How Could a Superman Game be Executed Effectively?

[Cornbread78]

It seems like this is discussed often, but there's never really any consensus. Devs have tried and failed to make a standalone Superman game, with the majority of the problem being the nature of Superman's near-invincibility and godlike powers.

How could a Superman game work around this limitation?

I've seen people say "Use kryptonite!" But that seems more like a crutch that an entire game couldn't be built around.

My personal idea is to start the story with a young Superman who is inexperienced and hasn't explored his powers fully. That way you can have a sense of progression and by the end, the player would only feel that much more powerful. However, there's two problems with my idea:
1. This idea still doesn't address how to limit his invincibility
2. At the end, you end up with the original issue. You're a superpowered, invincible god and all possibility of challenge is thrown out the window without the kryptonite crutch.

How would you make a Superman game?



*Thread was created for contributor/member "niosai." If you any specific questions or comments in regards to the content of the OP, please reach out to : https://www.resetera.com/members/niosai.20345/

 

[Niosai]

Thanks for posting this up!

 

[WrenchNinja]

I liked the idea of the Superman Returns game where the city is the health bar. The more damage to the city, the more likely you'd lose. Maybe expand on that, and make it less annoying.

 

[Deleted member 25323]

If the idea is to make Superman so young that he is weakened, or have a plot element weaken his powers in any form, there's no point in making a Superman game.

 

[Niosai]

If the idea is to make Superman so young that he is weakened, or have a plot element weaken his powers in any form, there's no point in making a Superman game.

Click to shrink...

That's the limitation to get around. How would you do it?

 

[DrBo42]

Superman Returns had it right but the combat and enemies were terrible. Flying they actually nailed.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Superman in space against space foes.

 

[Flibbertygiblet]

You're on the right track, but in order to fix the problems you've addressed you need one (or both) of two things.

1. As the game progresses and your powers grow, you need to fight more difficult enemies. There are a number of (albeit few) enemy aliens or villains that can give Superman a run for his money. Including these in the story in the late game can make for a more balanced game.
2. Use kryptonite. Give low level grunts kyrptonite guns or armor to make them more powerful.

 

[Straight Edge]

Make Batman the main enemy.

 

[Apathy]

The city has to be the one to have the health bar

 

[Platy]

Same way you make a good superman movie : you don't fear for his life, you fear for the lives of the people who will die if he fails.

Plane is falling. Dam is going to explode and flood the city, train is going to fall because the bridge was destroyed. beat this big enemy before he causes mass destruction

 

[Stuart]

We don't need to wonder, it's already been achieved! Superman 64, one of the best titles on the N64.

Pay Bluepoint $$$ to remaster it in 4k, job done.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

Branching story. Put the player in impossible situations where only one or the other can be saved. Show that even for the perfect hero, saving the city and world isn't an easy task.

 

[fourfourfun]

I liked the idea of the Superman Returns game where the city is the health bar. The more damage to the city, the more likely you'd lose. Maybe expand on that, and make it less annoying.

Click to shrink...

That's excellent. If open world, you'd have a bizarre time management effort that could really work. Superman tackling scenarios, making judgement calls, perhaps an element of maintaining secret identity in there, and a very infrequent kryptonite intrusion from a mega villain.

 

[TripleBee]

I think the best way is to stay true to the source. Superman is basically invincible.
Don't make the challenge fighting 100s of robots etc - make it about saving the people the robots are attacking.

Failure is 'not catching the falling plane' - not that you can die from it.

Maybe some dynamic system where Metropolis opinion of you as superman is based on how well you do.

I feel like Kryptonite making superman vulnerable needs to be saved for essentially the final boss fight.
But i think it's a misuse of the character if some random guy can kill superman with a shot.

 

[prosperoust]

Make Batman the main enemy.

Click to shrink...

This could be cool actually! My first thought for a Superman game was, even though they've wavered in quality lately, having it as a Telltale Game. I loved the balancing of Bruce Wayne and Batman, so something similar between Clark Kent / Superman would be a fun way for that character to be portrayed. I'd be in favor of a more "light" approach after the fairly dark way Batman was handled. I dig the Batman series, but Borderlands is still their best work and did a great balance of humor with real human emotions.

 

[Farmboy]

Probably with a large axe or mallet. Strike several times, just to be sure.

Oh you meant... never mind.

 

[PSqueak]

+1 to the idea of city healthbar

I mean, think about his iconic word of cardboard speech in JLU, Superman has to be about protecting a world weaker than him.

The unfortunate side effect is basically creating a game where all levels/missions are scort missions.

Of course you'd have now and then boss battles with DC's heavy hitters and maybe a few missions where he's depowered.

But yeah, mostly you'd need to make a game where superman is invincible and protecting the weak is the focus.

 

[_Rob_]

That's excellent. If open world, you'd have a bizarre time management effort that could really work. Superman tackling scenarios, making judgement calls, perhaps an element of maintaining secret identity in there, and a very infrequent kryptonite intrusion from a mega villain.

Click to shrink...

Expanding on this, how about something like Majora's Mask's impending doom time limit, so Superman only has a smallish window to get stuff done?

 

[ElBoxy]

Just make it a narrative driven game.

 

[Chie Satonaka91]

Possibly using his conscious. You have to prevent civilian injury and death, prevent buildings from destroyed, planes from being shot down. Not being fast enough to stop it could give you a game over.

The other method would be to have the game focused around foes who can actually stand toe to toe with Superman, like Doomsday. A game like this could have a bit of a Warriors angle. Cut through weaker enemies like butter, though make the bosses more of a challenge.

Or hell, get Koei Tecmo to make Superman Warriors. Then make DC Warriors.

 

[Aurica]

You could just start the game with some plot device that gets rid of his invincibility, but keeps all his other powers to make it still feel like superman. I do like the idea of starting as young superman and just being able to jump high at first or something.

 

[Deleted member 2802]

After Superman 64, it's NPD kryptonite.

No dev wants to touch that with a 100 foot pole.

 

[adj_noun]

Branching story. Put the player in impossible situations where only one or the other can be saved. Show that even for the perfect hero, saving the city and world isn't an easy task.

Click to shrink...

Ok, but if whoever I don't help (or their friends if they're deceased) starts whining to me about my choice, please put a Press X to punch them into the sun prompt into the game.

I don't mind if it makes me auto-lose.

 

[Kill3r7]

Play Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Understand how Radical made such an awesome game that captures the essence of the Hulk. Now apply those principles to Superman. Alternative make a game based on All Star Superman or Red Son.

 

[ElBoxy]

Play Hulk Ultimate Destruction. Understand how Radical made such an awesome game that captures the essence of the Hulk. Now apply those principles to Superman. Alternative make a game based on All Star Superman or Red Son.

Click to shrink...

Superman's powers are not the same as Hulk's.

 

[Yeef]

Realistically, I don't think you can make a Superman game that compelling while still keeping it grounded. You could have the enemies be other super-powered beings like Darkseid and the like, I suppose.

I think something like the original Dead Rising, where a big part of the challenge is time and resource management would probably come the closest to working, but even then, I'm skeptical.

 

[TreIII]

At its core, there's two things I would recommend:

1) Echoing what others say about bringing back "Returns'" City meter being an effective health bar (or at least a secondary condition for how Supes can fail if too much collateral damage occurs).
2) Give Superman plenty of opposition in-game that canonically could hand him his cape, and make for interesting "rival boss fights". Darkseid, at the very least, but feel free to dig deeper into Supes' catalog and cosmic-level DC in order to make things interesting!

Others have said it before, and I certainly agree. But I don't see how we can have over the top action heroes like Dante (DMC) and Bayonetta, who pretty much are like Superman in their own respective games and canon, but we can't make a decent action game that allows Superman to shine. A Superman game should be the very instance where going over the top should be an expectation!

 

[XaviConcept]

I think about this often, its probably THE biggest challenge in videogames.

You cant do the kryptonite thing, because then you're not Superman. For a Superman game you NEED to be Superman, no handicaps.

What you CAN do is rely on Clark Kent. Make a game about his dual life and you can have some fun back and forth where you have to do a lot of managing.

What you would need:
-A procedurally generated world or a giant Metropolis and neighboring cities. Its important to have the feeling that you can reach the other end of the world if you need to. Space stuff is t needed in the first game.
-Fly anywhere
-Destroy anything
-you can pick and choose on the powers, xray and heat vision seem like locks, freeze breath bot so much?
-Be able to save people while doing other shit
-You cant die in most scenarios

Possible game over situations:
-objective failed (dead hostage, building blows up, the usual)
-"life bar of the city" concept revamp
-Clark Kent is exposed as Superman
-Big exceptions where some kryptonite poison or Doomsday kills you

Its so, so difficult. If Ubisoft somehow pulls off Beyond Good and Evil 2 them they could do this, but its basically impossible.

 

[seiki]

A must have feature is to be able to go up the air into outer space like Superman Returns: The Videogame 2006 although that game felt backwards at time of release.

 

[Ahasverus]

The Superman 2006 was halfway there. Its problem was that it was a rushed movie tie in, but the idea of "city health" was wonderful, the flight controls sublime and Superman's powers were well executed.

I think its biggest barrier is that I'd need a really, really big, Just Cause 2 sized world. It just needs a talented team like Avalanche or Rocksteady themselves.

 

[hotcyder]

You could make it like Yoshi's Island - Superman himself can't take damage, but the people he's meant to rescue could, with a failure state linked to public opinion/destruction levels.

You could find challenge without having death as a state. Damage is one way, as is time. The quicker you can achieve Superman feats the better you're rewarded - making it somewhat more arcade like in its execution.

 

[Majik13]

Basically make it like Megaton Rainfall?
You are invincible, but your life meter is the amount of destruction and civilian casualties you and the aliens cause as you defeat enemies/aliens.

Also in VR you really feel like superman. Or a Dragon ball character.

You can literally fly anywhere, ocean floor, to the sun, to the moon and land on them. Out of the solar system, go to any other solar system in the galaxy, even fly out of the galaxy, and fly to hundreds of other galaxies. There isnt much to do off of Earth, but its pretty phenomenal and totally possible.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

Ok, but if whoever I don't help (or their friends if they're deceased) starts whining to me about my choice, please put a Press X to punch them into the sun prompt into the game.

I don't mind if it makes me auto-lose.

Click to shrink...

The game needs a mortality system, too.
If they can make a good superman game, then we need to see evil superman.

 

[Ahasverus]

You could make it like Yoshi's Island - Superman himself can't take damage, but the people he's meant to rescue could, with a failure state linked to public opinion/destruction levels.

Click to shrink...

That alreay happened in Superman 2006, was very well implemented.

 

[Mediking]

Just have him on Krypton fighting other people of his race

 

[GrayFoxPL]

You play as the villains.

 

[PCPace]

Don't base it in Metropolis. Base it everywhere. War World, Brainiac's ship, Apokolips, Gotham, all the major places on DC's Earth.

There are a ton of DC characters that can go toe to toe with Superman. Use em! Cyborg Superman, Mongul, Eradicator, Darkseid, Lex in his armor, Black Adam, The Main Man, Steppenwolf, Kaliban, Metallo, The Tyrant Sun, Brainiac, Amazo, Batman.

Get creative to design some mooks other than parademons. Make the levels linear, an action game, but with a dual focus of defeating an opponent and limiting damage. Sometimes to save someone you have to take a hit.

As for flight, just limit it. You don't need a complicated explanation. Nobody really complains in Star Fox that you can't fly higher. You can include higher flight sections but usually you could just force him below a certain height because that's where the action is.

 

[Rotobit]

Honestly does Superman need to have a weakness? I'd envision it as something more like a narrative-heavy game where you have to make hard choices at times but for the most part just use your powers for good in a variety of different ways. There are plenty of things that can provide challenge that aren't HP and damage related.

That said, I think a Justice League game would work better, by having several playable characters with their own strengths and weaknesses you can cover all bases and ideally not ruin the characters themselves. Also the people who hate Superman for whatever reason can have other options.

 

[Scar]

Just have him go on missions the justice league can't win. Have the hall of his fortress as the hub between missions.

Sprinkle in cameos.

Have each mission be set in a new world or planet, open world style.

 

[Hayeya]

2d metroidvania, starts with all his powers like "symphony of the night", and somehow he loses all his powers at the beginning due to kryptonite or whatever, his journey is to reclaim his powers one by one (flight, laser, strenght.....) in order to access new areas

 

[ElBoxy]

Just have him go on missions the justice league can't win. Have the hall of his fortress as the hub between missions.

Sprinkle in cameos.

Have each mission be set in a new world or planet, open world style.

Click to shrink...

Batman survived a fight with Darkseid. The Justice League can do anything Superman can when they work together. If the Justice League can't handle a mission then theoretically Superman wouldn't be able to handle it.

 

[Scar]

Batman survived a fight with Darkseid. The Justice League can do anything Superman can when they work together.

Click to shrink...

Lol ok well they can ask to make him feel special!

 

[Sasliquid]

Have the core gameplay be about feeling powerful and heroic. Don't worry about having enemies that actually pose a physical threat but have other failure states or implications for your actions.

 

[Grimmjow]

Honestly, I think the best way is to do a story driven game similar to something Telltale would do. I'd also keep it relevant to current Superman comics, where he is married to Lois and has a son.

Superman works best when you reign him in and give him a grounded story imo.

 

[Chie Satonaka91]

As some have mentioned, having to deal with public opinion could work well. Game could give perks with high opinion and penalties with low opinion.

 

[5taquitos]

The moment-to-moment gameplay should focus on making tough decisions about who to save and who to fight. Make it more about time and choice, and less about power.

 

[PSqueak]

Another idea, a game similar to city Shrouded in Shadows set in Metropolis.

You play as either Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen or maybe an OC that is also a reporter, and you have to manuver around disasters caused by supervillians as Superman handles the situation.

You sneak around avoiding monsters, debri, disasters and even low level henchmen in order to get the scoop as superman saves the day, but not without colateral damage.

 

[Gestault]

I'd be curious to see a Superman game where combat isn't the challenge, but time management. As in, you can only be one place at a time, and the more crime/conflict you let happen in an area, the more involved tasks can flare up. In a weird way, it would end up having the structure of something like a Diner Dash game, just with totally different presentation.

 

[est1992]

First Superman thread...nice.

I think the best way is just to embrace that he is Superman, but there's still things that can hurt him. An interesting thing I read in the recent Spider-Man PS4 interviews was that they have Spider-Man have all his powers from the jump. No upgrade skill tree. I think that would be best with Supes. Don't nerf him or anything, just make the challenges really really hard.