-
This was a weird idea that I thought of last night: suppose Ubisoft made a Rayman online game. Well, that one random thought got me thinking, and I began developing a Rayman MMO. This topic is pretty much what I’ve come up with so far.
So the game would start off with three “factions”; Rayman and Co (I don’t have a good name for this one yet), Razorbeard and the Robo-Pirates, and André and the Hoodlums. This could result in PvP, which can be fun if properly done. Also, more factions could be added as new Rayman games were made. On a side note, I tried thinking up a fourth faction, Mr. Dark and the AntiToons, but I couldn’t get far enough with the different races and such.
Rayman and Co
Prime method of transportation: The Hall of Doors
Naturally, the head of this faction would be Rayman. Characters like Globox, Ly, and Murphy would also show up. So as to add to the immersion factor, Rayman, Globox, Ly, and Murphy would all be played by real people, instead of just using programmed NPCs that don’t really do anything. The goal of this faction is too stop the other two from taking over the world. As such, quests will often be to retake sections of land that other players from other factions have captured, destroy machinery, and so on. The possible classes for one who joins the Rayman and Co faction are as follows:
Limbless (or, as defined in Origins, “Thingamajig”): The most balanced class. Pretty obvious, they can run around, shoot fists, climb up stuff, and so on. Pretty easy to level. The impressive reach of the Limbless allows them to climb to new areas inaccessible to other classes.
Glute: Players who decide to play as kinsmen to Globox have increased strength and defense, making them basically the tank archetype. On the downside, they have lower agility and intelligence, so they move slower than the other classes. Glutes can break through doors and walls that other classes can’t.
Polokus Fairy: Those who decide to be like Ly are, of course, adept at magic, although not as much as the Teensies or Fairy Council Fairies. I’m going to say that Polokus Fairies specialize in ranged offensive magic, like fireballs and bolts and stuff. Polokus Fairies also have high agility, and their one of the fastest classes in the game. Polokus Fairies connection with the world gives them what’s basically a treasure radar, allowing them to find hidden passages and secrets.
Teensie: These diminutive creatures are the best general magic-users. Teensies can specialize in virtually any type of magic, although the player gets stat bonuses depending on which type he/she chooses (ex: a Griskin specializes in lightning magic, Sylkins are best with earth/life magic, Tuftkins excel at ice magic, etc). However, although they are good with spells, Teensies are short, slow, and soft; they have horrible agility and defense. As a result, Teensies are not recommended to new players, and the first spell you should ever learn is a defensive one. Being all over the world, Teensies have numerous passages, chests, and general secrets that only they can open.
Fairy Council Fairy: Irritable, stuffy, and short, Fairy Council Fairies are the healer archetype (rather surprising, huh?). They specialize in defensive and curative magic. Fairy Council Fairies can also fly, giving them increased agility. This is good, because they have the worst defense stats in the game. Fairy Council Fairies can open certain doors, and their flying allows them to access places other players can’t go.
Razorbeard and the Robo-Pirates
Prime method of transportation: Ships
The devious crew-members of the Buccaneer (as well as a growing fleet of other, less-impressive ships) return, and, of course, are now playable. Razorbeard is also played by a real person, and, during PvP warfare, will be giving commands to his teammates. The quests from this faction generally are centered around crafting. This could mean, crafting ships (and sailing on them), crafting bases in forests (and guarding them for your very life), or crafting weapons (and using them—a lot). Players can choose the following classes in the Robo-Pirate army:
Henchman 800: The most versatile (if not statistically weak) class. Like Rayman 2, there are several types of Henchmen 800 (yellow vest, green vest, purple vest…). You can move up in the ranks as a Henchman 800 by leveling up, and then basically doing a job advancement. You can use, if need be, any weapon from any Henchman 800 class below yours. Henchman 800 can burn down wooden blockades to discover secret areas.
Henchman 1000: Basically a magic-user, the Henchman 1000 is a taller, faster Teensie. At the moment, there’s nothing particularly special about them.
Zombie Henchman: If you had to have a Warlock class, this would be it. Zombie Henchman use dark magic; they can curse, drain, poison, and even turn their enemies against each other (in PvP, this is done by replacing the opponent’s team’s character models with enemy models and vice-versa, as well as quickly making the opponent face the other direction. Observant players will notice the change in background, but most players will severely damage their own team before they realize what happened).
Ninja Henchman: The thief/assassin class, Ninja Henchmen can use a super speed ability to move faster than the enemy can comprehend (to the other player, the appear to be teleporting). Ninja Henchmen are extremely fast and strong, but have low defense. Also, like in Rayman 2, when a Ninja Henchman misses, it takes a second to get the hook back. Ninja Henchmen are the least visible and most mobile, and thus have a much easier time sneaking into and destroying bases.
Gorilla Pirate: The tank class.
Barrel Pirate: The long-range sniper class. Good Robo-Pirate squads taking down an enemy base would usually have two or three of these guys on hand in case things began to get desperate. Barrel Pirates are slow, but they have high defense and the best range in the game.
André and the Hoodlums
Prime method of transportation: Small blimps
Personally, I would play as this class. I’m just saying. Anyway, the Hoodlums are basically the ranged class. Their marksmanship has improved since Rayman 3, and they’re now actually quite good with a gun. Hoodlum quests also involve contructing and defending bases and weapons, but a different feature is building airships (more on that later). André, small and pathetic as he is, is also played by a person. The Hoodlum classes are:
Hoodmonger Private 1st Class: The most balanced class. I’d be playing as this one. Hoodmonger Privates can advance to Soldiers and Officers. Hoodmongers have the interesting ability to quickly build small camps, complete with a general merchant and an inn. Why? Keep reading.
Hoodboom: The grenadier class, Hoodbooms are one the most interesting classes in the Hoodlum army, as they can toss Plum Juice Molotov Cocktails over walls. This gives players the bizarre chance to experience siege warfare (more on that later). Hoodbooms can become Stumblebooms at one point.
Hoodstormer: Hoodstormers are basically the Fairy Council Fairies, only they use bullets instead of magic.
Heckler: The tank class.
Hoodoo: Like a cross between a Teensie and a Zombie Henchman; technically more versatile, but not quite as strong as either one.
Grim Keeper: This class is another peculiar one. Grim Keepers don’t have an offense really; all they do is send out and control little Grims to go blow up stuff. Grim Keepers do serve a purpose, though, and they also have excellent defense thanks to their wooden shields.
Spineroo: Why would anyone want to be this? I don’t know, but it’s there, they can’t die, and they’re tough to get past. Of course, they also cant’ move, so they have to be carted everywhere, and then you just sit there and wait for someone to try to get past you, but hey. They can’t die.
Slapdash: The melee class, complete with their giant, detachable boxing glove. Something for everyone.
Hoodstomper: They don’t really attack, they just step on people with their giant Masterkraag. This class is locked to most people, and you can only temporarily by it once every month. Reason being, you’re virtually invincible and you can level an enemy base in seconds. There can only be 12 Masterkraags out at one time, because they’re expensive and André didn’t want to waste money when he believed he had enough.
Lavomatrix: Stronger Hoodstormer. Hoodstormers can become this eventually.
Perks
Each Faction has at least one Perk. I’m still working on these, so go easy one me.
Rayman and Co: They have the Lums, which give them abilities, heal them, and do other stuff. They also have the Hall of Doors giving them instant access to anywhere, the Teensie Highway (the disco levels in Rayman 3), and the Longest Shortcut. Sometimes these lead them right into the cores enemy bases, making for easy victory.
Razorbeard and the Robo-Pirates: They have the advantage of sea warfare, and they are able to bring their massive, heavily-armed ships anywhere where there is water. Naturally, these can quickly turn the tide of battle, but they can only be called when the situation is desperate enough.
André and the Hoodlums: The Hoodlums have the laser detergent cans to give them temporary abilities (as opposed to Rayman and Co’s Lums, which are permanent). They also (more importantly), have airships, which are small blimps that Hoodlums can use to transport supplies, or that Hoodbooms can temporarily use for air raids.
Combat
This is good news for some, but bad news for others: combat is almost all PvP. Despite some enemies (Muddibogs, for instance), in order to get better with the game, players must fight other players. The good news with this is that there is no generic leveling. In other words, the game can never be so imbalanced as to have a level 37 player going against a level 80. Instead, the game’s combat revolves around skill. It’s not a roll of the dice where you click and wait for someone to die, and misses and critical hits are just determined at random. In combat, players shoot at each other in various fashion, or get in close and melee. One way or another, if the attack connects with the enemy, you hit, and of course, if it doesn’t connect, you miss. Furthermore, depending on where you hit, you deal more or less damage, as well as create other effects. Shoot a Robo-Pirate’s claw, you’ll wear it down, and it does less damage. Shoot it enough, and you break the claw altogether, and that Robo-Pirate is suddenly unable to attack. Shoot the foot of a Limbless enough, and they have to hop around, drastically reducing their aim. Subsequently shoot the other foot, and they then can’t move at all. Shoot a Hoodlum’s arm enough, you’ll eventually tear that arm off. If that arm happened to be their firing arm, they can’t shoot anymore until they find that arm and sew it back on later. This way, leveling doesn’t become necessary, as it matters more just how well you play. That said, players still get gradually stronger, but they do it via rankings, which aren’t quite as drastic as leveling. A Rank 3 Teensie can still fight a Rank 7 Zombie Henchman, it’ll just be a challenge. But it is still easily possible. The reason why I’m removing levels is because one of my biggest problems with PvP is when two completely mismatched characters end up dueling. A level 21 ranged character with a speed enchantment dueled me once. I was a level 6 melee character. Naturally, I couldn’t even get close to him as he swiftly moved backward and continuously fired off arrows. I was dead in second while he still had full health. I’m trying to avoid that altogether.
Different types of Combat
Each Faction is better-suited to a certain kind of combat. These are listed below.
Rayman and Co—Frontier Combat: Anyone from the US like me constantly hears about the Revolutionary war. Soldiers walk up, fire, load, fire, load, and continue until only one army’s still up. To an extent, Rayman and Co is best suited to that. If either of the two other factions played fair, Rayman’s Faction would trounce them. Even with things the way they are, Rayman’s army still has the best chance. It’s the most versatile and technically the strongest.
Razorbeard and the Robo-Pirates—Trap Combat: Nothing says “you’re outmatched” like bullets flying from all sides, unseen enemies, and general chaos. The best style of combat for Razorbeard’s army isn’t quite guerilla warfare, it’s just a little different. The main part of the fight is simply setting up; Barrel Pirates position themselves, Gorilla Pirates, Ninja, and Zombie Henchmen wait for the signal by the door, and anyone with some range sets up wherever they can shoot. At the signal (whatever that may be), everyone fires. Within seconds the wall crashes to the ground as the Gorilla Pirates, Ninja, and Zombie Henchmen storm in. Everyone’s trying to fight, but between the gunfire, superfast ninjas, Gorilla Pirates tossing everyone around like ragdolls, and, of course, Zombie Henchmen turning everyone they can against each other, only the Robo-Pirates know what’s going on. A note to anyone whose not a Robo-Pirate: Don’t build your base near water. The instant things start looking up, a giant ship will sail into port. That’s not a good thing.
André and the Hoodlums—Siege Combat: Between Hoodmongers being able to construct camps on the spot to Hoodbooms in airships, the Hoodlum army was made for siege warfare. Hoodlums congregate outside the city’s/fort’s walls. One Hoodmonger hastily sets up a camp, and most of the Hoodlums begin healing and restocking. The Hoodbooms, meanwhile, begin the siege by going up to the wall and lobbing bombs over it. An experienced Hoodlum company can have up to 20 Hoodbooms with them at one time. If the players used both hands (because you can use only one), that’s 40 bombs a second. Anyway, it would take a bit, but the city’s/fort’s walls would fall, leaving a defenseless city. Having the most aerial units comes into play here; Hoodstormers and Lavomatrixes (Lavomatrices?) swoop down from all sides, converging on the defenseless base, as all the ground infantry units swoop in. There may even be a few Hoodbooms on airships tossing bombs below. By now victory is basically assured, but the Hoodlum company could always call a Hoodstomper if things got out of hand.
Worlds
Ever world from every game would be present. This means that we’d finally get to see Band Land in 3D (disregarding the Dream Forest, Blue Mountains, Picture City, Caves of Skops, and Candy Chateau). Every area would be significantly larger and teeming with NPC enemies (these will probably be AntiToons) and quests.
Plot
Mr. Dark is back, with all his AntiToons. It’s obvious he must be stopped, but who will succeed in defeating him? Rayman and his friends, Razorbeard and the Robo-Pirates, or André and the Hoodlums? Between Razorbeard and André trying to simultaneously take over the world and Rayman needing to hold them off too, will anyone ever even get to Mr. Dark?
Technical
One major complaint with online games is load time. I’d love to say that there would be no load times, but that’s impossible. Instead, the best currently possible is doing what’s been done in all the Rayman games: separating worlds into smaller areas, thus minimizing the load time. While you’re in one area, the game is loading the next possible areas in the background. As a result, if things go well, you won’t notice the game is loading. These small areas also minimize the needed memory space at one time, so there would be less possible lag.
So that’s my idea. Do comment. I worked for a while on this.
-
Cool idea, i did not read everything, but i readed almost everything.
Do you have any idea how to make a game or something? you know...Engine, graphics, that kind of things.
Are you planning to make the characters customizable? own haircut, clothes, that things.
Good luck!
-
first: customization, yes. I believe that to be a big part of an online game, so customization would be a big thing for me.
second: I have been slowly learning coding, but I'm nowhere near the level needed to make something like this. Also, the rights would be a bit of a problem. I am a fan of Rayman, but I don't want to get sued.
-
Maybe there's some way for asking for permision...
-
As far as I know, in order to use Rayman I'd have to buy the rights. Also, Unisoft "doesn't take" suggestions. I've already looked into that possibility.
-
That won't come cheap.
Good luck! If you make this game, be sure that i will play it! I love MMORPG's!
Can i help? Maybe i can give you ideas about customization.
-
-
I agree with persiateddy! *echo* Teddy! Teddy! Teddy! Cookies! Teddy! Teddy!
Wait a minute...Meh.
Hey, you should post this on RaymanPC forums, you could have some help.
PS: You gotta think about how you will make a server.
-
Cookies don't work on me...
-
thats somthing like what i was thiking about at one stage,exept you could combine the lums to make power-ups