Playing to the Concert Hall 2: My “Dream” Project

In my previous blog, I made the point that for me, game development is all about reaching the largest audience possible, even if it means creating the game around a licensed character (i.e. Daffy Duck or SpongeBob). Now…just to clarify this a bit: Some licenses are incontrovertibly cooler than others. For my “dream” project, I’d forgo the original concept in order to clinch the larger audience with a licensed character. Specifically, I’d employ the best character ever seen in any comic, TV show or movie…the best character ever created (IMO): Superman!

Now there have been quite a few Superman games developed over the years since he made his first appearance on the Atari 2600. However, despite his impressive panoply of powers, robust character design and enormous worldwide appeal, very few of these games are anywhere close to memorable.

So what would MY Superman game be like?

First of all, I would create a context by basing the game largely on the Max Fleischer animated Superman shorts. This would frame the Man of Steel in a world where he isn’t necessarily all-powerful. In these brilliant gems created in the early 1940’s, Superman has to deal with natural disasters, fight armies of criminal robots thwart evil scientists bent on world domination. As he does this, we get the idea that he is quite strong, but not invincible. He can get tangled in power lines or knocked back by a foe’s destructive energy beam. In this context, it would be appropriate for Superman to have a health bar, which I believe is essential for the gameplay to be properly balanced.

I think the designers over at Tiburon were onto something when they made Superman Returns for the Xbox 360 a couple of years ago. The control scheme is generally solid and the flying game mechanic is actually pretty fun. It has a freeform, Sandbox style of gameplay that is similar to that used in the Grand Theft Auto games. Unfortunately, the missions of Superman Returns lacked variety and were never terribly challenging. My game would feature a diverse number of scenarios, tiered based on their level of difficulty and complexity. These would range from rescuing Lois Lane to tracking down the mobster behind the latest jewel heist in Metropolis. The more challenging the mission, the more reward the player would get in the form of increased health and progression. Many of these missions would require the player to don the Clark Kent alter-ego and return to the Daily Planet in order to scope out mission leads handed out by Perry White (naturally, Lois would be a fierce competitor in these missions!).

Other indispensable elements for the perfect Superman game: X-Ray vision... the player’s primary way to track down trouble. Also, Kryptonite…used to limit Superman’s powers in certain areas with only limited effect on his health meter.

Anyway, these are just a few of the features I would address in my Superman “dream” project. My fundamental point is this: I see working with licensed properties not only as a way to hook the largest audience of players for my games, but also as a good framework for the creative aspects of the game’s design. Of course, it helps to have a character as appealing as Big Blue.

Image Source: From the Fleischer Superman animated shorts, photo of the Superman bust that sits on my desk at WayForward.