Hi everyone! I've come up with a game idea after watching a few episodes of "Legends of the hidden temple". It has everything in concept, but I don't have the energy and/or resources to work on it. Feel free to use/modify/base upon it yourself.
The general enviroment of the game is... a TV show. It's an adventure game show in which 2-people teams of children the age of 12-18 compete to "recover hidden and lost artifacts from the ancient temples of the world". The four main characters are 12 years old at the beginning and 18 at the end, leading to a good opportunity for character development. The show is roughly based on Legends of the hidden temple and involves finding ancient artifact replicas in a maze-like temple.
Characters:
Playable:
Michael
The main protagonist of the story and a contestant in the show, he's a cheerful, impulsive boy with a strong sense of justice. He, however, tends to not notice even the obvious, which turns up multiple times during the plotline. I imagined him to look like Junpei from 9 hours, 9 people, 9 doors:
Nora
Michael's childhood friend and teammate, a sensible, empathetic girl who's unusually mature for her age. She often has to keep Michael from getting into too much trouble.
Here's the best concept of the two I've seen thus far (Junpei and June from 999: 9 hours, 9 people, 9 doors):
Image
Non-playable:
Adam
A competitor in the show. Even more headstrong and proud than Michael, he's rather antagonistic towards him. He's an orphan and would stop at nothing to protect her sister. I imagine him like Beat from the World ends with you:
Eve
A frail, sickly girl, the sister of Adam. She's kind and caring towards others, and it's obvious she's much brighter than her brother. I imagine her as Rhyme from The World ends with You:
Takashi Nakasato
The director of the show, replaced after the failure of his previous AAA-budget-show. Over the years he seems to take a liking to the new job, though his idea of mass entertainment seems to be a bit creepy... Here's the how I imagine him (Dr. Hoffman from Trauma Center, minus the surgeon coat):
Emile von Richter
Longtime friend and former colleague of Nakasato, he's the leader of the "Tag Z" (Z-Day) movement in Germany, roughly equaling Zeitgeist. Despite their friendship, the differences in their views of the world is a source of conflict in the story. His general concept (Ace from 999):
Storyline
Beginning and seasons 1-2
The story begins with Michael finding an ad in a newspaper and applying for a TV adventure show with his childhood friend Nora. Before the first episode, they meet the other contestants, including Adam and Eve. In each episode, the first 2 teams get the chance to compete in the next episode and the one winner of the last episode receives the 10.000$ reward. Michael and Nora, as well as Adam and Eve are always the first two teams, so they make it to the last episode of the season, where Michael's team wins the big prize. Nora, however, gives the prize money to Adam and Eve since she knows that they're from a poor family. Her decision upsets both Michael and Adam, the latter due to his pride.
In the summer break between seasons 1-2, Michael travels to Berlin with his family, where he's evacuated from the hotel he's staying in due to an undetonated WW2 bomb being found under the building. The bomb is excavated, and it has the symbol of the media conglomerate of the TV show Michael and Nora played in. Neither the police nor Michael knows what this is about.
The two best teams of season 1 (Michael's and Adam's) get invited into season 2. At about halfway through season 2, Nora gets a one year scholarship to Tokyo, Japan. After the end of season 2, she leaves (Michael and Nora are 15 at this time, Eve is 14, Adam is 16).
Season 3 and Etrosia
One year later, Nora returns from Japan, just in time for the third season of the show, for which they didn't apply. However, it turns out someone entered in their name. Since the contract is already made, they are forced to compete. They deliberately try to lose the first episode, but the mysterious person who entered them sabotages the other teams, leaving them no choice but to "play along". At the end of the season, they are contracted again by this mysterious person to a documentary movie to be shot in Etrosia, a (fictional) underdeveloped african country, about a US commando in the country, working on eliminating child labour and drug mafia. The four children (17 and 18 at the time) go with the group of reporters, much to the indignation of the public ("They're still children! Who the hell thought of taking them in there?!"). During the film shooting, a militia triggers a civil war, forcing the commando to retreat. Nora, Adam, and several soldiers, however, get captured, but Michael and Eve manage to escape.
Season 4 and strange events
After the events in Etrosia, Michael and Eve try to find out what happened to Adam and Nora. It soon turns out that they were regarded as the citizens of Etrosia, whatever that means (hardly any information leaves Etrosia, this is the only thing the mysterious dictator, "Brother number 1" discloses to the world. As for Michael and Eve, they figure out the mysterious man who entered them into the 3rd season of the show and later, who sent them with the documentary reporters to Etrosia is likely connected to Fang Media Inc., the conglomerate that made the TV show. They enter as a team for a 4th season, during which several strange "accidents" happen: scene mechs that are supposed to be just decorations attack the players, often endangering their lives. After the season finale, Michael sees Adam in the sets of the studio. Confused by this, they follow him down to a basement warehouse of the studio. As they go deeper into the storage, they find several weapons branded with the symbol of the company, similar to the bomb unearthed in Germany.
Revelations and finale
At the bottom of the storage basement, they reach a gigantic armoury, with a man-shaped tank taking up most of the 300-feet deep vault. As they wonder what it can be, Adam appears again, and Richter along with him. Richter explains the situation: he's the leader of the militia in Etrosia, and after taking over the country, he forced Adam and Nora's marriage as part of a populace-reconstruction programme. A year later, Nora had a child who died in an infection, driving Nora into a state of apathy and dementia. He forced the four children into season 3 and Etrosia. At this point, Nakasato enters the storage, saying "I knew I'd find you here, Emile.". It turns out Richter was searching for something that can begrime the media company, in order to turn more people toward his movement.
Nakasato reveals this warehouse was used to store weapons that would be used to pacify people, as the company thought in the 60s was necessary to keep them enthralled in the media. They are now, however, useless. "Only one use is left for this weapon - Caliban - to eliminate all who saw it. Which means you!". He activates the giant mech, but Michael and Eve manages to disable its' automatic systems, stopping it. They tie up Nakasato and want to leave the basement with everyone, but Richter laughs and says to Adam: "Don't you remember what you promised? Use Caliban to ravage the city. I will take over, and will heal your precious Nora.". It's thus revealed Richters manipulating Adam, who willingly enters the cockpit of Caliban and tries to break out of the building, but Michael and Nora manage to destroy the mech's central systems, causing it to collapse and kill Adam in the process. The enraged Richter attacks the two once more, but is defeated. The game ends on a sad note with Michael standing near Nora's hospital bed and promising he would wait for the day she'll wake up from her insanity.
Gameplay:
Levels and their parts
A level is a single episode of the show and consists of 3 parts:
(Prologue) - A minigame based on skill - A quiz like in Legends of the hidden temple - The actual RPG part (- Epilogue)
Temples, battles
The RPG part takes place in 2D temples similar to castlevania. Each of the 4 seasons has a unique temple, but only a certain part is accessible for an episode. Each season consists of 4 sets of 6 episodes, 4 of which must be completed to unlock the next set. The last, 25th episode for each season is compulsory. There are 100 levels in total and you have to complete at least 68 to finish the game. The temples contain puzzles and enemies. To fight them, you have an assortment of weapons, you can have 3 at a time from a selection of swords, axes, bows, etc. Each weapon can have 4 techs equipped at a time, which can be activated like in the Tales of... games (attack button + directional button). There's no normal attack, only techniques (similar to Dissidia Final Fantasy). Techs are shared between weapons of the same type (as in, you can execute the same techs with the weakest 1-handed sword as with the strongest). Each technique has a "buildup" version, and a "fatality" version, only the latter can actually remove enemies' HP and convert your built up energy to damage (similar to bravery in Dissidia). However, power can only be built up to a limit determined by player level. Getting hit by enemies, however, causes the built-up power to decrease. You have 2 people in the dungeon at all times. Getting KO'd works differently than in other games, more about this later. Defeating enemies nets you EXP, which will level you up, increasing stats. The level cap varies throughout the game. Enemies' levels scale with yours, but not indefinitely: each one has a "normal" level and with the increasing or decreasing its' level, it loses or gains power slowly (an enemy whose normal level is 40 will be harder to defeat at Lv20 with a Lv20 player, and will be easier at Lv60 with a Lv60 player).
HP, PP, KO, Power licenses
Your characters have HP as usual. When it's decreased to 0, all further damage will be converted to "PP damage". PP is "popularity points", you can get them through the minigame and quiz phases and by defeating enemies. If the damage dealt to you exceeds your PP, you get KO'd and the game is over. Storyline battles, which don't take part in the studio, don't have PP and you get KO'd as soon as your HP hits 0. PP can be used to buy "power licenses" between episodes. You can get new weapons through buying them with PP and they will be indefinitely usuable with all characters. Some power licenses boost stats, other make you learn techniques and still others raise the level cap or open special "cheats": difficulty enhancers or downtoners (enemy levels, EXP or PP multiplier). This works through a grid similar to the Licence board of Final Fantasy XII.
Score, popularity stars and level cap
Through defeating enemies with varied attacks, completing puzzles and levels quickly, your score increases. This gets you bonus EXP at the end of the level and influences how many "popularity stars" you get. Completing a special condition in a minigame nets you 1 "Popularity star". Answering all quiz questions correctly gets you another one. Depending on your score, you may get 1-3 popularity stars (you'll always get at least 1). The total number of your popularity stars is your level cap. There are 100 episodes, each with 5, plus you can buy +100 levels from power licenses, final level cap is 600.
B.A.S.E.
Binaurally Augmented Storyline Experience. A concept for an optional setting in which lengthy story sequences are told similar to a novel and is accompanied by a binaural track similar to those in Idoser (if you know that, you know what I'm talking about). It's basically a static-like noise that stimulates brainwaves and can cause the player to experience different sets of emotions, such as love, fear, as well as developing a state of mind suited for a special type of games. It's supposed to enhance gaming experience and increase emotional effect of the storyline.
That would be it. Feel free to comment on it, but please tell if you're going to use any part of it.
Someone who's able to do everything else development wise but is stuck on a story to undertake would find topics like this a blessing, not because they're lazy. Tthere's also topics within the recruitment section asking for writers and visa-versa writers looking to be hired.
Thanks Naridar for sharing this
__________________________
I'm running the Great North Run in September in aid of NACC. A condition my wife has in it's severe form. Please sponsor me with whatever you can, thank you. If you'd like to help spread the word please share the image and link to my fundraising page.
Someone who's able to do everything else development wise but is stuck on a story to undertake would find topics like this a blessing, not because they're lazy. Tthere's also topics within the recruitment section asking for writers and visa-versa writers looking to be hired.
Thanks Naridar for sharing this
Lol I meant someone not willing to develop a story. And of course this is a blessing for someone stuck. I didn't mean it the way it sounded.
This is a pretty good idea, and I would actually consider taking up this job, but I'm busy. Honestly it's not that someone doesn't have a good idea, it's just that this is a cool idea and they want to be a part of making it.
Games
Resources
RPG Maker VX
RPG Maker XP
Scripts
Tutorials
Downloads
Game concept, feel free to use it as you wish
Submit Your Article
Jan 1 2011, 11:24 AM
