Game Idea Research

Game Idea part 2

On my “Game Ideas” blog, I have four ideas for a video game:

1. First-person shooter

2. Dungeon-crawler

3. Anime Story RPG

4. Ultimate Dodgeball

Of all the ideas, the dodgeball one is definitely the more manageable one in terms of scale.

The core pieces of the game will be that:

1. It’ll be in a team of three (instead of four)

2. Unique team members with strengths, weaknesses and special skills

3. Two platforms for two teams, separated by a ditch.

4. Several ways to launch the ball and several ways to dodge them as well.

5. If possible there should be power-ups on the ground that drop randomly.

The first mechanic I have in mind is a standard first-person shooter mechanic. It will have the player’s HP, abilities, cooldowns, etc all visible within this viewpoint. The movement system will be as expected from any FPS: WASD keys and Mouse. The dodgeball shooting mechanic can have an instantaneous attack that deals little damage while a stronger charged shot is easy to predict but devastating to get hit by.

This is mainly based on a actual dodgeball video game called:

“Robot Roller Derby: Disco Dodgeball”, an awesome dodgeball game made by Erik Asmussen.

Its FPS mechanics is really solid and the feel of gameplay is great. However it does take some getting used to its slightly ‘floaty’ movement in some occasions.

Here's the link to the game's Steam page.

A hectic dodgeball game taking place in a colour-saturated disco accompanied by heart-pumping techno.
What's not to love?

The colours are very strong in the game but the UI did its best job at making sure the player doesn't get confused on what their seeing. 

The second option is to use a third-person perspective. This is only a variation from the first mechanic. Everything is the same except for the purpose of the third-person perspective. It can offer the player a better sense of the surroundings and locations of everyone on the field better than first-person.

The second mechanic changes around the core mechanics I mentioned in the very beginning. The team members will have customizable equipment that slightly affects the stats of the team members. Depending on the customization, the team member’s stats will show during gameplay, eg. Faster movement, charge attack speed, jump height, etc.

This will allow players to improve the stats of which their characters are lacking or improve on stats that their characters excels at. Offering options to player to change how they play is important in offering variety to gameplay. The different upgrades can be earned by meeting special requirements, completing challenges, leveling up, etc.

There are some game with fully customizable features that work quite well. “Loadout” is a third-person shooter with weapons made from individual parts that the player can pick freely (as long as they have to in-game money). Barrel, stock, magazine, sights, firing modes etc. Are all free to customize and it can drastically affect their playstyle.

I prefer to not drastically change the playstyle with customization, but only use it for giving players options in gameplay variety.

To know more about Loadout, here's the link to the steam page.

"Loadout" has weapons that are fully customizable which can change your playstyle completely depending on how you build them.

If you build a gun that fires flame projectiles, of course it will burn your enemies alive.
Your fights are about as creative as you can make it.

The third mechanic is adding moving and destructible environment to either side of the platforms. They can serve as covers and vantage points but due to their destructible nature, they won’t last too long. This is to offer players several approaches and tactics when dealing with the enemy team. This is heavily leaning towards map design in terms of designing this game as it will play an important role in the gameplay. Although depending on how many areas are destructible, it might make production difficult. However, it is an interesting mechanic that can be used.

I can't think of any games that has this kind of destructible but in terms of how this can affect the game, I'm thinking of a game series called "Men of War", a WW2 strategy game where any form of destruction can affect the map in small but significant ways. For example, an explosion on the ground can create craters where soldiers can use as defensive covers. Your own destroyed vehicles can be used as temporary covers during advances. etc.

Unfortunately there aren't any clear video gameplay of this game that I can find to prove this point but I know a modded version of this game called "Faces of War" (real creative, guys) that might be better. Here a gameplay footage of this mod: link.

Trust me. This modded version looks and feels a bit better than the original.

"Men of War" is an old game but it does have some unique things about it as well.

That's all I have to say about my game idea so far.

Hope you enjoyed my nonsense rambling.

Thank you for reading.

Have a nice day.