New kaiju game from Matt Frank + Simon Strange [Archive]

[Rossk]

Honestly I just want an updated StE, nothing to fancy.

[Rossk]

I just remember seeing that revoltech toy and thinking "damn that's nice"

[Living Corpse]

While a good story would be awesome I think fun gameplay is the most we're gonna get. At best we'd just get some still pictures and a narrator for a monsters arcade ending.

[Showa Gyaos]

Pipeworks wouldn't have any say in the design or direction of the game, with one important exception - they would be able to somewhat limit the amount of time I, personally, spent on the game.

This sounds like a deal-breaker for me. There are definitely pros and cons for either route, but this stipulation makes me think doing it without Pipeworks is the way to go.

Totally. If the goal of this game is to be one that "all of the fandom can cherish," then a time limit can only hurt the production of such a game. As I said in my previous post, I don't another rushed game, and neither does anybody else.

StE was rushed to meet Godzilla's 50th birthday, and a lot of promises needed to be broken because of it. G:U was rushed out of the doors, and the final product was a glitchy, buggy mess with less appeal than its predecessors.

[Tyler]

I still think this should be Toho monsters only.

[Mr. Strange]

I may have been unclear. Pipeworks wouldn't have the power to say "this game is now finished." They would only have the power to say "Simon can no longer spend 100% of his time on this project."

So we would be trading a lot more work, and more varied skills applied to the project up front, in exchange for slower monster implementation and balancing work after the first 9 months or so.

Sunstone Games alone: 6 people working full time for 24 months. (144 total)

Sunstone Games + Pipeworks: 12 people working full time for 9 months, then 4.5 people working full time for 15 months. (175.5 total)

Doing the work jointly with Pipeworks make a better game. But it means we would get a lot MORE done up front, and somewhat LESS done later on. This might be frustrating to fans.

[Mr. Strange]

While a good story would be awesome I think fun gameplay is the most we're gonna get. At best we'd just get some still pictures and a narrator for a monsters arcade ending.

I think the quality of the story will be light-years beyond what we had in the previous games - but the $$ spent on presentation would be substantially less.

[Showa Gyaos]

^I'm with you on this. Besides, it's already been stated that Toho would most likely step in and give the red light on such an idea. Bagan has a better chance of appearing in a Godzilla game. (I'm not implying that I think he should be in another video game. I am just sharing my thoughts on what would be more likely to happen.)

If Gamera were to make another game appearance, I would rather he'd get one of his own games. A crossover would be nice, but I don't think it would work well between two very different universes. But I'm not completely opposed to the idea.

[Blackout286]

While a good story would be awesome I think fun gameplay is the most we're gonna get. At best we'd just get some still pictures and a narrator for a monsters arcade ending.

I think the quality of the story will be light-years beyond what we had in the previous games - but the $$ spent on presentation would be substantially less.

How good of a story are we talkin here?
I'm not sure about everyone else, but I'd be fine if the story was somewhat like Godzilla Domination GBA, it was straight-forward and the world already knew about the monsters. Plus each monster had a ending that was pretty decent.

[hammysammy59]

While a good story would be awesome I think fun gameplay is the most we're gonna get. At best we'd just get some still pictures and a narrator for a monsters arcade ending.

I think the quality of the story will be light-years beyond what we had in the previous games - but the $$ spent on presentation would be substantially less.

If we get unique stories for each monster, the "stills and narration endings" like LC describes will be plenty for me!

[Showa Gyaos]

While a good story would be awesome I think fun gameplay is the most we're gonna get. At best we'd just get some still pictures and a narrator for a monsters arcade ending.

I think the quality of the story will be light-years beyond what we had in the previous games - but the $$ spent on presentation would be substantially less.

If we get unique stories for each monster, the "stills and narration endings" like LC describes will be plenty for me!

This is what I'd want. It doesn't need to be cinematic for me to enjoy it. Many of the recent Mortal Kombat games have proven that they're doable and can be decent. If it's cost-effective, that makes it even more appropriate for a project like this.

[Showa Gyaos]

I may have been unclear. Pipeworks wouldn't have the power to say "this game is now finished." They would only have the power to say "Simon can no longer spend 100% of his time on this project."

So we would be trading a lot more work, and more varied skills applied to the project up front, in exchange for slower monster implementation and balancing work after the first 9 months or so.

Sunstone Games alone: 6 people working full time for 24 months. (144 total)

Sunstone Games + Pipeworks: 12 people working full time for 9 months, then 4.5 people working full time for 15 months. (175.5 total)

Doing the work jointly with Pipeworks make a better game. But it means we would get a lot MORE done up front, and somewhat LESS done later on. This might be frustrating to fans.

Ahhhhh. So it wouldn't cut off certain productions of the game, but delay them? I could live with that. But I am not sure about the other members of the fandom. They could get ancy.

[hammysammy59]

A longer development period isn't what bothers me, diverting the attention of key staff (Simon) to other projects is what bothers me. I'd prefer to have a 100% dedicated staff. I'm not saying the alternative isn't fine too, but I'd prefer to have a completely dedicated team.

[Living Corpse]

I really like how Godzilla Domination had different endings for each monster. And it's not like it's hard to come with decent endings.

Spacegodzilla: After removing all enemies he moves on to turning the world into a giant forest of crystals.

Mechagodzilla: Returns to the G-Force base to be repaired.

Godzilla: After fighting everyone Godzilla is too exhausted to continue his attacks on humanity and returns to the sea.

Destroyah: Senses some Micro-Oxygen left over somewhere in the world and begins a campaign to gather it all to become stronger.

King Ghidorah: Destroys the world and flies out into space to find new planets to destroy. Nuff said.

Gigan: With no one left to fight Gigan was free to cause as much suffering and death on humanity.

Baragon: With no one to control him Baragon ate up most of the livestock in the world before returning underground causing many to starve.

Hedorah: Eats enough pollution that no one can stop him and he ends up covering the world in smog.

Rodan: Flies south like a bird after removing all targets. Nuff said.

[Goji]

If getting Pipeworks involved means "a better game", then I'm all for it. I do understand that it's a bit of a double edged sword..but we all want quality gameplay, and I'm all for whatever it takes to make that happen.

Hammy does bring up a good point, and I can understand his concern. I guess in the end, it's kind of up to Mr. Strange, and the majority of the fandom, which will determine the best course of action to take.

[Oasis_S]

I'm kind of afraid I would end up just skipping the story anyway. I don't think I ever watched any cutscene in Unleashed.

Domination! had a lady in a helicopter narrating the story, didn't it? I never played. But it might be possible to have the story narrated DURING the fights? That might cut down on the amount of art to be done, but it would also require hiring voice actors, lol. If the humans are talking, there might be a particular blue (to set it apart) helicopter flying about that you can't hit. Aliens would have a bigger UFO or something. No idea what you had in mind. That way you could at least have "characters" visible during the match.

I miss the military telling you who won the match in DAMM. Thought that was a nice touch. I guess I was building off that.


Oh yeah, there should be some kind of RIVAL BATTLE between Rodan and Megaguirus since he found her kind tasty in his first movie, lol.

[godzilla898]

If it was possible, would anyone like environmental coding for some monsters? E.G., when Ebirah is in water as opposed to on land, he moves faster and his water jet has more force.

[Blackout286]

I'm kind of afraid I would end up just skipping the story anyway. I don't think I ever watched any cutscene in Unleashed.

Domination! had a lady in a helicopter narrating the story, didn't it? I never played. But it might be possible to have the story narrated DURING the fights? That might cut down on the amount of art to be done, but it would also require hiring voice actors, lol. If the humans are talking, there might be a particular blue (to set it apart) helicopter flying about that you can't hit. Aliens would have a bigger UFO or something. No idea what you had in mind. That way you could at least have "characters" visible during the match.

I miss the military telling you who won the match in DAMM. Thought that was a nice touch. I guess I was building off that.


Oh yeah, there should be some kind of RIVAL BATTLE between Rodan and Megaguirus since he found her kind tasty in his first movie, lol.

Mmm...Kinda reminds me of WWE and their games. (Not a bad thing mind you) But yeah, hiring voice actors will squeeze some of the budget.

[Oasis_S]

Yeah, I vote better game.

I mean... At least in my opinion, if I'm going to actually be PLAYING the game already, I wouldn't exactly feel like I'm doing much "waiting," even if it's for more stuff to play with. Unless I knew Gabara was coming. That might be a bit painful. But not really.

It's not like we'd be left in the dark during those waiting periods, right? Would still get the occasional update on progress, maybe a screenshot or two?

[Showa Gyaos]

Oh yeah, there should be some kind of RIVAL BATTLE between Rodan and Megaguirus since he found her kind tasty in his first movie, lol.

I like the idea of rivalry matches. But I think many of them would be held between Godzilla and a certain kaiju. Not sure if such a feature could be implemented. I guess these could be potential rivalries:

Mothra/Battra -- Could follow the mythology detailed in Godzilla vs. Mothra.

Gezora/Kamoebas/Ganimes -- The poster for Yog could be an inspiration for adding Gezora to the mix. In the movie, he never met Kamoebas or Ganimes, but Kamoebas and Ganimes did meet. And they tried to kill each other.

Megalon/Manda -- The Seatopians and the Mu Empire form a rivalry, and bring their monsters into the conflict.

Biollante/SpaceGodzilla -- Biollante obviously did not like Godzilla, so it would seem natural for her to despise one of Godzilla's spawn.