Game_01: Twin-Stix

The year is 2050 and an evil AI has taken over cyberspace. You play as Johnny "Twin-Stix", a man plucked from the 80s and sent to the future to destroy the AI controlling the world. A top down fast paced rogue-lite where you must destroy as many machines as possible before it’s too late. Use your dual clubs to beat the enemy AI into submission. Spawn. Die. Repeat.

Riding on the ongoing success of the rogue-lite genre, players will be immersed in a dystopian world, where you may never truly die. The target audience are players who enjoy rogue-likes such as Hades, Dead Cells, and Vampire Survivors.

The prototype would focus on achieving good level design, structured in a way to improve the players skills. Ever changing levels keep the game fresh for each play through. By focusing on developing the game in distinct area chunks, we can optimise development to make sure each part of the game is playable before adding more content.

Figure 01: Hades

The game would have combat similar to Hades, but with a main focus on using the twin stick weapons.

Figure 02: The Binding of Isaac

The game would have a similar level structure to The Binding of Isaac, with levels being made of tiles that can be arranged in any order to keep levels fresh on repeated play through.

Figure 03: Escape from L.A.

The vibe would be similar to cheesy 80s action movies, such as Escape from L.A.

Game_02: The Brain Institute

Neville and Rupert have had their minds fused into a single entity. Not happy to be lab rats, they must work together to escape the testing facility that was designed to merge them into one. Control two characters at once using one thumb stick for each in a puzzle platformer designed to test your skills. Can you escape The Brain Institute?

The games target audience are people who enjoy puzzle platformers and games with a mad scientist twist. There is a market for games with these strange control systems, examples include: Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons and Degrees of Separation. Using both thumb-sticks to control both players at the same time will require skill and coordination from the player. Puzzles will be physics based that are mostly based around the coordination of controlling both characters.

The focus of the prototype will be to experiment with game play for controlling two players at once, while creating engaging puzzles that challenge the player.

Figure 03: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. Source: Steam Store page.

The games controls would be similar to Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and Degrees of Separation.

Figure 04: Degrees of Separation. Source: Steam Store page.

Figure 05: Portal

The themes would be similar to Portal.

Thanks for reading!

References

Hades Image: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145360/Hades/

The Binding of Isaac Image: https://store.steampowered.com/app/250900/The_Binding_of_Isaac_Rebirth/

Escape From L.A. Image: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116225/mediaviewer/rm3648435969/

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Image: https://store.steampowered.com/app/225080/Brothers__A_Tale_of_Two_Sons/

Degrees of Separation Image: https://store.steampowered.com/app/809880/Degrees_of_Separation/

Portal Image: https://store.steampowered.com/app/400/Portal/