Hi Guys,

I'm working on a 2D physics based iPhone game and i am having some issues with the design. I've spent the last month brainstorming and prototyping concepts to try to alleviate the design issues i'm facing. The game is a side scrolling, monster destruction game where you play as a large (screen sized) monster attacking cities. Think Castle Crashers Cat () only with a giant godzilla attacking city buildings. There are some inherent issues with this concept.

Goal:
Destroy as many buildings as possible as they scroll by.
Running out of health will cause the game finish with negative results.

Movement:
1. The camera auto scrolls at a fixed velocity.
2. The player does not control the avatar position as they are anchored to the left side of the screen horizontally and anchored vertically in the middle of the screen.
3. The player can invoke an upward or downward dodge

Attack:
1. The player can shoot a ranged laser at a target point by touching the target point. A laser shoot at a vector defined by the point from the monsters eye to the target point
2. The player can perform a melee claw attack by dragging from point A to point B. The direction of the melee attack will be defined by the vector defined by point A and point B. The melee attack will occur near the monster.


The problem is that the melee attack trivial. Melee attack is requires enemies to be close the monster. as the game auto scrolls towards the right, enemies and buildings will approach the player. The player can just invoke the melee attack as the enemies come close. Ultimately i end up with solutions to abandon melee attack in favor of only the ranged laser. The game resolves into some what of a curtain shooter. This wont fly for a monster game as user expectation will surely include attacking things with claws.

I feel like i've exhausted my design ideas, mindmapping, whiteboarding and prototyping things for weeks. I've considered even abandoning the 'large monster' concept an have a monster with a traditionally sized avatar. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, Do you guys know of any game where you play as an over sized avatar (not rampage because that is still small-avatar based:)? Any games that have auto scrolling screens (that are not shooters)?

I haven't personally come across too many games where you play as a large monster, have a large avatar, perhaps it's because it deviates much from a viable concept.

Thanks!!!!

Have you thought about using cool downs on the ranged attack, that way it could turn into a more strategic weapon or a last resort weapon?

Considering it's an iPhone game you can make use of the gestures.

Make each of the melee attacks activate using different gestures. Swipe up is upper cut, swipe down is hammer fist, swipe right is lunge bite, swipe left is swat the enemy.

Then make each of the buildings or opponents resistant to certain attacks so the player has to learn to mix it up. You could even make some building require a hammer fist to unsettle the walls then a swipe to bring them down. Not doing the correct combo will result in the monster being hit by the building and reducing health.

Each of the attacks might not destroy all the time, the swat could just make the opponent push back and do minimal damage but you structure the level so that the player has to swat some creatures away because they need to deal with the faster moving ones first and the one they just swatted needs multiple attacks to bring it down.

There was an old NES game about Godzilla that featured somewhat similar mechanics.

If I recall correctly, you had two types of melee, claw and kick, for high and low. The breath weapon was a powerful move that spread in a cone ahead of you, but drained a chunk of your special power meter(which regenerates slowly.) It was ideal for clearing out many obstacles clustered together, or a mass of enemies before they reached you. But it also took a few moments for Godzilla to inhale, bad news if enemies already reached you.

Perhaps your monster would have to "charge up" their laser for a moment between input and execution. During this time you wouldn't be able to attack. Since the level scrolls automatically in your game, you'd really have to pick the best time to use it in advance, or risk running into something.

If this were my design? I'd add an Energy meter alongside your Health. Not only would it be the fuel for your laser, it would be part of your protection. While your energy is high, some of the damage taken comes off your regenerating energy bar instead of your static health bar. If you're going to drain your energy spamming the laser, you'd better make it count or else it's going to hurt next time something gets by! All the more reason to use the less effective, but ultimately safer, melee.

I think the main problem might be that the player's monster is "anchored" to the left side of the screen. Why not have the monster be able to charge or jump forward a bit to perform the melee attack, and gently "fall" back (like moon level gravity) to the left side of the screen again?

What if the melee attack didn't kill enemies but simply launched them across the screen? This would be fun and would seem to fit in with the physics aspect of the game.

They could take damage/inflict damage on whatever they hit. Some enemies might by not be killable at all from the melee attack - the aim would be to throw them back to group them for a laser blast.