Armory (this is the title)
The genre is a 2D side scrolling/vertical platformer with action elements. Creative start, I know.
I don't see why kids couldn't play it but it's going to have a neat narrative to it, so I suppose it'd be more suited to teenagers and up so that the more subtle narrative themes can be understood.
Narrative:
The player character navigates vertical and horizontal environments with elemental hazards and enemies. The narrative surrounding this will be that the player is an archeologist who was separated from his/her group exploring and excavating very deep caverns in the Earth after discovering a long abandoned mining facility of unknown civilized origin within a dense jungle.
A long way into the caverns that the mining facility acted as an entrance to, the player character is separated from his/her group and is lost, but happens upon a path with unfamiliar roots, ultimately leading to the discovery a decaying civilization, hopelessly guarding a revelation from the humans that wonder what lies miles below.
Gameplay:
The beginning of the game is framed by the player character in simpler levels without the environmental hazards, easier platforming and basic skills. The enemies are also easy.
Progression in the game is framed by a difficulty curb that becomes apparent as the game adds more hazards and tougher enemies that require more problem solving to defeat. The main goal of the game is to collect items and skins from boss battles at the end of every level. Each item has an elemental property that may be defensive, offensive, or both, which will help the player navigate the increasingly perplexing obstacles and enemies.
An example of this would be;
An enemy is right in the middle of a pit of fire, shooting projectiles at the player, and he/she cannot simply jump through or tank the hazard. There are reachable platforms above the pit of fire and the enemy. He/she will have to navigate around the enemy, calling for the right item to defend against its projectiles whenever necessary (eg a shield that deflects or absorbs fire), and call for another item, when in the right place, to create downpour of rain that will tame the fires long enough to attack and defeat the enemy to move on.
I imagine almost everything using a Playstation controller so I'm going to be a rat and just pretend that this is a PS4 game.
Of course the player would move back and forward along the plane using the left thumb stick. X would be to jump, the UP/DOWN and RIGHT/LEFT buttons on the Dpad will select the player's active defensive and offensive items respectively, with TRIANGLE and O activating each item respectively.
The game won't be very long to avoid crowding the selections of offensive and defensive items, and in the interest of the last boss having to incorporate most or all of the accumulated items in a final difficult battle.
The title:
The title basically references the main mechanic of the game. To build an armory out off the bosses' possessions to venture future into caverns.
I would draw artwork for this bc I actually kinda like this idea after thinking about it more, but it's 11:30pm bye
EDIT: nvm apparently a picture is required here's a neat piece of art that I didn't do that sums up what an earlier level's aesthetic would be like:
Art is "Cavern City" by Clint Cearly (http://clintcearley.deviantart.com/art/Cavern-City...) (April 7th, 2009)
A sequel would take place underwater instead of exclusively in a cavern, and explore similar themes.
A third game would try to be different and take place on outer space, opening to a lot of hype but lower review scores. "Nothing will ever beat the original" or something along those lines.
EDIT 2: I know the difference between an architect and an archeologist, it just happens that I'm also an idiot.
