Game Idea: Knights vs Ninjas (RE-BLOG) - Part 1 of 2

Note: This was originally posted October 30th 2011. I decided to reblog it and update some aspects, including adding some ideas that didn't make the initial cut.

Feudal Warfare

​Here is an idea I had for a game called Knights vs Ninjas! The game has a very simple premise, you pick your character (Knight or Ninja) and embark on a journey through Arthurian legends and medieval Japan to find a mysterious treasures and do battle with your rivals! The plot is just something that gets our characters fighting, no real story here, just something along the lines of "Ninjas/Knights are invading! Fight them!". 
 
   Visually the game is a mix of Castle Crashers and Super Smash Bros, it would be a very stylized 3D. The characters and background would be rendered in 3D but with cel shaded texture. The gameplay is also very similar. Players do battle in arenas that are set in Medieval England and Japan. The player who can defeat enough opponents by either depleting their hit points or knocking them out of bounds of the arena is the winner.

​   Most game modes would allow for anywhere between 4-8 players.  Game modes would be the standard affair such as Free For All to Team Versus, Keep Away and more. The game would feature a single player where players pick a faction and wage war against their rivals across all the stages in the game. 

---

Factions and Characters Classes

  As of right now each faction has four character classes. Each character can either be male or female.  Players will be able to select their gender and customize their appearance (Different armor pieces, colors, emblems, weapons etc). All changes to the characters will be solely for aesthetic purposes and would not affect gameplay.

   Each class comes with their own weapons, strengths and weakness. Each class has their own unique weapon upgrade that they can unlock through the weapon upgrade power up that appears randomly during gameplay.

Knights Of The High Chair

   Chivalrous knights that fight for honor and respect. They are adorned with armor and royal crests. Generally the knights are a bit slower but have higher defensive ratings compared to their Ninja counterparts.​
​

​Sword and Shield Knight - The most well rounded character on the Knight's team. Easy for a beginner to pick up and learn. Sword and shield knight has good offensive and defensive capabilities.
   weapon upgrade: Claymore sword. Speed is reduced but deals more damage and increased range. His defense also increase slightly while blocking.

Stats
Defense: 7/10
Attack: 7.5 /10
Speed: 7/10

---

Mace Knight - This night is clad is heavy armor and is the slowest of the knights. Equipped with mace deals a lot of damage and shatters defenses. Mace Knight swings at a slower rate when compared to the other knights.

weapon upgrade: Giant mace that has a wide arc when swung. The giant mace can shatter a player's defense in a single swing. These attacks deal massive damage when they connect but can be easily dodged. 

Stats
Defense: 8.5/10
Attack: 9 /10
Speed: 6/10

---

​Archer -  The archer specializes in ranged attacks and speed. The archer also has the highest jump of all the knights and can double jump.

   weapon upgrade: Crossbow that fires powerful arrows. The crossbow has a slower rate of fire but it deals more damage against defense.
Stats
Defense: 7/10
Attack: 7.5/10
Speed: 9/10

---

​Spear Knight - The spear knight has a good combination of quick ranged attacks and speed at a cost of armor. He can charge his attacks for more damage but these attacks will leave the knight vulnerable.

   weapon upgrade: A lance that has increased range allowing him to reach enemies that would normally be out of reach. The lance isn't much stronger than his spear but it does slightly boosts defensive properties. 

Stats
Defense: 6.5/10
Attack: 8/10
Speed: 8.5/10

---

Ninjas of The Unagi Clan

   The ninjas fight for the Unagi clan. They wear light clothing that allows for a greater level of agility. They can also strike much quicker then their knight counterparts.
​

Sword Ninja - The sword ninja is the most well rounded ninja. Quick  with good defensive capabilities.

   weapon upgrade:  Short sword.  With the second sword, this ninja is now capable of attacking faster with not speed or jumping penalty.
​​
Stats
Defense: 7/10
Attack: 7.5/10
Speed: 8/10

---

​Sickle Ninja - The sickle ninja specializes in quick close ranged attacks. However their ranged attacks are fairly weak. They have good overall speed and in a skilled players hands can be very powerful. 
​
​weapon upgrade:  A chain is attached in between the sickles allowing for more range and faster swings. The charge attack becomes a long range grapple that can drag an opponent or items toward the player.

Stats
Defense: 6.5/10
Attack: 8/10
Speed: 8.5/10

---

​Longbow Ninja Monk - This ninja specializes in long range attacks. The longbow takes more time to charge but can deal significant damage and can shatter an enemies defense with a fully charged attack.

   weapon upgrade: Hankyu (a short bow). This allows for faster movement around the map and allows this ninja to fire multiple arrows at once.

Stats
Defense: 7.5/10
Attack: 8.5/10
Speed: 7.5/10

---

​Staff Ninja - The staff ninja does not have a lot of defense points but he can strike quickly and precisely. This ninja's power is limited, but specializes in great combinations of speed and range with a decent defense.

   weapon upgrade:  Naginata that deals a good amount of damage and has a slightly longer reach when compared to the staff, however the Naginata's defense is lower.

Stats
Defense: 6/10
Attack: 7/10
Speed: 8.5/10 

---

Heads Up Display (HUD)

   The Heads up display is simple and easy to read. Information such as the player's health, the number of lives they have remaining are all in display. 

---

Power-ups and Pickups 

  These are items that can give the player temporary advantage in combat or restore their health. Each pickup is found inside a small treasure chest that spawns onto the stage at random intervals.

   Depending on the chest, it may take one strike to open or a few to open. The larger the chest the harder it will be to open. Larger chests have a better chance of holding a rare item, such as a weapon upgrade or Golden Chalice.
​​

​Weapon upgrade -  This power-up upgrades the players character with a more powerful version of their weapon. For example the sword and shield knight will receive a claymore and the staff ninja receives a naginata. This power ends after thirty seconds.

Power-ups

​Speed Boost - This power up doubles the speed of any character that uses it. The Speed boost ends after thirty seconds.

​Invincibility - This power up makes the player completely invincible to all and any attacks for 30 seconds. The player that picks up this power-up loses the ability to double jump as long as it is active. This power-up is immediately turned off if the player falls off the stage or goes out of bounds. Invincibility ends after thirty seconds.

Pick ups

Healing Elixir - Healing Elixir will restore the health of whomever manages to pick it up. The Elixir can come in a variety of sizes. A small glass bottle will restore 15% of health, the medium will restore 30% and the large bottle will restore 50%.  

Bottle of healing elixir.

Golden Chalice - This Golden Chalic is filled with healing elixir that can be consumed continuously for up to 30 seconds before it runs out. While drinking this elixir the player can't attack, but they will restore 3% of their health with every second of elixir they drink.

  If a player is hit while drinking from the chalice, they will drop it. This gives other players the chance to attempt to steal it from their opponent. 

  Once the chalice is empty, it can be used as a weak bludgeoning device or tossed as an ineffective projectile to damage your opponents.
​

Caltrops - These are a projectilele object that once thrown will automatically take root wherever they land. Players that walk over them will be slowed down and take some minor damage. They will remain planted in the ground for 20 seconds. Players can destroy them with a few simple strikes from their weapons.

  It is advised to destroy them using ranged attacks to avoid coming in contact with them.

Magic Wand - The magic wand is a weapon that with every swing will launch a explosive sparkling projectile. The projectiles lose accuracy the further they fly.

  Each swing will drain the magical power of the wand. Once the wand is drained of power the player will toss it aside.

Smoke Pellets - The player can toss these at enemies or the ground to cause a temporary burst of smoke that will conceal the affected area. The player that tossed the smoke pellet can see themselves highlighted in the smoke, giving themselves an opportunity to strike or flee.

  If a player is hit directly with a smoke pellet their character will be momentarily stunned for a couple of seconds. The smoke pellet pick up gives the player three smoke pellets. 

Oar - The oar is a medium damage weapon with great range. It can also strike multiple enemies at once. The standard attacks are slow but it can be charged up to deal more damage. 

 However, the oar will eventually snap with use, and charged up hits will snap it even quicker.

War Kite - This item allows the player to hover above the stage. The player that pilots the Kite can swoop down to attack their opponents or drop small bombs that take a while to detonate but have a decent sized blast radius. 

 The kite lasts until it is destroyed. If an opponent lands a charge attack, the player on the kite will be knocked off and the kite will be free for anyone to take.

 When the kite spawns on the map, it will drift around. If No one picks it up, it will simply fly away.

---

Abilities and Attacks

Defend

   Defend - Players can defend themselves from any attack using the defense button. The amount of time and damage they can negate while defending is based off of their denseness rating. The player can only defend for so long before their defense is broken. ​

   If their defense is broken, they will be stunned for a few seconds, allowing an opponent to capitalize. Certain attacks and items are great at breaking defense. Charged attacks can shatter an opponent's defense in as little as one attack.

  The amount of damage a player can deal to an opponents defense is based on their attack stat. Higher attack means they can deal more damage and destroy their opponents defense quicker.

Dodge - Players can quickly dodge forward or back while on the ground or in the air. This is meant to be used as a way to quickly move around the map or to avoid incoming enemy attacks as well as cross level hazards. The speed and amount of times a player can dodge is not affected by any stats except for the speed boost power up.

---

Jump/Double Jump - Players can jump and while in the air jump again for a double jump. The height of the players jump and double jump is based off of their speed stat. 

---

​Melee Attacks - Every character in the game has melee based attacks. Certain classes specialize in melee fighting. Melee attacks can be utilized in combination of one another to unleash devastating combos. Melee attacks are the primary way players will deal damage to their opponents. 
 
  Different characters have different melee attack speeds. Some characters can attack quickly and in great succession where others have a longer wind up time but deliver more damage. This is based off of their speed stat and character class.

​Ranged Attacks - Every character has a ranged attack. Ranged attacks are attacks that can be done from a safe distance to attack an opponent. Certain character classes specialize in ranged attacks. ​

---

Charged Attacks - Every character can charge their attacks, whether they are ranged or melee attacks. Charged attacks do more damage, shatter defense quicker and knock opponents back.

 To charge an attack, the player must hold their attack button (or attack combination) until their weapon glows (this usually takes a few seconds. Charge up speed is not affected by any stats or power ups). Once the weapons is charged the player must release the button to unleash their attack.

   Charged attacks may be charged while standing or in the air (while the player drifts down after a double jump). Charge attacks can be interrupted if the player is struck while charging. Certain weapon pickups can also be charged up as well and can deal more damage or add an additional effect to the pick up.

---

More to come in part 2

  Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me. There is a bit more to Knights vs Ninjas, in fact so much more that I am going to have to cover the rest of it in a second blog post. Part 2 will go over terrain and a bunch of  stages I designed for the game. Including a stage that didn't make the initial blog post. 

 Part 2 will be up at a later date. Follow me on twitter to keep up to date with my blog, twitch, podcast and more. Thanks for reading!

---

   Do you have questions, comments or concerns? Email us at deepdigitaldesign@gmail.com
Follow us on Tumblr, IndieDB, Twitter, Mixcloud,Soundcloud,clowdy, instagram and Youtube

---

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100
​