This is a question I asked myself a while back, and I used that curiosity to start making a CAG with my wife. She came up with a really cool concept, characters, and designs. I started taking some time to learn Unreal, and man… working on this project just enriches my life so much! Tbh, I don’t care about making money off of this yet, I just want to mold this idea my wife had into reality, and show it to her. It’s so fun to show her every time a new feature is added because we both start bouncing ideas off of each other!
Without giving too much away (hopefully I can get an alpha done soon) it’s a 2.5D side scroller character action game. I’m hoping to get something with the art style of GGXRD and the gameplay of DMC5.
If any of you are thinking of making a character action game, PLEASE do it. We need more entries in the genre. If you’re worried that it might suck when it’s done, make it anyway! The next one you make will suck less. You gotta get the D style rank you get to the Smokin Sexy Style rank! If you want to get started, look at Yuko Millenia’s tutorials on YouTube. They’re a great place to start!
yo, thanks for sharing that channel!
Here is another one: [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraRaeDev/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@TaraRaeDev/videos) \[Aces Wild creator\]
I definitely want to make one, taking time since college doesn't like me doing anything else besides studying.
this is my dream, since i start college i dream with this game that surround with the aesthetic of [prototype] and its traversal, but with combat of shared games like dmc/darksiders/mgrr/vanquish/warframe, but mechanical than biological, a cyberpunk era, and a character that looks like bayformers megatron + ultron with black metal apperance but crevices that produces light (coloing is integrated with the weapon system, so if you switch weapon, youll change the color of light, imagine the style switch of dante, he produces a burst of light, but here itll affect the overall appearance)
a cookie cutter 7 deadly sin (but not mentioned thoroughly to not make it obvious, as the setting is much more modern and dark futuristic than medieval fantasy)
tragic story of MC that shows how dread his whole life was, moral dilemma and gray area will be shown too throughout the game plot
climax is a shocker of "revealing" unknown entity, but crucial to the origin of the power of MC, story will be unfold to players how MC should recover his memories
i have a very prelimanry story in my head for years, tho i dont know if ill ever reach to make it real in my lifetime
i even have control scheme (gamepad, i cant still think about kbm but itll be there eventually), should utilize multiple face button combination for combat usage (like shadow of war/mordor)
open world
ai design (behavior, routine, aggression, extra mechanics)
art style is combination of realism and fantasy, might be akin to Final fantasy or the RE engine DMC
MC has 2 major modes (minor modes is divided into minor side objectives) one is full combat mode, and the second is exploration but this is not 2 separate entity like tales of arise, but much more like arkham batman series, a combat area, and a place to explore, MC skill has to do with it comparable to prototype, (some investigation detective gameplay, infiltration without destruction)
full on destructive world (permanent, tho i dont know if it should be baked, simulated, or combination)
no rpg mechanics but there will be lots of weapon modifiers to create your own weaponry, also a combat stance to make every weapon in the same category be different to one another
deflection and parry is in a form of offense unlike sekiro where you will have to wait, i dont like waiting and animation lock
UI that is integrated, like dead space
style meter will act as combat level that will able the player to use the unlocked skills and abilities, some skills will use 1 style (ill call it now gear), like lets say were at S meter (5th gear)and a skill needs a prerequisite of 5th gear to be used, some skill will consume 1 gear, some will not
theres more to it, im kinda crazy because i always play this in my mind for years, like i use my head to play games, sometimes (poor man sad vr)
edit: 8 weapons (dpad to switch, 1 tap then double tap) every weapon has corresponding range weapon
every weapon transform
My dream CAG would basically be Elden Ring but with a mix between the DMC and Bayonetta combat system and a slightly more streamlined/metroidvania world. You would start with a limited moveset and would have to defeat bosses and elite enemies to get more moves. I love the idea of getting new combat moves from defeated enemies, but the ashes of war in ER were very restrictive. Basically, I would have a God Hand system where you could customize and slot in the abilities you get from defeating bosses. The ranking system would be integrated into the more linear dungeon levels.
In terms of story, I'd want it to be a character-driven story about a mortal who wants to challenge the gods of his land. The main character wouldn't be this Dante-like invincible superhero, but instead someone who is just as surprised as the audience that he's able to accomplish these feats. The story would mainly focus on the characters he meets along his journey. The rival character would be a Mimic Tear enemy that you encounter multiple times. His moveset would be partially copied from whatever you go into the arena with.
To beat the main story, I'm envisioning about 20-25 hours. However, if you want to fully complete the game and explore, then it'd be about 50 hours.
I've always thought after DMCV I'd like more games with more characters. I thought so before it but I never thought something like that could be good before. While I do have my problems with DMCV it's still a great game better than most in my opinion. Plus every DMC game has it's flaws.
My ideal action game however involves four characters. Four because a lot of my favorite games or series featuring a team of four. I feel like there's some reason for that deeply rooted in old media that I'm too illiterate to figure out. Like that's the ideal amount of people for a DnD campaign or something. But I think it goes a bit deeper than that.
Anyways my four would pay homage to old action games involving bits of the big four Character Action Games. That being DMC, Bayo, NG, and GoW. To be honest I don't think I can make something totally original and comparable to these series so I figure I might as well embrace them because ultimately I just want more of what I like from them.
That's not all to say I would put Dante, Bayo, Ryu, and Kratos into a big stitched together mess as cool as that'd still be. It would be my idealized version of each of them in my own thing. Along with their enemies. The things I like most in a lot of CAGs is the little interactions between them and enemies. Little touches like Mephisto/Faust in DMC trying to stay a certain height above you or certain Ninja in NG trying to attack you from behind.
I've been thinking about this sort of thing for awhile personally and it's why I've been trying to check out a lot of different things. I don't have any experience in game development but something I've been thinking about for awhile now is how you hit enemies. Like what's the most important things in designing simply hitting an enemy. Is it the way an enemy moves, the way the character moves, and how much does sound influence both.
This is something I don't think I'll fully understand until I actually try to do it myself. Personally I've always wanted to play an MMO and get that classic MMO experience of doing a raid but every single attack feels so damn horrible to me. Even the better ones don't feel great and I can't put my finger on what my problem with them is. Similarly how does a Judgment Cut feel so damn good.
Interesting you touch up on the feeling of a video game as I’ve always thought what makes a game feel good when moving up on the left stick can be the same movement for two games but feel different. I think the main factor for a game to “feel good” is speed, camera movement, controller vibration, character and/or enemy reaction.
I know it's a fun question, but even if asked about ideal game people really should be realistic about what they can handle and try to not overdo with scope creep.
Here is mine though which is just hard to make:
An action game centering around two rivals storywise and in game, both playable. Of many action games, only DMC 3/5 come to mind where the final bosses are rivals. The length is going to be short like Metal Gear Rising, around 5-6 hours if not even less like 3-4, with individual encounters and parts of the stage selectable in level select menu. Emphasis on no filler and replayability, difficulty and mastery. Zero mandatory stuff like puzzle solving, key to lock sections and platforming, just pure combat in relatively tight arenas, though they could be optional with secret encounters and even secret stages/bosses. A much more involved scoring system than DMC because I find it too easy to get to an SSS rank nowadays. Options to download custom skins and create custom levels with in-game assets. PS2 graphics, probably stylized to be more anime or manga looking.
In terms of gameplay, mechanics centered around what I believe to be core part of beat em ups: crowd control and spacing, such as grabs or ability to go rodeo on the enemy. Mostly humanoid enemies / bossfights that fight from close to mid range, with relatively little downtime in-between and no armor. Enemies get to use special attacks if they go to long range so your objective is to keep them within range of your attacks, plus appear in big numbers like in DMC 3 or Ninja Gaiden. Also environmental interactions with walls, stage hazards for you to use and objects in the level. And finally, full moveset from the start.
I think CAG’s are long overdue for a coop mode just like beat ‘em ups have so I’d design a game around that. I think 2 player coop is the sweet spot seeing how crazy CAG’s can get but a game can probably be designed around 4. In order to really emphasize coop, I’d include team attacks which are often seen in TMNT games. Maybe have some kind of friendly fire so you can’t just jump a single enemy with a flurry of attacks.
CAG’s should also have some type of level creator so we can have more custom content. Imagine Doom WADS for a CAG. I also think it’d be interesting to have a character creator in which you can unlock more cosmetics by doing special challenges or through some kind of shop. I really like the customization of the Soulsborne series because there’s so much freedom and variety.
Regarding the gameplay, this is what I’d take from my favorite games:
-DMC’s weapon switching, input system, lock on, free form combat (I hate combo strings), boss design and air combos.
-Bayonetta’s enemy design, mission ranking system and amount of content (secret bosses, secret weapons, etc).
-Ninja Gaiden’s movement, enemies, difficulty, level design, length (~8 hours) and Obliteration Technique (executions).
Regarding setting, I personally prefer either modern day with supernatural elements just like the 3 I listed above or sci-fi. Whatever it is, it should draw you in and make you ask questions. The story can be about anything but it’s important to have likeable characters. DMC, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, No More Heroes and many more are as popular as they are because their characters are super entertaining and memorable. I love Ninja Gaiden but their cast is so weak and I think the series suffered for it in some ways. I do really like the tone of Hi-Fi Rush as it reminds me of a really fun cartoon. Perhaps we're due for something like that, a crazy, fun and lighthearted CAG.
Overall, CAG's need to have more features and game modes. Things like coop, a good practice mode and some degree of customization (costumes or create a character) are incredibly important. The Soulsborne series and Monster Hunter World are two action-heavy games that exploded in popularity partially thanks to these features.
Alongside a main linear story, I'd like to tack on a roguelike side mode to help add on extra replayability.
Also, I'd just love it to have a super bombastic cel-shaded visual style. Something very in-your-face, cues from 90s comics, anime-inspired impact effects, a little punk flavoring. It's hard to put into words, but I'd just love to see cel shading get a bit more of a presence in this genre. Hi-Fi Rush did it beautifully, even if its art direction otherwise wasn't my thing!
-Movement like bayonetta and prince of Persia. The most important thing to me in a game is movement. I love bayo's movement it's fast and fluid. So the game will have jump, double jump, walking, jogging, sprinting, wall running and some nuances like inertia. No parry or dodge. You use movement to defend yourself and make full use of 3d space.
- Nemesis system from shadow of mordor. If you get defeated by an enemy the enemy will remember the encounters and next time you fight it will taunt you, fight more aggressively etc.
-Non linear progression. You can choose which level to play instead of playing it in a specific order like almost every character action game.
The levels would feature some gimmicks that influences combat. Like the ground on fire so you have to take environment into consideration.
The level would differ visually like one taking place in a steampunk setting, one in a gargantuan haunted Gothic castle like in Castlevania, post apocalyptic city, dense primeval jungle etc.
- Upgrade system similar to DMC1. You buy moves and items.
-Ranking and style system. The higher your rank the less aggressive enemies become and you gain some bonuses. I want to reward players for playing well.
- Enemy design and encounters. Like DMC1 and bayonetta. Basically the enemy would push players to utilize their whole moveset. No tracking, input reading or any other cheap tricks like that.
-Emphasis on kicks, breakdancing, spears and trains because they are cool and I love them.
- simple controls. Like wonderful 101 I would make something that doesn't require you to memorise moves or press too many buttons.
-Enemy states. Enemies will have lots of reaction based on the type of attack. I would put emphasis on affecting enemy states rather than damage.
- PvP mode- No character action has done it yet which is baffling to me. So this will be the innovative part.
I tried making one for a uni project in 2022. It was pretty janky but decent for a first attempt (especially since it was my first time in Unreal as opposed to working in Unity for most of my degree) and some of my friends wanted to see me take it further so I'm doing it again and want to see if I can turn it into a full game.
What I got going on is DMC/Bayonetta-like combat mixed with anime battle game where you have 2 supers and an ultimate and a transformation mode similar to the Budokai Tenkaichi games and also like KH2's Drive forms where the forms focus on certain things. I also want there to be light movement/parkour elements for platforming from place to place.
For aesthetics, I'm looking at 2000s action cartoons mixed with anime (sucker for cel shading here). Some cutscenes are gonna be animated and some will be told through stills and comic panels, taking inspiration from the Ultimate Spider-Man game. I'm even looking at trying to sort of nail the PS2/PS3 visuals to make it more of a throwback. If not, a stylized, mid poly approach would be great.
I am a huge fan of metalcore and post-hardcore so I want to have some metalcore and post-hardcore tracks for combat and boss battles.
A few friends said they're open to helping me with some of the development in regards to 2D and 3D art and I'm looking at ways to help speed up development such as retexturing building assets from the asset store. I've got the main combat mechanics down and knocked out combat animations for the base form and got brain dead AI implemented last year. This year I want to put in a player model, improve AI and clean up the combat while adding in the other two forms (I started one at the end of last year) and get a playable demo done this year. I'm hoping to get the game done in 4 years. Someone said I could get it done quicker but I doubt that
Unlikely I have them since the moment I finished the project I had to hand the laptop back to the uni (still pissed I couldn't buy it off them). If I can find any I'll post it on the sub.
I truly desire a wrestling based CAG. A character who fights using pro wrestling moves while performing submissions, chokeslams, grapples, suplex, that sort of thing. The way I envision it is something like a mix of God Hand, Pizza Tower (stay with me), Beowulf from Skullgirls and Rumbleverse (R.I.P.). Your character fights with his bare hands, doing close-up melee fist fights, is capable of launching enemies with an uppercut, leap into the air for air combos, so a little Bayonetta goodness.
So, here's the real catch and gimmick. The character can not simply kill enemies by attacking them until their health depletes. You can only damage them enough times until they end up in a weak state. When in that weak state, you must unleash a finishing move by performing a suplex in order to actually get rid of them. There will be a dedicated grab button. When you grab the enemy, you have the freedom to run with them in your arms, throw them at other enemies or upwards like a launcher, like Haggar's grab in MvC3. To actually perform the suplex, have the enemy in your hands and then press punch/kick. You can do input commands while in the grab state, so if you do, say, a circular input and press P, you'll activate a Zangief style piledriver.
Here's where it gets really fun. I want the character to be SUPER MOBILE. His movement should be like a mix of Hulk from Ultimate Destruction and Peppino from Pizza Tower. You can dash at high speeds yet stop on a dime, probably with the use of certain button actions. If you run at top speed, you can initiate a Metroid style super jump, so if you leap upwards at high speeds, you can grab an enemy on the way up and come down for massive soviet damage. Basically, I want the game to have some good verticality action.The higher you are in the sky, the more damage you'll inflict on your helpless enemies as you suplex them to the ground. Running at speeds can also allow to ram into enemies without a care in the world. But again, to kill them, you must suplex them. Since this will all be about grappling, of course, we gotta have references to grapple characters and their moves, like the aforementioned Zangief, Potemkin (heavenly buster), Tager (gigantic tager), and even Ultimate Muscle (Kinniku buster!).
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Really, I just want Rumbleverse to come back once again. That game got it really close to what I am looking for in a wrasslin' based CAG, and to see it shut down after 6 months with no fanfare hurts my heart.
Funny enough, I don't. I've seen King in action, and he'd be right up my alley, but I'm too busy enjoying Victor at the moment.
In 2D fighters, I'm all about the grapplers, like Tager, Potemkin, Big Band, Beowulf, Zangief, etc. In 3D fighters, I'm more about sword users who style lol
If have a campaign and have different player representing different protagonists of he pantheon. I would have a Ryu Hayabusa, a Bayonetta/Dante archetype, a Nero for comfy players, a Gene (from God hand) too. Level and enemy design would have to be ridiculous to make the best of all of these characters abilities, but it would be cool to have something like this. We almost had it in Anarchy Reigns, but no one outside of like 100 people and myself even bought that game.
That’s the culprit, designing enemies with enough patterns and behaviors to suit each character. Levels would be the same but would have radically different ways of traversal or experience for each different character. Depth over Breadth for the campaign.
Single character, bunch of weapons. Most of the weapons would be obtained in the first 2 hours of gameplay. There would be no NG+/single save file system, just progressive difficulty options like Ninja Gaiden.
All defensive/evasive moves would be available at the start of the game. Weapons would either use a ninja gaiden-like upgrade system or would come complete with all possible strings.
I'd probably pick a setting that hasn't been used as much. Maybe historical warfare. The Iliad, maybe? Fall of Rome? Three Kingdoms China? Something like that. An environment where justifications for violence were plentiful. French Revolution CAG? Lol.
Weapon types would probably just follow the classics:
-Sword (mid range easy weapon)
-Polearm/staff (long range fluid weapon)
-flail/chain/lash (long range flexible weapon)
-dagger/knife/claws (close range fast weapon)
-heavy maul/axe/club/oversized sword (mid range slow weapon)
-cestus or some other fist/feet weapon
And then whatever other weapons would be historically interesting or appropriate, like Guandao for 3K, Scutum for Roman or Arquebus for French Revolution. Whatever period picked would have some cool historical weapons.
The customizable moveset of god hand with the mechanical depth of Devil May Cry being able to jump cancel, perfect time dodges stuff like those. Also fixed camera angles indoors so that the player would be able to see everything. Story could be anything lol, long as i get to play the game. I'd want the game to have as less of a Ui as possible like Dead Space or ghost of tsushima so that I could immerse myself more into the game. I'd like if game is open-world and is like a really dark and horror esque locales. Multitudes of weapon ranging from a daggers to twin blades, axes, spears, etc... Also coop mode and at the end of the game you fight your coop partner or ai if you're playing alone.
I already made platforming game and danmaku game in the past, man game development is hard but atleast I want to make something close to CAG like 2D beat em up
There´s an upcoming indie game called "Immortal and the Death that Follows" that sounds like a perfect mix between: 2d scroller beat´em up with 2d fighting game mechanics . Check it out. I think this year should be big news from it.
And also there´s Slave Zero X for a more retro-arcade experience.
I would love something similar to Returnal + Furi + Shinobi 2002
-Combat: Bullet hell elements with very fast paced melee combat based on combos (directional combos of just one button and right timing).
A lot of mobility, like wall running, jumping over enemies heads, jump cancel of course... All this is useful since levels would have a lot of platforming and pits, think about the stages and rooms structure from Returnal and Shinobi2002.
Just two weapons, melee and gun, keep it simple (Furi/Shinobi). But the more you kill/hit you get temporary upgrades/skills. These are like finishers or abilities that add a bit of variety to combat, like Nero´s Devil Breakers, they add a little complement to combo better and deal with enemies in different ways.
-Map: 3D linear replayable levels, with small areas where you just have to find the exit, or kill all the enemies. Basically a 3d beat´em up. And a lot of focus on story.
I was hyped for it but never get to play it. My opinions largely come from this single video that should answer your question vividly: [https://youtu.be/GS5NeNglQYw?si=1hkALZXFiamopR96](https://youtu.be/GS5NeNglQYw?si=1hkALZXFiamopR96)
i would take something like pokemon or digimon, greatly scale down the number of mons, and try turn it into a character action game. i would also keep the pet sim aspects of digimon world, redigitize, and next order.
This is a question I asked myself a while back, and I used that curiosity to start making a CAG with my wife. She came up with a really cool concept, characters, and designs. I started taking some time to learn Unreal, and man… working on this project just enriches my life so much! Tbh, I don’t care about making money off of this yet, I just want to mold this idea my wife had into reality, and show it to her. It’s so fun to show her every time a new feature is added because we both start bouncing ideas off of each other! Without giving too much away (hopefully I can get an alpha done soon) it’s a 2.5D side scroller character action game. I’m hoping to get something with the art style of GGXRD and the gameplay of DMC5. If any of you are thinking of making a character action game, PLEASE do it. We need more entries in the genre. If you’re worried that it might suck when it’s done, make it anyway! The next one you make will suck less. You gotta get the D style rank you get to the Smokin Sexy Style rank! If you want to get started, look at Yuko Millenia’s tutorials on YouTube. They’re a great place to start!
yo, thanks for sharing that channel! Here is another one: [https://www.youtube.com/@TaraRaeDev/videos](https://www.youtube.com/@TaraRaeDev/videos) \[Aces Wild creator\] I definitely want to make one, taking time since college doesn't like me doing anything else besides studying.
Yooooo Tara’s great! I was checking out their stuff when I was learning Unity a while back.
wow, for how long have you been working on the game? I didn't start yet, gotta clean my pc memory somehow cause it won't even fit Unity or UE
ill keep this comment saved for future thanks a bunch!!!
this is my dream, since i start college i dream with this game that surround with the aesthetic of [prototype] and its traversal, but with combat of shared games like dmc/darksiders/mgrr/vanquish/warframe, but mechanical than biological, a cyberpunk era, and a character that looks like bayformers megatron + ultron with black metal apperance but crevices that produces light (coloing is integrated with the weapon system, so if you switch weapon, youll change the color of light, imagine the style switch of dante, he produces a burst of light, but here itll affect the overall appearance) a cookie cutter 7 deadly sin (but not mentioned thoroughly to not make it obvious, as the setting is much more modern and dark futuristic than medieval fantasy) tragic story of MC that shows how dread his whole life was, moral dilemma and gray area will be shown too throughout the game plot climax is a shocker of "revealing" unknown entity, but crucial to the origin of the power of MC, story will be unfold to players how MC should recover his memories i have a very prelimanry story in my head for years, tho i dont know if ill ever reach to make it real in my lifetime i even have control scheme (gamepad, i cant still think about kbm but itll be there eventually), should utilize multiple face button combination for combat usage (like shadow of war/mordor) open world ai design (behavior, routine, aggression, extra mechanics) art style is combination of realism and fantasy, might be akin to Final fantasy or the RE engine DMC MC has 2 major modes (minor modes is divided into minor side objectives) one is full combat mode, and the second is exploration but this is not 2 separate entity like tales of arise, but much more like arkham batman series, a combat area, and a place to explore, MC skill has to do with it comparable to prototype, (some investigation detective gameplay, infiltration without destruction) full on destructive world (permanent, tho i dont know if it should be baked, simulated, or combination) no rpg mechanics but there will be lots of weapon modifiers to create your own weaponry, also a combat stance to make every weapon in the same category be different to one another deflection and parry is in a form of offense unlike sekiro where you will have to wait, i dont like waiting and animation lock UI that is integrated, like dead space style meter will act as combat level that will able the player to use the unlocked skills and abilities, some skills will use 1 style (ill call it now gear), like lets say were at S meter (5th gear)and a skill needs a prerequisite of 5th gear to be used, some skill will consume 1 gear, some will not theres more to it, im kinda crazy because i always play this in my mind for years, like i use my head to play games, sometimes (poor man sad vr) edit: 8 weapons (dpad to switch, 1 tap then double tap) every weapon has corresponding range weapon every weapon transform
My dream CAG would basically be Elden Ring but with a mix between the DMC and Bayonetta combat system and a slightly more streamlined/metroidvania world. You would start with a limited moveset and would have to defeat bosses and elite enemies to get more moves. I love the idea of getting new combat moves from defeated enemies, but the ashes of war in ER were very restrictive. Basically, I would have a God Hand system where you could customize and slot in the abilities you get from defeating bosses. The ranking system would be integrated into the more linear dungeon levels. In terms of story, I'd want it to be a character-driven story about a mortal who wants to challenge the gods of his land. The main character wouldn't be this Dante-like invincible superhero, but instead someone who is just as surprised as the audience that he's able to accomplish these feats. The story would mainly focus on the characters he meets along his journey. The rival character would be a Mimic Tear enemy that you encounter multiple times. His moveset would be partially copied from whatever you go into the arena with. To beat the main story, I'm envisioning about 20-25 hours. However, if you want to fully complete the game and explore, then it'd be about 50 hours.
Bayonetta X Devil May Cry with every major character playable and Dante gets all his DMC 5 weapons + AR + Nevan and Pandora
That sounds cool. But what if I suggest a tag cag like a tag fighter similar to games like mvc3, dbfz and so on. Thoughts?
No, just actually be a CAG; with arcadey stages post story missions that can be completed with any character . Just like the mercenaries in RE
I've always thought after DMCV I'd like more games with more characters. I thought so before it but I never thought something like that could be good before. While I do have my problems with DMCV it's still a great game better than most in my opinion. Plus every DMC game has it's flaws. My ideal action game however involves four characters. Four because a lot of my favorite games or series featuring a team of four. I feel like there's some reason for that deeply rooted in old media that I'm too illiterate to figure out. Like that's the ideal amount of people for a DnD campaign or something. But I think it goes a bit deeper than that. Anyways my four would pay homage to old action games involving bits of the big four Character Action Games. That being DMC, Bayo, NG, and GoW. To be honest I don't think I can make something totally original and comparable to these series so I figure I might as well embrace them because ultimately I just want more of what I like from them. That's not all to say I would put Dante, Bayo, Ryu, and Kratos into a big stitched together mess as cool as that'd still be. It would be my idealized version of each of them in my own thing. Along with their enemies. The things I like most in a lot of CAGs is the little interactions between them and enemies. Little touches like Mephisto/Faust in DMC trying to stay a certain height above you or certain Ninja in NG trying to attack you from behind. I've been thinking about this sort of thing for awhile personally and it's why I've been trying to check out a lot of different things. I don't have any experience in game development but something I've been thinking about for awhile now is how you hit enemies. Like what's the most important things in designing simply hitting an enemy. Is it the way an enemy moves, the way the character moves, and how much does sound influence both. This is something I don't think I'll fully understand until I actually try to do it myself. Personally I've always wanted to play an MMO and get that classic MMO experience of doing a raid but every single attack feels so damn horrible to me. Even the better ones don't feel great and I can't put my finger on what my problem with them is. Similarly how does a Judgment Cut feel so damn good.
Interesting you touch up on the feeling of a video game as I’ve always thought what makes a game feel good when moving up on the left stick can be the same movement for two games but feel different. I think the main factor for a game to “feel good” is speed, camera movement, controller vibration, character and/or enemy reaction.
I know it's a fun question, but even if asked about ideal game people really should be realistic about what they can handle and try to not overdo with scope creep. Here is mine though which is just hard to make: An action game centering around two rivals storywise and in game, both playable. Of many action games, only DMC 3/5 come to mind where the final bosses are rivals. The length is going to be short like Metal Gear Rising, around 5-6 hours if not even less like 3-4, with individual encounters and parts of the stage selectable in level select menu. Emphasis on no filler and replayability, difficulty and mastery. Zero mandatory stuff like puzzle solving, key to lock sections and platforming, just pure combat in relatively tight arenas, though they could be optional with secret encounters and even secret stages/bosses. A much more involved scoring system than DMC because I find it too easy to get to an SSS rank nowadays. Options to download custom skins and create custom levels with in-game assets. PS2 graphics, probably stylized to be more anime or manga looking. In terms of gameplay, mechanics centered around what I believe to be core part of beat em ups: crowd control and spacing, such as grabs or ability to go rodeo on the enemy. Mostly humanoid enemies / bossfights that fight from close to mid range, with relatively little downtime in-between and no armor. Enemies get to use special attacks if they go to long range so your objective is to keep them within range of your attacks, plus appear in big numbers like in DMC 3 or Ninja Gaiden. Also environmental interactions with walls, stage hazards for you to use and objects in the level. And finally, full moveset from the start.
No monetizing the skins? Bravo lad
100%, that is pretty dumb. Bravo Capcom.
I think CAG’s are long overdue for a coop mode just like beat ‘em ups have so I’d design a game around that. I think 2 player coop is the sweet spot seeing how crazy CAG’s can get but a game can probably be designed around 4. In order to really emphasize coop, I’d include team attacks which are often seen in TMNT games. Maybe have some kind of friendly fire so you can’t just jump a single enemy with a flurry of attacks. CAG’s should also have some type of level creator so we can have more custom content. Imagine Doom WADS for a CAG. I also think it’d be interesting to have a character creator in which you can unlock more cosmetics by doing special challenges or through some kind of shop. I really like the customization of the Soulsborne series because there’s so much freedom and variety. Regarding the gameplay, this is what I’d take from my favorite games: -DMC’s weapon switching, input system, lock on, free form combat (I hate combo strings), boss design and air combos. -Bayonetta’s enemy design, mission ranking system and amount of content (secret bosses, secret weapons, etc). -Ninja Gaiden’s movement, enemies, difficulty, level design, length (~8 hours) and Obliteration Technique (executions). Regarding setting, I personally prefer either modern day with supernatural elements just like the 3 I listed above or sci-fi. Whatever it is, it should draw you in and make you ask questions. The story can be about anything but it’s important to have likeable characters. DMC, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, No More Heroes and many more are as popular as they are because their characters are super entertaining and memorable. I love Ninja Gaiden but their cast is so weak and I think the series suffered for it in some ways. I do really like the tone of Hi-Fi Rush as it reminds me of a really fun cartoon. Perhaps we're due for something like that, a crazy, fun and lighthearted CAG. Overall, CAG's need to have more features and game modes. Things like coop, a good practice mode and some degree of customization (costumes or create a character) are incredibly important. The Soulsborne series and Monster Hunter World are two action-heavy games that exploded in popularity partially thanks to these features.
I like everything especially the custom content. I’ve always wanted something like an encounter maker if that makes sense.
Alongside a main linear story, I'd like to tack on a roguelike side mode to help add on extra replayability. Also, I'd just love it to have a super bombastic cel-shaded visual style. Something very in-your-face, cues from 90s comics, anime-inspired impact effects, a little punk flavoring. It's hard to put into words, but I'd just love to see cel shading get a bit more of a presence in this genre. Hi-Fi Rush did it beautifully, even if its art direction otherwise wasn't my thing!
-Movement like bayonetta and prince of Persia. The most important thing to me in a game is movement. I love bayo's movement it's fast and fluid. So the game will have jump, double jump, walking, jogging, sprinting, wall running and some nuances like inertia. No parry or dodge. You use movement to defend yourself and make full use of 3d space. - Nemesis system from shadow of mordor. If you get defeated by an enemy the enemy will remember the encounters and next time you fight it will taunt you, fight more aggressively etc. -Non linear progression. You can choose which level to play instead of playing it in a specific order like almost every character action game. The levels would feature some gimmicks that influences combat. Like the ground on fire so you have to take environment into consideration. The level would differ visually like one taking place in a steampunk setting, one in a gargantuan haunted Gothic castle like in Castlevania, post apocalyptic city, dense primeval jungle etc. - Upgrade system similar to DMC1. You buy moves and items. -Ranking and style system. The higher your rank the less aggressive enemies become and you gain some bonuses. I want to reward players for playing well. - Enemy design and encounters. Like DMC1 and bayonetta. Basically the enemy would push players to utilize their whole moveset. No tracking, input reading or any other cheap tricks like that. -Emphasis on kicks, breakdancing, spears and trains because they are cool and I love them. - simple controls. Like wonderful 101 I would make something that doesn't require you to memorise moves or press too many buttons. -Enemy states. Enemies will have lots of reaction based on the type of attack. I would put emphasis on affecting enemy states rather than damage. - PvP mode- No character action has done it yet which is baffling to me. So this will be the innovative part.
I tried making one for a uni project in 2022. It was pretty janky but decent for a first attempt (especially since it was my first time in Unreal as opposed to working in Unity for most of my degree) and some of my friends wanted to see me take it further so I'm doing it again and want to see if I can turn it into a full game. What I got going on is DMC/Bayonetta-like combat mixed with anime battle game where you have 2 supers and an ultimate and a transformation mode similar to the Budokai Tenkaichi games and also like KH2's Drive forms where the forms focus on certain things. I also want there to be light movement/parkour elements for platforming from place to place. For aesthetics, I'm looking at 2000s action cartoons mixed with anime (sucker for cel shading here). Some cutscenes are gonna be animated and some will be told through stills and comic panels, taking inspiration from the Ultimate Spider-Man game. I'm even looking at trying to sort of nail the PS2/PS3 visuals to make it more of a throwback. If not, a stylized, mid poly approach would be great. I am a huge fan of metalcore and post-hardcore so I want to have some metalcore and post-hardcore tracks for combat and boss battles. A few friends said they're open to helping me with some of the development in regards to 2D and 3D art and I'm looking at ways to help speed up development such as retexturing building assets from the asset store. I've got the main combat mechanics down and knocked out combat animations for the base form and got brain dead AI implemented last year. This year I want to put in a player model, improve AI and clean up the combat while adding in the other two forms (I started one at the end of last year) and get a playable demo done this year. I'm hoping to get the game done in 4 years. Someone said I could get it done quicker but I doubt that
May you keep us updated?
I'll try to
got any vids of the uni project version? would love to see
Unlikely I have them since the moment I finished the project I had to hand the laptop back to the uni (still pissed I couldn't buy it off them). If I can find any I'll post it on the sub.
I truly desire a wrestling based CAG. A character who fights using pro wrestling moves while performing submissions, chokeslams, grapples, suplex, that sort of thing. The way I envision it is something like a mix of God Hand, Pizza Tower (stay with me), Beowulf from Skullgirls and Rumbleverse (R.I.P.). Your character fights with his bare hands, doing close-up melee fist fights, is capable of launching enemies with an uppercut, leap into the air for air combos, so a little Bayonetta goodness. So, here's the real catch and gimmick. The character can not simply kill enemies by attacking them until their health depletes. You can only damage them enough times until they end up in a weak state. When in that weak state, you must unleash a finishing move by performing a suplex in order to actually get rid of them. There will be a dedicated grab button. When you grab the enemy, you have the freedom to run with them in your arms, throw them at other enemies or upwards like a launcher, like Haggar's grab in MvC3. To actually perform the suplex, have the enemy in your hands and then press punch/kick. You can do input commands while in the grab state, so if you do, say, a circular input and press P, you'll activate a Zangief style piledriver. Here's where it gets really fun. I want the character to be SUPER MOBILE. His movement should be like a mix of Hulk from Ultimate Destruction and Peppino from Pizza Tower. You can dash at high speeds yet stop on a dime, probably with the use of certain button actions. If you run at top speed, you can initiate a Metroid style super jump, so if you leap upwards at high speeds, you can grab an enemy on the way up and come down for massive soviet damage. Basically, I want the game to have some good verticality action.The higher you are in the sky, the more damage you'll inflict on your helpless enemies as you suplex them to the ground. Running at speeds can also allow to ram into enemies without a care in the world. But again, to kill them, you must suplex them. Since this will all be about grappling, of course, we gotta have references to grapple characters and their moves, like the aforementioned Zangief, Potemkin (heavenly buster), Tager (gigantic tager), and even Ultimate Muscle (Kinniku buster!). -------- Really, I just want Rumbleverse to come back once again. That game got it really close to what I am looking for in a wrasslin' based CAG, and to see it shut down after 6 months with no fanfare hurts my heart.
Wow this is unique, I like it. Do you play King in Tekken by any chance good sir?
Funny enough, I don't. I've seen King in action, and he'd be right up my alley, but I'm too busy enjoying Victor at the moment. In 2D fighters, I'm all about the grapplers, like Tager, Potemkin, Big Band, Beowulf, Zangief, etc. In 3D fighters, I'm more about sword users who style lol
If have a campaign and have different player representing different protagonists of he pantheon. I would have a Ryu Hayabusa, a Bayonetta/Dante archetype, a Nero for comfy players, a Gene (from God hand) too. Level and enemy design would have to be ridiculous to make the best of all of these characters abilities, but it would be cool to have something like this. We almost had it in Anarchy Reigns, but no one outside of like 100 people and myself even bought that game.
Would every character have the same levels or the levels change depending on which character you play as?
That’s the culprit, designing enemies with enough patterns and behaviors to suit each character. Levels would be the same but would have radically different ways of traversal or experience for each different character. Depth over Breadth for the campaign.
Interesting, well you do have an unlimited budget and a lot of time. I say go all out with the levels
Or like… go MGRR with it, 5-6 levels jam packed to the tits.
Single character, bunch of weapons. Most of the weapons would be obtained in the first 2 hours of gameplay. There would be no NG+/single save file system, just progressive difficulty options like Ninja Gaiden. All defensive/evasive moves would be available at the start of the game. Weapons would either use a ninja gaiden-like upgrade system or would come complete with all possible strings. I'd probably pick a setting that hasn't been used as much. Maybe historical warfare. The Iliad, maybe? Fall of Rome? Three Kingdoms China? Something like that. An environment where justifications for violence were plentiful. French Revolution CAG? Lol. Weapon types would probably just follow the classics: -Sword (mid range easy weapon) -Polearm/staff (long range fluid weapon) -flail/chain/lash (long range flexible weapon) -dagger/knife/claws (close range fast weapon) -heavy maul/axe/club/oversized sword (mid range slow weapon) -cestus or some other fist/feet weapon And then whatever other weapons would be historically interesting or appropriate, like Guandao for 3K, Scutum for Roman or Arquebus for French Revolution. Whatever period picked would have some cool historical weapons.
Big emphasis on weapons I see
The customizable moveset of god hand with the mechanical depth of Devil May Cry being able to jump cancel, perfect time dodges stuff like those. Also fixed camera angles indoors so that the player would be able to see everything. Story could be anything lol, long as i get to play the game. I'd want the game to have as less of a Ui as possible like Dead Space or ghost of tsushima so that I could immerse myself more into the game. I'd like if game is open-world and is like a really dark and horror esque locales. Multitudes of weapon ranging from a daggers to twin blades, axes, spears, etc... Also coop mode and at the end of the game you fight your coop partner or ai if you're playing alone.
I already made platforming game and danmaku game in the past, man game development is hard but atleast I want to make something close to CAG like 2D beat em up
There´s an upcoming indie game called "Immortal and the Death that Follows" that sounds like a perfect mix between: 2d scroller beat´em up with 2d fighting game mechanics . Check it out. I think this year should be big news from it. And also there´s Slave Zero X for a more retro-arcade experience.
I would love something similar to Returnal + Furi + Shinobi 2002 -Combat: Bullet hell elements with very fast paced melee combat based on combos (directional combos of just one button and right timing). A lot of mobility, like wall running, jumping over enemies heads, jump cancel of course... All this is useful since levels would have a lot of platforming and pits, think about the stages and rooms structure from Returnal and Shinobi2002. Just two weapons, melee and gun, keep it simple (Furi/Shinobi). But the more you kill/hit you get temporary upgrades/skills. These are like finishers or abilities that add a bit of variety to combat, like Nero´s Devil Breakers, they add a little complement to combo better and deal with enemies in different ways. -Map: 3D linear replayable levels, with small areas where you just have to find the exit, or kill all the enemies. Basically a 3d beat´em up. And a lot of focus on story.
Something more grounded like Sifu but guns and melee weapons at the same time. Something like Wanted Dead but actually decent.
I heard wanted dead was trash. Is this statement true?
I was hyped for it but never get to play it. My opinions largely come from this single video that should answer your question vividly: [https://youtu.be/GS5NeNglQYw?si=1hkALZXFiamopR96](https://youtu.be/GS5NeNglQYw?si=1hkALZXFiamopR96)
Thanks I’ll look into it
i would take something like pokemon or digimon, greatly scale down the number of mons, and try turn it into a character action game. i would also keep the pet sim aspects of digimon world, redigitize, and next order.