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The General Gameplay Loop

Pick a type of Poltergust (what you use to suck up ghosts) and start a run
First floor is simple, capture all ghosts, get gold, use gold to open chests to get items, and find the exit, which when activated summons a boss/horde of ghosts that you need to capture before moving on
When going to the next floor, you’re given a choice between 2 that have differences with modifyers. Examples of modifyers are: Some floors yield more gold, have more enemies, have a different objective, (Ex: 30 seconds to find the exit) have only 1 type of ghost, etc.
Keep doing this until you get to before the final stage, where the game asks you if you’d like to go to the final area or loop back to the first stage to get more items
If you die or actually manage to beat the final boss, you get sent back to the lobby and can start another run
(Will probably also have a “Difficulty increases as time increases” mechanic. Enemies gain more HP, deal more damage, special ghost types can spawn, chests cost more, but you also gain more money, etc.)

Yes this entire gameplay loop is heavily inspired by Risk Of Rain 2. But hey, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it right? (Plus other games have taken heavy inspiration from other games, like Spiritfall’s gameplay loop is very similar to Hades, just in a platform fighter style)

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How basic gameplay works

In the recent Luigi’s Mansion games, they’ve followed a similar format (The first one’s stun mechanic was more unique). This game will also feature a similar gameplay mechanic to the 2nd game, though there will be other Poltergusts you can unlock for different ways to capture ghosts (Think of them like unlocking a new character)

Hold down the strobulb button to charge up your flashlight and release to stun ghosts. Any stun charge works, but a full charge stuns ghosts for considerably longer
Once a ghost is stunned, hold down the vacuum button to start sucking up ghosts. Multiple ghosts can be tethered at once, however…
The ghost(s) will try to get away and will pull on you. You need to hold the opposite direction to drain their HP. Failing to do so drags you around the room and if left for too long, makes you lose tether to the ghosts and damages you
While pulling on the ghosts, you charge up a meter. When fully charged, you can press the stun button to deliver a pulse to the ghosts, draining a good chunk of their HP
Other ghosts not tethered to you will still try to attack you. You can press another button to dodge briefly, but this makes you lose all of your charge

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Alternative Playstyle

This is a custom concept not seen in any Luigi’s Mansion games beforehand. A new type of Poltergust��Ghoul Gauntlets

Before a run, the player can choose to swap out their Poltergust for Ghoul Gauntlets. The Ghoul Gauntlets act much differently than a standard Poltergust. Instead of the standard "Stun a ghost, then suck them up" playstyle, the Ghoul Gauntlets promote a more aggressive approach to ghost catching. You can now punch ghosts instead of using a strobulb to stun them. This does a bit of damage, but not much. However, after enough pummels, the ghost becomes stunned. And for quite a while as well. Then you can suck them up into the gauntlets to capture them. The suction doesn't do much damage either, however, but that leads me to the main point of the Ghoul Gauntlets. The ghosts stay stunned for a while after you punch them enough times. And I plan to give the Ghoul Gauntlets a stat so that the more ghosts you suck up at once, the more damage you do to them. So the point of the Ghoul Gauntlets is to enter a room, stun as many ghosts at once as you can, and suck them up in a single go for tons of damage. Oh, and to replace the burst the standard Poltergust would have, it could have a simple block. Perhaps an upgrade you can find during the run allows you to parry if you time your block right before getting hit, dealing a good chunk of damage and instantly stunning the ghost

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Potential Item Ideas (They kept being fake JPGs, hence the white squares)

Cleats

White Item

Ghosts pull you 10% less (10% per stack. Scales Nonlinearly)

Stun-Bulb

White Item

Ghosts are stunned by your stun ability for 2 seconds longer (+1 per stack)

Star-Bulb

Green Item

Upon capturing a ghost, all other ghosts nearby are damaged and stunned slightly (Increases range and stun time per stack)

Confidence Book

White Item

10% (+10% per stack) Movement speed

Flashbang

Red Item

Upon entering a room or triggering a horde of ghosts, ALL ghosts are stunned for 6 (+3 per stack) seconds

Power-Bulb

Green Item

A fully charged stun deals 15 damage (+10 per stack) to ghosts stunned by it

(Standard ghosts have 100 HP)

Padded Gloves

White Item

15% chance (+15% per stack. Scales nonlinearly) to block incoming damage (take 0 damage)

(Similar to how Tougher Times works)

Whites = Common

Green = Uncommon/Rare

Red = Legendary

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MORE Item Ideas

Medi-Phone

Equipment

Call down a healing station to spend gold on to heal yourself. Cooldown of 80 seconds

Capture Capsule

Equipment

Drop down a Capture Capsule that slowly drains nearby ghosts’ health. If their health is 20 or lower, they’re automatically captured. Ghosts will prioritize the capsule instead of the player. Cooldown of 100 seconds

Fingerless Gloves

Cursed

Double damage to both ghosts and yourself (Stacking is additive. 2 stacks is 3 times damage, 3 stacks is 4, etc.)

Blueprints

Equipment

Reveals the floor layout. Using again reveals where nearby interactables are (like chests, or other possible interactables). Cooldown of 40 seconds

Spare Batteries

Green Item

+1 (+1 per stack) Equipment charge. Reduces equipment cooldown by 15% (+15% per stack)

Broken Bulb

Cursed

Reduce ghosts’ max health by 20% (+15% per stack. Minimum health of 50). Ghosts have 15% (+15% per stack) movement speed

Blue Candle

Cursed

More ghosts spawn per room (The reason this is good is more ghosts means more gold)

Fake Vampire Teeth

Cursed

You heal 1 HP (+1 per stack) per 5 HP you drain off of ghosts. Ghosts gain 15% (+15% per stack) attack speed

(Normal player max health is 100)

Equipments are powerful items you can only hold 1 of and need to be activated manually

Cursed items are like Lunars from ROR2, has an upside, but also a downside

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Worldbuilding

The story would be you’re an average person trying to make it by and taking any job you can take, when you see an application from a scientist asking people to help him capture ghosts. Down on your luck, you have no real option but to take it. Upon arrival, he introduces himself (Probably has another name pun like E. Gadd does. Perhaps something like Gadd Zooks? Maybe just says he’s Professor Z and the name pun isn’t revealed till later), and tells you the situation. A seemingly endlessly tall skyscraper has appeared deep in the woods and is teeming with ghosts. He needs you to go in, capture them, and bring them back for research. He’ll also send in supplies periodically, but needs funding, of course (hence why items cost money). The scientist character probably wouldn’t care about your well being very much, more so focused on the data you could bring back or how his inventions fare.

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MORE Worldbuilding

During your runs through the tower, you’ll occasionally find a shop ran by a ghost. He’s not interested in fighting you, he’s much more interested in being a spectator and selling you things to make the next few floors more interesting. To him, you’re just entertainment. He’s how you access the Cursed items as he sells them to you, alongside other things such as upgrades to your device. He is a ghost after all, so he knows how to best capture them. (Upgrades do not carry between runs) Absolutely despises the professor for a reason he seemingly won’t tell you about, and refuses to help him in his ghost capturing business by giving him data on how to better capture ghosts

Not sure what to name him, or if he really needs one, but Darryl is a funny temp name so he’s that for now

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