Now for my personal concept...
To summarize it, it would be a 1P 2D Sidescrolling-Shooter, Arcade style.
Like the Megaman games.
For some reason, my brain defaulted to Contra when I read "Sidescrolling-Shooter, Arcade style," then bounced to Sin & Punishment.
I'm familiar with Mega Man tho, that style makes more sense to me for a Splatoon splatformer.
As for the gameplay: It would play basicly like Megaman X/Zero games, but with the Splatoon physics still applying.
Spreading ink, the squid-form and swimming in ink, climbing walls, etc.
All of this would find its way here as well.
So you'd still barely leave the ground when you jump? Because that would be a bit of a problem in a 2D game, compared to a 3D one.
Could still be worked around (maybe make it more of a long-jump?), but it's just something that popped into my head as a possible thing.
Same for the weapon-system, being more akin to the actual Splatoon, but being adjusted to fit more into the 2D-area.
You would actually be able to choose between "Inklings" and "Octolings", with both having male and female counterparts.
The gameplay slightly differs between them.
Inklings are the beginner-friendly characters, while Octolings are more technical, not so easy to get into, but very effective when you master their style.
Ah, how exactly would the Inklings and Octolings differ, if you don't mind my asking? I had the same thought, I'm just curious as to how you'd do the Ryu/Ken differentiation thing.
But not only that, the story would progress differently as well. Since you would experience the story from a different viewpoint.
That could also change the order in which levels are played, as well as some being exclusive to either Inklings or Octolings.
This makes sense.
While most of the aspects of Splatoon would still find their way here, there would also be things that play more like the Megaman-esque gameplay, it is based on.
Namely a health-based gameplay, with pickups replenishing Health, Ink or filling your Special.
Refilling health and Special through item drops makes sense to me, but maybe limiting ink recovery in the same way doesn't so much. Unless you can refill slowly at any time by squidding in your own ink like usual, but pick-ups will refill your ink even in kid form. That would make sense to me. Or if the Inklings/Octolings have a melee attack they can use without ink.
And maybe an upgrade-system as well, upgrading not only your weapons, but your clothes as well.
Akin to the system used in Splatoon Single Player, but also akin to the upgrade system in Megaman X/Zero.
Unlike Splatoon-upgrades however, you cannot make your weapon truly OP, like a fully upgraded Hero Shot.
There still are upgrade-combinations that are more effective than others, but the game would remain a challenge with the later levels.
That sounds interesting. Especially if you can't get a game-breaking combination (presumably through just not being able to fully upgrade every aspect of a weapon), that would be nice (Octo Valley was too easy once I upgraded the Hero Shot).
As for the actual Story, it basicly goes as follows:
"Some time has passed since the theft of the Great Zapfish.
Inklings could continue their carefree lives of battling, while Octolings learned to adapt to their new life, living from scrap.
All went well for both races, until suddenly a strange aircraft attacked Inkopolis.
Another one however attacked Octo Valley as well.
Both Inklings and Octolings succeeded in destroying the attacker.
But to both races, it looked like the other attacked them, fueling the flames between both races.
Take control of either an Inkling-agent or Octoling-agent and fight for your race...
...but beware of what might be lurking in the shadows."
Sounds good!
Admittedly, I'll take any excuse for a platformer romp (I have very low standards for story), but it does what it's supposed to do; gives an excuse for Inklings and Octolings to be playable and fighting against mostly the same enemies while allowing them to also fight each other. That's all I need, and it gives me that, so it's good!
...Who would be your common enemy though? I'm just curious because I'm picturing an army of evil Jellyfish, and it's so hard to take that seriously when they're all the tiny jellyfish from the plaza but with guns.
I quite like your idea!
As for how I'd go about making a 2D Splatoon spinoff...
INKOMING LONGPOST
Well, it'd have to be a platformer, for one. I can't picture it as being not-a-platformer, so there you go.
And it'd have to have most of Splatoon's mechanics, so ink-shooting, squid-form, swimming, low jumps, limited ink, recovering ink by swimming, that stuff's all in.
And you'd have to do lots of things with the ability to swim in ink. Since your jump doesn't get you very high up off the ground, swimming up walls would be a necessity. Of course, squidding through grates and swimming under areas too small to get through as a kid are obvious inclusions, but more can be done with that. For one example, perhaps ice-walls and ice-platforms would be in some levels. In addition to sliding on the ice (like, a lot), you wouldn't be able to cover the ice in ink, so walls would become impassable through the usual means. Additionally, maybe heated surfaces could be part of some areas, and the heat would melt ink on those surfaces after a couple of seconds, forcing you to perform your inking and swimming and platforming quickly so you didn't fall off a wall because your ink evaporated off of it. And maybe there could be little ink-globes you'd have to shoot a bit to activate, after which you could squid-jump into and out of them, but enemies could shoot them to turn them into their color ink, so you'd have to clear enemies out to avoid your ink-sphere-platform-thingy becoming enemy-controlled while you still need it. Also, electrified grates could exist, and you wouldn't be able to squid through those (you'd get hurt and pushed away if you tried) until you removed the Zapfish powering them. Also, Ink Rails, Sponges, those switches you have to shoot to activate, the fan platforms, all that stuff from Octo Valley has to show up too.
You would also be able to aim diagonally, as well as straight up and straight down, because being able to aim your weapon is good, especially when a main mechanic o your game is covering things in ink so you can travel on them.
You could play as an Inkling or an Octoling. Their base ability set is the same, but each one gets some exclusive weapons and subs.
For Inklings, their weapons are the:
Hero Shot: A standard shooter. Balanced, but not exceptional.
Hero Charger: A powerful long-range weapon with a charge time before firing.
Hero Roller: A powerful short-range weapon that can cover floors efficiently, but lacks vertical reach.
Hero Shot Pro: A longer-range shooter. Costs more ink per shot, but is slightly stronger.
Bamboozler 1: A shorter-range Charger with extreme speed, but lacking strength. Requires precision.
Hero Slosher: A strong weapon that can be arced over objects and cover large areas.
And their subs are:
Splat Bomb: A moderately strong explosive that can be thrown over objects and takes a brief moment to explode after landing. Costs a lot of ink.
Burst Bomb: A weak explosive that can be thrown over objects and explodes on contact. Doesn't cost much ink.
Seeker: A strong explosive that travels along the ground and explodes on contact. Costs a moderate amount of ink.
For Octolings, their weapons are the:
Octoshot: A standard shooter. Balanced, but not exceptional.
Octo Squiffer: A semi-fast Charger with solid power, but its range is lacking.
Octobrush: A fast-moving weapon that covers the ground very quickly, but lacks range and power.
Aerospray MG: A short-range, fast-firing gun that doesn't deal much damage.
Octo Blaster: An explosive weapon that can be tricky to use, but is very powerful.
Dynamo Roller: A slow Roller that flings ink very far and is stronger than a normal Roller.
And their subs are:
Splat Bomb: A moderately strong explosive that can be thrown over objects and takes a brief moment to explode after landing. Costs a lot of ink.
Disruptor: A weapon that slows enemies and prevents them from doing much besides moving for a bit, allowing you to splat them more easily. Costs a moderate amount of ink.
Splash Wall: A defensive wall that lasts a few seconds and blocks enemy attacks and can be swum up in squid form. Costs a lot of ink.
Your Hero Gear (for Inklings) or Elite Gear (for Octolings) can be customized with up to 9 Abilities to augment your abilities. These abilities are:
Ink Saver Main (lowers the amount of ink consumed by each shot of your main weapon. Simple enough) (Splash Mob)
Ink Saver Sub (like ISM, but for your sub weapon) (Firefin)
Ink Recovery Up (increases the rate at which your ink tank refills while submerged in your own ink) (Tentatek)
Run Speed Up (makes you run faster) (Rockenberg)
Swim Speed Up (makes you swim faster, including travelling up walls) (Krak-On)
Jump Height Up (makes you jump higher) (Zink)
Special Duration Up (makes your Specials last longer) (Forge)
Damage Up (makes your attacks deal more damage) (SquidForce)
Defense Up (makes you take less damage from enemy attacks) (Inkline)
Bomb Range Up (increases the distance that thrown sub-weapons travel) (KOG)
You gain the abilities to add to your Hero/Elite Gear by collecting Gear in levels, with certain brands giving you different abilities once a certain amount of that brand's Gear has been collected. Collecting that amount only lets you assign the ability once, and collecting all of a brand's Gear lets you have 3 of that ability at once.
There would be a total of 5 Worlds (or whatever the level groups are sectioned off into) of roughly 6-10 levels each, which could be jumped between at any time (so you could do a few levels of World 1, then go do a bit of World 5 if you wanted). One World would be Inkopolis, being set in cityscape-style levels, maybe with Hammerhead Bridge, Moray Towers and Urchin Underpass, and with a more tutorial-ish feel for the first couple of levels (completing those levels would be required to access the other Worlds). World 4 wouldbe more suburban areas and outer reaches of Inkopolis, with levels based on the various multiplayer levels. World 3 would be Octo Valley, being set in Octo Valley-themed levels and introducing Octo Valley elements and electricity. World 4 would be Depths of Octo Valley, with darker lighting and trickier placement of Octo Valley-style things, as well as heat- and fire-related obstacles. World 5 would be an Arctic or frozen ocean-type zone, with water and ice-type hazards (not sure this would be entirely necessary to travel to, but I want to have ice and water levels, and a little editing to the flimsy excuse for gameplay that would be the story can probably make it make sense). Each World would have a boss after beating all of its levels, which would reflect the enemies and obstacles of the World both in how they work and how you beat them (and it would never just be shooting at them, you'd have to expose their weak point in some way before you can attack it, just like Octo Valley's boss fights).
Once all of the Worlds were beaten, the final area would open up, containing 4 levels and the final boss. Each level would be more difficult than the previous Worlds, combining various level gimmicks and seemingly-one-off things for tricky platforming, difficult combat, and tricky platforming while dealing with difficult combat. And one level would be a boss rush.
Additionally, each level would have a number of Zapfish in them to collect. Some Zapfish would be required (ones powering electric grates, for example, or are keeping platforms from descending otherwise are impeding your progress), while others would be hidden in harder-to-reach, out-of-the-way areas, and collecting them would allow you to access other collectible items that would normally be unreachable, but would not be necessary to complete the level (but are for 100% completion). Other collectible items for Inklings include Gear, which allow you to upgrade your Hero/Elite Gear with different abilities (after you collect enough of each type), Blueprints, which you
give to Snide for a Golden Banana give to Sheldon so he can craft new weapons or upgrade your current arsenal (depends on the blueprint), and Specials, which give you one-time usage of the Special contained within and can be collected and stored for future use (up to 10 Specials can be stored at a time, from a selection of Bomb Rush (infinite subs for a bit), Inkzooka (gives a powerful attack for a bit, but prevents you from moving while attacking), and Bubbler (gives invincibility, but makes you get pushed around by attacks)).
In addition to all of these levels, you would also be able to unlock hidden levels. These would be unlocked by collecting all of the Zapfish in a World, and would simultaneously give you a new mechanic to work with (such as preventing you from recovering ink, or locking you to a specific sub weapon and preventing the use of your main weapon or any Specials you may be carrying, or having to carry the Rainmaker as your weapon and locking you out of your sub weapon or any Specials you may be carrying, or having to race through a level while locked into the form of the invincible-fast-and-inks-surfaces-on-contact-but-able-to-be-pushed-around Kraken within a time limit) and bring back gimmicks from that World's levels, and in general would be a spike in difficulty compared to regular levels. And they would also have Zapfish to collect. If you beat these hidden levels, you would unlock special things for the rest of the game (for example, beating the level where you have to use the Rainmaker for the entire level unlocks the Rainmaker as a regular weapon, allowing you to use it in regular levels with subs and Specials if you want, and beating the Kraken-race level unlocks the Kraken as a regular Special that can be collected).
If you beat the game and collected all of the Zapfish in every level (including the final area, and the hidden levels), you would unlock one more challenge. This level would be grueling, with challenges that spike up from the rest of the game's difficulty.
And if you get through that final level, as a final challenge, you would fight the Inkling / Octoling you didn't use for the level. They act just like they do when you play as them, even having the same Gear abilities that you selected for them and being unable to swim in your ink, except that they aren't locked to one weapon-and-sub set and can switch between every weapon you've unlocked during the fight, and also they have more HP than you do when you control them. Beating them gets a YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER -style message, and maybe something else, but I can't come up with anything at the moment.
As for story, I don't worry about it. Just something that gets Inklings and Octolings to fight against a common enemy, but maybe still allowing them to fight each other, that's all I want. I'm more concerned about the game being fun to play than having a good story, so an excuse plot is fine by me.
So, that's my idea. What do you all think of it?
This post is finally over.
