Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: senter.pat on April 03, 2009, 12:48:57 AM
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Anyone else wish that a new game would be made using animorphs? I played the old ones for game boy and psx, but I would really like a game where you could actually get all the morphs you want. Its one thing to read it, and i always thought that the show was cheesey, not to mention that so much more could have been done with it, and the effects were cheap. But I would like to play the game where you could go and pick your morphs and they all have different abilities... Like a open RPG game. Any thoughts on this?
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I'm making a board game for animorphs (although it'll be a while before i finish it)...does that count? that's about the best I can do with my limited knowledge on flash and stuff...
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hmm... an intriguing idea... i reacon the best way to make an ani game like that, would have to be something like Oblivion or Fallout 3 (free-roam, sand-box gameplay) with GTA style physics... like you can't morph in public, you have to be where there is no people (like an alleyway) and of course, there has to be the 2 hour limit
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I've told my brother Mr. Guy he has to make an Animorphs video game. He wants to make it like another game called Mirror's Edge, where you are the character and you see through their eyes.
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He wants to make it like another game called Mirror's Edge, where you are the character and you see through their eyes.
Well that does sound like the way to go. It'd be like the books in that sense, which would be downright neat.
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I have played the PSX one and the GBC one and the PC one had the board game.
the GBC one was alot like pokemon didn't like that you could only keep certain morphs at a time.
I always dreamed of a Super smash brothers style game With Animorphs XD why IDNO I just thought it would be fun to play
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Though I'm studying more the 3D Graphics side of game design, I do want to try my hand at making an Animorphs game once I get into the industry. I know the standard of how to make design documents, though for a sandbox type game (which is what I want to do), it'll be really time consuming. (Design docs can get HUGE, depending on the complexities of a game...)
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a animorphs runscape style game would bee cool...
acctualy.... probaly wouldent work...
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there would have to be some questions answered...
like, would you be able to control the other animorph characters? what would be their role in the game?
first person, third person?
how would you narrate the story? in game cinema scenes?
how much of the book series would you want to cover?
would it be free roam, sandbox play? (which is what everyone seems to want though i think a controlled way of playing might be just as fun, or you could have both!)
I think an animorphs game would be awesome. though some things need to be defined like how to acquire morphs, how the game menu would work, and stuff like that.
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like i said. a GTA style free roaming, sand-box style game. the game would be narrated through cinematics, i myself prefer 3rd person, but if it's like oblivion, you should be able to change from one perspective to the other. now, just to make it clear, i'm now just throwing ideas into the open. For the other characters, they should be done with either copmouter controlled AI (i've seen some awesome AI in some games) or via on-line gaming... whaddya think?
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I think a good AI should do the trick. I mean, AI has gotten crazy advanced lately. And then have the option of co-op or online.
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I think a good AI should do the trick. I mean, AI has gotten crazy advanced lately. And then have the option of co-op or online.
ya know, that could work... i mean, look at the AI in Army of Two... that AI is friggen crazy cool... it even adapts to your tactics... like if you are goin in all rambo, he stays back to cover you, but in you stay back, he'll try to advance... it's pretty cool what they do... especially since it's all unscripted...
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Yeah, kinda makes me glad I didn't go into programming, though... I mean, can you imagine needing to program something like that? @_@. I only know a bit of Visual Basics, Flash Action Script, and HTML and even that's almost too much for me.
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lol... yeah programming will be hard...
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i drew some idears on my hand.... it was good.
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yea GTA sandbox style is def the way to go
it would be cool if you gain points for accomplishments and stuff, and then those points can be used to buy new morphs, like you go to the zoo and theres a menu of different morphs for different prices
So certain missions involve getting staple morphs like bird of prey, dolphin, bug etc. So the gameplay will give you the morphs you absolutely need, but then if you want better morphs they'll cost you. Like you go through a mission to get a red-tailed hawk as your basic bird morph, and then you can buy a peregrin falcon for speed or an eagle for power and you get a dolphin but then you can buy a shark. And maybe for battle morphs you start with a wolf and buy more powerful or different morphs.
It would also be cool if you could level up your morphs, so if you use the same battle morph throughout it will get progressively stronger and you'll learn new moves and stuff
yea this game could be absurdly cool lol
what kind of like mini quests or stuff do you think it could have? like gta has gang wars and stuff like that thats extra gameplay outside the main story. Maybe you could have like busting up sharing meetings, free hork bajir and bringing them to the valley, and maybe you'll just come across a random stereotypical yeerk plot to stop right then and there, like logging in the forest or something. Cause the key to a good sandbox is replayability and being able to just run around the world doing stuff without having to play the story
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I say that GTA style sandbox RPG would be great, but in first person. It would be hard, but would really get out into the game.
Think about it... morph bird, and see the world with the ultra detailed vision and see far away, morph a dog and have vision weird, but see like faintly colored scent trails to follow, morph an insect and see the compound eyes vision, morph a roach and see the screen shake when you're near human footsteps, have controls harder to work/become unresponsive when the animal's instincts are fighting you... It would be amazing.
Third person is okay for most games, but to really get a feel of what it's like to be an Animorph, you need to go first person.
I disagree that you'd have to "buy" morphs, I say that they be more like hidden packages or something, like you can get a golden eagle, so long as you find and catch one. The better the morph, the harder they are to get to.
I think there should also be a karma system with multiple endings. For instance, based on what choices you make, it can affect the ending. Do you kill human controllers or save them? Help the Hork Bajir Colony or not? Save a bunch of humans and miss your ONLY opportunity to get a grizzly morph, or ditch the humans and obtain the morph? Also, split decisions, moral conflicts in game... really get a feel for it, how it was like for the Animorphs in the book.
This could have the potential for a very long, very good game... but it will simply never happen. A big budget sandbox RPG like that is reserved games with a wide fanbase; it just wouldn't happen for a "child's" book series that's 10 years old. In order to really match the books, and to play first person, there would be some hardcore stuff. For example, if you were a wolf fighting a Hork-Bajir, you'd see your muzzle rip through flesh, and you'd see blood, missing limbs and bodies everywhere. For the intended age group of the books, the game would need an E or at the most T rating. It would be hard to pull unless you made the game really, really cheesy.
Also, to really make it work, you'd need a brand new engine that is very different from what current games run on. For it to be practical, if you get hurt, you would have to lose strength and mobility and vision, etc. based on the injury. This isn't just a red splash on the screen, find a medkit and reload, you would need to limp away bleeding your life away, and remorph. It isn't "as soon as you're not getting attacked, your safe." In the books, a big issue was demorphing before you lost too much blood. In order to really make it... limp differently based on how injured a limb is, loose partial vision when hit in the head, changes in controls for all animals that get damaged in any possible way, ALL the different motions and attacks and controls for dozens and dozens of animals... (It wouldn't be fun if you only could pick between a handful...) It's just too big of a job. It would be extremely expensive to do, and just isn't practical for who would buy it. Also, being a nothlit isn't game over, you'd just be trapped; if you find the cube, there would be countless of npc's to pick from with their routes; if you find a controller, you could trap them for three days to save them and affect the story, but how many controllers are there? If you become a controller, how could you be saved? There would need to be storylines for every possible thing you would do, every choice you make. This isn't standard RPG choice morals that lead to a max of five or six possible endings, you're talking about dozens. This isn't some "OKAY, you're a criminal. Kill people and get money and cars." This game would be more massive than anything previously made. It just can't be done today.
Assume I was a multibillionaire, and change everything above I said was impossible to "pay people to do it", and you would have the most amazing game to ever grace the surface of Earth.
If it was made half-ass, I would still play it, but be incredibly disappointed when I get five morphs and they have limited controls, and follow a linear path with no real choices, and no ability to attack what I want, defend what I want, or really do things with innocence and controllers.
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Personally I thought there should be a free play region or something where you can unlock morphs for multiplayer and replay missions. Sort of like the story and free modes in lego starwars. Although they should probably have a limit on morphs you can equip during a mission around eight or nine.
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I say that GTA style sandbox RPG would be great, but in first person. It would be hard, but would really get out into the game.
just Mod GTA so you don't have to work with the source code.
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I want a tabletop RPG for Animorphs.
Um, all this other stuff sounds good though?
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I say that GTA style sandbox RPG would be great, but in first person. It would be hard, but would really get out into the game.
just Mod GTA so you don't have to work with the source code.
good idea, but who here is that good with computers to do that?
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.....
Well, I can make the graphics, and I can do audio-video. :P And can help with design docs.
And I think... Well, we all want the most epic game to ever exist. Nearly every game designer does. Fact of the matter, though, things get sacrificed for things like time and money. If they're not, you end up with games like Duke Nukem Forever, that end up not getting released because it's never quite "good enough", and things get done and re-done.
The trick to making a good game is compromise. Like, okay, having the different morphs "see" things differently in 1st person is doable. There are only so many "types" of vision, that it's not unreasonable.
But, having every NPC have a different story that you could potentially unlock? That's not feasible. I don't think even SquareEnix would consider that.
Karma system would be good. Definitely doable.
Here's the trick to game design. We decide on the ESSENTIALS, on things that absolutely must be in the game. We estimate how long those essentials will take. Then we make design docs based off of that. We give ourselves time limits so that we don't spend ages on some little insignificant detail. We make milestones for different iterations of the project. Deadlines exist for a reason, and that reason is for things to actually get done.
Now, if we get the essentials done in due time, we start working on the "extras". Little things that we have planned for "if we have time".
Yes, that formula will inevitably sacrifice a bit of quality. But that's how things work.
*cough* Of course, this is all a moot point without having a programmer on board or some sort of budget.
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The other thing that would be cool in an Ani-Universe game would be the ability to use firearms or alien tech. The best game IMO for an Ani game to based off of right now is Fallout 3.
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well the thing with games like fallout and oblivion are that they sacrafice gameplay for massive storylines and huge worlds. The have one guy, who walks and runs one way, and then he shoots.
Animorphs would be the exact opposite, the gameplay would be the biggest and most expansive thing. There would have to be dozens of completely different character models and controls based on all the different morphs.
IMO thats the most important thing hands down. So like anidragon said its all about compromise, we cant have ridiculously in depth and adaptable characters AND have a huge world and adapting storyline.
We could still put a cool looking, decent sized world out there, but the story would definitely have to be linear. Think about Spider-man 2. How fun was spideys moves in that game? He could do everything spidey could and it was just damn fun to play. Did it matter that alot of the buildings and streets looked alike? hell no cause it wasnt about the world it was about the gameplay
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hmm... an intriguing idea... i reacon the best way to make an ani game like that, would have to be something like Oblivion or Fallout 3 (free-roam, sand-box gameplay) with GTA style physics... like you can't morph in public, you have to be where there is no people (like an alleyway) and of course, there has to be the 2 hour limit
Thats exactly how I would have thought it would be. An in depth game like that. The only problem is that I cant figure how they would work a team into it. And also the battle system would have to be way more in depth then either oblivion or fallout, different attacks for different morphs. Maybe as a sidequest or something you could go to another planet to pick up some alien morphs. But man...Bethesda could do this game justice i think.
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I have played the PSX one and the GBC one and the PC one had the board game.
the GBC one was alot like pokemon didn't like that you could only keep certain morphs at a time.
I always dreamed of a Super smash brothers style game With Animorphs XD why IDNO I just thought it would be fun to play
I had always thought that a pokemon game would be the best to use the super smash bros battly system. I played the GBC one and i didnt care for it. I never played the other ones, but I'm pretty sure that they couldnt live up to my expectations.
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Did anyone ever play Shenmu? The time system from that would be great. You have to go to school do your stuff then get home by a certain time to keep your cover. Though you would have to find a way to make going to school worthwhile. thinking about it, the time would have to pass alot slower then either fallout or oblivion since if you were playing day by day, the days would have to be alot longer. In order for the game to be good for anyone, not just us ani-freaks, it would have to start from the beginning. You make your character, then you and your buddies run into elfangor. (this whole part could be the training part) then you go on with the story line. only question is is how much it would follow the storyline of the books. The game could be long as **** if it did. but could always make a shorter game then make expansions or end it with a cliffhanger to leave room for a sequel.
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hmmmmm here's my idea. i like the idea of having the GTA style game, that's perfect, but after hearing Duff's description, I think a it should be a game where you create your own team of Animorphs in a free play mode and then in story mode you play as the original six.
the story mode would be you playing as the Animorphs and each level would be about a certain book(exapmle level 1= basically going through the entire first book) since there are 54 books that would mean this would be a pretty long game, but cutting out some irrelevant books wouldn't be a problem.
The Free play mode would be you creating your own team of Animorphs and just doing whatever you want with them around the city. You could be morphing and attacking random animals or civilians, flying over the city, swimming in the ocean, completing Yeerk pool missions, explore the city, forrest, beach ect, and acquire what ever morphs you want/find(exapmle: you're in the forrest and come across a bear, you have to find a way to acquire it without getting killed) pretty much a GTA styled mode.
Team work would also be an important dynamic to the game, especially when acquiring dangerous morphs, you could get a member of your party to distract the animal either by going into their battle morph and fighting it, or just getting it's attention long enough for you to acquire it. and obviously a game with 6 main character needs to have a co-op mode. I also think this game would be more fun if you're able to switch between first and third person, a game like this wouldnt be as good if your only limited to one view
I plan on getting into a career for animation and video game design and this would defiantly be my first project if i'm ever hired by a big video game company
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I've been rereading the series and imagining how it would be in a game, and It would be way too much to try to follow the storyline of the books, not without several expansions, but I like the idea of a free roam world, but I'm not sure that any of the current platforms could make the game as good as i want it. It would only have to be one city, since most of the story is in their hometown. The gardens would prolly be the most common place to get exotic morphs, and you could possibly do side quests to influence them to get certain animals that you wanted to aquire. Cassies barn could be used to get the more common animals and it could be at random. Man...Just thinking bout this game makes me wish someone would the resources and skills cared enough to do it.
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A computer game with updated graphics would be really cool!
I tried the demos of a couple, but never got the full versions. I have the board game sitting in my closet at home.
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.I have the board game sitting in my closet at home.
THERES A BOARD GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o
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Yep! There was a board game.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/710G27DSPGL._SL500_AA280_.gif)
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I want it! :D
lol.
As for the battle system, I think something like Final Fantasy XII's battle system could work. The whole gambit system is actually quite brilliant once you figure it out, and it's a good way to control 6 different characters without your head exploding.
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I'm sure you could find it used on Amazon or something.
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I want it! :D
lol.
As for the battle system, I think something like Final Fantasy XII's battle system could work. The whole gambit system is actually quite brilliant once you figure it out, and it's a good way to control 6 different characters without your head exploding.
I havent actually played XII so I don't know how different it is, but the PC Animorphs game uses the turn based combat
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No a turn based game would be an abomination. FFXII is actually a good idea for the gambits, but i wouldnt want there to be any commands on the screen... Like attack and all that, there should be a control for everything you can do instead of just putting in the command.
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I want it! :D
lol.
As for the battle system, I think something like Final Fantasy XII's battle system could work. The whole gambit system is actually quite brilliant once you figure it out, and it's a good way to control 6 different characters without your head exploding.
I havent actually played XII so I don't know how different it is, but the PC Animorphs game uses the turn based combat
It actually worked a lot like programming, funny enough.... Which I only really noticed because I was taking a programming class at the time that it came out. *shrugs*
But yeah, basically, you pick up different commands that you can do, and then organise them in order of importance. Then, the game will do them automatically when the scenario comes up. Like, for example, I had my tank set to:
-Attack (Hostile target: lowest health)
-Cure
-Haste/Float/some sort of buff
So that way, my tank would always attack first, and then cure and buff him/herself once the battle was over. And then I had my healer set up something like:
-Curaga (Party member: health>25%)
-Attack (Hostile target: lowest health)
-Buff
That way, the healer would automatically heal anyone who's health dropped too low, but would still be attacking if no one needed healing.
And there'd be extra attack options, too. Like, you could have Attack (Hostile target: nearest) or Attack (party leader's target). Heck, you could even set it to attack your teammates if you were really bored.
But yeah, you'd essentially set up what your action is on one tab, and what the target is on the other tab. And then put them in order of importance.
Obviously, for an Animorphs game things like healing and buffing wouldn't quite work, since there's no magic. But, the automatic-ness of it is good. So, like, you can maybe have them set up to seek a hiding spot to demorph if your health gets too low, or something.
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I'm wondering what would happen in the game if using the storyline and say marco dies in the middle of the battle. You think thered be a way to get him back? or he would be lost the whole game
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Hm... Well, I think it would be a bad idea for dead characters to be gone forever. Because then otherwise... Yeesh, yeah, you could end up with very few characters left by the end. I'd say that any dead characters will die for the rest of the mission, but then can come back afterwards. For the sake of playability, we can say that any "dead" characters are just unconscious(sp?), but if all the characters get knocked out, then it's game over.
Not sure how that would work with nothlits, though...
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I was thinking more along the lines that if someone looses all their life, then they dont die, but you might have to do an extra mission to save them since they couldn't escape from the battle, a sort of rescue mission. And it would have to be carried out quickly, before the persons time limit was up. I dont see how we could work in nothlits... maybe for the sake of playability there would have to be a process to reverse it, but it would have to be so difficult that it would discourage anyone from ever going over the limit.
another thing i was wondering about, is what kind of leveling system it would have. and what they control. like at lvl 1 you can only have 3 morphs. Then as you lvl would you raise stats or would there be skills? Would we want there to be some for of currency? so that you could possibly get upgrades for your morphs? or should it all be advanced through stats and skills?
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I don't think limiting morphs per levels would be the best idea... I think that it should be just, if you find the animal and manage to acquire it, then you have it. And then if you use certain morphs more often, then they can level up. Things like strength and stuff can go up.
maybe for the sake of playability there would have to be a process to reverse it, but it would have to be so difficult that it would discourage anyone from ever going over the limit.
I think that would be the best solution. Maybe by doing special missions for the Ellimist, or something. That was we can make sure it isn't introduced until you do the mission where Tobias frees Jara and Ket.
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I don't think limiting morphs per levels would be the best idea... I think that it should be just, if you find the animal and manage to acquire it, then you have it. And then if you use certain morphs more often, then they can level up. Things like strength and stuff can go up..
I dunno, then whats to stop people from just acquiring every animal they come into contact with? i think there should be a limitation of some sort. I mean all the animorphs can do any bird they want, but they all stick with their morphs...Well i suppose what you said could work, that spending time in the morphs makes them stronger... but maybe each morph should have a set of stats, instead of just having the stats on the character, then you have to lvl your morphs.
I think that would be the best solution. Maybe by doing special missions for the Ellimist, or something. That was we can make sure it isn't introduced until you do the mission where Tobias frees Jara and Ket.
assuming that the game does it like that. remember it doesnt have to follow the story line. maybe the group decides to kidnap a couple and starve them out. although if you had it follow the books, you wouldnt have to help free them tobias would have already done it. but a good place for mini-missions would be this place.
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yea unlimited morphs right from the start wouldnt be cool, cause then things would get too easy too fast, the best games are where you progress your abilities and powers
maybe you could have your experience level decide whether you can acquire a morph or not. So you come across and eagle and you want to acquire it but the game says "You aren't experienced enough to catch that animal"
So like if you want to acquire a bear in the wild, your gorilla morph needs to have been levelled up enough so that its strong enough to subdue it
And I think a more single player format would be best so you can focus on the moves of that one character, and have the other characters around be AI, but for team play I like the x-men legends and marvel alliance style controls, where you can toggle between four team mates
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yea unlimited morphs right from the start wouldnt be cool, cause then things would get too easy too fast, the best games are where you progress your abilities and powers
maybe you could have your experience level decide whether you can acquire a morph or not. So you come across and eagle and you want to acquire it but the game says "You aren't experienced enough to catch that animal"
So like if you want to acquire a bear in the wild, your gorilla morph needs to have been levelled up enough so that its strong enough to subdue it
And I think a more single player format would be best so you can focus on the moves of that one character, and have the other characters around be AI, but for team play I like the x-men legends and marvel alliance style controls, where you can toggle between four team mates
seems to me that a tranqualizer gun would be useful, possibly kept in a pack and hidden before you morph. maybe you could have a teammate scavenge for weapons after battles, could even develop new weapons for beetter game play
its a good idea to have to be a certain level for morphs, but another way to control the available morphs is the gardens since that would proably be the main place you would be getting morphs
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I dunno, I'd be pretty pissed if I came across a rare morph only to see "You can't acquire that, yet!". I mean, that's like coming across a rare Pokemon, and noticing that you have no Pokeballs left. MAJOR annoyance.
The characters never had any limits on what they could morph. If they can manage to get close to it, then they can acquire it. Simple as that. The way you stop people from going on acquiring sprees is to make the animals harder to approach.
And, as has been suggested, have the morphs level instead of the characters. That way, it'll still encourage people to use their "main" morphs, and the rest of them will just be for fun.
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I dunno, I'd be pretty pissed if I came across a rare morph only to see "You can't acquire that, yet!". I mean, that's like coming across a rare Pokemon, and noticing that you have no Pokeballs left. MAJOR annoyance.
The characters never had any limits on what they could morph. If they can manage to get close to it, then they can acquire it. Simple as that. The way you stop people from going on acquiring sprees is to make the animals harder to approach.
And, as has been suggested, have the morphs level instead of the characters. That way, it'll still encourage people to use their "main" morphs, and the rest of them will just be for fun.
Thats why i said, in order to limit the morphs, use leveling as you said, and then id use the gardens and cassies barn for morphs, maybe you can help cassie find wounded animals as a minigame to get new local morphs, and something else to get more at the gardens. maybe more as you level or progress through the story line.
I was thinking about the leveling and it seems that the main char should have some stats that control skills, such as aquatic morphs or aerial, or if you could use weapons leveling those skills to upgrade damage and accuracy. and then your individual morphs could level things like agility or strength or speed.
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I'm planning on going into the game industry, so if there's no big Animorphs game in the near future, I definitely would work towards making one a reality sometime in the long-term future.
Someone commented about the series' fan base being too limited at this point for it to be feasible. That's not really the case. The original fan base is no longer entirely relevant. A big-budget Animorphs game would absolutely be designed to draw in a new audience unfamiliar with the books, not just the kids from the 90s. So the target audience could fairly easily be nudged up a bit from the middle school level, as long as it stays within certain parameters. Sequels are huge in the game industry, so the pitch for the initial game should absolutely make a point of showing that the series has huge potential for sequels and side games (Chronicles) if it's successful.
I'm not into MMORPGS, so I'd prefer making a single-player, maybe cooperative multiplayer action-adventure game. The story and its themes are very important to me. The books don't need to be directly translated of course, but I would be committed to preserving the fundamentals and key points of the story.
Morality issues seem like they could be interesting to work with. First of all, straight up good vs. evil choices would be totally out-of-place here. They're overused in gaming, they're boring as hell, people don't approach them as they would real life decisions, they're unrealistic, and on top of all that they betray a major thesis of the Animorphs story, which is that "You don't get a lot of straight-up good vs. evil choices. You get shades of gray." (Book 53)
The big moral question of the Animorphs story is "How far into savagery do you descend to defeat the savages?" (Book 17) The gameplay mechanics should be designed with that question in mind. How do we let the player explore and feel the ramifications of that question? Not, "Hey player, do you want to make the good choice or the evil choice?"
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in regards to the morphing, how about powerful morphs like gorillas become less rare as you level up? like in level 1 you usually just come across bugs and pets and stuff, then as you get higher, the chances of finding strong battle morphs is higher...
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Something like that could work. Like, using Cassie's barn as a sort of "random morph generator" kinda thing. The more you level up, the higher the chances of there being something useful there. (Though the more powerful stuff would obviously be at the Gardens)
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in regards to the morphing, how about powerful morphs like gorillas become less rare as you level up? like in level 1 you usually just come across bugs and pets and stuff, then as you get higher, the chances of finding strong battle morphs is higher...
only thing about that, the game isnt going to be like oblivion or anything, only things you would come across during regular gameplay would be controllers or other aliens. you would prolly never come across a useful battle morph in the wild. the gardens would prolly be the only place that people could use for acquiring powerful morphs, then their town also has an aquarium, and cassies barn, between those three locations, you should be able to acquire any morph you need.
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seems to me that a tranqualizer gun would be useful, possibly kept in a pack and hidden before you morph. maybe you could have a teammate scavenge for weapons after battles, could even develop new weapons for beetter game play
its a good idea to have to be a certain level for morphs, but another way to control the available morphs is the gardens since that would proably be the main place you would be getting morphs
I dont know if guns would really fit in the game. The animorphs only used them like once or twice and you'd have to develop a whole weapons system that would just take away from the morph battle system
I dunno, I'd be pretty pissed if I came across a rare morph only to see "You can't acquire that, yet!". I mean, that's like coming across a rare Pokemon, and noticing that you have no Pokeballs left. MAJOR annoyance.
Well in pokemon you can attack a pokemon but cant capture it unless you beat it. Maybe you can TRY to acquire any animal, but until you reach a certain skill level you will lose. or maybe like morf said at the beginning the best morphs will be alot rarer so you might not come across em.
Or maybe there can be some kind of Gardens mini game so you will need to do special tasks to get access to the bigger exibits you know, like you need to get a certain bug morph to slip past a lock and that will give you access to half a dozen battle morphs, and then a certain bird morph will let you fly over the fence and unlock another half dozen morphs, something like that
I just think that if every morph is available from level one then theres nothing for the player to build on, half the fun of a game is unlocking new stuff and progressing your character. Thats why all games upgrade abilities over time, or unlock certain guns every level, its better that way. buut maybe thats just me lol
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Well in pokemon you can attack a pokemon but cant capture it unless you beat it. Maybe you can TRY to acquire any animal, but until you reach a certain skill level you will lose. or maybe like morf said at the beginning the best morphs will be alot rarer so you might not come across em.
Or maybe there can be some kind of Gardens mini game so you will need to do special tasks to get access to the bigger exibits you know, like you need to get a certain bug morph to slip past a lock and that will give you access to half a dozen battle morphs, and then a certain bird morph will let you fly over the fence and unlock another half dozen morphs, something like that
I just think that if every morph is available from level one then theres nothing for the player to build on, half the fun of a game is unlocking new stuff and progressing your character. Thats why all games upgrade abilities over time, or unlock certain guns every level, its better that way. buut maybe thats just me lol
i agree completly, i love going through games when i play and getting everything i can levelling up as much as possible. if everything was available from level one, then that would take half the fun from the game. i dont know about fighting the animals to acquire them, thats not very animorph-y, though neither is a tranq gun. but i was thinking about the yeerk pool, think that itd be available to attack at any time, or just for story points?
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It should be available for attack anytime, except in most (non-story) battles, there are so many hi-level controllers you get your ass handed to you unless you have mad skills.
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you think the gleet bio filters should be taken out? kinda makes getting in impossible... visser 3 would have to be in the pool most of the time, as he would probably be the main opponent in the game. though there would have to be a couple of different controllers, game-specific in order to make battle more interesting.
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you think the gleet bio filters should be taken out? kinda makes getting in impossible... visser 3 would have to be in the pool most of the time, as he would probably be the main opponent in the game. though there would have to be a couple of different controllers, game-specific in order to make battle more interesting.
great... now i have the idea in my head that you can turn the yeerk pool into a Wowish Raid type thing..
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oh i dont know what that means :P i never played wow
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Heh. Thinking about it, it DOES seem very WoW-raid like, doesn't it? Well, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
As for stuff like Gleet Bio-filters, maybe add them as the game goes on? So like... Obviously the first few times you go into the Yeerk pool, the filters won't be there, but then as you level up (and after doing a few Yeerk pool missions), the filters are added, and then eventually the hunter robots, etc, etc. That way the "raids" on the Yeerk pool get progressively more difficult.
And I'd agree on making up some high-ranking controller to be at the Yeerk pool instead of Visser Three all the time. I mean, really, the fact that EVERY time the Animorphs visited the Yeerk pool, Visser Three happened to be there? When he supposedly spends most of his time on the Blade Ship? So not likely.
So, yeah. Have some made-up, but still difficult controller for most of the Yeerk pool "raids", and then stick Visser Three in there near the end of the game.
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Ah i wish i knew what a WOW raid was like so that i could disagree or agree... but ya thats a good idea to make the pool progressivly more difficult. if the game was a success, they could even do a sequel at the point where the books left off, maybe even add in space combat. :D sounds fun. But about the "raids" ya, they could even make up some aliens that werent in the book. May casapin controllers. garatran would be fun.
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Anyone else wish that a new game would be made using animorphs? I played the old ones for game boy and psx, but I would really like a game where you could actually get all the morphs you want. Its one thing to read it, and i always thought that the show was cheesey, not to mention that so much more could have been done with it, and the effects were cheap. But I would like to play the game where you could go and pick your morphs and they all have different abilities... Like a open RPG game. Any thoughts on this?
Yeah, senter.pat, the way games are being done now days (I too am thinking GTA-style and those first person shooters), the amount of detail and game play is astonishing in comparison to the old Animorphs game, which left so much to ask for.
If only the series would pick up again, or if a movie indeed is made, then we Anifans can be CERTAIN a new game will come up.
I'm planning on going into the game industry, so if there's no big Animorphs game in the near future, I definitely would work towards making one a reality sometime in the long-term future.
Someone commented about the series' fan base being too limited at this point for it to be feasible. That's not really the case. The original fan base is no longer entirely relevant. A big-budget Animorphs game would absolutely be designed to draw in a new audience unfamiliar with the books, not just the kids from the 90s. So the target audience could fairly easily be nudged up a bit from the middle school level, as long as it stays within certain parameters. Sequels are huge in the game industry, so the pitch for the initial game should absolutely make a point of showing that the series has huge potential for sequels and side games (Chronicles) if it's successful.
I'm not into MMORPGS, so I'd prefer making a single-player, maybe cooperative multiplayer action-adventure game. The story and its themes are very important to me. The books don't need to be directly translated of course, but I would be committed to preserving the fundamentals and key points of the story.
Morality issues seem like they could be interesting to work with. First of all, straight up good vs. evil choices would be totally out-of-place here. They're overused in gaming, they're boring as hell, people don't approach them as they would real life decisions, they're unrealistic, and on top of all that they betray a major thesis of the Animorphs story, which is that "You don't get a lot of straight-up good vs. evil choices. You get shades of gray." (Book 53)
The big moral question of the Animorphs story is "How far into savagery do you descend to defeat the savages?" (Book 17) The gameplay mechanics should be designed with that question in mind. How do we let the player explore and feel the ramifications of that question? Not, "Hey player, do you want to make the good choice or the evil choice?"
"How far into savagery do you descend to defeat the savages?"
This is a great game concept, Hylian Dan.
With your talent and already made stuff, you oughta thing about keeping an eye out for this thing, because we all know this is potentially good material to have a good new game in the making. You would do real well, man!
Personally, I would love an Animorphs game that was more directed at an older audience, emphasizing the 'conspiracy' concept of the series. Or something new that wasn't done in the book series, but still following the storyline. Like a new plot that could have been inserted somewhere in the series, but not a repeat, you know.
Scratching completely the platform game type. Making it an RPG-like single-player thing where you get the false-impression of making free choices throughout the story. Think MaxPayne or the Assassins Creed and so on.
One could make their own character and selectively pick animals and through morphing changing the style of the perspectives. Though I do think there should be some sort of a limit thing, or it will undesirably end up like some Pokemon gotta catch them all thing.
So one would pick ONE wild animal as their battle morph, like the Anis had mostly throughout the series. The other animals like the birds, the insects and other smaller ones would be freely acquired.
A bunch of player COULD MAKE A TEAM on an online or a LAN game thing.
Then of course comes the different environments. Any of you played that Deadly Creatures game?!(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414CxDlA%2BHL._SS350_.jpg) (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PC7xJ-a5L._SS350_.jpg)(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41A3wUYiUvL._SS350_.jpg)(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EQj4hilnL._SS350_.jpg)(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ngweYmmbL._SS350_.jpg)It has some brilliant scenes, of the miniature scapes where the animals fight in. Sensational!
...it would be cool if you gain points for accomplishments and stuff, and then those points can be used to buy new morphs, like you go to the zoo and theres a menu of different morphs for different prices
So certain missions involve getting staple morphs like bird of prey, dolphin, bug etc. So the gameplay will give you the morphs you absolutely need, but then if you want better morphs they'll cost you. Like you go through a mission to get a red-tailed hawk as your basic bird morph, and then you can buy a peregrin falcon for speed or an eagle for power and you get a dolphin but then you can buy a shark. And maybe for battle morphs you start with a wolf and buy more powerful or different morphs.
It would also be cool if you could level up your morphs, so if you use the same battle morph throughout it will get progressively stronger and you'll learn new moves and stuff...
The health thing would have to be regained via morphing or demorphing, in order to be realistic with the series. Like, NOT HAVE any chocolate health bars or whatever for raising health.
Earning points in mission and all is a great idea for augmenting the resistance and strength levels in the morphs, though I am not sure about the 'cost' thing. But the 'missions to get greater morphs' is sound.
...yea this game could be absurdly cool lol
Yeah, dude! But just the stupendous amount of programming and work behind such a thing is seriously challenging!!!
what kind of like mini quests or stuff do you think it could have? like gta has gang wars and stuff like that thats extra gameplay outside the main story. Maybe you could have like busting up sharing meetings, free hork bajir and bringing them to the valley, and maybe you'll just come across a random stereotypical yeerk plot to stop right then and there, like logging in the forest or something. Cause the key to a good sandbox is replayability and being able to just run around the world doing stuff without having to play the story
These are great ideas.
I think being 'Sharing'-related and starting off 'quietly' and 'avoiding detection' type missions that inevitably turn into battle situations sound excellent. Maybe even have them doing missions with The Chee.
There needs to be one with a smart new way of infiltrating the Yeerk pool. A battle in the Yeerk Pool DEFINITELY needs to be featured.
And let's not forget Visser Three's monstrous morphs. He would def have to be the big boss at the end of world stages.
I dunno, I'd be pretty pissed if I came across a rare morph only to see "You can't acquire that, yet!". I mean, that's like coming across a rare Pokemon, and noticing that you have no Pokeballs left. MAJOR annoyance.
The characters never had any limits on what they could morph. If they can manage to get close to it, then they can acquire it. Simple as that. The way you stop people from going on acquiring sprees is to make the animals harder to approach.
And, as has been suggested, have the morphs level instead of the characters. That way, it'll still encourage people to use their "main" morphs, and the rest of them will just be for fun.
Thats why i said, in order to limit the morphs, use leveling as you said, and then id use the gardens and cassies barn for morphs, maybe you can help cassie find wounded animals as a minigame to get new local morphs, and something else to get more at the gardens. maybe more as you level or progress through the story line.
I was thinking about the leveling and it seems that the main char should have some stats that control skills, such as aquatic morphs or aerial, or if you could use weapons leveling those skills to upgrade damage and accuracy. and then your individual morphs could level things like agility or strength or speed.
I would use Cassie as the animal expert that she was and have each level start at the barn or the Gardens or something, with her dictating the morphs your player should acquire. Any new morphs to pick up during the mission, should just be deliberatly directed during the gameplay. Like, the player shouldn't have the freedom to see an ant in the eagle laser-vision and go 'Oh! I feel like acquiring that!'... It would just be too complicated to have that.
I would scratch the weapons idea. Though the alien tech is a big gimmick in the series, guns and that were never really a part of the Animorphs philosophy. It was in VERY FEW occasions the Anis made use of the Dracon beams and such. The thing that made the Anis so great is their melee stuff. The bad guys always had the long-range destructive weapons. Up close and personal in their battle morphs, the Anis had their fair match.
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Wow dude that was alot to read lol. But that game looks awesome might have to get it now :D
I dont know about limiting the morphs now that i think about it. I mean only hard core gamers will really go through the trouble (i would) of getting them all. Especially if there was some sort of levelling system for your morphs. It would even probably be some xbox/ps3 achievment or something.
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:'(
ya'll just skipped over my ideas 2 pages ago! LOL jk
I like Morf's thing about how the further you progress through the game, the easier it is to find rarer morphs. And it's also a good idea to not have Visser 3 appear on every Yeerk Poll mission, we don't want them getting too repetitive. as for the fighting style, it absolutely cannot be turn based, the fights in Animorphs are nowhere near organized enough for that. It should just be really unorganized and random and you never know what to expect like in Kingdom Hearts and X-men Legends. honestly, I don't care about anything else as long as the fights are good, decent story line, and there's a free roam GTA styled mode where you can basically do anything like exploring the cities, acquiring/using morphs(like flying over the city or going into the ocean, ect)
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Yall think it would be third or first person? third person would allow for better graphics with the morphs, but first would let you focus more on the world. myself id prefer third. And not like the third in fallout or oblivion when you switch because the controls suck for third person in those games.
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I also have been thinking, that the storyline has to be different then the books. Maybe it starts the same way, but the game should come up with its own story. Any ideas on what that could be?
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I think it should still have the main storylines of the books, like the David arc and such, but we can take out the non-sense books like the cow one and Australia-Cassie. And come up with a few extra side-stories for some of the missions.
If we go for too much of a different storyline, then we run into some of the same problems the TV show did.
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The only thing about following the storyline of the books, is that sometimes they would have to follow to exact specifications for a mission. Like in the book where cassie has to infiltrate the yeerk pool alone, theres really only one way to do it.
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well it would be cool if there was a definite storyline that spanned the whole game, and came to a full conclusion. But it wouldnt be the book ending, it should leave room for a sequel
and then the individual missions can be based on some of the books, and then obviously they could invent a few other story missions and stuff
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the books left the perfect point for a sequel
lol
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:o A game based on a sequel would be seriously kewl!!!
I am pondering on the advantages and disadvantages of 1st-person and 3rd-person games.
Like, the old Animorphs game had that 3rd-person view that made it feel like you were virtually floating behind the character, but there wasn't much change to the surroundings. Like, when Jake morphed the rhino, the vision of the environment DIDN'T CHANGE AT ALL to match the description of the animal's senses that were given in the series. I just think this idea, that of the animal's perspective, is a detail that made the whole gimmick for the series and SHOULDN'T BE IGNORED.
Which of the game-plays would get this across most efficiently?!
...If we go for too much of a different storyline, then we run into some of the same problems the TV show did.
Not necessarily. I mean, you want something new, right?!
It's fine to use the missions and plots and that, but what's the point of having the gameplay being e-x-a-c-t-l-y the same as the series?!
I think the game should be more focused on the player being something new to the Animorphs Universe. Call it, a new Animorph, if you will.
The player should design how they want their player to look and go on a solo venture through this new technology and new aliens thing. Then people online can join and only online get the whole 'team-mission-and-battle' experience. OR have the computer be a team-player. Lots of 3rd person games do that.
Has anyone actually thought of making an Andalite aristh the main player?!
Like, a game play on Ax's perspective of the whole series would give so much more to play with, if you really want to stick to the series. From the space battle that left him on the sinking glass-dome to the shark-acquiring to the ocean battle and all the other numerous battles... Or even Elfangor's story from the Andalite Chronicles.
I think an Andalite would have a lot more melee capacity demorphed as opposed to a human, for those that were after the fighting.
Wow dude that was alot to read lol. But that game looks awesome might have to get it now :D...
And I must apologize, for I do tend to write a lot. But only for things that strike my passion for creativity! ;D
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My only prefference reguarding 1st person vs 3rd person, is that if it's 3rd person, we don't use over-the-shoulder cam. I seriously can't can't over-the-shoulder cam. If we're going to do that, it might as well be 1st person. Which would get my vote, anyhow. As much as I don't like 1st person, I think it would be the best way to show the different animal perspectives.
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I dunno anidragon, if they do first person view, they would have to make use of all the different animals senses, because if the animal has poor vision how would they incorporate that? i think over the first person would be better, but the problem is how to make that work with the animal senses.
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I like the idea of customizing a new character cause then you'll be able to choose your specific morphs and not feel like if you choose rachel you gotta use grizzly
But I think it should def still include the team, it wouldnt be animorphs if marco wasnt cracking lame jokes in the middle of a battle and rachel wasnt screaming out lets do it as shes charging along next to you lol
It would def be great if they made their own decisions in-game and it reflected their personality. Like they werent just background pieces where you see them fighting but it doesnt mean anything, it should have an effect on how you play. You have to watch out for them, they can help you, they can make mistakes etc
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I think first person would definitely be the best point of view; as I said in an earlier post, the relative senses of the animals need to be incorporated.
Better vision for birds, split visions for eyes on the sides of the head of large herbivores, and compound eyes' vision for insects. Other things could be incorporated too, such as things with a high level of smell, 'whisps' of colored air could been seen that can be followed based on what you are trying to track, for things with better hearing, simply let things be heard clearer and farther away. For insects, have the entire screen vibrate near footsteps or other such things, and for things with echolocation, also give the sketch-type view that it was described as giving.
It isn't hard to at least partially represent everything, just takes a bit of creativity.
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Agreed, Think, though I am a little challenged on the 1st person POV, now.
To convey the change in shapes and animals' capacities PLUS the environment perceptions and all, I imagine a 3rd person POV would be more visually efficient.
I dunno anidragon, if they do first person view, they would have to make use of all the different animals senses, because if the animal has poor vision how would they incorporate that? i think over the first person would be better, but the problem is how to make that work with the animal senses.
Though there could be a play with the smells and sounds, I imagine vision would be the main sense that the designers would be able to give the different sense of perspectives to the player. BUT I would rather have a perspective visual on the animal body doing the actual movements and actions as well. I can see both ways being good, but don't know which one would be more effective, you know!?
I am stuck in the middle with this one!
I dunno anidragon, if they do first person view, they would have to make use of all the different animals senses, because if the animal has poor vision how would they incorporate that? i think over the first person would be better, but the problem is how to make that work with the animal senses.
Perhaps 3rd person is the only way to go. With the change of morphs, the environment per si can follow up the change. Like, make things look smaller and looked down upon if the player morphs an elephant; a worm-eye view of colossal objects with Formula 1 type movements if you're a mouse; and so on... The environment change itself could be the conveying of the morphing.
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I think for battle and flying and stuff 3rd person would be the way to go. So you can actually see the animals doing all that badarse stuff
But for insects and stuff like that, 1st person would be cool because seeing an ant crawling along the floor wouldnt really be all that cool looking lol but actually diving into its eyes and maybe messing with the senses a bit for those missions could def be cool
cause think about the ant mission in #5, that could be a horror game style really scary and exciting mission, or you could be just watching an ant run down a tunnel singing "The ants are marching 2 by 2 hoora hoora"
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I dont think it should switch off between third and first person, usually when games do that, they focus more on the first person mode, and dont worry as much about animal animations and stuff, since if there was an option, usually first person is more effective. I think it should be first person, but i agree with gafrash, i think it could be very interesting either way.
oh, i was also thinking, how cool would online play be if you could go and defend the yeerk pool while some other people online attacked it. You have all the yeerks resources and powers but you have to defeat the animorphs.
this game could be so amazing, I have to hurry up and finish college so i can get started :P
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Another question is, how many animals do we actually need in the game? I mean we cant have the whole animal kingdom, like having all the big cats at the gardens, or all the different birds. So how do we choose what animals to use?
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That's another problem. If the designer is going for realism, he's going to have all these animals popping up in gameplay. And HOW does one control that?!
The only thing I can think of is the computer actually taking the choice away from the player. Which would go against what a lot of us are saying here.
Eg: player is flying as a bird of prey, spots an ant, a roach or some other bug. Flies down, demorphs, selects which to acquire and does it. If only the one small morph would be necessary for gameplay, that's where that level should finish. With whatever small morph the player picked.
Eventually, when they finish the game, and they want to satisfy curiosity, they can re-play selecting a different small animal morph.
Also, there wouldn't really be any need to do THE ENTIRE ANIMAL KINGDOM...
The Animorphs collectively had ca repertoire of maybe 30-40 morphs. Half of that number which they actually used regularly, don't you think?!
I reckon the battle morphs (with an exception with Rachel's grizzly) had different vision definition, but were mostly the same quality and perspective-wise. With the birds of prey the vision would be mostly the same also, with the high detail and good sounds. Dolphins, whales, would be the same with the echolocation under deep water. Sharks and other fishes would be relatively the same, too.
The game designer would perhaps have to worry about 15-20 different visuals to define the different animals.
UNLESS animals like beetle, crow, giraffe, hyena, (which weren't used in the series) were to be added.
...oh, i was also thinking, how cool would online play be if you could go and defend the yeerk pool while some other people online attacked it. You have all the yeerks resources and powers but you have to defeat the animorphs.
this game could be so amazing, I have to hurry up and finish college so i can get started :P
Oh my gee! This sounds like a good concept, too!!!
I know the feeling about finishing uni. Don't you just wish we could HURRY UP AND FINISH so we can do what we really like!?!?!?
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I dont really think that having random animals around the world would be a good idea. That would require way to much programming for something thats really only useful a few times. I would sacrafice some of the realism in order to make the game more enjoyable. I mean all the animals can be in the game, but instead of seeing roaches and stuff running around, maybe you have to go search for it when you need it. I mean maybe you have to do a little sidequest everytime you want to find a new morph. Gafrash I was thinking, why would you need to limit the players morphing, if they are both already programmed in the game, the character should be able to morph both. Only the more you use them the stronger/faster they get. The thing is how does the programmer choose which animals to put? I mean between the animorphs and the auxillary one they have at least 20 battle morphs just between them.
I was also thinking that gameplay should be harder for some morphs. Like birds of prey have to tap a button to gain altitude. Also i was thinking that the better hearing, it would be used just in whatever direction the character is looking, because while an animal brain maybe able to pick out the differences over a bunch of noise i dont think i can.
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The 'changes' in morphing could be felt by:
* visual means; perspective, distortions, colours, use of filters;
* sound definition; direction, scale, intensity, muffled;
* control sensitivity; movement, speed;
* button sequences...
ALL THESE THINGS can be coded to identify the new shape the character turns into.
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;D Duuuude, I am getting into this!!!
I dont really think that having random animals around the world would be a good idea. That would require way to much programming for something thats really only useful a few times. I would sacrafice some of the realism in order to make the game more enjoyable. I mean all the animals can be in the game, but instead of seeing roaches and stuff running around, maybe you have to go search for it when you need it. I mean maybe you have to do a little sidequest everytime you want to find a new morph.
Perhaps an interaction device is needed in the gameplay to 'let the computer' know 'when you're after a specific'. A morph-search can be done (a side-quest would be good every now and then; like the computer making the minor morph the player is on face a predator, or the computer presenting alternative morphs for aquiring or a sub-mission of some kind) and end with the desired morph being acquired.
...Gafrash I was thinking, why would you need to limit the players morphing, if they are both already programmed in the game, the character should be able to morph both. Only the more you use them the stronger/faster they get....
How do you mean?! The idea of the-more-morphing-the-more-experience-the-better-you-get is a good one. But what kind of a programmer is going to do 100 different sets of graphics for 100 different types of morphs?! If there is any need, do you think there is game console that can hold that much information?!
...The thing is how does the programmer choose which animals to put? I mean between the animorphs and the auxillary one they have at least 20 battle morphs just between them...
There's no proposing for amount limit, but for letting the gameplay decide how many morphs the player acquires. One would need to sit down and meticulously plot the play.
One can draw out a list of necessary morphs:
Each one of these would have their own resilience, damage, stamina, agility, that makes their overall health. Each one of these would have their own buttons to make a range movements and a range of attacks.
LARGE GROUND MORPHS; horse, bulls and cows,
Now that I think about it, the Anis didn't really make use of this category much, either than for battling, so this is where the battle morphs class would fall, I imagine.
BATTLE MORPHS; all the main 'fire-power' animals the Anis used. AS WELL AS the ones which weren't really emphasized like all the different snakes, crocodile, polar bear, jaguar, leopard/panther, hyena, giraffe, puma, buffalo, etc...
Most of these would be found at The Gardens.
I would give more emphasis to details in these, because 'battling as animals' is one of the guimmick elements of the game.
The rest I wouldn't really use for melee combat against Controllers. So the computer would HAVE TO take the choice away from the gameplayer. You don't want a dog to go up against The Abomination kind of thing.
I would select them for monitoring or infiltration or evading missions. So the player could acquire more of these, but not necessarily all.
MEDIUM-GROUND MORPHS; dog, cat, ... capable of stuff humans couldn't do, but not large enough to be battle Controllers.
SMALL-GROUND MORPHS; squirrel, mouse, rat, anole lizard, mole, possum, wolf-spider. But also house spider, scorpions, earthworms,
I would include only the morphs needed for infiltration missions.
I would exclude eels.
Also under this class I would include:
GROUND-INSECT MORPHS; ant, termite, ****roach, beetle.
Definitely ****roaches.
AEREAL MORPHS; A selection of the Birds of prey used by the anis (including owls and bats, for the nocturnal missions). But lots of seagulls, pigeons and crows in the background. These would be the minor birds.
Most of these would be acquired at the Barn.
High-definition of detail and sound would be the emphasis here. But also the movement and the range of perspectives. The tapping to flap for altitude is a good idead.
But also under this category falls:
AEREAL-INSECT MORPHS; fly, mosquito, dragon-fly, bee.
I would scratch butterfly or wasp.
UNDERWATER MORPHS; whales, dolphins, giant-squid, I would pick either one of the great-white or the hammerhead sharks (no need for both I don't think).
I would add a 'sea world' section to The Gardens, EVEN IF IT DIDN'T EXIST IN THE SERIES. You want the big animals, GO TO THE GARDENS, no need to make things more complex.
There would be no need for lobster, eels, badger, anteater (PLEASE NO HELMACRONS... Nghaaaaaaarrrrrrrrg h!!!!)
And the Visser's morph wouldn't really be available to the player. But would still need to be designed nevertheless.
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yea I dont think having to acquire the morphs all over the place is that necessary, especially cause most of the time id be like wtf why are there tigers running around the forest
The gardens make it simple and allow you to get the morphs you need so itll be more fun
It would be cool to have certain morphs as hidden tokens in certain places in the game tho, you know what I mean? nothing extremely vital but some cool extra morphs
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It would be cool to have certain morphs as hidden tokens in certain places in the game tho, you know what I mean? nothing extremely vital but some cool extra morphs
what, something like i dunno... you go far enough into the forest and you can find bonus animals or something?
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...It would be cool to have certain morphs as hidden tokens in certain places in the game tho, you know what I mean? nothing extremely vital but some cool extra morphs
Yeah, this would be kewl. Like, bonus morphs.
Something random, like a kangaroo or a thorny devil. Heheheh.
We have to keep in mind that what we are calling freedom in the gameplay, is really the computer giving you the illusion of freedom in the gameplay. In actual fact you are still going to accomplish things that you are set out to do. Be it choose to be good or bad or whatever... otherwise, what's the point of navigating in the game?!
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thats actually a really good idea for games... i actually like it when it's like that in some games...
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Gafrash, if I do end up making this game after college, youll definitly be in the credits. I'm really getting into this too!
Perhaps an interaction device is needed in the gameplay to 'let the computer' know 'when you're after a specific'. A morph-search can be done (a side-quest would be good every now and then; like the computer making the minor morph the player is on face a predator, or the computer presenting alternative morphs for aquiring or a sub-mission of some kind) and end with the desired morph being acquired.
Or you could just let cassie know, then after like a day or something she finds it. But ya we would have to make it to where the animals are running all around town.
How do you mean?! The idea of the-more-morphing-the-more-experience-the-better-you-get is a good one. But what kind of a programmer is going to do 100 different sets of graphics for 100 different types of morphs?! If there is any need, do you think there is game console that can hold that much information?!
Hmm I thought you had said something about limiting the player from acquiring any animal they wanted to. o ya:
Eg: player is flying as a bird of prey, spots an ant, a roach or some other bug. Flies down, demorphs, selects which to acquire and does it. If only the one small morph would be necessary for gameplay, that's where that level should finish. With whatever small morph the player picked.
Eventually, when they finish the game, and they want to satisfy curiosity, they can re-play selecting a different small animal morph.
Ya that, i was saying they should be able to do both if they want, suppose that they acquire one and dont like the senses?
Yes, it would have to be planned out, also, doing polls online anking people what they would want to make sure you get the majority of what people would want.
I was also thinking about side quests, so far I have: freeing additional hork-bajir for the colony, the missions at the gardens or forest to get additional morphs, raiding the yeerk pool to free controllers, do damage, or steal alien tech(we decided weapons wouldnt be used by the character, but theres no reason that the hork-bajir colony cant use it.-Id want to go through the battle they have with the yeerks.), maybe even recruiting additional animorphs, since the game is going to be different, i would expect a few casualties, and the anis will need to replenish thier ranks.
I was also thinking that when you raid the yeerk pool, you could be able to steal intel, then use it to make attacks, maybe after a certain point in the game you could even have the free hork-bajir or auxillary ani's attack places with you. I love when games have huge battles going on.
yea I dont think having to acquire the morphs all over the place is that necessary, especially cause most of the time id be like wtf why are there tigers running around the forest
The gardens make it simple and allow you to get the morphs you need so itll be more fun
It would be cool to have certain morphs as hidden tokens in certain places in the game tho, you know what I mean? nothing extremely vital but some cool extra morphs
I had said this a few pages back, but how about if you have to do certain sidequests at the gardens, like break in and have marco or ax hack the computer, then do whats needed to have the animal you want brought to the gardens, or help cassie find a hurt animal for her barn. I think it should be done for every new morph that the character wants. Like the gardens has its starting morphs, then you get more, but cassies barn the animals are in and out weekly.
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Wow, you could play as a David style clone, pick your morphs from the Gardens and cassies barn. And while we do occassionally encounter animals outside of those, they are few and far between, like what? A squirrel, a mouse, a dog, cat, bird? These are all things that the animorphs might use in a daily basis anyway. (The bird made me laugh thinking of W. R. Tennant), and the ones that are rarer, like say a ****atoo could be used for a specific mission.
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The thing is, there might be a lot of animals in the world, but a lot of them are really similar. I mean, once you have a 3 or 4 types of big cats, do you really need more? Sure, there might be a couple of people disappointed if we don't include some of them, but we can't please everyone.
I'd say, include the morphs that are actually in the books, add a few extras and then leave it at that.
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True, but part of the fun of the game would be experimenting with different morphs and stuff, i mean we dont have to have all of them, but i would like a variety, because all the senses would be the same, it would just be a few different stats and the visual of it.
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lol
add easter eggs and call them "Legandary Morphs"
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Well, yeah you are going to have alot of variety of animals at the gardens and cassies barn, but you can put in several different types of cats and have them in the exact same format, except maybe different agility or strength or something. Same with the bugs, I really dont imagine a bee or a fly being different programming for changing into it. You could put in 100 different types of cats from siamese cats to lions, but they would be very similar without greatly affecting the amount of effort put into coding.
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Senter.pat, reckon you're certainly thinking ahead with an Animorphs game. There's a feel that it's only a matter of time until someone picks up on this-what-we-know-to-be-a-good-series and revamps it into a movie trilogy or something, and WE KNOW what franchise follows after that. Look at all the superhero movies being made and their games.
You've got the creativity and I sincerely hope you do well in the games field, dude!!
...How do you mean?! The idea of the-more-morphing-the-more-experience-the-better-you-get is a good one. But what kind of a programmer is going to do 100 different sets of graphics for 100 different types of morphs?! If there is any need, do you think there is game console that can hold that much information?!
Hmm I thought you had said something about limiting the player from acquiring any animal they wanted to. o ya:
Eg: player is flying as a bird of prey, spots an ant, a roach or some other bug. Flies down, demorphs, selects which to acquire and does it. If only the one small morph would be necessary for gameplay, that's where that level should finish. With whatever small morph the player picked.
Eventually, when they finish the game, and they want to satisfy curiosity, they can re-play selecting a different small animal morph.
Ya that, i was saying they should be able to do both if they want, suppose that they acquire one and dont like the senses?...
I agree with what AniDragon stated about the similarities in senses and abilities. But we all know that there is technology now days push the boundaries, to do what we are asking here in this thread.
I just wish there was a good story to it. My bone-to-pick-at-most-action-movies is that they sacrifice this important element, that of the story itself, in order to have some kickarse special effect or guimmick.
What Starsord just stated above is what I was trying to say in terms of the game consisting of a wide variety of morphs in which the player can freely acquire, but have the abilities and perception graphics virtually the same.
So the designer wouldn't have to create hundreds of different visuals for each of the hundred morphs the game would have.
Some people may like to have a 'catalogue-of-morphs' thing to it, and though walking around with a somewhat-freedom to acquire whatever animal morph you want is appealing to me as a player too, my only fear with that is that it's sounding waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too close to Pokemon to be Animorphs-good.
Though a limit to the number of morphs wasn't explored in the series, The Animorphs WAS NEVER about acquiring as much morphs as possible.
...I had said this a few pages back, but how about if you have to do certain sidequests at the gardens, like break in and have marco or ax hack the computer, then do whats needed to have the animal you want brought to the gardens, or help cassie find a hurt animal for her barn. I think it should be done for every new morph that the character wants. Like the gardens has its starting morphs, then you get more, but cassies barn the animals are in and out weekly.
Any missions come to mind, I'll post them here. It may be through these missions that the plot itself will spring up.
A mission where you turn into some wild animal at the Gardens and 'loose control' and by the time you 'regain control' you have to escape Cassie's mum and her tranquilizer darts, could be a good and entertaining one! ;D
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Movie trilogy? I would take each book, expand on it and make like 72 movies. BANK!!!! Lol..
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Thanks Gafrash, if i do get to making the game before anyone else gets to it, this is definitly the planning stages lol.
I dont think it would be like pokemon, I mean in pokemon there were all the rumors that you got all them you would find super rare pokemon or whatever, which drove people to find them. There wouldnt be anything like that, maybe an achievement, but nothing really good. Only really hard core gamer will bother going through the trouble of actually getting all of the available morphs in one playthrough. Or people would want to get them all at once so that they could compare and decide which they wanted on their later playthroughs. If it was absolutly necessary to limit the morphs, you could always just make it limited via the gardens, like they only have room for one big cat exhibit, one bear exhibit, either a dolphin tank or a whale show, which the player would decide via side-missions. whatcha think?
While the animorphs was never about acquiring more morphs, i always wondered why they didnt switch it up a bit.
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I was also thinking, what if the expansion or downloadable content had missions entailing the all of the chronicles. well, not the visser or ellimist chronicles, but putting the chronicles in would add more depth to the game and history of its world.
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good ideas, but next time, could you just edit ur posts, instead of triple posting?
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I was also thinking, what if the expansion or downloadable content had missions entailing the all of the chronicles. well, not the visser or ellimist chronicles, but putting the chronicles in would add more depth to the game and history of its world.
that could be cool, would def take alot of work. I was thinking we could include the out of town missions the animorphs go on. Like the arctic in #25 and aussieland in #44, which would probably have to be left out of the main game to keep things simple and to have the money to make the town as detailed as possible
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good ideas, but next time, could you just edit ur posts, instead of triple posting?
Sorry Hunter, I didn't realize that I could.
Actually Macduff, the books arent exactly going to be in the game(if i end up doing it) It would have to be a completely new storyline, of course some things would be the same, but for the most part I would go for originality. The chronicles explain things that happened before the character got morphing powers, more for the use of people who arent familiar to the storyline, giving background to the andalites and hork bajir.
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yea but the chronicles would have to be completely different games. The main characters are different species and the combat and gameplay would be alot different. The focus wasnt really about morphing so there would have to be a weapon system in the game, and completely different levels and format.
I'm not saying it shouldnt be made, but it would have to be a completely seperate game that would cost just as much as the actual game. And it would be an amazing game lol
I think people would like if they recognize a few of the missions as the good ol book missions as long as they are framed with great new mission ideas and a strong main story.
Kinda like the tv show, how the disc thing was such a big part of the show and then there storys to move that forward but then there were stories that supported that. Terrible example cause that story was just awful lol but yea
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Maybe instead of making the chronicles part of the game, have some videos of scenes from the Chronicles that you can unlock.
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Your probably right about that Macduff. Doing it in videos wouldnt really do it as much justice as a whole game could, a prequel would definitly be in order should an animorphs game do well. It would be awesome to jump around in the hork-bajir homeworld and fight with a mini army. lol now that thats been brought up im thinkin about it too. but first things first. :D
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i'd like a lot more morphs and a more intriguing battle system.
something to set it apart.
energy bars are overrated. ::)
definitely better voice acting as well.
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definitly no energy bars, most likely having a system where your limbs get damaged, from just weakening your strikes to making the limb unusable. there probably wouldnt be a health bar, just getting to the point where your so damaged you cant fight and are forced to demorph and morph again. also, there would have to be a fatique system in human form, since in the books morphing repeatedly made them tired, morphing again and again would make you tired, also sleeping daily in the game might be necessary. to restore your fatigue after days with missions.
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I would scratch the Chronicles and focus on a main game, with human main characters. If it has to be an alien main character, I would make it an Andalite, but then I wouldn't make the Andalite's gameplay limitted to Earth, so making it an Andalite would go on a tangent...
I think it's kewl to base gameplay on the missions, with the aim to use the morphs to protect your identity and stop the Yeerks. But I don't think it should be a predictable script once you have the mission on.
i'd like a lot more morphs and a more intriguing battle system...
See, this is a valid point. I will bet my money, the demographic (either the readers from the 90s or the new readers) will want to buy this game for this reason, too. The 'morphing guimmick' will be the main attraction.
It's up to the designer to come up with a creative new way to do the graphics and button systems.
Before you know it, people online would do wolf pack gangs and seagull-dropping-deliveries...
It leads me to think, that much like how in GTA they have the cops show up as a consequence to the player's deliquencies, this game would need something to make it challenging for players to do that. A group of unwitting players that decide to do a random waltz through town as a lion pride, for eg:., could inevitably attract the attention of Dracon-beam wielding Controllers or Bugfighters. This could be kinda kewl!
I was also thinking, what if the expansion or downloadable content had missions entailing the all of the chronicles. well, not the visser or ellimist chronicles, but putting the chronicles in would add more depth to the game and history of its world.
that could be cool, would def take alot of work. I was thinking we could include the out of town missions the animorphs go on. Like the arctic in #25 and aussieland in #44, which would probably have to be left out of the main game to keep things simple and to have the money to make the town as detailed as possible
I concur! I would aim to make game set around the Animorphs' town. Including the coast, downtown and the forestry. Literally mimicking a GTA-type environment, where the player would find virtually nothing should he or she 'fly' outside the boundaries.
Post Merged: November 12, 2010, 06:43:20 AM
Man, Black Ops has just been released in Australia. The graphics, environments, characters---THE DETAILS--- are SENSATIONAL! The gameplay? INSANE!!
And it's re-awoken my fantasies of an Animorphs Game. They certainly have the tech and means to do it. I can't help thinking how game designers COULD REALLY push the Animorphs' story/style with an engine like this.
I kept looking for inspiration walking around. On the sidewalk, I saw some magpie being chased by miners. A dogwalker pulling his dog from wanting to sniff another canine. A black cat unwittingly crossing the road in the dark. At the trainstation, I saw a little sparrow dodging an arriving train at the very last minute.
All these things, would prove great realistic obstacles in an Animorphs game.
If I was to do an Anis game pitch, there would be no 'health candy' items per si. If anything, the 'candies' could be them items that build up experience batches, but that's on the part of the character, more.
The human morphs would be weakest in terms of raw power. Each morph would have individual levels of raw power, speed, resistance and resilience, stamina/endurance in their health status (I would even include a cry option). These would subside and decrease the more you take hit/physical damage during actions.
The morphing/demorphing would re-set everything.
There would be a 2hr clock exponential to real-time. Needless to say that if they get stuck, it's game over.
The player should have free reign of what morph to take, and a wide variety of places for he/she pick their places to morph. The idea is to stimulate creativity.
Upon blowing their cover, the enemies would raise an exclamation mark, kinda like the ones in Metal Gear Solo to indicate the player that they've been spotted. The colour in the screen would change, and, since being seen in human
they would not be able to demorph, fearing being seen, until they've reached saefety and the danger passes and the colour goes back to normal (in this case, it would be kind of like Assassins Creed). You could also play as Ax, so the player gets a sense of not having this disadvantage.
Example: I was crossing the road the other day, picturing what it would be like to be really little and having to cross the busy strip.
The mission would be as simple as crossing a busy strip, whilst being undetected. That means going small.
The smaller you go, the more 'invincible' you are. But the less senses of your surroundings, you get.
Turning into a ****roach, for example. The pressures of cars
But the biggest problem would be direction. Player may be forced to demorph and get runned over or spotted or so on. Crossing the road, gets them to the next level.
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Whenever I think about all the potential an Animorphs video game has, I get really excited too. My brain practically explodes when I think of all the neat features that could be included. I think that even people who aren't familiar with the Animorphs series could get a lot of enjoyment out of it. In fact, it would probably sell even more copies if most people don't know it is based on a book series. I don't know about other people, but I am usually wary about purchasing a game based on a movie or tv show or a book, no matter how much I liked the original media.
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I never buy a game made from a movie/TVshow, even if it's one of my favorites.
The only exception is Kingdom Hearts, because these games are cool.
But usually, video games made from other medias just s*ck.
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I'm making a board game for animorphs (although it'll be a while before i finish it)...does that count? that's about the best I can do with my limited knowledge on flash and stuff...
i 'm also trying to make a board game but it's sort of stupid its like "you spy on chapmen,move forword 1 square"or something like that
and there is a new game i hope it's for wii
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How are we going, senter.pat, Duff, Hylian Dan and cia?
Haven't been here in a while. Dug out this thread, remembering the cool ideas discussed, and wishing to revive it, to see how everyone's status is going with this concept.
There are so many good games out now, that I can't help feeling inspired in fantasizing about a fair dinkum Animorphs one. So let's keep this ball rolling in the hopes of something, I say...
Recently caught myself envisioning the following stuff for the game:
Option 1:
Loosely based on the book series. The Yeerks are in the process of infiltrating Earth. The Andalites have lost their war. And it’s up to the humans with morphing technology to fight.
- Play as a customized morph-capable human youth, relatively free to unravel your own story during gameplay. Designers would be free to add new characters (ref. Sub-Vissers, celebrities, FBI agents,...) for story and gameplay.
- Play as one of the few military Andalites who have made it to Earth to put a stop to them.
- Play as a low-ranking Controller and carry out missions for your Empire in order to go up the ranks.
***There would be some sort of a currency system to make players opt for the acquiring new morphs and/or perfecting talents (ref. thief/info-gatherer, melee/battler, spy/infiltration) and/or morphing experience, awareness/karma, trophies that unlock side-missions/personal missions.
*This would be set in the 1st-person shooter style, Single/Multiplayer-campaign, but I was envisioning this to be of the Skyrim/WofWarcraft genre.
or
Option 2:
Single-player campaign. Play as either Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco. Extra missions for Tobias/red-tailed hawk and possibly Ax. Stick mostly to the series plots, with room for new spins here and there.
* Think Batman Arkham Asylum.
or
Option 3:
The preposition would be much the same as Option 1, however the storyline would be post#54: the war on Earth is over; The characters are adult intelligence agents. Somehow, Visser Three has escaped enprisonment (I can think of about 2 different ways he could have done so). And we take things into interspace and face the added pending threat of The One. Main overall plot, would be to have the players potentially endevouring ‘a deal with the devil’ in order to revive Rachel.
* Personally, I think this would be great for a sequel. In which case, I would rather see the first game set on Earth.
IF Option 1:
Game Opening Intro:
#Playing as a Human:
- an optimized human Animorph boy/girl;
- unlimited morphs to acquire (however, some 'big-time' morphs become harder to get, after some that essentially serve the same purpose, are already acquired).
Intro Chapter Idea:
You wake up in your home. Learn controls by doing things such as: Picking up notes, open a fridge door,
Your pet animal is suddenly talking to you with urgency. You must follow it into the forest.
Run. Hide. Escape pursuing humans.
Different scenarios to do with immersing the player in the war:
1. You presume your parents are at work, but your family has actually been taken. The Yeerks have been taking the adults of your neighbourhood. The kids are to follow in line;
2. Your house is about to be broken into by suspicious men in suits;
3. You see a fight between an animal and Hork-Bajirs/taxxons. The Yeerks want to take you in.
Either way you’re to follow the ‘talking animal’ into the forest. Run for your life. With human Controllers hot on your tail.
You make it to a safe spot.
The animal demorphs, revealing an Andalite hermit who produces a glowing blue cube.
You gain the morphing power and must acquire + morph a small forest creature in order to successfully escape.
From there you become a fugitive, and must be discretion and caution in order to avoid Heat and bad Karma.
#Playing as an Andalite aristh:
You are to engage Yeerks in any battles on the surface.
Intro Chapter Idea:
- you're equipped with an a kafit, djabala and fampila (madeup!) morphs;
Your War Prince is an old hooves, relatively out-of-touch with the reality of Earth. Undertaking direct orders via Mirrowave calls transmissions, you are sent to the surface to gather intel on Yeerk forces. You must not be seen by the sentient natives.
While you are on your first mission on Earth, the Yeerks destroy the Andalite fleet in orbit and you are on your own for the foreseeable future.
- any human contact outside of the necessary is viewed as bad Karma;
- Earth morphs may be acuired accordingly + you have a relatively easier time controlling the morph;
DURING MORPH:
PS: PC keyboard in mind
- After you’ve achieved morphing completion, the morph’s navigation display kicks in. And you are left with relative control.
However, depending the type of morph and/ormorph specimen, as well as you exp level, you may lose control during the 2 hours in different situations. Wherin the game will simulate the animal instincts suppressing the human mind and it will do its own thing.
Something like swivelling the mouse will help gamer gain the control of morph.
(consider the insatiable ferocious overpowering hunger for flesh and blood found in Taxxons to be the only exception)
- During the 2hours in morph, action is required. Player must constantly do stuff. No action in the interface will leave the morph to do its own thing.
#Playing as a Yeerk:
Intro Chapter Idea:
As a Controller you must move up the ranks via the completion of missions;
You start off as a low-ranking Yeerk, under orders from Visser Three. Your hosts will be randomly assigned between Gedd, Taxxon, Hork-Bajir, Mak, Sstram, (other potentially new ones; horse host?) before you reach human host.
- have an assigned host avail;
- must use the Yeerk pool to replenish yourself every three days;
- have all the military advantage on the planet; has access to alien tec and weaponry;
During Controller-mode:
- The computer game will lead the player into missions. What to type. Where to go. Within the relative capacity of subject host;
- You can taunt your host. If Multiplayer-Controller, you can have an internal communication;
- No user-interaction unleashes random host memory synapses. If there is something to do, the computer game may re-collect an action/reminder/something to help player along. A random memory may appear;
- If Taxxon-Controller, as soon as there is blood, you lose control and are at high-risk. Until the blood feast ceases, there is no control.
**Essentially, the ending of the 1st Option game campaign (Single Player) must leave players hanging, as the Yeerk campaign shifts from a slow infiltration to an all-out war, wherin the players will have to switch to Multiplayer mode and form alliances and fight online in hopes of reaching a resolution to the war on Earth... But that's almost another game on its own.
- Due to the nature of the Multiplayer campaign, I reckon the designer should lock out the 'morph acquisition' mode (maybe even consider not having wildlife present during original form). Players would have to go back in to Singleplayer or so in order to get new desired morph for Multiplayer mode.