This week's Fake Game Friday comes from Dtoid reader Kyrth, who had the early scheming of a Spore-sized sprite game back in the days of Atari. To submit your own fake game (dream game, hilarious parody, etc) visit the
submission thread in the forums or email it to
ReverendAnthony. For more on each Fake Game Friday pick, listen to our
weekly podtoid where we talk about the games in more depth. Let's see what you clever bastards can come up with!
My idea for a game I've had since the Atari 2600. I got kind of bored with the Atari games so I was forced to use my imagination. I'd pop in
Asteroids and play for a bit, then I'd imagine my ship landed, so I'd switch games to
Pitfall and run around. After awhile I'd get bored and connect Pitfall with another game using my imagination.
My idea would kind of be like
Spore, combining lots of genres together. The setting would be in space. The story would be epic and very linear, although the player is free to break off from the story and explore the universe. The majority of the game would be drawn in high definition sprites with lots of animation. Backgrounds and scenery would be 3D but the characters and interactive stuff would all be sprites.
When you first start the main game you'll see an overview of a star cluster and be able to plot a path from one place to another. Each path would be its own premade level. The space travel would consist of a either sidescrolling shmup like
R-Type or a vertical scrolling shmup like
Ikaruga (both will be in game). This can be played in co-op or alone. From the title menu you can replay any level unlocked for a higher score.
When landing on a planet or a space station, it becomes a 2d action game like
Contra or
Megaman. In the case of friendly planets or space stations (or once you beat the level), the gameplay will consist of 3D RPG-town. Walking around, talking to people, and buying things to upgrade your character or ship. You can also buy new ships with different capabilities etc. If a friendly planet or space station gets attacked, the gameplay will shift into a turn-based strategy game, like panzer general or advance wars, where the objective is to keep the enemy from reaching you. You'll control squadrons of fighters, bombers, mechs, etc. represented as 1 unit. Each type will have different strengths and weaknesses. These units will be customizable and upgradable. They basically stick with you throughout each galaxy. Think of it like a simplified
Disgaea. If the enemy does reach the space station, then it becomes a 2d action game again and you'll have to defend it from within the station. Every level will have a boss and every boss will require a different way to fight it.
You can go onboard your ship and walk around, kind of like in
Xenosaga. But here you could customize it however you wanted, putting in arcade games (for example, anything from virtual console) different furniture, whatever. Your online friends could come to visit your ship like in Animal Crossing (which I have not played) and give you things (or steal things- 1 item per visit). If you choose to have an open door policy they could steal anything you've put there while you're gone, but your security system will notify you who stole the next time you play. Nothing inside the ship will affect the main game (predominantly singleplayer, or co-op), but it's just for a fun diversion. When you discover you've been robbed, you can track them down and fight them to get it back. If they are not in game at the time you can get it back automatically. But if they are online, it will go into a 2d fighting mode ala
Street Fighter 2. If you win you get your stuff back, but if you lose, your friend gets permanent ownership. If you don't want to bother with this aspect of the game you can just not allow visitors.
For the storyline, it will be based off of western philosophy. Major characters will represent different philosophies. For instance, one enemy will be based off of Hegel's philosophy, one off of Kant, another off of Schopenhauer, another will represent Nietzsche, etc. Each will have their own goals, and will ally themselves with others at times or backstab as necessary when their goals differ. This would require lots of research to write- research which I, quite frankly, have not done. Constructing the plot in this manner will make the game appear to be a very rich universe with a convoluted plot, but the storyline would require a professional writer and someone with a firm grasp on philosophy.
I guess you could classify it as arcade/rpg.
Contest:
9:40 PM on 09.29.2006
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