Idea Info Name: Sony Plantoon/ A Game about Stuff, No Seriously... Index: Primary Category: Action Submitted: 7/29/2003 11:29:15 PM Written By: tootsvegan

Game… (No Real Good Title Idea)

Ben Robinson, 2003

Overview: a 3rd Person, 3D massively multiplayer game set in the future. It is not an RPG really (I hate RPG’s, they are all the same.), because you don’t gain experience or levels, the skill level of the player is completely based on how well the player plays the game(Which is how it should be.) Better weapons help some too, but they won’t make the difference between a good player and a bad one. Customizable Characters are a key point of the game, but there are no “classes,” basically everyone looks different.  Another key point of the game is the weapons, which are also completely customizable, you combine two weapon types (the front and back of a gun) to make a weapon (more on this later.) The overall point of the game, or the objective for which you strive to achieve, is to become master of the universe, a position which is achieved by gathering tokens, which can be found(in hidden places), rewarded(for killing a really big creature or a player), given to you(by a player), or bought(for a very high price).

(note about graphics: somewhat cartoonish (maybe even cel-shaded), not too serious, colorful, yet still refined and nice looking. Think somewhat like “WarCraft III” graphics.)

Customizable Parts – These parts directly affect game-play, and make your guy look the way you want. Each part is upgradeable, and players may receive upgrade parts. Some things have more upgrade parts than others. (note: upgrades change appearance to a small degree)  Parts can be shot off, and depending on what upgrades/armor are on each part they take more or less damage.

Colors(All of Them): Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Brown, White, Black, Tan, Purple.

(note: all skin colors are toned down, not florescent)

Weight: affects movement speed (as in every weight point decreases your speed a little bit), and the ability to climb things (harder to jump, climb things with each weight point). Weight without additions is 10 units.

Body Parts

Head –obviously, the head.

Three basic appearance types to the head: Lizard-like, Human-like, and Furry-ish. Within each of these categories there are 5 different heads (15 in all) After choosing the basic appearance, primary(skin) and secondary(hair/stripes) skin colors are chosen, and some features can be changed(Ears, Eye size, Snout Length, etc.)

After the head is chosen the player chooses a helmet.  There are three types of helmet, none, light, and full. 

None: No added weight, no added protection.

Light: Some added weight, some added protection

Full: Added Weight, Added protection

Each helmet is then color customized (two tone), maybe some different styles for each type.

Upgrades: Radar Chip (Shows a red box around surrounding enemies, even if they are behind walls)

Night Vision (Activated at night, allows greater visibility, obviously)

Body – The bust of your guy.

            There are three size/shapes of body: Small, Medium, and Big.

            Body size does not affect weight or protection.

            Within the three body sizes are two types of armor: Heavy and Light.

            Heavy: More weight, more protection.

                        5 styles.

            Light: Some weight, some protection.

                        5 styles.

            Customize Colors (two tone) and all that stuff.

Upgrades: Shield Generator (creates shield around user which takes certain amount of hits.)

Pack – Hold items, and other things too. (see below)

            (note: inventories are 3D)

            Pack – Width: 6

                        Height: 5

                        Depth: 4

            Power Pack – Width: 6

                        Height: 4

                        Depth: 4

            (regenerates laser weapons)

            Jet Pack – Width: 6

                        Height: 3

                        Depth: 4

            (short flying time)

            Upgrades: None.

            Color (two tone)

Arms – basically what connects your hands to your torso.

There are five types of arms: Small, Long small, Medium, Large, and Long Large.

Small – No Extra hand-to-hand damage, no extra weight.

Long Small – Some extra damage, weight.

Medium – Some more Extra damage, some more extra weight.

Large – Extra damage, Extra weight.

Long Large – Somewhat more than large.

10 different styles, two tone color.

Upgrades: Armor (Adds some extra armor on arms)

Hands – Used to fight, climb, and hold guns.

            There are three types of hands: Scaly, gloved, and human.

            Scaly – Most damage, cannot use certain gun types.

            Gloved – More damage, cannot use some gun types.

            Human – Least damage, all guns.

            Color (one tone) customizable.

            Upgrades: Hyper Glove (super punch attack)

                        Mechanically improved finger (Allows more gun types)

                        Magnetic Fingers (Climb metal walls)

Tail – A long protuberance stemming from the rear-endiary area.

            There are three types of tail (what a surprise!): None, Stiff, and Flexible.

            None: No tail.

            Stiff: A Long, stiff, lizard-like tail.

            Flexible: A Shorter, cat-like tail.

            The tail can be armored: None, Light, Heavy.

Based on previous armored parts, you can probably guess what the tradeoffs are for each part.

            Two Tone

            Upgrades:  None.

Legs – The things that connect your feet to your torso.

There are four types of legs: Long small, long Large, short small, and short large.

Legs only change stature and appearance, somewhere around 5-10 styles

Two Tone

Upgrades: None.

Feet – The things which average persons and their ilk walk upon, fabled to have been used in ancient times to feed frogs to rattlesnakes which had been injected with peanut butter (Whatever)

            There are two types of feet: Big and Small

            Then a shoe must be chosen: Speedy, Metal, or Jet.

            Speedy: Increases your speed.

            Metal: Increases hand to hand attack.

            Jet: Allows you to jump higher.

            One Tone.

            Upgrades: Enhancement Chip(Enhances the type of shoe chosen)

            Power Kick Powerup(Gives the player the power kick attack)

Gun Parts

            You combine two halves of a gun to make a whole.

Laser Types - Each Laser type has a different color and does a slightly different thing.

            Photon(Blue) – Bullets fly faster

            Ion(Yellow/Orange) – More Damage

            Plasma(Green) – Slow down enemy on hit.

            Focus(Red) – Goes Through shields.

(note: [Type] is the type of laser used)

(other note: The “Attribute” is the part of the gun that changes when combined with another gun. Example: “Bomb Laser”/”Pulse Laser” causes a smaller ball of energy but shoots faster than a “Bomb Laser”/“Bomb Laser”, however it also does not shoot as fast as a “Pulse Laser”/”Pulse Laser” if that makes any sense. Basically one half gun is equal to just that, one half of a whole gun. “Pulse”/”Pulse” would be a whole, just “Pulse” Would be the effect of half that attribute.)(Wow, hard to explain in words)

(Note: it will take a lot of work to make every gun combination, because, yes, a laser can mix with a non-laser.  However a pistol cannot mix with a cannon, cutting down some.)

All guns do 1 damage except those marked with a * which do not do damage, but have other effects. Explosions do 1 damage to every part inside the explosion.

Cannon Parts - Cannons take up the most inventory space(4x2x2) and have the farthest spread of all the weapons (explosions) They fit onto the arm (Think Mega Man or Super Metroid, more super metroid, flat.)

            Bomb Laser – [Type] Large, slow moving ball of energy.

Attribute: Size

Pulse Laser – [Type] Small, fast shooting, energy ball.

            Attribute: Shooting Speed.

Long Beam – a long beam which explodes upon impact.(like the deathstar, but not that big)           

Attribute: Beam Speed (How fast it gets there)

            Explosive – Launches a large explosive projectile.

            Attribute: Explosion Size

Ice Ray – Causes the ground to freeze where it hits, people freeze If they step on it, take damage per second.

Attribute: Ground Freeze Time.

Time Stop* – Freezes the time of creature/player and his bullets.

Attribute: Duration.

Cutter – Saw beam, close range.

Attribute: Saw Length.

                        Shotgun – Shoots bullets that spread out in a star formation.

                        Attribute:  Amount of bullets (5 to 10)

            Rifle Parts – Rifles take up 3x2x1 inventory space.

                        Rapid Fire – Shoots bullets rapidly.

                        Attribute: Firing Speed.

            Shell – Shoots a large metal slug.

            Attribute: Extra Damage.

                        Flame Thrower – Shoots Flame.

                        Attribute: Flame shooting distance.

Ice Shard – Freezes a target for a certain period of time. Damage per second.

                         Attribute: Freeze Time.

            Shell – Shoots a large metal slug.

            Attribute: Extra Damage.

                        Laser – [Type] Just a basic semi-auto laser.

                        Attributes: [Type]

Pistol Parts – Pistols take up the least space (2x2x1) and can be carried in both hands

            Rapid Fire – Shoots lots of bullets at a time.

            Attributes: Firing Speed.

Gamma Shot – Shoots balls that cling onto the victim and do damage each second.

Attributes: Duration of cling.

Acid Blaster – Leaves a small pool of acid after hitting a person that deals more damage if touched.

Attribute: Duration of Pool.

Laser – [Type] Basic semi-auto laser.

Attributes: [Type]

Magnum – A powerful shot that can only be shot three times before reload.

Attributes: Extra Damage.

Fence Beam – Makes an un-crossable fence that deal damage when touched.

Attributes: Length of Fence.

Bubble Ray – Shoots a long stream of bubbles that float down.

Attribute: Bubble Size.

Weapon Enhancement Chips – These cause a gun to have special abilities; they can be applied to any gun, however only six are allowed per gun.

            T Chip – Auto targets enemies when user is in the air.

V Chip – Causes shots to bounce off walls. (note: if the gun does

not posses this chip, all shots destroy upon impact with walls or floor.)

B Chip – Causes shots to follow (somewhat) enemies.

H Chip – Adds extra damage.

S Chip – Increases Magazine/Battery (note: there is no ammo, but you must reload after a certain amount of shots. Batteries must recharge.)

C Chip – Causes a battery-powered weapon to recharge a lot faster in the daytime.

Y Chip – Causes shots to fly faster.

K Chip – Causes the gun to shoot double.

Actions

            These are all the physical actions (other than shooting) which you can perform.

Close-Range attacks - There are twelve of these, but only 6 can be chosen*:

Right Uppercut, Left Uppercut, Left Punch, Right Punch, Dive Punch, Power Punch (With Upgrade), Right Roundhouse Kick, Left Roundhouse Kick, Right Kick, Left Kick, Spin Kick, Power Kick (With Upgrade)

*Choose six attacks to be in your combo slots, and one will be chosen at random when the attack button is pressed.

The damage done by your attack is determined by your arm size and other add-ons.  The least damage is 1.

Climbing – Anything that is short enough to grab, poles, ladders, and walls metal can be climbed if you have the magnetic hand chip.

Jumping – The height if your jump is determined by your weight and your shoes, with the jet pack, a short flight period is added to the peak of your jump.

Robots

Robots – Robots can guard a house, person, or area, they can kill things, repair broken buildings/shields/health, and they can retrieve items, they ca also vend items for a player. Each person is allowed three robots total.  They do not start with a robot. Robots are customizable so that they can be suited best for the task they will be used for. They do not play a really important role in the game.  They all hover at about the height of a players head, and they have no legs.

Robot Heads – They don’t really matter except for style.

            Somewhere around 10 styles of head, two tone.

Arms – The things that do things on a robot.

            Grabber Arm – Grab Items… (duh.)

Camera Arm – Surveillance (example: your robot guards you house, and you can look into a picture-in-picture screen to see if anyone is trying to break in.)

Gun – Any gun that you have can be attached to a robot.

Repair Arm – Repairs shields, buildings, and health.

                        Vendor Arm – Allows the robot to sell items specified by the player.

Tokens

Tokens are basically marks of one’s rank in the universe.  People with a lot of tokens are to be respected.  Tokens are rewarded for killing other players or very large creatures. Tokens can also received through more peaceful methods, namely buying them from vendors(very expensive), or finding them in hidden places.  The player with the most tokens becomes the master of the universe only when the previous master is defeated. Position is constantly fought over.  When a person is master of the universe, creatures on whatever planet he/she is on defend them.  The master cannot gain tokens by killing creatures, because the creatures don’t attack them and it would be too easy for them to stay ahead, they can still gain tokens other ways though.

            Your Stack of Tokens takes up 1x1x1 inventory.

Other Items

These are items which can be equipped to the item slot. Only one item is equipped to the item slot at a time to allow the best control method (least confusing).  These  items take up 1x1x1 inventory space, and are generally fairly rare.

Grappling Hook – shoots a beam which can be used to swing on/climb.

Teleporter – Teleports user to a random location in the immediate area.

Personal Time Device – Allows the user to freeze themselves in time until device is deactivated.  Shooting is still possible when frozen. (example: you jump up, freeze in air and shoot, then go back to normal time and land.)

Pill – Heals you up to your injury line.

Keys – Various keys, used to unlock doors.

DEATH

When you die, you re-spawn at your house, if you do not have a house, or are on a different planet, you re-spawn at the nearest hospital.  Nothing is dropped at death, but a token appears in the inventory of whoever killed you, along with an amount of money equal to half of yours.

Houses

Houses are very strong, so they act as a sort of sanctuary.  They also perform these functions:

            Healing – Fully heal you after a short time spent inside.

            Contain all items that are unable to fit in pack.

Houses vary from planet to planet, and price also determines the size, strength and appearance of the house.  If a house is damaged, it can be repaired by a robot.  Anyone who does not have a key to the house can not enter.  Keys are generated inside the house so that they can be distributed to friends, if the player wishes.

Houses can be broken into, but it takes a while to shoot through the walls, a guard robot could be used to defend a house, or a surveillance robot to alarm the player when someone is trying to break in.

Planets and Creatures

There are four major planets to visit, and each has it’s own unique creatures and landscapes. There are approximately 2 – 3 species of creature per planet, except for the space station which has none.  However all creatures are randomly assigned different color patterns and sizes so that although they belong to a specific species, they are unique.

(note about creatures: size determines the how difficult the creatures are to kill. Creatures give a random amount of money that is also based around how large they are.)

These are the planets and their creatures, none of these really have names.

Desert Planet

This small planet is a vast desert.  The only source of water is the giant well that resides under the main city.  There are only two official cities on the planet, The main city and the southern city, but there are said to many barbarian settlements all over this world.  The southern city receives water through a massive pipeline stemming from the main city’s well.  It is a dangerous journey from the main city to the southern city, and because the main city has the only spaceport, it must be done on foot.

Giant Worms – Really big worms, I mean really big and fat, think “Dune.”  These monstrous creatures emerge from the sand to fight anyone who they detect in their territory. The biggest of these worms reward tokens to whoever does the most damage to them.

Size: medium(player x 3)  sized to huge(player x 8). (token)

Color: Main Skin is dark tan to white-ish tan. Small lateral stripes on the top side can be any color.

Desert Warriors/People/Things – These are the indigenous people of the desert, a short race of savage humanoids armed with primitive weapons ranging from spears to knives.  They wear ragged clothing that covers nearly covers everything but their eyes.

Size: About player sized, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller.

Color: Skin is always dark tan. Clothing: They have two toned clothing,  a tannish color mixed with another dark color(anything, red, blue, yellow… etc.)

Giant Desert Toad – These are a vicious race of hopping creatures which have a long stretchy tongue that lashes out and stuns victims with poison.

            Size: Small(Player) to Medium(Player x 3)

                        Color: Can be anything from dark brown to a subdued green.

Space Station

The player starting place, and center to trade and space flight, this station is the connector which links transportation between the planets.  The whole station is a large city with many apartments and shops. Like any city, there are alleyways and streetlights.

There are no native creatures here, but many fights break out in the streets between players.

Ice/Mechanical Planet

This Planet is the farthest away from the sun, therefore it is almost constantly frozen in a thick sheet of snow and icy.  There is a heavy industrial presence on this planet as well, though much of it is abandoned. There are many large, abandoned, metal buildings to be explored.

Tail-less Saber Toothed Tiger things – These small creatures are fairly harmless unless they are encountered in packs.

Size: Smallest(2/3 Player) to Small(Player), they also have ears of variant size.

Color: Fur is generally white to tan, back stripes are variant shades of brown, and ear tips can be many colors.

Bear Things (With Long Tapering Tail) – These large bipedal beings generally keep to themselves, but can become vicious if their territory is disturbed. Large creatures of this variety give tokens.

                                    Size: Small(Player) to Large(8 x Player)

                                    Color: White to Grayish to Brownish-Gray fur.

Boulder – These creatures act like rocks until prey comes near, then they leap up and attack.

            Size – Med(Player x 3)  to Large(Player x 6)

Cliff World

            This rocky world has only one city that resides on the top of the highest

Mountain on the planet.  All of the human inhabitants live on the cliffs above the cloud layer.  Below the cloud layer, at the base of the cliffs, there is shallow water, there is very little light owing to the constant cloud cover.

Flying Minotaur Things – These Hoofed, winged bulls have only legs and wings. No arms. So they must use their horns to try and kill you.

            Size – Small(Player) to Medium(Player x 2)

Hopping Fish – These vicious little creatures jump out of the water and cling on to their victims. They have both feet and fins, and can also be seen waddling around on land.

Transportation

There are shuttles that are constantly flying from the planets to the space station and back.  There is a shuttle from the space station to each one of the planets every two minutes. Each shuttle ride takes one minute and holds 10 players. (Actually show you sitting in the shuttle for a minute.)

Shuttle rides cost about 50 Qares.

Shops/Money

There are shops specializing in all types of items: Gun Parts, Upgrades/Chips, Items, and robots.

Shops locally restock, meaning that stores hold different things for each player that enters them. This prevents stores from being over-shopped. Stores add one random item to their inventory every half hour. Rare items have less chance of appearing, and are more expensive.

Pawn Shops – Allow the user to trade any item for a random one of equal value.

Money, called Qar, takes up one inventory spot, but can be split in to separate piles if necessary.

Value: An average price for half a gun is 50 Qares.

Controls

I spent a while trying to decide what the best controls for this game would be.  I knew I wanted players to be able to point their gun one direction while running in another.  I also wanted to avoid having a lot of keys to worry about, because then players would always be trying to press the right key and messing up, and that would slow down the action, which I wanted to be fast paced, with that in mind, I developed these controls:

Mouse: Aim, The screen will turn when the mouse cursor reaches the edge of the screen, but the player’s direction dosen’t change. The player can aim anywhere except for the 160° behind him. This gives a 200° aiming area.  The player can aim up 40° from flat and down 15°.

Mouse Button One: Shoot(Both Guns), Aim and click on item to pick up.

Mouse Button Two: Close-Range Attack (Random)

“W” Key: Run forward.

“S” Key: Run Backward.

“A” Key: Turn Left.

“D” Key: Turn Right.

“F” Key: Use current item.

“Space” Key: Jump, hold on wall to climb.

Computer Players

There are computer players who will make deals with players. Deals can help players make money/gain items.  The types of deals you can make are as follows.

Trade Deals:  If the player brings a certain item to the Computer player, the Computer will trade for a different item, this presents a game choice, does the player want to keep the item the Computer player told them to bring, or trade for what the Computer player is offering?

Bounty Hunting Deals:  Players can pay a Computer player to find someone who will kill someone else.  Bounty hunter Computers hire a player to kill the specified player that another player wants dead.  There are bounty hunter shops where players can find work.

When a player kills the specified person, they are paid.

(note: when a player is killed by someone seeking their bounty, they lose a token)

Shop Keeping Deals: The Computer player gives a player a certain amount of items to sell. (only to sell, the player cannot use them) Once the player sells all of the items, he gets half of the profit made by selling those items.

Miscellaneous

These are little notes about the game that don’t fit anywhere else.

Destruction: All things are destructible to some extent, even houses.  There are three types of materials that can be destroyed at different rates:

Weak, Strong and Invulnerable. Weak can be destroyed fairly easily, big chunks being blown out of it each time, strong takes less damage, and invulnerable takes almost none.  The materials are as follows:

            Weak: Rocks, plastics, stone walls.

            Strong: Stone walls, some metal.

            Invulnerable: Energy fields, Metal.

Colors: Somewhat subdued.

Explosions: 3D, not just flat on screen.

Character Graphics: Large hands, feet, and head. (Stocky. Cartoonish, but still cool looking.)

I know I have not thought of everything, but the things which I have thought of would make a very cool game if they were executed in the right way.  If this game is ever actually made, I think, as a gamer, it would be to the developers advantage to include everything I have written here, no matter the cost or time involved.  And I don’t think that very many, if any, creatures would have to be added to make this game better, simply because with the ones I have already created, you never know how exactly big or what color they will be, and that would be more exciting to me than a thousand different species of creatures that all look the same within each species.  So please take this concept and turn it into a game, I don’t even care if you give me credit, I would buy this game in an instant if it was out, as long as it is not only a halfway-job, which is my only fear for it.

THE END