Batman: (insert title here)
Basic Premise
Play as Batman vs (insert villian here--Kan Jar Roh?) and his evil robots! Chase him through 10 levels (or 20, time permitting) and thwart his evil plan to (do something evil)!
Gameplay Concept
Gameplay will be level based, with a target of at least 10 levels in the short production period (with more if time permits). Each level will consist of two main gameplay mechanics--"bouncing" and "timing sequences." For an idea of what the bouncing would be like, see the mechanics demo below. Basically, Batman would travel through a series of platforms and floating enemy robots. The enemies (some moving, some still) would be placed in such a way that an exact sequence of bounces would carry Batman on to the next platform--with the sequences getting progressively more complex as the levels progress. Some enemies would take multiple bounces before being destroyed, but afterwards they'd explode in spectacular fashion.
The second, equally important gameplay mechanic would involve a timing mechanic for scripted sequences. I think it would be fantastic to give the players control over Batman's full utility belt for swinging on ropes, tossing batarangs, etc--but the short production cycle just doesn't make that feasible. Instead, there will be a couple of moments in each level which are scripted sequences making use of those items--but all special actions will share the same mechanic. As Batman approaches the "story moment," time will slow down and the player will be shown a timing bar. An indicator would move rapidly across a target bar, with different zones marked "success" or "failure." A single keypress would freeze the bar and determine whether the player "completed" the action or not. Successful completions move the story forward, while failures cause Batman to fall to his death (and the level to be restarted).
Possible "scripted sequences" include:
- Batman using his grappling hook to swing across an area with nothing to bounce on.
- Executing a flying-kick finale to knock an enemy out.
- Matrix-style dodges of incoming rockets/lasers/etc
- Destroying an armed (guns, lasers, any projectile) enemy with Batarangs
- Calling in support from one of the other heroes typically paired with Batman in the Brave & the Bold
Mechanics Demo
- This is just a little mechanics experiment I did a few years back--I wanted to play around with some squash/stretch animations.
- It turns out that the jumping on things was pretty entertaining, so I added a bunch of things to jump on.
- Different items can be jumped on a different number of times
- Once you "kill" everything, the board replenishes with more enemies.
Demo Controls
- Click to add more "enemies"
- Left/Right Arrows: Move Left & Right
- Shift: Sprint
- Spacebar: Jump
- Up/Down Arrows: Change Size (just to see how different proportions affect difficulty
Similar(ish) Games
- DestructoTank - more of a freeform "juggling" game
- Artoon (XBox Live Communtiy Game) - bouncing with level designs