Our next title! "project Vulkein"

[Ledious]

"What makes the perfect racing game, what would you like to see changed in racing games today, what don't you want to change, what are your favorite aspects of racing games. Share your opinions -_^"

Here is what we have so far:

"Ok everyone. I was going to wait until we had better screens to show you guys but I have been really busy with college and I haven't been able to work for the studio in a while. I know we will need public opinions on this one too so I decided to do it now since I cant really do anything else for the game right now. the other members are working very hard however, they are programming the physics right now. Anyway this is a racing game for Xbox 360. We don't have a name for it so we just call it "Project Vulkein". The game is more of a futuristic action game with racing elements, it looks similar to F-zero but without the other racers. There wont be any other cars racing against you unless we add a second player mode. You race against time through one large track that navigates through stunning terrains, cities, underwater caverns, forests and even through fierce storm clouds. The tracks are all full of obstacles, loops, ramps, and triggered catastrophes that can cause damage to the track or you. there are also enemies that chase you down and get in your way. Throughout the game you can unlock upgrades for your ship including weapons that can be used to defeat enemies and destroy some obstacles."

Sounds boring doesn't it? That's why we need you guys to tell us what YOU want. That little explanation was pretty much just the foundation the game will be built on. We wanted it to be very flexible so that you guys can give us Ideas and make it YOUR game. This one isn't like medallion, this is about you, what you want. Wink
But you have to keep in mind, we are only a 7 man studio and the deadline is December, CHRISTMAS TIME!=P so creating complex AI would take allot of time. We were thinking the fighting to be something like starfox or the gummy ship arcade from KH, but just on a track, racing to the finish line before it blows up or something. We were thinking about adding a small story so we can add a main bad guy and such but this game is more about game play. It also cant be as large as mainstream games because it is an arcade game and there is a size limit on the dounloadable content for the marketplace.

"Project Vulkein" will be dounloadable from the arcade marketplace on XBox live. We are planning on releasing it around December but that's not a promise. We can have a game by then but it might not be amazing enough so we may extend the deadline to make the best game we can.
Here are some low poly, untextured ship models. This is the Vulkein:

[Markus. D]

Dump the racing concept.

Make it a shmup!

then you can have an occult fanbase :O!

[KentaRawr!]

I don't really have any suggestions. Every suggestion I did come up with was already in the description. o_o The only one I really have left is to consider including a racing mode, but ensuring that the emphasis is on making an engaging Single Player Mode, and that the main gameplay elements from the Single Player Mode transfer well into the Multiplayer mode.

[Momiji]

Dump the racing concept.

Make it a shmup!

then you can have an occult fanbase :O!

How are shmups occult? o_O

[Mercen-X]

At first, my only concern was that I didn't know what 'shmup' meant. But that's stupid. I don't recall ever having any fondness for shu'm'up titles. Do you have a pilot image in development? It doesn't need to be complicated, just some humanoid in a black visored helmet. With a pilot image, you can insert a storyline into the game. As one person in these forums stated, you're storyline doesn't have to be awe-inspiring if the game-engine is solid in itself. But it does still have to make sense. You mentioned enemies, so I think a real storyline would work.
The game to me sounds like Spy Hunter with a time limit. But one aspect of Spy Hunter that I liked conceptually was being able to (finally) get out of the car and spyhunt on foot. But that may be unlikely here.

[Ledious]

At first, my only concern was that I didn't know what 'shmup' meant. But that's stupid. I don't recall ever having any fondness for shu'm'up titles. Do you have a pilot image in development? It doesn't need to be complicated, just some humanoid in a black visored helmet. With a pilot image, you can insert a storyline into the game. As one person in these forums stated, you're storyline doesn't have to be awe-inspiring if the game-engine is solid in itself. But it does still have to make sense. You mentioned enemies, so I think a real storyline would work.
The game to me sounds like Spy Hunter with a time limit. But one aspect of Spy Hunter that I liked conceptually was being able to (finally) get out of the car and spyhunt on foot. But that may be unlikely here.

Yes, it is only an arcade game so the main purpose here is game play. We have been thinking of several story Ideas but we want to see what kind of story the public wants to play in. Now as for the character, the car is pretty much the character since it is only an arcade game, it cant be a big free roaming deep story based game its more like a classic game with really good graphics. But we wanted the driver to be a mystery for the player and we were thinking at the end after you kill the main boss. your car gets destroyed in the proses and your character gets out of the car but you don't see his/her face.

[Markus. D]

Dump the racing concept.

Make it a shmup!

then you can have an occult fanbase :O!

How are shmups occult? o_O

a fanbase hidden from view?

nah, just seemed like the right thing to say at the time.

I'm not actually being serious about my suggestion either.

Make a balanced set of weapons, nothing overpowered unless it comes at a price (Perhaps homing shots travel at a lower speed?)

[Mercen-X]

Yes, it is only an arcade game so the main purpose here is game play. We have been thinking of several story ideas but we want to see what kind of story the public wants to play in. Now as for the character, the car is pretty much the character since it is only an arcade game, it cant be a big free roaming deep story based game its more like a classic game with really good graphics. But we wanted the driver to be a mystery for the player and we were thinking at the end after you kill the main boss. your car gets destroyed in the process and your character gets out of the car but you don't see his/her face.

KnightRider
How does one go about writing an involving story that doesn't seem typical? I don't know. The type of craft you've created as the main character definitely locks you under a particular thread. The questions in the end would be: "who/what/when/where are you and are you the good or the bad?"

Personally, I slowly began to pay more attention to games at the arcade when they had at least a slight story to tell. I didn't really have any friends when I was younger so games that held multiplayer appeal didn't work on me.

Just to be clear: my meaning of "pilot image" entails something like a square with a jpeg in it which looks human. This could result in pop-up text-dialogue screens during pivotal moments of play.

[KentaRawr!]

If you want a story, then it seems like it would be best to have the levels describe the story at this point, not with words, but with actions.

[Ledious]

If you want a story, then it seems like it would be best to have the levels describe the story at this point, not with words, but with actions.

Well the reason I didn't give it much of a story is so that you guys can come up with the story you want to play in. what kind of stories are your favorite what is your favorite elements of a story or is game play more important than story? we would like this game to be completely designed by gamers so we can give you what you want. so all those times you've said,"Man there needs to be a game that has..., or this game would be kick ass if..." let us know what they are.
you do have to follow some guidelines though, The game has limitations because it is arcade and the graphics cant be up to par with the mainstream games out there, you know, things like that. -_^

[McLovin']

Btw, what's the status of your other game, Medallion?

[Ledious]

We, currently put the development of Medallion on hold so we can prefect it's concepts and to gain support/financing needed for production. We should be getting allot of support with the release of 3 Xbox live games this spring, we may start production after that. If not, then we will defiantly start production on our Wii exclusive MMO, "Clouded Oceans".