How Would You Do A Green Lantern Videogame?

[Wesley Dodds]

I've always thought that due to the nature of the GL's powers it'd be pretty hard to make a decent videogame... How would you do it? It raises a lot of questions...
How would you get around this powers problem?
Which Lanterns would you use?
Would you garner your plot from the books?
I've thought about this from time to time and i'd have to go with a free-roaming sandbox GTA style game. Only even bigger...
Different button combinations create diffrerent constructs, Their are thousands of different combinations but the game tells you the basic ones... But you have to figure out most of them for yourself... Discovering the rings abilities for yourself is much more fun than having some boring list of constructs in a manual or something and it would also make you feel more like a freshly minted GL.
Remember in the Spiderman2 game when you climbed to the top of the highest building and let yourself hurtle to the ground, picking up speed as you fell? Imagine that only you're Green Lantern, you've just flown up to the stratosphere and THEN you let yourself drop!
I'm basically saying the only way a GOOD GL Videogame will work is if the gamer is given complete freedom to fly around and discover new things between levels.
My plot'd basically be a greatest hits of Lantern mythology, starting with Hal getting the ring and stopping a falling plane from hitting an airshow (the ring tutorial level) to Emerald Twilight and climaxing with Hal's redemption with Rebirth (where you and three of your friends can team up to take down Parrallax).
So, obviously i'd use all of the core Earth Lanterns... But their are loads more to unlock after you complete the game... Also after you complete the game you can play any mission as any Lantern you've unlocked. each with their different advantages and drawbacks...

What would you do?

[Keyser Soze]

How would I do a Green Lantern video game?

I'd probably do it somewhat like Mass Effect, since Mass Effect does seem inspired quite a bit by GL mythology.

[Hypestyle]

hopefully there will be a video game with the movie.. and they should have lots of space roaming, inter-galactic levels..

start- Hal
unlockable- john, kyle, guy... I'm not really a fan of kilowog, gnort, etc.. but they can have cameos..

[Grommers]

I wouldn't want it to be totally free roaming to be honest..

I'd want a battle like star wars battle front, think how cool it'd be to have sinestro corps vs green lantern

some of the game play like lotr series,

customizability with what shapes you can make with your ring,

and probably based around green lantern first flight.

[Changeling]

Hmm.

Probably like Halo, just free roaming, and you can choose to be good or evil. Like if you get too evil, you could be recruited to the Sinestro corps.

[Changeling]

Or the Red Lantern Corps or the Orange Lantern corps..

[GL1]

Heh. Reading about the Orange Lantern Corps, it doesn't seem possible to be recruited by them. There's only one, after all.

I would have it similar to mass effect, where there are several planets in your 'sector' and a 'mystery' that spans the game that you have to solve. Within your sector you would travel freely, however there would be some levels, such as Oa, or Apokolips that are only accessible remotely. The storyline would involve multiple Corps' and a threat to Oa that only you would be able to vanquish.

Playable characters would start with Hal and John, but include as unlockables Guy, Kyle, Kilowog, Soranik, Arisia, Katma, Sodam Yat, Tomar-Tu, Sinestro and Saint Walker.

Gameplay would involve button combinations. The analog sticks would be your main form of guidance, including movement, looking around, flight (click in) and flightspeed. The D-pad would be for menu, ring maintenance, construct catalog and willpower management. The constructs, from weapons, to mecha, to large cartoons to beams, to bubbles to teleports to inversions of psycocentric fields would all be combinations of trigger, shoulder and face buttons. While customizable, the initial layout would be some what intuitive: ie Right trigger turns face buttons into ranged attacks, right shoulder (or R2) turns face buttons into bubbles and forcefields.

For advancement, players would build up their willpower and willpower recovery, which is used to fuel all constructs. Also, they'd increase their resistance to fear which acts as a duration enhancement as well as defense against fear-attacks. Also over time, characters accumulate more and more constructs. Anything they see in game can be saved to their construct list with the D-pad, and players can pause and reorganize their construct list at any time, except during combat.

Certain characters start with certain advantages, but all can be leveled up.
Hal Jordan - Immunity to Fear
John Stewart - Immense willpower
Kyle Rayner - Large catalog of constructs, often unique
Guy Gardener - Quick Willpower recovery
Kilowogg - Physical stats that minimize willpower use
Soranik, Arisia, Katma, Tomar-Tu - Unique very useful alien constructs
Sodam Yat - Infinite Willpower
Sinestro - Unique constructs, fear adds to 'willpower'
Saint Walker - healing abilities, buffing abilities, requires GL partner

Throw in power struggles that involve QTE, some great voice acting (Fillion as Hal, Haysbert as Kilowogg, Common as John, etc) and have a lot of fun with it. Make it happen. Make it awesome, and do a sequel next time with more sectors, more story and bigger huger action.

[Wesley Dodds]

Wow, I really like all of those ideas. Good thinkin', GL1! :up:

[protocida]

I like the idea of a game where you is recruited for the Green Lantern Corps and partners with a classic GL (Hal, John, Guy, Kyle or Kilowog) to solve a mistery, fighting villains like Sinestro, the Manhunters, Star Shappire and Parallax, and going to worlds like Apokolis, New Genesis, Khundia and etc.

[GL1]

I thought about the custom lantern idea as well... but it didn't seem to have quite as much potential... it was a bit too obvious of an 'insert yourself into the mythos' which could be fun, but it's not really artful.

[protocida]

Makes sense.

[Wesley Dodds]

It raises an interesting question, though... In DC Universe Online do you think you'll get the oppurtunity to be a Green Lantern?
One side of me thinks "no, every jackass in the world'd be flying around with a power ring" and the other side thinks "well, if they dont it's not really DC online is it?"

What do you guys reckon?

[GL1]

I'm 99% sure you aren't going to be a GL, unless they change the premise for there to be more than 2 per sector, which I HIGHLY doubt Johns (doing writing for DCO as well as the GL Monthly) is going to do.

What they will let you do is make characters of that archetype, and so you may have your Argents, Secrets, Effigies and other people who can make varied 'constructs' but not actual lanterns. I would LOVE to be a Blue Lantern for instance, but I don't think they'll do it.

But will you see green energy constructs from players? Almost assuredly.

[protocida]

Makes sense.

[Changeling]

That kinda sucks. Is that going to be for 360?

[Changeling]

How would I do a Green Lantern video game?

I'd probably do it somewhat like Mass Effect, since Mass Effect does seem inspired quite a bit by GL mythology.

Your avvy is my wallpaper. Isnt that like the greatest picture ever? :gl::gl::gl:

[protocida]

It's a great picture indeed.

[greenlantern248]

That kinda sucks. Is that going to be for 360?

No DC Universe Online will be for PS3, and the PC

[protocida]

Is it MPRPG?

[Wesley Dodds]

Yep.

Apparently "a different kind of MPRPG"... Whatever that's supposed to mean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Universe_Online

[protocida]

Questions, questions :hehe: ...

[Gilpesh]

Kilowogg - Physical stats that minimize willpower use
I'd also throw in a little bit that his constructs have increased damage.

[protocida]

I'd add Salaak to a videogame. He's awesome.

[Wesley Dodds]

I like the idea off Salaak being involved in an advisory capacity like The Oracle in the upcoming Arkham Asylum game or the codec characters in Metal Gear.
As a playable character i think he'd be somewhat lacking... he aint exactly a fighter, is he?

[dnno1]

If they allow me to create my own energy constructs and associate a certain level of allocated damage to it that would be cool.

[Saint]

The problem with a Green Lantern game is that you're simply not going to able to do anything with the ring that isn't pre-determined. The power ring just can't be properly realized in a video game. Want to make a jet? The game designers didn't put that in the game, so you can't.

However, if the designers were clever enough, they could use a pre-determined power set in a way that at least makes you feel like Green Lantern--allows you to be inventive. The power set, I imagine, would be something like The Force Unleashed meets Prototype. Those are two games that succeeded better than most others at making you feel powerful. The Force Unleashed had the sort of envionrmental control you'd expect a power ring to grant you, and Prototype gives you such a wide range of powers and abilities that combat becomes a freeform experience, allowing you to play in a lot of different ways, and take whatever approach you like. The attack powers (blade arm, claws, wrecking-ball hands, augmented strength, and whip) and defense powers (shield and full body armour) in Prototype would translate well into a similar set of attack and defense powers created via a Green Lantern ring. If each power had the sort of depth and variety available in Prototype, then you'd have a decent approximation of the abilities of a Green Lantern.

[dnno1]

You know, a lot of these new games coming out now (especially the first person shooter and real-time strategy games) with expansions sets and map editors. I knew of a game called Cosmic Blobs where you could imagine and shape objects and then animate them so it is possible to do. What I was thinking of was to have a basic set of properties (like physical, mechaical, and energy based) that you could apply to a vast library of constructs. The constructs in the library would be parametric in that you could control their size, shape and atack strenght base on earned experience or aquired tokes/merits. The constructs could be of any shape so long as it is in some format (like VRML, STEP or 3DM) that could be read in by the game software. That way if you had the ability to creat a your own construct you could and then load it into your library. The selected construct would fall in one of the basic categories (like a truck could be physical mechanical or energy) and then would have that basic effect. For example a physical object (like a fist or a block) would do kinetic damage (like a punching or hitting would) based on the amount of damage points it had; a mechanical object could do some type of work (and that would be subcategorized) like lifting, towing, or moving; and an energy based construct would eithe explode, melt or cut other objects. This would be for a more advance user, but there could be a vanilla out of the box library with some basic constructs in it along with expansions and a library creator's kit that could be offered to those who are feeling brave.

[NightBeetle]

''Double Helix creating Green Lantern game with sheer will.'' (http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/07/13/warner-bros-to-greenlight-green-lantern-superhero-game//)

Warner Bros. and game developer Double Helix have partnered to create an action-based video game slated around the comic book hero Green Lantern, VentureBeat has learned.

The video game is believed to be linked to the official Green Lantern movie scheduled for a June 17, 2011 release. The movie is to be directed by Martin Campbell (director of the Casino Royale and GoldenEye films) with a screenplay penned by screenwriters Greg Berlanti and Michael Green.

Both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game are in the works. As far as we know, there has never been a video game that focuses solely on Green Lantern, which is one of DC Comics’ oldest superheroes.

Double Helix, a twin studio comprised of two studios dubbed Shiny and The Collective, is currently finishing work on G.I. Joe (due August 4) for Electronic Arts, and has started work on Green Lantern for WB. Double Helix itself is a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment.

Superhero games are perennial bestsellers in the video game industry, so it’s only fair that Green Lantern character should get his shot. With the 50th anniversary of the original Green lantern (a.k.a Hal Jordan) being celebrated at this year’s Comic-Con conference and the straight-to-DVD movie Green Lantern: First Flight arriving shortly to retail stores, Green Lantern seems to be having a revival. Comic artist Geoff Johns is leading the comic book revival with a series dubbed Blackest Night. Buzz about this subplot in the Green Lantern storyline has been building for some time.

“The current Green Lantern comic story arc has been getting a lot of attention,” a representative at DC Comics told VentureBeat. “Geoff Johns has done an amazing job with the Blackest Night.”

A Warner Bros representative declined to comment on this story, citing it as “rumor and speculation.” But multiple sources close to the project who asked not to be mentioned by name, said a Green Lantern game concept has been bandied about for more than a year, but hadn’t seen much development progress until recently.

[Wesley Dodds]

"Comic artist Geoff Johns"... Idiots

But, yeah! FRIGGIN' GREAT NEWS! I was actually going to make a post earlier asking if you guys thought there'd be a videogame tie-in.

This is great news INDEED.

[Grommers]

The problem with a Green Lantern game is that you're simply not going to able to do anything with the ring that isn't pre-determined. The power ring just can't be properly realized in a video game. Want to make a jet? The game designers didn't put that in the game, so you can't.

However, if the designers were clever enough, they could use a pre-determined power set in a way that at least makes you feel like Green Lantern--allows you to be inventive. The power set, I imagine, would be something like The Force Unleashed meets Prototype. Those are two games that succeeded better than most others at making you feel powerful. The Force Unleashed had the sort of envionrmental control you'd expect a power ring to grant you, and Prototype gives you such a wide range of powers and abilities that combat becomes a freeform experience, allowing you to play in a lot of different ways, and take whatever approach you like. The attack powers (blade arm, claws, wrecking-ball hands, augmented strength, and whip) and defense powers (shield and full body armour) in Prototype would translate well into a similar set of attack and defense powers created via a Green Lantern ring. If each power had the sort of depth and variety available in Prototype, then you'd have a decent approximation of the abilities of a Green Lantern.


Actually, I think it'd be possible in the sense it'd be sort of like Banjo Kazooie nuts & bolts, where you can make your shapes with the ring before hand..out of different parts, you would need basic animations, but some of them could be pretty cool, like just as basics..

a pushing one,
a bubble one,
an animal type one.
etc.?

[dnno1]

Or maybe train to a level where you could create such a construct.

[dnno1]

''Double Helix creating Green Lantern game with sheer will.'' (http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/07/13/warner-bros-to-greenlight-green-lantern-superhero-game//)

This is good, but we will need to wait until after all the contracts are signed and the movie is officially green-lit before anything like that will happen. We will see what develops by the time E3 comes around.

[protocida]

Cool beams.

[The Bruce]

Just make a Nintendo DS Green Lantern game and have people drew anything they can come up with right on screen.

[The Ace of Knaves]

Who plays the DS though?

[The Bruce]

RPG geeks like me :-)