Re: Re : SK Video Game

From: Leet Wai Leong Simon <leetwail_at_iscs.nus.sg>
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 20:14:59 +0800 (GMT-8)



On Wed, 8 Nov 1995 C.Carter_at_ulst.ac.uk wrote:

> Yep! I write games for Acorn machines (which no-one's ever heard of!), and
> I'm just starting to fiddle about with PC games. I haven't actually seen the
> "official" game (what format is it on? If it's for the SNES, then I should at
> least be able to play it at some point), but the idea of an unofficial one is
> interesting... I dunno how whoever wrote the official one would react
> though - after all, they *paid* for the license (I assume).

Who cares?! Turner certainly doesn't seem to ...

> I think it would be nice to do the game in 3D, looking a bit like
> StarFighter 3000 (another Acorn game, being ported to the 3D0,PC,Playstation,
> ect.) with a huge polygon city to fly around, along with some of the outside
> areas, such as the canyons. There could be a series of missions based on
> individual episodes, with the landscape altering to suit - The (damn can't
> remember the name) episode with Rex Shard in it would be a great excuse to
> put in an entirely crystal level with nice effects like in Donkey Kong
> (glittering crystals with light shining through then and creating rainboms of
> colour).

I think the G-LOC flight engine (a sega genesis game) would be great ...
and should probably be easier to do too. Keep realism down to a minimum
and keep the action coming in fast and furious. I don't really like the
idea of doing levels based on particular episodes though, might be better
to construct levels around elements from the series, but not the plot ...
it's like everyone already knows the weaknesses of the monsters and such.
For example, you might want to center an entire level around Dr. Viper,
but you probably wouldn't want to have the giant bacteria as the final
boss ... a sub-boss maybe, then surprise the heck out of the players when
they find out its only a cover for something bigger and meaner >:)

> The Cyclotron and the speedboat (does it have a name) could be incorperated
> too, adding vareity to the game. You would start each mission in the
> TurboKat, but could launch the Cyclotron or land back at the hanger to get
> the boat. A 1st person walking-around-the-city view would also be nice,
> allowing you to explore buildings and so on (although this could make the
> game world unbelievably difficult to design :-( ).

Forget about too much realism, it's just not feasible, kinda like
Bethseda Softworks' "Arena" which had lots and lots of huge cities to
explore, but essentially very little to do. It might be nice to have
different levels structured around different recurring villians like the
Metallikats or the Pastmaster and have different "hotspots" around a map
of the city which can be done in any order by the player before facing
off with the final boss, with each "hotspot" having a different goal to be
accomplished and even a different engine.

I think a platform engine would be more appropriate for the sequences in
which the Kats are on foot because, if done right, it gives the game a
much more cartoon feel to it ... Megaman X is an example that comes to
mind.

> A couple of immediately obvious problems, though :
>
> 1) How do you control 2 characters at once? The best solution would probably
> be to have the other character use some form of AI system, but it would have
> to be damn good to get the right atmosphere.

Having those sequences in a platform engine would make this easier to
solve ... You mentioned Donkey Kong earlier, I believe? I thought that had
one of the best solutions to this kind of problem in all my years of game
playing. Use a tag mode or something similar ... and make sure that
T-Bone and Razor have different strengths and weaknesses so that the
choice of Kat in any situation leads to different challenges. Have a
2-player mode on the same computer ... modem might be nice, but it's
probably more trouble than it's worth.

> 2) The 3D engine would have to be very fast to cope with the sort of speeds
> needed to keep the gameplay fluid enough.

True, you could always use a "psuedo-3D" engine like in DOOM or just use
the platform engine (see a pattern here? ;) The flight sim bit would
still be something of a problem though.

One thing I would REALLY like to see is the ability to choose your
weaponary before you embark on any level or sub-level, like picking out
what kind of ammo for the glovatrix or what kind of missles to use for
the TurboKat ... I REALLY hated the fact that the Hudsonsoft game had
nothing but plain 'ol missles and the glovatrix had to be upgraded by
leveling up (which was a fairly ridiculous concept after a while because
you just became tremendously powerful ...)

> Well... That was a ridiculously long first message, but I hope at least some
> of it makes sense!

Heck, ever been to a newsgroup? ;)

I've got a whole buncha nifty ideas for a SWATKats game (which was
probably why I felt rather disappointed with the SNES one) so if anyone
is seriously thinking about making a game, please mail me!


-Simon Leet (leetwail_at_iscs.nus.sg)
NOTE: My account is about to be terminated, if no-one receives any
replies, you have my apologies.



Received on Wed Nov 08 1995 - 07:21:36 PST

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