Potential Video Game Characters

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21 comments, last by ParkerLad 13 years ago
Hello everyone and welcome to my first forum.
I have designed a series of bird-themed characters that I would love to see in a video game.

The name of my main character is Blackbird McCaw. Born in the place called Greater Heron, he is from a race of bird-like aliens from a planet I call Avian. He has a knack for tools and machinery. Throughout his adventures eventually runs into what would be one of his teammates; a well known bounty hunter named Laura Kingfisher. She is a serious, quick-witted girl residing in Los Arius on the planet Avian. His last teammate is hulky, ex-commando of avian's military. His name is Tank Hummerman.

The style of gaming I would like to see them in is a, "Jak and Daxter-like", platformer game. They would all have weapons that would double function as firearms and melee weapons. In addition, each character specializes in certain weaponary and abilities that are effective against certain types of enemies and level designs. However, any of the characters could progress through each level so you are not limited in which character to use.

Each characters weapon would be up-gradable. Appearance upgrades give you different weapons and change the appearance of your double-function weapon while in gun-mode, while performance upgrades enhance the stats of the current weapon used. There are also upgrades for the melee function of the weapons which give you different attacks and combos for each character.

As previously stated, each character specializes in different weapons and abilities.
Blackbird: mid-range weaponry, the balanced-character.
Luara: short-range, rapid fire, light damage weaponry. the fast, high jumping character with longer combos. More ammo.
Tank: heavy-artilary, slow-firing, heavy damamge weaponry. the slower, more powerful character. Less ammo.

Together, these 3 fight evil forces like my main villian Tenchu. For drawings of these characters and other visit this YOU TUBE link:

The title is KYLE B. PARKERS ART II.

Please feel free to comment. If anyone is looking for a gaming idea, I think this could be a good one.
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Summary:

Title: (...)
Gameplay Genre: Run and shoot, platformer, action adventure
Play structure: (Single player)
style: Bird-themed humanoid, Jak and Daxter

Action Type:
o Use guns to shoot at enemies
o Use guns as melee weapons
o Melee combos

Characters:
o Main Protagonist: Blackbird McCaw (Engineer)
o Female Sidekick: Laura Kingfisher (Bounty Hunter)
o Male Sidekick: Tank Hummerman (Ex-military)

Items:
o Upgradable weapons

Places:
o [Planet] Avian
o [Region] Greater Heron
o [City] Los Arius

Political Background:
o (Interplanetary military conflict)

Technology Level:
o Guns with ammo
o (Interplanetary flight)

Todo:
1) What is the adventure?
a) To get something from location A to location B
b) To destory something
c) To save something
d) To find something
e) To hide something
f) Other..

2) How do the characters get involved in the adventure?
a) Accident
b) Conspiracy
c) Assignment
d) Money
e) Personal tie
f) Other...

3) What does the adventure mean to the main characters?
a) Duty
b) Destiny
c) Opportunity
d) Chore
e) Challenge
f) Other...

Off-topic:
I think the next thing to do about the character drawings is to add shades.
Although that might not be a priority.
Thanks for the input. I'll definitely get to work on these ideas. I can tell you that the title of the first game is going to be, " Blackbird and the Feathers of Greater Heron".

Other main characters:
Techu (villan)
Great Horn Owlsworth (political figurehead of Greater Heron.)Mostly dialogue character for cutscenes.

P.S: Did you see the designs for the characters? What did you think?
I saw the design and I think your set is pretty coherent.
If Techu and Great Horn Owlsworth are in this game,
then your video only has maybe two that aren't (The wolf and the woman).

Is Techu a person in a bird suit?
Lol. Sorry, I should have mentioned; the wolf character is Mr. Wuff. He's the mascot for NC State; the college I went to. The girl was just a made up character. Neither of them have ties to the game. It's just the bird looking characters. Tenchu is the guy in the bird suit. I'm still trying to figure out how to explain that.

So I looked in to some of those questions you asked and I came up with somethings that might answer them:

Blackbird and the Power of Flight

The Mystic Feathers of Avian: Individually, the 12 crystal feathers are capable of great power. Once together, they release, “The Power of Flight”. This perpetual energy source has brought great prosperity to the planet of Avian. Each feather is entrusted to 9 major regions of avian to ensure equal distribution of energy across the planet. 3 of the feathers are entrusted to guardians chosen by the feathers themselves. Their feathers stay dormant until the feather’s power is need to bring about peace. ( Become the weapons you fight with in the game.... i think.)

Present Day:
All is well on the planet of Avian until an evil shadow spirit named Tenchu descends on the planet with the intention of harnessing the Power of Flight. With this energy he can release his true power and conquer the galaxy. As one of the chosen guardians, it becomes Blackbird’s responsibility to find the other guardians and save the galaxy by retrieving the Mystic Feather’s of Avian and using the Power of Flight to defeat Tenchu.
P.S: I change the title.

I'm still trying to figure one of two scenarios when you actually play the game:
1.) Tenchu has 9, the planet is in ruin, and you have to get the nine feathers that are guarded by tenchu's forces in each of the nine regions.

2.) Get the feathers before tenchu, and when you come to each feather you have to defeat a boss that tenchu releases on you.
I think the first is better, but I'm not sure.
I think it may depend on how early the player meet all three of the characters.
Here are some situations that a player might expect from your story:

a) How Tenchu got the first feather
b) Tenchu takes feather before the player before the player knows the significance
c) Player knows the location of a feather and Tenchu doesn't
d) Both Tenchu and the player are finding a feather
e) Tenchu takes a feather from the player's team
f) Player's team takes a feather from Tenchu
g) A feather is destoryed
h) A feather is created
i) Player fails to get save a feather from Tenchu
j) Other...

I think in terms of this game, it might be better if you choose the beginning not by looking at the beginning alone, but the overall plot. I don't know what your idea for the plot is, this is just an example (considering no more than 10 one-liner plot points):

Option 1: Tenchu has 9, the planet is in ruin
0.1 - Blackbird encounters Tenchu and loses his feather
0.2 - To save the world, Blackbird earns the trust of a region and gets a replacement feather and his team
0.3 - The main adventure begins, where the team tries to get each of the nine feathers
0.5 - Tenchu has 6 feathers, the team also has 6. Blackbird still misses his.
0.7 - Tenchu has 1 feather, the team has 11
0.8 - Tenchu has 12 feathers
0.9 - Tenchu is defeated.
1.0 - Happy ending

Option 2: Get the feathers before tenchu
0.1 - A feather is stolen, Blackbird is assinged to investigate
0.2 - Blackbird finds that the villain is Tenchu and gets a team
0.3 - Main adventure begins, team races against Tenchu to secure the feathers
0.5 - Tenchu has 4 feathers, the team has 6.
0.7 - Tenchu has 8 feathers, team has 4.
0.8 - Tenchu has 11, team has 1
0.9 - Tenchu is defeated
1.0 - Happy ending

One thing to think about these options, is that the plot should intensify as the story progress. Since power is related to feathers, a logical conclusion is that both Tenchu and the player team should be upgrading along the plot. Between these two plots, I like the beginning of Option 1 where Blackbird loses his own feather, because it makes he situation personal. There are many choices and I want to know how you envisioned the plot.
Well, interms of meeting the other characters, the player would meet them as they progress through the game. The player would start with one feather; the one that belongs to blackbird. Without the feather you cant prgress through the game. It's the weapon you use to fight with. Then you find Laura who has the second, and Tank who has the third. Then together, you gather the rest.

I don't want the guardians know anything about the feathers until they are attacked by Tenchu's forces. I'm still trying to figure out how to explain that.

I.) The inhabitants of Avian know that the feathers power the planet, but don't know about the Power of Flight, except for the political figureheads( like owlsworth)of the nine regions and the local security employed to protect the feathers. Kinda like the secrets that politicians keep from the world. Basically the general public knows of the 9. The guardians eventually learn that there are 12 and that their trinkets are actually 3 of the feathers.

This is the story for each team member in a nutshell
i.) Go about normal everyday lives.
ii.) Tenchu's forces attack in an attempt to steal their feather.
iii.) Feather becomes active.
iv.) Tenchu minion, boss, watever, is defeated.
v.) Blackbird explains the back story.
Since blackbird is the first person this happens too, someone has to explain it to him. I'm thinking maybe owlsworth. That's where the quest would begin.

I'll work on the 10 pt. plot. I have some ideas.
Ok, here's my 10 pt. plot:

1.) Tenchu descends upon Avian with his shadow army, conquers the nine regions, and takes possession of the feathers.

2.) Blackbird attempts to rescue Owlsworth from the some shadow minions in Greater Heron that are stealing that regions feather. Blackbird’s feather becomes active when the minions attack him. He saves Owlsworth but the minions still take the region’s feather and set up defense around it.

3.) Owlsworth explains backstory to Blackbird, and Blackbird’s quest begins.

4.) Find Laura in Los Arius region, obtain 2nd feather

5.) Find Tank, obtain 3rd feather

6.) Find the other feathers, defeating more powerful enemies with each feather obtained.

7.) Upon obtaining the 9th feather, Tenchu confronts the guardians, defeats and captures them, and steals the 9 feathers.

8.) Tenchu absorbs the energy from the feathers and proceeds to conquer the galaxy with his shadow army. Jettisons the guardians and the drained feathers back to Greater Heron.

9.) Guardians return to Tenchu’s HQ and defeats him in an epic battle using the Power of Flight.

10.) Avian is saved, happy ending?...teaser for next adventure.
Now that you have the plot, I think the next most important thing is to decide how the player will know each plot point, such as whether you will use cutscenes or dialogs. Here are some variations:

a) Narrator voiceover / textwall
b) Cutscene (non-interactive)
c) Artifact with information on scene
d) Artifact with information on GUI
e) Mission briefing
f) Triggered dialogs on scene
g) Dialogs on scene initiated by the player
h) Purely symbolic/emote (no text) dialogs on scene
i) Other...

Example:

1.) Tenchu conquers 9 regions and takes feathers with shadow army --> Narrative slideshow

This may seem like a trivial step, but it is related to the level of story-related detail required for the game. For example, Link in Zelda doesn't speak, so if at this point the designer started designing the speech quirks for Link, it would just be a waste of time. I guess this is a step you take so that you don't make things that the player will not see or need.
Cutscene. Most definitely cutscene for the 10 major points. There would be in-game dialogue while the player is playing, but the main points, all cutscene. With voices and cinematics and everything.

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