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Post by Hunter4408 on May 30, 2016 5:22:57 GMT
This is an idea I haven't heard anything of, besides the infamous Puffmin from Pikmin 1. I think it would be interesting and fun to have a type of enemy similar to Pikmin with their own form of Onions and the ability to reproduce during gameplay. Maybe in Pikmin 4, we can see more of the Plasm Wraith, and maybe the Plasm Wraith could have created a species similar to Pikmin in areas of the game? This is very specific, but it can be anything. These "anti-pikmin" can compete with the captain(s) and Pikmin for collectibles like pellets, corpses, and maybe even treasures/ship pieces/food. The only way to eliminate these anti-pikmin is to drive them to extinction by preventing anti-pikmin reproduction, and eliminating groups of them. What do you guys think of this, or what ideas would you have to branch out the "Anti-Pikmin" idea?
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Post by Scruffy on May 30, 2016 7:57:10 GMT
This seems like a really neat idea. It would bring the enhanced real-time strategy thinking of 2-Player Battle/Bingo Battle into the main game, except this time the "anti-Pikmin" would be even more difficult to predict (and arguably harder to beat since you have to completely extinguish them). I have a few concerns though. Firstly, even though each installment gets more technically capable, there'd definitely be a processing limit on how many anti-pikmin can exist somewhere when 100 Pikmin already exist, and it seems like it'd get kind of confusing if 200 Pikmin were on screen at once, all looking for means of reproducing or fighting each other. And that leads to one more thing: a lot of action that happens off-screen in Pikmin is frozen, except for your Pikmin and leaders, of course. This is, again, to save on processing power, but it's also so that you don't miss any action. If anti-Pikmin are to be just as active as you with bringing back pellets and enemies, then they could clear out a major section of an area before you even get there, and then there'd be nothing to do but fight them. So I suggest they have a limited range of exploration or a limit to how much they try to steal items, like Breadbugs. There's only so much Breadbugs can carry to their nests, so as not to limit the diversity of the area.
My final concern is, if you eliminate an anti-Pikmin Onion and anti-Pikmin still exist somewhere else, what will they do? It would be interesting (albeit still tough on CPU) if dispatching an anti-Pikmin Onion was only temporary: a large enough group of anti-Pikmin could sense their Onion is down, return to it, and revive it.
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Post by Hunter4408 on May 30, 2016 17:37:00 GMT
Perhaps giving the anti-pikmin a unique, bright/standing-out design could help confusion if you have 200 Pikmin on the screen at once. It should be capable in smaller areas of a map given that Bingo Battle works perfectly but only in a small area. Perhaps giving the anti-pikmin a section of a bigger map to explore can help technicality and keep them from taking away items before you arrive. And if it is technically possible to have them going around an *entire* map and not be hard on the CPU (perhaps on small maps), add in obstacles that will cause them to waste time until you arrive.
And that sounds interesting. But what if the anti-Pikmin could do the same to your onion(s)? Perhaps the anti-pikmin can perform raids based on where you're located and if you have loot, and if they have a large enough group, come to your base to try to waste your time and steal loot in some cases.
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Post by Hunter4408 on Jun 2, 2016 17:31:57 GMT
This was something I made following the "Plasm Wraith Minion" style for the anti-pikmin. Physical features are thinner bodies and similarity to white Pikmin, and no facial feature besides a big hole in the center of the face. Instead of leaves/flowers/buds, they have a cube. I might make a concept for their onion.
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Post by Hunter4408 on Jun 3, 2016 0:55:04 GMT
I was also going to do a graph on anti-pikmin behavior, but it might take too much room like the past photo did. I have an idea for their behavior though.
There are 3 squads. Defenders, Gatherers, and Raiders.
The Defenders might be self-explanatory. They are the ones who defend the anti-pikmin onion from attacks. If the Pikmin and Captain(s) attempt to destroy their Onion, every anti-pikmin will be assigned to defend until the threat is extinguished, this means that they can fight to their extinction. Some anti-pikmin could possibly be stronger than other anti-pikmin, or they could have buffs when they're near their onion. Buffed anti-pikmin may be frustrating when you're attempting to defeat them, but it will make strategy much more important. When their population is 1 or 2 and they detect no threats, they will automatically become Gatherers.
The Gatherers are the ones in control of population. Instead of focusing on important treasures, they will harvest pellet posies and *maybe* enemy creatures to populate. Anti-Pikmin don't need to be plucked from the ground (only following the Plasm-style anti-pikmin), they simply shoot out of the anti-onion. If the Gatherers have successfully reached the maximum anti-pikmin capacity, they will automatically be assigned defenders or raiders, depending on which is needed more, or if a "Total Raid" is in effect they are automatically assigned as raiders.
The Raiders simply want to waste the Pikmin and captain(s) time. Literally. If the anti-pikmin have a full population, they can make you lose an entire day trying to combat raiders. The higher the population, the more daring raiders are. If their population is too low, raiders will only be in small groups that occasionally run into your Pikmin like the Gatherers. They will attempt to take treasures before you arrive, try to steal treasures from your Pikmin, perform raids where they simply attempt to cause your Pikmin population to lower, and more. This will make it more important to watch your Pikmin, and make sure they're not left alone when these raids occur. A Total Raid can occur whenever the anti-pikmin population capacity is full. Total Raids are often triggered when all your Pikmin are busy working, and can be devastating. All anti-pikmin get assigned as raiders during total raids and attempt to steal treasure, distract Pikmin, and try to take out Captains.
I think this behavior would be great for real-time strategy in Pikmin 4.
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Post by Creative Sushi on Jun 3, 2016 3:54:25 GMT
They way you described this made it just seem like a Pikmin 3 bingo battle AI bot.
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Post by Hunter4408 on Jun 3, 2016 14:12:22 GMT
Well, it could use elements from bingo battle but bring it over into the story.
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Post by steve on Jul 10, 2016 21:11:03 GMT
There could be squads of bulbmin that walk around and attack you and your pikmin, and sometimes you can have the bulbmin join you. It would be a cool way to reintroduce the bulbmin.
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