Game Concept
Thesis:
A third-person, 3D remake of the classic side-scrolling action fighting game known as {METAMORPHIC FORCE!}. A roaming arcade of anthropomorphic brawling in the vein of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series or Powerstone – this time around, the special force of transforming beastly brawlers fights for the common man!
Setting:
An uncertain and dystopian future world | The Supertower ~ the skyscraping building in New York City, housing the core of WorldCorp’s machinations – the global omni-corporation which has assumed monopoly control of the world’s governments, corporations and citizenry through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and bloody coup d’etats. Every story of the tower – 100 in total – make up each of the total levels in the game, increasing in difficulty, enemy forces and revelation concerning the truth of WorldCorp… and it’s monstrous leadership. Every story houses a different environment and set of traps and adversaries.
Character & Story:
In an effort to battle back against WorldCorp’s ruthless domination in the world, an underground force of rebels has formed. Under the guise of a nihilistic ‘fight club,’ these folks plot their revolution through solidarity and organization. As employees of WorldCorp (as everyone in the world is) they communicate and layer their plans during working hours (which is all hours in the world) through a complex series of patient and coded messages known as The Red Cant. It is a mystical power granted by the goddess Athena, champion of the common man; it is a power in the form of a truly indecipherable language, save to those who have real solidarity with their fellow laborers.
The leaders of the rebellion known as Golden Quatro are four fighters gifted with supernatural power from Athena – they are guardians capable of transforming into bestial counterparts. They hope for their decades-long plot comes to fruition: workers around the world uniting in a strike against WorldCorp, the proletariats finally rising up against their masters in an effective coup to take control. But in order to communicate their complex plans to the masses, they need the technological reach of the Internet. Now disabled to all but the individuals who make their lavish homes at the topmost floor of Supertower 1, the Golden Quatro intends to fight their way to the top in order to gain access to the all-powerful channel of the Internet and impart their crucial message of revolution ’round the globe!
Meet the boys!
Ban (蛮), a martial artist. His guardian soul is a Fighting Bull, hence his beast form is a Minotaur.
Claude, a swordsman who wields a rapier. His guardian soul is a White Wolf, and he transforms into a White Werewolf.
Max, a fighter with a boxing style. His guardian soul is a Black Panther, and so his beast form is a Werepanther.
Ivan (Иван), a hunter and wrestler who fights with a small log. His guardian soul is a Bear, so he transforms into a Werebear.
Gameplay:
Four player transformative cooperative combat – {METAMORPHIC FORCE!} players can team up with up to three other players to fight for world freedom. Each of the players can metamorph into their bestial counterparts every 120 seconds, for a period of 10-30 seconds, depending on damage taken and dealt while in the beast form. Health and attack power increase while transformed; if all four players are transformed simultaneously, they can combined for devastating combo attacks.
Visceral hand-to-hand combat in third person– {MF!} features dynamic combat third-person combat not unlike the games MMO beat-em-up DC Universe Online or classic isometric fighting game Powerstone. Each of the four primary player characters have unique melee combos – different for their human and beast forms.
Roaming 3D environments – Each of the floors of the WorldCorp mega-tower is wide and arena-like. The players roam and engage in team-based melees with groups of varying enemies – gunman, martial artists, demonic beasties, and others. The floors and enemy placements are procedurally generated and therefore different everytime.
Every story is a different story – The ascension up the tower naturally progresses the difficulty of the game, and the level of complexity of the opposition faced. Enemy damage and AI escalates. Additionally, the environments of the different stories become more complex and utilizable. The environment can be destroyed, modified, or used to the tune of dispatching your enemies. Example: punch through walls, throw debris, cut the chain on a chandelier, pick up and use pillars like baseball bats, etc.
Arcade session progression – Every instance of the game the players start on Floor 1. Floor to floor in an ascension, you fight for as long as you can, accumulating score all along the way. Fighters are healed after each floor is cleared. Every enemy killed provides experience, amplifying the health, damage and transformation cooldowns of the fighters over time. Every floor is scored as is every overall run (Floor 1-100), and they are placed upon live online leaderboards ranked by relative fighting performance.
Inspired by ~
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series
Powerstone
Endgame:
The Metamorphic Force! of Ban, Claude, Max, and Ivan are comrades fighting for the future. They believe profits are simply unpaid wages, and the corporate masters in WorldCorp’s demonic leadership are long past reformation through non-revolutionary means. With solidarity, ascend with this foursome of companions, fighting tooth and nail to get to the top floor of the Supertower. With the words of the Red Cant distributed worldwide through the invaluable channel of the Internet, may you create a future where there are no more skyscrapers.
Thresholds of Transformation 