I was wondering: If kendama had a video game, what would its story mode be like? Personally, I want it to be a wacky adventure-like thing like the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, specifically like Underground 1, 2, and American Wasteland. Another, more realistic option would be like the SKATE series. Make edits, meet pros, get sponsored, win KWC/ Catch and Flow, etc. What would a kendama story mode be like for you?
Not a big fan of these types of games, but I can almost imagine it like Guitar Hero, except instead of playing gigs, you play dama at events and move up the chain (sponsorship, pro, company owner, etc.). A game like Rocksmith that teaches you would also be sooooo dope for kendama. Also waiting for some dama/developer to make a VR kendama game like a Half Life fan does for Half Life 3.
I am currently writing a storyline for kendama videogame where a teenager dies and goes to the afterlife. In this afterlife people have to fight their have to Salvation in an arena style competition where you get to use whatever you are buried with as a weapon. Well the main character is buried with a kendama and uses it to fight demons in this Colosseum. If you are someone who lived a good life and had a strong spirit you can imbue whatever object you are buried with with a certain amount of spirit energy to make it a better weapon, but if you have a bad spirit even if you are buried with an actual weapon it will be brittle and break. The difficulty level of the game is chosen by how much "good spirit" you choose to the start the game with. You can use this spirit energy or in the game its called "Ki" to charge the kendama and do different style attacks, you can charge the string to stiffen up and act almost like a sword or charge the tama to be like an energy ball or spiked mace. The ken can be used in a variety of different ways, like a hammer or a knife.
Ha I like this idea... You start out with a glossy red kendama, racing your friends to land 'around the world' under a street lamp on a sketchy corner late at night. Eventually you take down all your friends at a local jam sesh/contest You go on a quest to find the sickest film spots, and put together a banger edit You road trip to the MKO, and compete on the main stage (bonus level: 'The Drive to MKO', a racing side-game. Pit your Honda Civic against some 18 wheelers on the open highways) Finally, you end at KWC, navigating challenges like 'lost on the subway', 'this restaurant's menu has no english on it', 'doing gunslingers while sweating like a madman', and of course 'find the Yona-Yona' There would have to be a lot of sidequests, and of course some stats (a la Tony Hawk games) that you could slowly build up over time.
Personally, I would do a thing we're you can answer questions from people and the story changes based on that. Examples: go to a jam in San Diego with friends and mabey get sponored, or stay home and make edit, and get sponsored by a different company
Additional idea: If kendama had a video game, which pros would be featured in-game? And what do you think would be their "Impress me" mission? Pick 15!
Telltale is a gameing studio who makes... I guess it's almost a point and click adventure story. But extremely high quality and every single one is amazingly fun to play, even if you aren't normally into it. All the games are super story driven, where you start to love the characters etc. so it would probably be the best route for kendama.
Personally, i hate the idea of kendama having it's own video game. but a few tried it anyways ahahaha so in the spirit of this thread, im posting up some ideas... well gameplay wise, it's going to be hard how would it look like . but i kinda envision it more like guitar hero or project diva(the hatsune miku game on psp & vita). well pretty much everyone has told what it really look like with most player start in the US. I would like to see different nationalities, so there is a diversity of how would they get their way to the top. it's good if it will have a japanese character choosing either starting ranks in JKA or play like what they usually see online. also a good skill tree would help that will make what kind of a kendama player they want to be in that character... everything else is bleak for me. believe me when i say if this ever happens, it's hard to do, and if it did it won't please everyone.(gamedev opinion) sorry for the negativity man, but nothing is too crazy about this idea, so it's a possibility (fistbump)
This is exactly why the storyboard I am writing is less about the actual kendama community and more about a fantasy story, I feel people will be more likely to play the game and then be like, "what is kendama?" A game where people play as an up and coming kendama player is sweet but then only kendama players will play the game and I feel a kendama video game should be about spreading kendama to people who dont play.
yooo this would be a sick idea. The SKATE series seems like it would be a really cool story mode to do just because I loved playing SKATE when my xbox still worked and I love campaigns and story modes and stuff. Alex's idea is pretty much how I would envision this going, with a whole bunch of sidequests that you can do to get some extra money or points or something. Just like how you can customize your outfits in a separate menu, there should be one you could customize your dama instead. Do the whole rotating shit and everything too haha. There's so many combos that you can do in kendama that there would be so many controls to memorize lol Like "around the world" could be "left, right, down, up" "around europe" could be "left, up, right, up, down, up" "Around USA" = "left, up, up, right, up, up, down, up, up" and then you have the possibility of adding the X,Y,A,B or square,triangle,X,O buttons.. Double tap triangle/Y to switch to sara grip O/B for tama grip Yeah this has to get made I'm too pumped to play already.
I can imagine that to be developed sooner than you think. Dendama is starting to pave way for things to come with online play. As for story mode in a kendama game, i don't know.. Partly because i'm in one right now, and so are all of us!
VR Kendama game will be epic! Or just really good image mapping & augmented reality, you could play games of DAMA with people from all around the world!
KenCams would be a cool idea. Have like a gopro style camera and then a normal camera that can blutooth to your phone or tablet, which could allow a player to connect with players all over the world in real time and then play a game of Ken.
This isn't really mechanics for a video game, or even a story line for a video game, but here's a little kendama short story: A Kendama Domestic *clack clack clack* 323, 324, 325… Bobby was standing in a hallway practicing his moshikames. “Bobby! It’s almost time for dinner! I hope you’re not over there doing your whirlwinds of death!” his mom called out. 355, 356, 357… “Whirlwinds of what?” responded Bobby, confused. Bobby’s mother walked out of the kitchen and sternly pointed at a decorative vase in the living room. It had clearly been shattered into a million pieces and poorly glued back together. She shifted her finger, now pointing at a glass coffee table which had a round impact crater with significant spider-webbing near one of its sides. “Oh… it’s called a ‘space walk’, mom.” 411, 412, 413… Bobby’s mother returned to the kitchen to finish cooking her family’s dinner. “I don’t care if it was called ‘the cushioning prance of a fluffy bunny’… it’ll always be a whirlwind of death to me.” 466, 467, 468… “Arggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh”, Bobby groaned. “That was a long time ago mom. I’m way better now, okay?” 498, 499, 500! Bobby bent down and floated the tama from the base cup. It was over. Bobby knew he had messed up. The tama, which Bobby meant to have no rotation, was rotating away from him very slowly. Oh well. DOWNSPIKE!!!!! Bobby whipped his ken downward and scooped backwards toward himself, past the side of his body. He heard the muffled Thud that he was expecting, followed by a loud Bang that he wasn’t. “Bobby!? What was that sound!?” Bobby looked behind him and saw a large indentation in the wall and flakes of white plaster on the floor. “Uh… it’s nothing mom!” As he heard his mother coming back out of the kitchen, Bobby quickly tossed his kendama onto the coffee table and sprinted for his room. Instead of landing on top of the table, the kendama went straight through it, amid a rain of glass. “BOBBY! GET DOWN HERE NOW!” Bobby got into his room, quickly slamming and locking his door. “Damn… I knew I should have jammed my HG today instead…”