disguise-based stealth instead
“If you are a Scottish lord then I am MICKEY MOUSE!”
Indiana Jones carries a revolver and occasionally uses it, but yes Indiana Jones isn’t a story about a gunman. The way I would implement the gun mechanic in an Indiana Jones game is give him limited ammo, maybe 6 to 12 bullets, and few opportunities to restock. Indy should defeat enemies either by setting off traps/environmental kills, fisticuffs, or with his whip, with his gun as a weapon of last resort. Also, there should definitely be moments where the player feels like a genius for remembering he has a gun.
I agree. Though have a random small chance of the gun disappearing when you go to use it, with dialogue.
Don’t do it randomly. Either design sequences where Indy is disarmed, or actually embrace the 6 bullets per level idea, don’t puss out and leave bullets just before every conceivable thing Indy might shoot. Make every encounter doable with the whip/fists/environmental stuff, but make shooting something a very cool way to handle certain situations for players who conserve their ammo.
Ghost of Tsushima style stand-offs, but when the bad guy does his flashy come out, Indy just shoots him. Just like the movie.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle devs say an Indy game ‘could never be a shooter, should never be a shooter,’ so they’re embracing his signature whip,
“Indiana Jones, he’s not a gunslinger, right? He doesn’t go guns blazing into situations,” said Jens Andersson, design director at MachineGames. "So it could never be a shooter, should never be a shooter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQKrmDLvijo
‘Indiana Jones’: Why Harrison Ford Pitched 'Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Famous Gun vs Sword Scene (Flashback)
Speaking to the amount of forethought that proceeded their looming shoot day, Ford noted, “A lot of planning had gone into this fight scene,” adding that they had even rehearsed with “a lot of extras” the night prior.
“At that point, I was quite ill with dysentery. I really wasn’t able to stay away from my trailer for more than the length to shoot a magazine (referring to a movie camera’s film stock that, on average, allowed for 10 minutes worth of filming),” he recalled.
While the Han Solo actor endured his crippling illness, Ford was also concerned the audience might lose sight of Indiana’s objective to rescue Marion if he got pulled into another showdown.
“I thought about it. We had about an hour and a half ride into our location. By the time I got to the location, I was convinced that it was too much,” he remembered. “I went up to Steven as soon as I arrived, and I said, ‘Steven, why don’t we just shoot this sumb***h?’ And Steven said, ‘I was thinking that, too!’”
As for the swordsman actor (Terry Richards) who spent months training for this one scene, Ford admitted he felt “terribly sorry for him” but also believed their improvised alternative “served the film well.”