Alright, so I was watching this video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZfFbSVtx_c&feature=suband the scenery of the game gave me sudden inspiration.
A procedurally generated game where you play as a mountaineer. The goal of the game is to get to the peak of the mountain.
You start the game at the base of the moutain at a shop. You don't have currency, but instead have an 'allowance' where you can choose 2 or 3 of so many items to start your journey with.
It would be a 2D sidescroller, with your character ascending the mountain by moving to the right. Ideally, the controls would be loose and responsively, with your character moving with alot of pep and speed... if that makes any sense. It wouldn't be a slow drudge, is what I'm trying to get at, and your character would move at the pace of an action character.
The game would start very tame, with you moving through the relatively flat forest area at the base of the mountain. This area would have a nice scenic forested background.
As you make your way up the mountain, your surroundings would gradually change to become more craggy, rocky and steeper. Every now and then, you'd have an opportunity to progress up the mountain along it's side, or to go into a cave that would provide an alternate path up the mountain. All caves would be procedurally generated as well, of course.
As you get even higher, the areas would become more and more snowy and icy. The climbs would become so steep, as to become near vertical and require special items.
As you get very high, you'd encounter sherpas and their encampments. You'd be forced to sleep here for several weeks (skimmed over, of course) in order to acclimate to the thinner air (and thus avoid brain hemorrhaging). At each Sherpa encampment is another shop, and at this shop you're given another allowance to take another item.
As you get near the summit, there'd be heavy snow and winds, constantly pushing you backwards, threats of avalanches, horrible ice, slippery cliffs that need to be scaled. However, as you reach the peak, you ascend above the clouds, and at the peak you're treated to the awe-inspiring view from the top of the world, looking down on all the clouds and smaller mountains, and then the credits roll.
There would be an altimeter in the corner, to accurately show how high above sea level (or base level, whichever seems best) you are.
I don't think it'd be wise to place animals (or harmful animals, at the very least) in the game. It'd be more of a much of the player against the increasingly hostile environment. A game of exploration and danger of sorts. Ideally, it wouldn't be very long, perhaps only taking a half hour to complete, but would have replayabilty in the form of taking different items, and enjoying the different procedurally generated terrain each time through.
Your character would likely have a health bar, to show damage from falls, rolling rocks, and the like. Death would be a definite threat, inspite of being an exploration game. Also, to enforce the Sherpa encampment usage, if you tried moving ahead without acclimatizing yourself first, you'll die of brain hemorrhaging.
About the items, there could be spiked boots for traction, grappling hooks, ice axes, heavy coats and other things.
What do you guys think?
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Topic: Game Idea: Mountaineer (Read 1913 times)