Assignment 2 - Storming Proposal 2

I shall be deleting this post and adding what I've written to an updated... post. I just thought I'd take the time tonight whilst I'm without my scanner to go ahead and write up what I'm doing at the moment. I'm trying to write what I can without going into too much detail without these scanned pages.

Working towards the second concept proposal is proving a little more challenging than I had anticipated. I'm still playing with both Legend of Zelda and Metroid. Metroid is starting to present some challenges of it's own as I've continued down the route of creating new gameplay through items and tools rather than weaponry. 

Whilst looking into the different environments that the games take place in (Even in Metroid Fusion for example, which is set on a space ship, still has biomes that replicate alien locations), my mind wandered towards water. Traditionally, Samus is unable to swim and until she has acquired the Gravity Suit, she also suffers from moving far slower than she would normally travel at. So a very early idea was to create a form of 'jet pack' that would be used in water locations to allow for 8 directional movement, and would not function on dry land.

However, that felt more than a little TOO situational, and even if the design of water areas could be changed to take such an item into account, it features too little to warrant designing. Which indirectly lead me to think about how an item could function differently above and below water without simply allowing Samus to fly about freely (Rendering the Screw Attack obsolete and breaking the game in the process).

As I write this blog entry, I'm exploring the possibility of an item that, when underwater, will allow free movement, and when above water will function as a means of slowing the player's descent when activated (I really can't explain it better than that at the moment, I will have to consider my words carefully later on). Having looked at the Zora Armour from Twilight Princess, I could also consider adding a penalty for the item being activated... so the player can have increased mobility in water and the ability to hover over hazards and gaps at the cost of receiving more damage whilst in use.

I'm still working on the idea, of course. There are many more alternatives I could and will go through tomorrow. With illustrations to make things clearer.