My take on a MECH game

[Fragrant]

http://i.imgur.com/QHBA2Jv.png

 

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/FragrantX/OGONITRIS.png

 

I've been tempted to make a mecha game, based on my own ideals on what it should be like. It would be similar to armored core, in terms of speed, design, and ability to reconfigure the mech using different parts, but would also be major differences, mostly inspired by other mecha sources.

 

For example, the starter mech would be made of lightweight parts(to emphasize it's low ap, although the design would be bulky), but have the walking speed of a mid, and the interior parts would be a crappy gen, booster, and generator. (The outerframe itself would make for a decent lightweight with better interior parts later on, but more on that later.) And I want to point this out, because in a later level, you have to fight an army of these starter mechs, and by then, you should have better parts.

 

Game design wise, the parts have more flexibility with being equip able(A bazooka say, could be placed on the shoulders, or hands), and mobility won't be solely gear towards boosting(plus, an infinite boost model is near impossible without sacrificing nearly every other aspect of the mech. More on that later.)

 

There would be 5 different metal types, to further change the weight to defense ratio. So a mech could look the same, but depending on the metal it's made of, it will be very light but low def, or high def, and very heavy. It is also to help with customization, in case you want a mid-weight look, but without the bulky look of a heavyweight, or a bulky mech that is light on it's feet.

 

Melee weapons would be more viable, for example, a contact blade that extends from the arms and is always active, it deals damage by simply colliding into another mech, the more velocity your mech had, the greater the damage dealt. This way, you only have to focus on touching the other mech, and not having to press a button when your near them. Of course, blade type weapons you have to swing to deal damage with also exist, in both laser and solid form(solid form would be swords with hilts, and some are mounted on the forearm like the regular AC blade).

 

Ranged weapons would be just like in the AC series, with different categories, although like I mentioned before, equitable from four different points, arms and shoulders. You can also fire all four at the same time(although with less accuracy, since the shoulder mounted weapons won't have the arm supporting them for aim, and this is more to unleash a ton of firepower if you choose such a playstyle.)

 

Some of the support type weapons/parts include smoke screens, shields, vernier/add boosters. I forgot to mention, remember orbits/exceed orbits? In this game, their controllable with at least 3 commands. You could send them to fly towards the opponent and shot at them, or hover near you and defend. Another part that isn't like a regular shield/energy shield is a "Burst Shield". Unlike say the energy shield that once active, gives a passive increase to defense? Burst shield negates damage down to 5%, but drain immensely/are only active for like half a second. So you gotta activate it at the right moment to totally negate damage.

 

In regards to boosters, since they aren't spammable like in AC, you could actually make a mech without them(but you should only do so if your a heavy with tons of firepower, otherwise, you're mech will be fodder level without boosters). Regular boosters, Quick Boosters, and Over Boosters, are all in their own category, and can be equipped separately from each other. The mech has several points where you can equip boosters. So you could say put on 1 of each, so you could have the flexibility of having all three available. Or you could just have say Quickboost only, and basically rely mostly on your mech's running and jumping ability, supplemented further by a very strong quickboost, to have a mech that bets it all on quick bursts of speeds and nothing else for mobility.

 

Boosters are relatively heavy compared to AC boosters. So you really have to make room for them and lessen your weapon output if you want to have all three different types of boosters.

 

I'm thinking about this next piece, but since the mech has three slots of boosters, that also means you can stack three of the same type, so you could have x3 of say an OB, although it be extremely drainy. It be hard to balance.

 

Another aspect of the boosters, is the vernier boosters on the side, which right now, use a fraction of whatever booster you equipped to allow the mech to make changes in mid-air(since I thought it was strange that AC's can change direction in mid air without activating a booster.) Reason I bring this up, is that I'm thinking if one where to unequip the verniers for less weight, they would be lighter, BUT wouldn't be able to change direction once they boost into the air. This could allow a dangerous lightweight playstyle to be born.

 

Generators come in three types, Energy Generator, Pulse generator, and Fusion Generator. Energy generator behaves the way a classic AC gen does, with output and everything determined by energy drain and so on. Pulse generator basically varies it's effectiveness based on how high in energy it has. So if the generator was at 100% when you booster or shot a laser beam, the stats of whatever you used would be outputted at say 150% to 300%, depending on the pulse generator. If you did the same thing again while the pulse generator was at say 10%, then if you had one that gave you a 300% at full capacity, you would actually get a booster flare or a laser shot at 30% of it's power at that moment. Pulse generators are good for people who like to use hit and run tactics or want to maximize speed further. The weakness being that overuse will leave them with subpar performance if they are low on energy. Right now, the stats on pulse generators are similar gens with high output, low capacity, since one with high capacity might be broken when full, and make somebody totally useless if they are low, but I might add it in if it it's balanced. Fusion generators are similar to Pulse generators, they have superior stats all around, BUT they have a red zone at the top, rather than bottom. The red zone prevents it from reaching 100% quickly. So you gotta wait a bit to get 100%. Along with the superior stats, the boosts are in the upper 200% ranges, one experimental model with a really huge red zone gets 500% once you have full capacity.

 

Tuning exists in a way in this game, but for things like running, jumping, and so on. So you could, say, increase the joint reflex, so that the mech's run speed can be, when fully tuned, at double it's original running speed, or be able to get three times the jump height.

 

Anyways, going back to modular nature of the mechs. The only way to get "infinite" boost, is to not equip arms, legs, and head. Just the "core", with "wings" added(fromt he arms section). The legs would need a minimum of "spheres" equipped that allow it to slide on the ground at slow speeds. This build, equipped with high efficiency boosters, stacked if that idea gets in, then you have something similar to an aircraft mech. The only weapon slots available would be on the sides, and only weapons light enough to load on would be viable, since a bazooka would keep it grounded or just make it a glorified ground vehicle with a cannon.

 

Going back to the metals, along with all the frame parts having defense values, the defense values are further altered by whatever metal type the mech is made from. Right now, I'm just planning three types, an average metal, a super light metal with low defense, a heavy metal with high defense. I mentioned 5 metals before, but the other two are just fodder, inexpensive metals that the mass produced enemy mechs use, and that you start out with early in the game to give you fodder like status at the start. Basically, a ceramic that is "tough" but really just a worse version of the medium metal. Used for heavy fodder mechs. The other metal is "steel", which is basically as tough as the light metal, but "twice the weight", lol.

 

I haven't named the metals yet, but it will probably be Nimbitium(light), Reguntium(average), and Gargantium(heavy). The fodder materials being "ceramic" and "steel".

 

I haven't really said everything I wanted to say about my design for a mech game, since there's too much, but eventually, when I have the financial backing, I'd make a mech game, using Unreal or Unity.

 

Some mech pics I did, showing stuff like the Burst shield, Orbits that follow orders, and other stuff (some are ACFA fan-made parts I did, since at the time I was wishing for this stuff in the series, but didn't think I would be able to make a game myself, I'd change the designs to be less AC like if I ever make a mech game, I don't know if I'd have hover legs for example).

 

 

 

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/FragrantX/NEXTEOandES.png

 

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/FragrantX/05-ANAT.png

 

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/FragrantX/meka.png

 

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/FragrantX/originaldesign.png

 

http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz337/FragrantX/GAN03-SUNLIGHT.png

Edited September 26, 2016 by Fragrant

[Bakuhatsu Pengin]

this is more of a reimagination of armored core than a standalone mech game, and i feel that its too detailed for it to be technologically plausible as a game. ac had already been pushing the boundaries for complexity in terms of concept and design (which is one of the many reasons for its limited public success) and now you are adding several more mechanics that seem somewhat redundant or superfluous. it is not that implementing these concepts is impossible, it is that they do little service to the broader sense of game design. with that being said, it is a concept artists job to imagine, and everyone elses job to make it work. you just have to give everyone a really good reason to do it (which is a hard step to miss if you are working on this by yourself).

 

while it is important to be inspired by other forms of media you enjoy, i dont feel its productive to replicate it as similarly as shown in this particular concept, because right now, you are piggy-backing on what ac has already established and adding variations. as a concept artist, it is your job to innovate and imagine that which is unimaginable, to create something new and ingenious that no one else has seen before. you must imagine creating an entire world, complete with its own technology and civilization and culture, rather than creating just a game. i dont feel comfortable supporting something as similar to ac when you could be doing so much more, and while i know that you admire ac, you need to approach it as an inspirational source from a much deeper level than what is being shown here.

 

mostly i want to say this because if your goal is to generate funding, i am dubious as to how this would work as-is. however, it is your responsibility to make it work, so i cant tell you exactly what needs to be done. it is your project after all; all i can do is give you vague advice or tell you something isnt working. my main gripe is that its too similar to ac

 

also, dont get too attached to your own ideas and dont be afraid to kill them.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Bakuhatsu Pengin

[YUNG MASTERLESS GLENCOUR]

ya not to be a jerk but i mostly don't like what i read

 

it all sounds like a cornier convoluted ripoff of AC

 

also I'm not rly feeling the art

 

sorry

[Fragrant]

@Bakuhatsu Penguin Yeah, it is sorta, minus the art, the art is actually armored core fan art, I just posted it since I haven't been able to draw much in the past few weeks. The mech designs I have in mind will be more simplistic. The gameplay would be somewhere between mech warrior and armored core. As I want to capture the clunky feel of mechs, but not make them as slow as mech warrior mechs. I want to go in a direciton that AC never tries to go in. PLUS, since there is no AC equivalent for the PC, that is also part of the reason, although if I make this game just by myself and minimal resources, I'll probably just make it a simple 3D android game with like 30 to 50 parts in total.

 

@Yung Masterless Glencour No offense taken, I technically just want something AC like on the PC and mobile phone. And it's already 2016, and theres only Mechwarrior style mech games, so I feel like I gotta bring something AC like to those platforms if nobody is gonna do it, and if people just keep releasing slow paced mech games or too fast, always in the air all the time mech games(Project Nimbus). I want something in between mechwarrior and AC PSX era speeds. The art of the mechs is actually fan art for ACs, but the reason I posted it is because I have some of my mech concepts in there, like the Orbits that can follow multiple commands and the Back boosters that went missing in AC5 era.(Although I must say I must have been off in my art game when I made those, because those are some really ugly, UGLY vernier boosters. I probably drew that around 2011 or 2012.)

[Fragrant]

Very quick sketch, no artistic direction, just seeing if I can still draw mechs. Will explain later. (Speaking of backstory, did I mention if there was any story, it be a parody of mecha war stories in general. Like the mech manufacturing is backed by the League of Greed, those guys in the monopoly suits from Rayburst. The mechs themeselves will be enemy units in a future game. The designs below are not it, since it's suppose to be goofier and less detailed in design than this.)

 

http://i.imgur.com/glbMbe1.png

 

EDIT: And by goofy, I mean like some mechs torso(core) would look like a soda can, another a vase, and a toon bullet shape. The LoG wants to make money of war, so they are the mother company to all these other companies. The one that makes a soda can shaped core is a Soda company that sells Koko-Koola all accross the solar system, and the others similarly.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Fragrant

[Pendragon]

Sorry for the late reply, but I think it could work. But it's really complex and you'd definitely need some top tier people working on it to pull it off. It's a nice starting point, but a bit more ambitious than I could handle.

[Fragrant]

Yeah, it probably take a long time, probably 2 months just to have a basic working demo with minimal parts.

 

But the other day, I played ACFA, and realized the perfect mech game already exists. Totally dashing away any ambitions I had, since I can't make a game if there is something like it already existing.(Well the game I was thinking of would have been clunky to give a mech feel, but ACFA proved me wrong.

 

I hope the next game has the control scheme of ACFA, and the booster system too. Just don't let speeds get hectic to the point that human reflexes can no longer keep up. I think the AC4-FA series would have been perfect had speeds stayed at AC4 levels. Maybe just lower the speeds universally by 30%, so that even the fastest mech isn't too fast, and you'll have a perfect AC game, imo. Well, once I have free time, I'll go back to working on either 2D games or comics. Not about mecha though, that comes from some other part of my brain, which is why it was dormant all this time. Although I'm still adding that wacky idea of mechs made of household items in-universe for whatever series I work on next.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Fragrant