Each season of Play Kaizen includes six posts. Five cover One Cool Thing from five different video games. The sixth is a new game pitch that incorporates all of the One Cool Things. If you missed any of the entries this season, you can catch up using the links below.
Constant Companion (God of War 2018)
Playable Foreshadowing Device (Resident Evil 7)
Reconsider the Standard (The Last of Us)
Personnel Progression (Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom)
The Flow[est] State (Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart)
I will also share the five games about which I’m writing in Season 2 of Play Kaizen at the end.
The Fictional Pitch
"Ghost fear" by @Doug88888 is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
“Are you sure this is the right path,” asks your character, Kayla. She stands before an ivy coated gate that doesn’t seem navigable. Marie floats just in front of the gate, because she is a ghost. There is always a ghost.
Marie does not speak, but her body language more than answers in the affirmative with a surprising amount of sass from an entity whose culture is 300 years older than yours.
“Yeah, of course it’s the right one. My bad.”
The ghost takes Kayla’s hand to begin the Transfer, a quick interaction that takes place each time you partner with a different ghost. Then, Marie scurries up the gate, beckons for Kayla to follow from the apex, then leaps over the wall. As she is a ghost, you do not hear the thud of her feet landing on the ground.
The ability to climb the ivy walls must be Marie’s gift. Meeting a new ghost is fun, as they all transfer something distinct, but only while they accompany Kayla. You are immediately curious to see what you find in this area. But also, your mind is flooded with past levels with ivy walls. Levels you now need to revisit with Marie.
An ominous, insect-like buzzing begins. You pan the camera fervently to find the source of the noise: two particularly nasty looking Hunters. The buzzing builds to a crescendo, followed by a pop, then silence. You need to begin moving Kayla to put some distance between her and the Hunters. Kayla does not have a way to fight them, but plenty of abilities when it comes to navigating the environment under duress.
Kayla is still on the ground standing before the ivy-coated wall. You begin to shift the camera back to the ivy gate, but notice a glowing crack a few dozen meters down the wall. It is a Paradox.
The Hunters shriek! They have spotted Kayla and it is time to move.
You send Kayla scurrying up the ivy wall. The controller’s haptic feedback is satisfying. Kayla is sprinting along the top of the wall towards the paradox. Soon, the Hunters get within range and begin heaving their crude bombs and harpoons at Kayla. She dodges the harpoons, which embed themselves into the wall and become interactive platforming elements. The bombs blow holes in parts of the wall, forcing Kayla to jump over the gaps.
Kayla uses the embedded harpoons to swing and build momentum. At exactly the right moment, she lets go and slides down the rubble created by the bombs. She lands in front of the glowing paradox and paws at it fervently to activate it.
You take a breath, because time stops once Kayla enters a Paradox. The current world ceases to move. The harpoons and bombs flung by the Hunters pause in place, their fuses locked in time. The color mostly drains from the full world and the new, fully saturated environment of the Paradox layers into place.
Paradoxes are short, momentary puzzles. Interactive clues that hint at something terrible, or great, if you can solve them and reach the end. The familiar silhouette of the Inspector can be seen in the distance sitting at his desk. In each paradox, reaching him is the goal. You move Kayla into the colorful terrain, which begins the challenge.
Hopefully, it will provide guidance towards whatever task Marie has for you on the other side of that ivy gate…
The Simple Pitch
I wanted to write a fictional pitch to better convey the experience beyond the raw mechanisms. I am not the strongest writer of fiction, but I found that using names made the pitch easier to understand. Don’t worry, I too rolled my eyes at the use of the word “paradox.”
Ghost Parkour is a platforming game that uses a third person camera perspective, though I also think it could use a 2D perspective (like Metroid Dread or Inside).
You control Kayla, a young woman who can see and speak to ghosts. She is always accompanied by a single ghost, who grants Kayla a new traversal ability, and acts as a narrative tool to advance the story.
Kayla cannot fight or attack dangerous entities in the world and instead must rely on her ability to quickly navigate the environment to escape. A significant aspect of the game is returning to previous areas, paired with a different ghost, to explore previously blocked spaces and advance the story with a different perspective (i.e. Metroidvania).
This is a controller-based experience and would be most at home on a console. I see this as a 8-10 hour single player experience, with another 5-10 hours of optional content for players who return to previously explored environments.
The Deep Dive
Let’s dive into the ideas discussed in the introduction, how they tie into our One Cool Things, and why they belong in the experience.
The Ghosts: Kayla is always accompanied by one ghost. The ghosts can have multiple origins. They could all be her ancestors, like Eternal Darkness, or characters from history. Or just interesting people who are, well, dead.
There are times when the ghost will be specified by the narrative, but most of the time, the player can choose which one will accompany Kayla.
Ghosts serve two functions.
Each ghost provides a new way for Kayla to navigate levels and approach problems differently.
Ghosts are a narrative tool to share exposition, reveal truths about Kayla and the situation, and add variety to levels on return visits.
I love the idea of the limitation of one ghost, one power. It helps keep the controls simple for the player. I’m inspired by Play Dead’s games Limbo and Inside, in which the character can push and pull, jump, and climb onto things. That’s it. Imagine if Kayla could do that as well, plus one more thing from her current ghost.
I believe this drives experimentation, both as an input for player preference, and an outcome for variable solutions. I want players to have a favorite ghost based on its power, or a favorite based on the ghost’s personality. Those intangibles lead to a very sticky, compelling core experience.
The ghosts can also act as living audio logs. Instead of finding a tape recorder, the current ghost might reveal something new or different. In the blurb above I said that Marie didn’t speak, but this doesn’t need to be shared across all ghosts (or even Marie).
I think it is a rich vein to tap.
The ghosts tie into a few of our One Cool Things. Obviously the Constant Companion, referenced in God of War. I did not imagine the ghosts would require your direction or control.
The ghosts also match Personnel Progression from Ni No Kuni II. You aren’t opening a new chest to gain a tool, but partnering with a real character, with motivations and faults, who strengthens you within limitations.
"Giulia, prima dell'allenamento di Parkour" by Marco Crupi Visual Artist is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Traversal: Each level would be self-contained, like those in Ratchet & Clank, Deathloop, or Psychonauts, instead of a sprawling, open-world space. It is likely each level would be accessed from an interactive hub, such as the submarine in Wolfeinstein II: The New Colossus or the bar from Deep Rock Galactic.
The hub could act as a venue for the ghosts to engage with each other, as typically it is simply Kayla accompanied by one ghost. It can also change to demonstrate the passage of time and help communicate the stakes of whatever Kayla is trying to accomplish.
Smaller, contained levels allow for focused, crafted moments. They can also simplify technology burdens (streaming enormous environments for one), and remove some player expectations (i.e. open world means open world content). I do not want to climb a tower to expose a map. Nor do I want a shady merchant NPC who needs you to find four flowers. Those are distractions that I do not think are relevant to this pitch.
These levels will often have hostile entities - the Hunters. However, the player does not use combat to overcome challenges. Instead, the player must direct Kayla to outrun and outmaneuver her enemies. Returnal is a combat game, yes, but Selene’s movement is so fast and smooth that it reminds me of playing Tony Hawk. If you remove the ability to return fire and instead just focus on traversal, what richness emerges?
Speaking of emergent, I liked the idea of enemies dynamically altering an environment. Above, the Hunters threw harpoons. If dodged, they lodge themselves into walls, which can act as a new climbing position. That seemed fun, but also like an opportunity for a puzzle. In Elden Ring, there are times when you need to lead a troll to smash open a stone statue to gain an item inside. In Ghost Parkour, perhaps you stand in front of the wall, dodge the harpoon, then use it to climb to the top?
The second idea I had here was that the bombs could destroy objects, which changes the space. Above, they turned a wall into a slide, which lead into a kinetic, Tony Hawk like sliding moment. With a few simple weapons that have a clear cause and effect, tweaked further based on Kayla’s ghost power, I feel like the game could have a reasonable, but expansive suite of experiences.
I love the idea of Kayla’s speed, wits, and agility being her salvation in ever changing environments.
This brings us back to our One Cool Things. Without even the interruption of firing a weapon, I want the player to enter The Flow[est] State like Ratchet & Clank. I also think that removing a gun Reconsiders the Standard, as does the notion of dynamic environments. Neither of these things are terribly common.
The Paradox: The Playable Foreshadowing Device was a difficult one to factor into this pitch.
The idea behind the paradoxes is that within the levels you can find little glowing cracks. If you reach them, they expose a paradox. Time pauses and a small, mini-level appears in that space. These mini-levels would contain quick environmental puzzles, not unlike the tombs in the excellent Rise of the Tomb Raider.
I liked the idea of different ghosts affecting the paradoxes differently. I also created a recurring character, the Inspector, who anchors them all together. Perhaps he is a G-Man (Half Life) or Outsider (Dishonored) character?
The Paradoxes are a reward for fully exploring a space and returning to previously completed levels with a different ghost. They tease out additional narrative details and grant passive benefits to enhance Kayla’s capabilities. Most importantly, could they provide a perspective, or foreshadowing, that can aid Kayla in her quest?
No surprise here, the paradoxes tie into the Playable Foreshadowing Device. The goal is to take the tombs of Rise of the Tomb Raider, with the narrative properties of the Outsider, and fuse them into something interactive and valuable.
Parting Thoughts
I actually love the idea of Ghost Parkour. I have no doubt that some of my pitches will be absolute nonsense Homer Car monstrosities. But, Ghost Parkour scratches a lot of things that excite me as a player.
The ghosts can simultaneously borrow from the benefits of Atreus in God of War and your partner player in It Takes Two. But also, platforming in environments where you cannot return fire, but also can use the artifacts of your enemy’s weapons (i.e. harpoons give you a new grab point) sounds really thrilling.
This would not be an easy game to perfect. I think the core movement could be achieved rapidly in prototyping, but the ghost powers would require an extensive amount of experimentation and throwaway work.
The level design would need to bear a a lot of weight and incorporating a strong narrative is always a challenge. But, I want to play this game. I want to make this game!
I don’t want Kayla’s journey to end here. I have some question prompts for the comments if you’re so inclined…
What would you add to this game?
What are some of the platforming abilities?
What do you think Kayla’s problem and goal should be?
Who do you think the ghosts should be? How should they act?
Where is Kayla? When is Kayla?
Who is the Inspector?
What other weapons might the Hunters use, and how would they change the environment?
I would also love to read your alternative pitches using the five One Cool Things that don’t involve Ghost Parkour. What would you create with these five tools?
Coming up for Season 2…
Next Season on the blog, beginning Friday, April 8, we will cover the following five games. I will not spoil the specific topics, but if you want to play the games before I write about them, this is my attempt to help!
The Forgotten City (Every platform)
Chorus (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) Note: This will be the first game about which I write on the blog that I do not recommend you play.
Firewatch (Every platform)
Grand Theft Auto V (PC, PlayStation, Xbox)
Deathloop (PC, PlayStation 5)
I am not a wedding DJ, but if you have requests for games about which you want me to write, let me know!
Thank you for reading! If you liked what you read, please subscribe and share, but also, let me know what you think about Season One.
Edited by Joshua Buergel