Suggestions for a PC/360 Game

[DragonBlaze]

I'm working on making a multiplayer PC and/or 360 game at the moment. I've made several games in openGL in c++ for class, and now that the semester is almost over, I'm going to start working on a game of my own. I'm either going to make it in openGL or with XNA studios. If I make it with XNA I can export it to the 360 as an indie or arcade game as well as the PC, if I use openGL it will only be available for the PC.

Right now, my idea for a game is to make a game sort of like castle crashers. For those of you who have never played the game, it is a game where you play as a knight fighting your way though random levels without any serious plot, but yet I find it fun as hell. My idea though is to make it a 3d game where you fight as one of several races/species in a non serious plot. I mainly want to focus on the battle system (explained later) and make that incredibly intense, complex, and fun. What I would like ideas for are races you can play as, levels you play through, enemies you fight, and a simple story.

Battle System:
I'm going to make a real time fast-paced battle system. You're character will be able to use an array of weapons such as swords, as well as a variety of magic attacks. You'll be able to any object in the game to your advantage. For example, you will be able to run up and jump off of any object. Many other movements will also be available such as double jumping, dodging, sliding, ect. You will also be able to destroy many objects to either block enemies from getting to you, clearing paths, or even damaging enemies by having debris hit them. There will be no automatic targeting, when you press the attack button, you will attack the space in front of you. Magic attacks will be in the same fashion, if I make this in XNA (360) the right joy stick will determine  the direction/location where you will cast your magic. Many combo moves and techniques will also be available. Like I've said before, my main focus on this game will be the battle system, I want to make it fun, complex, and engaging enough to keep players entertained for a long time.

Story:
None yet, all I know is that I want a story that is fairly simple. I'll be spending most of my time on the battle system and level design. Designing and implementing a complex story by myself is just not going to be possible. Just a simple fun theme would be great though. My only idea thus far is to have an army of cute creatures such as kittens, baby seals, and penguins try to take over the world, and you need to stop them. Personally I don't think this is a great story, so I'd rather not use it. ANY ideas would be amazing.

Characters:
You will only control one character, there will be no AI characters fighting along side of you, but this will be a multi-player game where you can up to three friends join you in the fight. Because of this, I would like to have a great deal of character customization, and by a great deal, I really only mean having gender and race options. So far the two races I plan to have are humans and... (if you know me at all you should know the other one) dragons, but I would like to have several other unique ideas.

Other:
What I have said thus far is pretty much all I have planned. My work thus far has been to program things such as 3d model importing, displacement mapping (making terrain), and other programming aspects of game making. ANY ideas for this game to make it more fun or creative will be appreciated

[fruckert]

Dude, what's with these bots?
Do they just degrade over time or something?

[Meiscool]

For plot you could always go with the simple "Was hired by kingdom X but got given the shaft when things were convenient, so now character Y is out for revenge." Could expand it by going to certain portions of the kingdom to rescue his comrades that were taken prisoner awaiting execution.

[Prpl_Mage]

DB made this in may 2011, don't think he's working on this particular project anymore.

[Archem]

YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!!

...But I think putting a lock on this wouldn't hurt.