Pirates Cove; action adventure RPG game ideas

Pirate's Cove (working title) is a pirate themed action adventure RPG game for the iDevices and other platforms...

core focuses;
-huge world to explore; with treasures to find
-sticks to the tired and true arcadish zelda systems religiously
-simple goal; become the greatest pirate, but going about that reveals a very deep and evolving story line
-seamlessly embedded omnipresent multiplayer modes; accessed within the game via towns that can be played whenever for fun or for spoils since the outcome of these multiplayer experiences will either directly benefit the player in the single player world or have a negative impact

themes & story;
-simple goal is to become the worlds greatest pirate
-in a huge wonderful fantasy pirate themed world; complete with towns, dungeons and over world. which all should run on the same engine
-in this world there is an oppressive world government to stand against
-and a loose alliance of legendary pirates who stand together out of respect or fear and fight side by side against a common enemy the world government
-and last but not least there will be an emerging secret organization or legion of truly sinister and corrupt individuals (both pirate and government/military officials alike) that inadvertently throw the world into chaos for their own selfish reasons
-the humble "piratey adventure" will take you on a quest ranging from randomly exploring to find dungeons containing legendary treasures to the very front-lines of the pirate vs government war and in and out multiple confrontations with the legion along the way; with choices that may influence the outcome of the war between the pirates and the world government

game design;
-a full 3D cell shaded engine
-but done in a way that will be a mix of multiple perspectives
-one perspective will be DSS perspective sort of top down but not straight up top down
-another perspective may have a classic pre-rendered background feel to it via static cameras
-and others may feel like full 3D at times with a third person perspective follow camera

 

gameplay;

sticking to the classic zelda system....

health;
-will be done via hearts all the way or bottles of rum if you want to be piratey about it
-finding heart pieces or legendary rum will increase overall health

tools/items/weapons;
-this will be just like zelda in that tools, weapons and items are all found on the map
-there will be common tools that you collect which cant be equipped directly and used as a weapon but nevertheless have broad impact on the gamemplay experience like a hammer used in context to break a rock (open up new area) or help manually fix up the pirate ship
-weapons; 2 types; 1) different variations of default weapon and 2) different variations of special weapons (pistols, rifles throwing knives ect) that are used as a skill rather then a traditional weapon
-special pirate items that are used as deployables but have limited use and must be recharged (some really rare ones cant be recharged)
-last but not least special items that are basically magical skills that can be used over and over again in battle and dont need to be charged

possible concepts for deployables;
-the tears of redbeard; basically pull out a vial and pour tears on the ground and this will stun enemies who move into its range
-the head of medusa; like a turret that doesnt shoot bullets but instead stones enemies
-chest of cursed gold; throw it on the ground to summon or do continuous damage to enemies
-ect

special items (skills)
-the hat of zed the dread you pull out a captains hat put it on and this initiates the skill
-heart of davy jones you pull out the heart and the skill initiates

special weapons;
-these are used as skills and are equipped the same way the deployables and special items are equipped
-you use the weapon as a skill you just tap on a button and the character will pull out a pistol and fire shots in the direction you are facing then put it back
-when you run out of gunpowder you will have to get them recharged similar to how you have to recharge some deployables

the pirate ship;
-you will of course need a pirate ship
-the pirate ship will be similar in spirit as a boat in a final fantasy or any epic RPG game
-but with a few additions
-you can upgrade your ship and must tend to it regularly as it also has HP and if you dont keep up with it the ship may be destroyed upon which you will have a buy a new one (you are given a ship for free and once you have a ship if you lose it you can buy another one at anytime if you have the gold)
-also additionally you will have to fight naval battles very much like a DSS when on the open waters; similar to having to fight random battles in a ship from dragon quest except all the battles in this game would play out in real time on the same engine as the over-world anyways
-eventually if you upgrade your ship enough you will be able to turn it into an airship
-in addition to the HP of the ship which can be fixed manually via hammer (takes some time tho) or fixed at a shipyard in a port town for gold there will also be morale meter
-the higher your morale the better your pirate ships attributes will be (speed damage resistance ect)
-to manage morale you will need to buy provisions (food, water, rum) for the crew. but you can also purchase upgrades for the ship (these will automatically improve morale, recruit new crew members to the ship which may also give you new abilities to use in open water battles

open water battles;
-will be very much like a DSS
-as you upgrade your ship the firing rate, spread and damage/damage resistance will increase
-there will also be a skills concept albeit relegated to crew members that you recruit
-you can only have 2 crew members in your active crew party at a time but you can swap them in/out at will
-assigning a crew member is basically just giving a face to a skill some crew members will give you a skill to send little boats out at your enemy to deal damage others may be able to call upon sharks to attack your enemy ect

towns;
-sleep at an inn to restore health
-buy upgrades to your ship; buy a new ship (some upgrades may be rewarded for completing optional seamless objectives for NPCs)
-there is no concept of armor but you can customize the look of your pirate in a barber shop or some kind of shop. you will have to purchase them of course
-buy provisions for the ship (food, supplies, water, rum, ect)
-recruit new crewmen if available in the town (some towns may have able crewmen others may not)
-find information on quests; although quests aren't one off experiences they will unfold seamlessly as you explore, however talking to people will give you vital information and may even open up different optional sub objectives that can be completed along the way
-there is also a pub this is where you will go to engage in multiplayer experiences both on foot or on a pirate ship; including deathmatch, teamdeath match, 1 on 1 and additional modes like king of the hill, CTF ect
-additionally in the pub you can enter another players world or request a player to enter your world (cooperative play)

up next controls....

 

yup good eye

this is one of the main reasons i choose a "pirate" theme because im interested in expanding the concept of vehicles in an action RPG. typically the vehicle itself is a lifeless thing, while some RPGs try to use creative concepts (Dragon Quest franchise in particular) for vehicles it's never a entity in its own right with HP. also being that this is a concept for an action RPG anyways with an engine that should provide real time battles across dungeons, and on the overworld the idea of sea battles wouldn't be that much of a disconnect between the on foot battles and the ship battles. the actual experience of the battles is slightly different in that on ships it will be more of a shooter (DSS to be exact) but on foot is primarily melee combat, yet the underlining control scheme and systems would be nearly identical to each other.

i think its most definitely worth it to go that "extra mile" to include the ship battles, by implementing it via an HP meter, a morale meter and a crew recruitment concept (where the crew members are the skills that you can employ in battle same way you would employ a special weapon, or item on foot battles). it also an ideal way to provide a change of pace in the gameplay experience via having a slightly different combat experience on an identical control scheme and nearly identical systems...

it will also emphasis the pirate theme tenfold... to where the player will really feel like they are a pirate when they have their own pirate ship and a crew out exploring and hunting for treasure (gold, new weapons, items) and keeping a keen eye out for capable deck hands (ship battle skills) to recruit in the process!!

also in addition to pirates vs pirates or pirates vs marines or pirates vs legion you would also have to fight sea creatures all of which will drop loot (ship health, provisions, gold) when destroyed


it also would be a lot of fun!!

 

controls;

movement = free floating VJ for both foot and ship

my patented (jk jk) multi functional action button

and two additional on screen buttons across the bottom of the screen where you can hotkey items (special weapons, deployables, skills). this will also be used for swapping out active crew members (sea battle skills) when on a ship

the action button;
- tap to attack (when on foot)
- tap and hold to block and charge spin move (or special move that varies depending on the weapon) you will also be locked into strafing and much slower movement when holding the button. to unleash the special move just lift thumb or finger off the button
-to jump just flick up vertically across the button; the gesture will technically be bounce the action button up to jump
-there will be no need to drag aim and release the button this time around
-when on ship this button is a VJ and will be used to aim cannonballs

the two hotkey placeholders;
-by design they will be finger friendly beveled-edged squares across the bottom of the screen in an organized fashion
-this will be how you equip items when on foot and swap crew members when on the ship
-when on foot you just tap and hold on the square to initiate the skill in whatever direction your character is facing
-to change equipped item or crew member you tap hold then drag the icon of the equipped weapon or the thumbnail image of the crew member out of the square and up onto the game play area upon which will pause live action and bring up the appropriate menu where you can drag and drop items or crew members to and from the menu and hotkeys

the health meter will be centered at the top of the screen in between the mini map and the menu button

mini map;
-top right
-tap to expand
-pinch to zoom in/out on map
-tap x or double tap to close the map
-set waypoints

game menu;
-by design and treasure chest
-tap to open game menu
-skipping the minute details of how the game menu itself will be designed

misc;
-fast travel from random location to a town previously visited will be done via map; however you may lose a couple hearts, HP for ship, and gold
-when on ship once you have found the hammer, and assuming you have ample provisions you will have a context sensitive pop up show up when ship is hp critical you just tap and hold on that pop up to manually fix ship it will take a few secs but during that time you can not move or attack if you are ambushed you will have to cancel the repair job take out enemy and start the whole repair job over again
-there will be day and night cycles but no way to change it manually (which would have required an additional input method of some sort)
-for items such as a hook shot if applicable these will be situational in that when there is an object that can be hooked you simply tap on in in the game screen and the character will send a hook

*there was something i forgot here i cant remember what it was

multiplayer;
-when doing multiplayer there will be an additional input on the screen for communication
-this input will be placed right above the action button and resemble a chat bubble or a face visage icon
-tapping on this will bring up the communication chat window and a menu page behind it
-to swap between the two you just flick left or right to swap between the chat window (receive compose messages and blurbs) and chat settings window
-when in chat window you will see messages sent to you and have a space at the bottom where you can tap to bring up virtual keyboard to type out a message manually
-this virtual keyboard will be a customized one and have an additional page on it with only emoticons; you will of course switch between the keyboard sets the same way you change from letters to numbers to characters
-these emoticons will represent blurbs
-blurbs are small commands like 'hey over here' "help' ect
-in the settings page you will be able to disable the communication greying out the icon and turn voice chat on/off
-when an new message is composed and sent or blurb selected and sent an alert will show up on the chat bubble or face visage
-this alert will be a small numbered red badge; just tap on the icon to open chat window to read message or blurb
-for text chat it will be a speaker and work similar to xboxlive where when a player is talking the icon will change into a speaker with some signal bars representing that the other player is broadcasting a msg

 

further consideration....

this original design has one logic gap...

in that you can recruit members for your crew but on foot your character (who is presumably the captain) will travel alone? might add NPC party members; they will not be controllable at all and just follow you. all you would need to do is add a menu page in the game menu to adjust their strategy. you will not be able to change their equipment or control them in any way. you can only take one with you.

additional reiteration of controls;
-i want to definitely have a hook shot or rope or whip whatever in the game
-not only will it add value to exploring and puzzles but it would also add value to combat as you could hook and drag enemies towards you and just pound on them until they break free of the rope or die
-the hook shot, rope or whip whatever, will be controlled via my soft virtual button idea where you can drag/pull the action button, then aim and release the button to aim and shoot the hook

 

i like the "treasure maps" idea so much so that im actually considering on using that instead of non equip-able items such as the hammer to break rocks, instead you find or purchase treasure maps and thats how you gain access. i wouldn't however go with endless randomly generated dungeons i would focus on making lots of really good and complex dungeons each with a story, rather then making a system to regurgitate endless streams of generic dungeons

the treasure map is also a very good concept for stop gap DLC/expansion packs which increase the game play without the need to expand on the core story

i def like the idea of touch screen puzzles, my only stipulation is that they should be quick fun simple fast paced puzzles, which can be solved and completed in no longer then 30 seconds.. maybe a minute (but DEFINITELY no longer then that) and only if the puzzle itself is really stylish fun and interesting.

as far as controls im satisfied and confident that control scheme i posted is a good start