Jump to content
Banner by ~ Ice Princess Silky

Game idea: Just for fun


Steel Accord

Recommended Posts

So I have been playing a lot of Civilization VI lately. (Like an unhealthy amount of "a lot" if you know how those games work.) On the opposite side of the gaming spectrum from top down grand strategy and politicking to pure one v one fisticuffs for deeply personal offences, I love the Street Fighter games as well. They both appeal to me in different ways but on one account in which they appeal to me in the same way is there emphasis on world cultures. In one it's a semi-historical overview of great nations and their leaders, in the other it's a more caricatured but light-hearted romp around the world with fighters that represent broad vertical slices of their culture.

I like them both for such similar reasons despite their disparate game play that I actually got an idea kicking around in my head. What if there was a game in which you played normally in a top down strategy board as one of several factions, and when combat broke out, you'd switch to a selection of fighters from your nation and fight one of the opponent's champions?

The mechanic could be used as an alternative to total war or a semi-peaceful way for two parties to settle a dispute. It could even change the fighting game's normal stances on killing. Instead of knockouts or fatalities, the fight could either be to knockout or to the death depending on the cultures involved and the context of the fight. For instance, a trade disagreement would probably be settled non-fatally but whether an entire city comes under new ownership or not is probably better settled when the champion of one side or the other is slain. Here's the kicker then, if your character is killed in combat, they're eliminated from your playable roster for the game. So all sides have to be careful how many times they throw down the gauntlet or else they risk running out of ammo and being defenseless.

If such a game did exist, would you play it? What are your thoughts on what kind of factions would there be? Would it be real world countries like in the examples above or some other theme? If so, what kinds of factions would you put in? What about the fighters? Should each side have an exclusive roster only they can use or should fighters be able to be recruited to whichever side wants them? How would they range on the plausibility scale? We talking Tekken, Skullgirls, or something in between? 

What are your guy's thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The big problem here is this would be a niche of a niche.  Both of these genres are already fairly small.  You have a couple of big names for the 4X strategy games, namely Civilization and Stellaris, but most other strategy games like Endless Space 2, Hearts of Iron, or Age of Wonders 3 have small if dedicated user bases, and I suspect fighting games work much the same.  Your target audience would be limited to those people who like both turn-based or pausable real-time strategy and fighting games, a rather strange intersection.  Likely most of the people who enjoy strategy would get frustrated with the fighting game portion while those who like fighting games wouldn't want to deal with the strategy portion and just get down to the fighting.  I myself absolutely love a good turn based strategy game, but cannot play Street Fighter to save my life.  I would get immersed in your game up to the point where there was fighting to be had and then just hit a brick wall and proceed no further, ultimately giving up on the experience.  This is why if a strategy game is going to have combat, it will be instanced turn based or real time combat.  It is much more likely the people playing your turn based game will also enjoy turn based tactical combat than some random action game attached to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Twilight Dirac said:

Your target audience would be limited to those people who like both turn-based or pausable real-time strategy and fighting games, a rather strange intersection.

Yeah, me. That's why I made the topic. "Here's a game I'd like to play. If such a game existed, regardless of sales, appeal, or cost/feasibility of production, how do you guys think it would look or be like?" I'd like to play this game because I like both of these genres very much. The fact that the play styles are juxtaposed is part of the very personal appeal. I'm not asking if I SHOULD make this game because I'm not a programmer. Just that if this game did exist, what would people's ideas be for themes or features?

14 hours ago, Twilight Dirac said:

I myself absolutely love a good turn based strategy game, but cannot play Street Fighter to save my life.

I'm shit at both, doesn't stop me from playing them. ^_^

14 hours ago, Twilight Dirac said:

I would get immersed in your game up to the point where there was fighting to be had and then just hit a brick wall and proceed no further, ultimately giving up on the experience.  This is why if a strategy game is going to have combat, it will be instanced turn based or real time combat.  It is much more likely the people playing your turn based game will also enjoy turn based tactical combat than some random action game attached to it.

So I'll put you down as a, "no I would not play this game."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/26/2017 at 11:23 AM, Steel Accord said:

I'm shit at both, doesn't stop me from playing them. ^_^

I suppose that is one way of looking at it, but there just isn't anything to be had from a fighting game if you aren't and good at it.  At least when you fail at a strategy game, there tends to be interesting developments.  But then again I am biased towards strategy games.

 

On 10/26/2017 at 11:23 AM, Steel Accord said:

So I'll put you down as a, "no I would not play this game."

Or at least I would quickly get annoyed with it.

 

Incidentally there are a number of obscure hybrid games out there that try to combine strategy with something seemingly unrelated.  Sierra came out with Birthright ages ago which is a fantasy strategy game in which your ruler went on adventures (in a Doom II engine I think).  There is The Horde, which is an economic strategy game where you have to defend your farm plots in isometric action combat.  And there is Hearthlands which is a city manager where you can leave the city limits to essentially play a game of Diablo to collect resources for your town and ultimately win the game.  You might want to check them out if you are interested in this sort of thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You do realize if you did have the ability to make this game, and kept it more rooted within the real world, able to battle country leaders and such in a street fight, if a certain much disliked political figure were included from a certain well documented country, thus giving people the opportunity to beat up this political figure... you would be able to sell enough copies to make your own Scrooge McDuck money bin.

But I have to admit, there is a certain charm to the idea of a game where if you have a dispute with Japan, and decide to hell with negotiation, conquest is the final answer, it would just involve Guile going and beating up Ryu behind a fish market with an assortment of confused bystanders looking on.

That being said, although personally speaking I also like both genres, I could not see them working well together as a single game. Maybe a fighting game with a more heavy historical backdrop, where the strategy stuff takes place off to the side or as additional content. It would be kind of interesting to see an actual Street Fighter/Soul Caliber style game where instead of a stable of a couple dozen fighters, you had several hundred or so around the world you battled for some reason or another as you traveled, explored or conquered the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Join the herd!

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...