Okay y'all, so our Kickstarter is going quite well, honestly better than anticipated, so we are scrambling a bit to get ready to present our big stretch goal idea. But since the discussion here helped us clarify and tweak it, I wanted to give you guys a sneak peak and see if you have any issues with it before the official reveal on the Kickstarter page.
The basic idea is to have twice as much content without extending the time for a play-through. Or another way to look at it, 2 games in 1. But without resorting to a menu option, instead we have "paths" that are chosen through player actions, with the start of the game always being the same. Kind of like Star Fox 64, but with the alternate path also having slightly different rules in addition to being a different level.
Our hope for the design is something that will appeal to both types of arcade game fans - those that are fine chugging quarters until they manage to beat it (but each level is challenging enough that they expect several tries to complete it), and those that prefer the "1-credit clear"-style of play. We've wanted to do this from the start but thought asking for the funds necessary could possibly lead to no funding at all, and we weren't sure if even fans of old arcade games would still be interested in this style of play, so for the initial pitch stuck with the "safe" route of just the straight linear game with infinite "lives". This thread helped convince me that this was a good idea and worth presenting as a stretch goal.
Here's a diagram to help illustrate the idea:
For the Kickstarter presentation we won't go into this much detail so it doesn't make the page huge, but for you guys I'm going to give all the details, almost straight out of our design document. Apologies for the length of this post.
* A straight-forward playthrough is targeted to be around the difficulty of the games we've mentioned - Rastan, Super Ghouls N' Ghosts (first loop), and Castlevania 1 (possibly slightly easier as beta testing feedback will help determine). As in the latter two, when the player dies they have to return to a checkpoint, but they never will have to start the game over unless they give up and turn the game off.
* The checkpoints are planned to be about the same as in SGnG, roughly 2 per level (one mid-way and one before the boss). Each checkpoint is marked by a special "Resurrection Statue", and you can revive at the last one you reached as many times as you want. However, each time you die you lose all treasure you gained since you reached that checkpoint (meaning you'll have to collect it again), plus a portion of any treasure you collected earlier in the level (treasure is essentially your score).
* In every level there is one special hidden chest. It is not TOO hidden, just off the beaten path, and usually found near the end of the level.
* To actually get to this special chest, the player must overcome an obstacle that can only be circumvented by using an ability available via a specific piece of gear (which ability and hence which piece of gear varies by level). This means the player must traverse at least some of the level without getting hit in order to keep the piece of gear required to get to the chest.
NOTE: This is not a Metroid-style game, these chests are the ONLY time the player will be required to have certain gear to get to them, all other times the player can get to anywhere with the basic equipment Volgarr always has (sword & spear).
* The chest contains a magical item, the exact nature of which is still under discussion, but for now I'll refer to it as a "Warrior Spirit".
* If the player completes the current level after obtaining the Warrior Spirit, they will be given the option to enter the "Special Path" for the next level. If they choose not to, the Warrior Spirit is lost. This Special Path does not contain any Resurrection Statues as found in the base path - but it does contain more treasure and an alternate style of checkpoint. These levels may or may not be slightly harder than the others, but the level layouts and enemies are not the true source of the danger, this alternate checkpoint style is.
* When the player first travels from the base path to the special path, the Warrior Spirit that opened the way is joined by another one at the beginning of the level and becomes the initial level checkpoint. This checkpoint is not a Resurrection Statue, we are still working out exactly what it is, but may be related to a Valkyrie in some way. The checkpoint will have all currently available Warrior Spirits floating around it, and thus can be glanced at to see how many are left (or you can pause the game to see). This means upon first entry into this path at any point, the player will start with 2 Warrior Spirits.
* When the player dies while on any level in the special path they are revived at the last checkpoint,
but one of the Warrior Spirits is used up.
* If the player dies when they have no Warrior Spirits active, they will instead revive at the Resurrection Statue found at the beginning of the equivalent level on the base path (at this point fans of the 1CC style of play may want to restart, via a convenient option available from pressing pause/menu). This would be on the 3rd death at first (first 2 use up the spirit, but then you can try again with no spirits and die one more time), giving you essentially 3 "lives" once you are on this path.
* If the player manages to complete a level on this path, they are given 1 extra Warrior Spirit by the final boss of the level, allowing them to continue to the next level on the path if they choose, or return to the next level on the base path instead (they will not get an extra Warrior Spirit at the beginning of the following special path level, however - the bonus one is only given when transitioning from the base path).
* We may also have 1 extra hidden Warrior Spirit in a special chest like in the other levels, but this depends on balance and tuning later.
* The player can carry over any extra unused Warrior Spirits as long as they stay on the Special Path, saving up from earlier levels to give them more chances in later ones. Any time they return to the base path they lose all Warrior Spirits they had up to that point, if they still had any left.
* If the player returns to the base path, either through dying too much or choosing to, they could find the special treasure chest on the level and get back to the Special Path for the following level, once again getting 2 Warrior Spirits to try the level with. Its possible to swap back and forth between the two paths as you progress through the levels this way if you desire.
* Completing a level on the Special Path also grants an Asgardian Rune (or it may be hidden in the level, not sure yet). This artifact has no function unless ALL of them are collected, meaning the player must stay on the special path starting at level 2 and all the way until the end of the path to have them all. When completing the last level, if all runes are assembled then instead of going to an ending, the player will be taken to a bonus extra end level for the final challenge.
* The game has 3 endings: The normal ending, an ending achieved by completing the last normal level on the Special Path (which doesn't matter how you got there, you could be on the base path all the way up until the second-to-last level than jump over to it), and the "secret" ending from completing the bonus extra end level.
* If the player dies after all Warrior Spirits are lost on the bonus extra end level, they are given the standard Special Path ending and the game is over.
What do you think?
