A Fan-Made Game Design for Metroid Dread

[Thunderchin]

Overview: Post-Fusion with new gameplay and a new threat. I'm still working on controls, though. I know it will be for Wii-U though. Goodness knows I'm going to need the extra screen real estate.

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Timeline of Events for Metroid: Dread

Before Metroid Fusion:
The Federation begins work reverse engineering Samus' suit, in a top-secret military program called “Project Warmonger.” The end result is a set of five variants of knockoff Samus armor, which are subsequently put into field testing by a squad of Federation Marines, and another squad of Federation Army.

During the Events of Metroid Fusion:
The Galactic Federation develops downloadable Suit data to restore Samus' functionality, but they pack in a trojan virus so the Federation can kill Samus on a whim by activating that virus.
The GFS Kyoto experiments on a new strain of bacteria that assimilate foreign DNA and use it to mutate organisms that it takes under control.
Samus defeats the X Parasites and destroys them in a massive anti-matter explosion caused by her crashing the BSL Station into Planet SR-388.
Samus regains her full-plate power armor, getting rid of her Fusion Suit once and for all thanks to the SA-X coming in and allowing Samus to absorb its core.

Immediately after Fusion:
Samus' Metroid Vaccine wears off. Her human immune system has eliminated the foreign DNA (gaining a resistance to Metroid attacks in the process), which the Federation has not yet been able to overcome in DNA vaccines. (But the Chozo have, which is why Samus still keeps her Chozo blood.)
Samus is a wanted criminal thanks to her work on BSL, and the Federation wants her captured. To this end, the Federation's virus activates. However, Samus' ship AI (Adam) manages to come up with an antivirus to protect the suit's abilities from harm. The biological half of the virus is stopped once again by Samus' immune system.
The bacteria breaches containment aboard the Kyoto, infecting the crew and the other specimens aboard. Through human infection, the bacteria gain intelligence, but they cannot get the hang of said intelligence in time to prevent the ship from crash landing at its destination. Surviving crew members put up a last stand, some making it to escape pods while others succumb or die in the crash.

One Week After Fusion:
The bacteria spread from the crash site to everywhere on the planet. The ship's destination, a research facility, is prepared to handle the Dread, but not its infected. They too are overrun, as is the whole planet's artificial ecosystem.
Samus continues work on the lam, unaware the Federation is still capable of taking her out thanks to the Warmongers. (They mercilessly hunt her down.)
Adam detects the rapidly deteriorating signal coming from a planet called SR-666. Little do they know SR-666 is quite literally Hell. They head there to investigate.

The Events of Metroid Dread are thus as follows:
Samus and Adam land at the facility, finding it in ruin. Adam senses interference, and says he can only break through it for short periods when it fades out periodically. This prevents him from dictating Samus' path, but allows him to give advice every so often as well as provide supplementary information to assist Samus.
Samus ventures into the facility, finding dead everywhere. Death and destruction litter the innards of the facility. But she detects lifesigns within a vault, and opens it...The Dread are inside. They attack, but Samus manages to destroy them. But this summons a large Dread to come out of the ground. This particular demon is tough and strong, and Samus' firepower barely makes a dent in it. But the demon's final attack (after a hard-fought drag-out battle) does something even more surprising to Samus.
The Federation virus reactivates, and is supercharged to the point of overriding the antivirus on the suit. The suit fails catastrophically, its abilities sustaining major damage. Her body is unaffected (thank you Chozo and Human blood working together!), but Samus still describes it as “paralysis” as her abilities have become, through use, extensions of her body.
Samus explores the planet (including the crash site) to determine the cause of this. Adam discovers the bacteria, known as “Dread”, is mutating life forms using assimilated DNA while at the same time turning them into demonic zombies. The Federation virus has also been assimilated , and the Dread can now mutate and grow knockoffs of Samus' suit as well as assimilate technology. During this, Samus repairs her damaged upgrades, but she finds that the more she uses them the longer they take to repair.
During this, the Warmongers haven't stopped. They are in fact heading to SR-666 to put Samus under arrest and stop the Dread. They do so, but are overrun by Dread, and only one survives: the leader of the Army Warmongers himself, Anthony Higgs. He and Samus, possessing a friendship going back a long time, team up and make their way back to Adam. But the Dread make it there first, causing the ship major damage. Adam orders Samus and Anthony to run, and they do, stopping only to watch Adam self-destruct and take out most of the remaining Dread.
Samus and Anthony had ran to a key part of the facility, the vault Samus had been at before. It was in fact an access to the facility's Aurora Unit. It had been disconnected from most of the facility, but it was still acting as a leader of the Dread. Working together, they destroy the King Dread and escape the Dreaded Deep before the Federation can nuke it from orbit. Samus and Anthony hitch a ride with the Federation back to Earth, where Anthony uses his rank to protect Samus from prosecution.

After the Events of Metroid Dread: MULTIPLAYER!!! It is a follow-up campaign involving surviving (and now spacefaring) Dread and new Warmongers.

Setting: SR-666, a Mars-like planet. It's divided into areas, but there are many different ways to go from area to area. Sometimes you do something in one area that will allow you access to an item in another. Many a path can be opened from place to place.

-Facility: Standard institutional-looking maze of corridors. Rooms, arms caches (Missile Expansions and Energy Tanks), and teleporters and tunnels dot this repetitive maze of hallways. Yes, I am a firm supporter of varied environments, but here they should copy-paste. Make it all look identical, just to make the player get lost in it. Then throw in more demons and let the blood spatter as Samus purges them. Now THAT'S a command center for a research/terraforming project gone wrong!

-Reactor: Self explanatory. This is part of the Facility. You gotta be crazy to enter this part! Wait a minute, there's Dread in there? Get to it Samus!

-Aquifer: A mix of Federation constructs and an underground source of liquid water. The Dread do have ways of surviving underwater, and some of them specialize in it, so be careful. This area resides directly underneath Red Sands, some distance down.

-Ice Vein: Aquifer just froze over. This is an extension of Aquifer that resides directly underneath the Dark Side. Dread have been frozen within, so if a part of the ice thaws, be careful.

-Red Sands: Hey, it's a Mars-like planet, we need Martian soil. Superheated by the star it orbits, this desert land can roast even the most intrepid of life forms...Is it any surprise the Dread are tough? Tunnels and canals below the surface provide some respite from the heat, as well as link to the Facility, but the surface itself is wide open. Red Sands and Dark Side come together and wrap around the planet 360 degrees. (Read: run clear around the planet.)

-Dark Side: The polar opposite of Red Sands, it is extremely dark and cold. It too has underground tunnels that link to the Facility. Dotting this is a crash site. The origin of this ship is extremely shadowy, and can only be uncovered by an apocalyptic log aboard ship. (It turns out its crash released the Dread bioweapon on the planet's artificial ecosystem.)

-Dreaded Deep: Below everything described above, below even the deepest depths of all of the planet, resides an even deeper system of caves, filled with lava and acid and Dread. Other notable inhabitants include the King Dread.

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Gameplay: This is an Other M style game, with a combination of third and first person perspective, but improved. Samus can move in first person and shoot missiles in third, for instance.

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Samus' Items and How They Are Managed:

Each of Samus' upgrades has been damaged, and must be repaired. Repairs are as follows.
-Each upgrade has its own progress bar.
--These bars indicate the repair progress of its upgrade. (Bombs, Missiles, Speed Booster, Varia Suit, etc.)
-Upgrades require different amounts of Repair Energy to fix. (Screw Attack needs more than Bombs, for example.)
-Repair Energy is dropped by fallen enemies and adds to its specific bar.
--Repair Energy is item-specific. (Speed Booster Repair Energy can only go to the Speed Booster, etc.)
--Specific Repair Energy types are only dropped by specific enemies. (Fire enemies drop Varia Repair, while airborne ones drop Space Jump Repair, to name a few.)
-Repairs make the upgrades usable again.
--A full repair (fill the progress bar completely) will restore full functionality as well as infinite use of that item.
--Partially repaired items can be used, but their use is weakened, and said upgrades will also continually damage themselves during use, forcing the player to re-repair that system.

Items:

Varia Suit
When Damaged: The Varia Suit will only absorb half the heat damage taken in hot areas, that absorbed half is taken out of the Repair Bar. If the Repair Bar is at zero Samus will be subject to full heat damage. No additional protections are offered.
When Repaired: This addition to the suit completely protects Samus from damage sustained in high-heat environments such as reactor cores, lava pits (but not direct contact with lava), volcanoes, and such. In addition, it provides a 50% damage reduction, absorbing half the damage the suit would otherwise normally take.

Gravity Suit
When Damaged: The Gravity Suit will allow for unimpeded movement in water. However, Boosting and jumping underwater will cause constant damage for the duration of the Boost or take out a chunk of repair at the start of the jump. If the Repair Bar is at zero Samus' movement will be impeded underwater.
When Repaired: The Gravity Suit will provide 50% damage reduction (when combined with the Varia, they will cut damage by 75%) and allow full unimpeded movement underwater. As a bonus, resistance to lava contact damage is included as well.

Arm Cannon
When Damaged: The Arm Cannon can only fire the basic “Power” Beam.
When Repaired: The Arm Cannon's Repair Bar is actually four Repair Bars one after another. When one fills up, the filling up of that individual Repair Bar is permanent. Each filled “segment” allows the Beam to stack one more Weapon Attribute.

Beam Reserve
When Damaged: 200 Beam Reserve is available for the Arm Cannon to use, which is regenerated at 10 BR per second.
When Repaired: This does not have a Repair Bar of its own, it instead uses the same four composite ones the Arm Cannon does. Each time one individual Repair Bar is full, it adds an additional 100 Beam Reserve and 10 BR per second regeneration, adding up to 600 BR at 50 BR/second when fully upgraded.
When the Beam Reserve is full, the Arm Cannon will start repairing itself. If the Arm Cannon is fully repaired, Samus' health will start regenerating. If the Beam Reserve is empty, the Arm Cannon cannot be used. (Credit goes to Remnants for his Beam Reserve idea.)

Missiles
When Damaged: Missiles cost 10 Repair Energy each to fire. Each added Attribute will cost 5 additional Repair Energy.
When Repaired: Missiles use a similar composite Repair Bar to the Arm Cannon, but the Missile version only has three. If one fills up, that filling up of that one individual Repair Bar is permanent. Each individual filled Repair Bar allows the Missile Launcher the use of one Weapon Attribute. Missile Repair Units will continue to fill the next one, but that one is subject to damage until it too is filled permanently. If all three are filled, Samus gains the ability to fire guided Missiles.

Grapple Beam
When Damaged: Allows Samus to Grapple enemies and stun them, yank off shields, and pull in objects and enemies. Grappling will cost 10 Repair Units per second.
When Repaired: Allows Samus to swing on her Grapple “rope” in addition to lend more force to yanking objects.

Bombs
When Damaged: Samus can, in Morph Ball mode, drop Bombs at the expense of 10 Repair Units each. Bombs do weak damage but can propel Samus up, Bomb Jumps can be chained together with clever timing and fast reflexes.
When Repaired: Samus can drop infinite Bombs, and she has access to Power Bombs (basically charged Bombs, with greater damage and blast radius but a cooldown period).

Weapon Attributes
These are not damaged. However, they can only be applied to the Beam and Missiles, each of which can only accept a certain number of these stacking weapon effects at a time.
Attributes: Wave (pass through walls), Ice (freeze enemies), Spazer (triple shot), Plasma (pierce enemies), Charge (build up energy for more powerful shot), Diffusion (build up energy for shot with bigger blast radius), and Super (5x damage).

Speed Booster
When Damaged: Each step while Boosting will take 10 Repair Units away from the Boost Repair Bar.
When Repaired: Samus can accelerate to Boosting speeds in 66% the distance, and she can now Shinespark.

Space Jump
When Damaged: The first jump is free, but every subsequent jump between that and hitting the ground takes 50 Repair Units.
When Repaired: Space Jump is infinite, and the Hi-Jump and Spring Ball features are restored.

Screw Attack
When Damaged: Samus when spin jumping will turn into a whirling vortex of electromagnetism, costing 50 Repair Units per spin jump.
When Repaired: Samus will be invincible for ¾ of the time she Screw Attacks, on top of infinite Screw Attack.

Pickups:

Orbs: These multi-colored floating energy orbs provide 20 Energy each to a specific part of the suit.
-Red: Bomb Repair (Explosive opponents and burrowing creatures mostly.)
-Orange: Shield Energy (Dropped by all kinds of enemies.)
-Yellow: Varia Repair (Yielded by fire-based opponents.)
-Green: Screw Attack Repair (Mainly dropped by electrical enemies.)
-Blue: Boost Repair (Fast moving enemies will most likely yield these.)
-Purple: Gravity Repair (Aquatic enemies probably.)
-White: Grapple Repair (Plant life may provide these.)
-Black: Space Jump Repair (Enemies specializing in aerial combat are liable to give this.)
Missile Ammo: Orange apparitions of Missiles float in the air, picking them up gives 5 Ammo and 50 Missile Repair. Again, dropped by all kinds of enemies.

Powerups:

Missile Expansions: Each increase the total amount of Missiles Samus can carry by five.
Energy Tanks: Each increase the total amount of Energy available to the shields by 100 units.
Map Expansions: Each one fills in Samus' map within a three-room radius of where said Map Expansion is found. It may not highlight a whole area, but most of the powerups' approximate locations are marked on it. Some of them remain hidden, some of them are a little inaccurate.
Visors: Used in First Person mode, two of these Visor upgrades are scattered about the game world. These are the Thermal and X-Ray Visors.

[supermetroid108]

Wow! These ideas are amazing! I have a whole book of ideas (literally) but I never thought about a dread one! Really good work!

Interesting idea on how to handle loosing the abilities and how to regain them. I don't know if you need to make it "cost" anything though. Adding a currency system seems odd. Maybe they are just way more ineffective. for example, the missiles are highly inaccurate and have a low capacity, and to repair it, you need to find some special parts that are highlighted in a mission log.

Looks like a fun setup though. good work

[Opium]

It might be cool to make some of the repair energy non item-specific. That way there can be a several different choices on which items get repaired first, adding a major dimension of non-linearity to the game.

[ShinobiSai]

It might be cool to make some of the repair energy non item-specific. That way there can be a several different choices on which items get repaired first, adding a major dimension of non-linearity to the game.

I like this idea. As for your original write-up, nice job! I enjoyed reading a write-up that clearly had some serious thought behind it, as opposed to, "Duuuude, wouldn't it be cool if Samus...(insert moronic scenario here)."

The idea of damaged weapons and systems still being partially useable is interesting, and makes sense. I like it. I think the Metroid series could use a new game mechanic to spice it up a little.

I would advise caution in describing the play style as "Other: M like" simply because there is so much negativity and controversy around it. It may put people off from your idea. However, I do believe the mechanic has potential if executed more smoothly, and I'd love to see someone do it well.

An excellent series of ideas. Bravo!

[Remnants]

Heh, why don't you go the environments and creatures now, Thunder?

I just got a thought about the maze-like facility. For one, it's possible that they made it to have symmetry but would be asymmetrical due to wreckage. Of course, facilities wouldn't be designed for its personnel to get lost so the place would likely have map board and such but few might survive due to damage from the catastrophe or oxidation and erosion from being exposed to the planet's environment (that would depend on the planet's chemistry and physical characteristics as well as how long the facility's been exposed to the elements).

If I understood the Dread correctly, they assimilate whatever DNA that they come into contact with. Hm, what's stopping them from making hybrid creatures? Seems like they can do this by doing as much as eating another organism. Oh and why can't the dread assimilate other microbes? It might make interesting scan logs for mold- or lichen-like growths that might decorate the environments.
I suggest not to make the corridors all the same but make differences in the subtle details (a crack here, dangling wires in the other, sporadic electrical arcs between exposed wires there...)

[Thunderchin]

Heh, why don't you go the environments and creatures now, Thunder?

You did a pretty good job of starting that yourself, below.

I just got a thought about the maze-like facility. For one, it's possible that they made it to have symmetry but would be asymmetrical due to wreckage. Of course, facilities wouldn't be designed for its personnel to get lost so the place would likely have map board and such but few might survive due to damage from the catastrophe or oxidation and erosion from being exposed to the planet's environment (that would depend on the planet's chemistry and physical characteristics as well as how long the facility's been exposed to the elements).

Yup. Pretty much. Those "map boards" are what become the Map Expansions. Though I would like to make an update to that: you can build up your Map with specific Log entries that auto-update your Map. These mapboards would be one way to do such.

If I understood the Dread correctly, they assimilate whatever DNA that they come into contact with. Hm, what's stopping them from making hybrid creatures? Seems like they can do this by doing as much as eating another organism. Oh and why can't the dread assimilate other microbes? It might make interesting scan logs for mold- or lichen-like growths that might decorate the environments.

Never said they couldn't. I was hoping someone would catch on to tiny things like this.

This idea has changed quite a lot over time. I will be posting some tweaks to it very soon.

[Thunderchin]

Okay. I redid my game concept.

Metroid Dread (aka Metroid V)

Setting: A Galactic Federation biotech/terraforming facility, the surrounding wilderness, the outposts stationed within said wilderness, and a shipwreck.
Timeline Position: Immediately after Fusion.

Timeline Events

-Events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
-Bits of information are gleaned from Samus' suit while the P.E.D. is being installed. This information is the starting point of a massive reverse-engineering operation codenamed "Warmonger".
-Extensive field testing of the new technologies is a success. Stronger shielding and weapons become the norm for troopers, though more extreme systems fail disastrously and are abandoned.
-Events of Metroid 2: Return of Samus.
-Events of Super Metroid.
-Events of Metroid: Other M.
-Samus and Anthony Higgs defend Madeline Bergman successfully in court, testifying on her behalf. They manage to determine that the Bottle Ship was part of a massive conspiracy, but are unable to proceed in taking it down as it reaches into the upper echelons of the Galactic Federation itself.
-Events of Metroid Fusion's intro.
--Samus' suit is amputated, leaving just its underlayer and computer, plus Zero Suit. Federation engineers are able to craft a substitute outerlayer for the suit to restore its functionality.
--During this, they glean even more information about the suit and its workings.
--The conspirators, knowing BSL is part of their conspiracy, and that Samus is a free agent, assign her to Adam for control reasons. As a precaution, they also install a virus in the suit's programming, when activated causes the Fusion Suit to send a surge through its circuitry, rendering it useless.
-Events of Metroid Fusion.
--The SA-X not only restores Samus' functions (but not her amputated suit), but it cancels out the Metroid Vaccine. Samus' immune system flushes it out, supercharging itself even more. Her vulnerability to ice weapons is vindicated, and in fact turns into a "Resist Frost".
-The reverse-engineering effort gains this unexpected windfall of new information, and it finally reaches a turning point when it produces the first working replicas of Samus' armor. Variations are made for troopers, and the Warmonger armors are shipped to the 501st Army Division, headed by Commander Anthony Higgs.

The actual game's events

-The conspirators in the government, now that their Metroids and X are entirely gone, use their power to issue an arrest warrant for Samus, one that is carried out by the Warmongers. They are the only ones strong enough to take on Samus. To aid them, the conspiracy activates the virus.
-Samus' armor is wrecked, but Adam finds a way. The Chozo components of the suit have an auto-repair function that, when fueled, can repair the armor back to its former state. Adam restores partial functionality to the Fusion Suit, to be used as a crutch until the Power Suit grows back.
-The research vessel GFS Kyoto is carrying a deadly Space Pirate bioweapon that has wrecked a Federation planet. They are carrying it to a biotech facility on a planet being terraformed, hopefully to find a way to stanch the bioweapon, codename "Dread". The ship is overrun by the DNA absorbing and combining nanites, and the ship crash lands at its destination. The Dread leak out of the wreck and begin to work their magic on the planet's ecosystem.
-Samus and Adam overhear the distress signal and come to the rescue. Samus explores the vast continent, coming across surviving Federation personnel and Dread mutations alike. She curries favor among the Federation personnel (who know about the warrant, but choose to put faith in Samus), and with Federation help pushes back the Dread.
-There is an Aurora Unit that has been taken over by the Dread, turning their mutations from zombies to a collective hive mind using telepathy to communicate. Samus destroys this, after a run-in with the Warmongers, who are steamrollered by the Dread, except for one: Anthony Higgs.
-Arriving Federation ships retrieve Federation guys, and Samus and Anthony among them, and nuke the planet from orbit. (Adam had to self-destruct earlier, having sustained heavy damage and needing to distract the Dread from Samus and Anthony. He departs the series at this point, with his hero's end and his rest in peace.)

Gameplay

The planet is an open world. There is no arbitrary division among areas, and nothing is walled off. Instead, the game world takes hints from the Elder Scrolls games, having a MASSIVE overworld smattered with dungeons, and painted with varying terrain that seamlessly blends together. See that mountain in the distance? You can, if you run and run and run and run, actually reach it and surmount it. There is no backdrop, only a skybox. In addition, a day and night cycle ought to take place. Also, enemy encounters are at random times, but always with enemies that fit the current location/scenario/etc.
To complete the game, Samus must get her suit repaired, find new equipment to supplement the old and repairing, and at the same time get to the bottom of the Dread mystery.

The backstory is woven through the previous games in the series and the game's action through logs left throughout the landscape. There can also be snippets of information in dialogue and cinematics, and that blood smearing could actually be literal writing on the wall if you stop and read it.

Control is in both third and first person. However, it is nothing like Other M beyond that. Near-full functionality is preserved one way to another, meaning Missiles work in third-person and you can move while looking through Samus' eyes. (Among others.) User-adjustable camera and manual/auto hybrid aiming complete the experience. Furthermore, the Wii U has a touch-screen that will be utilized in control of Samus' powerups. Tap a few icons on the fly, and you can cycle the Attributes between Beams and Missiles, vent Beam Reserve into the Energy reserves, and enable/disable certain abilities, or you can write notes on the map! (Among others.)

This iteration of the design preserves the Repairs system of upgrading the Suit. Explained in detail in the first draft (in this thread's first post), I will simplify it here.

-The Varia and Gravity Suits, Speed Booster, Space Jump, Screw Attack, Grapple Beam, Missile Launcher, Bombs, and Arm Cannon have been damaged and must repair themselves to restore functionality. The twist lies in their partial functionality.
-These items have reduced functionality while being Repaired. They can still be used while Repairing; however, doing so will increase the amount of time needed to Repair that item.
-Collecting "Repair Energy" from fallen enemies will go into any of eight special reserves of energy, one each for every affected system except Arm Cannon. Energy types are item-specific and usually dropped by specific types of enemies. (To ease this matter, Repair Energy types are color coded.) Picking up that color adds it to that Repair Bar. The exception is the auto-repairing Arm Cannon, which the Beam Reserve system refills automatically once the Reserve is filled.
--This Repair Bar, if not filled, represents the repair progress of that system. Using that system will drain this bar, forcing you to re-repair that system.
--If filled, the item is fully repaired, restoring full functionality and infinite use. The exceptions here are Beam and Missiles, which repair in stages. Think several Repair Bars in sequence.

There is one addition however. Samus keeps the Fusion Suit at the beginning. However, each damaged item is assigned a part of Samus' body. Once that system Repairs itself completely, a short cinematic of that part of the Power Suit bursting forth from beneath the Fusion Suit's membrane will ensue, followed by a "-insert system name here- Repaired! You have restored your ability to -insert item perks here-!"
Or, if it's the last part of the suit, it will be followed by "Power Suit fully repaired! You have no longer any need for the Fusion Suit!"

Enemies and Creatures

The Dread eat creatures and splice their DNA into monstrous amalgamations. They may seem stupid, but later on they become a hive mind governed by the King Dread. They get more and more devious and disgusting as the game progresses, and at several points there are Ridley replicants. (It's a Space Pirate bioweapon. They have Ridley DNA on file somewhere, right?)
The Space Pirates are resurrected by the same logic Ridley and Kraid are. And like everyone else, they too are part of the combination process.
Defeated Federation soldiers have had their armor consumed, the nanites hacking into it and making it a part of the amalgam monster itself.

These enemies may even be procedurally generated at random, with a few special ones generated for specific anti-player tasks.

And finally, we have the Warmongers. Their armor looks like Varia-ized Federation armor, supersized. (I'll have to make sketches of all of this later on.) They come around eventually. In fact...

Multiplayer! Featuring these Warmongers against Dread in a Team Fortress 2 style multiplayer mode! It tells a story, but at the same time it's repeatable, balanced fun. Using knockoff Chozo technology, or organically grown weapons (depending on what side you choose), you can vanquish your enemy in style. The Multiplayer merits its own post however.

[Zynux]

As I was reading through this, I was like "Wow! Many aspects of this sounds very similar (especially the story) to my initial fan-concept of Metroid Dread." Great minds do think alike .

In all seriousness, I liked what I read so far. Just some points I want to add though:

Okay. I redid my game concept.

Metroid Dread (aka Metroid V)

Setting: A Galactic Federation biotech/terraforming facility, the surrounding wilderness, the outposts stationed within said wilderness, and a shipwreck.

As long as the majority of the time you aren't in the Federation Facility, then I think it should be okay. After Fusion and Other M, I think many fans (myself included) are getting somewhat tired of facilities with Sectors.

The planet is an open world. There is no arbitrary division among areas, and nothing is walled off. Instead, the game world takes hints from the Elder Scrolls games, having a MASSIVE overworld smattered with dungeons, and painted with varying terrain that seamlessly blends together. See that mountain in the distance? You can, if you run and run and run and run, actually reach it and surmount it. There is no backdrop, only a skybox.

I always felt that Metroid would have benefited from more extra side-areas/dungeons to further exploration, soI support this. I'm not sure if the game should be as huge as Skyrim or anything, but I would like to explore the alien planet more.

In addition, a day and night cycle ought to take place.

How is this going to effect the game? Will certain areas and enemies only be available during certain times of the day?

Also, enemy encounters are at random times, but always with enemies that fit the current location/scenario/etc.

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but I'm not sure if I like this. I believe enemies should be placed at predetermined locations, so they fit in their environment better (enhancing the atmosphere).

Though I can kind of see how some random can be good, especially if you're in the wilderness where there are wild creatures everywhere. And speaking of wild creatures, like in any Metroid game, dormant creatures or creatures just minding their own business should definitely return, as that greatly enhances the atmosphere.

The backstory is woven through the previous games in the series and the game's action through logs left throughout the landscape. There can also be snippets of information in dialogue and cinematics, and that blood smearing could actually be literal writing on the wall if you stop and read it.

You should also consider audio-logs (maybe from Federation Scientists amongst others) and maybe have Samus have her own personal journal. Just food for thought.

Control is in both third and first person. However, it is nothing like Other M beyond that. Near-full functionality is preserved one way to another, meaning Missiles work in third-person and you can move while looking through Samus' eyes. (Among others.) User-adjustable camera and manual/auto hybrid aiming complete the experience. Furthermore, the Wii U has a touch-screen that will be utilized in control of Samus' powerups. Tap a few icons on the fly, and you can cycle the Attributes between Beams and Missiles, vent Beam Reserve into the Energy reserves, and enable/disable certain abilities, or you can write notes on the map! (Among others.)

Another possible suggestion is to have the option to make one screen display the game through first person (whichever screen you choose) while the other screen (again, you're choosing) display a third-person view.


And a Metroid with Multiplayer has huge potential, its just this potential has never been realized. Prime's core gameplay would have never worked well for multiplayer (mainly because of the lock-on system) and Hunters was just another FPS. But a third-person Metroid multiplayer could be very exhilarating.

[Thunderchin]

Okay. I redid my game concept.

Metroid Dread (aka Metroid V)

Setting: A Galactic Federation biotech/terraforming facility, the surrounding wilderness, the outposts stationed within said wilderness, and a shipwreck.

As long as the majority of the time you aren't in the Federation Facility, then I think it should be okay. After Fusion and Other M, I think many fans (myself included) are getting somewhat tired of facilities with Sectors.

I'm tired of that myself. I plan on the facility containing approximately 10% of the storyline. The survivors are at the outposts and the shipwreck won't explore itself. The wilderness also contains scattered clues and items.

The planet is an open world. There is no arbitrary division among areas, and nothing is walled off. Instead, the game world takes hints from the Elder Scrolls games, having a MASSIVE overworld smattered with dungeons, and painted with varying terrain that seamlessly blends together. See that mountain in the distance? You can, if you run and run and run and run, actually reach it and surmount it. There is no backdrop, only a skybox.

I always felt that Metroid would have benefited from more extra side-areas/dungeons to further exploration, soI support this. I'm not sure if the game should be as huge as Skyrim or anything, but I would like to explore the alien planet more.

Take the map of Skyrim. Crop out everything west of Rorikstead, east of Windhelm, south of Falkreath, and north of Winterhold. You have approximate dimensions after you do that. It won't be anything close geography-wise, but dimensions should match up. And so long as those dungeons aren't pointless grind, they should kick plenty of ass.

In addition, a day and night cycle ought to take place.

How is this going to effect the game? Will certain areas and enemies only be available during certain times of the day?

Certain structures function differently and enemy AI alters behavior based on the time of day and weather. I thought this would make speedrunning a bit more of a challenge.

Also, enemy encounters are at random times, but always with enemies that fit the current location/scenario/etc.

Not sure if I understand you correctly, but I'm not sure if I like this. I believe enemies should be placed at predetermined locations, so they fit in their environment better (enhancing the atmosphere).

Though I can kind of see how some random can be good, especially if you're in the wilderness where there are wild creatures everywhere. And speaking of wild creatures, like in any Metroid game, dormant creatures or creatures just minding their own business should definitely return, as that greatly enhances the atmosphere.

I should have said pseudorandom, the area you're in, as well as time and weather, affect whether you get a certain enemy, and how hostile it is towards you. I don't want random as in encountering a fish in the middle of a desert. But I want to be uncertain no matter how many times I've played and beaten the game whether I'm going to be all clear or have a giant tough enemy leap out at me.

The backstory is woven through the previous games in the series and the game's action through logs left throughout the landscape. There can also be snippets of information in dialogue and cinematics, and that blood smearing could actually be literal writing on the wall if you stop and read it.

You should also consider audio-logs (maybe from Federation Scientists amongst others) and maybe have Samus have her own personal journal. Just food for thought.

I've considered that. So long as the voice actors don't fuck it up, I'm cool with that. Or, if those audio logs auto-transcribed and copied to your Logbook.
And there will be space at the end of every Log to allow you to make notes.

Control is in both third and first person. However, it is nothing like Other M beyond that. Near-full functionality is preserved one way to another, meaning Missiles work in third-person and you can move while looking through Samus' eyes. (Among others.) User-adjustable camera and manual/auto hybrid aiming complete the experience. Furthermore, the Wii U has a touch-screen that will be utilized in control of Samus' powerups. Tap a few icons on the fly, and you can cycle the Attributes between Beams and Missiles, vent Beam Reserve into the Energy reserves, and enable/disable certain abilities, or you can write notes on the map! (Among others.)

Another possible suggestion is to have the option to make one screen display the game through first person (whichever screen you choose) while the other screen (again, you're choosing) display a third-person view.

That would limit gameplay to the worst of both. (Being unable to precisely maneuver in first person because the things that allow you to do it in real life, such as inner ears, aren't replicated in-game, combined with awkward aiming in third.) I'm sticking with the select-a-view. Besides, if I had both views displaying, how would I use the touch-screen to manage items now that it's displaying a view?

And a Metroid with Multiplayer has huge potential, its just this potential has never been realized. Prime's core gameplay would have never worked well for multiplayer (mainly because of the lock-on system) and Hunters was just another FPS. But a third-person Metroid multiplayer could be very exhilarating.

Sorry, no. I was thinking TF2 style, but the levels would be more open-world, and variable geometry, allowing players to alter the map to a certain degree (and use the map against other players, say by moving the walls and raising platforms). Items are placed at random in the maps, and players fight each other while exploring around for them. Keep in mind, you're playing as ripoffs of Samus in this mode.

[Thunderchin]

I actually compiled a rudimentary user manual for this hypothetical game.


Story:

The Federation had hired me to investigate what went wrong at the Biologic Space Laboratories orbiting the planet SR-388. The X Parasites, an infection by which I barely survived, had run amok aboard ship, threatening to use the vast knowledge there to begin attacking galactic civilization.

All this time, I had understood that the deadly organism Metroid was extinct, both by the Federation's efforts and my own. Little did I know I was dead wrong. They were cultivating them on BSL, hoping to use them for weapons just as Space Pirates had tried to do for the longest time.

The Federation wanted the Metroids and the X parasites intact, for study and for use as weapons. They did not know the true horrors of either one, how they could overcome any opposition in seconds. If they escaped that station, all galactic civilization would end.

So I destroyed them. I faced off against the X mimicry of myself, SA-X, and deorbited the station, destroying not only the X and Metroids aboard the station, but all life on the planet below.

My name is Samus Aran, and I am now the Federation's most wanted criminal.

-

Controls: (U-mote) (Omit U-mote specific controls for Wii Classic Controller)

Left Analog Stick: Move
Right Analog Stick: Camera | (In First Person) Look/Aim
ZL: Fire Missiles | (In Morph Ball) Pulse Ball | (Held) Missile Target Lock
ZR: Fire Beam | (In Morph Ball) Morph Ball Bombs | (In Scan Visor) Scan
L: Dash/Boost | (In Morph Ball) Boost Ball
R: Grapple Beam | (In Morph Ball) Burrow/Spider Ball
A: Jump | (Multiple times) Space Jump/Screw Attack | (In Morph Ball) Spring Ball
B: Enter/Exit Morph Ball (automatically goes Third Person)
Y: Change Camera (First/Third Person)
X: Shunt Beam Reserve | (Hold) Siphon from Beam Reserve
+ Control Pad: Select Visor
Tilt the U-mote: (In Standing Form) Lean
+ Button: Pause/Map Screen/Samus Screen
U-Pad: Samus Screen (touch to modify on the fly)


Controls: (Wiimote/Nunchuk)

Nunchuk Analog Stick: Move
Wiimote Pointer: Camera | (In First Person) Look/Aim
-Point At Enemy: Lock On
Flick Nunchuk: Grapple Beam
Wave Nunchuk: (In Morph Ball) Charge Boost Ball (Flick to Boost)
Rotate Nunchuk: (In Standing Form) Lean
C: Enter/Exit Morph Ball
A: Jump | (Multiple times) Space Jump/Screw Attack | (In Morph Ball) Spring Ball
+ Button: Change Camera (First/Third Person)
B: Fire Beam | (In Morph Ball) Morph Ball Bombs | (In Scan Visor) Scan
+ Control Pad Down: Fire Missiles | (In Morph Ball) Pulse Ball
- Button: Visor Select
Z: Dash/Boost | (In Morph Ball) Boost Ball
1 Button: Pause/Map Screen/Samus Screen


Samus' Actions

Moving: Samus will move in the direction Left Analog Stick is tilted. Press A to jump. Pressing again in midair will execute a Space Jump, executable infinite times in midair.

Looking and Aiming: The camera will move in the direction indicated by the player, using the Right Analog Stick. It can revolve around Samus in third person, while in first person this also controls the direction Samus faces.

Mobility: Samus' Power Suit sports various movement systems that allow Samus to be as nimble as she is powerful.
-Speed Booster: By holding down the L button, Samus can increase her forward speed by the use of a jet pack. Once up to speed, she can easily smash her way through many obstacles and, when repaired, use her kinetic energy to fuel a "Shinespark", or super-jump.
-Space Jump: This system allows Samus infinite jumps in mid-air, so long as she can keep it repaired. However, while doing so, she spins about, rendering her normal weapons systems useless.
-Screw Attack: When Samus is spin jumping, this offensive ability turns that rotation into a spinning sawblade of energy that deflects any weapon that hits it and shreds most things it comes in contact with. However, it only does so, in a weakened fashion, if Samus can keep it repaired.
-Power Grip: Samus can now pull herself up on unpowered ledges when she previously needed a powered ledge to provide the energy for the lift.
-Sense Move: Samus can initiate various dodging maneuvers to avoid damage, using combinations of the stick and the Jump and Boost buttons. Experiment with different combinations to find the various dodging moves!
-Counter Move: Samus can more effectively evade target lock-ons from enemies by leaving an afterimage of herself every time she Sense Moves.

Beams: Samus' primary weapon, the Beam weapon fires concentrated blasts of energy from her Arm Cannon every time the ZR trigger is pressed. Several attributes are available for use with this weapon in order to augment its capability, see "Attributes" below. Each shot of this weapon drains your Beam Reserve by an amount, see "Beam Reserve" below. Holding the trigger will cause the Beam to rapid-fire.

Missiles: A secondary weapon, this lends Samus a ballistic weapon capacity. Hold the ZL trigger to gain a target lock, release to fire. Like the Beam weapon, the Missiles have attributes available for use with them in order to increase their capacity, see "Attributes" below. Each shot, no matter the Attributes, depletes one unit of ammunition from Samus' Missile reserves.

Attributes: These augmentative add-ons increase damage output and functionality of whatever weapon they are applied to.
Repairing the Arm Cannon allows the Beam and Missile weapons to hold increased numbers of Attributes. Attributes can be swapped around the weapons within the Samus Screen.
-Wave: Allows the round to pass through transparent and translucent surfaces, and causes electrical interference to any target hit.
-Ice: Freezes and eventually shatters the enemy hit.
-Plasma: This high-energy attribute allows the shot to pierce and damage multiple enemies. Also doubles as a heat-damaging weapon.
-Diffusion: Causes the shot to have an area-of-effect.
-Spazer: Multiplies the shot into three discrete rounds.
-Charge: Hold the trigger in order to build up energy for a more powerful shot.
-Super: Shots are five times more powerful than normal.
-Force: Shots have increased knockback.

Beam Reserve: This is the energy reserve that Samus uses to fuel her Beam weapon. This power supply is tied to Samus' shield Energy reserves and Arm Cannon Repair, allowing the system to recharge your health or repair your Arm Cannon. The Beam Reserve regenerates over time, but if it runs out, Samus will be unable to fire her Beam weapon. Use your Beam wisely!
-Beam Reserve consumption per shot is dependent on active attributes (see "Attributes" above)
-Press the "Shunt" button to shift the regen priority to the Energy reserves. Hold it to siphon Beam Reserve to the Energy reserves.
-In addition to Repairing, there are powerups available to fortify capacity and regen rate.

Grapple Beam: Another secondary weapon, Samus is able to use her left arm to emit a rope of energy when you press the R button. Said rope is able to latch onto enemies, obstacles, and certain points in the world.The Grapple Beam latching onto enemies can rip off armor, shields, and weapons, and fling them around. Once the Grapple Beam is repaired, lock onto a special point to swing on that point with the rope.

Visors: Whether in first person or in third, Samus can use five Visors with differing functions. They reveal the world in different ways, allowing Samus to see whatever she needs to see. Use the + Control Pad to select a Visor.
-Combat Visor: See "normally". This is the Visor you'll use mainly in combat.
-Scan Visor: When this is in use, Samus will be unable to fire any weapons. Instead, the Beam trigger activates the scanner. Use the magnifying reticule to acquire a scan target. This Visor can be used to scan enemies for their weaknesses, add lore to your Logbook (see "Logbook" below), and activate mechanisms.
-Thermal Visor: When this is in use, Samus will see things by their heat signatures. Hot objects will be brighter red and white, cold objects will be dimmer purple and black.
-Nightvision Visor: Samus will see the world through her equivalent of night-vision goggles. This Visor takes any light it can detect and amplifies it thousands of times to create a perceivable image out of even the darkest areas.
-Command Visor: Just like the Scan Visor, Samus is unable to use weapons in this mode. Instead, a reticule will show up onscreen allowing you to command your ship to perform various functions. You can command it to land at predetermined points, commence bombing runs, haul heavy loads around, and much more.

Morph Ball: If you press B, Samus and armor will curl up into a ball easily capable of fitting in smaller passages. While your normal weapons are unavailable in this mode, there are still new abilities available to your spherical self.
-Bombs: Samus can drop these timed-detonation energy packets to defend herself. They are also useful for propelling the Morph Ball into the air, these "Bomb Jumps" can even be infinitely daisy-chained in many exciting fashions.
-Spring Ball: Once the Space Jump is repaired, Samus can use this to jump in Morph Ball.
-Pulse Ball: Samus can also send out damaging omnidirectional electromagnetic pulses. While this weapon is low-damage and short-range, it can knock back enemies and energize power systems.
-Spider Ball: Once the Grapple Beam is repaired, Samus can electromagnetically attach to any metal surface. Use the Boost Ball to launch off of whatever surface you are sticking to at right angles.
-Boost Ball: Gain a charged-up temporary speed boost while in Morph Ball. Also useful in conjunction with the Spider Ball.
-Burrow Ball: On certain terrain, the Morph Ball can dive underground, both to defeat obstacles and to escape enemy attacks. It doubles as a way to suspend the Morph Ball underwater.
-Power Bombs: Once Bombs are repaired, Samus can use these higher-damage, wider-radius versions of normal Bombs known for their ability to displace and easily melt anything in their way. However, using these can also damage the environment around you unknowingly, so be careful. Keep in mind the amount of time it takes for the Power Bomb generator to cool off after every use, and use them wisely.


Armored Up

Power Suit: This unique patchwork of Chozo and Galactic Federation technology augments Samus' physical capabilities and provides a defensive screen that protects Samus from environmental hazards and enemy attack. The shields lose energy with each hit, so be sure to keep them charged.
Varia Suit: This upgrade to the Power Suit allows the Suit to handle hot and cold temperature extremes without taking constant damage. In addition, attacks and hazards do 50% less damage than normal. However, its damage limits it to blocking 50% of temperature damage only.
Gravity Suit: This is a further upgrade to the Power Suit that allows it to negate any force that inhibits Samus' motion, such as the resistance water provides to movement. An additional 50% damage reduction is also provided by the upgrade. Its severely damaged state renders it unable to do so indefinitely, nor is it capable of stopping damage.


Energy

Samus' Power Suit defensive screens are powered by a reserve of energy. When all Energy Tanks are empty and the Energy counter reaches zero, Samus will die and the game will end.


Repairs

At the beginning of the game, Samus' Power Suit will sustain massive damage, disabling many of her existing functions. Instead of finding replacements, Samus will be forced to allow her Suit to repair itself and restore its functionality. Certain pickups supply Repair Energy to each ability. There is a catch, however: Each ability is still partially usable. Using these items will cause them to damage themselves as they are used, requiring more Repair Energy to be collected. This use depletes the progress bar (on the Samus Screen) for that ability. However, through collection of Repair Energy, Samus can repair those abilities by filling the bar completely. Once this happens, the ability will be permanently fixed and will allow infinite use.


Collectibles

These are the powerups Samus will find in the environment that increase or augment a capability of her Power Suit.
-Missile Expansion: Increases the maximum amount of Missiles Samus can carry by a total of five.
-Energy Tank: Increases Samus' maximum Energy reserves by 100 units.
-Beam Reserve Tank: Increases Samus' maximum Beam Reserve by 50 units.
-Regen Accelerator: Increases Beam Reserve regeneration by 5 units/second.

This category also includes the pickups that can be found in crates and/or fallen enemies.
-Red Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Varia Suit.
-Orange Energy Sphere: This energy goes to Samus' Energy Reserves.
-Yellow Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Bombs.
-Green Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Screw Attack.
-Blue Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Speed Booster.
-Purple Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Gravity Suit.
-White Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Space Jump.
-Black Energy Sphere: This energy goes to the repair of the Grapple Beam.
-Missile Ammunition: This replenishes your Missile supply by five.
Energy Spheres going to systems that are already fully repaired will replenish your health.

-END OF MANUAL-
-And a little miscellaneous data...-

Starting Abilities:

Suit: Power Suit | (Varia Suit) | (Gravity Suit)
Mobility: Sense Move | (Speed Booster/Shinespark) | (Space Jump/Spring Ball) | (Screw Attack)
Morph Ball: Morph Ball | (Morph Ball Bomb/Power Bomb)
Weapons: (Arm Cannon/Beam/Missile) | 200 Beam Reserve 10 BR/sec | 10 Missiles | (Grapple Beam/Spider Ball) | Wave, Ice, Plasma, Diffusion, Spazer, Charge, Super
Visors: Combat | Scan

Collected Abilities:

Suit: Energy Tank (x14)
Mobility: Counter Move | Power Grip
Morph Ball: Pulse Ball | Burrow Ball | Boost Ball
Weapons: Missile Expansion (x48) | Beam Reserve Tank (x10) | Regen Accelerator (x10) | Force
Visors: Thermal | Command | Nightvision

[HYRUL3]

You registered here at 5:55 AM, have racked up 20 something posts and seem to actually know a bit about Metroid.

Former member? Previously banned? Have no fucking life so you post porn links and stories at 6 AM?

Go get some friends. Jesus.

[Thunderchin]

You registered here at 5:55 AM, have racked up 20 something posts and seem to actually know a bit about Metroid.

Former member? Previously banned? Have no fucking life so you post porn links and stories at 6 AM?

Go get some friends. Jesus.

Um, that guy's gone and banned. No need to ruin the thread with this.

On topic: Damn, these ideas are old. I still have them bouncing around inside my head, but still!

[HYRUL3]

You registered here at 5:55 AM, have racked up 20 something posts and seem to actually know a bit about Metroid.

Former member? Previously banned? Have no fucking life so you post porn links and stories at 6 AM?

Go get some friends. Jesus.

Um, that guy's gone and banned. No need to ruin the thread with this.

On topic: Damn, these ideas are old. I still have them bouncing around inside my head, but still!

Dude, did you look at the time stamp on my post? That was back in early July on the day it happened.