A pitch for a Superman action game
Story:
We're dealing with a Superman that has already been established and has made strides in his career. Lois knows who he is and they're engaged by this point. The first "mission" should be an establishing day in the life that walks the player through the systems and game world. It should all be very relaxed.
The suddenly, boom Doomsday attacks. That's your intro to the combat system in a big spectacle boss fight right out of the gate. At the end of the fight you beat Doomsday down, but Superman "dies" in the process. The Death of Superman is the first level of the game.
Cut to a year later, and Superman wakes up in a Metropolis he doesn't recognize. Powerful Supervillains have sectioned off corners of the city, and everyone not caught up in one of those corners have been pushed into a quarantined area under martial law. It's now up to you as Superman to return and inspire the people of Metropolis to restore their city to what it once was.
The game will be a mix of a character action game and a puzzle/minigame collection. You have a variety of enemies you fight beat em up style with a variety of moves, as well as a collection of timed disasters/catastrophes in the form of minigames and puzzles. For example you rescue a plane from falling by grabbing certain points and carefully balancing it into place
These can range from burning building, hostage situations, suicide attempts, the list goes on. These don't have to all be catastrophes however. Maybe there's a side mission where Superman visits the cancer ward in a hospital and fulfills requests like mock battles from children
Completing certain objectives and certain catastrophes will net you experience, give you access to special items that can buff superman's stats, and unlock costumes
You go through the game taking on missions designed for each section of the city, done in a non linear fashion. Each section will be themed after the boss of the section, and the missions will be designed to prepare Superman for any of the dangers before heading in (ex a section covered in kryptonite or completely electric) Not only would you take them on as Superman but also return as Clark Kent, interviewing people and finding clues L.A Noire style with the addition of your superpowers (listen to a heartbeat to see if they're lying, etc)
How should Superman play:
Unlike Batman or Spider-Man, Superman should not play like a super dodgy counter character. He should be aggressive and tanky, with a focus on charge attacks, parry moves, grabs, and crowd control. More Devil May cry than Arkham.
Superman has one attack button, which you use to perform a variety of combos. You will vary up these combos in three ways by attacking with an analog stick motion (Attack + analog stick forward for example), timing the button press (attack button, attack button, pause, attack button for example), and by charging by holding the button and every attack can be charged, unlocking new combos are accessed by charging certain parts of the combo string (attack, attack, HOLD attack for example)
He has a superpower button where you cycle between your heat vision and super breath with a trigger. Like your attack button your superpower button can be charged up to three levels for different properties.
For Example:
- Heat vision level 1 is a quick standard zap, level 2 is a long beam, and level 3 is a long beam with an explosion at the end
- Super breath level 1 is a low level pushback, level 2 pushes back more enemies and bigger foes, and level 3 is freeze breath
Naturally these level are unlocked. You can use directional inputs in combination with the power button to have extra effects like a sweeping effect for heat vision and sucking in with super breath in order to bring enemies closer.
Next up there's a grab button. Tapping the grab buttons sends Superman into a unique animation for each enemy type that deals damage ala Nero's Devil Bringer
Holding the grab button holds on to the enemy. Can be done with a variety of environmental items like cars, lamposts etc that can be used as weapons or thrown like Prototype/Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Targeting an enemy and pressing grab will cause Superman to dash towards the enemy and grab him, although an enemy can counter this.
You have a jump button, used to give you access to air combos and initiate flight mode by pressing the jump button twice (see below for details). Targeting an enemy and pressing jump once will cause Superman to quickly teleport in that direction in a blue and red smear.
Holding the jump button will cause Superman to launch from the ground high into the air into flight mode. Will have a small AOE attack upon launch.
You will be a guard button, holding it keeps you stationary but Superman won't take any damage and instead it will take from his concentration meter (see below for details). Eventually, the guard will break however and you will be staggered back. However, timing the guard around the same time as an attack will initiate a parry, that won't take from your concentration and can be upgraded to include staggering properties.
What is the concentration meter? A concept I'm borrowing from DMC4 that I think could be very useful for Superman.
Next to his life bar there's a Superman logo that looks like this:
and as you successfully land attacks, don't get hit, and keep close to enemies, the black areas fill up with yellow, increasing the power of your attacks at different levels but depleting if you get hit, miss attacks, or run around without hitting anyone it depletes. Filling this meter up has a variety of affects, such as increasing the power of you attacks, speeding up your power move charge, giving you access to an extra charge on attack combos, and multi hit properties on certain moves.
The concentration meter can also give you access to "super effects" on the third level of the meter that give you a huge advantage but at the cost of "locking" the meter for a certain amount of time. These include:
- Press a button when the meter is full to enter A "Supermode" where superman cannot be staggered or knocked down and has all the passive effects of the concentration meter without requirements like don't miss attacks or get hit.
- Press a button + power button to unleash a huge AOE heat vision of freeze breath attack
- Press a button + attack button to unleash a stopping move that transitions into a powerful, life eating uppercut:
- Press a button + jump to effectively slow time for a few seconds. You move normally but everyone else is slowed down to a crawl
You have the option of using X-Ray vision to spot enemy weakpoints or find extra objectives/citizens in danger.
Pressing jump twice gives you access to flight mode, which is where you will be deaing with flying enemies and following up on air combos. This is characterized by Superman hovering off the ground a few feet instead of standing. Your main strategy for this mode is directional control. Combos will launch enemies in different directions, and you as Superman instantly follow up to punishing damage.
So for example a standard three hit combo in flight mode will send enemies flying straight away from you, opening the possibility that they slam into buildings for extra damage or follow up with flying punches to send them back further
Moving an analog stick up or down with an attack will send the enemy flying up or down. You also have access to air grabs. Other actions in flight mode include side to side evasive teleporting:
, as well as a instant teleport forward:
and an afterimage to distract enemies:
Basically, Devil May Cry/Hulk Ultimate Destruction on the ground, Zone of the Enders 2 in the air
Enemies:
The standard enemy types should be a variety of themed groups/gangs that are made up of weaker support enemies that go down easy but exist for balance and support for a miniboss type that is more challenging for the player.
Some ideas include:
- Intergang, a crime syndicate responsible for the smaller scale crimes.They're equipped with weaponry from Apokolips and power suits that can at least be a bit tougher to deal. They will gang up and spring traps on Superman like red solar light emitters and energy barriers.
- Mass produced Amazo clones. Amazo is an android in DC comics capable of replicating any ability it sees. In a Superman game you would need to defeat them before they finish scanning you, as they slowly can access to your powers the longer you fight them. You could even fight "premade Amazos" they come with references to other DC heroes
- Metallo bots. Metallo would be a boss in the game and have a standard enemy type of robots equipped with various forms of kryptonite that hve different effects based on how long you are in rage. Green drains your health, red scrambles your control scheme, silver causes visual hallucinations, and gold will lock abilities. You have to stay out of range and destroy the robots before they cause too much trouble. It is possible to receive an anti kryptonite suit in a side mission that acts as a second lifebar that nullifies all effects unless you take too much damage
- Doomsday cult. After the fight with Doomsday there was a gang that started worshiping Doomsday as a god, and developed a formula that can transform them into powerful doomsday clones unless beaten quickly
Boss ideas:
- Doomsday. Big Brawler with readable attacks
- Metallo. Has access to all Kryptonite effects. Can absorb surrounding materials to become larger or craft attachments like a laser gun or spears. Can use an anti kryptonite suit to nullify effects.
- Parasite. Has command grabs that absorb and replicate your abilities. The boss battle starts with him surprising superman and having all his abilities. Have to whittle him down and avoid his grabs to keep him from reabsorbing your powers.
- Livewire: Always fun to fight an electric themed boss.
(These won't be all the bosses, just some off the top of my head)
Extra costumes:
^ This list is pretty damn good.
So yeah. Is this the ideal, must be followed secret formula for a Superman game? Maybe not, but it's what I came up with. It took me a long ass time to write so hey, give me your thoughts.
