My small game Power for Good that I'm developing for the PyWeek competition is a point-and-click adventure in which you play a superhero whose central power is the ability to "steal" (or borrow, since it's temporary) other superpersons' powers. And he can fly. Yes, just like Rogue from X-Men. I give you, Amalgaman! Disclaimer: Concept art, initial draft. Lots of details/polish missing. And my mouse sucks. Yes, "Amalgaman" comes from "Amalgamation Man." See below for details. The basic idea of the game is that there are five distinct disasters in a mid-sized midwestern town caused by a bunch of supervillains: the hydro electric dam reservoir has been cracked, crippling power supply; the television and radio communications tower has been broken; the press have been held hostage in the newspaper corporation's building; road, rail and ferry service has been interrupted; and the mayor is being held for ransom at City Hall. Each of these disasters can be fixed by defeating the villain(s) at the scene and then repairing any structural problems. Doing so requires combining the powers of villains, which you take when you vanquish them, at which you are aided by color, rhythm and tone clues: the dam wall, for instance, will be a certain color with a certain rhythm to its sound effects, and likely a certain discordant musical tone. Each villain gives off one or more color, rhythm and tone clues, making the game fairly straightforward. The challenge lies in the fact that you can't unequip the powers, so you have to solve the problem that the combined powers match. Ideally, I would like the problems to be solved in any order, and for the solution of one to change the options for others. Fixing the dam, for instance, will making restoring tv and radio communication easier because you can draw on a transformer next to the tower; fixing the tower first requires powering up a generator, which could enable covert communication with the press, and so forth. I also want interesting and campy villains, with powers that combine in unexpected ways and without diammetric opposition in terms of "solution" ("FireImp" can't "evaporate" "WaterNymph," even though WaterNymph can "douse" FireImp). Here's what I have so far. Alternative names are presented (style is supposed to be 50s era, so camp is just perfect):

• Mr. Frigid/Blizzard - Ice and the arctic elements. Think the twisted ovechild of Storm (X-Men) and Mr. Freeze (Batman).
• Magma Man/Mutant Magma - Lava Girl's daddy.
• Electro Girl/Shock Value - (I really like the name "Shock Value.") Electricity, temper.
• Vortex/Hurrican - Wind, though s/he sounds like s/he overlaps Mr. Frigid more than just a little bit. This one isn't a major contender.

More importantly than critique of my characters, which is definitely welcomed, I'd like analysis of my gameplay mechanism (I described it to Superpig as Rock-Paper-Fire-Water-Sand-Gras-Landmower) and suggestions on neat oppositions. While the game is scheduled to be completed by Friday/Saturday EDT, I can make certain enhancements/additions after that point if they're just really great ideas, so don't feel too constrained! I thought, for instance, that it would be nice to have a side-scrolling shooter mini-game predicated by taking the power of a projectile-shooting villain, then using it to weaken/overcome a Juggernaut-type. I also think most of the villain "battles" should be turn-based, but I have very little experience in that arena. Suggestions actively solicited! I need to get back to my point-and-click base functionality. [smile]

If you're trying to do it that quickly, I think you should just hardcode/script all of the meaningful interactions that can take place. Constructing a world with interesting emergent gameplay is not easy.

I LIKE those!

Since it's a one-week competition, I figure that it's okay if I don't implement all the functionality. I just want to ensure that the parts that I do deliver are consistently polished. I'd been pondering different, interesting combat approaches, though, so that dialog thing is a godsend! Plus, it's reminiscent of Monkey Island, which is great.

Its funny, but before I had ever read the other posts, I was thinking "damn, this is a perfect chance for monkey island revival" -- and I really have to say that if you can get some good, really, really cheesy dialogue down, you would be set. Another great thing you could do is have those "BLAMS" and "WHACK" everytime you hit someone. Those are pretty crucial.

Anyway, for the most part, the point-and-click adventures I have enjoyed have had elements of comedy (Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island 1-3, Loom) that made them memorable. I would definitely agree with TechnoGoth on your boss design.

Good luck!

I'm short on time, so I can't change the fundamental structure much at this point, but I'd love to incorporate some (all!) of your suggestions when the competition's over. I think I'll look at this incarnation of the game as a proof of concept (complete with programmer art), with a more complete rendition to come.

@Wavinator, Argus2:
I wasn't talking about emergent gameplay, actually. What I simply meant was not requiring players to solve the game in the fixed order A -> B -> C, but allowing them to solve in multiple orders, suggested by simple prerequisites. This means that not all sequences are valid, as solving B may require having solved A but be independent of all other steps.

The artwork is killing me (remind me to buy a scanner!), so I'm going for a much more abstract representation, which is unfortunate as half the fun of the concept was the graphic depictions. Well, I only had a week and some really crappy tools...

When you steal another hero's power, does he lose it until you give it back? If so, it could lead to some interesting situations where, for example, you need power A to get to B, power C to cross it, and then power A again on the other side. You would have to guide a powerless A-person to B in order to once again use his power.

On the other hand, then you could just get near a villian, steal his power, and club him unconcious with it...

I pulled out of the contest. It's compromising the design, and it's been too long since I made a game for me to work under that kind of deadline pressure (plus it really bothers me that my current build is ugly).

So now we've blown it wide open. Let me have every zany, weird, off-the-wall suggestion you have for where this game can go. The technology is point-and-click and sprites and the system requirements are low, so the idea is to make this game accessible to the widest possible range of players. Keep it G-rated; I want my SO to be able to play it! I'm also looking at py2exe or movable to deliver it such that it runs "out of the box." Flash would probably be ideal, except that I dn't have SWF authoring tools at my disposal.

I'd like to throw one (easy) side-scrolling level in to break up the monotony - say a fight against a projectile-wielding enemy (do you shoot back, or should we have something more interesting like hitting the projectiles back like a baseball or using a mirror to reflect energy projectiles?)

Scratch the small town story; that was to fit into the constraints of a game developed over a week. We can go all out now - doomsday device, weather machine, world dominion and all other staple comic book plot cliches! That said, the whole game should take about an hour to play straight through once familiar, and should feature a fair amount of variation in precise gameplay mechanics. And absolutely no pixel hunting!

I'm going to take a nap now, but I'll be back in a bit. I think I still like the idea of the basic hero, as well as reintroducing the elements of rhythm, tone and color as puzzle solution clues/keys. (Hey, Polka Dot fits into the rhythm and tone aspects, and his choice of attire definitely has much to say about color!)

I'll try to flesh out a skeletal design and post here when I wake up.