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Post by FatalxDegrees on Nov 29, 2010 8:49:03 GMT -5
It's a shame indeed that Japan gets everything and we fans from outside are left with little to nothing. I am so glad that more AE material is being made now. I mean, we have all waited for so long, try 4 years. I do hope that starting from Fury! and hopefully more AE games for the future such as AE 4 will get a stable position for an English version.
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Post by tubadude49 on Nov 30, 2010 17:04:39 GMT -5
I would say something very similar to Ape Escape 2. Build upon the basics of the first game, but don't overload, take out all the unnesecary elements like morphing. This is a problem that plauged games like Sly 3 and Jak 3, they were great games, but overall, I felt the 2nd installment of each found the right balance. Things felt empty playing as only Sly in Sly 1, and they felt gimmicky playing as 8 or so different characters in Sly 3.
So what I want is a polished, fun platformer, stripped down to its roots. Make perfection with a limited toolset
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Post by ApeClubHTML on Dec 1, 2010 3:16:43 GMT -5
You guys got any idea's for storylines? Which characters? etc.
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Post by GaGeru on Dec 1, 2010 9:58:50 GMT -5
I think for this franchise, storyline and cast are closely tied to each game's concept. Case in point, Pumped and Primed featured many characters who were all competing against one another...which falls right in line with the party gameplay.
As such, I could toss a few things out in the way of those ideas. I'm just curious though...can we really expect this game to be something of a full-fledged product? We'll be able to download here off this website a fully 3D, decent looking Ape Escape game? NOT just some kitschy promotional tie-in? Something made with at least as much effort as 2001?
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Post by ApeClubHTML on Dec 1, 2010 17:16:03 GMT -5
The best part about this is that it isnt just a small promotional game. We are hoping it to be a full scale Ape Escape game. But, that's up to you guys in what you choose. From what is said so far, it could be just like Ape Academy. Not saying it's a bad idea, but you guys have so much on offer here, and it would be a shame to waste it on something that will possibly come out in the future anyway. Try and design the best Ape Escape game ever. Also, don't worry about the budget etc, it's what is IN the game that we are concerned about at this point. Have Fun!
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Post by tubadude49 on Dec 1, 2010 18:13:53 GMT -5
But building on what I want, we need to take those Move controls from Fury! Fury! and apply them to a main series game. Take off the rails and allow an analog stick to move the character. Allow a third-person mode so you aren't just some hovering gadget. If I want to use a sky flyer, I'll spin the move above my head. If I want to catch a monkey I'll swing the net. etc...
Whoops, PC game. I'll brainstorm
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Post by tubadude49 on Dec 1, 2010 22:37:28 GMT -5
Okay, I think I've got something. As I said before, I want to strip the franchise down to its roots. To do that, for a large portion of the game, Spike will be alone. Now for my rough concept. The game starts out in the lab during a lightning storm. Lightning strikes hard, and the warp machine starts frizzing out. A few seconds later, it explodes, sending a massive rift across the laboratory, shattering glass and whatnot. Spike blacks out. The screen fades in, and you find yourself alone in the shattered laboratory. All your gadgets are gone, save your stun club, and all of the equipment in the lab is fried. You walk outside, realizing that you aren't where(or when) you were before. The rift shot you across time and space. You see a monkey running by with your net. You chase after it and knock it out, but when you try and net it, nothing happens, as the lab was destroyed. You realize this and let the monkey go. In gratitude for sparing him, the monkey leads you to a hidden cave with an odd rift in it, leading you to the next level. Most of the monkeys will act like this. If you defeat them and hold them long enough, they'll help you by leading to the end of the level(or another monkey who knows where it is) or one of the many gadgets scattered across time. The focus of this game is to find a way home, and to find the Professor and Natalie, not catching monkeys. The time-travel involved means that all the monkeys you meet in the game would be caught in an earlier game, even though you free them now. The Bosses, upon defeat will help you. For instance, about halfway through the game White will send you on several missions to gather parts to recreate a Warp Machine, giving you access to a level select, and helping you locate the Professor and Natalie. After you defeat Specter, he’ll help you reverse the damage caused to the Space-Time continuum by the explosion. The monkeys aren’t the main goal, but ignoring them is going to make your life a pain. The warps and gadgets are hidden well in obscure places. The better the monkey, the better the rewards. All in all, what it boils down to is a pure platformer, with all the gadgets and monkey-catching that made Ape-Escape great. No morphs, very few vehicles, but most of the gadgets.
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Post by GaGeru on Dec 2, 2010 6:11:51 GMT -5
The best part about this is that it isnt just a small promotional game. We are hoping it to be a full scale Ape Escape game. But, that's up to you guys in what you choose. From what is said so far, it could be just like Ape Academy. Not saying it's a bad idea, but you guys have so much on offer here, and it would be a shame to waste it on something that will possibly come out in the future anyway. Try and design the best Ape Escape game ever. Also, don't worry about the budget etc, it's what is IN the game that we are concerned about at this point. Have Fun! Hmm, hmmmm. Interesting. Then I'll propose a few concepts I've been kicking around. - Single Player - The protagonist would be a Piposaru underling of Specter's, of greater than average intelligence. Not necessarily one of the Freaky Monkey Five, but an otherwise typical Piposaru sporting maybe a spiffy little outfit, perhaps emblazoned with Specter's crest. In brief, the game would revolve around using this slightly more capable Piposaru to engage, mobilize and direct Specter's larger infantry. In keeping with the series, the very beginning of the stage will see your entry into the area, where there are numerous monkeys dotting the landscape, awaiting you. There is a difference though in exactly what you'll be doing and how you approach your prey. The narrative will provide that Specter needs for you to "activate" his ground forces, so for once, the monkeys you'll be chasing down will just be plain old monkeys; no Pipo helmet. This is where our protagonist comes into play.
Your Piposaru is referred to from here on in as "Deputy"...just for the role he seems to play in Specter's operation. Now Deputy will have on his person a stock of Pipo helmets, helmets he is charged with placing on the monkeys so that they might number among Specter's company. Seeing as they are just simple monkeys at this point without the advanced faculties of the Piposaru, and how Deputy is a monkey himself, you may encounter little to no active resistance from the monkey once you are upon it. Rather, the obstacle will lie more in the journey of putting yourself in striking distance, so to speak, by way of interacting with puzzles and/or navigating platforming sections...essentially, the predatory chase element of the AE formula would be de-emphasized with more emphasis on simply finding or reaching the monkey. Once your current mark is in your immediate vicinity, you'll use the familiar mechanic of swinging and catching the monkey to, on this outing, smack a nice, shiny Pipo helmet on that sucker's noggin, turning him into a loyal Piposaru. With a new soldier under your wing, there will be a system to communicate with your growing platoon of Piposaru using the color of the lamp on your own Pipo helmet, allowing your recruits to assist you in overcoming certain obstacles and completing certain puzzles you may need their help for to reach the last few stragglers.
The gameplay doesn't stop there, though. Aside from gathering up all the monkeys, you might also search out and pick up keys/key pieces/card key data you'll find along the way looking for monkeys, to be used on doors and barricades that otherwise prevent you from exiting the level. So you'll need to collect two key pieces to complete the level: the complete roster of monkeys for that stage, and the item/s needed so you can make your final approach to victory with your newly formed Pipo brigade. On this final approach, there will be obstacles you'll need to navigate your force through, again using the aforementioned Pipo lamp system...e.g. you could indicate for them to halt by switching your lamp color to red before they cross a little section with timed fire/boulder/etc. hazards, and green (or the customary blue) to give the go-ahead. Doing all this will see you successfully complete the level, with the new recruits in tow to be added to Specter's army.
Later levels of the game would see another factor come into play: a human pursuer, monkey net and all, appearing in the stage. You'll then have a more substantial and dangerous threat actively roaming around to deal with...too many of the Piposaru you've amassed falling victim to the human's net will spell game over for you. At this point it'll be up to you to strategize how you and your companions take care of this adversary. If the human catches a monkey, there will be a mechanic you can rely on to free your brothers in arms. Deputy can stealthily follow and shadow the human as they patrol, the objective being to get right up behind them and activate a little gadget of your own that cuts away or disables the net. You'll have to stockpile your progress and keep on it; the net won't be disarmed right away. Once you pull it off though, whatever Piposaru the human managed to catch will come bounding back out of the warp in the net, bouncing off the human's head in a flurry of utter confusion. With the net no longer functioning and its need for a bit of time to come back online, you can seize on this opportunity to ambush him right then and there, either beating him into submission and scaring him off, or snatching the broken net, holding him at bay while the net regenerates, and sending him packing with a swift swing of his own net.
EDIT: You know, I've never played SaruSaru Big Mission...but I was just reading about it, and it sounds a lot like this concept in more ways than one. What a bummer....
- Single Player - The protagonist could be any one of the series' starring youths, or an original character altogether. The premise is the story places the protagonist in the training area, perhaps doing maintenance or checking out an abnormal reading that was being received in the lab. Our hero then becomes trapped in the gadget training complex, as the result of some shadowy schemes and manipulation by an unspecified, mysterious enemy...maybe it's Specter, maybe it's not. Thus, you'll now be confined to the training complex, exploring the whole of it in ways you've never had before. You'll have to rely on gadgets both new and old, some of them experimental prototypes you'll have to manage and balance to overcome structures and platforming bigger than ever seen before in the training area, and in dealing with training enemies who because of this fiasco, exhibit newfound aggression, nastiness and finally pose a challenge.
There could be a central hub area where you'll return to from each particular training room...this area could be, in effect, a giant towering virtual open complex. You'll have to progress up this structure through the game with some seriously vigorous vertical platforming, with a nice impressive scope expanding on the feeling of being at the top of the TV Tower or on Specter's space fortress in the original. It'll be all open air, like a structural endoskeleton suspended in a virtual sky, in order to really drive that grand feeling home. Aside from working your way up to the top, the tower being fashioned in this way will allow for some secret or hard-to-reach paths that branch off the side a bit that you'll have to stumble on...tackling these tiny bonus platforming sections might net you lives, cookies, or improvements to your accumulating gadgets, helping you in the long run with training obstacles and training enemies/mini-bosses. The game will culminate with you conquering the tower, and coming out into the Professor's lab. You could go a couple different ways here...maybe you end up in some sort of work-in-progress arena or battle area on a different floor of the lab, or maybe it turns out you're not in the lab at all. You'll then face the final boss.
- Online | Cooperative Multiplayer - Two protagonists, again, selected from any of the series' familiar faces or new characters altogether. The story set-up will provide some reason for the net and club-wielding half of the duo to be unable to figure out or handle gadgets and devices like the Monkey Radar, thereby opening up an expanded functionality for the other half of the duo who will act as a monkey spotter of sorts. The two will venture to levels and pursue the monkeys; it'll be crucial however that they work off of each other and use teamwork to capture the Piposaru and achieve their goal. One half will be responsible for nabbing the buggers, and the other half will be tasked with locating, exposing and making the more elusive monkeys accessible. The saru spotter will operate a new and improved Monkey Radar, perhaps with a type of overall sonar screen to add to the basic function of the gadget. The spotter can reveal hidden monkeys to the partner and point their partner in the right direction. They can help in reaching difficult areas or high-up places using something along the lines of a team-assist jump or combining their gadgets. The spotter could also lay traps to snag up and slow down (or completely immobilize) especially wily, quick monkeys. So that'd be two human players cooperating to overcome the various challenges of the level and hunting for Piposaru.
- Online | Competitive and Cooperative Multiplayer - This last concept is somewhat similar to online gameplay modes seen in some games today such as Kane & Lynch. It'll be online multiplayer allowing for anywhere from 2-10 players, with a character select roster for you to take your pick from. Once everyone's keyed in and selected their characters, all players will be dropped into a stage with Piposaru waiting to be caught. It'll essentially be a free-for-all among the players to capture and rack up the most monkeys; the placement of the monkeys might be a little bit more out in the open, with less need for exploration in order to accommodate this type of gameplay. All players would of course have at their disposal their trusty stun clubs and monkey nets, with probably only the bare essentials in the way of other gadgets, like the Flyer, assigned to the face buttons. Players will be able to inflict damage on one another, but unable to deal a finishing blow (meaning they can reduce you down to one cracked cookie, where then a enemy or Piposaru would need to finish you). Players who lose all their health or are captured by net-thieving Piposaru will be resurrected as either enemies or Piposaru. They'll then work against the remaining human players to disrupt their efforts in capturing the Piposaru and to try and defeat them.
There would also be a mechanic that allows for you to steal prospective targets from right out underneath your opponents. When a human player captures a monkey in their net, the following animation we all know and love with the spinning camera and warping, will actually play out in real time and be slightly elongated. As the saru teleports away, this player will be vulnerable to attack. If you manage to reach your fellow competitor in this short window of time, you can clock him one, causing him to release his monkey and stunning the both of them, setting you up for an easy catch. The game would also allow for team-based competition, so the strategy would only get more in-depth from there, e.g. watching other teammates' backs to keep their Piposaru from being stolen or using your own numbers to gang up on the other team as they try to play defense with their monkey mark.
Well, I've exhausted my thoughts for now. I originally intended for all of those to be separate, enumerated ideas for consideration, but it'd actually be quite cool if it all got dumped in the cauldron and what brewed up was a hybrid game, composed of all those ideas. I think all of them stand on their own as reasonably doable games that are less than a big ol' numbered entry, but more than simple minigame compilations. All fused together though, that'd be a pretty damn consummate side-game I feel. The whole thing should probably be treated that way. For instance, I really liked tuba's "catch or release" idea. We've seen this kind of thing implemented in a number of games as morality systems, the most notable arguably being the MGS series. As anyone who's played those games knows, once you have a gun to your enemy's head, it's your prerogative whether they live or die, and the consequences vary. Being able to net a monkey, but then choose to release it, perhaps being conferred some sort of benefit or bonus for it, is a seriously neat idea. I think it has tons of applications. Whatever your feeling on morphing or vehicles, that little feature is the kind of simple, fresh thing of pure ingenuity, just as it was to allow the monkeys to steal your gadgets in the third. I say it oughta be included in the main series.
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Post by tubadude49 on Dec 2, 2010 16:27:30 GMT -5
[/li][li] Online | Cooperative Multiplayer - Two protagonists, again, selected from any of the series' familiar faces or new characters altogether. The story set-up will provide some reason for the net and club-wielding half of the duo to be unable to figure out or handle gadgets and devices like the Monkey Radar, thereby opening up an expanded functionality for the other half of the duo who will act as a monkey spotter of sorts. The two will venture to levels and pursue the monkeys; it'll be crucial however that they work off of each other and use teamwork to capture the Piposaru and achieve their goal. One half will be responsible for nabbing the buggers, and the other half will be tasked with locating, exposing and making the more elusive monkeys accessible. The saru spotter will operate a new and improved Monkey Radar, perhaps with a type of overall sonar screen to add to the basic function of the gadget. The spotter can reveal hidden monkeys to the partner and point their partner in the right direction. They can help in reaching difficult areas or high-up places using something along the lines of a team-assist jump or combining their gadgets. The spotter could also lay traps to snag up and slow down (or completely immobilize) especially wily, quick monkeys. So that'd be two human players cooperating to overcome the various challenges of the level and hunting for Piposaru. .[/quote] I like this idea a lot and I'd like to combine it with my concept. Instead of abritraily assigning gadgets to each character, at the start of the level, the players will take turns picking gadgets to fill their 4 slots from the inventory that they have collected. Because of this method, only one of them will have a net. In my idea, where you would have to hold a monkey until they stopped struggling, one player would be left vunerable holding the net down, while the other would be protecting them by fighting off enemies. I would also like seeing co-op moments such as gate-opening, where one player spins a wheel with a stun club, while the other passes under the gate, pressing a button on the other side to keep it open, allowing the first player to join them
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Post by GaGeru on Dec 3, 2010 4:27:04 GMT -5
I like this idea a lot and I'd like to combine it with my concept. Instead of abritraily assigning gadgets to each character, at the start of the level, the players will take turns picking gadgets to fill their 4 slots from the inventory that they have collected. Because of this method, only one of them will have a net. In my idea, where you would have to hold a monkey until they stopped struggling, one player would be left vunerable holding the net down, while the other would be protecting them by fighting off enemies. I would also like seeing co-op moments such as gate-opening, where one player spins a wheel with a stun club, while the other passes under the gate, pressing a button on the other side to keep it open, allowing the first player to join them A so-called gadget select would be an interesting idea. Balancing the gadgets and trying to anticipate the bearing your selections will have on the upcoming level would add a new element. It could be integrated in a way that plays out in-game, where you'll need to exchange specific gadgets in order to equip one of the players when you reach a segment that holds the other back. I think character design and backstory could quite nicely accommodate the need for the second player to handle very particular gadgets and perform certain operations. The netter could be a carefree, simple-minded rambunctious young boy. The second player, companion to the netter, might be a female counterpart of the same age, bespectacled, shy and, well, geeky. Natsumi/Natalie/Kate might be considered a no-brainer, but I think it serves the game better to develop a new duo. Establishing character archetypes creates a great deal of potential for new challenges and obstacles requiring a cooperative effort to overcome. As you mentioned, a second player would now play the role the RC car has played for awhile now and add a teamwork element to simply opening passage. That's just one possibility out of countless applications. Imagine, Player 1 has to traverse a platforming section controlled by Player 2, which she operates through a control terminal. You'll interface with it to align platforms at the right moment with your partner running and jumping along. Another scenario, both characters are running along and the boy falls through a trap door into a dark room down below...lights flicker on, and there's an especially formidable Piposaru helming an armored mecha. Player 1 may get stuck trying to tackle this difficulty all by his lonesome, but the second Player could come in on it by finding another terminal which she uses to pilot a dormant, remotely operated mecha sitting in the same room that greatly evens the odds, helping your partner dismantle the mecha armor, capture the monkey, and make his way on out of there. Thinking a little bit more about this two player co-op approach now, the possibilities are great and many. To lift a concept from the Mega Man X series, how about an auxiliary health system? Those games feature "Sub-Tanks", items that can be filled time and again with excess health and weapon energy that can be relied upon in times of crisis and loss of resources. This game could introduce a similar item, called the Cookie Jar. It'd either be an item rarely collected or purchased (in that event, the game would feature a currency/shop system) that can only be carried by one of the two characters. Excess cookies you don't need can be stored in the jar when you pick them up with full health, and should your own health be depleted, the jar will automatically restore you proportionate to how many cookies are currently stored. If the partner gets in a crunch, you'll have to rush to their aid with the Cookie Jar. It could also be broken or stolen by some Piposaru.... The net struggling is yet another thing. You can have sections suited to just that: a struggling monkey with the need for your partner to bring up the rear so you can seal the deal. You could have in those areas an unusually high population of enemies to make this a realistic concern and issue. And that's to say nothing of what could be happening on the netter's end. This struggling concept could see you whirling your analog stick as the monkey runs circles around you, although in the net, and inputting QTE commands like a lot of games in order to put it in the bag. There could even be scenarios where crazy and erratic Piposaru actually high-tail it when the net comes down over them, dragging Player 1 along as an unwilling, hapless tag-along, where he'll need to hold on without being flung off a cliff or off the monkey to finish it. And hey, another co-op concept! If Player 2 is free and has nothing requiring their immediate attention, grab onto your partner at the waist, slowing down the Piposaru towing you both along and making his capture much easier.
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Post by tubadude49 on Dec 3, 2010 16:13:19 GMT -5
The net struggling is yet another thing. You can have sections suited to just that: a struggling monkey with the need for your partner to bring up the rear so you can seal the deal. You could have in those areas an unusually high population of enemies to make this a realistic concern and issue. And that's to say nothing of what could be happening on the netter's end. This struggling concept could see you whirling your analog stick as the monkey runs circles around you, although in the net, and inputting QTE commands like a lot of games in order to put it in the bag. There could even be scenarios where crazy and erratic Piposaru actually high-tail it when the net comes down over them, dragging Player 1 along as an unwilling, hapless tag-along, where he'll need to hold on without being flung off a cliff or off the monkey to finish it. And hey, another co-op concept! If Player 2 is free and has nothing requiring their immediate attention, grab onto your partner at the waist, slowing down the Piposaru towing you both along and making his capture much easier. Yeah, this is kinda where I was going. I'm thinking a lot of monkeys will resent being held so long. Some will just be gracious to you for sparing them and will lead you to some reward, but the more cunning mokeys will fake this and lead you into an ambush or pitfall when you release them. Angrier monkeys will start fighting back as soon as you let them out, in a sort of fury mode where they're twice as powerful. Some monkeys will just head for the hills and won't look back. Its not going to be the same, oh just fill up the bar and the monkey will reward you experience, its going to vary signifigantly based upon the monkey.
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Post by GaGeru on Dec 3, 2010 20:58:19 GMT -5
Yeah, this is kinda where I was going. I'm thinking a lot of monkeys will resent being held so long. Some will just be gracious to you for sparing them and will lead you to some reward, but the more cunning mokeys will fake this and lead you into an ambush or pitfall when you release them. Angrier monkeys will start fighting back as soon as you let them out, in a sort of fury mode where they're twice as powerful. Some monkeys will just head for the hills and won't look back. Its not going to be the same, oh just fill up the bar and the monkey will reward you experience, its going to vary signifigantly based upon the monkey. It's fair to say creating greater distinctions between the various types of Piposaru, with different actions and reactions expanding on their core characteristics, is one of the most important aspects going forward in creating fresh ideas and evolving the gameplay in an intuitive way. Works at the level of the entire series' foundation, as opposed to things that could potentially be perceived as "gimmicky"....
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Post by tubadude49 on Dec 4, 2010 7:55:57 GMT -5
Building on these co-op attacks,... Say the catcher is fighting a monkey. The assistant is holding a super hoop. The assistant starts to circle around the catcher and the monkey, creating a giant electrical tornado, with a radius that continues to tighten as they go on. The player and monkey are trapped inside, the electric wall will hurt both of them. With the shrinking battlefield, its much easier to capture the monkey
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Post by GaGeru on Dec 4, 2010 23:58:13 GMT -5
That's a good idea. The only thing I would say is that a "giant electrical tornado" is a little outwardly extravagant for something the player character would execute in an AE game. Supposing the hoop leaves a white trail of energy emanating some blue translucence below and above, creating a wall of moderate height...that would fall in pretty well with the Ape Escape motif, I think. Such a solid concept though, and it can act as yet another vehicle for Piposaru variety. The more timid ones will be confused or be easily victimized by the shrinking area, and more aggressive monkeys could flip out when faced with the wall, choosing to charge you instead, putting the player at a disadvantage.
Running with that a bit, like we've said, the dispositions of the different Piposaru can play into the method a lot more. Speaking of aggressive monkeys, how about an approach where the assisting player can bait them with a dress cape, in the style of a matador, where then the monkey blitzes your way in a charge of fury. He can run both players down, or rather if you time your reaction correctly, you can yank your cape away to greet him with the catcher's net hidden behind it. And to make a rough outline of this, the matador dress cape could be something that folds itself out of a primary gadget...say, the assisting player lacks a stun club, but in its place they wield an all-in-one device with various applications for deceiving and ensnaring Piposaru.
And another co-op attack idea I thought would be neat...instead of always having to get high-up, suspended monkeys to dismount with your slingshot, how about stylishly catching monkeys out of the air? Assistant mans her flyer, grasping the palm of her partner, lifting him up and taking him with her for the flyer ride. You're chasing down Piposaru that are flying around on pterodactyls, their flying saucers and with their butt-mounted rotors. You can only get so much altitude with the flyer of course, but then the assistant can whip the catcher up there, turning him into a skyward bullet that bags the monkeys right out of thin air, or even puts the player on top of whatever the Piposaru's riding, where he then has to engage them in this way, mid-flight.
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Post by miniyai on Dec 7, 2010 20:30:15 GMT -5
1-Use AE3's gameplay engine, that game pretty much nailed the platforming aspect on the head. 2-Use Furry Fury's Graphic engine, from what I've seen, the art style shown there is pretty spot-on. 3-MESAL GEAR SOLID 2: BANANAS OF THE PATRIOTS 4-More original Gadgets and Morphs. The Slingback/Hoop/RC are cool and all, but it'd be nice to see original content. HOwever, don't you dare get rid of the Stun Club and Gotcha Net, those things are mainstays.
I'll think of more things later, but in general, follow this list.
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