Forums / Fun! / Creative

Given that I will never make video games, I figured that I would start a thread where people can share their ideas of video game mechanics with the hope that someone might be able to realize them. This thread is meant to about core game concepts and not plot, so I hope that we can stay on topic.

My first idea is probably more complex than what a first-time developer would feel comfortable doing as a beginner's project. The concept is as thus:

a side-scrolling platformer where one plays a boxer. When the character loses all health (or "stamina"), said character falls over like in Punch-Out!!, where the player must rapidly press the buttons to make the character stand up before the count reaches 10. Being knocked down 3 times would result in a TKO, making the player restart the stage or whatever, but a well-timed button press would give the player another chance (with the timing becoming increasingly stricter with each successive time the player avoids TKO). The boxer would also be able to recover health by leaning on things, including enemies, much like how boxers lean on each other for a breather. The idea may seem stupid, but I thought it would be interesting.

I actually do hope to realize this some day, and I actually have made a rudimentary game as part of a college class, so here's my current idea:

A Frankenstein's monster of Turrican, Mega Man, and Double Dragon, where the player plays through 2D platformer levels as a squad of two of three characters that can be swapped on the fly when on stable ground. Two of the characters use ranged attacks, one of them having 8-directional aiming and a dash move, while the other can dual-wield two weapons and has high durability but is limited to firing in front of themselves. (Weapons are acquired via pickups in the level.) The remaining character is a glass cannon with powerful melee attacks, but cannot used ranged weapons aside from a special ability fueled by doing damage. Occasionally there will be an autoscrolling SHMUP level, with each character using a vehicle that matches their gameplay style.

I can really sense that Megaman X8 is a major inspiration. I would think that 2-player co-op would be a good addition.