Hero Time (Super Hero Raising Sim)

[sake-bento]

Hello! I'm going to try using the forums and see how that affects the dev process. This is an idea I've been toying with that I'd definitely like some thoughts on. I'm in the pre-production stages of making a super hero raising sim game called Hero Time. The thread title probably told you that much.

Intro: In a dark and mysterious place, a group of dark and mysterious people discuss the fate of a baby they have in their care. It is decided that until this chosen child is old enough, he should be raised by appropriate parents. The baby is deposited on the doorstep of a couple who's always wanted a child, and they raise him accordingly. When the child turns ten, the parents are informed that this child is destined for greatness, and they must train the child to be ready for a disaster that will happen twelve years from now.

The game itself will be broken up into three distinct parts.
-Childhood: A four year period starting when the child turns ten. At this point, not much can be done aside from raise stats, meet other heroes, and do small missions like save cats from trees.

-High school: Starting at 14, the child has the option of three schools: local public school, or one of two specialized schools for children with special abilities. The first school is a very welcoming school that believes in understanding and fostering good relations between everyone. The second school is a stricter, military-style academy devoted to training students to be their utmost best. At this point, heroes can go on bigger missions, team up with other heroes, and do more specialized stat raising based on super powers.

-Adulthood. After graduation, the hero can choose to go solo or join one of two superhero groups. The first group is freelance group of heroes lead by a few core heroes. The second group is an elite group run and funded by the government.

-After twelve years pass, a big space monster attacks earth, and the hero and friends fight to save the earth. The outcome will be based on the hero's personal stats along with the relationships built with friends.


You can play as either male or female. So far, I have 25 endings planned. I'm not considering write romance endings at the moment.

This is probably the most ambitious project I've ever taken on, and I'm well aware of the massive amounts of work I'm going to have to do for this. I want to start off right, so any feedback, thoughts, warnings, etc. are welcome.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Oooo, super heroes! Sound like fun.

Have you thought about the tone of voice you will have? Will it be traditional da-da-daaaaa along the lines of DC and Marvel, more dark and commentry like Kick Arse or more fun and tongue-in-cheek like the Incrediables? I think depending on what route or mixture of routes you take will dictate what kind of story will be told. Like if the hero rebels against their fate, if they choose to use their powers for less than good intentions, what kind of repruccusions actions have etc.

With the superhero genre, cliches are a given, but will you stick with them, make fun of them or subvert them? I think any of the options can be well done and people are pretty willing to accept radiation/spider bit/aliens/etc logic pretty easily given current trends, probably because of the whole super hero mythos.

What type of world do they live in? Do people kno about super heroes or is it pretty secrect? Are they loved or feared? What kind of enemies do they faces? Are there going to be super villians too, or is it going to be other kinds of dangers like stopping train wreaks or robberies?

Your milage varies with stat raisers as you know (and you probably saw Fawn's thread on LSF which I think had some good advice). I to am one of those people that either likes really interesting stat raising (I think Aleema's Rock Robin is a good example of this) or normal stat raising with a really good smattering of story inbetween.

I think this could be a really interesting concept no matter what path you take. I personally would like to see a story that focused on the characters and what it means to different people to have powers, but that's probably my love of slice of life coming to the surface I'm personally not a fan of DC and Marvel stories for many reasons, and I do prefer clever subversions of the genre, but that's just me. I think something quite classical will also reasonate well with a lot of people. I'm pretty confident that you will also be fair to the female characters in the games, which will be a nice change from some of the more male dominated options.

So good luck, I'm interested to see what comes out of it ^_^b

[sake-bento]

The mood overall is heavily inspired by the DC and Marvel animated properties. Although I do read a lot of the comics, I don't want a lot of the heavy-handed stuff that goes on in them, nor do I want it to be a blatant parody type game. There are several endings where the hero goes rogue and becomes a villain, as well as several in more neutral territory like a fighter for hire.

I intend to stick to the general tropes for the most part. I'm mostly targeting people who watched some of the movies or some of the cartoons, thought they were cool, but couldn't really get into the comics because of the art style or the way the stories went. So I'm not expecting people to know a lot of the mythos, but just enough to think that a freak experiment or falling in acid totally makes sense. I am considering adding an unlockable, optional, "Bat-mite" type character from another dimension who comes along and adds commentary and pokes fun of the standard tropes. Just for variety. I'm also considering running away and joining the circus, though, as it might be easier.

Everyone knows that people with powers exist. The world is broken up into three major cities: the small country town, where super heroes are virtually unknown and people haven't decided how they feel; the suburban city where everyone hates powered people and thinks they're dangerous; the big city full of cheering crowds for whoever flies by. The general global feeling is split among those three views. The government has an uneasy tolerance of powered beings, but they also run their own task force meant to counter any powered being action if necessary.

There will be super villains, including options to team up with them in times of crisis (or join them in the end if your hero is "bad" enough).

I think it will be largely character driven. I intend to have a series of plot events that happen no matter what, and the differences will depend on how you trained your hero and who you made friends with.

[Auro-Cyanide]

I see. It's always been kind of funny how easily people accept some of the stuff involved with super heros XD I remember the first time I watched Spiderman I didn't even blink an eye at the whole spider thing, even if none of it made logical sense. I guess that's part of the fun. Trace (the Webtoon) was similar, it's kind of a super power thing I think. I suppose the biggest hurdle will be defining your characters from Marvels and DCs verses. They are probably going to be compared so I think they will have to be 'unique' enough and belong to their own world enough so you don't have people going your character=this DC character.

Since there are going to be quite a few people with powers running around, will it feel more like X-men or that collection of stories were all the heros gather in one place (despite existing in different verses and having different reasosn for their powers)? I always felt X-men felt more natural in that regard, while the other one was a bit like a fantasy baseball team that feels a bit... over-powered.

Is there a reason for the town>suburbia>city change or is it more "You are a noob, no-one knows you", "Opps, you're just starting out, no-one likes you", "Hey, you're a big hero now, everyone loves you!" type thing?

Character driven sounds awesome! I think it would be fun to get to know other heroes and their powers.

Is the art style going to be in a similar stream to what the sketches are?

[Angra Mainyu]

The first thing that came to mind after reading this synopsis was: Megamind.

Not sure if you ever saw the movie, but basically it's Dreamworks' attempt at subverting the superhero genre.

You've got the stereotypical "Kal-El" who arrives on Earth as a baby in a space pod (Metroman), along with another alien baby who looks suspiciously like an evil villain (Megamind). And due to where they landed and how they were raised, they take on roles of hero and super villain.

Based on what you've described, I'd be somewhat concerned about the "childhood" stage. If that represents the beginning of the game, but yet, not much can be done, I'd worry about boring the players. There'd need to be some sort of hook in that part of the game (or just before it) to catch peoples' attention.

I'm going to stick with the Superman cliché for a moment and suggest something like:

Start off with an epic battle between super heroes and villains on some alien world. Just when all seems lost, the good guys win. Ah, but it's a Pyrrhic victory. The heroes' world is destroyed, and the villains are just going to reappear to finish their dastardly deed in 22 years. But with their dying breath, the parents of the protagonist manage to shoot him off in a space pod to Earth, and thus begin the countdown to the evil baddies' return.

I'd "front load" the hook with a lot of event images, special effects, etc. You know, just to ensure that the audience has indeed been hooked and is willing to bear with some occasional slowness in the story.

[sake-bento]

I've not seen Megamind, but I should probably seek it out.

Childhood stage does look fairly boring at the moment, so the idea of starting with a bang sounds like exactly what I want to do. The "perfect" ending for the game would be for the hero to eventually join the secret society of shadowy people (name TBD), but I could probably find a way to merge that with epic space battles.

The three cities basically represent the different reactions "normal" people could have to a super hero, and the personality of the hero will be shaped by whichever city he or she chooses to dwell in. The unwelcoming city could either push the hero to the dark side, or make said hero even more heroic by acting out of selflessness. A city where everyone loves the hero might make a lazier hero with too much pride and not enough real sacrificial tendencies to fight off the boss at the end.

Right now, I'm planning on using the style in the sketches. It's a sort of comic book/anime mix that I think would appeal to existing sakevisual fans without turning off casual comic fans too much.

[Angra Mainyu]

[Auro-Cyanide]

[nubbycakes]

The concept itself is solid and I think it should be interesting enough to appeal to almost anyone (everyone loves superheroes.) I think it's also quite fresh and original. I'm not aware of any other non-parody hero raising themes (ZHP for PSP was awesome but still fell into the parody genre for the most part).

I think it would be nice if you could add an optional sidekick that you could choose somewhere near the start of the game as well as villains who might have grown up with the hero and whose actions and paths in life vary depending on your earlier choices. Being able to affect the fate of other people seems like a pretty strong point of story-based games after all. A friendly rival who is a sort of anti-hero would also be good - but this is just me throwing ideas out of random from my head.

The concept of a world where superheroes are the norm kinda reminds me of Alan Moore's Top 10, if you're familiar with that. I think it'd make good research material for this piece.

I'm not too sure about the manga-style art. Wouldn't it be better to go for a more westernized style?

[moxie]

I don't have too much to add to what's been said so far. I like the premise, and agree with a big bang to kick things off. I'm not a huge fan of stat-raising myself, though I don't mind it, but an action-filled start would definitely help me keep my interest through childhood. I'm looking forward to seeing the game unfold.

And, Megamind: great movie. =D