Sunday 16 October 2011

Choosing A.I Partner Pattern

One of the thing I wish so much about NGSigma 2's team mission was to have the ability to choose our A.I's pattern. Many people would actually prefer playing Team Missions alone without a partner, however judging by the name 'Team', it would be stupid to play a Team mission alone. On prior to having an A.I partner, one of the good thing Team NINJA would have allowed was to make us choose our A.I pattern.

Aggressive: When you choose Aggressive pattern for the A.I, the A. I would fight on its own. Ignoring your calls and help. A.I would initiate ninpo without your consent, so if you want to pull off a double ninpo, you would have to do so when the A.I does. Sometimes if you pull off your own ninpo, the A.I may not want to pull of his/her own ninpo. The basis of this pattern is to make the A.I fight aggressively.

Offensive: Offensive is basically the normal pattern just like how the A.I fights from NGSigma 2. A.I would only pull off a ninpo if you do so, and when you are down the A.I will always try to revive you. The problem with this pattern is that if the A.I has a ninpo while you don't, the A.I would not use the ninpo.

Defensive: Defensive is basically making the A.I always defensive. The A.I will constantly block and evade while you do the killings and be offensive. When you are down the A.I will always try to revive you or can even pull off a ninpo before reviving you. The point of this pattern is to make you fight tougher bosses and enemies while the A.I partner steps back. Imaging playing Ultimate Ninja 5, this would prove useful.

Either we can change the AI pattern's real time during gameplay or having us choose a pattern before starting the match.
Not only do we get to choose a pattern, but allowing us to choose a specific pattern would change the tide of the battle.
Ninja Gaiden 3 will have Co-op missions just like Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

Monday 19 September 2011

World of Ninjas ideas

Game Modes

*Deathmatch
==Up to 8 Players
==The person with most kills wins
==Respawning is unlimited

*Team Deathmatch
==The team with the most kills wins
==Respawning is unlimited

*Survivor
==Teams of 2
==Once a player dies, player can no longer respawn (works like Gears of War multiplayer)

*Last Ninja Standing
==Deathmatch style
==All player are equipped with 5 Respawn lives. Once all 5 lives are used, player can no longer respawn

*Duel
==Tournament mode
==Basically winners stays on. When 1 v 1 battles, after the match the game will return to lobby and winner will fight the next ninja pending.
==Winners stays on until he becomes the champion
==Only 1 respawn live




New game type

<>Slay Hayabusa
Max Player- 4
Team Work


Players must work together as a team or individual as a lone wolf to hunt and kill Ryu Hayabusa wandering in the map.
Ryu Hayabusa will be over powered.

If team works together to kill Ryu, they would get Team Assist points.
If one person kills Ryu alone, he/she would get all the point. And mind you Ryu Hayabusa is not easy to kill, his attack damage would be identical to the same damage bosses perform in Ultimate Ninja from NGSigma 2.

Players should not expect to find Ryu running around or walking around looking for members. He can just pop in and out from no where when you least expect him.



<>Massacre Match
Max Player- 8
Deathmatch


A full blow deathmatch however with a little twist. Ryu Hayabusa can jump in the match anytime and will kill players who are vulnerable in the arena.

So imagine you getting 5 winning kills, Ryu Hayabusa might just pop out of no where and kill you, breaking your killing streak.

Instead of players being aware of other ninjas, they would also have to fear Ryu Hayabusa lurking in the shadows somewhere in the map.





Feature Challenges

Basically the Feat. Challenges are mini challenges players must perform. Instead of just constantly playing the same multiplayer and over again, players will be given challenges to perform in multiplayer. It basically works like Splinter Cell Conviction- evading from last seen position 5 times, Mark and Execute 5 enemies at the same time.
Or even F.E.A.R 3 challenges- get 3 different melee kills, slide kill 2 enemies, kill a ghost soldier with Riot Gear.
Challenges once completed can also be redone to earn points. Basically to determine your ranking and leveling, they are worked as points. Not only when you kill ninjas online you get points, but performing and completing challenges will earn you extra points.

Challenges are NOT achievements/trophies. You have to perform them only in a match. So if you killed 5 ninjas with an arrow 2/5, and wanted to perform it 3 more times in another game. It will not work. You have to complete a challenge only in a round match or it will reset.

*Kill a ninja with a shuriken
*Kill a ninja with an arrow 5 times in a row (0/5)
*Kill 2 ninjas with a ninpo
*Assassin- Kill 2 ninjas in a row without dying (0/5)
*Massacre- Kill 4 ninjas in a row without dying (0/3)
*Kill a ninja with an izuna drop (0/10)
*Kill each of the ninjas in the opposing team once
*Kill a ninja without taking an damages (0/2)



Profile and Earnings

The profile earnings are rewards you get for doing something in the game, it basically makes your profile shine and make you a dangerous clan or ninja.

*Shuriken Tag: Display lists of ninja shurikens. Each enemies you kill, you collect their Shuriken Ninja Star to remind you of a fallen live of a ninja you took. Battlefield Bad Company and Crysis does this.
*Fallen Clans: Lists of clans (team matches) your team has won. All the teams you've defeated their name will be displayed.
*In your Ninja profile it should display the name of your clan you belong to.



Customizing

*Ninja Star- A shuriken with your name embedded (when you get killed, someone can claim your Ninja Star)

*Colour Kanji letter Symbol- choose the colour of your kanji symbol


*Customizing Kunoichi: Players should be able to create Kunoichi/ female ninjas. There are lots of gamer girls who play NG. Thanks to NGSigma 2 and the merger of Tecmo Koei. Dynasty Warriors fans, mainly the female types solely enjoyed playing Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 in Acolyte and Warrior mode as well as Team Missions. For that we were able to get more female gamers into NG.
I mean we shouldn't be intimidated or frighten to kill a kunoichi just because they are female ninjas, neither shouldn't the kunoichis.



Perks

*Perk Slots: To balance the game, players can ONLY choose up to 2 perks! (no more than 2!). Giving players ablility to select more than 2 perks will ruin the fun online.




*Kamikaze explosion perk: Depending on how the combat is designed online, if there would be Obliterating Technique.
When a player slightly kills another ninja, player can use Obliterate Technique to completely finish them off. If the player does not use OT, the dying ninja will have a chance to commit Kamikaze. Basically the ninja would explode if you are close by him/her. Originally the explosion will not completely kill you but will take 20% damage. So think of it as having 100% health, you fought a ninja leaving you with 80%. If you are caught in the kamikaze blast, it would leave you with 60% health. So ninjas with 20% health who are caught in the blast will be killed.

Players cannot perform a Kamikaze explosion if they are Obliterated. I turned this to a perk because if every ninja are equipped with a kamikaze explosion, every killer would expect a dead ninja to explode. So if this is a perk, you would not know what sort of ninja might kamikaze on you after killing them.



*Stealth Attack Perk: We NG fans WILL definitely want the Stealth Attack in multiplayer.
This is due to majority of players who love 'camping' and not going into the battlefield to fight. Many gamers these days are doing this in many FPS multiplayer games. Instead of going to the field to fight, they stay behind and camp, sniping or waiting for enemies to approach.

Now for NG3 Multiplayer. Players who are shooting arrows from rooftops or higher grounds can be approached with stealth walking/running and be melee stabbed from behind.

Walking behind another ninja to melee stab them that ends up killing them will break the game therefore in order to balance the game, instead of the stab killing the victim, the stab basically takes like 50% damage off the player's 100% complete healthbar.

Using this perk basically mutes the players footstep when running or walking. They would get the opportunity to use it when they stalk a prey ninja wandering or target a ninja camping behind the battlefield.

Originally this move can be used by all ninjas but I wanted it to become a perk because we can have players online abusing this system if it was open to everybody. Even in battlefield, while you are dealing with another ninja, someone can just sneak up behind you and stab you. It would be like Anarchy Reigns all out brawling:/ So I believe if this Stealth Attack is a perk, everyone will not be able to abuse this.



*Smoke Bombs Perk: Using Smoke Bombs to blindd a ninja or groups of ninja. Using the smoke bomb will allow the player to jump on the ninja while blinded by the smoke or to basically escape and ambush.


*Flash bang bomb Perk: Using a flash bang to temporary blind the enemy. Using a flash bang will allow the ninja to counter attack or escape when dying.


*Incendiary Explosive: Ninjas can only equip maximum of 10 or 5 incendiary explosives.


*Weapon slot Perk: Player can increase the amount of ammo they can carry for Arrows or Shurikens.
For an example normally you are limited to a maximum of 10 Arrows. By using this perk, you can increase the maximum of arrows from 10 to 15 arrows. The same can be used with Shuriken stocks.


* Camouflage perk: Another perk options can be Camouflage. Ninjas are known to be camouflage or blending with the environments.
Now there will be 2 types of camouflag the player can use that will help balance the game

--Ground Camouflag perk= It is said that ninjas can hide underground the soil and pop out to surprise their enemies. If the player equips this perk, the player would be able to camouflag as the ground.
Player would have to stand on the ground idle for 5 seconds activate the camouflage or player can just press an Action button to turn on the Camouflage function. Then the ninja would automatically play an animation to disguise himself as the ground, as the ninja lays to the ground.
To balance this I'm thinking if this perk should only work on soil grounds, work on all types of surface (inlcuding rooftops and materials) or solid grounds (excluding rooftops and materials).

And yes if the player moves a inch, it will reveal their position and body. It would not give too much away however if another player pays attention to the transfiguration of a surface blending with another, the player can tell a ninja is in disguise.

--Shadow camouflage= Ninjas are known to use the shadows to their advantage, basically they are unseen in the shadow. If the player uses this perk and stands in a shadow under 5 seconds, the player will remain unseen to the naked eyes. Its like going invincible in Killzone 3 or Crysis 2. Even though the player moves while in the shadow, the player can still become unseen!



*Deception perk: I was watching Ninja in the Dragons Den the other day and they introduce this deception very good in the movie. I was thinking what if the art of deception can be used in NG3's multiplayer. No this isn't the art of pretending to be your enemy which I believe is so annoying and flawed in Killzone 3. I believe the art of creating a fake version of yourself and the enemy will thing that is you. Its like a hologram version just like in Duke Nukem Forever or Crysis 2. Basically when the ninja turns on the Deception perk, the fake version of yourself will lay on the ground pretending to be using a Ground camouflage. When a ninja falls for your trap, you can just attack from behind.



*Play Dead Perk: Players can only act dead if they are dealt with a critical hit. By not pressing any button, when the ninja falls to the ground, the ninja will act die (or play dead). This will give the player a chance to get up and sneak up behind another ninja or to escape. Or to make use of this function, the player can just press the Action Button to turn on the Play Dead perk.



*Mark of Death Perk: Ninjas always mark their target and can track them down if they failed at assassinating the target first time. If the player equips this perk, the player would be able to track down the target if the ninja fails at killing that target. In addition, the team mates of the ninja can also see that target and kill them. If a ninja is marked as a target, others will be able to see through the ninja's disguise or camouflage


*Seeing eye perk: Ninjas are always aware of their surroundings and are always prepare to face whatever the enemy or target is about to pull off. If the player equips this perk, the player would be able to see the selected perks other ninjas have equipped. This allows the ninja to be aware if a ninja has the Kamikaze Explosion perk on or Camouflag perk on. In addition to this, the ninja will also be able to see through ninja camouflage and ninjas hiding/camouflaging in the shadow.


*Chainmail perk: Ninjas wear chainmail as a bulletproof to prevent internal damages to their body or reduce damages when fighintg. If the player equips this Chainmail perk, it will reduce the damage taken by shuriken, arrows (incendiary explosions?). This perk can also reduce the damage when player are caught in a Kamikaze explosion. And also reduces damage taken by Stealth attack from behind.




Balancing Perks


In order to show that the perks are balance and work together and against each other. Here is the list of what works against another perk in terms of cancellation. I have grouped them by Plus and Minus sign. Plus sign means the advantage a perk as over other perks. Minus sign means this disadvantage of the perks towards other perks.

Kamikaze perk-
-Chainmail perk- Reduces kamikaze explosion damage by ninja wearing chainmail perk
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Stealth perk-
+Ground camouflag- reveals ninja hiding underground
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Smoke Perk-
+Play Dead- reveals ninja playing dead. When used, playing dead ninja would slightly move.
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Flash bang perk-
+Shadow camouflage- Slightly reveals shadow camouflage perk
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Incendiary perk-
+Ground camouflag- Hurts ninjas camouflaging in underground
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Weapon slot perk-
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Ground camou perk- 
+Stealth Attack- Can hear ninjas footstep who are using stealth attack
+Smoke perk- Can see through smoke bombs
+Flash bang perk- Unaffected by flash bangs
-Mark of death- Ninjas with mark of death who targeted you can see through your underground hiding
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Shadow camou perk-
-Flashbang perk- Flash bang will temporary reveal ninja hiding in the shadow
-Mark of death- Ninjas with mark of death who targeted you can see through your shadow hiding
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Deception perk-
-Mark of death- Ninjas with mark of death who targeted you can see through your deception
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Play dead perk-
-Smoke perk- will make ninjas playing dead slightly twitch and move
-Mark of death- Ninjas with mark of death who targeted you can see through your playing dead
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Mark of death perk-
+Shadow camouflage- will reveal target ninja who goes into hiding in the shadow
+Ground camouflage-will reveal target ninja who goes into hiding underground
+Playing Dead-will reveal target ninja who plays dead
+Deception perk-will reveal target ninja's deception
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk

Seeing eye perk-
+Reveals all perks equipped by a ninja
+Playing Dead- reveals ninjas playing dead
+Deception perk- reveals ninjas deception

Chaimmail perk-
+Projectile weapons- Reduces damage taken by shurikens and arrows
+Incendiary perk- reduces damage taken by incendiary explosions
+Stealth attack- reduces damage taken by Stealth Attacks 30%
+Kamikaze perk- reduces damage taken by kamikaze blast 10%
-Seeing eye perk- Ninjas with seeing eye perk can see this perk



Ranking Progression

The Ranking Progression should be judged by:

*killing a lvl 30 ninja in a game: while you are way below his level like lvl13
*Killing the highest top kill in a match: Like checking the Scoreboard and you have the highest points or kills
*Every kill you get in an online game
*Being a team player: like 'assisting' your team mate take down another ninja
*performing feats and challenging in a a match- so instead of just spamming izuna drop, getting 4 kills without dying will increase your points.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Emblems Ranking+Ninja Profile: An addition to NG3's Ninja Records

It is quite apparent that NG3 will have Ninja Records back either the same like in Sigma 2 or quite reformed. Here is something cool I thought of while watching the same E3 demo gameplay videos for countless times.

It is to do with how the player plays the game, as you can tell the player can perform free actions features against enemies and in the game: assassinating enemies from behind and obliterating enemies.

On prior to the Ninja Gaiden 3's Shadow of the World Ninja Records. Apart from getting the Master Ninja Rank, what if we players can get a reward ranking emblems for the amount of actions we do?

Let's say we have Player 1 and Player 2.
*Player 1 loves to OT crawling enemies and doesn't leave a single one alive. However Player 2 loves seeing enemies crawl til they die and rarely OT enemies.
*Player 1 loves to assassinate enemies from behind by always playing stealth; player 2 loves running and fighting instead of playing stealth.

The game's system would count the player actions and determines a ranking emblem for them.

-JaSon Fire-
Adept Ninja | Stealth Assassinator | Obliterator


-Black Xino-
Master Ninja | Dexterity Anxiety | Merciful | Ultimate Killer

As you can see from the example: Stealth Assassinator is awarded for the player performing more Assassination stealth kills. Dexterity Anxiety is rewarded for the player running into the battlefield and fighting.
Obliterator is awarded for the player OT'ing every dying enemies and Merciful is awarded for players leaving crawling enemies to die.
Ultimate Killer is awarded for players who loves to use Ultimate Technique all the time.

I believe this is something players would want to achieve rather than getting the most kills with a weapon or getting 100 combo or even trying to get all achievements. This badge would be something that reflects on their personality and how they play.

When you are about to play Co-op or Team Deathmatch with someone online, if you look at their outcome Ninja Profile you can immediately tell what kind of a player this person is or how they usually play.

It is also something people would want others to understand that their profile reflect their skills. "Yes I'm a master ninja and I want people to know I am an obliterator".

This will also encourage players to be dynamic, instead of a gamer who loves obliterating enemies, why doesn't he allow them to die for once? It allows player to try to experiment different play style rather than just sticking to one.



Here is an example I had to create: it's a Ninja Profile or Ninja Badge.

As you can see this is your Ninja Profile or Ninja Badge. It represents your current statue on your Storymode playthrough if you've beaten Warrior or Master Ninja.
*You can see that Player 1- Black Xino has red background colour, player 2 decided to choose blue. This would allow players to choose their own colour background.

*The image to the right in the box is the player's "Most Used" or Favourite Character. I love using Ayane so the system choose Ayane has my favourite most used character. Player 2's favourite is Ryu.

*Second Coloumn is the emblems that reflects what kind of a ninja they are if they are merciful or obliterator.

*Final is the clan tag name. Ninja Gaiden 3 will have 8 player multiplayer therefore players can create clans. So if you see someone in Silver Plates or Front Wing Clan name under their badge then it means you are fighting one of the clans. Can you eliminate all the players in the Front Wing Clan?:)



The emblems will be rewarded to player either playing online or offline and once achieved player can change it anytime by just playing the opposite play style. Let's say you have an Obliterator badge and want to change it to Merciful, each time you let enemies crawl and die. The points would be deducted to level up the Merciful bar.
I personally HATE maths with all my life but think of it this way:
*Obliterator   |   Merciful
 (50 kills rewards a badge)
50               |      -10

Now in other to get Merciful badge
Obliterator   |   Merciful
 (50 kills rewards a badge)
-21               |      29

And the more you achieve, the more the number grows, so add 25 more merciful achieves to the system and the system would update to Merciful* = 54. Which is above 50 and that should automatically change your status from Obliterator to Merciful.


This would sort of work like inFAMOUS how Cole gets 2 types of personality, if he kills civilians he goes red and if he does good he goes blue.

Thursday 30 June 2011

What Ninja Gaiden 3 can look like in 3D

Here are two 3d anaglyph images I created for NG3. It gives off a feeling how the game might look like in 3D stereo without the classics.


You need red+blue glasses to experience the effect.

Purpose of the 3D that would work well with NG3 is that when Steel on Bone triggers and the camera zooms in, the 3d effect will focus more on the sword impaling the enemy and sticking out right in your face.



Here is the trailer I made in 3D

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Shadows of the World costumes+Boxart

Here are a few image edits I made, it's meant to be a nostalgic feeling to Ninja Gaiden 2's Red Dark Blood and Tribal Costume. By the way there were originally designed in Ninja Gaiden 2 did not meet my expectations however in Ninja Gaiden 3 I do hope we can choose these colour palette edits in Shadows of the World costume

Red Dark Blood (Ninja Gaiden 2-Normal Mode)


Classic Legendary Falcon (Ninja Gaiden 1- Default costume)

Tribal Costume (Ninja Gaiden 2- Master Ninja)

Mythical suit from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 DLC


And here's a boxart I made

Friday 25 February 2011

Manriki-Gusari

I've been thinking about this weapon and watching demonstration videos to see how Ryu could uniquely wield this weapon. First of all it bares the same style and name of a Kusari-gama and kyokestu-shogei. One of the main purpose of this kind of weapon is to handle two enemies, one in front of you and the other behind or more like surrounding enemies. I can call this the fluid version of a Nunchakus, think of the Manriki-Gusari as a nunchaku but a fully bendable and flexible nunchakus.
From the video demonstrations I've seen with this weapon, it's mostly to do with swinging which I know of course that's the fundamental of it's creation.
The only purpose I can think Ryu to wield this weapon like a Nunchaku though swinging it with a different style. Ryu can also use this weapon to deflect projectile attacks.

If you think about it, the Vigoorian Flails and the Nunchaku are exactly the same however the difference between them is that Vigoorian has a blade at both handles and allows Ryu to wield it in a devastating way (to `slash` of-course). While a normal nuchaku is designed to knock out opponents.
Now the Manriki-gusari can be considered the third type of a Nunchaku and the moves Vigoorian Flails couldn't do, the manriki-gusari could do.

The weapon can work like Ninja Blade's Twin Swords.
Forward to 1:42

As for Ninja Blade's Twin Sword, I'm not sure what it is, I can't really tell by the animation. Though I can guess they are Flexible Swords, that weapon is my favourite, regardless of it being the weakest:)
But please watch the video and look how Ken Ogawa uses the Twin Swords, now imgine if Ryu could wield the Manriki-gusari similar to it? Ryu would wield the Manriki-gusari like the Vigoorian Flails but with more advance and fluid moves, and also the manriki-gusari can deflect projectiles once swung like Ken Ogawa's Twin Blade.

Please watch this video , the author doesn't want to display the embed code:/
It's a demonstration of how the Manrikigusari can be used and swung. 

Ashiko

Further to the discussion about Ninja Gaiden 3's gameplay reinvented and we ALL desperately cannot wait to see the actual gameplay. I was thinking about Ashiko weapon which is a spike that straps around the ninja's palm and under-feet to enable climbing. If NG3 is a total revamp, including this weapon will aid it's reinvention. Why? what could the spike strap possibly do in terms of attacking and defending?

Originally Ryu can run up walls and run along walls, why don't we say if the Player equips the Ashiko's secondary weapon, it would enable Ryu to perform those feats such as running up wall and running along walls. If the Ashiko is not equipped therefore Ryu cannot run up any wall or along a wall.

It might seem like a step back, though in terms of reality it would actually make sense and become more realistic. From my point of view and with my ideas; I am trying to make NG feel and play realistic while maintaining the Ultimate combat of hack n slash other action ninja games lack. If you think about Tenchu; it's  a ninjutsu game just like Ninja Gaiden though it follows the path of being more realistic in terms of stealth since the whole purpose of being a ninja is to be stealthy. What if Ninja Gaiden is exactly like Tenchu (realistic) but with insane exaggerated combat? It would once again become like an upgraded version of Splinter Cell which is Conviction. It retains the stealthy gameplay but more badass action than ever.

Putting the Ashkio in the game will evidentially degrade Ryu's agility; on the positive side we can say equipping this weapon will allow Ryu to further run along walls or up walls for a longer time. We can even add that performing the Wind Run/Wind Path on an enemy would cause a direct stagger and weigh them down for an additional few seconds more.