Ask feedback for new idea Thread

Hi everyone!

We have a new idea related to a potential future project and we ask for some feedback.

We are thinking of developing a quick game which will be like a parody of Monster hunter games. It could be a hunting game where you control a character who can go to some specific area to hunt some monster(Depending of the area). You begin with a ridiculous weapon and have objectives (Hunting one specific beast...). After filling these objectives, you get some new weapon (Crafting or looting?). The game will be parodic, include cultural references , battle mechanisms and boss battles (Secret bosses also).

The purpose of this game is to be fun, favour exploration and discovery of secrets.

What do you think of this concept?

When you mention monster hunter, I think of that slow combat, but the parody part makes me think the combat will be fast and over the top. So kind of like Devil may Cry or Ratchet and Clank hunting squirrels. Why not make everything over the top, abandon realism and go for crazy, like team up with a friend and hunt things in Halo's Warthog, or Helicopter vs 'Dragons'.

Explorations always great, especially if the monster you are hunting is rare and there are power ups or hidden collectables scattered across the land. Careful though, you mention Monster Hunter and I still remember that ridiculous painful way they wanted you to rest your hand on the portable years ago.

Thank you for your feedback!

When I was referring to monster hunter, I was more referring to the general idea: Hunting beast and exploring specific area.

For the combat system, it would be faster to remain directly fun and over the top. I remember also monster hunter on the portable and it will not be as demanding as this game.

We have thought about beginning with a useless weapon (A stick or something like that) and then include modern weapon, weapon with references to other games, other cultural references, Easter eggs and vehicles (Using a helicopter to hunt a dragon is the kind of idea which correspond to the desired tone of our project).

Adding multiplayer can also be a great idea!

Well one thing you have to decide on very early in production is how do you want this game to make you feel. Do you want the player to feel; powerful,smart, sneaky, afraid? After you have the players feeling down you can make design choices around that. For instance starting with the stick, you're pretty much at the bottom of the bottom in terms of power, but this gives the player the chance to build weapons and customize their character to fit their playstyle and it gives them the feeling that 'hey im pretty smart, dumber people are probably having a much harder time with this then me'. Or say the player starts with a simple sword, and their mowing down enemies of course their going to feel like a powerful unstoppable force. Each playstyle is going to attract a different kinds of players, or they will play your games for different reasons. For example, you play Halo for much different reasons then you play Assasin's creed of Final Fantasy.

One thing I do caution about is trying to combine to many feelings into the game, or jumping from one to another half way through. You wouldn't want your carefully crafted smart character to suddenly get into a tank and destroy everything, all that smart playing suddenly feels like 'oh, everyone gets to use this tank I guess having an awesome build didn't matter as much as I thought it did.' That's when people maybe take a break from it and sometimes never come back to it.

Yes, I agree with you. If we set a brutal change in the game playstyle, it risks to confuse the player feeling about his game experience. It will be more accurate if we use only one tone from the beginning until the end of the game and use the stick idea for another game/project. The game must be consistent so we must keep one clear idea about the concept playstyle and keep it.

Edited by: IdeaCabin

Hmmm... you want to make parodic monster hunting game but at same time you give player weakest weapon (stick). TBH I fail to get the parody unless as mentioned above, the stick is powerful enough to beat some monsters. I mentioned this cause if player were burdened at beginning of the game, they might not get the parody and might think your game as regular game, not parodic one

However, I got an idea to make it parodic yet challenging. Some monsters are afraid of most weapons but they are very attracted to certain weapon. For instance, carrying stick/sword to pack of wolves will make them flee but carrying meat will make them running toward player

If the game is too challenging at the beginning, it will be problematic for the parodic tone.

The idea of weapon which can attract monsters or make them flee is a great idea! I am already thinking how hilarious it could be to be chased by a pack of wolves with a ham in your hand hahahaha.