I know motion controls are rather controversial at the moment and I share many of the doubts. In a similar vein of mr. Croshaw's statement, without force feedback, you'll still just be flailing your arms around. Nevertheless, this whole controller-less trend could pave the way for some truly impressive stuff. *Keeps his fingers crossed for direct neural interfaces*
Anyway, last night I had an idea for a mechanic applicable for either Kinect, Move or Wii. If made, it could either be mindblowingly awesome, or gamebreakingly crippling. First a little introduction.
Hermetic and Vancian magic are two different schools of magic.
Hermetic magic is a real-life traditional philosophy/religion which used to be practiced mostly on the western half of the Eurasian continent and Northern Africa. Individual spells can take months of research and casting them requires the drawing of elaborate geometric diagrams and vocal incantations, with rituals that could take up several hours.
Vancian magic on the other hand is a fictional system based on the works of sci-fi/fantasy author Jack Vance, but mostly known for it's use in pre-4th editions of D&D. A magician could cast spells far more quickly but could only memorize a limited number of spells each day. When a spell was casted, the knowledge of the spell would dissappear from the caster's mind and he'd have to memorize it again to use it the next day. 4th edition ritual casting however is very similar to Hermetic magic.
Now, my idea was to combine these two magic systems into an action-adventure game similar to the Zelda series and Okami (which I haven't played yet but really want to).
The gist is as follows: The game would be filled with puzzle dungeons, like Zelda, but instead of using tools to solve them, the player has an arsenal of spells, with a special spell set for combat and a set cantrips for puzzle solving. The spells can be cast an infinite amount of times, but you can only activly carry a limited number at any time(two seperate spell bars for combat and cantrips), with set time intervals before the spell loadout can be adjusted and more powerful spells have a cooldown time. Each individual spell needs to be learned in the style of Okami, but instead of drawing constellations, the player retraces elaborate Hermatic magic circles in mid-air with his hand/finger in case of the Kinect, the glowing orb on the Move controller or the Wiimote. Fundamental cantrips will have simpler circles, but the more powerful a spell, the more complexer the circle will be. These circles could be found in a lot of places, for example: books, murals, frescos, tapestries, engraved in the ground or even the layout of an entire city (thank you, Fullmetal Alchemist!). Of course, most of the circles will require some puzzling to acquire (rhyme not intentional), though I don't quite know yet what kind of puzzles. Once learned, the spell can be loaded onto the spell bar and used quick and simple.
And here come the problems.
With the Kinect, a whole assortment of arm and hand gestures could be used to cast spells. The problem is: how would you navigate your character, or better yet, AIM your spells? This article on the Escapist showed it is possible to navigate a character in a 3D environment ánd cast spells using Kinect, but it might not hold up quite yet when more frantic combat is involved.
The Wiimote and Playstation Move controller combined with their Nunchuck peripherals both have analogue sticks which could be used to navigate the character, but since both only detect the position and movement of the controllers, the amount of gestures is somewhat limited in comparison.
Of course, these gestures could just be tied to specific spell slots, reducing the required amount of gestures to a manageable amount.
Anyway, last night I had an idea for a mechanic applicable for either Kinect, Move or Wii. If made, it could either be mindblowingly awesome, or gamebreakingly crippling. First a little introduction.
Hermetic and Vancian magic are two different schools of magic.
Hermetic magic is a real-life traditional philosophy/religion which used to be practiced mostly on the western half of the Eurasian continent and Northern Africa. Individual spells can take months of research and casting them requires the drawing of elaborate geometric diagrams and vocal incantations, with rituals that could take up several hours.
Vancian magic on the other hand is a fictional system based on the works of sci-fi/fantasy author Jack Vance, but mostly known for it's use in pre-4th editions of D&D. A magician could cast spells far more quickly but could only memorize a limited number of spells each day. When a spell was casted, the knowledge of the spell would dissappear from the caster's mind and he'd have to memorize it again to use it the next day. 4th edition ritual casting however is very similar to Hermetic magic.
Now, my idea was to combine these two magic systems into an action-adventure game similar to the Zelda series and Okami (which I haven't played yet but really want to).
The gist is as follows: The game would be filled with puzzle dungeons, like Zelda, but instead of using tools to solve them, the player has an arsenal of spells, with a special spell set for combat and a set cantrips for puzzle solving. The spells can be cast an infinite amount of times, but you can only activly carry a limited number at any time(two seperate spell bars for combat and cantrips), with set time intervals before the spell loadout can be adjusted and more powerful spells have a cooldown time. Each individual spell needs to be learned in the style of Okami, but instead of drawing constellations, the player retraces elaborate Hermatic magic circles in mid-air with his hand/finger in case of the Kinect, the glowing orb on the Move controller or the Wiimote. Fundamental cantrips will have simpler circles, but the more powerful a spell, the more complexer the circle will be. These circles could be found in a lot of places, for example: books, murals, frescos, tapestries, engraved in the ground or even the layout of an entire city (thank you, Fullmetal Alchemist!). Of course, most of the circles will require some puzzling to acquire (rhyme not intentional), though I don't quite know yet what kind of puzzles. Once learned, the spell can be loaded onto the spell bar and used quick and simple.
And here come the problems.
With the Kinect, a whole assortment of arm and hand gestures could be used to cast spells. The problem is: how would you navigate your character, or better yet, AIM your spells? This article on the Escapist showed it is possible to navigate a character in a 3D environment ánd cast spells using Kinect, but it might not hold up quite yet when more frantic combat is involved.
The Wiimote and Playstation Move controller combined with their Nunchuck peripherals both have analogue sticks which could be used to navigate the character, but since both only detect the position and movement of the controllers, the amount of gestures is somewhat limited in comparison.
Of course, these gestures could just be tied to specific spell slots, reducing the required amount of gestures to a manageable amount.
