So it's been the longest time since I updated the the blog, but rest assured, that's really because we're just so very busy with our latest game. It's almost done now, and will be revealed real soon... But today's update has nothing to do with that though.
Today's post is about Harold Ramis (AKA Egon Spengler), who passed away earlier this week. Like every other 80s kids, Ghostbusters were one of the icons that defined our childhood, so I took some time off work to make a little mock up as a tribute, both to Harold Ramis and my childhood.
The only Ghostbuster game I played as a kid was the one on Sega Genesis, which according to the Nerd, turns out to be the better one. So that being the case, I tried designing it based on the idea of making it a 2D shooting platformer. I wanted a little twist and turn for the game, so I added a few elements of other games...
Anyway, a little explaination of how I envision the game to be.
- Play as Ghostbuster, going around and exploring a randomly generated haunted mansion.
- As you go around, avoid traps and ghost, while collecting treasures and artifacts.
- Survivors location will start to show up with a count down timer.
- Rush over to them to rescue them, which they'll drop you something helpful (metal slug style).
- If the time runs out, the survivor die and turn into a powerful ghost.
- Once you rescued enough survivors, you're free to clear the level.
- Choose a perk before procceed to the next level.
That's the basic gameplay loop of the game... Pretty much a Ghostbuster, Dead Rising and Risk of Rain mega smash up. But then again, what good is a Ghostbuster game without a little Proton action? So here's a little break down of what I imagine combat to be like.
- Ghost behavior
- Ghost are invisible, but causes controller vibrations when they're near.
- Ghost turn visible when they tries to attack you by charging in, giving you a chance to dodge.
- Ghost are vulnerable even when invisible, though your proton pack can run out of battery if you go trigger happy.
- All these are pretty much take straight from Nintendo Land's Ghost Mansion.
- Capturing Ghost
- The Proton pack fires in 8 directions.
- Hold the fire button to fire the proton pack. Player can walk around during this, but it'll drain up your energy.
- The ghost is "grabbed" if it comes in contact with the beam.
- Once grabbed, the monster is "attached" to the player's beam. If player walks around, the ghost will move according to the player.
- Stronger monster can also struggle, pulling the player instead.
- During grab mode, 2 types of icons can be seen. A skull, and a blue circle.
- Player need to press "X" when the two icons intersect, to destroy the skull.
- When all skulls are captured, the ghost will be captured.
- In this case, the skulls are the ghost's HP.
- While player plays the minigame, he'll also need to watch out for other ghost attacks.
The idea of the Proton Pack combat is inspired by 2 games, Alan Wake and Drill Dozer. Both game features this mechanics that sort of binds you to one enemy at a time, while keeping en eye out for incoming attacks. On top of that, there's also the satisfaction when you finally break the cast/shield, which is to be applied to the sensation of destorying the skull, and finally capturing the ghost.
That's about all for the core mechanics so far. Of course, there's lots of things to be done, like how we can set up different puzzle that makes use of the proton pack to solve. How can player use slimer as a pet. The different gadget from the show, and so much more.
The Ghostbuster universe is filled with so much good stuff, there's just so much possibility to a game like this. Maybe if enough people like the idea, I can perhaps make a little prototype and try to pitch it to whoever owns the IP.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 7:42PM 
