Monday, September 6, 2010

The Concept - Ninjadroid

It's difficult to say when "Doc Logic" was conceptualized, as it is the culmination of a number of different ideas. It was in 2006 when I first started to seriously consider starting a video game company, focusing predominantly on the business-side of things: the first 3 years of operation and sustainability.

For fun, in April of 2006 I started to work on a game character I called "Ninjadroid". A script, plot outline, level descriptions and premise all exist (and were quickly scrapped), yet many of the core ideas exist in "Doc Logic".

The most distinctive feature of Ninjadroid was the ending I had planned. Once players completed the mission they set out to do, they found out that they in fact were doing a mission for the enemy. Throughout the game, a mysterious white figure would appear who looked similar to Ninjadroid. In the final moments of the game, the white character confronts Ninjadroid, at which point the gamer now controls the white character, and has to defeat Ninjadroid. Basically, the character you played as and were upgrading was actually the boss of the game.

What I learned: DO NOT make a video game by starting with the plot, art, characters, etc. A game must come from a game design idea, and should be fun with just placeholder art. Also, DO NOT become attached to your ideas.

Ninjadroid
and the infected ridicubots
(April 2006)

Ninjadroid….you were created to stop the Chloroplasts from destroying the natural environment.

The Chloroplasts reside in VanCity.

Vancity is designed with 6 arms reaching out of the Earth’s atmosphere, each covered with enough SolAIR panels to gravitate and provide energy for the City. The elbows of these arms each contain a HUB that provide the Chloroplasts with their energy.

It is up to YOU to disable these 6 HUBS, then destroy the Central HUB in VanCity Kingdom.


Platforms: handhelds, digital distribution

Genre: 2D sidescroller; action/adventure/shooter

Premise: Ninjadroid must prevent the Chloroplasts from destroying the natural earth.

Notable features:

  • Background music adds tracks via user commands
  • Artistic cell-shaded/Tron inspired “tails”
  • Varied on-foot/in-vehicle levels
  • Plot-twisting ending
  • Can be beaten in one sitting
  • Many unlockables
  • 2-player co-operative mode

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