My odd turn-based idea w/superheroes

I love turn-based RPGs and I had this idea, I'm not sure if it would be fun in practice though.

The concept is that you are a normal guy vs supervillains (and their thugs etc) and you can't do much on your own. So when it is your turn to act you are normally just defending yourself, whilst you wait for timers to complete on allied superheroes who then fly in to help you. So think Final Fantasy battle system, except instead of a party it's one guy and your party is a group of off screen superheroes that fly in to assist, meanwhile you have to protect yourself from the devastating attacks from the supervillains.

So the battle system will be equal to something like you as the player have to defend yourself as much possible, shell it up by using armor, items to block attacks, using items on the enemy to distract them etc whilst waiting for the timers on the superhero character avatars to complete, then you select the avatars and they fly in to help (they would be the actual damage dealing attacks).

Thought it could be a neat idea, not sure how much fun it will be... thoughts?

It could work but doesn't sound that fun, furthermore turn based RPGs can be very boring and it is very rare that someone will actualy play your whole game (unless it is very good or has great art) as there are hundreds of mediocre rpg maker games on the Internet and your game will probably be quite long and require lots of time investment from the player. Another problem with this is that it wouldn't feel like you won the battle, rather it would feel as though it was down to chance, but it could work.

Cool idea but I think it is best to stay away from full RPGs as there are so many of them out there

KnivetonStudios

You're right about the abundance of RPGs, I was only going to dedicate my time to one and release on Steam if it was totally unique. I just had the idea, I also forgot to mention the other major factor that the entire game was going to be set on the battle screen so the focus was on fast pace battle after battle and I figured the superhero theme would fit that. I would only ever be looking to make the core game and then bring an artist on board at the right time for a 2-man project. Kinda want to make an RPG though as I've already made a fully working inventory, it would be a shame to go to waste....

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It could absolutely work and sounds really cool if it did, but the idea of them flying in seems kind of strange maybe something like the mechanics of darkest dungeon would work better as you assemble a team from people you find and they have permadeath also. It would be really cool to see a superhero game like that

KnivetonStudios

Yeah that could work for superheroes actually. I wanted to create something totally unique though haha. Maybe some kind of rogue action game where you swap between superheroes could work and they perma die.

— yeah, it's definitely better having your game mechanics slightly worse and unbalanced but original, instead of non original but fully working and balanced otherwise your game won't get noticed

KnivetonStudios

Bear with me here but I had an interesting twist on the idea. The original defense stuff I was talking about, it might work better as a tower defense game, or at least composing of some elements from that genre. You could bring in superheroes to halt enemies coming at you, slow them down. I also thought about incorporating other genres into it, like maybe when you've 'survived' for long enough you then chase the boss in a platformer style or something. Could be something interesting to look into but will stick with working on possible tower defense style prototype first..

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Sounds cool but I'm not sure about the boss battle bit, as it doesn't really have anything to do with tower defence. I think it would be better for the boss battles if you tried to mix the genres but keep tower defence

Sounds like a different spin on the characters rather than using say midevil knights, wizards, mages, ...etc. it could appeal to a new demographic audience if done right. Do you have several different types of original super heroes created? Would you attempt to try and license DC or Marvel characters? Would your normal non superhero character you control eventually gain various super powers? I think if you can continue adding upgrades me powers you would add value to the gameplay. Will each earned superhero have a time limit gauge so you need to strategically use them at specific times?

You might have something going with using super heroes instead of the standard. Give it a shot.

staleevolution

They would be made-up superheroes. Some would be skill based timing usage and some would be on longer timers and have to be used at the right times. The player would just gain better stats and be able to use more items, or that was the plan. The idea will need some tweaking, I'm just going to create a prototype to test it all out.

I say go for it. Scratch out each super hero and increase attributes with each new one? Will a player be limited to how many super heroes they can call upon, forcing them to drop or trade in to meet needs?

It would be kind of cool if one player builds up a hero, they could swap with other real players...maybe make a two for one trade ( of course, I'm getting a little ahead on this.)

Will certain areas or enemies have "kryptonite" to weaken a hero?

Will the main character begin to obtain several powers from each hero to be used once per battle, maybe making the character an ultimate hero?

Sorry about all the questions.

staleevolution

Yep that's diving into the design more than I have done so far I didn't have anything that specific yet, only the generic tower defense elements. I would be making up my own superheroes though.

Hey plinkie, this is the most perfect Superhero game ever made: http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/sca ... _force.jpg

It's by the creator's of Bioshock.

It uses an engine similar to the infinity back in the 90s with ACTIVE battle + Pause function. This allows for micro management.

If you ask me, that's the best way to implement a superhero game instead of turn-based.

sounds to me like a FF where you can use only summons. You could make it more "action" rpg: instead of armourplate himself the player could have to avoid the baddies rays and stuff, that could be funnier maybe. Think turn based rpg are just adventure games where combats are solved as a separate minigames

anyway make sure that your powerful allies' interventions are spectacular enough (remember the summons!)

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yep some good ideas! Tbh it's turned more into a tower defense type game in my mind. That genre might work better with what I was trying to do, abilities on a timer, armour up the player while enemies get closer.