Currently this is the concept that we are going with with Brats being the mastermind behind it.
Originally posted by Brats
I have an idea. Picture this: 2D platformer with cute graphics and music. Very simple first level (level 1) with simple enemies that can be killed, and when the player jumps on their heads, coins are earnt. The player completes the simple level and the game congratulates them for finishing the game. WTF!
Bear with me here, after the simple completion screen, the game adds up their coins and opens a shop which the player can buy stuff. The cheapest (and only affordable item at this time) is a double-jump (but there are loads of other items that are available but too expensive). The player can only buy the double jump and can start the game again, except this time with the double jump he can now reach a platform that he couldn't before (and probably didn't even notice before). The platform takes the player to a new part of the same level with slightly harder enemies and eventually a new exit. The game again congratulates them for finishing the game, but the completion screen is slightly wrong - there are little glitches that make it seem like stuff is not right. The player has more coins though and can start to afford more abilities that open up this single level Metroid style. They could be a drill that enables a patch of earth right near the start to be dug into, unveiling a network of tunnels or a time machine that forwards the player in time to when the levels are old and decrepit with new opening available in the crumbling ruins.
Each new path from the main level with lead to a new exit, and each time a new completion screen comes up, it seems a but more wrong, even getting sinister. Little things like a child's scream in the distance or a flash of a pair of eyes for only a second. Some of the completion screens change level 1, like an earthquake that causes platforms to move around.
This single level continues to open and change as the player earns more coins and uncovers more exits, eventually leading to the truth, that the cute platformer is just a fascade to disguise a much more disturbing reality. The player never makes it to level 2, all the game is contained within this one growing and changing level.
Bear with me here, after the simple completion screen, the game adds up their coins and opens a shop which the player can buy stuff. The cheapest (and only affordable item at this time) is a double-jump (but there are loads of other items that are available but too expensive). The player can only buy the double jump and can start the game again, except this time with the double jump he can now reach a platform that he couldn't before (and probably didn't even notice before). The platform takes the player to a new part of the same level with slightly harder enemies and eventually a new exit. The game again congratulates them for finishing the game, but the completion screen is slightly wrong - there are little glitches that make it seem like stuff is not right. The player has more coins though and can start to afford more abilities that open up this single level Metroid style. They could be a drill that enables a patch of earth right near the start to be dug into, unveiling a network of tunnels or a time machine that forwards the player in time to when the levels are old and decrepit with new opening available in the crumbling ruins.
Each new path from the main level with lead to a new exit, and each time a new completion screen comes up, it seems a but more wrong, even getting sinister. Little things like a child's scream in the distance or a flash of a pair of eyes for only a second. Some of the completion screens change level 1, like an earthquake that causes platforms to move around.
This single level continues to open and change as the player earns more coins and uncovers more exits, eventually leading to the truth, that the cute platformer is just a fascade to disguise a much more disturbing reality. The player never makes it to level 2, all the game is contained within this one growing and changing level.