Intro Axion is a sci fi fantasy concept similar to mass effect, except with more fantasy (i.e- magic, spirits, gods whatever they will be called), all delivered in bite sized episodes (8-10hrs of gameplay) via in app purchases which will allow more flexibility in price points for the app and the episodes. Each new episode is completely different from the previous one, meaning a whole new cast and a whole new story yet they are all tied together by narration of an individual in the future telling the stories to his grand kids or writing memoirs of pivotal moments in history that shaped the world in which the narrator lives in, that is how the stories of axion will play out although completely different each episode they will all tie together and bring to light a single wonderful futuristic sci fi fantasy story. Gameplay The gameplay here is very similar to old school Tales games, if you have ever played Tales of Destiny 1/2 or Tales of Phantasia then you will recognize some similarities. Enemy Encounters there will be a combination of random encounters and enemies pre-populated and/or randomly spawning on the map. The majority of the enemy encounters will be pre populated or randomly spawned on the map the random encounters will be more cinematic like mini in game cut-scenes with some QTE events where you have to tap shake, tilt, ec in sync with on screen pop ups and the animations land them all and you enter battle with a big advantage, miss once and you immediately begin battle with no advantage. Battles: Just like in the old school Tales games the battles play out in 2D more like a 2D fighter then a turn based or action RPG. Without going into all of the details i will explain the controls to you and you will understand more of how the battles work if you havent played an old school Tales game. Controls -- -bottom/left -- virtual joystick (wheel) -bottom/right -- attack button -right above the virtual joystick is a hotkey -right above the attack button is a block -pinch in/out to zoom in and out -tap on a characters on screen status to switch to them on the fly -skills are done by drawing shapes and figures Virtual Joystick (wheel) The reason I want to go with a wheel instead of tilt and even though you only move left and right is that some enemies will be flying and switching up the angle you have the wheel up/down/left/right will switch up your combos in real time tilt it up and you will be doing anti air attacks down or right/left and you will be doing low thrust attacks or quick slash attacks attack button -- just tap to attack simple as that block button -- hold down the block button to block..duh hotkey -- the hotkey is a combination of how you can pull up the in battle menu and/or select character skill shortcuts to launch. Just tap and hold the button which will pause the game pulling up an on screen hotkey slide your thumb up/down/left/right to highlight a skill then release to launch it. The menu option will always be at the top so tap hold slide thumb up then release to bring up the menu, but the other three are open for the gamer to assign whatever character skills he/she wants as shortcuts. zoom in/out -- by pinching you can zoom in/out in real time double tapping will automatically reset the zoom to default swapping characters -- at the top of the screen is where all of your characters statuses will be displayed (i.e HP, MP status effects levels ect) tap on any one of them to immediately switch and take control of that character skills -- skills are done by drawing shapes/figures on the screen, there will be 3 gestures an X, a circle, and a plus each of which can be assigned any skill and launched from the character you are controlling..keep in mind you can always key up the menu and launch skills that way as well from any character even tho you are not controlling them. this is a really cool way to launch skills without having to put up another onscreen button for the skills and just hold the iphone/itouch in your hands and tap the bottom right to attack and then quickly draw and x anywhere on the screen with your right thumb there u just launched a skill its very easy menu -- you can change weapon/armor materials (more details below) use items, switch up the formation, change up the strategy all in battle Graphic/Performance it doesn't necessarily need amazing graphics if you can get it up to at least Final Fantasy 7/8 level with instant loading and smooth FPS with fast animations in battle then go for it, if not drop it back to sprites and grids or if you can get good performance you can go all the way up to 3D cell shaded doesn't matter too much as long as there is great performance and instant load times, menus load quick fast and battles have solid smooth FPS thats what matters the most!! Party -- there will only be 4 characters in a party instead of 8-10 characters i want to focus on 4 well developed interesting characters. Each character will be locked into a specific type. character development -- will follow the traditional tales formula they will just level up automatically and the focus is on finding/mastering skills as you level up some skills will automatically be learned other more powerful skills have to be found or bought and then you have to master two or more skills in order to be able to use the new skill equipment and inventory management: since the characters level up automatically the customization revolves around the equipment so i want to optimize that formula by implementing a sort of weapon add-ons and weapon upgrades system each of your characters are set with one weapon type and one armor type which sounds limited at first but just hear me out.... the way you upgrade your weapon and armor as well as character traits is by forging materials that are dropped by enemies or found on the map into the weapon/armor open spots and of course upgrading those weapons at shops with more spots so you can add more materials which when you upgrade a weapon/armor it will also upgrade the weapon/armor base stats and the look of the weapon/armor. This system makes more sense in a sci fi based atmosphere and just adding materials will up your weapon/armor stats as well as character stats when you start the game you start with 3 spots and as you upgrade you open up more spots up to 6-8. The materials will vary from energy cells to types of metal, to gadgets, to stones, gems so on and so on and there will be a ton of materials most will be dropped by enemies, others found on the map, and some can also be bought at shops The open spots are in rows and adding to the complexity you have to link materials together in a row and they have to be compatible to a certain extent otherwise you will not get a bonus from either material for instance adding a element core material of fire then linking ice element core material will cancel each other out, each combination has its pros and cons and not every material will be 100% compatible until you add another material to the link you just have to experiment with them. this system changes the inventory management from equipment management where you have to buy new equipment at each new shop to a material management experience where you have to manage the materials you get from exploring and weighing in which ones to sell and which ones to keep in stock. other elements i want to include in the game: i love the skits would definitely like to have that in this game similar to how Tales of Vesperia implemented them where you would get a pop up and can choose to experience it or not i also want to be able to save anywhere and i want continues so if i die i can either try the battle over again or just reload the last save i also want to be able to camp anywhere on the open world all the time for free already packed with a camp from the very beginning of the game however it will not replenish MP just HP i dont want to force the gamers to travel everywhere on foot there is vehicles and teleporting for that, although there will be plenty of walking and locations you can only explore on foot and hidden places to find just no need to walk all over the place for level grinding i want a virtual training simulation optimized for level grinding so you dont have to walk around in circles to level up or go thru your stock of items however you dont get materials or money just straight up exp and its free also i want to have a star or something on the map/min map to show where to go to continue the story, so you dont accidentally continue the story if your not ready to. i also like the emoticons and anime ish animations some of the Tales games use would love to implement that on this game as well especially for sprites or low res graphics also since its sci fi there will obviously be traveling from planet to planet and galaxy to galaxy which is all controlled by some nation or form of goverment and instead of it being like how mass effect does the space travel i want there to be more depth like going to a new planet or galaxy there should be a cut scene, i also want there to be spaceship battles and mini games that where you have to pilot the ship like how it is in kingdom hearts or try to reason with the other ship and just little things like that to add more depth and make it really feel like your traveling thru space rather then just fast traveling from point a to point b and thats it Disclaimer -- im am not a dev, im not currently dev this or even trying to start this project, im not asking you or anyone to "make this game for me" i am just sharing my ideas i hope you have enjoyed them!! thx
Update: Open World/Field GUI & Controls Random details that kinda focus on the Open World/Field experience: controls -- -bottom/left: virtual joystick (wheel) -bottom/right: action/pan button -top right is the mini-map -top left is the menu button displayed as a smart phone or item bag -double tap anywhere on screen to go into first person double tap to go back -tap on your character to bring up the party menu the virtual joystick will be a wheel The action/pan button is two buttons in one capable of recognizing multiple inputs with just one on screen interface. Tap to talk/interact and rotate your thumb around the edge to pan the cam in that direction only for open world or 3D this action is way better and more comfortable and easier to slide your thumb around the edge of the button then it is to slide your thumb left and right on the screen to pan like most third person action games like brothers in arms does.....which is why i suggest that panning the cam should be done by rotating your thumb around the action button less movement and your thumb will be right there anyways just waiting to push the action button mini map/map-- the on screen mini map is also a button tap on it to bring up a finger friendly map with native iphone controls like pinch to zoom in/out double tap to zoom all the way out you can fast travel, browse thru shops and see what each shop is selling and for how much and once you get to a certain level or activate all of the transporters/teleporters you can even see where all of the treasures/treasure boxes are hidden represented as dots on the map and mini map. menu button tap the menu button in the top left displayed as an iphone or item bag to open up the menu a very simple and clean menu you move a cursor around the menu with the wheel and interact with the option by tapping on the action button the menu should be kinda like this: * the menu will also show battery life, signal strength and time -abilities (skills, tech, magic, spells) -equipment (where you add/remove materials to weapon/armor slots) -items - your inventory of items -Strategy - where you set criteria for team and individual AI -- Team (attack same target, fight separately, stand back, go all out) individual AI (be support, be defensive, be offense, auto) -formation- change party members formation for battles and change party leader so you can run around as any character in your party -status --in low graphics this is where there will be an artistic representation of your character almost anime-ish and how they look with their weapons and armor if they weren't sprites it also shows detailed stats and a bio -customize (change game settings) -save/load - save or load a game *need to make sure the save/load/new/continue menus are clean and easy to use across multiple episodes at least 6 maybe more if the app is really selling changing perspective: double tap anywhere on the screen to go into first person perspective double tap again to go back into third person. the party menu -- tap on your character to go into the party menu this is where you can talk to your party members if your lost or need some info and its also nice to see what they have to say about each other and about whats going on from time to time along with the skits this party menu is similar to the party menu in the dragon quest 8 game. the skits will pop up randomly from time to time as your playing the game, i really want there to be lots of skits tons of them all optional when a skit is available an on screen icon between the virtual joystick and the action button will appear just tap on the icon to start the skit tap on the action button to forward the dialog and if you want to quit the skit just tap a close icon at the top right of the skit window, i also want the skits to be animated as in the thumbnail images animations represent or correlate with the dialog since it really adds more depth to the skit Main Game Menu: -new game -continue game -Store -settings -exit Store is where you will buy the new episodes via in app purchases and DLC like card games similar to FF8/9 that can seamlessly add more value to the episodes as well as a separate multiplayer matchmaking arena mode The rest are self explanatory....... pondering what the multiplayer mode will be like: -the multiplayer arena mode will be 1 on 1 like a true multiplayer 2D fighter should be -you can choose from any one of the character types from the single player game as well as a few others fleshed out just for the multiplayer arena -as you win matches you gain points just like in street fighter 4 these points are used to match players up along with a background algorithms and they are also used to assign attributes to your characters or purchase new skills upgrade weapons ect -you cant use items, you cant change materials or go into a menu during an online battle......there will however be powerups and items that drop randomly that can be collected -you can also customize your characters appearance -the system should also revolve around a services like plus+ openfient or scoreloop -need i say more?
Axion iphone trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0-PMT2ee2c The actual trailer for the game for iphone and ipod touch!
