Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop! Today, I'm posting my formerly 48 hour exclusive to Patreon "How to make a Harley Quinn game good without directly copying the Batman Arkham Games" post. So if you want to see these first, click on the link and donate at least the 1 dollar tier.
First off, we'd need to base Harley on her New 52/Rebirth incarnation, so this one's got the bleached skin from a similar vat of chemicals that the Joker was exposed to. But more importantly, this one's not attached to the Joker anymore. No, this Harley Quinn actually despises the Joker for the abuse, but is still slightly in love with him despite that. She is definitely a battered ex who needs to move on with her life.
And that's when her story comes in; Harley, who lives in New York, gets a letter from the Joker saying he wants to meet her. Knowing full well that she'll never be free so long as he lives, Harley decides its time to end things and finally kill the Joker, beginning her hub world/level progression game where she hunts him down with some help from her friends along the way.
Now, even though we've got a functional system from the Batman Arkham games, I'm not going to use that. Instead, we're going to use a system similar to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines for combat and to show off Harley's insanity. Harley Quinn's arsenal includes guns, knives, a baseball bat, her mallet and a variety of explosives, all of which would work well with Bloodlines' combat system. However, instead of Bloodlines' melee system, we'd give Harley something more dynamic and destructive, since Harley is an antihero in this scenario, and she doesn't care who gets hurt in her quest for vengeance. And that's not even counting her gymnastics training allowing her what she needs to BE more dynamic in melee combat.
As for her her insanity, we could actually do something similar to the Malkavians from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines; she's hear things that aren't there, see things that aren't there, and get insight into her quest. Combine that with her genius level intellect and her training in psychiatry, Harley would be able to figure out any clue in her investigation into where the Joker is, as well as any other side quests she's involved herself in.
Which leads me to an idea about her insanity; we'd have a button that allow her to drop into her insane state at her whim, which she'd call "insight", and that would affect her in combat and in investigations; combat would be flashier and more damaging, and she'd find clues quicker. But be warned, because "insight" usage would be tracked, and would affect her ending if used too much; would she continue to try to be a better person than the Joker made her, or she give in to her madness and stop fighting what the Joker made her?
As for her quest, it would be open world with a level by level system; you'd start in New York, do a little bit of open world there to advance the story, then head to Gotham, Metropolis and any other place the story takes her, doing the same thing until she catches up with the Joker. This mean that the open world aspects would be smaller in scale than in Spider-man or Arkham Knight, but that's only because you're not just dealing with a single city.
Harley's got a few dozen friends too. Her long time love Poison Ivy, Catwoman, the Suicide Squad, even the Bat Family could get involved in Harley's story. Pamela, who loves Harley the most, would be like "Look, don't let him get to you. This is your life, not his. But if you have to do this, I'll help you.", while Catwoman and the Bat family would be like "bring him in, but don't kill him; you're better than that," while the Suicide Squad members would be like "Just kill him and be done with it." All would have quests for Harley to perform in their locations, and all would be integrated into the the story line.
And finally, the Joker. This would definitely be a boss fight, both physically and mentally. And how it would end would be determined by a number of factors; would she kill him or let him live? If she let him live, what would she do next? If she killed him, what would she do next? The madness meter would definitely play into this and would determine her ending.
Harley Quinn would definitely need a lot of work to be unique, but as illustrated here, it is totally possible.
Showing posts with label How to make a good superhero game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label How to make a good superhero game. Show all posts
Monday, September 23, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
What a Shazam game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!
Today's hero is one who's still relatively in the public eye, Shazam, or the Original Captain Marvel before the New 52 reboot.
Now, unlike most of the heroes I'm covering here, Shazam is actually two distinct people; Billy Batson, a good hearted child who was frustrated with his life being bounced around in the foster care system, and Shazam, the heroic individual with the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury, which in turn grants him certain abilities and resistances/in-vulnerabilities. For example, as Shazam, Billy knows things he shouldn't know, can fly, has the durability of beings like Superman, spellcasting, and an assortment of other powers available to him.
Now, since Shazam is essentially a magical version of Superman but with a different set of secondary powers, a lot of the same rules apply, but with a twist. You see, unlike other super hero games, Shazam's civilian form is not an adult; he's a child. So unlike the adult heroes, who have experience juggling a civilian and superhero lifestyle, Billy Batson does not. Billy still has to deal with everything a child has to; school, curfews, etc. So that's why a Shazam game will need two distinct gameplay modes; Billy and Shazam. Billy can go anywhere he pleases that's not gated behind some kind of age restriction, and he can talk to people as he pleases, those who ignore him due to him being a child notwithstanding. And because he's a child, he can get into small places and give him a stealth based gameplay.
Shazam, however, is at full strength all the time. He can fly, he can run almost as fast as the Flash, and can put out all the strength of Superman and take all the punishment Superman can. However, Shazam can't go into any building that's not part of a mission he's undertaking, and he can't blend in with normal people at all.
The important thing, though, is that Billy needs to be as fun as Shazam. So while he's making his way around the city, he could ride bikes, ride a skateboard, run, jump and scrap with other kids if it becomes necessary. He obviously can't fight adults due to a size, speed and strength advantage, but when he shouts the magic word "Shazam!" with heroic intent, needing to combat adults becomes a non-issue. However, he'd still do his best to maintain his secret identity, so he'd look for places to hide before transforming to do so safely.
Now, instead of the city being his life bar, we'd implement a clock mechanism. You see, Billy Batson, as previously mentioned, is still a child, so he's still beholden to the restrictions of a child; so school, curfews and other appointments that are outside his control. So not only would Billy need to keep to a schedule as Billy, but any time he's doing his superhero thing as Shazam, he'd need to keep watch on the clock. So, if Shazam was facing off against one of his enemies, he'd need to finish up in time for bed or other restrictions. And if he didn't finish up in time? Well, he'd get grounded and not be allowed into the city like he wants to.
Now, unlike the situation with Superman, Billy enjoys being a superhero; Shazam is a child's power fantasy, so there wouldn't be any alignment issues. Billy would do the right thing as Shazam, a child's desire for fun notwithstanding, which would be integrated into gameplay. For example, say Billy and his friends want to go to the baseball stadium after hours and knock a few balls around the park. Billy could fly there as Shazam, and either sneak in or fly in and they'd have fun. But remember, doing something like that is breaking curfew, and that could have consequences on the gameplay.
With all that said, this game would of course be open world, with full subway, bus and taxi routes for Billy and a full cityscape to fly through as Shazam. And as both Billy and Shazam, you could pick up side quests, though ones given to Shazam and ones given to Billy would be very different, though they could easily intersect.
Shazam could be fun if things are treated like a child's super hero fantasy, because that's what the character is. You don't need any moral ambiguity in a game like this either; Billy is a good kid with a good heart, and even though he sometimes struggles, he knows that he's been given a gift to help people. And that is the core of what would make a Shazam game good.
Today's hero is one who's still relatively in the public eye, Shazam, or the Original Captain Marvel before the New 52 reboot.
Now, unlike most of the heroes I'm covering here, Shazam is actually two distinct people; Billy Batson, a good hearted child who was frustrated with his life being bounced around in the foster care system, and Shazam, the heroic individual with the Wisdom of Solomon, Strength of Hercules, Stamina of Atlas, Power of Zeus, Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury, which in turn grants him certain abilities and resistances/in-vulnerabilities. For example, as Shazam, Billy knows things he shouldn't know, can fly, has the durability of beings like Superman, spellcasting, and an assortment of other powers available to him.
Now, since Shazam is essentially a magical version of Superman but with a different set of secondary powers, a lot of the same rules apply, but with a twist. You see, unlike other super hero games, Shazam's civilian form is not an adult; he's a child. So unlike the adult heroes, who have experience juggling a civilian and superhero lifestyle, Billy Batson does not. Billy still has to deal with everything a child has to; school, curfews, etc. So that's why a Shazam game will need two distinct gameplay modes; Billy and Shazam. Billy can go anywhere he pleases that's not gated behind some kind of age restriction, and he can talk to people as he pleases, those who ignore him due to him being a child notwithstanding. And because he's a child, he can get into small places and give him a stealth based gameplay.
Shazam, however, is at full strength all the time. He can fly, he can run almost as fast as the Flash, and can put out all the strength of Superman and take all the punishment Superman can. However, Shazam can't go into any building that's not part of a mission he's undertaking, and he can't blend in with normal people at all.
The important thing, though, is that Billy needs to be as fun as Shazam. So while he's making his way around the city, he could ride bikes, ride a skateboard, run, jump and scrap with other kids if it becomes necessary. He obviously can't fight adults due to a size, speed and strength advantage, but when he shouts the magic word "Shazam!" with heroic intent, needing to combat adults becomes a non-issue. However, he'd still do his best to maintain his secret identity, so he'd look for places to hide before transforming to do so safely.
Now, instead of the city being his life bar, we'd implement a clock mechanism. You see, Billy Batson, as previously mentioned, is still a child, so he's still beholden to the restrictions of a child; so school, curfews and other appointments that are outside his control. So not only would Billy need to keep to a schedule as Billy, but any time he's doing his superhero thing as Shazam, he'd need to keep watch on the clock. So, if Shazam was facing off against one of his enemies, he'd need to finish up in time for bed or other restrictions. And if he didn't finish up in time? Well, he'd get grounded and not be allowed into the city like he wants to.
Now, unlike the situation with Superman, Billy enjoys being a superhero; Shazam is a child's power fantasy, so there wouldn't be any alignment issues. Billy would do the right thing as Shazam, a child's desire for fun notwithstanding, which would be integrated into gameplay. For example, say Billy and his friends want to go to the baseball stadium after hours and knock a few balls around the park. Billy could fly there as Shazam, and either sneak in or fly in and they'd have fun. But remember, doing something like that is breaking curfew, and that could have consequences on the gameplay.
With all that said, this game would of course be open world, with full subway, bus and taxi routes for Billy and a full cityscape to fly through as Shazam. And as both Billy and Shazam, you could pick up side quests, though ones given to Shazam and ones given to Billy would be very different, though they could easily intersect.
Shazam could be fun if things are treated like a child's super hero fantasy, because that's what the character is. You don't need any moral ambiguity in a game like this either; Billy is a good kid with a good heart, and even though he sometimes struggles, he knows that he's been given a gift to help people. And that is the core of what would make a Shazam game good.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
"How to make a good superhero game": Characters that won't be covered
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!
Today, I'm going to talk about which characters archetypes I'm not going to cover, and why. The list will be simple, with a short explanation afterward.
Superboy and Supergirl- This one's pretty simple in that I've already covered how to do it in my one on Superman. Just take the same power set and follow the same rules as I set forth for Superman.
Other Lantern Corps- For pretty much the same reason as the Superman one, but with one exception; the Green Lantern one already has the other Corps built into it via the multiplayer.
Member of the Bat family- Batman already has a very good series of through the Arkham series. Just take what makes those good and apply them to the other members of the Bat family.
Non-powered or low powered martial arts characters- These games could work as "Batman, but without...". So someone like Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Electra, Daredevil, Captain America, Black Panther and Iron Fist, they could all could function on the Batman Arkham in terms of combat and exploration.
Spider-Man- Spider-man has had good games since the Spider-Man 2 based on the Sam Raimi movie, and continues to do so to this day. No need for me to analyze him.
Deadpool- I don't like him, but I hear his game is good anyway, so whatever.
Gadget Heroes- If they're not Batman level in terms of gadgets, they're either one trick ponies or not well known enough for people to care.
Team based heroes- Teams like the Avengers, X-men, Justice League and others are a little outside this focus, since it would require me to analyze multiple characters, instead of just one.
Wolverine and his offspring- James Howlett has a great game from 2009. Copy that combat engine with a new story, and you're gold.
Now, that's not to say that there won't be exceptions; I've got some really good ideas for Harley Quinn and Gwenpool that would be perfect for this kind of analysis paper, and if I or my twitter followers come up with some good ideas for these kind of characters, I'll cover them, but for now, this is a great master list on what I will not be doing.
So until next time, stay beautiful freaks!
Today, I'm going to talk about which characters archetypes I'm not going to cover, and why. The list will be simple, with a short explanation afterward.
Superboy and Supergirl- This one's pretty simple in that I've already covered how to do it in my one on Superman. Just take the same power set and follow the same rules as I set forth for Superman.
Other Lantern Corps- For pretty much the same reason as the Superman one, but with one exception; the Green Lantern one already has the other Corps built into it via the multiplayer.
Member of the Bat family- Batman already has a very good series of through the Arkham series. Just take what makes those good and apply them to the other members of the Bat family.
Non-powered or low powered martial arts characters- These games could work as "Batman, but without...". So someone like Green Arrow, Hawkeye, Electra, Daredevil, Captain America, Black Panther and Iron Fist, they could all could function on the Batman Arkham in terms of combat and exploration.
Spider-Man- Spider-man has had good games since the Spider-Man 2 based on the Sam Raimi movie, and continues to do so to this day. No need for me to analyze him.
Deadpool- I don't like him, but I hear his game is good anyway, so whatever.
Gadget Heroes- If they're not Batman level in terms of gadgets, they're either one trick ponies or not well known enough for people to care.
Team based heroes- Teams like the Avengers, X-men, Justice League and others are a little outside this focus, since it would require me to analyze multiple characters, instead of just one.
Wolverine and his offspring- James Howlett has a great game from 2009. Copy that combat engine with a new story, and you're gold.
Now, that's not to say that there won't be exceptions; I've got some really good ideas for Harley Quinn and Gwenpool that would be perfect for this kind of analysis paper, and if I or my twitter followers come up with some good ideas for these kind of characters, I'll cover them, but for now, this is a great master list on what I will not be doing.
So until next time, stay beautiful freaks!
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
What a game about the Flash needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!
Today is one of the harder heroes I've had to do, the Flash. But not for the speed, no. For the combat. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.
We always start with the powers, and with the Flash, it's simple; speed. Through the Speed Force, the Flash is capable of near lightspeed running, so he'd be running at a high speed with things like speed lines and warped visuals as he goes. And if you're a gamer, you're thinking of one series to take inspiration from; Sonic the Hedgehog. More importantly, the games where a boost mechanic is available. What you'd have the Flash do is start running, and gradually reach a speed that feels high to the player, which you use the thumbstick for. You can also boost to high speed right away with a boost button, which would be tied to a trigger, and boost beyond what the player feels is fast once you're at the "top speed." However, unlike Sonic, the Flash's Speed Force protects the environment from being destroyed like the boost-centric Sonic games do.
The Flash can also do a couple things that Sonic can't; running up buildings and vibrate through objects. And also, using his cosmic treadmill, he can move forward and backward through time safely, though he can still do so without it. So, all of these things would be integrated into the gameplay.
Which leads me into something that had me scratching my head for the longest time; combat. The Flash isn't like Batman or Wonder Woman or Superman; he's not a trained fighter or a power house, but Barry Allen, the Flash you'd be playing as, does have some nominal combat training due to his time at the Central City Police Academy. So, Barry would have some basic punches and kicks and a grab ability. So, while running around, Barry could punch opponents while moving at high speeds, kick them, or grapple them to the ground.
However, it's when we bring his ability to vibrate into things is when Barry becomes a powerhouse. You see, Barry's ability to vibrate allows him to create his Infinite Mass Punch, which basically gives him power akin to Superman in terms of damage potential. This is why we'd put the vibrate button on the controller and allow that to accent the punches, kicks and grabs.
And it's when we implement the Flash's rogues gallery that things get fun; all of them have something that either get around or outright neutralize his speed, or has speed akin to his own. The Rogues, for example, are a team of thieves who use their powers and arms to neutralize the Flash's speed, while people like Reverse Flash can match him in terms of speed. So any boss fight with the Flash's rogues gallery would either be a puzzle to be solved like the Rogues or a combat race like with another speedster.
And speaking of puzzles, since Barry Allen is a police officer and forensic scientist, he's be very good at casing crime scenes, so you could implement something akin to Batman's detective vision from the Arkham series.
Which brings me to the story. First off, it would need to based on the comics, not the tv series. Comics Flash is an easy going, funny hero, where as tv Flash is much more serious. You'd get a lot of comic relief and wisecracks that you'd see out of someone like Spider-man, making it a fun game.
And lastly, the type of game that would benefit the Flash; Open World. Running around Central City would make you feel like the Flash the entire time, and would give you opportunities to perform side quests for the Flash family.
How about DLC? Well, I can think of two really easy packs; Wally West and Wallace West. Wally West, the red haired Flash from DC Rebirth, would follow the current storyline of him being let out of prison after the events of Heroes in Crisis, and he'd be working to rebuild his name. As for Wallace, or Kid Flash, he'd be working with the Teen Titans where they are based instead of Central City.
The Flash would be a fun character to play if he's done right, and to be done right, you need both a good speed and running engines. Let's hope whoever actually makes a the Flash game does it right.
Today is one of the harder heroes I've had to do, the Flash. But not for the speed, no. For the combat. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.
We always start with the powers, and with the Flash, it's simple; speed. Through the Speed Force, the Flash is capable of near lightspeed running, so he'd be running at a high speed with things like speed lines and warped visuals as he goes. And if you're a gamer, you're thinking of one series to take inspiration from; Sonic the Hedgehog. More importantly, the games where a boost mechanic is available. What you'd have the Flash do is start running, and gradually reach a speed that feels high to the player, which you use the thumbstick for. You can also boost to high speed right away with a boost button, which would be tied to a trigger, and boost beyond what the player feels is fast once you're at the "top speed." However, unlike Sonic, the Flash's Speed Force protects the environment from being destroyed like the boost-centric Sonic games do.
The Flash can also do a couple things that Sonic can't; running up buildings and vibrate through objects. And also, using his cosmic treadmill, he can move forward and backward through time safely, though he can still do so without it. So, all of these things would be integrated into the gameplay.
Which leads me into something that had me scratching my head for the longest time; combat. The Flash isn't like Batman or Wonder Woman or Superman; he's not a trained fighter or a power house, but Barry Allen, the Flash you'd be playing as, does have some nominal combat training due to his time at the Central City Police Academy. So, Barry would have some basic punches and kicks and a grab ability. So, while running around, Barry could punch opponents while moving at high speeds, kick them, or grapple them to the ground.
However, it's when we bring his ability to vibrate into things is when Barry becomes a powerhouse. You see, Barry's ability to vibrate allows him to create his Infinite Mass Punch, which basically gives him power akin to Superman in terms of damage potential. This is why we'd put the vibrate button on the controller and allow that to accent the punches, kicks and grabs.
And it's when we implement the Flash's rogues gallery that things get fun; all of them have something that either get around or outright neutralize his speed, or has speed akin to his own. The Rogues, for example, are a team of thieves who use their powers and arms to neutralize the Flash's speed, while people like Reverse Flash can match him in terms of speed. So any boss fight with the Flash's rogues gallery would either be a puzzle to be solved like the Rogues or a combat race like with another speedster.
And speaking of puzzles, since Barry Allen is a police officer and forensic scientist, he's be very good at casing crime scenes, so you could implement something akin to Batman's detective vision from the Arkham series.
Which brings me to the story. First off, it would need to based on the comics, not the tv series. Comics Flash is an easy going, funny hero, where as tv Flash is much more serious. You'd get a lot of comic relief and wisecracks that you'd see out of someone like Spider-man, making it a fun game.
And lastly, the type of game that would benefit the Flash; Open World. Running around Central City would make you feel like the Flash the entire time, and would give you opportunities to perform side quests for the Flash family.
How about DLC? Well, I can think of two really easy packs; Wally West and Wallace West. Wally West, the red haired Flash from DC Rebirth, would follow the current storyline of him being let out of prison after the events of Heroes in Crisis, and he'd be working to rebuild his name. As for Wallace, or Kid Flash, he'd be working with the Teen Titans where they are based instead of Central City.
The Flash would be a fun character to play if he's done right, and to be done right, you need both a good speed and running engines. Let's hope whoever actually makes a the Flash game does it right.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
What a Ghost Rider game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
To continue my "how to make a good super hero game" series, I'm going to talk about Ghost Rider. Now, as of now, there has only been one Ghost Rider solo game on the PS2/PSP/GBA, and all had pretty bad reviews back in 2007 when they were released.
Now, Ghost Rider's not the most popular character; Johnny Blaze, the most well known, was created in the 67, and only had 7 issues, then 84 between 73 and 83, and then didn't have a solo series again until 2001, which was a mini series, and then again having a full series from 2006 to 2009 with 34 issues, and then another 9 between 2011 to 2012. Danny Ketch, the next best known Ghost Rider, had the most consistently long running series with 93 issues from 1990 to 1998, with issue 94 coming out in 2007. However, comics fans have seen him making a LOT of cameo appearances in other books, like Wolverine's solo series, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and plenty of other places, as well as a TON of team based video games.
But how do you make a good Ghost Rider solo game? Well, I've got a few games to reference, one for a big to do, and one for a big what not to do.
First off, the to do; Devil May Cry. Ghost Rider's powers and abilities could benefit greatly with a combat system similar to the Devil May Cry series. First off, when in his Ghost Rider form, he's functionally immortal, just like Dante. And like Dante, he has multiple combat styles; hand to hand, the chains, and, depending on the character, a shotgun that can shoot hellfire. Hand to hand would be the fastest style, and would allow the Ghost Rider to manipulate hellfire at will. The chance would give him medium range, but would be slightly slower. They would limit the ability to use hellfire, but since the chains are fueled by hellfire, that's not a problem. And the shotgun would grant range and massive damage, but would slower than all the other styles.
Now, if the Ghost Rider can get a grab on an opponent, he can use his Penance Stare, an ability to force an enemy to relive tall the pain they've ever caused anyone. This ability would kill an enemy outright, and would be a great way to regain health.
Now, you can't be the Ghost Rider without the motorcycle, and this is where Ride to Hell Retribution for what NOT to do in motorcycle combat. In Ride to Hell, you become glued to your opponent while you fight them in deliberate padding levels. For Ghost Rider, you'd want something similar to the Road Rash series, so the motorcycle combat needs to be as dynamic as Devil May Cry's combat system, as fast as possible with the ability to use all of Ghost Rider's powers in combat. For example, say you're speeding down a highway chasing down a boss fight and you see mobs all around you. You can use your hellfire shotgun on them to blow them out of your path, your chains to rip people out of vehicles or pull them toward you, or you can melee people with your hellfire fists. You could also use hellfire to boost ahead, jump without ramps, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like stick to walls and ram through buildings and vehicles alike.
And the best part is that you can summon the motorcycle at any time for use in general combat.
Now, if this makes you feel that I advocate an open world, I don't. The best way to feel like Ghost Rider would be a linear level game. You see, Ghost Rider's not about saving people; he's about punishing the guilty. If the Ghost Rider's involved in something, chances are he's after the worst of the worst in the Marvel Universe; demons, devil worshipers and other magical threats. If the Ghost Rider's after you, chances are you are not worth saving.
Which is why Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty much demons from hell, with the occasional wizard thrown in for good measure. So someone like Centurious the souless, Blackheart or Zadkiel would be perfect foes for the Ghost Rider.
Now, this game would also be perfect for something prevalent in the modern gaming industry; DLC. You see, the main game would be about Johnny Blaze, the most well known Ghost Rider, but DLC packs would give you a campaign for Danny Ketch and another one for Robbie Reyes. Now, Danny's campaign would be easy to implement, since both he and Johnny are bikers with the exact same moveset. Just modify Danny's animations a little and you'd be fine. But Robbie? Not only does he drive a car instead of a motorcycle, but he also doesn't use a shotgun, and based on the pictures I've see, he'd use tire irons, hammers and other stuff used in car repair in melee range. And like the bikers, he can summon the car to use in general combat too.
Ghost Rider can be awesome. He looks awesome, his concept is awesome, so he should play awesome too.
To continue my "how to make a good super hero game" series, I'm going to talk about Ghost Rider. Now, as of now, there has only been one Ghost Rider solo game on the PS2/PSP/GBA, and all had pretty bad reviews back in 2007 when they were released.
Now, Ghost Rider's not the most popular character; Johnny Blaze, the most well known, was created in the 67, and only had 7 issues, then 84 between 73 and 83, and then didn't have a solo series again until 2001, which was a mini series, and then again having a full series from 2006 to 2009 with 34 issues, and then another 9 between 2011 to 2012. Danny Ketch, the next best known Ghost Rider, had the most consistently long running series with 93 issues from 1990 to 1998, with issue 94 coming out in 2007. However, comics fans have seen him making a LOT of cameo appearances in other books, like Wolverine's solo series, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and plenty of other places, as well as a TON of team based video games.
But how do you make a good Ghost Rider solo game? Well, I've got a few games to reference, one for a big to do, and one for a big what not to do.
First off, the to do; Devil May Cry. Ghost Rider's powers and abilities could benefit greatly with a combat system similar to the Devil May Cry series. First off, when in his Ghost Rider form, he's functionally immortal, just like Dante. And like Dante, he has multiple combat styles; hand to hand, the chains, and, depending on the character, a shotgun that can shoot hellfire. Hand to hand would be the fastest style, and would allow the Ghost Rider to manipulate hellfire at will. The chance would give him medium range, but would be slightly slower. They would limit the ability to use hellfire, but since the chains are fueled by hellfire, that's not a problem. And the shotgun would grant range and massive damage, but would slower than all the other styles.
Now, if the Ghost Rider can get a grab on an opponent, he can use his Penance Stare, an ability to force an enemy to relive tall the pain they've ever caused anyone. This ability would kill an enemy outright, and would be a great way to regain health.
Now, you can't be the Ghost Rider without the motorcycle, and this is where Ride to Hell Retribution for what NOT to do in motorcycle combat. In Ride to Hell, you become glued to your opponent while you fight them in deliberate padding levels. For Ghost Rider, you'd want something similar to the Road Rash series, so the motorcycle combat needs to be as dynamic as Devil May Cry's combat system, as fast as possible with the ability to use all of Ghost Rider's powers in combat. For example, say you're speeding down a highway chasing down a boss fight and you see mobs all around you. You can use your hellfire shotgun on them to blow them out of your path, your chains to rip people out of vehicles or pull them toward you, or you can melee people with your hellfire fists. You could also use hellfire to boost ahead, jump without ramps, and do all kinds of crazy stuff like stick to walls and ram through buildings and vehicles alike.
And the best part is that you can summon the motorcycle at any time for use in general combat.
Now, if this makes you feel that I advocate an open world, I don't. The best way to feel like Ghost Rider would be a linear level game. You see, Ghost Rider's not about saving people; he's about punishing the guilty. If the Ghost Rider's involved in something, chances are he's after the worst of the worst in the Marvel Universe; demons, devil worshipers and other magical threats. If the Ghost Rider's after you, chances are you are not worth saving.
Which is why Ghost Rider's rogues gallery is pretty much demons from hell, with the occasional wizard thrown in for good measure. So someone like Centurious the souless, Blackheart or Zadkiel would be perfect foes for the Ghost Rider.
Now, this game would also be perfect for something prevalent in the modern gaming industry; DLC. You see, the main game would be about Johnny Blaze, the most well known Ghost Rider, but DLC packs would give you a campaign for Danny Ketch and another one for Robbie Reyes. Now, Danny's campaign would be easy to implement, since both he and Johnny are bikers with the exact same moveset. Just modify Danny's animations a little and you'd be fine. But Robbie? Not only does he drive a car instead of a motorcycle, but he also doesn't use a shotgun, and based on the pictures I've see, he'd use tire irons, hammers and other stuff used in car repair in melee range. And like the bikers, he can summon the car to use in general combat too.
Ghost Rider can be awesome. He looks awesome, his concept is awesome, so he should play awesome too.
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
What a Wonder Woman game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
After doing both a "How to make a Good Superman Game" and a "How to make a Good Green Lantern Game", I decided to tackle the final part of the DC Comics trinity, Wonder Woman. (I won't be doing a Batman version, because there are already good Batman games out there). And when I did my research, I found something horrifying; Wonder Woman does not have a stand alone game. She's part of Justice League games or games where the League is involved in, the Lego series and Injustice. Not a single solo title out there, even after her popular movie came out. This needs to be fixed pronto, and I can give several ideas on how.
First off, we need to talk about her powers. There's a reason it's been argued that Wonder Woman could beat Superman in combat, and for good reason. She's as fast and strong as any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, and she's nearly as durable. She's survived bludgeoning force from the likes of Superman, Doomsday, Shazam and Darkseid, and while edged weapons and bullets harm her, they are not fatal. Combine that with an accelerated healing factor, her ability to fly and her status as a demigod granting her biological immortality, Wonder Woman is a powerhouse, pure and simple. Combine that with the Bracelets of Submission, made of nearly indestructible 8th metal, which can survive Darkseid's Omega Beams, and her Lasso of Truth, which is an unbreakable rope from the Greek Pantheon, which allows her to force anyone bound in it to tell the truth under any circumstances, even if the subject is under mind control, along with her magical sword and shield, also made of 8th metal, its no wonder she's able to take on some of the most powerful beings in the DC landscape and won almost every time.
Now, unlike Superman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman's game can function perfectly well as a level based game, though a functional hub world would be beneficial. She could have a base with her friends Eta Candy, Steve Trevor, one with the Justice League and one where she deals with the Olympians, since she is technically among their numbers. From there, she's sent on missions to perform in distinct levels, with boss fights happening every few stages.
The boss fights present a problem, because as Diana said herself, the reason she doesn't have a large rogue's gallery is because when she deals with them, she deals with them, making her one of few heroes who has no problem with killing. Which is why I advocate two things; 1, give her an M-rated game and have the combat system be similar to the one presented in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and 2, make her boss fights be functionally immortal. So, you'd want people like Ares, Circe, Medusa, First Born, Giganta and Cheetah. All but Giganta are immortals, and there have been multiple Cheetahs.
Now, for the tutorial, you start out on Themyscira and teach her the basics of the combat engine, as well as covering how she gained her powers in Wonder Woman Rebirth, which shows her current version of her origin story, then do a timeskip to the current storyline, and move forward her game from there.
Now, do I think you'd want cameos from the Justice League in the game? No. If the League facilities are used as a hub world, she can talk to them, but her game needs to be her own, since she's never really had one before now. Besides, she's on par with Superman in terms of capability, so she doesn't NEED the help of the League for anything outside information or the odd mission.
And before I conclude this, there are two people you want to voice Wonder Woman in this game; Gal Gadot or Susan Eisenburg. Both of these women have done iconic performances for Diana of Themyscira, and both would be perfect for the role. That said, Susan Eisenburg would be easier to get, since she's an established voice actor, while Gal Gadot is more focused on her movie career.
A Wonder Woman game could be awesome if done right, and compared to some other heroes, she's not that hard to do right. Just give her the respect she deserves, make her the warrior she was trained to be while still maintaining what makes her a good person, and you'll get a great game out of it.
After doing both a "How to make a Good Superman Game" and a "How to make a Good Green Lantern Game", I decided to tackle the final part of the DC Comics trinity, Wonder Woman. (I won't be doing a Batman version, because there are already good Batman games out there). And when I did my research, I found something horrifying; Wonder Woman does not have a stand alone game. She's part of Justice League games or games where the League is involved in, the Lego series and Injustice. Not a single solo title out there, even after her popular movie came out. This needs to be fixed pronto, and I can give several ideas on how.
First off, we need to talk about her powers. There's a reason it's been argued that Wonder Woman could beat Superman in combat, and for good reason. She's as fast and strong as any Kryptonian under a yellow sun, and she's nearly as durable. She's survived bludgeoning force from the likes of Superman, Doomsday, Shazam and Darkseid, and while edged weapons and bullets harm her, they are not fatal. Combine that with an accelerated healing factor, her ability to fly and her status as a demigod granting her biological immortality, Wonder Woman is a powerhouse, pure and simple. Combine that with the Bracelets of Submission, made of nearly indestructible 8th metal, which can survive Darkseid's Omega Beams, and her Lasso of Truth, which is an unbreakable rope from the Greek Pantheon, which allows her to force anyone bound in it to tell the truth under any circumstances, even if the subject is under mind control, along with her magical sword and shield, also made of 8th metal, its no wonder she's able to take on some of the most powerful beings in the DC landscape and won almost every time.
Now, unlike Superman and Green Lantern, Wonder Woman's game can function perfectly well as a level based game, though a functional hub world would be beneficial. She could have a base with her friends Eta Candy, Steve Trevor, one with the Justice League and one where she deals with the Olympians, since she is technically among their numbers. From there, she's sent on missions to perform in distinct levels, with boss fights happening every few stages.
The boss fights present a problem, because as Diana said herself, the reason she doesn't have a large rogue's gallery is because when she deals with them, she deals with them, making her one of few heroes who has no problem with killing. Which is why I advocate two things; 1, give her an M-rated game and have the combat system be similar to the one presented in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and 2, make her boss fights be functionally immortal. So, you'd want people like Ares, Circe, Medusa, First Born, Giganta and Cheetah. All but Giganta are immortals, and there have been multiple Cheetahs.
Now, for the tutorial, you start out on Themyscira and teach her the basics of the combat engine, as well as covering how she gained her powers in Wonder Woman Rebirth, which shows her current version of her origin story, then do a timeskip to the current storyline, and move forward her game from there.
Now, do I think you'd want cameos from the Justice League in the game? No. If the League facilities are used as a hub world, she can talk to them, but her game needs to be her own, since she's never really had one before now. Besides, she's on par with Superman in terms of capability, so she doesn't NEED the help of the League for anything outside information or the odd mission.
And before I conclude this, there are two people you want to voice Wonder Woman in this game; Gal Gadot or Susan Eisenburg. Both of these women have done iconic performances for Diana of Themyscira, and both would be perfect for the role. That said, Susan Eisenburg would be easier to get, since she's an established voice actor, while Gal Gadot is more focused on her movie career.
A Wonder Woman game could be awesome if done right, and compared to some other heroes, she's not that hard to do right. Just give her the respect she deserves, make her the warrior she was trained to be while still maintaining what makes her a good person, and you'll get a great game out of it.
Friday, August 16, 2019
What a Superman game needs to be good
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
So, after rereading my blog post about how to make a Green Lantern game good, I thought about how to make a Superman game good. And hoo boy, do we have plenty of examples of how to do it wrong. Between Superman 64, Man of Steal and Superman for the NES, there's a lot of "what not to do" stuff.
The problem with making a Superman game is that you have to both feel like Superman while still having some real stakes. So the best thing you can do is take what Superman Returns tried to do and make Superman physically invulnerable while making the city of Metropolis, as well as others that pop up in the story for certain missions, the health bar. Doing this right will make you act like Superman, and not a generic action hero; do you break off from a battle with Darkseid or Doomsday to save civilians, or continue the fight and try to limit future damage to your city? How do you protect the people of the Earth?
Now, the major downfall of the way Superman Returns was how they handled how Superman reacted to civilians and the city. And in this current landscape, with the DC movies and the Injustice series, Warner Bros is more open to a darker Superman. So they must introduce an alignment system; if you let too many civilians die, cause too much destruction or allow the villain cause too much destruction, you take an alignment hit. This still allows you to have access to all the power of Superman, but it allows you to have two different ending; a Classic Superman ending, or a Utilitarian Superman ending.
Now, villains. Unfortunately, Superman's rogues gallery isn't as well known as some other DC rogues gallery; outside Bizarro, Lobo, Cyborg Superman, Brainiac, General Zod, Lex Luthor, Doomsday and the forces of Apokolips, most aren't known to the general public. Heck, I'm looking at his Rogues Gallery, and I don't recognize half of them, and I'm a fan! So, you take those well known guys and make them boss battles, and instead make most of the game's open world missions doing other things that only Superman can do; saving people in fantastic ways. For example, say there's a burning apartment building and there are people still trapped inside. Superman would have to go inside the building, unharmed the entire time due to his own invulnerability, and he'd seek out people in danger. And, as I stated, the people's lives are his health bar; he's got to use his assortment of powers to seek out the people trapped and get them to safety. If he lets too many die, he gets an alignment hit, and is pushed ever closer to the bad ending. From there, Superman can use his powers to put out the fire once people are safe.
You can even have Superman fight other disasters, like dam breakages, tornados, hurricanes (yes, he does have the power to fight natural disasters), and do all sorts of things that protect the people of Earth. And yes, I mean the people of Earth; he may make his home in Metropolis, but his duties are to the entire planet.
In fact, since Superman protect the entire world, you can have cameos from the Justice League to ask for help. You can have Superman go to places like Gotham, Central City, Coast City, etc, and have him aid the resident heroes there in missions they can't handle on their own. And this again brings in the alignment system; do you help, or do you leave them to handle things on their own? And if you do help, how do you help?
And this gives me an easy segue to the alignment system. Basically, you start out with Superman's classic moral code; soft touch with humans, don't kill people, protect innocent civilians while trying to appeal to the better nature of those around him. However, you can lose alignment points if you cause too much destruction, through action or inaction. And if you lose too many alignment points, Superman's outlook starts to darken; a sort of "what are the lives of a few million civilians to the fate of billions?" sort of thing. And depending on how far down you go, you may lock yourself in to the bad ending.
Now, certain missions would give an alignment boost; that fire scenario I mentioned earlier, for example, or things like saving a falling construction worker, repairing a dam or stopping natural disasters. Your ending would be entirely determined by what you do in the game.
And finally, his powers. In order for Superman to feel like Superman, he needs to have access to his full array of powers from the start, and there's and there's an easy way to integrate a tutorial in a natural way; Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent is Superman's son with Lois Lane, and he's got access to all of Clark's powers. The tutorial mission would take place on the Kent farm in Hamilton County and would be Clark teaching Jonathan how to use the powers they share. This would be a great way to demonstrate the powers and the alignment system; Clark would teach Jonathan of his classic values, and Jonathan would ask if they took a more utilitarian mindset regarding protecting the Earth, since Jonathan's still a child, but Clark said that they could, but remind his son that they have a responsibility to the people of Earth, reminding him that people can do amazing things without having access to their powers if given a chance.
Superman is the toughest superhero to make a good game for, and for good reason. But if a developer takes my advice, and put the love and care required to make Superman who he is, I'm certain a fantastic game can be made.
So, after rereading my blog post about how to make a Green Lantern game good, I thought about how to make a Superman game good. And hoo boy, do we have plenty of examples of how to do it wrong. Between Superman 64, Man of Steal and Superman for the NES, there's a lot of "what not to do" stuff.
The problem with making a Superman game is that you have to both feel like Superman while still having some real stakes. So the best thing you can do is take what Superman Returns tried to do and make Superman physically invulnerable while making the city of Metropolis, as well as others that pop up in the story for certain missions, the health bar. Doing this right will make you act like Superman, and not a generic action hero; do you break off from a battle with Darkseid or Doomsday to save civilians, or continue the fight and try to limit future damage to your city? How do you protect the people of the Earth?
Now, the major downfall of the way Superman Returns was how they handled how Superman reacted to civilians and the city. And in this current landscape, with the DC movies and the Injustice series, Warner Bros is more open to a darker Superman. So they must introduce an alignment system; if you let too many civilians die, cause too much destruction or allow the villain cause too much destruction, you take an alignment hit. This still allows you to have access to all the power of Superman, but it allows you to have two different ending; a Classic Superman ending, or a Utilitarian Superman ending.
Now, villains. Unfortunately, Superman's rogues gallery isn't as well known as some other DC rogues gallery; outside Bizarro, Lobo, Cyborg Superman, Brainiac, General Zod, Lex Luthor, Doomsday and the forces of Apokolips, most aren't known to the general public. Heck, I'm looking at his Rogues Gallery, and I don't recognize half of them, and I'm a fan! So, you take those well known guys and make them boss battles, and instead make most of the game's open world missions doing other things that only Superman can do; saving people in fantastic ways. For example, say there's a burning apartment building and there are people still trapped inside. Superman would have to go inside the building, unharmed the entire time due to his own invulnerability, and he'd seek out people in danger. And, as I stated, the people's lives are his health bar; he's got to use his assortment of powers to seek out the people trapped and get them to safety. If he lets too many die, he gets an alignment hit, and is pushed ever closer to the bad ending. From there, Superman can use his powers to put out the fire once people are safe.
You can even have Superman fight other disasters, like dam breakages, tornados, hurricanes (yes, he does have the power to fight natural disasters), and do all sorts of things that protect the people of Earth. And yes, I mean the people of Earth; he may make his home in Metropolis, but his duties are to the entire planet.
In fact, since Superman protect the entire world, you can have cameos from the Justice League to ask for help. You can have Superman go to places like Gotham, Central City, Coast City, etc, and have him aid the resident heroes there in missions they can't handle on their own. And this again brings in the alignment system; do you help, or do you leave them to handle things on their own? And if you do help, how do you help?
And this gives me an easy segue to the alignment system. Basically, you start out with Superman's classic moral code; soft touch with humans, don't kill people, protect innocent civilians while trying to appeal to the better nature of those around him. However, you can lose alignment points if you cause too much destruction, through action or inaction. And if you lose too many alignment points, Superman's outlook starts to darken; a sort of "what are the lives of a few million civilians to the fate of billions?" sort of thing. And depending on how far down you go, you may lock yourself in to the bad ending.
Now, certain missions would give an alignment boost; that fire scenario I mentioned earlier, for example, or things like saving a falling construction worker, repairing a dam or stopping natural disasters. Your ending would be entirely determined by what you do in the game.
And finally, his powers. In order for Superman to feel like Superman, he needs to have access to his full array of powers from the start, and there's and there's an easy way to integrate a tutorial in a natural way; Jonathan Kent. Jonathan Kent is Superman's son with Lois Lane, and he's got access to all of Clark's powers. The tutorial mission would take place on the Kent farm in Hamilton County and would be Clark teaching Jonathan how to use the powers they share. This would be a great way to demonstrate the powers and the alignment system; Clark would teach Jonathan of his classic values, and Jonathan would ask if they took a more utilitarian mindset regarding protecting the Earth, since Jonathan's still a child, but Clark said that they could, but remind his son that they have a responsibility to the people of Earth, reminding him that people can do amazing things without having access to their powers if given a chance.
Superman is the toughest superhero to make a good game for, and for good reason. But if a developer takes my advice, and put the love and care required to make Superman who he is, I'm certain a fantastic game can be made.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
What a Green Lantern game needs to have to be good.
Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to the Assassin's Den!
Now, I was watching a stream from Fabian of Gamerthumb TV, and we got into a brief conversation about a super hero team we both like, the Green Lanterns. And because it was a gaming channel, someone brought up what was needed to make a good Green Lantern game. And me being me, that got me thinking about how to make a good one.
First off, we take a page from DC Rebirth's Green Lanterns book and start you as a brand new Green Lantern. In fact, if we pull a page from the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, we can start your neophyte Green Lantern as an alien species, choose their gender, and choose their initial combat focus.
Now, doing things this way allows for a couple of things; first off, you're not messing with established characters, so you're not having to nerf someone like Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner to allow for a progression system; you get to build a brand new Green Lantern from the ground up the way you want to play them.
This also allows for an easy integration of gameplay and story; you've just got your Green Lantern ring, so you're entering basic training, which gives a natural way to put you into a tutorial as well as giving new players a natural exposition dump. In this way, you the player would be learning the ropes of being a Lantern at the same time the character you created is.
Now, the role of the Green Lantern in the DC universe is to police their individual sector and provide backup for other Lanterns when they are in need. Higher level Green Lanterns can be "promoted" from that job and perform other tasks, like Honor Guard, drill sergeant and a mission focused Lantern. This allows for two types of gameplay; open world and mission based. Now, you can have an open world within your sector (but not the whole universe, since the universe is VAST), and mission based, both within the sector and outside it. For example, you could be patrolling your sector as you fly through space and hear a distress call from a planet, go do your job and then go back to patrol, calling for backup if you need it. You can also provide backup if you get a distress call from another Lantern. However, once you get enough levels under your belt, you get promoted toward a mission focused Lantern, which pushes the story along.
As for gameplay, we'd need a couple of important things. We'd need dogfighting mechanics, of course, since a Green Lantern can fly through space and shoot lasers from their ring, so they'd be able to perform aerial combat without problem. We'd also need a mechanic for combating groups and mechanics for one on one combat, since this, is of course, a superhero game. And of course, since all Lanterns can fly, all combat has to function in both the air and on the ground.
You'd also need to have a mechanic on the Ring needing to be recharged. You see, a Lantern ring can get a full day's use out of a single charge, depending on the usage of it. A day of heavy conflict is going to run out of power faster, so you could implement your charge as a sort of health bar. Basically, you could use your ring's power for battle for a certain amount of time before you start to dip into the charge reserved for health. The reason for this is because one of the functions of the ring is to project a protective energy shield around a Lantern's body, so you're using the charge to both fight a battle and protect yourself at the same time. However, you can use your combat ability meter to recharge your health and vice versa in a pinch. However, when both run out, you're out of power and need a recharge.
And that's the important part; the recharge. You should be able to recharge your ring at any time, since a good Lantern has access to their personal power battery at all times, usually by creating a pocket dimension to keep it. But beware; if you're on a terrestrial planet, you could drop to the ground and hide so you've got a place to recharge. However, if you're out in space, and you run out of power, your protective energy field that keeps you alive in space fails, and you're going to run out of air real quick.
This also allows for a hub world of sorts; Mogo. Mogo is a Green Lantern who just so happens to also be a living planet, and is the current home base of the Green Lantern Corps. And after their original home base, Oa, was destroyed, the Central Power Battery was relocated to Mogo. The Central Power Battery presents a constant full charge for the rings, thus, allowing you to fly, train and level up your abilities at home base easily.
Now, for the hardest part; constructs. For those reading this who don't know, the Green Lantern Corps are able to create solid objects out of light utilizing only their willpower and imagination, and those constructs are able to do exactly what the Lantern things they should be able to do. The problem with constructs is that they're all unique to the individual Lantern based on their background and imagination. However, there is a way around this, and by simply remembering that you're a brand new Green Lantern, and not Kyle Rayner or Jon Stewart. Those two are special in terms of their constructs; Kyle's a comic book artist, so his constructs are the most creative, and Jon Stewart is a former Marine and architect, so his constructs are created as having all the parts the thing is supposed to have. But as a brand new Lantern, you'd be more focused on utility of your constructs, rather than intricacy. A construct sword is going to look like a basic sword of light, and not have all the details you'd see on a real one. However, you could implement the ability to add detail to your constructs after you've leveled this character for a while.
As for story? Well, that would be up to the writers of the game to handle that, but based on the setup I created, it would be built around the concept of rebuilding the Corps, doing the job, and the conflicts with the other Corps that you get via Green Lantern mythos.
And now, the important part for a modern game; multiplayer. This is easier to implement here than other super hero games that aren't fighting games; wars. The Green Lantern Corps sometimes fight the Red Lantern Corps and the Sinestro Corps, in addition to other conflicts. You could use your custom character to join in a conflict against them. You could also use a custom character to join other Corps in these wars to fight on either side. There would have to be a couple of exceptions, of course; you couldn't be an Orange Lantern, since there is only one, and if you're playing a male character, you can't be a Star Sapphire, since they don't recruit men. The devs could throw in events in the multiplayer wars, to illustrate the ongoing conflict in the galaxy.
But, that's my take on how to make a good Green Lantern game. If you've got any other ideas, drop a comment, but until then, stay beautiful freaks!
Now, I was watching a stream from Fabian of Gamerthumb TV, and we got into a brief conversation about a super hero team we both like, the Green Lanterns. And because it was a gaming channel, someone brought up what was needed to make a good Green Lantern game. And me being me, that got me thinking about how to make a good one.
First off, we take a page from DC Rebirth's Green Lanterns book and start you as a brand new Green Lantern. In fact, if we pull a page from the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, we can start your neophyte Green Lantern as an alien species, choose their gender, and choose their initial combat focus.
Now, doing things this way allows for a couple of things; first off, you're not messing with established characters, so you're not having to nerf someone like Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner to allow for a progression system; you get to build a brand new Green Lantern from the ground up the way you want to play them.
This also allows for an easy integration of gameplay and story; you've just got your Green Lantern ring, so you're entering basic training, which gives a natural way to put you into a tutorial as well as giving new players a natural exposition dump. In this way, you the player would be learning the ropes of being a Lantern at the same time the character you created is.
Now, the role of the Green Lantern in the DC universe is to police their individual sector and provide backup for other Lanterns when they are in need. Higher level Green Lanterns can be "promoted" from that job and perform other tasks, like Honor Guard, drill sergeant and a mission focused Lantern. This allows for two types of gameplay; open world and mission based. Now, you can have an open world within your sector (but not the whole universe, since the universe is VAST), and mission based, both within the sector and outside it. For example, you could be patrolling your sector as you fly through space and hear a distress call from a planet, go do your job and then go back to patrol, calling for backup if you need it. You can also provide backup if you get a distress call from another Lantern. However, once you get enough levels under your belt, you get promoted toward a mission focused Lantern, which pushes the story along.
As for gameplay, we'd need a couple of important things. We'd need dogfighting mechanics, of course, since a Green Lantern can fly through space and shoot lasers from their ring, so they'd be able to perform aerial combat without problem. We'd also need a mechanic for combating groups and mechanics for one on one combat, since this, is of course, a superhero game. And of course, since all Lanterns can fly, all combat has to function in both the air and on the ground.
You'd also need to have a mechanic on the Ring needing to be recharged. You see, a Lantern ring can get a full day's use out of a single charge, depending on the usage of it. A day of heavy conflict is going to run out of power faster, so you could implement your charge as a sort of health bar. Basically, you could use your ring's power for battle for a certain amount of time before you start to dip into the charge reserved for health. The reason for this is because one of the functions of the ring is to project a protective energy shield around a Lantern's body, so you're using the charge to both fight a battle and protect yourself at the same time. However, you can use your combat ability meter to recharge your health and vice versa in a pinch. However, when both run out, you're out of power and need a recharge.
And that's the important part; the recharge. You should be able to recharge your ring at any time, since a good Lantern has access to their personal power battery at all times, usually by creating a pocket dimension to keep it. But beware; if you're on a terrestrial planet, you could drop to the ground and hide so you've got a place to recharge. However, if you're out in space, and you run out of power, your protective energy field that keeps you alive in space fails, and you're going to run out of air real quick.
This also allows for a hub world of sorts; Mogo. Mogo is a Green Lantern who just so happens to also be a living planet, and is the current home base of the Green Lantern Corps. And after their original home base, Oa, was destroyed, the Central Power Battery was relocated to Mogo. The Central Power Battery presents a constant full charge for the rings, thus, allowing you to fly, train and level up your abilities at home base easily.
Now, for the hardest part; constructs. For those reading this who don't know, the Green Lantern Corps are able to create solid objects out of light utilizing only their willpower and imagination, and those constructs are able to do exactly what the Lantern things they should be able to do. The problem with constructs is that they're all unique to the individual Lantern based on their background and imagination. However, there is a way around this, and by simply remembering that you're a brand new Green Lantern, and not Kyle Rayner or Jon Stewart. Those two are special in terms of their constructs; Kyle's a comic book artist, so his constructs are the most creative, and Jon Stewart is a former Marine and architect, so his constructs are created as having all the parts the thing is supposed to have. But as a brand new Lantern, you'd be more focused on utility of your constructs, rather than intricacy. A construct sword is going to look like a basic sword of light, and not have all the details you'd see on a real one. However, you could implement the ability to add detail to your constructs after you've leveled this character for a while.
As for story? Well, that would be up to the writers of the game to handle that, but based on the setup I created, it would be built around the concept of rebuilding the Corps, doing the job, and the conflicts with the other Corps that you get via Green Lantern mythos.
And now, the important part for a modern game; multiplayer. This is easier to implement here than other super hero games that aren't fighting games; wars. The Green Lantern Corps sometimes fight the Red Lantern Corps and the Sinestro Corps, in addition to other conflicts. You could use your custom character to join in a conflict against them. You could also use a custom character to join other Corps in these wars to fight on either side. There would have to be a couple of exceptions, of course; you couldn't be an Orange Lantern, since there is only one, and if you're playing a male character, you can't be a Star Sapphire, since they don't recruit men. The devs could throw in events in the multiplayer wars, to illustrate the ongoing conflict in the galaxy.
But, that's my take on how to make a good Green Lantern game. If you've got any other ideas, drop a comment, but until then, stay beautiful freaks!
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