A game about riding/battling dragons with guns, swords & bludgeons

Over the last few weeks I've been, very slowly, programming and developing an idea I have had about flying, fighting and adventuring on dragonback. I've done a few sketches and concepts, as well as written a few story ideas down. At this point I have a working platform concept in Flash that allows me to walk/jump/doublejump/walljump around, hop on a dragon and fly about, collect/use/equip/manage/throw items, get missions and upgrades, take notes in-game, swim and a couple of other boring technical things like parallax backgrounds and grid-based segmental level loading.

There aren't any real animations accompanying the concept yet, so it's all placeholders and programming at the moment, and again this obviously isn't a completed project so it's still buggy.

Also, click on the images to see their full versions.



I've currently been working on a story that revolves around a few different regions in a made up world with a distinct feel of the 1700-1800s; there'll be a little steampunk, some victorian and a lot of top hats. More importantly war is on the horizon, and you'll play a specialized Messenger who travels on dragonback, delivering letters/packages to those on all sides...but I dunno, I tire of it's dynamics. One of my goals was to make something unique and fun, and I plan to do that somehow. I might take it in a more sci-fi route, or see if I can bend the themes in to something more my own.

I love the feel that you get from good fantasy games, though. It's different to what I feel when I read/watch a good sci-fi. Something about not being able to explain everything, leaving elements shrouded in mystery, like curses, magical objects, ancient prophesies, etc.

Obviously there will be more to the story than just a random war and a messenger dude, but I'm not going to describe every idea I want to implement heh. Like I said, I'll keep working on it.



More than just making a game engine with a coat of paint, I want it to actually be enjoyable to play, and to have the world be something the player is interested in.

Eventually I want to have the player flying around levels that bleed in to a world map, where they can collect missions off people and complete for cash, weapons and upgrades; this system is already in place, albeit very basic and a little ugly at the moment. There will also be platforming puzzles that utilize a doublejump, walljump, ceiling grab, glide and other abilities you pick up - those are just the 4 implemented right now - as well as puzzles that will have you needing to use your dragon.

You'l be able to battle other people and dragons from the air and land, both while on a dragon and on foot; see "net launcher". You will be able to equip a melee weapon and a projectile weapon of your choice that you can switch between at any time. The mid-flight battling will have a simple radar/arrow system that will tell you where your enemies are coming from, as well as an auto-aim system for the projectile weapon; close combat in the air will also have a slight lock-on system to guide melee attacks. In addition to this, you can upgrade your dragon to slash, swipe, bodyslam and even breathe fire, ice or acid.



Test animation for the dragons walk cycle.


Quick preview of some gameplay elements - Super Metroid music for extra awesome


My life has been pretty messed up over the last 6 months and I'm coming out of a biiiig slump - I haven't done much of anything but ferment, so I thought I'd share my latest idea to see if anybody wanted to comment. Might keep me motivated or something? Hopefully hahah. I really would like to know what your initial impressions are, if you have any ideas, or references you think I should look at? I've just discovered McFarlane's Dragons series which is completely awesome, and has inspired a few new ideas.

Anyway, thats it. I look forward to hearing what you think.


Cheers guys/gals!