Android: Platform adventure on Playstation2, Gamecube, XBOX, PC. Concept: Android, your on screen character, wakes (ie. Switched on for the first time!) to find himself trapped inside a bizarre and of course futuristic world. Unloved, unwashed and disturbed by what he sees around him he endeavours to find an exit to civillusion. Trouble is, civillusion no longer exists. Instead there is turmoil and nasty critters who would have no greater pleasure than to destroy the mechanical monstrosities that litter their techno-saturated world. In Lisa he finds his friend. His companion. A soul mate if you like. She is human, a rare thing in this day and age and even rarer she’s smart. Not bad for a child of 9. Orphaned and homeless thanks in no small part to the critters of technovile she wanders it’s grimy locals in search of the blue sky and sunshine that she knows so much about but has never seen. Android’s world is one of sadness and often borders on one of utter despair. In Lisa he finds his guiding light but it is to be short lived. She is cruelly taken from him by the dark demons of the night and thus he is thrust once more into the loneliness and fear from which he had briefly escaped. In his quest to rescue his friend Android will face many fears, surprises, puzzles and rewards for his actions but through them all he will grow to become more courageous and more powerful. His fear will turn in time to anger as he finds out more about his adopted home and the truths surrounding his construction. His anger must be controlled as it slowly forms his strength and he learns further the fate of his beloved friend and companion, Lisa. Driven by his increasing will to survive and determination to see the ‘outside’ Android battles through the mysteries of the vile world he is prisoner to so that they both may enjoy lasting happiness in a better world. Gameplay: I had a simple idea of being able to detach Android''s head and hurl it to a high point and then look around remotely from there. I also liked the gameplay in ICO which helped this design in a big way. Ideally a game based around puzzles not killing monsters. Any thoughts?

That´s not a concept (or a GD), it´s a teaser at most. It doesn´t say anything relevant about gameplay, mechanics, interface, graphics, etc.

Ok, it''s a teaser if you like.
But it''s a teaser that will help to form a high concept and ultimately an intelligent game idea.
I wrote that paragraph or two to create a ''picture'' in the readers head.
If I''d rattled on about the specifics of the interface and game mechanics in the first post would you have read it to the end?
Maybe, but it''s deliberately a bare bones effort to hopefully prompt some response into issues such as gameplay, mechanics, interface, graphics etc..

Nice website, MrWilf. I like the look you''ve got going.

As far as your idea, it seems somewhat interesting... if a bit gloomy. Kind of like A.I., that Spielberg movie. I like the ''Stranger In A Strange Land'' feel of your concept. I have to agree with Hase though. The things that most of us seem to like here in the Design forum are details. Mechanics. How it will look and play, not how it will feel. To be honest, if you did "rattle on about the specifics of the interface and game mechanics", most people here probably WOULD read it. Bring the level of abstraction down just a bit. Perhaps post your concept in the Game Writing forum and see what they make of it.

On the other hand, I applaud you for freely posting your creativity here. A lot of people tend to be either insecure about or protective of their ideas. Like I said, what you have seems to be pretty good - but we''re really into the technical aspects here. A good example is the "Annotated objects driving behaviour" thread. It has to do with the interactions of (and between) gameworld Objects (with a capital O). I''m reading it again for the second time and loving it.

Anyway, good luck with your idea. It has merit.

That was me. Didn''t mean to post anonymously. Forgot to enter my password

I envisage that the ''Android'' game would be best suited to a console and running in a third person 3D perspective.
One joystick for motion the other for free-looking. I really like that implementation in modern games.
Ideally there would be a single ''action'' button that Android would use generically. That is, if he approaches a weapon and presses ''Action'' he automatically harnesses it. Whereas if he approaches a door the door opens etc. Controls should remain transparent to the player.
Of course the puzzle elements would dictate wether certain things had to be achieved before doors open or obstacles are moved.
I loved the ''lost'' feel of ICO and puzzle elements of Zelda and Mario so Android would definitely reflect the formers feeling of desperation and the latters feeling of achievement.

I also like the idea of outlining the objective from the outset a la Zelda. The objective in this case would be to ''escape from the gloom into the promised land with your best friend!''
This is broken down into 1) locate your best friend and 2) find the escape. This is further broken down into 3) escape from each stage which in turn is broken down into 4) overcome the puzzles and obstacles.

In some cases these puzzles will involve the defeat of a boss or minor monster but since Android initially HATES violence I''d not want the game to revolve around this.
I want the player to feel the solitude and sadness that Android feels as he plunders the gloomy world. The only way I can think of to reflect this is to make the player think rather than shoot the place up!

In addition to all this I''d like the Android to respond smoothly to the player''s controls and the environment. His body parts are initially in a poor state of repair and require fixing. Then and only then can the best use be made of them. Infact they can be powered up individually. Stronger arms equal more strength to move objects. Stronger feet equals faster motion. Stronger eyesight equals improved vision through otherwise gloomy locals etc.

The biggest coding nightmare in games has to be collision and that would certainly be a big issue in this design.
Combat may become quite involved in the latter stages as Androids anger rages out of control. This would ideally be melee combat and therefore a collision nightmare.

Ultimately the ''plot'' would follow the recognised 5 point play (later refined by Hollywood to 3 point).
ie. Introduction, situation and objectives, despair and challenge, problems overcome against the odds and all live happily ever after.

I hope this has proved some more insight into my thoughts on the design.

ps. I''ll compile a more specific list of technical issues relating to gameplay, environment & control and post them in due course.

Thanks
Wilf.

Beautiful. I especially like the idea of the android initially hating violence. That''d be a bold and possibly innovative design choice. You mentioned puzzles previously. So perhaps in the beginning, the ''boss battles'' are puzzle-type challenges in which your character has to overcome an adversary with creative thinking, such as a wise but lonely old man who won''t tell you what you need to know until you''re able to best him at a mind game (maybe a board game - something similar to chess, but not chess). As far as his body being in disrepair and he/she/it has to fix himself up along the way, and the fact that he eventually fights out of rage or frustration - excellent. You''ve got some really great ideas.

quote: The only way I can think of to reflect this is to make the player think rather than shoot the place up!

...very good.

I think 3rd person is a great choice. What better way to immerse the player, yet not immediately condemn oneself to the FPS genre bias? If I were to do a 3rd person title though, I''d make the character''s body semi-transparent. Every time I see a 3rd person game, they do this one thing wrong - you can''t see what''s directly *in front of you* because you''re actually blocking yourself from seeing it with your own body I see the potential of this POV, and really WANT to like it, but have yet to see it done well (I actually didn''t like the way Heretic II handled 3rd person, but I think Giants and Oni came somewhat close). I think the quirky thing about 3rd person that people used to 1st person can''t ever really get used to is the fact that camera moves strangely when you look around. For example, with 1st person the camera''s point of origin remains static (assuming you''re not moving) and simply rotates around a Y axis (vertical) when you look from side to side, like a door swinging on a hinge. However, with 3rd person the camera itself moves from side to side as well - inversely to the direction you look. Imagine if you took a pencil and drove a needle through it about an inch from the eraser end. Now hold the pencil horizontally and turn it from side to side along its Y axis, which is the needle. There is a camera mounted directly ON the eraser, the needle or Y axis is where the character''s head would be, and the tip of the pencil is where you''re looking. The fact that the camera moves in the opposite direction as where you look can be a bit strange and ''disembodying''. I still love this POV though.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. I think you''re onto something. Keep it up.

This is encouraging.

So perhaps in the beginning, the ''boss battles'' are puzzle-type challenges in which your character has to overcome an adversary with creative thinking, such as a wise but lonely old man who won''t tell you what you need to know until you''re able to best him at a mind game (maybe a board game - something similar to chess, but not chess).

I''d not thought of it along those lines but the idea of a ''big brother'' character that you only ever hear rather than see is forming in my head.
I think that that concept would be a great deal more creepy than the ugliest, gnarliest beast you''ve ever seen hacking at you. For all intents and purposes the ''big brother'' would be represented by a series of tannoy announcements that appear to be challenging you. This guy is clearly your foe. You never see him but he clearly stands in the way between the misery that is technoville and the utopia outside and that he presents you with seemingly endless puzzles. His ''minions'' will do his dirty work for him but a cool sub plot may be that they are far more evil than the ''big brother'' character himself. The ''big brother'' is actually starting to admire Androids'' ability as he cleverly outwits him through the game and by defeating his minions Android ultimately earns his respect which could well lead to his freedom.

The wise and lonely old man is infact a child of say 3 or 4 years old.
The precursor to the final scene is Android meeting this ''big brother'' and they both acknowledge one anothers'' ability. It is a moment of sadness and pride that deserves to be sustained.
Android has gone from weak pile of junk to Mr Super Intelligent and it''s all thanks to the player.

On a side note this game would have to be presented in a linear fashion. Personally I like games that ''run on rails'' as there is a sense of "right, that''s that out of the way.. onto the next challenge" and more importantly I think that it would suit this design.

A game works best when you are "inside" it.
Recently, Grand Theft Auto III and Jak and Daxter on PS2 have caught my attention for this reason. You are in a game world with seemingly no limitations yet there are MANY restrictions.
This is excellent design IMO. At the heart of both titles,as with the Zelda/Mario titles you take full control of your onscreen character and what''s more it''s fun.

Link: A concept sketch

Watch this space...

Here is a random "brainstorming" kind of idea.

Issue: You want to illustrate that the Android is an innocent, appalled and saddened by the brutality of his world. That''s pretty abstract, how do you represent something like that in a game? One idea is to show the animals you mentioned preying on one another. You could have the critters you mentioned mainly going after each other at first, with the big ones preying on the small ones. The interactions of these NPC monsters could form part of the puzzles in the game. Maybe the android could befriend some of the smaller, more pathetic critters.

The growth in power of the android could be partially triggered by the critters'' interactions. He sees the smaller ones gang up on a larger one to take it down, and gains a new ability after that insight, or something to that effect.