Hello world,

I have always thought it best practice to run by my game concepts on the forums. I think I have a good basis on an awesome game concept but the ideas really need to be developed. First just a little backstory:

(The good guys) year is 2500, and mankind is at war with some kind of enemy. In an epic clash between cruisers the good guys are almost all defeated. Everyone except the flagship, which is forced to retreat. The ship is damaged beyond repair and in a desperate move they crash land on a nearby planet. They crash on a planet used primarily for mining. After crashing, a team of specialist all come together to develop a strategy for survival and retaliation. An engineer proposes a last ditch effort in designing a suit that harnesses the power of the reactor core in the ship. The suit's exoskeleton would be made from some of the ship's hull (the exterior armor plating), metal that is surprisingly light but incredibly resilient to anything short of a large explosive. The suit will be energized by the ship's reactor core, which is converted into a form of energy that the suit can contain. The suit will most likely be worn by a marine who will be a main character.

This is where I get lost though...what exactly can the suit do on the basis that it can harness this incredible power?

My goal is to make gameplay fast paced and in the 3rd person view....but that is all I have right now.

Some thoughts I had where that the suit would enable you too move incredibly fast because it harnesses some of the energy that was used to move ships at light speed.

That's all I have though...please be honest with me if the idea stinks I am open to criticism. I am also careful not too turn this into a knock off iron man suit, or the chief's armor in Halo. I would like to create something that could in theory capitalize on both iron man and the mjolnir armor. But like I said, if you think it is a dead end please let me know.

You seem to be thinking of the game story-first. I've heard from a lot of people that this is generally a bad idea, unless it is the story you mainly want to focus on. (Some games such as point-and-click games and jrpgs are mostly content, not to say that there aren't 3rd-person games that are story-heavy *glances at Mass Effect and Dragon Age*).

I would recommend you decide on the core 'feel' of the gameplay and then decide on a list of mechanics that will support that feel. That usually takes care of the question 'What does X do?' because you will not ever add X to the game unless you already know how it needs to function mechanically.

Examples:

If you want the player to feel powerful for example, the suit would need more combat abilities like:

-Very strong melee combat abilities

-A grappling hook that can pull enemies to you or push them away

-A sword that can be thrown at super-sonic speed to knock enemies back and deal massive damage

-A beam that melts some enemies but not others

If you want the player to feel powerless for example, the suit could have utility/disabling abilities like:

-A beam that melts enemy weapons

-The ability to phase through or break through walls

-The ability to pick up really heavy objects and throw them

-A telekinetic beam that can be used to steal enemy weapons

-A computer system that can be turned on to alert you when enemy weapon are powering up to fire (so you can dodge them or something)

It's really hard to judge a game idea without much detail on the core mechanics and core features because those things usually determine if the game is fun or not. A third-person game in 3D is really general because it doesn't tell much about the goal of the game itself. The above is based on the assumption that the player will be facing some kind of enemy humanoids, but it is entirely possible that you want the player to roam the planet and raid it for resources to help stage the retaliation you were talking about. You could also want the player to contend with the local wildlife in which case the suit could poses to whole other set of powers geared around that.

Examples of different suit powers in other games:

The Metroid suit is given abilities that help it move through the environment and help it face new enemies. This is because a lot of the game is based on exploration and environmental puzzles. A suit that can be upgraded to change size, use different door-opening weapons and weapons that have different effects on enemies is perfectly suited to a game that needs to enable the player to solve puzzles with the tools at their disposal.

The game BlackLight: Retribution has a powersuit as well equipped with a chain-gun and a rail-gun, as well as a dash. This gives the player the ability to attack enemies at long or short-range and the ability to move around the battlefield in a clunky way. It's perfect for a game in which the player will be facing tons of other enemies with guns.

That is just my experience though.