Haven't played a Zelda game in forever, but as far as open world and Superman? At the very, absolute least, I demand an open world (Metropolis) as big as Tokyo (plus smaller "dungeon" type maps, like you'd see in Skyrim or whatever). My preference, if we're going nuts, would be the whole earth.
I know games can go beyond planet-sized. We've got stuff where you can explore the entire galaxy and walk around every asteroid and planet and exoplanet in it. A game that size would be crazy cool but even I admit that's unnecessary. Earth would be enough.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Yeah for reading comics on the train ride home the way Rao intended (I get that reference)
Not getting that one specifically, right now I’m finishing up Skyrim Special Edition (first time playing Skyrim again in years) and then Atomic Heart or Jedi Survivor are up next for me. I’ve grown a little fatigued of open world games, best game I played recently was Hi-Fi Rush, and that was a throwback to the more linear games of old. For a new Superman game I kinda want a Metroidvania type game to start rather than full open world.
Yeah I remembered that too. That’s probably what we will end up with, but they’re making a WW game and the guys who made Hogwarts Legacy already built a game with flying mechanics. Maybe they could ask Avalanche to do Superman?
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
MADV143_AUDIO-PC-06-01.43.470.jpg
A Superman game that looks like this... would be pretty good.
Where is that? It's too dark to be vanilla Metropolis (where it's always daytime). Is it Metropolis in one of the War for the Light expansions?
It's not Central City or Dakota is it?
Whatever it is, DCUO has some fantastic city designs. Their Atlantis was amazing, one of my favorite expansions. When the game first hit I'd spend an hour just flying around Metropolis, exploring and swooping in to save the occasional mugging victim.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Ah okay. I've logged in a bit and looked at the new Static DLC gear but I haven't played any of it yet or explored the new zone. Does look good tho.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Unfortunately if they haven't already started making a Superman game it's unlikely that they'd get something out until close to 2030. AAA games these days take 5-7 years to complete and a Superman game would definitely be on the high end of that.
The Tokyo metropolitan area is 687 square miles. For reference, the entire explorable area in Cyberpunk 2077 is ~17 square miles and Spider-Man's Manhattan is ~5 square miles.
The problem isn't making a big open world, it's making a big modern city that actually feels alive. Those massive-scale games are a bunch of desolate planets with maybe 1 small base for a generic shooter mission, and even games with huge open worlds that are well done are mostly terrain with a bunch of towns and some small, pre-skyscraper cities (e.g. Witcher 3's Continent, which is ~88 square miles of mostly water and hills). It's why Wonder Woman's already getting an open world game, Themyscira can just be an open fantasy map.
I know some people are saying "just don't do open world," but how would GoW or Mass Effect work if Kratos or Shepherd could fly or had super speed? That said, I do think an open world is possible if you scale him properly. If you can fly around a big city, throw trucks around, tank bullets, and shoot lasers from your eyes, 99.9% of players will be satisfied and feel like Superman. You don't have to be able to go into space, move at hyper-sonic speed (you can feel fast without making a ~20-25 square mile city feel small), or destroy skyscrapers with a punch, and he can be bulletproof without being completely invulnerable and turning the game into a bunch of Crazy Taxi and escort/protect missions.
If the scaling is a dealbreaker, you could set it on an alien planet, but if the concern is not feeling like Superman, I think not putting him in Metropolis would be a bigger issue than toning his powers down.
That's....a bit bigger than I realized. Okay, maybe that's a little much......
That's my thought as well. Especially if you do the whole super-senses thing, that's a lot of real dense coding I'm sure. We have the technology to pull all of that off, it's really just an enhanced version of certain "detective" modes other games (including Bat games) have done. But it'd be a lot of effort.The problem isn't making a big open world, it's making a big modern city that actually feels alive.
That's about the scale I'm asking for, honestly. I *do* want destructible environments and all the powers/abilities, but I don't need Silver Age non-limits where Clark can knock down the Daily Planet with a single blow or travel to Oa in five minutes. Clark doesn't need to be, and shouldn't be, utterly invulnerable to everything but I *do* want enemies who don't pose a legitimate threat. Some of the best Super moments involve him using his powers in clever and unique ways, solving problems creatively, and I think if you really want a proper Super game you need to include that *along* with the violent supervillain fights.I do think an open world is possible if you scale him properly. If you can fly around a big city, throw trucks around, tank bullets, and shoot lasers from your eyes, 99.9% of players will be satisfied and feel like Superman. You don't have to be able to go into space, move at hyper-sonic speed (you can feel fast without making a ~20-25 square mile city feel small), or destroy skyscrapers with a punch, and he can be bulletproof without being completely invulnerable and turning the game into a bunch of Crazy Taxi and escort/protect missions.
"We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe."
~ Black Panther.
Yeah, I think there are ways to build his senses into basic game mechanics. Like, full-on X-ray vision where you can see into every building is definitely too much, but maybe being able to see outlines of things through walls like, as you said, Batman's detective mode. And you could kinda just make super hearing work like Spider-Man's police radio but add some ambient city noise, with maybe some little NPC barks you can pick up (but I don't think being able to 100% control it and listen to any NPC at any time is feasible).
Yeah, I think the bigger issues emerge because some people are really insistent that you don't nerf him and want to do some kind of city health bar instead of an individual one, which is totally unfeasible and just doesn't sound fun. Kratos in his lore can, like, lift mountains but in gameplay he's a pretty standard barbarian type.
Agreed on the enemies front. Though I think even if you made him semi-vulnerable to explosives or gave some bad guys special weapons it'd mean the vast majority of lay enemies wouldn't pose any trouble. Not to keep harping on Spider-Man (hey, it's the gold standard of open world superhero games for a reason...) but it's kinda like how most of them just have guns/fists but you occasionally bump into guys who have rocket launchers or grenades.
There could also be some fun Clark Kent missions where you have to take out some baddies or sneak in somewhere and stop ambushers without anyone catching you using your powers.
Last edited by bardkeep; 05-06-2023 at 11:01 AM.
If we’re setting it in Metropolis then most of the “mooks” should be part of the three gangs which have been created in Superman comics and each given their own theme as it were. Intergang has the tech which means mech suits and red sunlight lasers/synthetic Kryptonite lasers/black hole grenades or whatever. The 100 are the magic users. Invisible Mafia has the Metas, low level super strength/speed/whatever which one on one is no problem for Clark but in large groups cause problems.
And that’s just the human enemies, if you set the game in the Phantom Zone or on Warworld then you have a lot more freedom to do whatever you want.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/