All right, it’s time to put you’re money where your mouth is people. We’ve all spoken our peace about the New PoP game but here’s your chance to present the Prince as you envision him. I am asking all you creative people to come up with and present to us at the forums and those Dev’s watching at home ‘The Next Prince of Persia’ game.

Some ground rules, you are not allowed to touch the Prince of Persia Sands of Time storyline. No side-stories, no continuations, nothing! That story finished with a great ending and I won’t have you mucking it up just because you’re desperate for more SOT goodness.

A quick outline of what we are looking for.

Game Play (it’s kind of important for a PoP game): We want to know how the controls work in traversing the world and combat. We want to know about any special abilities or powers the Prince will attain and how they will affect gameplay. In what ways does the Prince’s repertoire of moves grow, what kinds of enemies will he face, etc? What puzzle’s are in his way, what environmental obstacles will he have to overcome, and what traps must he face? How will you handle death?

Setting: Where is this taking place? What kinds of locals will the Prince be traverseing, how do they affect the game play. Do they change in any fashion over the course of the game. How does the Prince interact with the environment?

Background: What has gone before, what has brought the prince to this point. How will you reveal this backstory to the players. You may use the Prince of Persia (2008) as your background if you wish, or start a new story.

Story Overview: What is this adventure ultimately about, what is the Prince trying to accomplish and what forces oppose him. What does he actually learn and accomplish?

Characters: Tell us about this Prince, where he starts and where he ends. Do the same for any characters (hero, villain, in-between) that contribute to the story.

Outline: hit the Major high points of your story, beginning middle end, and tell us where the tale could go from there, if it’s meant to go anywhere else.

Why are we doing this, because it could be fun. I mean we all have images of what Prince of Persia should be like, here’s a chance to present out thoughts and have a discussion on the validity of our ideas. Who knows, perhaps the devs will even give us pointers, and we’ll learn more about what goes into designing a PoP game.

Maybe if we’re really really lucky, some of the ideas people post might be used in a future PoP game.

All right as I suggested this, I’ll offer myself up as the first target.

Game Play: The controls are similar to that of PoP (2008), as this is intended to be a direct sequel to that game. Now I’ve made a few modifications to how things work. A major change is that the prince lost his gauntlet which been replaced by an Ahriman infected arm (More on the story behind that later). The arm can be used to aid in combat or in traveling through the world. The Prince learns how to manipulate and wield the arm as the game goes on, giving him more options (combos) in combat and opening up new paths to explore in the world. The arms various forms are changed on the fly by tapping the bumper buttons

How the arm works:

The arm initially allows you to grip fall and grab enemies like the gauntlet did. Combos with the arm generally involve grabbing your opponent, their weapon, throwing them or raking them across the face or chest with the sharp edged fingers.

The arms next form is that of a whip. This allows you to swing through the world (allowing for longer jumps or successive wall runs), grab and pull distant objects, or sling objects (improvised sling shot) at distant targets. In combat it can be used to nab enemies from a distance and yank them in, or sling them away. It can also give you some breathing room if you twirl it over your head. It’s great for keeping groups of enemies at bay, and allows you to reach out and touch an opponent that tries to keep their distance.

The Prince later learns to make a blade from the end of his arm. Like a pickaxe he can drive it into solid surfaces and use it to climb to previously unreachable heights, hang from ceilings, and unlock some sealed doors by using a sliver of it as an improvised lock pick. In combat it essentially allows you to do a very fast duel sword technique, where the ‘arm button’ would equate to a quick attack with another sword.

The final thing the prince acquires is the mace like head. This allows you to bash your way through a variety of objects and enemies. In combat it’s slow, but when timed right or used as part of a combat it will knock even a blocking enemy back. Perfect for knocking that troublesome enemy into a lethal drop.

Now you can switch arm forms in mid combo so have fun finding out the various combinations of attacks.

All right, combat is an even mix of single and group fights. The actual engagements are set up in a vein similar to those found in the SOT series. However, one enemy is extremely tough to beat. They often have their own abilities that make them a challenge and they are patient, conservative fighters. The maximum group count is six enemies at once. At the maximum group count the enemies are, individually, less skilled but more brazen because they believe they have you outnumbered.

In any fight the environment can be your friend, you can run up and vault from walls, swing around poles, push down columns etc. Use the environment to beat your foes.
Your enemies will be the normal forces of Ahriman plus those men and women who’ve recently given into him. The second group are like fast moving, modestly skilled soldiers, while the first would tend to be Ahriman’s shock and elite troopers. They normally work in groups no larger than two, as most prefer single combat.

A lot of puzzle’s will involve manipulating a, sometimes hostile, environment to allow you passage to another area. This could involve trying to move enough pieces of an abandoned bridge construction project into position to allow you passage, or determining how to divert a waterfall of boiling water protecting the entrance to an ancient place of worship.

Ahriman traps return but so do more classic PoP dangers. You’ll be wandering through cities undersiege, ancient temples, forgotten ruins, open desert, secure vaults and trying to start the creations of mad inventors during the Prince’s quest. Expect each areas traps to have their own flavor

DEATH

I agree with Ben and Yahtzee on this, death should not be frustrating, it should not break flow, neither does it make sense to show you a game over screen. However since Elika saving you isn’t enough indication for some gamers that they’ve screwed up, we’ll implement something new. This is linked to the Prince’s corrupt arm. The infection wants to live, and it only lives as long as you are alive. So if you take a bad fall, you’ll crater and then the infection will cover the Prince’s body, sink into the ground and reappear at the last check point. If you suffer death by trap, the infection will either drag you out of the Ahriman goop, or again cover you (Or however many pieces you’re in), sink into the ground and reappear at the last checkpoint. If you suffer death by enemy, the infection will cover you, explode (sending the enemy flying) and bring you back from near death.

Setting: The visual style is like that found in PoP (2008). The game itself takes place in the lands just beyond the borders of Ahriman’s prision. There are tiers of areas you can only access as the game goes on. You are free to explore within the tiers in any order you see fit. Just be aware that once you complete that tier (chapter?) things get tougher

The Prologue/training area is the Port City the Prince mentioned in the DLC which is being overrun by Ahriman’s forces. Many citizens have bent their knee to Ahriman so chaos reigns in the streets. The prince runs to the port, only to arrive too late, the last ship has left. Now he has to make a dangerous journey, overland to another city.

This city and it’s surrounding villages are the tier one section. Ahriman is just starting to turn his eyes in this direction so the mood is strained yet peaceful. This is where we ease you into the game. Tier Two follows you into the undercity and some forgotten ruins beyond the borders of the city as the dark clouds of Ahriman loom over head. Tier three will see you exploring Ormazd’s ancient places of power, which Ahriman is trying to take for himself. Tier four is the final battle encompassing a fortress in flames, towns being sacked and the cite of a device that can stop Ahriman.

The area you’re exploring starts off bright and vibrant but as Ahriman draws near, the light and life die, slowly replaced by the nightmare of Ahriman’s power. At the final stages even the land itself turns hostile, bent to Ahriman’s will.

Background:

All right most of this will be shown in brief memory flashes the Prince will have during the course of the game. After Elika left him, the Prince fled, but wasn’t quite fast enough. Three of Ahriman’s Lieutenants ran him down in the desert. They are ‘The Voice’, ‘The Tracker’, and ‘The Swordsman’. The Voice is the one who speaks words of temptation to those Ahriman would have for himself. His words dogged the Prince as he ran, turning his swift feet to lead. The Tracker and her dark hounds stalked the Prince as he fled, hounding him, never letting him rest, running him to exhaustion. It was the Swordsman who faced this weakened Prince in single combat, easily besting the tired warrior. He stabbed the prince with a blade of darkness through the stomach (the source of his infection) then the three left him to die in the desert, their mocking laughter ringing in his ears. The Swordsman claiming the Prince’s gauntlet as his prize.

The Prince made it to the Port City where he used what coin he had to buy healing and passage on a boat due to leave in a day or two.

Story Overview: This story is about redemption and sacrifice, about accepting responsibility for your actions and suffering the consequences of selfishness. At first a beaten and lost Prince tries to flee the horror he’s unleashed. However he fails and turns to his only other hope, finding Elika and her people. As he tries to do this he sees first hand the suffering his choice has unleashed on innocent people and begins feeling guilty for what he has done. At first he hopes that Elika’s people can cure the infection, but eventually he decides to fight for those he put in harms way.

He faces Ahriman’s newly converted legions, the Dark Gods older followers and Lieutenants, and some of Elika’s people who believe he should die for what he’s done, not to mention the guardians of Ormazd’s sanctuaries who see only the taint in him and nothing else.

The Prince learns how selfish and childish he’s been and that sometimes for most people to live in peace, other people must be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Elika was willing to do that, and he spat on her, her beliefs and who she was out of his own selfish desires.

Characters:

The Prince- He starts out willfully blind to what he has done, but over the course of the story his eyes are opened and he ends on a much more noble, if bitter-sweet, note

Elika – Torn, she genuinely likes the Prince, even wonders if she loves him. His actions, however make her furious and a little guilty. She wonders that if she had not become friends with him, if she’d kept their relationship strictly business instead of falling for his charms, would this tragedy have happened?

Dastan – The 1st Warrior of the People Elika is trying to contact. A hardliner he believes no sacrifice is too great to stop Ahriman. Elika he treats with respect the Prince he actively hates and is often only a moment away from killing.

The Voice – The tempter, the corrupter, the orator whose words can make the very land turn to Ahriman’s cause. He is the proclaimed, the herald and the very voice of Ahriman.

His first boss fight takes place in a city square as he speaks to an ever growing crowd of listeners. He singles you out for death in his speech, sending a horde of brainwashed citizens to kill you. Unwilling to harm innocents you are forced to run as the horde follows close on your heels. The only way to win is to break the spell. You have to break line of sight, find a good vantage point and use the Whip/slingshot maneuver three to four times to break ‘The Voice’s’ jaw long enough to end the spell, saving the crowd of people.

The last fight takes place in one of Ormazd’s temples. The Voice has corrupted the mechanical guardians (Golems) and the very temple itself. The very environment warps and changes in an attempt to kill you. The only way to win is to find the tainted wells and purify them with a few drops from a flask given to you by Elika. Of course you have to defend the well while it’s being purified. Once all four wells are purified the temple and it’s guardians turn on ‘The Voice’ pummeling him into submission and tossing him to land at the Princes feet.

The voice looks up to find the Prince smiling down at him

Prince: “It’s true you know…” runs his sword through the throat of ‘The Voice’ “…silence is golden.” (Sorry couldn’t resist)

The Tracker – The kill was never as much fun as the hunt for her. Men and beast she’s tracked them all through the worst conditions the world could offer. With her bow and hounds at her side, nothing escapes her for long.

The first boss fight involves a fight in the undercity where she sends her three hounds to hunt you down. The goal is to run until you find better ground to fight her beasties, preferably a place where she can not shoot arrows at you from a distance. The fight ends when you manage to kill all of her hounds. Her laughing demeanor dies as the Prince escapes. She holds her dying hounds while swearing to kill the fleeing Prince.

The final fight takes place in a dark grove just starting to succumb to Ahriman’s influence. It’s a game of Cat & Mouse as you stalk one another, using the trees as cover, dodging her improvised traps (or turning them against her).She’s faster on her feet than you, and has a range advantage. However if you can trap and close with her, you are the better melee fighter.

The Swordsman – An expert duelist who enjoys the fight more than anything. He is constantly searching for worthy warriors to cross blades with. He is often called ‘The King of Blades.”

The first fight takes place in a vacant throne room where you find ‘The Swordsman’ sitting on a throne. The fight ranges throughout the palace which is full of activated traps “To make things interesting.” The Prince manages to slice open the Swordsman’s face before escaping which infuriates him to no end.

The final battle takes place near the device built by Elika’s people. Elika and her people will help you fight him, if you can maneuver him into certain spots. Keep in mind he can do everything you can do, he can follow you anywhere, so keep him off balance by changing the place of battle. If it helps, he thinks in lines, so fight in curves, if that’s too cryptic, his thinking is two dimensional, trying attacking in three dimensions.

Outline:

The story opens with a female Narrator bringing us up to date on the story so far, while the camera pans in over a port city that is under siege by Ahriman’s forces. We find the Prince passed out in a gutter. He’s lost his headdress (a flash back shows that the tracker took it as a trophy), his gauntlet, vest sword, and leggings. He is now dressed in a long sleeved shirt and thick solid trousers. His left arm is bandaged up. The Narrator discusses consequences and responsibility and how they catch up with you, right as a flaming arrow ignites a barrel of wine outside an establishment. The heat from the flames wakes the Prince, seeing the danger he runs for the port and his ship. He’s too late, and despite frantic waving and offers of more money, the crew caste off, unfurl their sails and flee the fallen city.

With the city crumbling around him he runs for the stables, scooping up the sword of a fallen soldier on the way. With limited options he flees the city with other refugees as Ahriman’s forces consolidate their new acquisition. Low on coin, options hope, and suffering from bouts of intense pain the Prince heads for the Cities library in hopes of finding a cure for his malady. Here we have a flashback that shows a healer tending to the wounds he received from Ahriman’s servants. With his shirt off and arm free of bandages you can see the infection. It’s blackened his left arm, and crawled like a vine up his chest from the wound in his belly. The healer speaks of a tome that could save him.

In the present, the Prince finds the Tome and a lead to Elika’s people in it’s pages. They appear to be the only ones who can help. This is where the Prince’s journey truly begins.

With Ahriman’s forces growing by the day the prince Embarks on a quest to find Elika and her people. A quest that leads him all over the land and under the city. With the Dark god’s dogs nipping at his heels all the way. By the time the Prince finds Elika, Ahriman has a foot hold in these lands.

Thus begins the next half of the game where Elika convinces her people that the Prince can help them find a device left behind by Ormazd that could stop his dark brother. The Prince, reeling from the pain and suffering he’s seen agrees to help.

Throughout this portion of the game you are facing more and more of the Dark Gods elite forces while trying to find ancient items, lost knowledge, missing locations and activate the devices that could stop the dark god.

During this time, you’ll get hints of extra items you can find if you explore the world. These “Gifts of Orhmad” will replace the Princes tattered clothes and confer health, speed, and strength bonuses just for start.

The Prince and Elika work together a lot (Though she’s no longer ‘helping’ you as she did in the first game). Here we learn the Princes background, how he was a child of slain nobility forced to run or be killed by his parent’s enemies. That early loss of his family is what fueled his inability to let Elika go. He apologizes, and the two draw closer as Ahriman’s darkness looms over all.

On the brink of Victory for the light side, Dastan (whose been barely tolerant of the Prince) caste him out claiming he’s funneling information to Ahriman’s forces. There is some circumstantial evidence to support this. The Prince agrees to leave. The Prince and Elika spend a night together before he is banished.

As he treks through the desert, taking heart in Elika’s safety he realizes how Ahrman knew the things he did that caused the Prince to be caste out. The taint inside the Prince allowed Ahriman to see through his eyes. It was always Ahriman’s plan for the Prince to find Elika’s people, and ultimately lead him to the device. All those soldiers he killed were necessary sacrifices. Though Ahriman hadn’t expected him to kill ‘The Voice’ during their last battle. The hints to this revelation are in his dialogue with Ahriman’s Lieutenants. Even though the Prince doesn’t know where the device is, the fact that he’d lain with Elika means a piece of his taint is now carried by her. Ahriman can use that to trace her to the device and turn it to his own ends.

Fearing for Elika he races back just in time to find her people’s fortress in flames as Ahriman’s forces attack. After searching he discovers she and some others already left to activate the device. Before he can leave the Tracker forces him into a final confrontation. Once he beats her, the Prince realizes he can feel the presence of Ahriman’s forces and uses that to find the device and Elika.

This is where the final battle begins.

In the end, ‘The Swordsman’ manages to destroy the devices power source before the Prince can kill him, though it costs Dastan his life to accomplish this task. As Elika and the few warriors remaining wonder what to do, The Prince hears the call of Ormazd and makes a choice. He shoves himself in the device, using his life force and the power of the taint within to fuel the device. The pain is excruciating but with Elika’s words he endures and the device forces Ahriman’s forces back into the land that was his prison.

The narrator talks of the Princes sacrifice as Elika cradles him in her arms. The narrator talks about how he held on, as we see a montage of a bed bound Prince chatting and laughing with Elika as he grows weaker and weaker. The Narrator explains that Ahriman imprisonment will not last, that the Prince choose to die a slow, painful lingering death to give them two things, time, and hope. On that last line we see the barely mobile prince sliding his fingers over Elika’s swollen belly.

“And sometimes hope is all we need.”

A baby’s cry pierces the darkness as the Prince labors to open his eyes. A smiling Elika presents his son to him. The little boy has his fathers hair and eyes but looks much like his mother. The prince lives just long enough to hold his boy, his son and whisper a name the audience can not hear before passing on. Elika takes the child into her arms, calling him her little Prince as her tears fall on his forehead.

So obviously this last bit is set-up for the next game. The Prince is dead, long live the Prince. The Child of Elika and the nameless noble is believed to by her people to be a weapon, a gift from Ormazd that will destroy Ahriman forever. The boy is not so sure, his story is finding a path through the twilight, that point between light and darkness, where the brothers Ormazd & Ahriman can once again exist in peace.

But that’s a tale for another time.

“All right” *puts on a helmet, breast plate and hefts a shield* “Your thoughts?”

Big reading hehe. I didn't read all of it but I got the idea, which is damn good

The problem here is that I (for example) don't share the same empathy for POP I used to.
POP:NG hit me up badly and right now I don't care for the franchise as much.

If you came up with this some time before POP:NG release I would gladly join in.

But now... It's difficult. I just don't have the same patience nor the same passion ...

Nice one Knight

woah woah woah!!! hold on just a second you just said in your post thing that you cant use the sands of time story and butcher it or anything yet you go ahead and use the names from the movie that is coming out? that is BASED ON SOT? that makes no sesne and you contradict yourself. and not to break your heart but my constuctive critisism thinks your story that sets up the next game is so cheesey and is just like what UBI might do because the writing is just bad. it dosent get any more cheesed then that. great effort though

Well as far as I'm concerned the Movie has nothing to do with the game. Besides, since they used Farah for the name of the Donkey in Pop (2008) using the name Dastan was fair game.
Beyond that name ther's no link to the SOT series.

good point

A New Prince of Persia (Not Continuing PoP 2008)

[Game Play]

(it’s kind of important for a PoP game): We want to know how the controls work in traversing the world and combat. We want to know about any special abilities or powers the Prince will attain and how they will affect gameplay. In what ways does the Prince’s repertoire of moves grow, what kinds of enemies will he face, etc? What puzzle’s are in his way, what environmental obstacles will he have to overcome, and what traps must he face? How will you handle death?
The Prince can jump, roll/drop, attack and interact (one for each face button), and block. Instead of wall-running the Prince can rebound; involving jumping onto walls and then jumping off the wall in any direction. With clever placement of walls and jumps the Prince can rebound up and along object in many ways (Like the game N or N+, but without changing direction in mid-air). The Prince can perform somersaults (press jump quickly twice), blackfips, and slide flips depending on his running and jumping direction. The Prince will also have much more interaction with the environment (like Assassin's Creed), being able to climb buildings, swing on ropes, scaffolding, swim, etc. The Prince's acrobatics skills will remain the same throughout the game, but on his quest he will gain world affecting items such as a Light that illuminates dark areas, stuns away light fearing creatures and reveals magic symbols and objects. Other items could include a gauntlet that enables the prince to remotely manipulate objects and enemies, environment affecting swords (flame sword) and many fixed objects that would manipulate an area to provide puzzles. The Prince also gains a horse to traverse the central desert/hub and it's surround and horse combat will play a part.
The combat will play the same as the acrobatics, in combat the Prince can do short combos (jump attack, roll attack, etc), but most of the challenge will come from puzzle like elements added to the combat, such as targeting weaknesses and using the environment to your advantage. NO QTE. Enemies will vary in size and variety, enabling the Prince to interact with the larger ones like (Shadow of the Collosus), and for many enemies you will need to make good use of your environment as fights might take place in precarious locations such a in the middle of a scaffold tower, or on the side of a cliff with many vines hanging down for you to swing and climb on.
Puzzles will feature greatly, and will feature environmental traversal puzzles and traps (Like SoT), Object manipulation puzzles (Like PoP or Tomb Raider) and many navigational puzzles such as following maps, magic symbols and magic divining rod type beacon objects. Character interaction will also be present to advance the story and gain access to different areas (ie; arranging boat travel to a mysterious island).

[Setting]

The visual style will be realistic to emphasise the fantasy environments. The Prince will travel through towering palaces, sprawling cities, endless deserts, dense forests, desolate canyons and mountains, caves, monolithic rock structures, ruined temples and struggling villages. Each environment will spread out from the central desert hub and the Prince will visit each in a fixed order. Each new environment will feature new interactable objects, new enemies and new puzzles of increasing difficulty. Each sub-section will be mostly linear.

[Background]

In the opening chapter the story will be revealed to the player. The Palace is under seige. The Vizier has incited the people to take over the kingdom and the King is killed. With help from an old teacher the Prince escapes the palace through the roof-tops and the city through the sewers before he too, is killed. Presumed dead, he is instructed to seek out a seeress for advice on reclaiming his kingdom.

[Story Overview]

Traversing the world as a Pariah, the Prince discovers the sorry state of his kindgom. His father squandered his kingdom's wealth and left the outskirting villages struggling to survive with poverty and draught, this was why there was a revolt. Finding the Seer, he is advised to seek out a lost 'MacGuffin' that only the proven heir may find, which will restore his rule and the plight of the kingdom. At first, the Prince is disheartened at his father's rule and unwilling to put himself in charge, but after seeing in a struggling village that the Vizier is continuing his father's tyranny, he is motivated to act and claim the throne to rule for the people. Following ancient clues the Prince gathers the necessary items and unites the people as the true heir to retake the throne. The Prince confronts and defeats the Vizier and sets about restoring the kindgom. The End.

ok, now that i could find the thread again, i will commence with my idea.....

.... i had an idea for gameplay, but it doesnt really compare to Gguests ...
i particularily like the elemental swords and NO QTE's. though wall running would have to stay in, i love the idea of back flipping, sumersaults, and such to get through enviroments.

however, if i could add one thing: Stealth Kills. imagine if the prince would use his guantlet and sword to dispatch multiple foes before they even knew he was their, much like the prince of old.

however, i must point out a fatal flaw of Gguest's idea: the princes father is dead (died fighting "someone elses war") and so cannot be apart of the story (unless brought back to life, but i doubt it).

i may think of more, idk, with finals on the way, im kinda busy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mortificus,

Interesting gguest, very interesting. I do like the idea of the Prince learning his father was not the beloved man of the people he once thought.


I personally enjoyed the art style of PoP 2008 but I am not averse to what you propose. Especially if you can make the more fantastic elements really stand out.

thought i would post again, just so you guys know i edited my other post