The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson and the Invasion...
by Mitchell · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 12/23/2006 (11:28 pm) · 13 replies
I decided to write a small pitch for a new game design I've been rolling around for about a day or so:
The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri!
It's hundreds of years in the future the Great Robot-War of 2987 is ancient history for some, for others like our hero John "Flashback" Johnson it's still a burning memory. John "Flashback" Johnson is a soldier, he always will be as it's all he knows but the battlefield of the future is unlike anything before.
Lucha libre is the only form of dispute settlement, the UN now called the "New UN" is shaped like a HUGE wrestling arena and luchadors fight for their countries pulling awesome flips and tackles to the death. Worldwide gambling is prominent but one can only wager a new world currency used only in these events called... Quatloo's and it usually takes at least 400 to wager on any newcomer representing his or her country.
The match is televised and are under very strict security to prevent tampering which the new intelligence agencies of the countries focus on "How can we cheat!?" Anyway so all is going well and our main character; an up and coming new luchador is fighting for his country and during a fight there's this huge rumbling outside and all these pyramid shaped spacecrafts start landing over major cities and where did they come from? Alpha Centuri!
The Aliens should be called something like the Centurians (to reflect where they came from) start landing in droves shooting laser bolts aimlessly into the cities since they have no weapons on the spacecrafts, however they have shields, very powerful shields... (The opposite of humans who don't have shields at all - too expensive). John "Flashback" Johnson straps on his boots and his luchador mask and grabs the nearest Railgun, and is sent in by the new quickly reconfigured New United Nations Intelligence Agency (NUNIA) a new united world government just to make it "US vs. Them". John "Flashback" Johnson is chosen since he has the most experience in war after fighting more battle than anyone in the Great Robot-War of 2987.
John "Flashback" Johnson fights his way through the alien hordes in every major city and even on the moon where their mother ship landed (in one mission he needs to steal one of their spacecrafts - but it's no problem even though he's never flown before and the craft is completely alien he has no trouble flying it (in fact he fly's it much better than they ever could).
Eventually he becomes the major thorn in their side not to be confused with a comical yet informed Major Thorn who should resemble someone like Rip Torn who is able to give a briefing before every mission John "Flashback" Johnson is sent on, no matter where John "Flashback" Johnson goes like even when he's on the moon he still receives letters somehow that is read aloud as if Thorn is right there beside him.
The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri!
It's hundreds of years in the future the Great Robot-War of 2987 is ancient history for some, for others like our hero John "Flashback" Johnson it's still a burning memory. John "Flashback" Johnson is a soldier, he always will be as it's all he knows but the battlefield of the future is unlike anything before.
Lucha libre is the only form of dispute settlement, the UN now called the "New UN" is shaped like a HUGE wrestling arena and luchadors fight for their countries pulling awesome flips and tackles to the death. Worldwide gambling is prominent but one can only wager a new world currency used only in these events called... Quatloo's and it usually takes at least 400 to wager on any newcomer representing his or her country.
The match is televised and are under very strict security to prevent tampering which the new intelligence agencies of the countries focus on "How can we cheat!?" Anyway so all is going well and our main character; an up and coming new luchador is fighting for his country and during a fight there's this huge rumbling outside and all these pyramid shaped spacecrafts start landing over major cities and where did they come from? Alpha Centuri!
The Aliens should be called something like the Centurians (to reflect where they came from) start landing in droves shooting laser bolts aimlessly into the cities since they have no weapons on the spacecrafts, however they have shields, very powerful shields... (The opposite of humans who don't have shields at all - too expensive). John "Flashback" Johnson straps on his boots and his luchador mask and grabs the nearest Railgun, and is sent in by the new quickly reconfigured New United Nations Intelligence Agency (NUNIA) a new united world government just to make it "US vs. Them". John "Flashback" Johnson is chosen since he has the most experience in war after fighting more battle than anyone in the Great Robot-War of 2987.
John "Flashback" Johnson fights his way through the alien hordes in every major city and even on the moon where their mother ship landed (in one mission he needs to steal one of their spacecrafts - but it's no problem even though he's never flown before and the craft is completely alien he has no trouble flying it (in fact he fly's it much better than they ever could).
Eventually he becomes the major thorn in their side not to be confused with a comical yet informed Major Thorn who should resemble someone like Rip Torn who is able to give a briefing before every mission John "Flashback" Johnson is sent on, no matter where John "Flashback" Johnson goes like even when he's on the moon he still receives letters somehow that is read aloud as if Thorn is right there beside him.
#2
12/23/2006 (11:34 pm)
Sounds like a big project.
#5
12/24/2006 (11:57 am)
Well I'm talking about the actual game design not making the game itself, so I'd say off and on about a month to get the design doc, schedule and asset lists complete. Then I'd estimate about 2-3 years worth of solid work. 
#7
12/27/2006 (12:01 am)
Now where have I heard all that before? ;)
#9
This would NOT be an MMO, it's far too good of a plot idea to be an MMO. Instead it would be a Big Multiplayer Online (BMO) game (100 people playing at once!) larger than life true story about what happened between the dates of 6000 BC to 1900 AD.
01/17/2007 (8:33 pm)
Doesn't anyone have anything to add to this, I mean this is like the best game design idea ever next to the pirate vs. ninja one. In fact I was recently thinking of Pirates vs. Ninjas vs. a Zombie invasion set in Atlantis where the "great secret" of life is held.This would NOT be an MMO, it's far too good of a plot idea to be an MMO. Instead it would be a Big Multiplayer Online (BMO) game (100 people playing at once!) larger than life true story about what happened between the dates of 6000 BC to 1900 AD.
#10
If it was a movie, I would have stopped watching right there.
You've got 1 more week to finish the design doc. How close are you? :-)
01/17/2007 (11:09 pm)
Well, most of what you wrote is just story. The only game elements appeared right at the end. If the gun never runs out of ammo then why wouldn't I just leave it on rapid quadruple? I have no idea what you mean by "The game most resembles chess." Nothing you wrote supports that statement. If it's got wrestling moves does that mean it's 3rd person?Quote:(in one mission he needs to steal one of their spacecrafts - but it's no problem even though he's never flown before and the craft is completely alien he has no trouble flying it (in fact he fly's it much better than they ever could).
If it was a movie, I would have stopped watching right there.
You've got 1 more week to finish the design doc. How close are you? :-)
#12
01/18/2007 (9:03 am)
Woah, looking at my post in the morning, it sounds pretty harsh. Sorry Mitchell, when I'm up that late I sometimes think I sound amusing. But you do need to address or clarify those issues maybe not here but certainly in the DD. It's good to see you're on schedule with the DD though. And I still would like to know how the game resembles chess.
#13
You could leave it on rapid quadruple if you want, it's part of the added Freechoice(tm) feature in the engine.
It resembles Chess becuase there is a lot of stretegy... thinking before you make a move, never knowing if what you just did will come back and haunt you later. A person would be able to play The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri! their whole life and never be able to master it.
Third person view with optional first person view.
You're not harsh at all, just giving your honest opinion... however if you ever notice people are uneasy around you then you may be harsh... or a sociopath!
01/18/2007 (9:55 am)
Hey,You could leave it on rapid quadruple if you want, it's part of the added Freechoice(tm) feature in the engine.
It resembles Chess becuase there is a lot of stretegy... thinking before you make a move, never knowing if what you just did will come back and haunt you later. A person would be able to play The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri! their whole life and never be able to master it.
Third person view with optional first person view.
You're not harsh at all, just giving your honest opinion... however if you ever notice people are uneasy around you then you may be harsh... or a sociopath!
Torque Owner Mitchell
Anyway so he fights all the way to the queen, who offers him a position with her to rule the galaxy but it's important to take on Earth first because they're still "leveling up" and before they take on a galaxy superpower they are going to take on as many small planets as they can for experience. John "Flashback" Johnson disagrees with a clever saying like "Let's fight" kills her which in turn causes every alien and ship to explode somehow. During the mother ship explosion John "Flashback" Johnson parachutes from the moon back down to Earth and receives a parade. He returns to a united Earth never to experience war every again, oh and his flashbacks and nightmares disappear.
During the game John "Flashback" Johnson has hallucinations when he looks at stuff that remind him of the Great Robot-War of 2987. It also allows him to fight faster in an awesome bullet-time feature.
There's also a female love interest called "Shellshock" like Duke Nukem Forever's "Bombshell". They fought in the war together but never got together and there's like a deep story between them oh and he also rescues her from the evil queen of the centurians.
In the game you only have one weapon but it never runs out of ammo and its rapid fire. You can zoom in with it and it's got like 4 different firing modes from rapid single, rapid double, rapid triple and rapid quadruple. The game most resembles chess. Also if you get close to your opponents you can use wrestling moves and pins and flips to beat on them for fun.
What's everybody think?