Thursday, August 6, 2009

Motion Plus: perfect for Ninja games?

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that had thought of this, but for the sake of spreading information (and hopefully having a game developer picking up with the idea), here is a blog post about it.

The concept is simple, just mapping some actions from Wii Sports Resort into player actions as if the character was a ninja. Notice it is for a ninja GAME, and not really an accurate description of ninja actions in real history, so I'm taking from the point-of-view of entertainment only.

1. Freesbee Golf / Dog = Shuriken throwing

Shurikens and freesbees could share some of the same air dynamics. Both tilt and speed would be measured. One could also use tilt to make a curved throw, hitting partially obscured targets.

2. Swordplay = Katana fighting / Chain-whip / Blade-whip / etc

Aside from the obvious usage of katana fighting, there could be countless variations such as fighting with dual blades, small blades, defensive concealed blades on the wrist, etc. adding to a good amount of weapon strategy. Even whips could be implemented with nice physics simulation and a good deal of precision!

3. Basketball = Ninja grappling hooks

The motion of picking up a ball and throwing could be adapted to aim and throw a ninja hook with precise angle and speed. Just like in basketball, this is a 2-phase action (picking + throwing), adapted to "rolling the wire" and throwing. While rolling, this could also be used as a weapon, since the wire can collide with enemies. Rolling could happen at any angle (by the player's side, or over the player's head, etc). "Throwing" would mean to pick the wire momentum and directing the hook to the given angle of the controller. Sounds confusing?

4. Island Flyover = Trained birds

Ok, this is a bit of a stretch, but games don't need to be as boring as real-life, so why not? Suppose our ninja has some amount of trained birds that can carry and deliver paper notes (information), drop smoke bombs, etc. The bird itself could be controller using the same scheme as seen in island flyover.

5. Bow and Arrow = Poisoned darts

Aiming mechanics could be inspired from the Bow and Arrow sections, but mapped to aiming poisoned darts. The nunchuck would not be useful here, but the aiming could probably be adapted to a better match. Why not just use the infra-red sensor you ask? Well, using the IR sensor feels like shooting from a gun, while the motion plus aiming feels more like the player is holding some sort of precise tool. I know it sounds stupid, but I feel it could be more immersive.

Well, there are lots of ideas flying around, and I'm sure someone can write even better ones. If you feel like it, just leave a comment :)