Many of the popular games of this and last year have been co-op, whereas the game I have planned out is single player. Here are various ideas I had to incorporate multiplayer aspects to the game:
There could be segments in which the player is connected to another player at the same part of the level as them, and then they could complete puzzles together. This idea comes from Journey, a co-op game.
If I want to keep the basic narrative of the game the same, then this co-op feature could involve the other player being shown as a spectre or a ghost.
If no other players are in the area to connect, or the player isn’t connected to the internet, the game could instead offer the option of having an AI to solve the puzzle with them. This would require specialist AI Programmers to be involved in production, which would mean a budget increase or hiring generalist programmers to fill out many of the Programming Department.
Alternatively, the entire narrative of the game could be changed so that all the players are spectres/ghosts, which would mean the entire game could be co-op like many popular games of this and last year (Animal Crossing and Among Us are two examples).
This would mean part of the story would have to be altered to accommodate this, but the main structure of the game could stay relatively the same.
The game could also feature a local multiplayer feature, like in games such as the original Mario Kart games, which allowed multiple people using one console to play the same game. This wouldn’t require internet, as everyone playing the game would be in the same place.
These extra players could assist the main player (P1) in various ways, such as helping solve puzzles, or giving them buffs during fights. These other players (P2, P3, and P4) could be ghost that P1 has summoned, which would be a good way to distinguish them from each other.
The game would still need to be playable without multiple players.
Some of these ideas could be combined, such as the having multiple long-distance players in one place, which could be done locally as well as by AI.
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