What sort of games could work with a side-view city scene like this?

I'm thinking about buying this asset and using it to show off what Mini Micro can do when given some professional 2D artwork. The artwork in question is really amazing:

Yes, that's all 2D! (It's so good it fooled me at first into thinking I was seeing 3D.)

But now I'm kind of stumped as to what to actually do with it. Basically we have a stage (street), with some gorgeous background and foreground elements. That means any characters will need to be viewed from the side as well. The artist says "perfect for 2D games such as platforms, shooter or endless runners", but I'm rather skeptical of all three — there aren't enough things here to use as platforms, and a 2D sideways endless runner is essentially just a fast platformer, no? Shooter, maybe, but it'd have to be some sort of weird side-view shooter, and I'm having trouble imagining that.

So to me, that leaves some kind of fighting game — either a straight-up 2.5D fighting game (and I know how much work that is, as I'm in the middle of a professional 2-year, 6-member project to develop one of these right now), or possibly a brawler. Brawlers are only slightly less work than a real fighting game, and both would require a whole lot of high-quality sprite frames to go with these beautiful backgrounds.

So I turn to you guys, with your creative ideas. Can you think any interesting and fun (but ideally, fairly simple) game concepts to set in this environment?

 

I am too. The first thing I think of when I see that background is a LucasArts style point-and-click adventure game. Something like Monkey Island except with cyberpunk or whatever.

 

Joe - if this is the ONLY art you are considering - the game would have to be some type of small experience - similar to a small point & click adventure, or single environment/screen game as you mentioned, a brawler or fighter.

Just a quick thought.
Alternatively you might be able to get away with a runner or platform game where the 'character' is a very small being. Say something like an ant or fly, so this small environment art bundle could be considered a HUGE environment.

Limiting the game by the art available - I think also limits the game 'types'.

 

I'm not saying this is the only art I'm willing to buy. I just don't want to spend hundreds of $ on a mini-game/demo.

And yeah, I realize this limits the game types, and makes it a real challenge to come up with an interesting game. But that's also why it's fun (for us game designers). I appreciate the feedback and ideas so far — please keep 'em coming!

(Also, I should probably page @Robiwan, the amazing artist behind these assets, in case he has any ideas.)

 

If this 2D static art, which is nice in general, you run into another problem.
Matching anything on top, to the background.
You can not dump on top just random characters. Will look odd.
You got rain, you expect characters be affected by rain (wet etc).
You got light, you need drop light from back scene.
You got ground wet reflections and refractions. Characters will require to drop them too.
Unless you got matching assets of characters and items, and really got idea what to do with it, I wouldn't be touching it otherwise. It will give headache, to make it feeling right. Specially if you are not an artist. It is really easy to kill the mood.

The only other sensible way I can think off, to utilize these, is make game in manga style, story based.
Like popping characters halve way on the screen.

 

Very true, but that doesn't scare me too much. I would give any sprites very diffuse reflections on the wet ground, and of course try to match the art style. Though still making sure the characters are clearly visible and don't blend into the background. I think in this case rather than trying to find character sprites, I would probably be better off finding high-quality 3D models, making sure the lighting and materials are a good match, and then rendering them out as sprites (since that is what Mini Micro requires).

I'm not an artist, but I don't mind pretending to be one now and then.

 

Reaching to classic arcade games for inspiration, here are some that occurred to me on my morning walk...

• Joust: but instead of flying ostriches, knock each other off some sort of cyber-mounts, on a stage that is maybe 2 screens wide (giving us an excuse to show off that parallax).
• Defender: a somewhat smaller stage than the original, but still with the basic idea that you're flying back and forth, shooting baddies and rescuing innocents. Maybe.
• Galaga and its kin: our city is being invaded by cyber-aliens and you need to zip back and forth on the street, shooting them down.
• Frogger: fill the street with speeding vehicles, and you have to make your way across... not as a frog. Just as a pedestrian. Pushing an arcade cabinet, perhaps.
• Double Dragon: classic brawler (already mentioned above, but still).

Though in some of these ideas, the background is just a background, which seems a little lame. I'd rather interact with the setting at least a little bit, as in the point-and-click adventure some of you suggested above. Or if it's a Galaga-style shooter, maybe the invaders can hide behind some of the scenery elements? Or with the Joust idea, maybe some of the rooftops could be platforms... though that sounds hard to pull off with 2D elements that weren't designed for it.

Hmm.

 

That background looks amazing. It would definitely look good, for a multiplayer brawler type action game, like Double Dragon or Final Fight, but set in the future.

Also, the characters used, would have to have an artstyle, and colour palette that fits in with the backgrounds. Otherwise, they'll look out of place.

But overall, that background looks really cool.

 

Thanks to everyone for your input. After thinking about it all day, I think I'll probably try for a simple brawler. Those things can get almost arbitrarily complicated, but I think I can keep mine simple and still have a fun mini-game.

 

Maybe https://itch.io/games/tag-2d/tag-cyberpunk

 

bump any updates?

 

You were expecting updates?

I'm still decided on the cyberpunk beat-em-up prototyped above. But I first have to finish my entry for the Text Only Jam, and also wrap up Annelids, before I can start on a new project.

And since this thread, I've also had an increasing urge to write a small, simple, 5-minute territory-conquest strategy game... so it's possible that will slip in before this cyberbrawler too.

But don't worry, I will get back to this idea sooner or later... I've already paid for that background art, and it's too beautiful to let it go to waste!

 

Woah you doing a lot bro. How hard was it to write a mini script parser. Looks very much like gd script in Godot engine.

 

@JoeStrout any updates?

 

Good move Joe.

 

i would do a sims like where you control a family and evolve through their daily routine, have to get jobs, get better house, gain political power etc