Is there a 'correct' way to make a Super Hero?
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Or some other character type where they've got special abilities far beyond those of the masses.
I've played a few games where the player has superhuman abilities, and it seems to go one of two ways:
1. You're really not that 'special' and can be defeated by normal foes.
2. You're exceedingly powerful, and there's no challenge with small exceptions (such as bosses, rivals, etc).
Is there any way to balance it? Maybe these normal enemies are using technology gained from an arch-villain, who knows your weakness? But if everyone uses it, it kind of goes into path 1.
Eh, I guess I may be thinking too hard about this, but I'd like to know what others think.
Trying to design a game around a hero that is more suited for other types of media, like comic books or movies (that play by different rules) will only result in a clunky failure.
Make a hero have abilities that make sense and will support your gameplay. Look what happens when you try to transplant Sonic the Hedgehog into a 3d platformer. Instant failure. But he was perfect as a character to solve the problems in a 2d game whose levels were like spiraling race courses.
Think of how the game will work, then design a character who has the capability to overcome those obstacles and solve those problems.
Make a hero have abilities that make sense and will support your gameplay. Look what happens when you try to transplant Sonic the Hedgehog into a 3d platformer. Instant failure. But he was perfect as a character to solve the problems in a 2d game whose levels were like spiraling race courses.
Think of how the game will work, then design a character who has the capability to overcome those obstacles and solve those problems.
Superhuman abilities come in a lot of different types. Maybe you can channel electricity into strength, so as long as you are near an outlet, you are a god of death and carnage, but you become a mere mortal again when you're on the street. Maybe you can drain the abilities of those around you (fighting bosses makes you stronger, but you're just as strong as mooks when you fight them.) Granted, neither of these would be fun for most action games, but they could be good as puzzlers.
On the other hand, look at Arkham Asylum. Batman is exceedingly powerful in some contexts (simply by getting behind someone, you can 1-shot them.) However, mooks with guns are still dangerous.
An action hero who can punch through bricks, but isn't immune to bullets would be a good example. You can take out most non-bosses with a few moves, but have to kill/stun them quickly, or at least use a cover system, because they can kill you with sustained fire.
If you're a hero like Superman, you can have the main mooks be Brianiac robots, who have strength far greater than most humans. You could start off fighting gangsters, to get a sense of how strong you are, and you could still smash through buildings (you could even have a physics engine that allows you to literally punch an enemy through a building, if it is strong enough,) but so could your enemies.
There are a lot of types of superhumans. You need to narrow it down.
(prototype is another good example of a 1-shotter who is still vulnerable to continuous streams of bullets)
On the other hand, look at Arkham Asylum. Batman is exceedingly powerful in some contexts (simply by getting behind someone, you can 1-shot them.) However, mooks with guns are still dangerous.
An action hero who can punch through bricks, but isn't immune to bullets would be a good example. You can take out most non-bosses with a few moves, but have to kill/stun them quickly, or at least use a cover system, because they can kill you with sustained fire.
If you're a hero like Superman, you can have the main mooks be Brianiac robots, who have strength far greater than most humans. You could start off fighting gangsters, to get a sense of how strong you are, and you could still smash through buildings (you could even have a physics engine that allows you to literally punch an enemy through a building, if it is strong enough,) but so could your enemies.
There are a lot of types of superhumans. You need to narrow it down.
(prototype is another good example of a 1-shotter who is still vulnerable to continuous streams of bullets)
Quote:Original post by doomhascome
On the other hand, look at Arkham Asylum. Batman is exceedingly powerful in some contexts (simply by getting behind someone, you can 1-shot them.) However, mooks with guns are still dangerous.
Last time I checked, Batman wasn't superhuman of any sort. Armour/weaponry just makes up for it.
On the topic of super-heroes, I have noticed the un-special-ness and not-so-powerful abilities of a hero. Either that or the hero is almost invincible except to a certain substance/something that almost the entire world knows about. See Superman comic books and his Kryptonite.
Batman uses mostly skill and light armor, as well as some gadgetry. But, most of his tools require considerable skill to use (batarangs).
As was pointed out, there are different levels of super hero, from the point of a Silver Surfer or Dr Strange who basically dues ex everything in a story, to super-powerful but still limited ones like Superman, his immense number of crappy clones(coughsentrycough) or Thor; all the way down to a teenage boy named Robin. Actually, I think the current Robin isn't even a teen.
You're looking at the balance question from a 1 dimensional view; combat. Superman may have to be toned down to make a action game work where he fights common thugs, but where he's having to race the clock to stop a train from derailing among other events that all lead up to a plot of some kind? Much more in tune with the character, and balanced with his abilities.
Granted, I have no idea how well a Superman game where you're solving one crisis after another at the same time as trying to figure out the latest plot would go over.
As was pointed out, there are different levels of super hero, from the point of a Silver Surfer or Dr Strange who basically dues ex everything in a story, to super-powerful but still limited ones like Superman, his immense number of crappy clones(coughsentrycough) or Thor; all the way down to a teenage boy named Robin. Actually, I think the current Robin isn't even a teen.
You're looking at the balance question from a 1 dimensional view; combat. Superman may have to be toned down to make a action game work where he fights common thugs, but where he's having to race the clock to stop a train from derailing among other events that all lead up to a plot of some kind? Much more in tune with the character, and balanced with his abilities.
Granted, I have no idea how well a Superman game where you're solving one crisis after another at the same time as trying to figure out the latest plot would go over.
I guess it depends on the super power. Maybe the player is just 10 times the capacity of a normal human. I think you could have an interesting game with that. You could just place them in a situation where they would have that 10x strength tested. They can take 10x the damage, lift 10x the weight, run 10x faster... But still, enough bullets would kill them and they might not survive a huge fall or something.
Either way, it's easy enough to find a gray area. There's no need to make the character super weak or just plain invincible.
If the character can easily defeat the average opponent one on one, make them have to fight 10 opponents at once. Now there is a challenge without it becoming unbelievable. But it's still nice to let them fight the occasional weak opponent to show off your immense strength/power.
Either way, it's easy enough to find a gray area. There's no need to make the character super weak or just plain invincible.
If the character can easily defeat the average opponent one on one, make them have to fight 10 opponents at once. Now there is a challenge without it becoming unbelievable. But it's still nice to let them fight the occasional weak opponent to show off your immense strength/power.
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