Vid Bros.

Vid Bros. would be a 2.5D character platformer for all current systems that takes inspiration both from recently popular platformers and games from the golden age of platformers: the late 90s through the early 2000s.

It would take heavy inspiration from games like Rayman, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Viewtiful Joe in terms of gameplay, as it would focus on fast-paced, tightly-controlled, cinematic platforming. In terms of atmosphere and story, it would draw from games like Jet Set Radio, FreeJack Online, de Blob and also Sonic the Hedgehog to a degree.

I realized not long ago that I've never actually done an original character platformer idea despite the fact that, along with RPGs, it's my favorite genre of game. As such, this game will be a blend of all my favorite platformers with some unique twists here and there. It will simply be my ideal platformer. Enjoy!

Story[]

This game's plot follows the story of two anthropomorphic raccoon brothers, SuperEight and Beta MAX Vid, who live in the unknown city of Dubstep Rigor, USA. The brothers are two of the most skilled parkour artists in the world, but since they are raccoons, they prefer to keep a low profile and have their fun trying to outdo each other at their own sport.

However, this all changes one day when a stiff named Mayor Trollmeister comes into power in Dubstep Rigor. He is strictly against parkour, claiming it is "pointless interference with everyday human affairs, and disrespect for practical architecture." He manipulates the city's lawmakers into outlawing parkour, and the Vid brothers instantly become fugitives from justice.

The Vids decide to take a stand against Trollmeister by starting an underground online video channel called "Vid Bros. Parkour" in the hopes of growing so popular that the local government is pressured into legalizing parkour again.

But the battle will not be so easy, because Trollmeister soon registers the threat of the brother raccoons, and mobilizes a robotic army specifically to apprehend them. In almost an instant, it quickly becomes an action-packed war of attrition between free will and dictatorship.

Gameplay[]

I've already dropped plenty of hints about the gameplay of Vid Bros., but now I plan to give out the complete rundown. To start out, I'd like to say that my favorite platformer as far as control goes is Rayman Legends / Origins. I've always felt that it perfectly did away with the sloppy hit detection and twitchy control of 2D platformers past. If you hit the side of a platform, you could wiggle your way up to the top or climb right over the edge of it. If you found a sharp curve or incline in the terrain, you could traverse it faster by jumping and rolling through it. Beyond that, the game took advantage of its control options by throwing in a few gauntlet-like or puzzle-like levels, or making certain maneuvers incorporate specific controls.

This is precisely how I would go about Vid Bros, except the movements would be considerably faster, thus adding more of a need for precise timing. If this game were real, my biggest priority would be to have a player's split-second reactions translate perfectly to the game itself, and yet leave reasonable room for error. In a game like this, it's important that as many of the mistakes as possible be the player's responsibility, so that as the player becomes more practiced, they do proportionally better.

Now, given that this game is based around parkour, it would revolve around getting through the level as efficiently as possible, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog. Contrary to those games, there's more of an emphasis on expert maneuvering than movement speed, but the two games would have very similar criteria for a "good run."

This game would also have its own parkour engine whereby approaching an obstacle from different angles will result in different maneuvers. For instance, if you approach a ledge from below, you will climb over normally, but jumping into it at a high speed from the side would propel you up and over it without any loss of momentum, and award you more points for style.

The potential mechanic I'm most proud of for this game would be a counterpart to Sonic's boost meter that's very similar to VFX Slow from Viewtiful Joe. As the player accumulates points, he is able to use a button to slow down time as controlled by a limited meter. Given that every level in the game is supposedly a video, executing complex slow-mo maneuvers in the right places contribute to production value and create massive point bonuses to increase overall score.

Naturally, this game would also have trick combos. It would possible to rack up combos throughout entire levels, but there would be plenty of obstructions requiring the player to react quickly and move precisely to keep the combo going. Moreover, a bad failure in the combo chain would actively reduce the amount of points obtained from it.

Enemies would also play a significant role in the action. They would, of course, be placed strategically to interfere with the player, but in many cases, they could be used in trick chains or be even necessary for more impressive ones. Now, the amount of damage an enemy would do would depend on how the player is performing. If a player is "on fire" and gets nicked by an enemy, recovery would be possible, but if he were below a certain level of momentum, he could be killed in one hit and forced to start from the last checkpoint with fewer points.

Levels[]

This game would have a total of 9 separate areas, divided into at least 2 acts that transition into each other seamlessly, similarly to Sonic 3. From act to act, your score for the previous act is counted up, recorded, and reset for the next act.

Here are the 9 areas:

Rigor Rooftops
Great Honkin' Garage
Sundry Streets
Stinky Sewers
Parade Park
Inzanity Zoo
Baleen Balloon Beach
Nightfire Factory
High-Risk Highway

These do not count the final boss battle of the game against the mayor's most powerful minion. The final battle would not be entirely dissimilar from the other levels; much of it will consist of running and dodging attacks normally, but would also have several stages to it. It would be heavily inspired by some of the battles in the Rayman games, but it wouldn't take place in a fixed area, and the boss's attacks would not have a specific pattern.

Characters[]

The two default characters in this game would be SuperEight and Beta MAX, but other characters would be unlockable as well after a while. Different characters would have different stats and specialties.

SuperEight - A raccoon who wears a striped T-shirt and athletic shorts with a generally red color palette. He is a deliberate freerunner, executing intricate and impressive tricks, but in exchange, he doesn't move particularly fast.
Beta MAX - A raccoon who looks roughly the same as his brother, but dresses with a blue color palette and has a slightly smaller build. He is more reckless than his brother, doing flips and slides at a breakneck pace, but does not have quite as much finesse.
Swing Jim - A capuchin monkey who wears a floppy cap and hightop sneakers. He has exceptional speed and agility, but he's not good at doing tricks.
B-Roll - A small hedgehog in a watch cap and basketball jersey. He does not cover ground quickly, but can cover great distances by sliding.
Breaker Dawn - A leopard with army-style/athletic wear and a multicolored headband. She is fast and skilled with tricks, but doesn't jump very far.
SpeeDee Gee - A rabbit with evenly low stats in everything except speed, which is through the roof. He is the fastest character in the game.
Kristy Kross - A falcon who can move exceptionally well through the air, but is underwhelming in other mediums like land and water. She has a unique homing attack move that acts as a tribute to Sonic the Hedgehog, allowing her to zoom toward enemies mid-jump when they're close enough. If no enemies are around, it is replaced with a gliding maneuver.
True Blue Q - A frog in somewhat normal casualwear (think Ness from the Mother series, but more modern). He can do tricks very quickly and can jump long distance, at the expense of some other skills.

Soundtrack[]

This game has a very loose and fun atmosphere, and I would want that to be clearly reflected in the soundtrack. First and foremost, if I were making music decisions, I would have the bulk of the game's soundtrack be composed by Hideki Naganuma.

Some of you may know by now that Naganuma is my favorite game composer, but that's not the only reason why I think he would suit this game. He was chief composer for Sonic Rush, a 2D Sonic game whose pace of gameplay is very similar to what Vid Bros.'s pace would be, as well as Jet Set Radio, a game with an art style similar to Vid Bros. In fact, Naganuma is even currently composing for Hover: Revolt of Gamers, a game about parkour with a similar story. Plus, besides all that, I've listened to all his music and I know it would fit.

Jet_Set_Grind_Radio_-_Let_Mom_Sleep-0 — Jet Set Grind Radio - Let Mom Sleep-0

Let Mom Sleep, by Hideki Naganuma.

Jet_Set_Radio_Future_-_Funky_Dealer — Jet Set Radio Future - Funky Dealer

Funky Dealer, by Hideki Naganuma.

Back_2_Back_-_Digital_Remakin'_Track_Water_Palace_Act_1_(Classic)_(Sonic_Rush) — Back 2 Back - Digital Remakin' Track Water Palace Act 1 (Classic) (Sonic Rush)

Back 2 Back, by Hideki Naganuma.

However, to avoid stale consistency, I wouldn't just have Naganuma compose for this game. I've mentioned in a few places that this game has similarities to Viewtiful Joe, and although I never got to play the original game, its OST is definitely the kind of thing I'm going for. Thusly, if possible, I would also bring in Viewtiful Joe's composers, Masakazu Sugimori and Masami Ueda. Some of their music just sets the right tone, especially for boss battles.