Saturday, October 6, 2012

The Corporation That Kills

Author's Note: This is a redesigned version of the blog's first ever post, Zomb-like. It is also heavily inspired by the Sega Genesis and how many unique game designers tried to push the boundaries of the system.

Story:
A corporation makes a zombie virus in order to terrorize a town and extort labor from its citizens. When Jake, an average teen, at least in this town, decides to break the rules, his father gets put into their testing facilities. Jake, angry as ever, decides to go on a mission to save his father, and while he's at it, destroy the company. Can he save him before he's turned into an ultra powerful killing machine?

Gameplay:
Much like Zomb-like, The Corporation That Kills is a subgenre of Role-Playing Game known as a Roguelike or Dungeon Crawl, in which every aspect of gameplay takes place on the map and everything moves to your movement. Unlike most roguelikes, however, tCTK uses a "fake 3D" display to show the onscreen actions and enemies, though a map is displayed to the side if the player wishes to use it. The Legend of the Mystical Ninja has a maze minigame similar to this approach, which is displayed in the video below.

Turns consist of either movement forward or attacking using either your gun, which uses special points but deals more damage, or your fists. Turning around will not use up a turn. After each turn, your enemies take a turn in a similar fashion.

The game is split into different dungeons, each more complex than the last. Each dungeon you complete gets you closer to your target: the testing facilities.

You have party members which travel along with you. One of the first party members you receive is Jonas, Jake's younger, depressed brother. You can take only one party member with you at a time, however. Completing side quests found within dungeons can give you more party members or rare items.

Items can be acquired and either equipped or used in a separate screen. Some items such as food or potions can be used to heal yourself or characters in your party or replenish energy, while others can be used as different weapons that can affect different stats, such as crossbows or baseball bats.

Energy is a core mechanic of the game, and in many roguelikes, and is seen on the items screen. Without Energy Points, your character can die within a dungeon. Energy can be replenished through food items or potions.

There are status ailments, such as paralysis, which prevents the player or enemy from moving, poison, which takes away life, and dizziness, which both makes your character move in weird directions and causes the screen to become "rainbowified".

Screenshot:

 

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