Asymmetric gameplay

Started by the-pi-guy, Dec 01, 2019, 03:09 AM

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the-pi-guy

Dec 01, 2019, 03:09 AM Last Edit: Dec 01, 2019, 03:12 AM by the-pi-guy
One of the coolest things about the Wii U is the ability to have asymmetric gameplay. 

Nintendo Land has some great examples of this. 

A ghost chases around up to 4 other players. Not too unusual, but what makes it interesting is that the ghost player has their own screen, and they are not visible to the other players.


VR also opens some cool uses like this. 
There's a VR game on PSVR, where you are a ghost Hunter.  And the people who aren't using VR, can see the ghosts.


What are some cool examples?  And are there any asymmetric experiences you could see working on VR? 

Legend



Evolve was really cool with this. 4 people vs 1 monster. Maybe one of the best logos ever as well. 4 letters verse one massive letter.

In general I find it hard to balance stuff like this. It's hard enough to make both sides evenly powered but it's super super hard to make both sides as fun to play on. Lots of times games solve this by making rounds quick or making gameplay similar.

Take zombies from Halo. 1 player starts as the zombie and has to kill others to convert them. Great fun but outside of the objective, both sides play the same. It's hardly asymmetric.

Meanwhile there is stuff like cappy in Super Mario Odyssey. The second player plays a very different game and in general it's just not as much fun for either player.

Hardware based asymmetric gameplay like with Vita, wii u, and vr is usually just as bad but it can at least have a fun gimmick.


Long long ago I planned to have an asymmetric mode in VizionEck. 1 player would manage a prison through cameras and turrets while the rest would try to escape. It was never developed beyond that basic idea but I used to be a much bigger fan of the concept. Nowadays I prefer dynamic asymmetric gameplay such as final smashes and high level players vs low level players. Instead of designing the asymmetric gameplay to be even, you can go all in on one player being op.

Dr. Pezus

The multiplayer RE game will be like that

kitler53

Evolve was really cool with this. 4 people vs 1 monster. Maybe one of the best logos ever as well. 4 letters verse one massive letter.

In general I find it hard to balance stuff like this. It's hard enough to make both sides evenly powered but it's super super hard to make both sides as fun to play on. Lots of times games solve this by making rounds quick or making gameplay similar.

Take zombies from Halo. 1 player starts as the zombie and has to kill others to convert them. Great fun but outside of the objective, both sides play the same. It's hardly asymmetric.

Meanwhile there is stuff like cappy in Super Mario Odyssey. The second player plays a very different game and in general it's just not as much fun for either player.

Hardware based asymmetric gameplay like with Vita, wii u, and vr is usually just as bad but it can at least have a fun gimmick.


Long long ago I planned to have an asymmetric mode in VizionEck. 1 player would manage a prison through cameras and turrets while the rest would try to escape. It was never developed beyond that basic idea but I used to be a much bigger fan of the concept. Nowadays I prefer dynamic asymmetric gameplay such as final smashes and high level players vs low level players. Instead of designing the asymmetric gameplay to be even, you can go all in on one player being op.
so much this.  asymmetric is almost always terrible for someone.  

and with online play nothing prevents any game from being asymmetric.  it is easy enough to support locally too,.. like a third of the mario party mini-games were asymmetric on the gamecube (just the last one i played,. probably still true).  it is probably part of why wiiU failed so hard.  it was a gimmick that didn't need hardware to support and isn't fun in the first place. 


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