Current Events > Let's come up with a good Superman game.

(+) Yeah! (+)

We're Gamers, right? We have a generally good idea in what we like to see in a video game. And it seems like coming up with a concept game for the Man of Steel seems to be a challenging one.

What would you suggest.
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One where you are Clark Kent photographing spiderman

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A non-whitewashed Lex Luthor

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Superman 64

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saints row style, just toning down the wackiness

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Superman TBRPG

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I don't know the superman story well enough but I think they'd have to do something stupid like.... bad guys captured him, framed him, justice league determined they were going to strip his powers and then you wake up with amnesia and can't use your powers outright. Of course the main focus of the game is to figure out who framed you, as you progress you naturally find and reclaim your powers to become more powerful, stuff like that.

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I actually think Zone of the Enders 2 with open world and some walking mechanics is pretty much perfect.

Oh and none of that stupid Metropolis health bar crap. Superman can definitely get beaten up and killed, and half the time Metropolis blows up anyway.

Also, there needs to be non-combat stuff like catching airplanes and freeze breathing the water from a broken dam and stuff.

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All you really have to do is give him big problems. A fetch quest could be getting rocks from the moon and back instead of going to a city. Stopping meteors from hitting town. Fighting villains like Darkseid and Brainiac instead of street thugs all the time.

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Lego.

theyd probably have to do some dumb thing where hes stripped of his powers, earning them back one by one with each power being progressively stronger or more useful

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MT_TRAEH posted...

saints row style, just toning down the wackiness

I feel like a Superman game kind of have to be open-world.
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SSJCAT posted...

theyd probably have to do some dumb thing where hes stripped of his powers, earning them back one by one with each power being progressively stronger or more useful

No. No, they would definitely not have to. They probably would, but they would definitely not have to.

I do think like one mission where Dr. Evilguy or whatever turns the sun red and you get depowered might be fun but it should be like middle or late in the game.

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A Superman game where the goal, in most stages, is not to beat the enemy without dying, but to beat the enemy and save the day without destroying everything and everyone around you. After all, you are Superman. Precious goddamn little can kill you, unless the writer cheats and comes up with Kryptonite or some nonsense (lets use that sparingly, please?). The goal of much of the game, in essence, is to use your overwhelming powers with precision and consideration.

Of course, since we're not the fun police, in many stages, you go off world or fight various villains on Earth where you get to use those amazing powers to their full extent with less consequences, and even struggle against opponents of similar strength while using said powers. And everything in between those two poles, ideally using the same systems and physics for all scenarios. That, I think, would be a great challenge for designers and a real pleasure for gamers.

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Hexenherz posted...

I don't know the superman story well enough but I think they'd have to do something stupid like.... bad guys captured him, framed him, justice league determined they were going to strip his powers and then you wake up with amnesia and can't use your powers outright. Of course the main focus of the game is to figure out who framed you, as you progress you naturally find and reclaim your powers to become more powerful, stuff like that.

Yeah, that's probably the biggest issue with coming up with a Superman game. The set-up of the plot to gameplay ratio. Shit like, who would he fight and how can they make that work in a balanced setting.
They'd have to do some shit like, for story reasons or whatever, Supes gets sent into an alternate Earth that's been taken over by Brainiac/the Kryptons for a long time and now even the lower baddies are about as on par to you.

I'd prefer something like opposed to stripping his powers away. He might still have to learns some new skills here and there, but he still have his utility and it's more about getting stronger (in-gameplay) rather than him re-learning everything.
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he could go to some dangerous open world alien planet for some reason where all the creatures and everything are just legitimate threats to him

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Kitt posted...

I feel like a Superman game kind of have to be open-world.

latest saints row games were open-world, or do you want a planet-sized sand box?
saints row even featured some power ups to make you 'superman', the lazy part was they reused the city map from a previous game but it was cool flying around (just didnt have some flying enemies or dogfight-styled plane fights)

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I think people get way too hung up on Superman's power level when thinking about a game. A game where you have to protect the city from being destroyed is a great idea in concept but it doesnt sound fun at all. A game where he gets depowered kinda defeats the power fantasy you'd expect from a Superman game.

Just make a game like Hulk Ultimate Destruction mixed with Saints Row or something.
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MT_TRAEH posted...

latest saints row games were open-world, or do you want a planet-sized sand box?
saints row even featured some power ups to make you 'superman', the lazy part was they reused the city map from a previous game but it was cool flying around (just didnt have some flying enemies or dog-fight-styled plane fights)

Yeah, I was agreeing with you. I'm not sure how they would pull it off, but if you can smoothly go to different planets without their being a loading screen, that would be pimp as fuck.
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Im not usually one for advocating a de powered Superman, but I would love a 1930s-40s period piece where you play as a Golden Age Superman fighting against corrupt landlords, war profiteers, politicians, etc.

maybe mix up gameplay between Clark Kent investigation sections and Superman wreck shit sections.

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Smashingpmkns posted...

I think people get way too hung up on Superman's power level when thinking about a game. A game where you have to protect the city from being destroyed is a great idea in concept but it doesnt sound fun at all. A game where he gets depowered kinda defeats the power fantasy you'd expect from a Superman game.

Just make a game like Hulk Ultimate Destruction mixed with Saints Row or something.

Yeah, I talk about this with my friends. Some say things like, "What would the fail state be? How can you kill Superman?," and I'm just like, "Just have him die when the health reaches zero." Yeah, he's Superman, but that's just an odd thing to get caught up on, which I imagine a lot of developers actually do. But I say just have him die and restart from the last checkpoint or whatever.
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If you played the superman returns ps2 game, the city's healthbar was something you had to manage, and there was a game over if too much was destroyed.

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dont call it a health meter just a power meter or something and he faints

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Kitt posted...

Yeah, I talk about this with my friends. Some say things like, "What would the fail state be? How can you kill Superman?," and I'm just like, "Just have him die when the health reaches zero." Yeah, he's Superman, but that's just an odd thing to get caught up on, which I imagine a lot of developers actually do. But I say just have him die and restart from the last checkpoint or whatever.

if i were to imagine a game for superman, i'd have the 'story' set after Injustice 2 (where superman loses and got locked up),
Clark was released by Diana or someone, and he wants to redeem himself but the whole city is aware of it and is armed to kill Superman, that could limit the flying too, Superman could help people but has to hide his powers from the public or batman's goons will swarm your location

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LightningAce11 posted...

If you played the superman returns ps2 game, the city's healthbar was something you had to manage, and there was a game over if too much was destroyed.

I have, and I was never a fan of it.
That was the prime example I was thinking of when I thought of developers getting so caught up on his powers/"dying". I say, just let him have traditional HP. He takes enough damage, he "dies," or falls over or something.

But at the same time, it can't be something odd. I'm reminded of that X-Men Origins Wolverine game. When you "died" (lost all your HP), instead of a death animation, a screen would pop up saying "You Have Been Captured". I know Wolverine can't die, but come on, that's just silly.
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MT_TRAEH posted...

if i were to imagine a game for superman, i'd have the 'story' set after Injustice 2 (where superman loses and got locked up),
Clark was released by Diana or someone, and he wants to redeem himself but the whole city is aware of it and is armed to kill Superman, that could limit the flying too, Superman could help people but has to hide his powers from the public or batman's goons will swarm your location

That was why I threw out the alternate dimension idea. The game world have to be somewhere that...

A. Establishes this "You against the world" kind of feeling for both story and gameplay reasons, but at the same time it...

B. Have to feel like there's still a glimmer of hope in all of that. Again, both for progression purposes in the story and the gameplay.
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I think people kind of overthink things a little when it comes to Superman.
I think, whatever else you do, getting the flying right is fundamental. Superman flies, it's one of the more unique things he can do, and it makes for a really convenient way to get around a large open area quickly. You can have levels indoors or whatever and limit or disable flying in those areas and go for kind of a beat'em'up deal. Some missions will obviously have objectives: maybe there's a bomb or a hostage, but the game should give you space to be creative. You're Superman. You can tear through a wall, melt steel, freeze a waterfall or something.

Maybe that's the angle: the game is less about combat and more about using your ridiculous tool-box to find novel solutions to problems. I've never played them, but maybe like Hitman. Instead of murdering a specific target, you have a specific objective and the object is to achieve it quickly and efficiently. Maybe even give you the option to go undercover as Clark Kent to gather intel, with the caveat that you would have to find some place you could hide and change if things got hairy. Occasionally you have a big fight with some one on Supes' level.

Rise of the Supermen, the beat em up back in the day was sweet just remake it more 3D and open.

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Give everything points values. If Superman saves a burning building, you get 1,000 points. Throw a bus full of nuns at a pair of bank robbers, lose 10,000 points.

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If I go crazy then will you still call me [Bump]?
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LightningAce11 posted...

If you played the superman returns ps2 game, the city's healthbar was something you had to manage, and there was a game over if too much was destroyed.

There sure was, and it was not even remotely in the spirit of the property, nor was it in the spirit of decent game design.

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NES Superman dont @me

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they should give the rights to a competent studio like the ones behind that open world Hulk game on the PS2. that shit was loads of fun!

https://youtu.be/t6jUof15s2A

Your name is Clark Kent. You've been sent to an island called Light Muhammad. You must infiltrate the base located on it due to Intel that a terrorist group is plotting something deep within. You can't use your Superman powers because it'd be too obvious and retaliation would be easy.

Also you might have nanomachines and shit

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I remember a game called Dark Void. It wasn't particularly a good game, but it wasn't total garbage or anything either. But I remember the flying in the game being pretty decent and, at times, fun.
That's something that flying kind of have to be in a Supes game. Whether you're traversing or in combat, flying have to be this important tool that can be used whenever you want. And, at the same time, there have to be some things that kind of counter it.

Much like in the Arkham games how there are various ways to mess with Batman's detective vision. It's extremely useful, but you can't depend on it all the time.
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Touch posted...

Your name is Clark Kent. You've been sent to an island called Light Muhammad. You must infiltrate the base located on it due to Intel that a terrorist group is plotting something deep within. You can't use your Superman powers because it'd be too obvious and retaliation would be easy.

Also you might have nanomachines and shit

The leader of the terrorists are demanding $1B and the remains of Jor-El.

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Dinasty Warriors: Justice League could work.

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Ricemills posted...

Dinasty Warriors: Justice League could work.

Hell no. I hate those low-effort copy-paste Dynasty Warrior games. You can do so much more with that kind of source material.
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>Ctrl+F "rings"
>Phrase not found

Wow CE you are seriously disappointing

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Kitt posted...

Hell no. I hate those low-effort copy-paste Dynasty Warrior games. You can do so much more with that kind of source material.

but it's a good way to justify Superman's OP-ness for gameplay.


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Jagr_68 posted...

>Ctrl+F "rings"
>Phrase not found

Wow CE you are seriously disappointing

Tbf, someone did suggest Superman 64 earlier.
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Batman

DevsBro posted...

There sure was, and it was not even remotely in the spirit of the property, nor was it in the spirit of decent game design.

Hey, Missile Command uses basically the same mechanic and thats a classic apparently.

...actually Missile Command sucks lol

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AlisLandale posted...

Hey, Missile Command uses basically the same mechanic and thats a classic apparently.

...actually Missile Command sucks lol

No Missile Command is great. For its age, it's phenomenal. It's not really similar mechanically though. It has the superficial similarity that you're defending a city(/cities) from attack but that's more a matter of story than gameplay. One major difference is you can launch multiple counterattacks simultaneously, unlike having only one Superman.

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for its age

Every Atari or arcade collection that has missile command also has at least 10 other games on it, and every single one is better than Missile Command. >_>

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I don't get why Superman is so difficult. He can punch, fly, and shoot lasers. The way you work around his invulnerability is by choosing adversaries who can actually harm him -- like a space invasion.

It honestly shouldn't be that hard to make that work.

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AlisLandale posted...

for its age

Every Atari or arcade collection that has missile command also has at least 10 other games on it, and every single one is better than Missile Command. >_>

Highly disagree. The vast majority of 2600 games are total crap. Most of them you can't even figure out how to play.

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DevsBro posted...

Highly disagree. The vast majority of 2600 games are total crap. Most of them you can't even figure out how to play.

Im not talking about Atari BASIC or whatever, Im talking about the stuff that was good enough for publishers to put on collection discs. >_>

Theres a PS2 Activision collection with almost 30 games on it, and every single one is better than Missile Command.

Theres an N64 version of Asteroids that is basically just the classic arcade game with N64 graphics, and even in the context of its release date it is a better game and better value for your money than Missile Command ever was, is, or will be.

Call me Dido because I will go down with this ship. >_<

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Megaton Rainfall

That is all
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Skye Reynolds posted...

I don't get why Superman is so difficult. He can punch, fly, and shoot lasers. The way you work around his invulnerability is by choosing adversaries who can actually harm him -- like a space invasion.

It honestly shouldn't be that hard to make that work.

I'm telling you -- Kryptonians in another dimension

The gameplay have to have that Doom thing going on. Where it encourages you to be aggressive in combat, and when you get into the flow of using all his tool kits together, you feel like a fucking God. But if you're not careful, you can still be taken out.
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