Alright guys, this is my dream game. It is purely theoretical. I know this game will most likely never come to existence. But I just like discussing it. Feel free to flame me all you wish. I want a fighting/FPS game that combines all the popular video game characters, but also combines their genres as well. I want each character and their controls to stay as true to their corresponding games as possible. For example: if you play as Master Chief you have to use first person view, and his controls would be just as they are in Halo. You would also use the same weapons, abilities, health system, and everything. It would be just like you're playing Halo, except you're fighting against different enemies. Or if you play as Link, you’d use third-person view, you would assign weapons to different buttons, use auto jumping, and "L-targeting," just like in the Zelda series. Or playing as Solid Snake, you’d be able to sneak around, break peoples’ necks, use your radar to see where all the players are actually looking, etc. I think this would be a really fun game, regardless of which characters are in it. I just think that with so many different styles, it would make for many interesting gameplay scenarios. It would be the most diverse fighting game ever. Each character would be so unique, and would control so differently. What really interests me in this whole idea, is to see the top players from different games battle it out. Imagine the best Halo player in the world going up against the best Ninja Gaiden player in the world. Wouldn't that be sweet? See the beauty behind this whole concept is that players will already be skilled with their favorite characters. So if you're good at Devil May Cry, then you're gonna be good with Dante in this game. If you're good at Splinter Cell, you're gonna be good with Sam Fisher in this game, and so on. Also, this game would be great for settling those age old "who would win" debates. And I think that even if people end up not liking the game, so many would still buy it anyway, partly just for the novelty value, but mainly because of the fanboyism. The Halo fans are gonna buy it because of Master Chief, the Zelda fans are gonna buy it because of Link, and so on. I mean, I bought Soul Calibur 2 just because of Link, and I didn't really like it all that much, but I still bought it, just like almost every other Zelda fan did. And see here's the thing, the Halo fan would buy the game and play as MC. He would feel at home and comfortable, and would be happy with the controls for his character. Most likely, he's gonna play as MC primarily whenever he plays this game, because that's what he's used to and that's the kind of gameplay he likes. He doesn't have to worry about the controls for other characters. He's a Halo player. For him, the game would be like the next Halo, except he's just fighting against completely different enemies. This concept would hold true for every character. Soooo, the game would be the most diverse game ever, but in turn it would probably be the most imbalanced game too. This is what I'm really unsure about and really interested in discussing. Obviously some characters would be much more powerful and easier to win with then others. So I like to think of it like a sports game, where the developers aren't trying to make the teams balanced. They're trying to represent the teams as realistically as possible. The 49ers are terrible in Madden, and they’re supposed to be, yet their fans still play as them even though they're chances of winning are lessened. They don't care. They love their team so much that they're willing to suffer through the defeats. I think it'd be the same in this game. A Zelda fan would play as Link no matter how bad he is in the game, just because he’s such a hardcore fan. Anyway though, I think there would at least be 2-3 characters that would be used at high level play in tournaments. And that’s how a lot of fighting games are, with just 2-3 top-tier characters. But still, I would want the game to be as balanced as it can be, but I wouldn’t want to take away too much from the characters. For the most part, I would want all the balancing to be done by adjusting the hit damage and hit reactions. Example: When Master Chief gets hit in his game, he doesn't flinch. He has no knockback. Perhaps that would need to be changed. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to do any combos against him. Or maybe it would be more balanced if he stayed the same, I dunno. But there are definitely instances where hit reactions would have to be changed, like if the character is briefly invincible after a hit. Also there's the issue of how much damage each move should do. Should MC be able to kill anyone with one sniper shot to the head? Should Snake be able to break anyone's neck with one grab? How much damage should every move do? How much damage should every character take? This is the area that I would want to be focused on in order to some what balance the game. Not by taking away weapons or moves from characters. Speaking of weapons and moves, I would want each character to be at almost full power. The player should have choice of the characters weapons and items, or however it's done in that character's game. To use Chief as an example here again, if you pick him you would be able to choose any two (or 3 if you dual wield) weapons before the game starts. So you could pick Sniper and Rocket, or your sword and battle rifle, or whatever. You play as Link you can pick your fire or ice arrows and all that, you get your hookshots, full 20 hearts, maybe a fairy in a bottle, the whole shebang. You play as Samus you got all your canons, visors, screw attacks, morphball moves, everything. Now of course there would be a few tweaks here and there of which weapons and items to allow each character to have, but for the most part I want to see each character almost maxed out. Also, while I'm pretty sure this game will never be made, it's not entirely impossible. If some billionaire wanted to make this game happen, he could. I mean, if I had billions of dollars, I would pay each company as much as it takes to get the rights for their characters in my game, and then pay to have it made. I wouldn’t care about making a profit. Just to see this game would be worth it to me. So yea, if anybody feels like discussing this, here’re some questions: Do you think this game would succeed even if there were some major balance issues? Would you buy this game? And enjoy it? Do you like this idea? If not, why? What would you do to improve it? What do you think the chances of this game being made as an indie game are, using spin-off characters? And, if this game was actually made, who do you think would be the best character? Which character would you play as to give you the best chance of winning? And oh, here's a few characters I'd like to see in the game, I left cartoony characters out. (any other suggestions?) 1. Link 2. Samus 3. Master Chief 4. Solid Snake 5. Sam Fisher 6. Dante 7. Kratos 8. Ryu Hayabusa 9. Prince of Persia 10. Gordon Freeman

While a game like this would never be made, I do like the idea of having different controls and camera setups depending on characters. There's no reason why you couldn't make a game like this with your own characters in it that were from different genres of games.

I have to agree, a game like this simply will not be made (mostly because of copyright I think). The idea of different characters having different controls and views is very interesting. But why not include movies as well? I would really like to play as Morpheus. :)

Guybrush Threepwood would win with his mastery of insult swordfighting and easy to use dialog selection interface!

Hypothetically if there was such a game made, I would buy it purely for the novelty value, but as you wrote it would probably be horribly unbalanced. The closest I've played to this sort of game is the Smash Brothers series on the Nintendo platforms, and they had to tweak the character's abilities significantly to make them fair (not to mention that certain characters such as Captain Falcon never really had a base game that had a variant of him the was suitable to a fighting game).

The chance of this game being made as an indie is none. Firstly I doubt anyone would be able to convince all those IP holders to sign on; certainly not an indie. You could use spin-off characters, but the whole point of the game hinges around the value of the characters themselves. Secondly you wouldn't be able to make such a versatile engine to run all those game modes - different game types require different focuses in the engine and I don't think they'd gel. This is especially true for an indie that would not have the capability to compete with the high budget games they were emulating.

Even for a billion I doubt Nintendo would sell Mario Bros name. Still, let's say it would, do you really think it could work? Link is a great sword fighter, but is nothing without puzzles in the room to help him, as much as prince of persia who is nothing without walls to climb on. I might like zelda fighting style because monster are made to be defeated, but don't gimme a samus with a gun and who can strafe around link pretty fast he won't do shit. The environment is another thing, you'll need a major good level designer if you want to add everything in the same map keeping it realist en balanced (holes for samus balls, multiple things for link's items, pipes for mario, dark corner for fisher and snake, tights walls for prince to climb, etc).

Balance is one thing, but did you think about development cost? I mean you need how many programmers to code 10 different gameplay into one game? Any businessman would tell you to release 10 different game instead one one who contain plenty of gameplay mode (which each will end up being less good than if you concentrate on one).

-Do you think this game would succeed even if there were some major balance issues?

Maybe, if you take 4-5years polishing it.

-Would you buy this game? And enjoy it?

Yeah

-Do you like this idea? If not, why? What would you do to improve it?

Yeah, but I still can't figure out realistically how it would end up.

-What do you think the chances of this game being made as an indie game are, using spin-off characters?

You gotta do nothing else of your time for a few years with a lot of people.

-And, if this game was actually made, who do you think would be the best character? Which character would you play as to give you the best chance of winning?

Anyone who can carry a rocket launcher

Another thought is to lay down some default cameras, UI elements, and then have a create a character mode, where you could set up

what kind of camera,
what kind of controls,
what character looks like,
what abilities they have

have a few different abilities and only allow each player to have a couple, you could then in theory have the users create the various characters. Though this still could result in trouble like the whole city of heroes/marvel fiasco.

My Dream Game

Tic Tac Toe 2: Toes Revenge

You could follow it up with Tic-Tac-Toe III: Tic Tacs Tactics