Awesome game idea!
So I've seen lots of video games that involve dragons and knights or warriors or what have you. And in pretty much every single game the dragon is either just a minor enemy, a major boss or the primary antagonist itself! This really isn't fair to the dragons! So I've come up with an idea. What if the dragon were the protagonist, and you had to chase down some bastard knight who made off with your (willing resident) princess?
So here's what I'm thinking. Intro vid! The dragon is busy enjoying the attentions of his (or her) princess. As dragons tend to do I assume. Suddenly a knight! But not just any night! It's one of those dratted princes. A battle scene commences (maybe allow player limited control of the dragon for this?) and the dragon gets its ass royally handed to it (heh, punny :D). Obviously recovering from a serious fight is not going to be a simple few hour thing. Your antagonist now has quite the lead on you.
Actual game play starts with the dragon unsteadily climbing to its feet and stepping out of its cave. Since you've been waylaid for several weeks, you're obviously hungry and don't have a lot of energy/stamina for any decent flying. So you spend a couple "game days" exploring the area on foot, getting the hang of that kind of control, battling minor carnivores that are really not a big challenge. Maybe a bit of gliding. Gives the player a chance to learn how everything works.
This is all assuming that the style of gameplay is like most of the modern RPGs and not things like the turn based Dragon Warrior I-IV or the earlier Final Fantasy games where you wander a 2-D map and have (mostly) random battles suddenly appear without any warning whatsoever. This is really more along the lines of, say, the Metroid Prime series or latest Zelda games, Skyrim, etc. If you are going to go the 2-D route however, hopefully my ideas will be mostly adaptable to that style of gameplay!
Eventually you will work up the strength/energy to make extended flights. This will allow you to fly further to other areas like fields, villages, etc. As the game progresses, you'll be able to make longer and longer flights, eventually being able to bypass several areas rather than jump from one playable area to the next in order to progress. Should be a limit as to how far one can fly before needing to eat.
Each area (at least at the start) should contain clues as to which direction your princess was taken. Remember, you've been out of it for quite some time! He could be anywhere! There should be a few dead-ends just to keep things from being too easy. Some dead-ends should contain items of importance or necessary skills to learn in order to beat the prince however! Skills can be learned by meeting with other dragons in exchange for jewels and gold and whatever else of value you can get by ransacking various villages. Maybe even defensive moves by knights who are friendly to dragons? I don't know. Either way both advanced attack and defense skills are learned through being taught by others.
The skills can be as simple as a tail-whip, using your tail as a blunt instrument to deal damage, fire breathing, ice breath, lightning breath, acid breath... Some magical moves like an artificial shield, earthquake effect for some ground enemies to knock them off their feet, an intimidating roar to scare off/stun lesser enemies (obviously may not work with bosses, or at least with bosses that still have a fairly high HP). Aerial moves that let you do a super tight turn to gain an advantage in a fight, braking, using your wings to beat at your opponent's head to daze it, etc.
Obviously more than just biting/headbutting/clawing/etc.
The raiding of villages can start fairly simple, but as you progress and raid more villages it'll be more challenging as they hire knights to fight you off. You can sneak attack outlying farms for a quick and easy food source (assuming you're not spotted before you even reach it) or just divebomb the place and burn it all to the ground and collect your spoils. Assuming they're not shooting giant spears at you or arrows. With knights they may have spells that prevent you from using breath weapons against them, forcing you to fight on the ground. Defeat the knight and the village is yours to do with as you please! Destroy it, eat the livestock, or just let it be! Destroying it will ruin a potential foodsource down the line, but anything else invites knights to protect it.
You could also raid a dragon's hoard in appropriate regions, but obviously this carries some risk. After all, no self respecting dragon is going to just let you walk off with a chunk of treasure! Speaking of dragons and treasure, a possibility is having dragons attacking you if you pass through their region (and possibly just random attacks by dragons looking to expand their territory). Being driven off will pretty much bar you from just passing through without a fight. Being beaten (killed) will do the same thing, except you'll lose a percentage of what treasure you managed to collect up to that point. Anywhere from 25%-100%
Regaining energy can be done by either raiding villages as explained above, or just eating your enemies after you kill them. Some enemies may be great sources of food, others might be pitiful, and others still may inflict HP reduction if you eat them! Poisoned or just toxic for dragons to eat. Wild animals however should be a safe thing to eat, even if they may be a nuisance by attacking you. A weaker dragon may have problems with this, but a stronger dragon shouldn't have their HP too badly affected by having a wolf gnaw on you.
Bosses are fairly straightforward. Ground based bosses like knights or goblin kings or what have you, aerial based bosses like other larger dragons (smaller dragons would be more of a general enemy. Bosses would be much bigger and a lot tougher obviously, possibly with some advanced fighting skills you'll need to learn in order to properly defeat them), rocs, phoenixes, pissed off demi-gods, etc.
The prince himself however should require a fair amount of skills you'll need to learn, both offensive and defensive, in order to beat him. You'd have to wear him down enough to be able to successfully pull off a devastating one hit KO without him blocking/dodging it. Or you can wear down his HP until he dies. Whichever. Beat the game, win back your princess, and go back home and be treated like the king of dragons you should be!
--
This may require a lot of work in order to even be remotely possible, but at least it's a basic outline of what I have in my head! If anyone feels like tackling this though, feel free to contact me and maybe we can hammer this out into something remotely playable!
So here's what I'm thinking. Intro vid! The dragon is busy enjoying the attentions of his (or her) princess. As dragons tend to do I assume. Suddenly a knight! But not just any night! It's one of those dratted princes. A battle scene commences (maybe allow player limited control of the dragon for this?) and the dragon gets its ass royally handed to it (heh, punny :D). Obviously recovering from a serious fight is not going to be a simple few hour thing. Your antagonist now has quite the lead on you.
Actual game play starts with the dragon unsteadily climbing to its feet and stepping out of its cave. Since you've been waylaid for several weeks, you're obviously hungry and don't have a lot of energy/stamina for any decent flying. So you spend a couple "game days" exploring the area on foot, getting the hang of that kind of control, battling minor carnivores that are really not a big challenge. Maybe a bit of gliding. Gives the player a chance to learn how everything works.
This is all assuming that the style of gameplay is like most of the modern RPGs and not things like the turn based Dragon Warrior I-IV or the earlier Final Fantasy games where you wander a 2-D map and have (mostly) random battles suddenly appear without any warning whatsoever. This is really more along the lines of, say, the Metroid Prime series or latest Zelda games, Skyrim, etc. If you are going to go the 2-D route however, hopefully my ideas will be mostly adaptable to that style of gameplay!
Eventually you will work up the strength/energy to make extended flights. This will allow you to fly further to other areas like fields, villages, etc. As the game progresses, you'll be able to make longer and longer flights, eventually being able to bypass several areas rather than jump from one playable area to the next in order to progress. Should be a limit as to how far one can fly before needing to eat.
Each area (at least at the start) should contain clues as to which direction your princess was taken. Remember, you've been out of it for quite some time! He could be anywhere! There should be a few dead-ends just to keep things from being too easy. Some dead-ends should contain items of importance or necessary skills to learn in order to beat the prince however! Skills can be learned by meeting with other dragons in exchange for jewels and gold and whatever else of value you can get by ransacking various villages. Maybe even defensive moves by knights who are friendly to dragons? I don't know. Either way both advanced attack and defense skills are learned through being taught by others.
The skills can be as simple as a tail-whip, using your tail as a blunt instrument to deal damage, fire breathing, ice breath, lightning breath, acid breath... Some magical moves like an artificial shield, earthquake effect for some ground enemies to knock them off their feet, an intimidating roar to scare off/stun lesser enemies (obviously may not work with bosses, or at least with bosses that still have a fairly high HP). Aerial moves that let you do a super tight turn to gain an advantage in a fight, braking, using your wings to beat at your opponent's head to daze it, etc.
Obviously more than just biting/headbutting/clawing/etc.
The raiding of villages can start fairly simple, but as you progress and raid more villages it'll be more challenging as they hire knights to fight you off. You can sneak attack outlying farms for a quick and easy food source (assuming you're not spotted before you even reach it) or just divebomb the place and burn it all to the ground and collect your spoils. Assuming they're not shooting giant spears at you or arrows. With knights they may have spells that prevent you from using breath weapons against them, forcing you to fight on the ground. Defeat the knight and the village is yours to do with as you please! Destroy it, eat the livestock, or just let it be! Destroying it will ruin a potential foodsource down the line, but anything else invites knights to protect it.
You could also raid a dragon's hoard in appropriate regions, but obviously this carries some risk. After all, no self respecting dragon is going to just let you walk off with a chunk of treasure! Speaking of dragons and treasure, a possibility is having dragons attacking you if you pass through their region (and possibly just random attacks by dragons looking to expand their territory). Being driven off will pretty much bar you from just passing through without a fight. Being beaten (killed) will do the same thing, except you'll lose a percentage of what treasure you managed to collect up to that point. Anywhere from 25%-100%
Regaining energy can be done by either raiding villages as explained above, or just eating your enemies after you kill them. Some enemies may be great sources of food, others might be pitiful, and others still may inflict HP reduction if you eat them! Poisoned or just toxic for dragons to eat. Wild animals however should be a safe thing to eat, even if they may be a nuisance by attacking you. A weaker dragon may have problems with this, but a stronger dragon shouldn't have their HP too badly affected by having a wolf gnaw on you.
Bosses are fairly straightforward. Ground based bosses like knights or goblin kings or what have you, aerial based bosses like other larger dragons (smaller dragons would be more of a general enemy. Bosses would be much bigger and a lot tougher obviously, possibly with some advanced fighting skills you'll need to learn in order to properly defeat them), rocs, phoenixes, pissed off demi-gods, etc.
The prince himself however should require a fair amount of skills you'll need to learn, both offensive and defensive, in order to beat him. You'd have to wear him down enough to be able to successfully pull off a devastating one hit KO without him blocking/dodging it. Or you can wear down his HP until he dies. Whichever. Beat the game, win back your princess, and go back home and be treated like the king of dragons you should be!
--
This may require a lot of work in order to even be remotely possible, but at least it's a basic outline of what I have in my head! If anyone feels like tackling this though, feel free to contact me and maybe we can hammer this out into something remotely playable!