I have an idea for a Pandora game. Anyone interested?


kingkholera

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The idea came to me as I was thinking about what kinds of games would be good to show off the special features and hardware of the Pandora, games that you couldn't do on other handhelds. My idea is essentially a 2D shoot'em up, with the twist being that you cannot move.

Name: Zylox

Plot (short and sweet version): Your ship has lost all engine power and is slowly coming closer to the evil Zylox home planet via it's gravitational pull. Your ship still has working guns and partially working shields. You have to survive for as long as you can against increasingly more numerous and powerful enemies using only your guns and a partial shield, both of which can be maneuvered 360 degrees around you.

Gameplay: Your ship sits in directly in the middle of the screen and is immobile for the entirety of play. You use both analog sticks at once: One will aim and fire your gun, and the other will move your shield. You have to defend against enemy's attacks with the shield, and destroy them with the gun. As enemies become more numerous, this will become increasingly more difficult, as you must simultaneously pay attention to both offense and defense and cannot dodge any attacks. Each level consists of a different point in space within the gravitational pull of the planet. Your ship is bombarded by waves of smaller enemies, spiced up with appearances by larger enemies, and ends in a boss battle against a very large and powerful enemy ship, which will have a unique novelty to it's attack. (ie. One boss could be a large serpent that surrounds your ship, then fires guns inward on you from it's multi-segmented body.) To help you in your quest, you can pick up gun and shield powerups, as well as extra lives and berserker attacks, which destroy every enemy on the screen and are very flashy. You will need all the help you can get, as enemies will be relentless, and your ship will die in just one hit. Luckily, you start with 3 lives, and you can continue if you mess up (for a limited time), but each life lost is one less mistake you can afford to make.

Art style: something late 80's/early 90's shoot'em up, clear enough to give each enemy a recognizable identity, and not too resource-hungry, so that you could potentially render dozens of moving objects on screen at once and not lead to being slow or cluttered. Enemies and enemy bullets should be easily visible, as should the players shield. The player should always know where their fighter is, where the enemies and enemy projectiles are coming from, and where their shield is, and it should be designed so that one cannot easily lose track of such things.

Music: Something that repeats, but that you never get tired of hearing, and fits a space theme. Also, one song per stage, at least.

I have lots of other ideas for the game, but those are the basics, and I can't sit here typing about the game all day (I've got quite a lot). I'd love to hear if anyone is interested.
 
I'm Player4, and I approve this message.

Anyone interested in picking it up can contact me for some artistic/musical help.
This game sounds like a good call for batch 2 release. Get it real polished.
 
I like the idea, with good graphics and sound this game would be really good.

If no one has picked up the programming side of the game by December, I might do it.
 
mkinzler said:
Of what special effects( features) do you think?

Do you mean gameplay features? If so, I consider them extra play modes, difficulty settings, anything that lengthens the game. One idea I had was a Challenge Mode, where the player can play levels with unique requirements, like surviving a set length of time without guns, survive an existing level running 1.5 times faster than normal, or beating bosses without any extra lives. I was mainly inspired by Contra 4 for the Challenge Mode, and it'd likely be set up in much the same way; you choose a challenge mission out of a list of available missions, and more are unlocked as you complete them. I also see this having a lot of creative potential if you let the players themselves make their own challenges and share them online. I'd like to see this done with levels, too. That way, players are more inspired to join the community.
 
Oh. In this case, I was thinking about the dual analog sticks, since no other handheld has those standard. I'm still brainstorming ideas for new games that exemplify the other traits of Pandora (touch screen, keyboard, raw power, etc.).
 
you should write some down for Pandora Panic, that doesn't have enough games yet.
 
I think that's an excellent idea for a game. I may be able to help with sprites, as the late 80s/early 90s arcade style might be up my alley. I love games from that time too, they're so colorful and cool looking.
 
Sounds great. Ideas for using Pandora’s unique features are what we need! Have you posted this on gp32x? Much more traffic there. (I only post here from work, because gp32x doesn’t get through the web filtering).

Anyway, the game. Mind if throw my 2c in? I can really see the potential to build tension from level to level using background graphics. With each new level the planet could appear slightly larger, so it would start off in the distance for Level 1, and totally dominate the screen by the end of the game. Also, an ultra-slow scrolling background that gradually increases speed would really give you the sense that you’re being drawn in. Perhaps scrolling at one screen width per two minutes to start with, increasing to one screen width per minute towards the end. The effect would be subtle, but would definitely add a subliminal kind of tension.

And would what happen when you enter the atmosphere? What really is on that planet? What was I fighting against anyway? Are they evil... OR AM I? :p There’s definitely potential for a jarring twist at the end, including an element of the seemingly mandatory moral self-questioning that we see in games these days. And why not.

And a suggestion on sound effects; watch, re-watch and closely study Firefly. As if you haven’t already. I think the way they depicted the eerie silence of space would really lend itself to this game.
 
Gruso said:
Sounds great. Ideas for using Pandora’s unique features are what we need! Have you posted this on gp32x? Much more traffic there. (I only post here from work, because gp32x doesn’t get through the web filtering).

Anyway, the game. Mind if throw my 2c in? I can really see the potential to build tension from level to level using background graphics. With each new level the planet could appear slightly larger, so it would start off in the distance for Level 1, and totally dominate the screen by the end of the game. Also, an ultra-slow scrolling background that gradually increases speed would really give you the sense that you’re being drawn in. Perhaps scrolling at one screen width per two minutes to start with, increasing to one screen width per minute towards the end. The effect would be subtle, but would definitely add a subliminal kind of tension.

And would what happen when you enter the atmosphere? What really is on that planet? What was I fighting against anyway? Are they evil... OR AM I? :p There’s definitely potential for a jarring twist at the end, including an element of the seemingly mandatory moral self-questioning that we see in games these days. And why not.

And a suggestion on sound effects; watch, re-watch and closely study Firefly. As if you haven’t already. I think the way they depicted the eerie silence of space would really lend itself to this game.

I would post these ideas on GP32X, but apparently I got an account there a while ago, and I don't remember any info on it, and it won't let me start a new one from this IP address. :/

I was actually thinking that exact same thing for the "tension effect" :D

The jarring twist is an interesting idea, sort of like in the Ender Series. I'll think about how you could do it.

As for Firefly, I really do need to borrow that from my friend some time. Maybe at Christmas when I finally have some free time from school. -.-; Then again, one of these days I have to show him Cowboy Bebop. :)

All good ideas. Thanks for the input!
 
@A Beaver let's correlate, I'm pushed for time over here so I can send you concept art on this if you'll GIMP it and turn it into sprite work. I already have ships and some increasingly specific ideas on shields and guns. I could also do these backgrounds.

We should make a Zylox2 for 2nd batch that will emulate StarFox64. Best game ever, save entering into the atmosphere til then. There are not enough games like that.
 
Heh, I like the idea of Zylox 2 being styled on StarFox. The Zylox 1 cliffhanger is when you finally burn through the atmosphere. In Zylox 2, you get introduced to some of the diverse cultures and politics across the planet... as you kill everything in your path. End game, as you finally set foot on the desecrated planet, you discover an ancient, lost people in desperate need of a leader. Roll credits, cue Zylox 3: the RTS.

Maybe I'm looking too far ahead here. :D
 
...And Zylox 4 is a dead on copy of Resident Evil 4, with spaceships, mechs, and pandas.
 
player4 said:
@A Beaver let's correlate, I'm pushed for time over here so I can send you concept art on this if you'll GIMP it and turn it into sprite work. I already have ships and some increasingly specific ideas on shields and guns. I could also do these backgrounds.

We should make a Zylox2 for 2nd batch that will emulate StarFox64. Best game ever, save entering into the atmosphere til then. There are not enough games like that.

Uh... Gimp? I'm not very skilled in any graphical program to be frank. I could show you some work of a shooter I've working on to show you where I am as far as capability though. I just don't want to rush in and claim I can give you SNK quality stuff.

Edit: That is, unless by Gimp you ment something completely different and I am an oblivious idiot.
 
I meant...socks, yes...
No, I'm just asking for a little touch-up. I'm not too sure about this as of yet, if we were to make intensity backgrounds it would likely need some neat work and i don't have the skills beyond the "try not to screw it up" stage in any programs art-related. I've been pushing myself lately, but I haven't learned much.
The point is, I don't know how to make whatever I do ready for integration to the game. You do. That's what I'm suggesting.
 
Gruso said:
Heh, I like the idea of Zylox 2 being styled on StarFox. The Zylox 1 cliffhanger is when you finally burn through the atmosphere. In Zylox 2, you get introduced to some of the diverse cultures and politics across the planet... as you kill everything in your path. End game, as you finally set foot on the desecrated planet, you discover an ancient, lost people in desperate need of a leader. Roll credits, cue Zylox 3: the RTS.

Maybe I'm looking too far ahead here. :D

I suppose that a Zylox sequel could be in order. Remember that one of the key points of Zylox is that your main ship has no engine capacity, so having it fly off in Sylox 2 wouldn't make much sense. Now, you could say that your ship was planned to be incapacitated so that it could deliver a secret payload of high-power explosives to take out the Zylox capital, while you secretly jettison off on a small fighter, which could be the main ship of the sequel. Therefore, in the sequel, the enemy capital is destroyed, and you are raiding the rest of the planet to hold off a rebuilding effort until a larger fleet of ships can arrive. First, though, we have to get Zylox 1, yes? :)

As for shields and guns, I figure that shields should just be a half-moon of white energy with green edges, and that it would start out covering a little over a fourth of your ship, with a max-powered shield covering about half of your ship at once. I feel that the guns should have more expansion, and that's when I came up for the idea of having multiple weapons at once, each with their own upgrades, that would be switched between with the shoulder buttons. This gives you more variety and strategy while simultaneously keeping your thumbs free to block and blast.

The three weapon types:

1. Single Shot: This is the basic shoot'em-up straight laser shot. It has an okay rate of fire and takes out small enemies easily, but has little effect on the larger enemies. This would upgrade to a double stream of shots, then a triple stream (still firing straight though), then a solid laser, and finally a wide laser, a little wider than the triple stream.

2. Missiles: Missiles, normally a secondary attack, are now the second main weapon. Initial fire is two missiles in a slow V curve pattern (think Parabola). This upgrades to four missiles in the same pattern, spread apart (essentially doubling the spread of the attack), then six missiles doing the same thing, then six larger missiles, and finally six large homing missiles.

3. Spread Gun: A favorite of many, the spread gun fires a lot of little bullets very quickly, and can clear large groups of small enemies effectively. Consisting first of a small cloud of bullets, it can upgrade to be two clouds of bullets, side by side, then three clouds of bullets (in the same manner), and finally upgrade to shoot what are essentially fireworks; large bullets that explode into big clouds of bullets and shoot at a fast rate.

Think this could be done?

Also, I'd be willing to check out any work that you've done so far on anything. Just consider me Director. :ph34r:

One last thing: Does anyone know of something I could use to write music for this game that isn't overly complicated?

One more last thing: A friend of mine draws a lot of space ships in his spare time. Generally big, EVE Online-esque stuff. Think I should ask him for some artwork?
 
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Here's a few examples from a vertical shooter I was thinking of making. They seem to animate slower than I wanted, but I guess it doesn't really matter in this case.
 
The pallet is kind of dull. Brighter and more vivid colors would be better.

Could you make a ship that looked more like a carrier ship? I was imagining something less "one-man fighter" and more "Ship that could hold a one-man fighter inside of it." That way, the epic getaway at the end (hero crashes big main ship into capital while flying off in his sleek fighter craft) makes more sense, and it creates a cliff-hanger for a future title. It would also make more sense for a larger craft such as the aforementioned to have such high-powered shields and guns on it as to defend against huge waves of enemies, much less guns that can pivot 360 degrees.

Plus, a bigger ship is harder to defend. :wink:

(not much bigger, mind you. Just about twice as long, but the same width.)
 
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