"He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" game - How would you like it?

Cherno · Jul 1, 2014

So, I have been thinking "why the hell is there no decent He-Man and the MOTUS videogame? You know, classic 80s cartoon show, hundreds of cool action figures and vehicles, a giant franchise that is as cheesy as it is awesome.

So, following my Motto "if you want something done, do it yourself" I started thinking about creating a fan-tribute game. I say fan-tribute because I don't want to get a nasty C&D letter from Mattel or whoever owns the IP currently

Not that this will save me, of course.

Anyway, the problem is: How exactly should such a game look like and play? As a continuation of this thread and specifically, the first post, I envisioned a MOTUS game where you play as one of Eternias champions like He-Man, Man-at-Arms, Teela etc. and fight Skeletor's minions in simple Beat-Em-Up manner, like in Double Dragon, Golden Axe, or Sacred: The Citadel. Orco would give snarky remakrs every now and then, and provide useful tips and advacne the story. Of course, you can increase your character stats every now and then, gain some special abilities, and buy better equipment. However, Who exactly ARE these minions of Skeletor's? I didn't watch the original cartoon show but I don't think he had any faceless mooks that would fit as cannon fodder for the players. The "real" evil character like Beat-Man and Mer-Man should be more like mini-bosses. Doing "just" a 1-vs-1 fighting game like Street Fighter wouldn't do the franchise justice I think.

Any ideas, comments, or even completely different ideas for gameplay?

Here are some models I made of Orco and He-Man, keep in mind that they will only be about two inches big at most on the screen so excuse their crapiness

GMMichael · Jul 1, 2014

You didn't watch the original cartoon, but you still want to help it persist? You're a true fan. I watched most of the original episodes, but can't say I've ever thought about a video game for it. I'm a bad fan.

Dragon's Lair (original) would be the ideal style of game for this, since it was a video game disguised as a cartoon. Or more accurately, a cartoon disguised as a video game.

Next best choice: 2D side scroller. Sorry to downplay your 3D work. I can remember cut-scenes from the original cartoon that were usually in a 2D-scrolling format. So there's precedent.

Skeletor's minions: I don't remember any. Beastman could summon mammals to help, Merman could summon sea creatures to help, Hordak had a "horde" (which I think was as non-existent as Skeletor's minions). It's highly possible that some cheesy robots were the closest thing that Skeletor had to minions.

Note that the evil MOTUS never died. They just got beat up. So really, you could continuously throw the same baddies at the player, so long as more than one of the same name wasn't onscreen at one time.

You might also check out GI Joe for NES. That game would let you select from several heroes for each mission, and each represented another "life" of the player.

Cherno · Jul 1, 2014

I didn't watch the cartoon series but I had (and still have

) a lot of the figures, vehicles, and structures, so basicaly this is what MOTUS is to me. After all, the cartoon show WAS just a thinly-veiled 30-minute-long commercial for the toys with some banal PSA segment at the end to calm parents

As for 2D vs. 3D, the games I mentioned as a template (Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Sacred: The Citadel) are effectively 2D. They still use 3D models of course because they have certain advantages when animating and lighting them.

Deset Gled · Jul 1, 2014

An equally important question: what are you most comfortable making? That is: what is your skill set? What type of art do you specialize in, what games/programs have you made in the past, and what type of project will keep you interested enough to complete the project?

Personally, I would love to see a MotU game done in Cuphead ( http://www.cupheadgame.com/ ) faux-animation style based on the original cartoon. Or maybe a stop-motion style game with the toys similar to this: http://youtu.be/LPQ1XrllZmA But since you've already started with 3D modeling, I'm guess that's something your more familiar with. I respect that. It would be helpful to know more about your background and what you are thinking to give useful ideas.

And regarding minions: Skeletor and Hordak both had armies of robots (Skeletor's hovered, Hordaks were more humanoid with legs) that were used when the show needed mooks that could be "killed" without actually killing anyone.

Tonguez · Jul 2, 2014

Cherno said:
I didn't watch the cartoon series but I had (and still have ) a lot of the figures, vehicles, and structures, so basicaly this is what MOTUS is to me. After all, the cartoon show WAS just a thinly-veiled 30-minute-long commercial for the toys

I am offended sir!!!!

The MotU was legitimate Saturday morning fodder and more than mere product promotion. The back story is a indepth as that of Star Wars or the Elder Scrolls and I'd love to see a hybrid 3d beatem up-RPG.

Beatem Up is quintessential MotU while the RPG gives you the chance to customise characters acquiring skills and powers of various types. I do recall episode that featured a normal Eternia 'human' gaining powers from an Amulet and I think following that route of a normal person gaining superpowers might be fun, afterall Adam is a normal person until he raises The Sword of Power to become the most powerful man in the Universe.

Of course the characters would need to be able to ride various mounts and vehicles as well as fight with swords, bows, magic, cyborg enhancements and laser blasters.

Chracters of MotU are all essential enhanced 'humanoids' be they undead/demons (Skeletor and Hordak), cyborg/robots or Animal-men so maybe a character can start as either human or animal and gain enhancements (magical, cybernetic or 'organic') as they advance. Of course you do have the Widgets, Trollans and the Rockmen as well as the weird types like Mantenna too but leave them as NPCs and you should be fine. Dragons iirc are considered animals, I'd allow cross over with She-Ra too and have the mooks be the horde centurians (Robots) which iirc inspired the ones used in the MotU movie.

of course if you want to go straight beatem up action adventure then Id love to play as one of the big 4 (He-Man, ManatArms, Teela and Ram-man) in various missions mirroring the episodes of the series, possibly even playing special characters as they go (eg Stratos in a flying stage or maybe an underwater stage)

sabrinathecat · Jul 4, 2014

Funny thing: the He-Man toys are in almost the exact position my teacher taught me to put sketches in for building humanoid models.
If you need any modeling or rigging help, let me know. Not an expert, but I have some basic knowledge... search YouTube for Samurai vs Bunny Rabbit for a sample/framework.

D24Gamer · Aug 24, 2014

I would love to see MOTU made into an epic screen saga (like Star Wars). I grew up with it and enjoyed it immensely. I even watched the reboot on the Cartoon Channel...those were good.
How about a He-Man rpg? Could be really fun.