view the player will be locked onto their opponent unless they hold down a button and then they can run around free. Also, if a player is fighting multiple opponents then they will automatically lock onto the closest opponent to start off, but the player will be able to press a button which will move their characters focus onto another of the opponents. When in the fighting mode, when the player presses the up direction on the controller their character will jump, and when they press the down direction their character will duck. This method is opposed to the press up and the player side steps up. I think that having it the way I described leads to an easier fighting system with the player being able to pull off moves more simply. The side stepping will be done by either double tapping up or down, or the player will be able to change the buttons on the controller so that they can assign side stepping to a certain button. I think there should be four attack buttons for the combat. A high and low punch, and a high and low kick. I think that that is enough buttons to form a solid fighting system.
'Supporting research'
For the research for my game, I looked at various different games to see what made them good. The main games that had some influence on me while designing this game were, One Must Fall 2097, Soul Blade, Shenmue, and Pokemon.
The way that OMF influenced my game was that it was a beat-em-up, and in it you controlled big robots and after fights you could level up the stats of your robot. This aspect of the game was really good and kept you playing for ages. That’s why I think it would be a very good aspect to include in my game.
Soul Blade’s influence was down to the weapons based combat. I want there to be weapons in my game, but I don’t want it to be the main aspect of the game. I want this game to be the ultimate beat-em-up, bringing the best bit of all the different beat-em-ups together and creating a really new and unique experience to the beat-em-up genre.
The way that Shenmue influenced my game is that I see the player walking round a big very scenic city like seen in Shenmue 2. I also envisage the control system to be quite similar to Shenmue’s for the walking around parts of the game. As well as being a beat-em-up, I also was this game to be an RPG, and so I want to incorporate an RPG style walk round and talk to quite a few different people approach.
Pokemon’s influence on my game comes from the tournaments. In the Pokemon games you had to beat a number of tournaments before you got to the final one and beat the main person. This is a captivating aspect, which keeps the player interested in the game. Also, to be able to beat the tournaments you had to have built up the stats of your players to a high enough level to be able to stand a chance of winning. This meant that you had to go out and battle to gain more experience. This is what I want to happen in my game so that the player will get hours and hours of fun out of the main game.
One of the great aspects of my game will be the part where you take your character to one of the dojos within the game to learn a new fighting style. As I want this to be a good aspect of the game I researched into different fighting styles to see what were available. Here are some of the fighting styles I thought could be used in the game:-
Boxing
Capoeira
Gatka - Stick, chain fighting
Hapkido
Hwa Rang Do
Jeet Kune Do
Judo
Jujitsu
Karate
Kendo – Sword fighting
Kickboxing
Tai Boxing (Mu-Tai)
Ninjutsu
Taekwondo
Wrestling
Wushu
Eventually in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon to fight with. I did some research into weapons to see what would be suitable for this game. Here are some of the weapons I thought could be used in my game:-
3 Sectional Staff
Baseball bat
Chain
Fan
Kama
Nunchuck
Sword
Sai
Police Baton (Tonfu)
'A rationale for why the game should be made'
With most beat-em-ups the main floor in them is that it’s just a one on one fight, one after the other, until you get to the main boss and finish the game. I think this style is getting a bit worn thin and needs revamping. That’s why I feel this game will do so well. By using an adventure/quest element in the game the player will be kept interested for a good length of time. Also, as the player is able to level up the stats of their character, they will spend loads of time going round looking for fights so that they can acquire more money to build up their stats.
I seriously see this as being the game beat-em-up fans have been waiting for. As a big fan of the beat-em-up genre, I have been waiting for a game like this to come around, but none have so far. This game takes the best bits out of the various beat-em-up games and creates a whole new experience for the player. That is why I feel there is a great opportunity for this game to do well if developed. With little competition to it’s style it’s guaranteed to be a success.
:)
So what do you all {anyone who read it all} think to this game idea?
'Story Line'
You play the role of Karl Cooper. A common businessman, who leads a normal everyday life. Until one day, on his way back home from the cinema with his girlfriend (Katie), they are dragged into a back alley by a group of five men. In the back alley the group pin Karl and Katie against a wall. They steal Karl’s wallet, and his girlfriends expensive Jewry. They then knife Katie in the stomach. She falls to the floor and Karl dives down to help her out. At this point the group start to kick Karl all over. Then from the end of the alley a guy walking by sees what’s going on. This man suddenly runs down the alley, leaps into the air, kicks two of the men in their heads, lands, does a spinning side kick to another of them, followed by a jump spinning turning kick, side kick to finish them all off. At this point Karl collapses unconscious to the floor. The man who rescued Karl kneels down next to one of the men he knocked out and lifts up his sleeve. On the wrist of the unconscious man is a dragon tattoo. The man then picks up Karl and walks off with him.
When Karl comes round he’s lying on a bed in a place he doesn’t recognise. He gets up and looks around. He sees a door and goes through it. On entering the next room he sees a man sitting at a table. Karl asks the man where he is and who he is. He finds out that the man is Master Mike Smith. And he’s in Mike’s Taekwondo dojo. Karl talks to Mike about what happened and Mike tells Karl that his girlfriend died. Mike also tells Karl that the muggers were from a notorious clan called the Tokogara.
At this point Karl vows to get revenge for his girlfriend’s death. Mike tells Karl that it won’t be an easy task. The Tokogara are the biggest clan in the city with people spread all over. Also with no training Karl would get himself killed pretty quickly. Karl thus asks Mike to train him in the art of Taekwondo. Mike agrees to train Karl up to an adequate level so that he can stand a chance to defend himself.
After three months of intense training Karl gets to a competent enough level of skill to stand a chance on his path to get revenge. Karl bows down to Mike and thanks him for all his help. He then asks where he should start on his quest to track down the people responsible for the death of Katie. Mike tells him that the best place to start would be to go back to the alley where he was mugged. Find the people who mugged him and to try and find out who their boss is.
As a final comment before you leave on your quest Mike tells you that on your journey your skills will improve. There will be other dojos you may come to on your travels. Do not hesitate to go into them and to ask for guidance. Also, these dojos should allow you to train there to better you skills, learn new moves, or even new styles.
From here on you go in search of the Tokogara clan. You travel to many different places in your search for the head of this clan so that you can get revenge for your girlfriend’s death.
'Reasons why the game is fun'
My game is going to be fun because it takes all the good parts of a beat-em-up type game and applies them to an RPG style game. These are two popular types of game and so I think this game will be very enjoyable.
The player will be able to craft the main character to their liking. The way that the player will do this is as follows. From each fight the player gets into and wins, they will acquire money. This money can be spent in places like dojos and certain shops. In the dojos the player will be able to pay for training which will increase the stats of the player. The stats the player will be able to increase will be such aspects as arm strength, arm speed, leg strength, leg speed, and stamina. Also, in the dojos the player will be able to pay to be taught new moves. All the different dojos will have a different fighting style, and so the player will have to pay an initial fee to learn the basics of the style, and then they will have to pay additional money to learn new moves for that style.
From the shops the player will be able to buy such things as clothes and weapons (when the time come to using them). In the clothes shops, the player will be able to buy new jackets, trousers, caps etc. I want to include this in the game because the player will be able to have fun designing the character to look how they want the character to look. In some games where you can’t change what the character looks like, the player feels like they are just controlling the character, but when you can change the appearance of the character it allows the player to relate to, and become the character. As for the weapon shops. At a certain point in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon. One of the options for acquiring a weapon will be to buy it from a weapons store. In the store will be various weapons at varying prices that the player can purchase. The player will then be able to take the weapon to a dojo that specialises in weapons, and then learn new moves for using it.
One of the main fun points to this game is that when the player gets into a fight, during the fight, if a player has learned more than one fighting style, they will be allowed to press a button which will change the style of fighting the character is using. This will lead to some interesting and tactical fights, which the player should find new and exciting.
Other fun aspects in this game will be that throughout the game the player will have to enter a number of different tournaments. There will be reasons for entering these tournaments, for example a high-ranking member of the Tokogara clan may be taking part, and so this is a chance to get revenge and learn some new information. But each of these tournaments, as they will be in different parts of the city, will have slightly different rules. For example, in a certain tournament it may be a requirement to know a certain style of martial art, or that for this tournament it is a weapons tournament and so you need to acquire a weapon.
Another one of the major fun aspects of this game will be the feature in which you have the option to join certain clans. The Tokogara clan is just the big main clan. But there are also many smaller clans. You will have to prove yourself to these clans if you want to join them. By either defeating one of their main people in combat, or by proving yourself to them by completing tasks. The advantages of joining a clan are such things as, they will then teach you new moves, they will give you access to new weapons. But also, one of the main advantages of joining a clan is that at some points in the game you will have to go up against multiple opponents. If you are part of a clan, you will be able to get support from some of the members, which will make big fights a bit easier for you.
This game will not only just be a one-player experience. There will also be a multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode will have different modes of play to it. These are things such as, a normal one on one fight mode, a tag team mode, and a mode where you can both compete in the tournaments you have beaten in the one player game. There will also be a wealth of characters to choose from. Most of the characters you come up against in the single player mode will be unlockable characters to be used in the multiplayer mode. Along with the in-game characters the players will be able to save their main character to a memory card, take the card round to a friends house, and do battle with their own unique character. I believe that if these options were implemented into the game then players would be playing this game for a very long time.
'A description of how the game will look, play, and sound'
The city that you are in will be split into different sections (towns) that have quite different looks to them. I picture there being a normal every day town section where you start the game. This town will look like your average run of the day pleasant”ish” town. A ruff, dirty looking town. This town will be a gangster/hood type town, covered in graffiti, and lots of people who think they’re really hard walking around etc. A China town. This will be an oriental looking town. And there will also be a town wherein everything takes place underground. The way this town will look is that it will have really narrow underground streets and people living in really small rooms, pipes running along the roof, rubbish all over the place, a generally unpleasant place. There will be a normal town above the underground town, but all the action in this section will happen in the maze of tunnels underground.
For the way in which the game will sound. I envisage each different section of the city to have a different style of music to it. For example, the ruff/gangster town will have more of a hip-hop soundtrack to it, and the China town will have traditional Chinese music playing to it. Also for the game I want to use in-game style music to. What I mean by this is that some characters in some of the back alleys will have ghetto blasters (big stereos). I want the music to appear like it is coming from the in-game stereos instead of just background music. What effect this will have is that when you get nearer to the ghetto blaster the music will get louder. I think that this would add another level of realism to the game, and would also make the game have a more tense edge while the player is walking round risky areas.
For my game there will be two different ways that the game will play. One of these is for the part where you walk around, and the other is for the fighting parts of the game. For the walking round parts, it will be in a third person perspective. The player will be able to run around and talk to lots of different people. They will be able to go into shop and other places for such things as mini games. When the play comes into contact with an enemy the camera will shift into a side on view, to give the player an easier view to fight from. In this view the player will be locked onto their opponent unless they hold down a button and then they can run around free. Also, if a player is fighting multiple opponents then they will automatically lock onto the closest opponent to start off, but the player will be able to press a button which will move their characters focus onto another of the opponents. When in the fighting mode, when the player presses the up direction on the controller their character will jump, and when they press the down direction their character will duck. This method is opposed to the press up and the player side steps up. I think that having it the way I described leads to an easier fighting system with the player being able to pull off moves more simply. The side stepping will be done by either double tapping up or down, or the player will be able to change the buttons on the controller so that they can assign side stepping to a certain button. I think there should be four attack buttons for the combat. A high and low punch, and a high and low kick. I think that that is enough buttons to form a solid fighting system.
'Supporting research'
For the research for my game, I looked at various different games to see what made them good. The main games that had some influence on me while designing this game were, One Must Fall 2097, Soul Blade, Shenmue, and Pokemon.
The way that OMF influenced my game was that it was a beat-em-up, and in it you controlled big robots and after fights you could level up the stats of your robot. This aspect of the game was really good and kept you playing for ages. That’s why I think it would be a very good aspect to include in my game.
Soul Blade’s influence was down to the weapons based combat. I want there to be weapons in my game, but I don’t want it to be the main aspect of the game. I want this game to be the ultimate beat-em-up, bringing the best bit of all the different beat-em-ups together and creating a really new and unique experience to the beat-em-up genre.
The way that Shenmue influenced my game is that I see the player walking round a big very scenic city like seen in Shenmue 2. I also envisage the control system to be quite similar to Shenmue’s for the walking around parts of the game. As well as being a beat-em-up, I also was this game to be an RPG, and so I want to incorporate an RPG style walk round and talk to quite a few different people approach.
Pokemon’s influence on my game comes from the tournaments. In the Pokemon games you had to beat a number of tournaments before you got to the final one and beat the main person. This is a captivating aspect, which keeps the player interested in the game. Also, to be able to beat the tournaments you had to have built up the stats of your players to a high enough level to be able to stand a chance of winning. This meant that you had to go out and battle to gain more experience. This is what I want to happen in my game so that the player will get hours and hours of fun out of the main game.
One of the great aspects of my game will be the part where you take your character to one of the dojos within the game to learn a new fighting style. As I want this to be a good aspect of the game I researched into different fighting styles to see what were available. Here are some of the fighting styles I thought could be used in the game:-
Boxing
Capoeira
Gatka - Stick, chain fighting
Hapkido
Hwa Rang Do
Jeet Kune Do
Judo
Jujitsu
Karate
Kendo – Sword fighting
Kickboxing
Tai Boxing (Mu-Tai)
Ninjutsu
Taekwondo
Wrestling
Wushu
Eventually in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon to fight with. I did some research into weapons to see what would be suitable for this game. Here are some of the weapons I thought could be used in my game:-
3 Sectional Staff
Baseball bat
Chain
Fan
Kama
Nunchuck
Sword
Sai
Police Baton (Tonfu)
'A rationale for why the game should be made'
With most beat-em-ups the main floor in them is that it’s just a one on one fight, one after the other, until you get to the main boss and finish the game. I think this style is getting a bit worn thin and needs revamping. That’s why I feel this game will do so well. By using an adventure/quest element in the game the player will be kept interested for a good length of time. Also, as the player is able to level up the stats of their character, they will spend loads of time going round looking for fights so that they can acquire more money to build up their stats.
I seriously see this as being the game beat-em-up fans have been waiting for. As a big fan of the beat-em-up genre, I have been waiting for a game like this to come around, but none have so far. This game takes the best bits out of the various beat-em-up games and creates a whole new experience for the player. That is why I feel there is a great opportunity for this game to do well if developed. With little competition to it’s style it’s guaranteed to be a success.
:)
So what do you all {anyone who read it all} think to this game idea?
Thanks Haggis! Nice to know someone read it and thought it was a good idea!
Your ideas were quite interesting. I'll keep them in mind when I re-write the design again one day.
I did change it from what I posted a bit, and am now working in a group creating a almost full games design document for it.
I had to change it cos someone in my group wanted to have it set in China, and so certain aspects about the setting etc have changed. But I think i'm gonna go back to the roots of the game one day, and make it how I originally intended it to be. Even though next year with a bit of luck I should be actually making the changed version into an actual game!
:D
Your ideas were quite interesting. I'll keep them in mind when I re-write the design again one day.
I did change it from what I posted a bit, and am now working in a group creating a almost full games design document for it.
I had to change it cos someone in my group wanted to have it set in China, and so certain aspects about the setting etc have changed. But I think i'm gonna go back to the roots of the game one day, and make it how I originally intended it to be. Even though next year with a bit of luck I should be actually making the changed version into an actual game!
:D
lol, That sounds like this Kung-Fu film I watched where he goes out to get revenge for his mate's death, lead by one of his mate's 'mates', he's told who killed him, gets to him, finds out he was working for the guy who killed him etc.
Sounds cool but one thing u really wanna do is include twists like Haggis suggested and make it as original as u can 'coz fighting games/films have this tendancy to be sooooooooo cliche
Sounds cool but one thing u really wanna do is include twists like Haggis suggested and make it as original as u can 'coz fighting games/films have this tendancy to be sooooooooo cliche
Wow. I am probably the only person who would read all of that. But it sounds really good, and i am intrigued. You have put loads of thought into it, and i hate it when people keep quiet after you've done all that.
Just an idea but near the end of the game you can find out that the group you've been working for is actually the bad guy group, that the girlfriend didn't really die, buy that Master dude killed her because he wanted you to work for him, or better still, she is actually the leader of the opposite group. I think i'm getting carried away again now, my twisted mind is being overworked. Anyway, good luck, and if you are really serious about the game i do know a game designer looking for ideas.........
Just an idea but near the end of the game you can find out that the group you've been working for is actually the bad guy group, that the girlfriend didn't really die, buy that Master dude killed her because he wanted you to work for him, or better still, she is actually the leader of the opposite group. I think i'm getting carried away again now, my twisted mind is being overworked. Anyway, good luck, and if you are really serious about the game i do know a game designer looking for ideas.........
For the multiplayer I wasn't planning on using the leveled up characters. Mearly just using the characters with defined stats. The part where you use your own character with your built up stats will be only used in a 2 player bount, kinda like the system using in Fighters Destiny. Where you can load up your character and battle your friends.
:)
:)
yer, it sounds very good. I particularly like the RPG element idea, as I LOVE RPGs... anyway, just some things- The RPG elements I don't think can include a 'proper' experiance system, or else in the VS. mode (multiplayer) you could see:
'LVL 100 Master kendo fighter... VS ... LVL 5 trainee boxer'
And I think fighters are meant to be so the characters (in game) are balanced, so the winner is the player with greater skill, not the one who has played most and got the best abilities... I'm not sure how you could incorporate a decent multiplayer while still keeping the RPG stats in tow...
also, obviously I realise the plot isn't exactly a final version or anything, but it'll need a decent plot line to keep player interest. PLenty of twists, and hopefully get some characters to seem trustworthy and them have em backstab you... or you go to a dojo, and get ambushed by a load of the bad guys, and later you find they killed all that dojo to do the ambush... That'd be cool!
Anyhow, sounds good to me, the Zelda-esque lock on system will be a definite plus. if it got a really good combat system and you could sort out the conflict of RPG styles vs. the multiplay beat em up styles it'll be a winner.
'LVL 100 Master kendo fighter... VS ... LVL 5 trainee boxer'
And I think fighters are meant to be so the characters (in game) are balanced, so the winner is the player with greater skill, not the one who has played most and got the best abilities... I'm not sure how you could incorporate a decent multiplayer while still keeping the RPG stats in tow...
also, obviously I realise the plot isn't exactly a final version or anything, but it'll need a decent plot line to keep player interest. PLenty of twists, and hopefully get some characters to seem trustworthy and them have em backstab you... or you go to a dojo, and get ambushed by a load of the bad guys, and later you find they killed all that dojo to do the ambush... That'd be cool!
Anyhow, sounds good to me, the Zelda-esque lock on system will be a definite plus. if it got a really good combat system and you could sort out the conflict of RPG styles vs. the multiplay beat em up styles it'll be a winner.
So, this game's a cross between GTA3 and Shenmue? :D
No, I didn't read it all, and can you blame me? It's late and it's a long post - not a good combination ;-)
I'm sure it's a god game, and this post looks as if you've spent a long time in preparing it - very GAD worthy, me thinks.
No, I didn't read it all, and can you blame me? It's late and it's a long post - not a good combination ;-)
I'm sure it's a god game, and this post looks as if you've spent a long time in preparing it - very GAD worthy, me thinks.
"Path for Justice" by Adam Cook
'Story Line'
You play the role of Karl Cooper. A common businessman, who leads a normal everyday life. Until one day, on his way back home from the cinema with his girlfriend (Katie), they are dragged into a back alley by a group of five men. In the back alley the group pin Karl and Katie against a wall. They steal Karl’s wallet, and his girlfriends expensive Jewry. They then knife Katie in the stomach. She falls to the floor and Karl dives down to help her out. At this point the group start to kick Karl all over. Then from the end of the alley a guy walking by sees what’s going on. This man suddenly runs down the alley, leaps into the air, kicks two of the men in their heads, lands, does a spinning side kick to another of them, followed by a jump spinning turning kick, side kick to finish them all off. At this point Karl collapses unconscious to the floor. The man who rescued Karl kneels down next to one of the men he knocked out and lifts up his sleeve. On the wrist of the unconscious man is a dragon tattoo. The man then picks up Karl and walks off with him.
When Karl comes round he’s lying on a bed in a place he doesn’t recognise. He gets up and looks around. He sees a door and goes through it. On entering the next room he sees a man sitting at a table. Karl asks the man where he is and who he is. He finds out that the man is Master Mike Smith. And he’s in Mike’s Taekwondo dojo. Karl talks to Mike about what happened and Mike tells Karl that his girlfriend died. Mike also tells Karl that the muggers were from a notorious clan called the Tokogara.
At this point Karl vows to get revenge for his girlfriend’s death. Mike tells Karl that it won’t be an easy task. The Tokogara are the biggest clan in the city with people spread all over. Also with no training Karl would get himself killed pretty quickly. Karl thus asks Mike to train him in the art of Taekwondo. Mike agrees to train Karl up to an adequate level so that he can stand a chance to defend himself.
After three months of intense training Karl gets to a competent enough level of skill to stand a chance on his path to get revenge. Karl bows down to Mike and thanks him for all his help. He then asks where he should start on his quest to track down the people responsible for the death of Katie. Mike tells him that the best place to start would be to go back to the alley where he was mugged. Find the people who mugged him and to try and find out who their boss is.
As a final comment before you leave on your quest Mike tells you that on your journey your skills will improve. There will be other dojos you may come to on your travels. Do not hesitate to go into them and to ask for guidance. Also, these dojos should allow you to train there to better you skills, learn new moves, or even new styles.
From here on you go in search of the Tokogara clan. You travel to many different places in your search for the head of this clan so that you can get revenge for your girlfriend’s death.
'Reasons why the game is fun'
My game is going to be fun because it takes all the good parts of a beat-em-up type game and applies them to an RPG style game. These are two popular types of game and so I think this game will be very enjoyable.
The player will be able to craft the main character to their liking. The way that the player will do this is as follows. From each fight the player gets into and wins, they will acquire money. This money can be spent in places like dojos and certain shops. In the dojos the player will be able to pay for training which will increase the stats of the player. The stats the player will be able to increase will be such aspects as arm strength, arm speed, leg strength, leg speed, and stamina. Also, in the dojos the player will be able to pay to be taught new moves. All the different dojos will have a different fighting style, and so the player will have to pay an initial fee to learn the basics of the style, and then they will have to pay additional money to learn new moves for that style.
From the shops the player will be able to buy such things as clothes and weapons (when the time come to using them). In the clothes shops, the player will be able to buy new jackets, trousers, caps etc. I want to include this in the game because the player will be able to have fun designing the character to look how they want the character to look. In some games where you can’t change what the character looks like, the player feels like they are just controlling the character, but when you can change the appearance of the character it allows the player to relate to, and become the character. As for the weapon shops. At a certain point in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon. One of the options for acquiring a weapon will be to buy it from a weapons store. In the store will be various weapons at varying prices that the player can purchase. The player will then be able to take the weapon to a dojo that specialises in weapons, and then learn new moves for using it.
One of the main fun points to this game is that when the player gets into a fight, during the fight, if a player has learned more than one fighting style, they will be allowed to press a button which will change the style of fighting the character is using. This will lead to some interesting and tactical fights, which the player should find new and exciting.
Other fun aspects in this game will be that throughout the game the player will have to enter a number of different tournaments. There will be reasons for entering these tournaments, for example a high-ranking member of the Tokogara clan may be taking part, and so this is a chance to get revenge and learn some new information. But each of these tournaments, as they will be in different parts of the city, will have slightly different rules. For example, in a certain tournament it may be a requirement to know a certain style of martial art, or that for this tournament it is a weapons tournament and so you need to acquire a weapon.
Another one of the major fun aspects of this game will be the feature in which you have the option to join certain clans. The Tokogara clan is just the big main clan. But there are also many smaller clans. You will have to prove yourself to these clans if you want to join them. By either defeating one of their main people in combat, or by proving yourself to them by completing tasks. The advantages of joining a clan are such things as, they will then teach you new moves, they will give you access to new weapons. But also, one of the main advantages of joining a clan is that at some points in the game you will have to go up against multiple opponents. If you are part of a clan, you will be able to get support from some of the members, which will make big fights a bit easier for you.
This game will not only just be a one-player experience. There will also be a multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode will have different modes of play to it. These are things such as, a normal one on one fight mode, a tag team mode, and a mode where you can both compete in the tournaments you have beaten in the one player game. There will also be a wealth of characters to choose from. Most of the characters you come up against in the single player mode will be unlockable characters to be used in the multiplayer mode. Along with the in-game characters the players will be able to save their main character to a memory card, take the card round to a friends house, and do battle with their own unique character. I believe that if these options were implemented into the game then players would be playing this game for a very long time.
'A description of how the game will look, play, and sound'
The city that you are in will be split into different sections (towns) that have quite different looks to them. I picture there being a normal every day town section where you start the game. This town will look like your average run of the day pleasant”ish” town. A ruff, dirty looking town. This town will be a gangster/hood type town, covered in graffiti, and lots of people who think they’re really hard walking around etc. A China town. This will be an oriental looking town. And there will also be a town wherein everything takes place underground. The way this town will look is that it will have really narrow underground streets and people living in really small rooms, pipes running along the roof, rubbish all over the place, a generally unpleasant place. There will be a normal town above the underground town, but all the action in this section will happen in the maze of tunnels underground.
For the way in which the game will sound. I envisage each different section of the city to have a different style of music to it. For example, the ruff/gangster town will have more of a hip-hop soundtrack to it, and the China town will have traditional Chinese music playing to it. Also for the game I want to use in-game style music to. What I mean by this is that some characters in some of the back alleys will have ghetto blasters (big stereos). I want the music to appear like it is coming from the in-game stereos instead of just background music. What effect this will have is that when you get nearer to the ghetto blaster the music will get louder. I think that this would add another level of realism to the game, and would also make the game have a more tense edge while the player is walking round risky areas.
For my game there will be two different ways that the game will play. One of these is for the part where you walk around, and the other is for the fighting parts of the game. For the walking round parts, it will be in a third person perspective. The player will be able to run around and talk to lots of different people. They will be able to go into shop and other places for such things as mini games. When the play comes into contact with an enemy the camera will shift into a side on view, to give the player an easier view to fight from. In this view the player will be locked onto their opponent unless they hold down a button and then they can run around free. Also, if a player is fighting multiple opponents then they will automatically lock onto the closest opponent to start off, but the player will be able to press a button which will move their characters focus onto another of the opponents. When in the fighting mode, when the player presses the up direction on the controller their character will jump, and when they press the down direction their character will duck. This method is opposed to the press up and the player side steps up. I think that having it the way I described leads to an easier fighting system with the player being able to pull off moves more simply. The side stepping will be done by either double tapping up or down, or the player will be able to change the buttons on the controller so that they can assign side stepping to a certain button. I think there should be four attack buttons for the combat. A high and low punch, and a high and low kick. I think that that is enough buttons to form a solid fighting system.
'Supporting research'
For the research for my game, I looked at various different games to see what made them good. The main games that had some influence on me while designing this game were, One Must Fall 2097, Soul Blade, Shenmue, and Pokemon.
The way that OMF influenced my game was that it was a beat-em-up, and in it you controlled big robots and after fights you could level up the stats of your robot. This aspect of the game was really good and kept you playing for ages. That’s why I think it would be a very good aspect to include in my game.
Soul Blade’s influence was down to the weapons based combat. I want there to be weapons in my game, but I don’t want it to be the main aspect of the game. I want this game to be the ultimate beat-em-up, bringing the best bit of all the different beat-em-ups together and creating a really new and unique experience to the beat-em-up genre.
The way that Shenmue influenced my game is that I see the player walking round a big very scenic city like seen in Shenmue 2. I also envisage the control system to be quite similar to Shenmue’s for the walking around parts of the game. As well as being a beat-em-up, I also was this game to be an RPG, and so I want to incorporate an RPG style walk round and talk to quite a few different people approach.
Pokemon’s influence on my game comes from the tournaments. In the Pokemon games you had to beat a number of tournaments before you got to the final one and beat the main person. This is a captivating aspect, which keeps the player interested in the game. Also, to be able to beat the tournaments you had to have built up the stats of your players to a high enough level to be able to stand a chance of winning. This meant that you had to go out and battle to gain more experience. This is what I want to happen in my game so that the player will get hours and hours of fun out of the main game.
One of the great aspects of my game will be the part where you take your character to one of the dojos within the game to learn a new fighting style. As I want this to be a good aspect of the game I researched into different fighting styles to see what were available. Here are some of the fighting styles I thought could be used in the game:-
Boxing
Capoeira
Gatka - Stick, chain fighting
Hapkido
Hwa Rang Do
Jeet Kune Do
Judo
Jujitsu
Karate
Kendo – Sword fighting
Kickboxing
Tai Boxing (Mu-Tai)
Ninjutsu
Taekwondo
Wrestling
Wushu
Eventually in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon to fight with. I did some research into weapons to see what would be suitable for this game. Here are some of the weapons I thought could be used in my game:-
3 Sectional Staff
Baseball bat
Chain
Fan
Kama
Nunchuck
Sword
Sai
Police Baton (Tonfu)
'A rationale for why the game should be made'
With most beat-em-ups the main floor in them is that it’s just a one on one fight, one after the other, until you get to the main boss and finish the game. I think this style is getting a bit worn thin and needs revamping. That’s why I feel this game will do so well. By using an adventure/quest element in the game the player will be kept interested for a good length of time. Also, as the player is able to level up the stats of their character, they will spend loads of time going round looking for fights so that they can acquire more money to build up their stats.
I seriously see this as being the game beat-em-up fans have been waiting for. As a big fan of the beat-em-up genre, I have been waiting for a game like this to come around, but none have so far. This game takes the best bits out of the various beat-em-up games and creates a whole new experience for the player. That is why I feel there is a great opportunity for this game to do well if developed. With little competition to it’s style it’s guaranteed to be a success.
:)
So what do you all {anyone who read it all} think to this game idea?
'Story Line'
You play the role of Karl Cooper. A common businessman, who leads a normal everyday life. Until one day, on his way back home from the cinema with his girlfriend (Katie), they are dragged into a back alley by a group of five men. In the back alley the group pin Karl and Katie against a wall. They steal Karl’s wallet, and his girlfriends expensive Jewry. They then knife Katie in the stomach. She falls to the floor and Karl dives down to help her out. At this point the group start to kick Karl all over. Then from the end of the alley a guy walking by sees what’s going on. This man suddenly runs down the alley, leaps into the air, kicks two of the men in their heads, lands, does a spinning side kick to another of them, followed by a jump spinning turning kick, side kick to finish them all off. At this point Karl collapses unconscious to the floor. The man who rescued Karl kneels down next to one of the men he knocked out and lifts up his sleeve. On the wrist of the unconscious man is a dragon tattoo. The man then picks up Karl and walks off with him.
When Karl comes round he’s lying on a bed in a place he doesn’t recognise. He gets up and looks around. He sees a door and goes through it. On entering the next room he sees a man sitting at a table. Karl asks the man where he is and who he is. He finds out that the man is Master Mike Smith. And he’s in Mike’s Taekwondo dojo. Karl talks to Mike about what happened and Mike tells Karl that his girlfriend died. Mike also tells Karl that the muggers were from a notorious clan called the Tokogara.
At this point Karl vows to get revenge for his girlfriend’s death. Mike tells Karl that it won’t be an easy task. The Tokogara are the biggest clan in the city with people spread all over. Also with no training Karl would get himself killed pretty quickly. Karl thus asks Mike to train him in the art of Taekwondo. Mike agrees to train Karl up to an adequate level so that he can stand a chance to defend himself.
After three months of intense training Karl gets to a competent enough level of skill to stand a chance on his path to get revenge. Karl bows down to Mike and thanks him for all his help. He then asks where he should start on his quest to track down the people responsible for the death of Katie. Mike tells him that the best place to start would be to go back to the alley where he was mugged. Find the people who mugged him and to try and find out who their boss is.
As a final comment before you leave on your quest Mike tells you that on your journey your skills will improve. There will be other dojos you may come to on your travels. Do not hesitate to go into them and to ask for guidance. Also, these dojos should allow you to train there to better you skills, learn new moves, or even new styles.
From here on you go in search of the Tokogara clan. You travel to many different places in your search for the head of this clan so that you can get revenge for your girlfriend’s death.
'Reasons why the game is fun'
My game is going to be fun because it takes all the good parts of a beat-em-up type game and applies them to an RPG style game. These are two popular types of game and so I think this game will be very enjoyable.
The player will be able to craft the main character to their liking. The way that the player will do this is as follows. From each fight the player gets into and wins, they will acquire money. This money can be spent in places like dojos and certain shops. In the dojos the player will be able to pay for training which will increase the stats of the player. The stats the player will be able to increase will be such aspects as arm strength, arm speed, leg strength, leg speed, and stamina. Also, in the dojos the player will be able to pay to be taught new moves. All the different dojos will have a different fighting style, and so the player will have to pay an initial fee to learn the basics of the style, and then they will have to pay additional money to learn new moves for that style.
From the shops the player will be able to buy such things as clothes and weapons (when the time come to using them). In the clothes shops, the player will be able to buy new jackets, trousers, caps etc. I want to include this in the game because the player will be able to have fun designing the character to look how they want the character to look. In some games where you can’t change what the character looks like, the player feels like they are just controlling the character, but when you can change the appearance of the character it allows the player to relate to, and become the character. As for the weapon shops. At a certain point in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon. One of the options for acquiring a weapon will be to buy it from a weapons store. In the store will be various weapons at varying prices that the player can purchase. The player will then be able to take the weapon to a dojo that specialises in weapons, and then learn new moves for using it.
One of the main fun points to this game is that when the player gets into a fight, during the fight, if a player has learned more than one fighting style, they will be allowed to press a button which will change the style of fighting the character is using. This will lead to some interesting and tactical fights, which the player should find new and exciting.
Other fun aspects in this game will be that throughout the game the player will have to enter a number of different tournaments. There will be reasons for entering these tournaments, for example a high-ranking member of the Tokogara clan may be taking part, and so this is a chance to get revenge and learn some new information. But each of these tournaments, as they will be in different parts of the city, will have slightly different rules. For example, in a certain tournament it may be a requirement to know a certain style of martial art, or that for this tournament it is a weapons tournament and so you need to acquire a weapon.
Another one of the major fun aspects of this game will be the feature in which you have the option to join certain clans. The Tokogara clan is just the big main clan. But there are also many smaller clans. You will have to prove yourself to these clans if you want to join them. By either defeating one of their main people in combat, or by proving yourself to them by completing tasks. The advantages of joining a clan are such things as, they will then teach you new moves, they will give you access to new weapons. But also, one of the main advantages of joining a clan is that at some points in the game you will have to go up against multiple opponents. If you are part of a clan, you will be able to get support from some of the members, which will make big fights a bit easier for you.
This game will not only just be a one-player experience. There will also be a multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode will have different modes of play to it. These are things such as, a normal one on one fight mode, a tag team mode, and a mode where you can both compete in the tournaments you have beaten in the one player game. There will also be a wealth of characters to choose from. Most of the characters you come up against in the single player mode will be unlockable characters to be used in the multiplayer mode. Along with the in-game characters the players will be able to save their main character to a memory card, take the card round to a friends house, and do battle with their own unique character. I believe that if these options were implemented into the game then players would be playing this game for a very long time.
'A description of how the game will look, play, and sound'
The city that you are in will be split into different sections (towns) that have quite different looks to them. I picture there being a normal every day town section where you start the game. This town will look like your average run of the day pleasant”ish” town. A ruff, dirty looking town. This town will be a gangster/hood type town, covered in graffiti, and lots of people who think they’re really hard walking around etc. A China town. This will be an oriental looking town. And there will also be a town wherein everything takes place underground. The way this town will look is that it will have really narrow underground streets and people living in really small rooms, pipes running along the roof, rubbish all over the place, a generally unpleasant place. There will be a normal town above the underground town, but all the action in this section will happen in the maze of tunnels underground.
For the way in which the game will sound. I envisage each different section of the city to have a different style of music to it. For example, the ruff/gangster town will have more of a hip-hop soundtrack to it, and the China town will have traditional Chinese music playing to it. Also for the game I want to use in-game style music to. What I mean by this is that some characters in some of the back alleys will have ghetto blasters (big stereos). I want the music to appear like it is coming from the in-game stereos instead of just background music. What effect this will have is that when you get nearer to the ghetto blaster the music will get louder. I think that this would add another level of realism to the game, and would also make the game have a more tense edge while the player is walking round risky areas.
For my game there will be two different ways that the game will play. One of these is for the part where you walk around, and the other is for the fighting parts of the game. For the walking round parts, it will be in a third person perspective. The player will be able to run around and talk to lots of different people. They will be able to go into shop and other places for such things as mini games. When the play comes into contact with an enemy the camera will shift into a side on view, to give the player an easier view to fight from. In this view the player will be locked onto their opponent unless they hold down a button and then they can run around free. Also, if a player is fighting multiple opponents then they will automatically lock onto the closest opponent to start off, but the player will be able to press a button which will move their characters focus onto another of the opponents. When in the fighting mode, when the player presses the up direction on the controller their character will jump, and when they press the down direction their character will duck. This method is opposed to the press up and the player side steps up. I think that having it the way I described leads to an easier fighting system with the player being able to pull off moves more simply. The side stepping will be done by either double tapping up or down, or the player will be able to change the buttons on the controller so that they can assign side stepping to a certain button. I think there should be four attack buttons for the combat. A high and low punch, and a high and low kick. I think that that is enough buttons to form a solid fighting system.
'Supporting research'
For the research for my game, I looked at various different games to see what made them good. The main games that had some influence on me while designing this game were, One Must Fall 2097, Soul Blade, Shenmue, and Pokemon.
The way that OMF influenced my game was that it was a beat-em-up, and in it you controlled big robots and after fights you could level up the stats of your robot. This aspect of the game was really good and kept you playing for ages. That’s why I think it would be a very good aspect to include in my game.
Soul Blade’s influence was down to the weapons based combat. I want there to be weapons in my game, but I don’t want it to be the main aspect of the game. I want this game to be the ultimate beat-em-up, bringing the best bit of all the different beat-em-ups together and creating a really new and unique experience to the beat-em-up genre.
The way that Shenmue influenced my game is that I see the player walking round a big very scenic city like seen in Shenmue 2. I also envisage the control system to be quite similar to Shenmue’s for the walking around parts of the game. As well as being a beat-em-up, I also was this game to be an RPG, and so I want to incorporate an RPG style walk round and talk to quite a few different people approach.
Pokemon’s influence on my game comes from the tournaments. In the Pokemon games you had to beat a number of tournaments before you got to the final one and beat the main person. This is a captivating aspect, which keeps the player interested in the game. Also, to be able to beat the tournaments you had to have built up the stats of your players to a high enough level to be able to stand a chance of winning. This meant that you had to go out and battle to gain more experience. This is what I want to happen in my game so that the player will get hours and hours of fun out of the main game.
One of the great aspects of my game will be the part where you take your character to one of the dojos within the game to learn a new fighting style. As I want this to be a good aspect of the game I researched into different fighting styles to see what were available. Here are some of the fighting styles I thought could be used in the game:-
Boxing
Capoeira
Gatka - Stick, chain fighting
Hapkido
Hwa Rang Do
Jeet Kune Do
Judo
Jujitsu
Karate
Kendo – Sword fighting
Kickboxing
Tai Boxing (Mu-Tai)
Ninjutsu
Taekwondo
Wrestling
Wushu
Eventually in the game the player will need to acquire a weapon to fight with. I did some research into weapons to see what would be suitable for this game. Here are some of the weapons I thought could be used in my game:-
3 Sectional Staff
Baseball bat
Chain
Fan
Kama
Nunchuck
Sword
Sai
Police Baton (Tonfu)
'A rationale for why the game should be made'
With most beat-em-ups the main floor in them is that it’s just a one on one fight, one after the other, until you get to the main boss and finish the game. I think this style is getting a bit worn thin and needs revamping. That’s why I feel this game will do so well. By using an adventure/quest element in the game the player will be kept interested for a good length of time. Also, as the player is able to level up the stats of their character, they will spend loads of time going round looking for fights so that they can acquire more money to build up their stats.
I seriously see this as being the game beat-em-up fans have been waiting for. As a big fan of the beat-em-up genre, I have been waiting for a game like this to come around, but none have so far. This game takes the best bits out of the various beat-em-up games and creates a whole new experience for the player. That is why I feel there is a great opportunity for this game to do well if developed. With little competition to it’s style it’s guaranteed to be a success.
:)
So what do you all {anyone who read it all} think to this game idea?