And yet we have our first post of the new year.
On the beginnings of January, I have a announcement. You know how clones of everything exist nowadays? Well, in the future (yes, re-read that, future), I would like to develop just for the fun of it and the entertainment of my followers, plus to the dismay of the haters and prove to them how a clone, especially one based on Kenji Inafune's flagship series, is done right.
This Megaman clone will be based on my OC series and it's characters. The plot will be somewhat similar to the original Mega Man; eight guys have gone bad thanks to an unknown villian, and you're sent to straighten their butts out and return the area back to normal. The game has an opening stage, the classic "Target Select" screen with 8 bosses, then a final castle with five levels (and a true final stage), belonging to Joker. The game would have some bonus features, like an "Endless" mode, a "Challenge" mode, "Time Attack," "Score Attack," "Boss Attack," and an unlockable "Intense" difficulty. As for saving, the game uses both a basic save and Mega Man-styled password feature, though using passwords prevents the player from unlocking any new features playing through the game, as the passwords can send the player right to the beginning of Joker Stage 5.
Online leaderboards would be put into full effect, showing off the fastest and highest-scoring players in the main game, Time Attack, Score Attack, Boss Attack, Endless.
To control Aozora, the player can use the arrow keys to move, look up, crouch, climb up, and slide down ladders, plus aim your weapons upwards and while crouching. X jumps (which can also be done to drop off ladders and other climbable objects, like hooks and ropes), Z fires your active weapon, and C or a combination of X and down makes Aozora slide, in which he may also fire while sliding. Enter and Esc both pause the game to switch weapons and use items (including setting misc options with display and sound; these can also be set from the title screen's Options menu), while automatic weapon switching would be done mid-game through the A and S keys. These additional commands are not to make the game easier; which leads to the game's difficulty.
The difficulty will not come from cheap and confusing level designs, but from skilled enemies and AI with original designs, few (though not many) level puzzles, and balanced level lengths, sort of like a cross between core Megaman games, Megamari and Rokko Chan.
Gamepad/Controller support is also present incase keyboard controls prove to be too difficult for the player.
The weapons you obtain from the bosses of the eight stages are actually intended to be upgrades to your starting weapon, and are therefore meant to cause much more havoc, besides better firing capabilities and/or more powerful projectiles. Bosses don't take as much damage from special weapons as normal enemies do. Using a bosses' main Weakness will multiply it's attack power by 1.5, while using a resistance will halve the attack power of the weapon. The planned weapons can be read here, but the support/transport items are shown below as I never spirited them.
Springboard-One: Like the Rush Coil. You'll plant a springboard on the ground and use it to bounce higher.
Hover-Two: Like Item-1 from Mega Man 2 or the balloon item from Mega Man 4, place it and you can stand on it for a short time, allowing you to get to higher places. It's a little safer than Springboard-One.
Winger-Three: A cross between Item-2 from Mega Man 2 and the newer versions of Rush Jet (the ones available in Megaman 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10), this one allows you to cross certain chasms. or take shortcuts across difficult parts of the level. Can be steered.
Aquatic-Four: This game's version of Rush Marine. Jump in and you have added protection (enemy attacks only do half damage when you're in the Aquatic Four) and better control underwater.
Darn, that was a lot to process. But believe me, I'll figure out how to make it all work.
