2704
« on: October 15, 2005, 08:09:51 PM »
Name: Providence
Type: God / RTS
Backdrop:
There are two factions of humanoids on a tiny planetoid. Both are looking for resources to advance their society. Being simple folk, they need guidance and inspiration to meet their goals. Various environments on the globe provide the resources they are seeking.
Goal: Prevent the opposition from gaining their resources while collecting your own.
Gameplay:
Choose a 'team', the CPU (or online competitor) with have the other. The game starts on a simple grass field with a simple goal: the little guys need food. The 'people' will chase various wildlife around the field for a limited time. Use the wand to deform the landscape. Build up mountains, build down valleys, anything to help trap the wildlife so the characters can move in for the kill. Anything that kills the wildlife before the characters do do not count. Affect your opponents structures to kill the trapped animals, or change the landscape to affect how the opponent's characters reach the animals.
Other landscapes: ocean, jungle, desert, ice and snow. Each landscape has particular goals and resources that need to be found. As resources are found and society advances, previous landscapes can be revisited for different resources that were not usable without the new skill sets.
How It Works:
Use the wand to draw a selection box on the landscape, holding the 'A' button while the box is dragged out. Release the 'A' and pull the trigger to affect the selection. Push toward the screen to push the ground in, pull away to pull up. The resulting animation should reflect the action in real-time. Want an avalanche? Pull away then twist the wrist in the direction you want the rocks to fall. While it is intuitive for left/right action, turning the wand to face away from the screen and then twisting will result in rocks falling in any direction you choose. On the ocean, pull up a wall of water and send it crashing down (or watch it fall back into the ocean affecting everyone around it). The jungle will grow or die with the same movements, cause a giant tree to topple. Each landscape will have its own particular hazards for players to explore. The limits for how much can be pushed in or out will be reached when lava appears. A volcano will happen, but the lava will burn it to the ground. And lava will fill a hole. Other limits include water tension and how tall a tree can get before it falls under its own weight.
Watch out for your actions, for the characters have a mood meter. If they know they are being helped, they become enthusiastic. If they notice things going wrong, they'll become lethargic. Just think about the jungle, too much and they get frustrated by not being able to move forward, kill off too much and they get sad for the loss of habitat.
The d-pad on the wand can give simple commands (inspiration) to the characters on screen, a general direction to move, or group together, fan out, based on the level and goal. Rapid presses of the d-pad can help the mood (when the time is right).
If there ends up a microphone with the wand (not separate) blow to bring the speed of the wind up. When a certain speed is reached, draw a circle with the wand and if its good enough, a tornado is formed. Select the tornado to drag it across the screen for a small period of time. A limited number of tornadoes can be used. Sand storms on the desert, water spouts on the ocean.
The optional thumb stick will control the camera, turning left and right, up and down, zoom in, zoom out.
Break up the gameplay:
Occasional mini-game of smacking meteors out of the atmosphere. One will throw, one will hit. Target area provides something to aim for while limiting where the meteors can be thrown. Positions will switch so each will have a chance to play both sides. Action is wand based. There are no points, only whether or not the meteor hits the target area, though trophies can be awarded for great throws and hits. Throw your arm like throwing a baseball, adding a twist at the end to spin it if so desired. Alternate method so people won't feel like chumps swinging their arm around: setup like a pinball. A meter on the screen indicates when to press the button. The same will hold true for the batter. Either swing like a bat or rely on a meter based system. The drawback is you lose the control on how the swing is made.
Replay Value:
Play at home for practice against online players, as well as viewing an unfolding story of how the society is progressing. Mood from game play affects the story, and any tension in the story is apparent on the game field (characters occasionally stopping to beat each other or whatever else might arise). Choose to play a particular landscape for practice or go for story mode.
Online competition, choose a limited number of landscapes to compete on, or engage in a full out world domination. The online play will keep opponents on equal levels and track who you've played against so play can pause and be restarted later.
Pros:
Takes advantage of the features of the controller
Puts you in control of a world and its landscapes
Online play
Cons:
Learning curve of controls
Some people may feel uncomfortable swinging the controller around like a bat
Only 2 player (but try to imagine all the madness with more players)
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