YEAR 3 - BA3a - SpaceNinja - Game Research

Nidhogg

Towerfall, Nidhogg and Duckgame are 3 main influences of SpaceNinja.
I'm trying to strike a balance between the three.

Nidhogg is relatively slapstick but it's serious regarding the combat. The good thing about the game is how every playerstate is beneficial in some ways, yet bad in others. For example, holding the sword high protects the player from jumping attacks. In the middle gives the freedom to move more quickly to the other states, and at the bottom protects against rolling attacks. Jumping limits the players movement and attack options whilst in the air but opens up aerial attacks/ maneuvers.

The player needs to use all these abilities, accounting for the different terrain and the position/ state of their opponent. This is the level of depth I want in my game. The downside to this is that it's easy to scare off new players so a level of 'pick up and play' simplicity is requires. By trying to make the game humorous, ridiculous I can hold new players attention spans longer too with the hope that they stay interested long enough for the depth to shine through.

DuckGame

DuckGame is an example of a game which takes the humorous approach. DuckGame has relatively high skill maneuvers but by being slapstick it manages to stay enjoyable for players who don't have that level of skill. The weapon pickups help make the gameplay varied and give less skilled players more of a chance with lucky drops etc. The vertical level design helps to make the game playable with four players, where as Nidhogg would only be possible with 2 due to it's lack of. The 4 player option increases marketability as a party game I think and helps to highlight the wackiness of the game.

Towerfall

Towerfall is another example of a game which uses vertical level design to allow for more than 2 players. Like Duck Game it has pickups, but it takes a slightly more serious approach to themeing. The gameplay is more consistent than duck game too because the players always start off with the same loadout. I would argue that Towerfall has less strategic depth than Nidhogg but it makes up for that with mechanical aiming skill. Out of the 3 games I think this is the most similar to SpaceNinja, gameplay wise and theme wise.

I think I'm going to have to test different game styles for SpaceNinja because it's still ambiguous whether or not I should include pickups or not. Pickups add an element of randomness to the game which lowers the mechanical depth to the game but improves the marketability and 'new player experience'...