I hope this question is ok on this forum. While daydreaming about a new game that I'd try to make and fail, I imagined first person perspective game on mouse and keyboard in a forest setting in Naruto's world while having the ability to cast jutsu's with Magicka's spell casting system, like clicking buttons to do hand signs and depending on the hand signs you would ____ <- insert any crazy thing you'd like here like walk on water/walls, shoot a fire ball, teleport, etc.

Even though it seems cumbersome, Magicka's spell casting system would, I imagine, work as a good balance between being overpowered and actually having to spend some time preparing your next attack/defence/utility jutsu.

Back on topic: what are some games other than Magicka that managed to liberate the number of powers you hold in your controller/keyboard&mouse by making you create your own powers, but also make it a bit more complicated and maybe more interesting to cast your powers by making you make them in real time?

Recognizing complex mouse + keyboard gestures is definitely a user interface challenge for the player, and probably also a technical challenge for you: before considering “any crazy thing” spells could do or whether they would be interesting or overpowered, make a prototype to experiment with fancy input and find rules and conventions that work reliably without being frustrating or too difficult.

You just need a placeholder 3D scene (untextured stick figures and boxes, not ninja in a forest) to have a realistic camera and realistic movement, and placeholder spell effects (pop-up messages that say “fireball” or “walk on water” would be fine) for feedback from your input processing system.

Yeah, that's the plan. I was wondering if there are any other games that managed to implement a spell casting system like Magicka's so I would have another source of “inspiration/feedback” to dwell on.

I haven't played Magicka, but what you're describing sounds a lot like Arx Fatalis, where you cast spells by literally drawing symbols on the screen with the mouse, in a first person action rpg context. Each symbol has a specific meaning. There is only a fixed set of spells, but some spells can only be discovered by experimentation.

Black & White had a great Gesture system that work very well, it even had a Woodland Miracle like the 1st Hokage's Wood Style loll. Could def see it work, but now consider the actual mechanics behind it: Drawing/Gesturing with a mouse + the quick nature of Naruto would be difficult. That one Xbox Naruto game had gestures on the triggers/buttons which was way smoother. Drawing Gestures require more sandbox/RTS like gameplay.

Although they don't combine the effects on the spot, Morrowind and Magic Maker have systems for custom-making spells to use later.

For translating a magic system to Naruto's universe, though, Magicka's system works the best, and, likely, just the interface would need changing to more easily access the hand signs.

So if I were to give this a try creatively I would have each hand sign represent another narrowed level of abstraction.

For Example: Fire Style Fire Ball Jitsu (By hand sign)

1. Fire Style Element
2. From Mouth Chakra
3. Round Shape
4. Spray Attack
5. Large size

And the longer the hand sign string the higher Level of the technique. But the more I think about it the more I think, ninja scrolls will be VERY POPULAR.