Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Horrible Game Idea Revisited

I submit to the spambots that I have proof that I am actually quite deranged.

I had to put the controller down since I got all in a wad over Vesperia again; damn sidequests.  Managed to seme more productive things, but still was way too overstimulated to do much that was coherent.

On the 'good' side of things, it gave me an excuse to trot out a couple of old horrible ideas living in my mind.  One favorite is my idea for Backcraft, an incredibly wonko RTS that mosty dealt with middle schoolers tearing about and conquering stuff with Nerf guns and Super Soakers and suchlike.

It actually got quite intricate.  I worked out a rock-paper-scissors thing with foam darts, water, and melee (most wiffle bats and plastic lightsabers and such).  I forgot which was which, but I think water mostly won since it had intuitive area-of-effect and sustained damage-per-second properties.  See?  I can't even think about middle-school hijinx without going stupid technical and kinda muchkin-ly.  I have fallen to the dork side, save yourself!

There was also stuff like research trees disguised as hitting up parents for stuff like bike helmets and sports equipment.  Tossing in factions that boiled down to three basic concepts.  "Good kids" that tried (and failed) to be all chivalrous, getting easier access to bikes and scooters, with signature "Fine Cardboardium Armor" that 'vehicles' and buildings could use as something equivalent to regenerating shields.  "Bad kids" that basically were what would happen if you'd wind up with a Mad Max/Recess crossover; their perks were things like beating up neutrals for 'lunch money' giving resource boosts, and getting 'wet' weapons to deal extra damage (soaking an old Nerf football usually results in pain).  The final bunch were "Big Brothers,"  that were mostly basement-dwellers that decided the kiddies LARP needed work.  I couldn't decide if they were going to be a playable faction, special summons/mercenaries that wrecked enemies for high cash costs, or a "boss" faction that the kids needed to ultimately unite to take down and cast back into the firey chatrooms from whence they came.

Buildings were mostly fixed playground equipment, with some ideas like the HQ being a(n eventually) badass treehouse, and you got things on the research tree by taking and holding locations.  You had indoor 'dungeon of doom' scenarios that were waged in schools (increasing in complexity, resources, and lulz potential from preschools to high schools) that would likely devolve into an unholy union of Dungeon Defender and Dwarf Fortress.  Big rec areas for the huge brawls, and special scenarios like both sides storming a disc golf course, having to both fight each other and dodge frisbee-chucking nutballs to capture a monument that happened to be a deactivated tank!  Stealth combat raids that mostly relied on precision and minimal casualties, since if some sissy starts screaming bloody murder then everybody gets hauled inside and grounded for sneaking out of bed!

One final part of the concept was a combination bonus boss and unlockable unit, "That Nerdy Guy."  As you went through the campaign, That Nerdy Guy ran an upgrade shop, and if you brought him, well, lots of nerdy things, you could use him as a one-shot super unit (with a restriction that sort of fluctuated between iterations), and engaging in an appropriately nerdy and tedious fetch-quest, you got an extra side mission where you have to take him down as a superboss, with victory putting him permanently on the roster.  He had a deliberately ludicrous backstory that the Big Brothers had hailed him as a great hero, then forgot about him when they were all kids, now all he does is video games, act emo, and contribute to the delinquency of minors.

Can you tell that sometimes I just get really bored?

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