The Seeds of my Super Hero Racoon Game
This is me forcing myself to work on this silly idea.
The curse of being a creative is that I keep thinking of new ideas then stuffing them into a digital trunk for later. One idea that sticks with me is a scrolling beat-em-up game with the working title of Smash Pandas. The premise is that everyone plays a racoon with super powers.
Yeah, I took two things everyone knows I like and smushed them together like a popular candy or a shepherds pie.
So now you, lucky subscriber, get to see my partially organized ramblings of what I would make this game. Is there a story? What would the mechanics be? Is Blake getting enough sleep?* All will be answered in due time.
*I’m not going to answer this one, leave me alone about my sleep habits.
The Medium
I cannot deny my love for side scrolling beat em up games. Streets of Rage, Castle Crashers, the X-Men arcade game are some of my absolute favorite games. Almost half of the games on my Nintendo Switch are side scrolling games where you battle waves of enemies. There’s something about solo destroying an evil empire one biker gang at a time that speaks to me. And when you play with friends it’s your team against the world!
The Story
When I decided to write this article I realized I couldn’t remember the story. I went into my note apps to find the musings I took about the story. Turns out all I wrote was “raccoons+super powers? Fantastic Four but trash?” No story, just the idea of raccoons smashing bad guys. With the aid of a cold brew coffee and 90’s rock music playing on my speaker, here’s what I’ve concocted in an afternoon.
You are a plucky racoon in the streets of suburbia, anywhere USA. One night, while foraging in the dumpster of that science lab on the outskirts of the city you combine a tasty treat (half eaten hamburger, a banana peel, an energy drink, or a candy bar) with some glowing purple liquid and are blasted with super powers!
You have the strength of 100 raccoons, or the speed of a greyhound dog, or energy blasts more powerful than halogen lights, or impressive mental powers! (I figure the food you choose affects if you get super strength, super speed, energy blasts, or telekinesis.)
All stories have an end goal in mind, and in Smash Pandas you’re fighting all the terrors of suburbia and working your way into the city to reverse the effects of the purple stuff/find more purple stuff to be super forever/stop a nefarious plot by a hyper intelligent crow/grackle/raven. (This part will be polished later.
The Mechanics
Since this will be a side scrolling video game, I’ll need to determine what the button inputs do. Will the players have a heavy attack and a weak attack? Can they dash across the screen or only walk at a leisurely pace? Are double jumps an option?? Answer the double jump question!!!
I’ve always enjoyed the option to mix up my attacks, so giving the characters Strong and Weak attack is the way to go. I also think a “Power Gauge” meter that builds up when you fight can be used with a 3rd button to activate a "Special Attack” based on your powers. At a stage this early I would keep it simple; strength does a ground pound, speed dashes around the screen, energy blast fires on big beam, telekinesis lifts and drops enemies on screen. And you have to have a jump button. I’m unsure if I would include a Block/Guard button; would a racoon act defensively ever? Nah, no block, but there is a Dodge option! Imagine how cute they would look going all roly-poly across the screen! Awww!
The Enemies
A key component to side scrolling beat-em ups is fighting waves and waves of enemies. I’ve given the enemies no thought until typing these words and the thought I have is; birds?
I love keeping to a theme so I imagine the super smart bird leader employs murders of crows to fight for them. That means bird foot soldiers dropping in to fight your super powered raccoons! We’ll also need a slightly tougher version of the foot soldiers; same species but bigger and bulkier. You can’t make the game too easy.
Then you need Lieutenants. I’m thinking a different animal to make them visually distinct from the shambling hordes. Maybe a few species of neighborhood dogs for the thematic elements. The breeds included should be boxers, rottweilers, and German shepherds. Real tough customers.
The bosses. This will be tough, they’ll need some backstory and a complex enough design to make them stand out from the waves of regular bad guys. I could stick with the birds being in charge motif and make the bosses birds. Maybe an owl with ninja moves? Or a falcon with high speed attacks and massive talons. It would be funny to grab a penguin from the zoo for an ice level. I love an ice level, you’re all slipping around, it’s great.
I want some element of Animal Control in there, maybe I make them an unstoppable obstacle you can dodge, and when they hit you they scoop you in a net, making you lose HP. Man, this game sound really fun and worth a lot of money.
Conclusion…for now.
I didn’t realize how much of this game concept would come out when I started the article. In the interest of keeping it a digestable length I’m going to cut myself off there, but don’t you worry, I’m already tinkering with ideas for the story mode and why the raccoons travel through the world battling evil birds, eating trash food for powerups, and rolling all adorable (aww!).
If anyone reading knows as video game studio that would pay me bags of money to develop this idea, point them my way. I love paying rent with my silly ideas.
You son of a bitch… I’m in.