Describe your perfect video game

[Ross Scott]

1. Some sort of FPS / RTS / MMO hybrid where there's constant fighting, but a large emphasis on building bases. You could go out and around the world to collect resources, then use them to fortify bases and outposts and build all kinds of structures to better defend them. Balance would be achieved because the more outposts you control, the more spread out your troops would be. You COULD actually destroy the enemy base in theory, in which case, they would all turn to guerilla warfare and have advantages like being able to disguise themselves as friendly enemy troops until they could bring down the enemy base from within. If you wanted to widen the scale of the game, you could control small AI squads along with your character. Experienced players could maybe have 6 AI people, very experienced strategists could maybe have have as many as 50 AI people to command along with them.

 

2. (can't discuss since I'm going to turn the concept into a movie)

 

3. Maybe a game where you work as an office employee at a soulless company and your goal is to cause as much chaos and problems as possible without getting caught or fired. Might work as a strategy game or else stealth action one. Goals would involve getting co-workers or managers blamed for things, outright sabotage masked as accidental, just causing a lot of problems covertly. Timing your actions with coincidences caused by other employees would get you bonus points. You win the game when your company goes out of business.

 

4. Basic deathmatch game that takes place in a giant hardware store. The only weapons you have are things you can pick up off shelves. PVC pipe, screwdrivers, gloves + circular saw blades, etc.

 

5. Something similar to what The Crossing was going to be, where one person plays as the "hero" character, and everyone else plays as your generic bad guy trying to bring him down (but with much worse stats). Once you die, you respawn as another bad guy farther back.

 

6. Story driven suspense game where reality begins breaking down slowly day by day for the main ordinary character, contemporary setting.

 

7. General zombie "hold-out" game where zombies are relentlessly attacking a cabin or house or something and you have to survive as long as possible (I think I'll get my fix of this between Project Zomboid and Fortnite though).

[Eedo Baba]

As would be expected, Ross, your ideas are the best. On the subject of a story driven games where reality breaks down for a normal main character, you should look at Indigo Prophecy. It has it's fair share of big problems and the gameplay is never amazing, but in terms of a surreal and just bizarre story, it does get the job done.

[Axeldeath]

Indigo Prophecy.

 

I wouldn't call that a descent into madness, I mean

 

 

you start the game by stashing a dead guy that you may or may not have killed

 

 

Project Zomboid

 

Just got to hope the developers get their act together, it's hard to feel sorry for them after the fiasco they caused by not thinking at all.

 

Fortnite

 

Has there been any word about whether this is coming to PC? What with Epic being the developers.

[Ross Scott]

As would be expected, Ross, your ideas are the best. On the subject of a story driven games where reality breaks down for a normal main character, you should look at Indigo Prophecy. It has it's fair share of big problems and the gameplay is never amazing, but in terms of a surreal and just bizarre story, it does get the job done.

I already played it. My opinion was that I thought the first half was fantastic and the second half was just kind of dumb and got worse from there. I think the turning point for me was when the game switched from having a very down-to-earth setting and situations combined with increasingly eroding reality to doing supernatural Matrix-style kung fu moves versus the entire police force.

 

Has there been any word about whether this is coming to PC? What with Epic being the developers.

No, but I remember seeing this article a few months ago and assumed Fortnite was part of the line-up:

 

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/315610/epic-confirms-work-on-5-new-games-and-unreal-engine-4/

 

Epic has a history of essentially saying "screw PCs" with the release of the last generation of consoles, and now they're saying "PCs are where it's at" since the hardware limitations are becoming more apparent on consoles. My guess is they'll go back to "screw PCs" again as soon as the next console generation comes out, but hopefully they'll make some good games in the meantime. Regardless, I'm quite encouraged by the Fornite trailer.

[Axeldeath]

"screw PCs" again as soon as the next console generation comes out

 

Well it's rumoured that the Xbox 720 will only be getting a Radeon HD6670.

 

Lol.

[Blightmare]

1. Some sort of FPS / RTS / MMO hybrid where there's constant fighting, but a large emphasis on building bases. You could go out and around the world to collect resources, then use them to fortify bases and outposts and build all kinds of structures to better defend them. Balance would be achieved because the more outposts you control, the more spread out your troops would be. You COULD actually destroy the enemy base in theory, in which case, they would all turn to guerilla warfare and have advantages like being able to disguise themselves as friendly enemy troops until they could bring down the enemy base from within. If you wanted to widen the scale of the game, you could control small AI squads along with your character. Experienced players could maybe have 6 AI people, very experienced strategists could maybe have have as many as 50 AI people to command along with them.

 

2. (can't discuss since I'm going to turn the concept into a movie)

 

3. Maybe a game where you work as an office employee at a soulless company and your goal is to cause as much chaos and problems as possible without getting caught or fired. Might work as a strategy game or else stealth action one. Goals would involve getting co-workers or managers blamed for things, outright sabotage masked as accidental, just causing a lot of problems covertly. Timing your actions with coincidences caused by other employees would get you bonus points. You win the game when your company goes out of business.

 

4. Basic deathmatch game that takes place in a giant hardware store. The only weapons you have are things you can pick up off shelves. PVC pipe, screwdrivers, gloves + circular saw blades, etc.

 

5. Something similar to what The Crossing was going to be, where one person plays as the "hero" character, and everyone else plays as your generic bad guy trying to bring him down (but with much worse stats). Once you die, you respawn as another bad guy farther back.

 

6. Story driven suspense game where reality begins breaking down slowly day by day for the main ordinary character, contemporary setting.

 

7. General zombie "hold-out" game where zombies are relentlessly attacking a cabin or house or something and you have to survive as long as possible (I think I'll get my fix of this between Project Zomboid and Fortnite though).

 

I'm liking all the idea's except for #2.

 

I tried to emulate 7 with Gmod, but yeah. Just doesn't feel right.

 

# 4 and 5 I have actually thought about myself quite deeply. As I am studying for the game industry, they are 2 idea's I've already personally considered. Only issue would be getting it to a company that won't tear it apart and into something else with their "oh gamers want THIS" habits. :/ Best bet would be to just hold off and make my own company but that's risky as hell in this day and age. Not to mention that'd be another trip back to my college under the business program.

[Ross Scott]

"screw PCs" again as soon as the next console generation comes out

 

Well it's rumoured that the Xbox 720 will only be getting a Radeon HD6670.

 

Lol.

Someone might want to make a separate thread on that, I saw one source saying it would be a 7000 series chip.

 

I'm liking all the idea's except for #2.

 

I tried to emulate 7 with Gmod, but yeah. Just doesn't feel right.

 

# 4 and 5 I have actually thought about myself quite deeply. As I am studying for the game industry, they are 2 idea's I've already personally considered. Only issue would be getting it to a company that won't tear it apart and into something else with their "oh gamers want THIS" habits. :/ Best bet would be to just hold off and make my own company but that's risky as hell in this day and age. Not to mention that'd be another trip back to my college under the business program.

Oh I think you'll like #2.

 

As for the hardware deathmatch idea, that's literally small enough one person or a small team could do on their own. I think the key to making it fun would be to not hold back on the variety of weapons and have endless options. If you started crafting capabilities with duct tape, you could have endless possibilities.

 

Another idea I forgot was basically expanding upon the map "de_jeepathon2k" for Counter-Strike, it some of the most fun I've ever had in the game:

 

8. Have Counter-strike style combat, but with drive-bys. Both sides start off next to a vehicle and everyone hops in. One person drives and everyone else rides along cruising for the enemy to open fire on them. People could get out of the vehicle at any time, but then obviously move much slower on foot. It would be best set in a suburban setting, having random civilians running away once the gunfire starts would be a nice touch too. Maybe make the teams be rival gangs, or maybe a variant of gangs v. the police, something like that. It sounds simple, but I found it insanely fun when playing with the most basic of graphics back in the day. It was hilarious seeing people ride on the hood or back of the car just to get a ride, seeing dysfunctional people fight over who was driver, watching people fall off the car from lag or bumps, and seeing people panic when you shot their driver, so the car would coast to a stop with the entire team in it.

[Axeldeath]

Someone might want to make a separate thread on that, I saw one source saying it would be a 7000 series chip.

 

These are the latest circulating rumours, I believe IGN started them. I've also seen a lot of rumours regarding MS wanting to compete with the Wii U rather than the PC and the next Playstation, focusing on their Kinect tech to draw in the casual gimmick-loving crowd.

 

Regarding the tech, with a HD6670 there'll be DX11 etc. but it's so not next-gen, by the time it comes out (I estimate 2013) PC tech will be so far ahead of it, as it's already beating the rumoured specs easily. And I believe there's a reason for this, if the specs really are going to be that low then it's quite likely the new Xbox will try and contend with the Wii, offering prettier graphics while still at a low price point (a HD6670 is only about $80.00... retail) to draw in both frat boys and stay-at-home mothers at the same time.

 

Going a bit off-topic though, I just wanted to reply to that. If any more rumours come in that are a bit more concrete I'll probably start a new thread regarding it.

 

---

 

OT: My perfect game would have to be an immersive sim in the style of Deus Ex and the Thief games except with a larger focus on emergent story-telling and a rich atmosphere, that isn't full of scripted events. Rather, it would say "here's your objective, here's a fuckload of tools, now figure out how to get there".

It would also have an RPG system like Deus Ex, where if you weren't skilled enough in a particular area- you sucked at it, for example, in Deus Ex if you were untrained in sniping your aim would be as steady as a drunk, but put points into sniping and you could become an expert marksman. I believe RPG elements like those really increase immersion, and it makes you feel as if you're actually improving rather than just getting "+8% chance of critical hit" for levelling up your strength.

 

Level design would either be hub based with linear sections in the vein of Human Revolution, or levels that are open and allow multiple playstyles to succeed found in games like Thief II and the original Deus Ex.

 

-edit- Also, factions. I can't believe how awesome the inclusion of factions that actually interact with each other is, the only games I've played that have done this believably is S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. It makes the world feel so alive and it's so awesome that this stuff happens dynamically. Oftentimes my immersion is shattered because it's always me that's causing everything to happen, especially in games like Call of Duty and BF3 where I can stand around for 5 minutes then suddenly a building will explode because I walked towards my objective.

 

Half Life 2 semi-solves this by having things triggered ahead of and behind you rather than everything obviously being triggered by you. But when it all happens dynamically it's just so much better. It also adds a layer of choice and consequence into the game, I could risk my life/medkits/vodka/diet sausages and help those stalkers, or I could sit back and wait for the battle to end so I can loot everyone's corpse but that means the stalkers become a bit more hostile towards me and I might not get their help later on in the game during a sticky situation.

 

-edit 2-

Some sort of FPS / RTS / MMO hybrid where there's constant fighting, but a large emphasis on building bases.

 

Maybe you'd like to give Nuclear Dawn a go? It's a multiplayer FPS/RTS hybrid that's very rewarding once you learn the game. One layer is the commander who's given a traditional RTS view of the battle and can build various building to attack/defend and collect resources. While all the while aiding other players on the server who are all playing it as as class-based FPS who's main goal is to capture points and attack the enemy base.

[Alyxx Thorne]

4. Basic deathmatch game that takes place in a giant hardware store. The only weapons you have are things you can pick up off shelves. PVC pipe, screwdrivers, gloves + circular saw blades, etc.

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

[The Scoutman]

3. Maybe a game where you work as an office employee at a soulless company and your goal is to cause as much chaos and problems as possible without getting caught or fired. Might work as a strategy game or else stealth action one. Goals would involve getting co-workers or managers blamed for things, outright sabotage masked as accidental, just causing a lot of problems covertly. Timing your actions with coincidences caused by other employees would get you bonus points. You win the game when your company goes out of business.

That could create some quite rewarding moments, but im afraid it would get VERY repetitive given the limited space and number of NPCs

Only issue would be getting it to a company that won't tear it apart and into something else with their "oh gamers want THIS" habits.

Marketing already butchered countless good ideas.

And when they say "gamers want this" they mean "sponsors want this"

[ISGC]

Basically Mass Effect but with graphics that look like real life, AI so advanced they can respond with an unlimited amount of responses realistically to whatever you say. (with Kinect or whatever) Being able to import your own face, put in your real name and characters will actually call you by that, and amazing gameplay where, again, do whatever you want, single player or multiplayer. And there's SO MUCH shit to do you never get bored of it. But, let it also have a great overarching story that determines the fate of the galaxy or somethin'.

this sounds awfully close to what real life is

[Eedo Baba]

As would be expected, Ross, your ideas are the best. On the subject of a story driven games where reality breaks down for a normal main character, you should look at Indigo Prophecy. It has it's fair share of big problems and the gameplay is never amazing, but in terms of a surreal and just bizarre story, it does get the job done.

I already played it. My opinion was that I thought the first half was fantastic and the second half was just kind of dumb and got worse from there. I think the turning point for me was when the game switched from having a very down-to-earth setting and situations combined with increasingly eroding reality to doing supernatural Matrix-style kung fu moves versus the entire police force.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much my own view of the story as well. The first half sets it all up as a character driven story where the characters react to the weirdness of the goings on, then it does take a 180 towards some half-hearted action and takes focus off the characters.

[Ross Scott]

That could create some quite rewarding moments, but im afraid it would get VERY repetitive given the limited space and number of NPCs

You're right in that the setting would be repetitive, though I don't think the gameplay would be, I can think of hundreds of different things you could do to cause problems in an office in a game. It would likely take a ridiculous amount of programming. There would have to be a lot of cutscenes, things like board meetings, private conversations between managers, etc. to keep the story aspect interesting. There wouldn't be specific objectives for you to do. If you did nothing, work would go on as usual, no change. Changes would only occur based on things you've done. It would almost be the player's responsibility to make it non-repetitive. Getting half your department fired, thus it gets relocated due to a smaller staff size, sabotaging the bathroom so employees have to travel to different floors to use it, starting a trash fire that spreads, so part of the floor ends up getting sealed off, there would be lots of ways to keep it going.

[Pinkie Pie]

Basically Mass Effect but with graphics that look like real life, AI so advanced they can respond with an unlimited amount of responses realistically to whatever you say. (with Kinect or whatever) Being able to import your own face, put in your real name and characters will actually call you by that, and amazing gameplay where, again, do whatever you want, single player or multiplayer. And there's SO MUCH shit to do you never get bored of it. But, let it also have a great overarching story that determines the fate of the galaxy or somethin'.

this sounds awfully close to what real life is

Exactly I want it to FEEL like real life. Whatever thing you're doing I want it to be like you're actually there. I'm not really caring so much about virtual reality so much as a game where I feel like I'm talking to real people.

[Axeldeath]

So in other words a schizophrenia machine.

[Pinkie Pie]

A schizophrenia GAME.

[Eedo Baba]

That could create some quite rewarding moments, but im afraid it would get VERY repetitive given the limited space and number of NPCs

You're right in that the setting would be repetitive, though I don't think the gameplay would be, I can think of hundreds of different things you could do to cause problems in an office in a game. It would likely take a ridiculous amount of programming. There would have to be a lot of cutscenes, things like board meetings, private conversations between managers, etc. to keep the story aspect interesting. There wouldn't be specific objectives for you to do. If you did nothing, work would go on as usual, no change. Changes would only occur based on things you've done. It would almost be the player's responsibility to make it non-repetitive. Getting half your department fired, thus it gets relocated due to a smaller staff size, sabotaging the bathroom so employees have to travel to different floors to use it, starting a trash fire that spreads, so part of the floor ends up getting sealed off, there would be lots of ways to keep it going.

 

I'd like this idea more if it was corporate espionage. The character you play as was sent in undercover to destroy this company by any means necessary, without being traced back to the competing company.

[Blightmare]

As for the hardware deathmatch idea, that's literally small enough one person or a small team could do on their own. I think the key to making it fun would be to not hold back on the variety of weapons and have endless options. If you started crafting capabilities with duct tape, you could have endless possibilities.

Well our final project for the course is to design a game. I can probably make a simpler version of that as my project and expand upon it after graduation. May as well start now since I'm learning the tools required.

[Box Tactics]

I have two ideas. I'll write one up right now and I'll write the other one up in a few days.

 

This idea is kind of simple. I had it a while ago, before I was really even very into videogames. It'd be fully immersive, like Half-Life - you never see anything from third-person perspective, and control is never removed from you. The game's plot is basic - you work in one city, but you live in another. You've just finished your monthly period of work, so it's time to drive home. The game consists mostly of vehicle segments, but care would be taken to ensure that you feel like you are a human being sitting in a car, not as though you have somehow become the car.

 

Things would start out very boring, like Desert Bus. You just stay on the road and follow your GPS's instructions. It wouldn't be totally Desert Bus-ish, though - there would be plenty of scenery (which the graphics engine would ensure look amazing), and you can stop and get out of your car to interact with things in the towns you pass through - in fact, you have to on occasion to get gas. The game is entirely in real-time (though obviously it stops when you pause it or save it or such). The day/night cycle is based on 24-hour time, your car moves at realistic speeds, and towns are spread out about as far as they would be in real-life.

 

So, for the first few hours that you play it, it's pretty boring. Your car features can entertain you - you have an entertainment system that you can set to various radio channels and listen to for entertainment. Great pains would be taken to make sure that the radio can keep itself entertaining in the long-term. You won't be hearing the same programs repeating very much unless you're an obsessive player who plays through the game over and over again for hundreds of hours. Many techniques could be used for this - a huge database of built-in radio programs, splicing in actual radio programs on occasion, regularly downloading large DLCs with loads of new radio programs... maybe there could even be a computer program in the game to synthesize realistic radio programs without even involving a human.

 

Okay, I know that this sounds like the most boring game ever, but it gets better... As you continue on your course, things get more and more suspect. You start seeing weird things out of the corner of your eye. Crossing animals that don't look like anything identifiable. Cars passing by that don't have any drivers. The subtlety decreases over time. Things slowly get weirder and weirder, scarier and scarier. Your car clock begins acting up and the day/night cycle quits acting right, sticking with night even though by all rights it should be switching to day. The towns you pass through start seeming more and more off... the people in them are sparser, and closer to the uncanny valley.

 

Your radio starts going weird, too, delivering weirder and weirder radio programs to you. Entire broadcasts in nonexistent languages. Political talk programs on issues that noone has ever had. "Music" that consists entirely of nasty, irritating, unlistenable noises. A station that's just a heartbeat and breathing and slobbering noises. Don't think that they're forming a coherent image of another world - they're not, they all contradict each other.

 

Things keep getting more and more horrifying until your inevitable death. And believe me, your death is inevitable - if for no other reason than that the distance to your home is constantly increasing, so you can't ever "win". The game would be a rogue-like: the map is randomized, so you won't be encountering the same situations every time you play.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Guest (see edit history)

[Alyxx Thorne]

Would be nice if you could paragraph your sentences better, Box Tactics, but that's a pretty good post.