I'm just waiting to see the inevitable Batman v Superman movie-game tie in. Maybe it will start a wave of good Superman games, like Asylum did for the Batman games? I'm hoping for too much, you say?
Reinventing game design (or How to make a good Superman game) *spawn
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- suppah man
Sorta, if you wanna go back as far as the Super Nintendo Death & Return of Superman co-developed by Blizzard (yes of Warcraft fame) and Sunsoft.
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I see why you say sorta....basically a crappy streets of rage clone from what I can tell on youtube. The sound effects even sounded eerily similar.
That's my point.
Maybe someone somewhere will be able to create a good one, finally.
We've seen that great games can be made from super powered heroes in open world settings - Infamous comes to mind.
The main problem with Superman is that even one huge GTAV city would be restrictive. We would need something along the lines of No Mans Sky, but set in one huge and detailed procedurally generated planet. Who knows.
Superman Returns could have had potential, although I suppose DCUO would have been the culmination of that if they had the budget and time.
I enjoyed the flying aspect more than anything in DCUO tbh (and custom costume bits). Fighting is kinda poop, but that's MMO for you (I think). It's been a while since I played it since I didn't buy anything for it (not a fan of subscriptions generally), so it got a bit dry after the 1-30, and then the P2W stuff becomes more important or something.
Superman himself would probably need some sort of system of progression to make things less monotonous or rather, plot reasons why he isn't supercharged all the time, and you work your way back.
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Pretty much. It's not really fun starting out at level 100 with nowhere to progress. The missions would have to be rather varied to keep it interesting (shock!) for 10+ hours.
Maybe they could do a morality system, even if Evil Superman has been done a ton already (Injustice, Crisis, Elseworlds etc).
mm... anyways.
Maybe they could do a morality system, even if Evil Superman has been done a ton already (Injustice, Crisis, Elseworlds etc).
mm... anyways.
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Sigfried1977
Legend
I believe in one of the Superman games, the city of Metropolis actually had the life bar. Not the character himself. Might have been that shitty game on the N64 where you mostly used your superpowers to fly through a bunch of rings. Still, that is one way to put a bit of pressure on the player. The guy may be indestructible, but he cannot be in two places at once. Basically a Dead Rising Scenario. Hacking up hordes of zombies isn't particularly difficult (at least once you've upgraded the character a little), but doing it as efficient as possible most cetainly is.
D
Deleted member 11852
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An Superman origin story could be good. The early seasons of Smallville did a good take on the origin story with Clark having no powers then gradually developing his powers over time. The inFamous games also did the powering up story thing well. A character who is effectively immortal with no real weaknesses is tricky to do I'm gameplay terms without resorting to contrived stories. In Smallville kryptonite seemed to be more common than dirt, it was ridiculous
For Superman, the battle is mostly morale. Put him in situations that strain his psyche, making impossible choices and living/struggling with the consequences. Maybe replace the health bar with a morality bar?
I wonder how much of modern game design is rooted in pen-and-paper RPG?
Expanded remit - what are the tropes of video games and how are they restricting game design? Superman gives as a great reference point as he nullifies one of the core principles, the ubiquitous Hit Point."How to make a decent Superman game" spin-off?
The problem is on how the Superman character has been elevated to God status. In the Lego Batman games, I can remember that he actually takes no damage whatsoever. But in those games, damage and dying really don't matter.
Just by making Superman vulnerable, you would have a game that more resembles what we consider a 'normal' game at today's standards.
Just by making Superman vulnerable, you would have a game that more resembles what we consider a 'normal' game at today's standards.
But that's making the content fit the tropes. Is it really a case that every game has to have a character who's health is gradually depleted to death for failure? I suppose that trope is genre specific as other genres have other objectives, such as puzzlers. So why not create the Superman game more like a puzzler? What actions and in which order to save the greatest number of people?
I can't believe that the reason a good Superman game can't be created is because the guy's physically invulnerable. I also recall games where you could play Supes and get killed, and they were just stupid in that respect. Why would a few bullets and a missile kill this rendition of Superman completely out of character? Because the devs couldn't come up with anything more original...
AFAIK Superman can still only be in one place at a time. Let there be multiple crises the player needs to choose to prioritize. Put the player on a clock while completing each mission. Make efficient execution of missions the core gameplay. The 'health' bar mechanic could be how many people have not been saved due to being too slow.
edit> Oh.. Just read shifty's last post where he basically hints at what I just wrote.
edit> Oh.. Just read shifty's last post where he basically hints at what I just wrote.
Maybe off-topic, but I always thought Superman was kind of lame compared to characters like Wolverine and Batman. For that reason alone, I'm not sure I would be all that interested in a Superman game.
I guess if they were going to do it, they would have to use mechanics that Superman was not invulnerable or at least had trouble with in the past i.e Magic, Kryptonite, Doomsday, Red Sun radiation, etc.
I guess if they were going to do it, they would have to use mechanics that Superman was not invulnerable or at least had trouble with in the past i.e Magic, Kryptonite, Doomsday, Red Sun radiation, etc.
ArcticCircle
Newcomer
I honestly don't think there's way to make good Superman game without doing some tropey nerfing that basically destroys the character. Actually I don't think there's been successful game (finacially successful) that features character with similar power levels. Maybe something like Asura's Wrath in end game would be closest (even that game sort of flopped). Superman might just be right in the end of power scale where you can still tell some kind of story (as in not altering reality or reconnect past and future events as you please). Maybe some kind of visual novel or choose your own adventure booklet in digital form would be only way to make it work in game form.
I think there is a way. Superman is no human. He is a god among us.
So let's him discover new worlds for us.
Give him a camera and start broadcasting documentaries for the BBC on other planets.Imagine a Superman game where you could travel between planets yourself, getting asteroids out of the way. Confronting other inhabitants from his original planet, fighting hostile demons and monsters in super planets, and odd worlds. Worlds where Superman could be as interesting as a human, where his super powers would be really necessary rather than making him inmortal. :smile2:
I'd love to program a game like that myself.
From time to time he would be back to earth to visit his romantic interest.
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