Games you want to see made

[mur'phon]

As in new IP's, we all want another VtMB, PST, KotOR etc

 

For me, I'd really like to see a game where you play as a refugee fleeing Sub-Saharan Africa. Set in first person, the player starts off getting a tutorial by simply making do during a normal day. Then, folowing some disaster (plundering by militias/government troops etc), you are forced to flee the country. From then on you'd have to make your way north towards Europe (yes, I know most end up in neighboring countries, but it would make for a better game), selling what belongings you have, working, stealing and begging for survival. All the while avoiding being robbed, killed, diseases, rough seas, animals, and border guards. The game could end on the streets of some European city, an asylum shelter, or, walking of a plane/boat after having your aplication denied.

Not only would it be nice to play as someone who isn't Rambo, the fact that it would be a form of survival/horror that milions of people go through should make it all the more meaningfull, I'm tired of games throwing zombies at me to scare me, when real life provides far more chilling tales.

 

So how about you guys? Any games that you badly want to see made?

[Sabretooth]

I could go on at length about why a game like that won't be made (at least on a full budget), but I'm sure you know it all already, so what the hell.

 

One game idea I had once worked like this:

You die in a car crash and wake up in a world of spirits, and realise that your soul isn't ready to be a spirit. Your memory fractured, you try to find out how you ended up crashing, and why your spirit refuses to be liberated. Yes, I know, very Torment-ish, but the twist is in the gameplay.

 

Being an ordinary guy, the player can't use weapons (not directly). He does have the ability to "channel" spirits through him, and use their abilities to his advantages. There would be about about 50-ish usable spirits in the game, who would be a cross between Pokémon and NPCs. Their 'abilities' will depend on what they were before they died, of which they will have a lose remembrance. The player can spend time with them and follow their side-quests to unlock the memory of how they died, at which point they will become fully-powerful.

 

How powers would be implemented is something I can't decide:

Model 1: The player can use items in a poltergeist way, i.e., he can command the spirit to use a particular item for him, without physically appearing to have any connection with the object. For example, directing a spirit to pick up a fire extinguisher and throw it on someone, or direct a spirit to stop a truck from crashing into a wall, etc.

Model 2: Superhero. The spirit blends with the player, and he can shoot fireballs, talk charmingly, use rifles like a pro, etc. etc.

 

The latter model would be too obvious, so I'll expand on the former model.

The key for the player would be to creatively find solutions to problems using the spirits he has at his disposal. Moral choice and consequence is lumped in, so his actions will please/displease spirits. This is not tied to how much the player uses a spirit - if you displease a spirit you use very often, you just won't be able to use him anymore. As the player doesn't level-up himself and has no superhuman powers by himself, he would be pretty much helpless in a way.

 

At the same time, you'd have to maintain a Vampire-style Masquerade about the spirits, or else the spirits themselves panic and end up fighting you (or something). That's the basic, any way.

[Liverandbacon]

A fairly realistic, just after/during the disaster, post-apocalypse RPG (with Arcanum or Fallout levels of choices and consequences at least; we're talking about our game fantasy here). Mod tools are a must. Shooter mechanics would be realistic, something similar to ARMA. Unforgiving, long-distance, etc (important to move carefully, check one's back, a companion or two would help with this, but consume scarce resources). Wound treatment would be realistic as well.

 

I'm thinking a meteor impact scenario, since that could cause bad enough weather patterns (flooding, earthquakes, eruptions, mud/rock slides) to plausibly put an end to most civilization, but wouldn't leave huge amounts of radiation like a nuclear war.

 

The player could have multiple starts.

 

They have been on a hunting trip in the mountains (right now I"m thinking Sierra Nevada chain), which would provide the player with a plausible reason for basic marksmanship ability, as well as a starting item set of a rifle (not much ammunition though), a knife, compass+map (though the map's usefulness is limited, as it is pre-disaster), binoculars, tent, and limited food and other survival supplies.

 

Or perhaps they could be a person who lived in one of the many small towns or gated communities of rich people in that area, but was either a stay-at-home spouse or didn't go to work that day (most of the employed people in town would have commuted down to the cities earlier that day and died). This start would have far lower starting skills in survival and weapon-handling, but would have far more supplies, and a home/town that would be fairly safe for a short while, until people managed to prey on it.

 

The hunter start would center around surviving, either alone, with a small group, or trying to find a community to join (hard, since those that survive the first few weeks would be very distrusting of strangers, unless their worth was demonstrated). The community start would center around keeping the community safe, though setting out alone is allowed.

 

A community could be influenced to turn into one of many types (not only by decision, but from seemingly unrelated actions in quests that have consequences), they could become democracies, dictatorships, etc.

 

One would encounter all sorts of people, former hikers, other hunters (these groups would vary in disposition), bandit groups (perhaps a dangerous group of prisoners escaped from a nearby prison, with automatic weapons stolen from the guards, could be a major enemy), and other communities of all types across the spectrum.

 

Food would be precious and eating necessary (slow decrease in stats without eating or drinking, until death; cannibalism would be an option, but with elevated disease risk, and a witness from any community or group escaping would result in permanent hostility from that group), bullets would be very rare outside of communities where there was a well stocked gun shop or ammo stockpiler, and maybe some cabins created by survivalists (many of whom would ironically have died in the cities, though as time goes by, these cabins become less and less likely to be uninhabited/unlooted).

 

The idea is to create a game so unforgiving (with most players likely to die within a month when playing on easy) that it would force the player to make decisions based on something more than "I want to do a good/bad guy playthrough", instead thinking "This will really help me survive, should I do it?". Although this would make being a "good guy" harder than being "evil", it's also harder to be the good guy in real life. The game would reject a "sliding scale of morality system" however, and concentrate on the reactions of other groups based on how your actions work with their systems of morality. The same action will provoke a very different reaction from different communities. Much of the subject matter will be dark, but not 40k-style grimdark for its own sake, rather doing what it takes to make a realistic portrayal of what the collapse of civilization would bring (depending on how one played, it would be quite possible for there to be moments of beauty as well). Basically the sort of stuff that's still pretty much confined to books, as most movies tend to stay within certain bounds to avoid making audiences feel the sudden urge to down entire containers of Prozac.

 

A game of this sort would take tons of time and money to create, and would make very little, as the content necessary to make the right impact would skirt, if not hit, an AO, and most gamers don't want a game so insanely difficult or complex.

 

I probably shouldn't hold my breath, and should just stick with books.

[Achilles]

A powerful king/lord/et cetera finds out that he is dying/has been cursed/et cetera and must travel the lands/realms/what have you to find a cure before his power fades. The game starts at level 20 and "levels"/quest items, etc allow you to choose which attributes weaken or are lost and so on. Picking up party NPCs becomes essential as does gaining their favor. The idea is make it to the end of the as in-tact as possible.

 

Short version: Take what MotB did for resting mechanics and apply it to the leveling/questing in general. I would play the hell out of such a game.

[jonathan7]

I'd like a much more realistic RPG style game, based in either

 

a) Japan around the 15th Century, no magic or the like, but several classes including Samurai (which I'd go), merchant, ninja, mafia or noble. The different classes would require different styles, the aim would be to grow in your sphere of influence, make choices good or bad. If your a Samurai, you would be aiming to become the best warrier in Japan, merchant richest, etc etc, it would involve a variety of quests depending on the character type (assassination missions for a ninja as an example, or bodyguard to stop such missions as a Samurai). The aim would be realism, in terms of combat etc

 

b) 6th Century Britain, and the rumours of King Arthurs court, the part of the UK you are in savage and untamed and vikings are raping and pillaging. You could either join the Vikings to take over the land or seek to find the mythical kingdom and repel the invaders. Various classes available again, such as knight, bowman, monk and what not, again one of the aims would be realism so no magic, and the different classes would have specific attributes useful to the kingdoms they joined. For example a monk, would bring literacy, books, recording history, beer etc, a knight would bring their abilities in War etc etc.

 

Anyways, large Sanbox style worlds, but with much greater RPG mechanics than scene in games such as Oblivion, Fallout etc, first person perspective like the afforementioned games, but much better writing a la KotOR/TSL... Anyways thats what I'd like!

[Ctrl Alt Del]

I forgot all my unwritten game designs I would imagine when playing a particularly memorable game, a nice book or glass of wine. I will try to remember some. Meanwhile...

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

I could go on at length about why a game like that won't be made (at least on a full budget), but I'm sure you know it all already, so what the hell.

 

One game idea I had once worked like this:

You die in a car crash and wake up in a world of spirits, and realise that your soul isn't ready to be a spirit. Your memory fractured, you try to find out how you ended up crashing, and why your spirit refuses to be liberated. Yes, I know, very Torment-ish, but the twist is in the gameplay.

 

Being an ordinary guy, the player can't use weapons (not directly). He does have the ability to "channel" spirits through him, and use their abilities to his advantages. There would be about about 50-ish usable spirits in the game, who would be a cross between Pokémon and NPCs. Their 'abilities' will depend on what they were before they died, of which they will have a lose remembrance. The player can spend time with them and follow their side-quests to unlock the memory of how they died, at which point they will become fully-powerful.

 

How powers would be implemented is something I can't decide:

Model 1: The player can use items in a poltergeist way, i.e., he can command the spirit to use a particular item for him, without physically appearing to have any connection with the object. For example, directing a spirit to pick up a fire extinguisher and throw it on someone, or direct a spirit to stop a truck from crashing into a wall, etc.

Model 2: Superhero. The spirit blends with the player, and he can shoot fireballs, talk charmingly, use rifles like a pro, etc. etc.

 

The latter model would be too obvious, so I'll expand on the former model.

The key for the player would be to creatively find solutions to problems using the spirits he has at his disposal. Moral choice and consequence is lumped in, so his actions will please/displease spirits. This is not tied to how much the player uses a spirit - if you displease a spirit you use very often, you just won't be able to use him anymore. As the player doesn't level-up himself and has no superhuman powers by himself, he would be pretty much helpless in a way.

 

At the same time, you'd have to maintain a Vampire-style Masquerade about the spirits, or else the spirits themselves panic and end up fighting you (or something). That's the basic, any way.

Seems like a concoction of Killer 7, a Shin Megami Tensei game and some movies dealing with afterlife that were out recently. I like where this is going, Sabrez. Can you come up with a storyline on par with the gameplay? Something to drive the players forward.

 

The idea is to create a game so unforgiving (with most players likely to die within a month when playing on easy) that it would force the player to make decisions based on something more than "I want to do a good/bad guy playthrough", instead thinking "This will really help me survive, should I do it?". Although this would make being a "good guy" harder than being "evil", it's also harder to be the good guy in real life. The game would reject a "sliding scale of morality system" however, and concentrate on the reactions of other groups based on how your actions work with their systems of morality. The same action will provoke a very different reaction from different communities. Much of the subject matter will be dark, but not 40k-style grimdark for its own sake, rather doing what it takes to make a realistic portrayal of what the collapse of civilization would bring (depending on how one played, it would be quite possible for there to be moments of beauty as well). Basically the sort of stuff that's still pretty much confined to books, as most movies tend to stay within certain bounds to avoid making audiences feel the sudden urge to down entire containers of Prozac.

I'm intrigued by this too. Although, you see, this kind of "ultra-hard" game is really complicated to do. Once the challenge-o-meter reaches a certain point, a good chunk of gamers start complaining. Just take a look at Fallout: New Vegas's Hardcore Mode. It wasn't so hard and added a very welcome (and totally optional) realism and still was shunned by a portion of the community.

 

I love the post-apocalyptic thematic, it's excellent into delve into human behavior studies. I think that if such a game is ever made then not having a developed character interaction would be a sin.

[mur'phon]

Good ideas everyone, aside from Achilles' sugestion (which is a simple feature and is championed by Yatzee), I'm afraid none of those will ever materialize.

 

Bacon: You might want to check out dead state. Sure it's the wrong apocalypse, wrong perspective, and essentially just the comunity option (as well as being indy). However, the basic idea of making dificult decisions, often regarding how others percieve you in a post apocalyptic world is the same. That, and while zombies might not be realistic, they make for an interesting game mechanic. Oh, and check the forums for design updates, they make for a good read in adition to allowing the comunity to give feedback.

[Sabretooth]

@CAD: No clue how the story would go, sorry.

 

Another game idea I had worked something like this:

 

Role-playing/adventure game with a story focus. Actually, it's more or less 2-3 different game ideas, but I'll try to elucidate:

 

1. The game starts with a nuclear explosion wiping out a city. Think Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The situation is like this: the city happens to be the capital of a country (fictional universe), bordered by two pesky neighbours, all three countries being nuclear armed. The detonation immediately causes a high alert on the two neighbouring countries, who invade Country A to secure its nuclear arsenal and restore stability. The bombed country itself forms something of a wartime government in the next most populous city, fighting as the Resistance against the two invading countries.

 

The player is a draftee in the Resistance (or alternately, a college student in a hostel who gets embroiled in the resistance). The game being constantly shifty, would focus on human relationships, rather than a quest-model. There would be a lot of very difficult wartime decisions to make, and the game would come to question the meaning of fighting for peace, nuclear weaponry, war crimes, nationalism, so on and so forth. All the while, there would be the three-way war, and the ever-lingering question of who set off the bomb in the first place.

 

The game would be divvied up into "chapters" or "segments" - Tarantino style. Some of these I'd planned are like this:

 

1. Running errands for the Resistance in a city and forming connections before it gets invaded. Your knowledge of the city, and your connections suddenly become crucial, not just to the Resistance, but to the two other countries' forces.

2. Infiltrating one of the foreign countries through a vast desert with a fellow intelligence agent, disguised as refugees. The journey is arduous, and your buddy ends up dead (most likely because of bandits). You take him to his hometown, a desert village, and participate in his funeral (while still undercover).

3. You desert your army and land up in a peaceful village that stayed out of the combat. You decide to erase your previous identity and start living "normally", out of the mayhem of war. The people however, still put the burden of security on you, and you are ultimately called to defend the village as it comes under attack from the opposing force. (May be tied in with previous-mentioned chapter).

4. Not really a chapter, but a situation inspired off the situation in Darfur, and a hint towards the seriousness of the game's decisions. You are taking a city, attacking house-to-house. Your CO and his team rest in a house, and he commands that you rape the lady of the house. The rape won't be depicted, and obviously not interactive, but it's a choice. You can alternately stand by your morals and kill your CO, but would your comrades follow you? Would you risk your life for your morals? Perhaps too serious, but then that's daily life for some people in the world.

[mimartin]

Any games that you badly want to see made?

My dreams are not that outrageous (impossible as they may be) I want a Star Wars game that does not involve Clone Wars, Lego and does not completely stink. Maybe that is asking for too much.

[Astor]

I remember talking to Herm (At least I think it was Herm) sometime last year about a CSI style point and click adventure with a hardass Twi'Lek Detective working Coruscant's nightshift.

 

So, that, I guess.

[Totenkopf]

I'd be content, atm at least, to have a game come out that doesn't drown you in DLC that should have been in the game originally or rely too heavily on zombies as your main target. As far as RPG elements are concerned, more conversations w/your mates and the possibility (as mentioned) of some of them dropping out of your party....either b/c they don't like how you operate or b/c you want to switch 'em out at your convenience. Maybe even have former squad members end up as enemies.

[swphreak]

I think some kind of cop game in a GTA format would be cool. Get in car chases, shootouts, etc. It looks like LA Noire is going to be like that, but it's set in 1947 (and maybe more focus on detective work). I'd prefer a modern setting.

 

 

I'd also like to see a GTA set in the future with lasers and hovercars.

[Tysyacha]

Tysyacha the relative pacifist here:

 

I would love to see a game that's a cross between an RPG and a murder mystery, set in a haunted house. Depending on the choices you make and the friendships/rivalries you form during the game (which lasts from 7 PM to 7 AM--a dinner party), the culprit can be any of the NPC's you meet.

 

Obviously, you create your own character (either male or female). You also give him or her background traits and a psychological profile (a la Dragon Age or Mass Effect, albeit with a broader range of choices. Three simply isn't enough for those who want to create a wide range of characters and personalities). Your character would form friends and enemies along the way, because let's face it--depending on how s/he acts, not everyone is going to like him/her right off the bat. If your relationship is deep enough (even for one night), you might have a romance scene. You may not SURVIVE until morning...*muahahahaha* There's a killer--AND ghosts--on the loose!