Could "Villainous" work as a video game?

[mharrington]

I've been wanting to play "Villainous", but it requires at least two people to play the tabletop game. Could it be remade as a video (or online) game so that only one person is needed to play? I don't really know much about how to play, as it seems rather confusing, but could it work electronically?

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

It could be a Switch exclusive since 4 switches could be use, and with Nintendo’s online service, and using discord or Nintendo’s switch app to communicate.

 

[mharrington]

It could be a Switch exclusive since 4 switches could be use, and with Nintendo’s online service, and using discord or Nintendo’s switch app to communicate.

Frankly, I don't have any experience with the Switch either. My knowledge of actually playing video games really hasn't improved since the PS2. Furthermore, it seems like you can't really play it alone; you would need at least one more person to play, right?

 

[Twilight_Roxas]

Yep, and you should get a Switch at least one that doesn’t have a joy-drift problem, and you could play it everywhere even when you travel.

 

[Miru]

I’m thinking that if they did do this, they would need to add in quite a bit of visual panache, similar to card battle games on the PS1, like Digimon card battle. Villains, Allies, and Heroes animated in 3D popping out of their cards.

 

[mharrington]

I’m thinking that if they did do this, they would need to add in quite a bit of visual panache, similar to card battle games on the PS1, like Digimon card battle. Villains, Allies, and Heroes animated in 3D popping out of their cards.

What do you by "visual panache"?

 

[Miru]

What do you by "visual panache"?

What I said in the rest of the post; having 3D character models appear whenever game actions are performed.

 

[mharrington]

What I said in the rest of the post; having 3D character models appear when game actions are performed.

I'm not familiar with those kinds of games. Can you maybe go into a little more detail? And isn't one point of the game to stop other villains from achieving their goal? Don't you need other people to play the roles of those villains?

 

[Miru]

I'm not familiar with those kinds of games. Can you maybe go into a little more detail? And isn't one point of the game to stop other villains from achieving their goal? Don't you need other people to play the roles of those villains?

Here is an example. And yes, we’d most likely have bots available for single-player.

 

[mharrington]

Here is an example. And yes, we’d most likely have bots available for single-player.

Is this supposed to represent the player and not just the villain? Again, wasn't one objective of "Villainous" to stop other villains from achieving their goals? How would that work with a single player? If you're playing as a single player, are other villains chosen at random by the computer? Wouldn't that be kind of an unfair advantage? To prove my point, look at this video of the 1-player choice of "mode B" from "Double Dragon":


I once played that game, and I could never beat 1-player "mode B", as the CPU-created opponent had an unfair advantage.

 

[Miru]

Is this supposed to represent the player and not just the villain? Again, wasn't one objective of "Villainous" to stop other villains from achieving their goals? How would that work with a single player? If you're playing as a single player, are other villains chosen at random by the computer? Wouldn't that be kind of an unfair advantage? To prove my point, look at this video of the 1-player choice of "mode B" from "Double Dragon":


I once played that game, and I could never beat 1-player "mode B", as the CPU-created opponent had an unfair advantage.

That’s a good idea; 1-player has three bots competing against the player. And no, the 3D models would only be used for game pieces, not the player.

 

[mharrington]

That’s a good idea; 1-player has three bots competing against the player. And no, the 3D models would only be used for game pieces, not the player.

What is a bot, anyway, in this context? And how would a 1-player option be used for this kind of game? Like I said, I'm not familiar with these kinds of games.

 

[Miru]

What is a bot, anyway, in this context? And how would a 1-player option be used for this kind of game? Like I said, I'm not familiar with these kinds of games.

A bot is an AI-controlled simulation of a player, as seen in many FPS games.

 

[mharrington]

A bot is an AI-controlled simulation of a player, as seen in many FPS games.

But wouldn't that make the opposing villains' goals set up in advance that they will win? There were initially six villains in the original game alone. How can you oppose AI-controlled characters in this?

 

[Miru]

But wouldn't that make the opposing villains' goals set up in advance that they will win? There were initially six villains in the original game alone. How can you oppose AI-controlled characters in this?

They would have varying levels of AI, and play exactly as how a second player would.

 

[mharrington]

They would have varying levels of AI, and play exactly as how a second player would.

But no two second players are alike, are they?

 

[Miru]

But no two second players are alike, are they?

You’d be able to choose a variety of AI types like in Streets of Rage Remake; Balanced, Materialistic, Stupid, Aggressive...

 

[mharrington]

Here's a video that shows how to play "Villainous". It shows two sample villains (in this case, Captain Hook and Prince John):


From watching the video, if you played as, say, Hook, how would you be able to keep, say, an AI-controlled John from achieving his goal?

 

[Miru]

The AI-controlled John would randomly make decisions, that may or may not be in his favor. The player would be able to make choices to counter the AI opponent.