What Game Would *you* Make?

[Acumen]

You often hear complaints that the gaming industry is stagnant, obsessed with cloning and the need to dumb their games down to suit console kiddies.

If you had the resources, what game would you like to create and release? You needn't worry about market pressure. It could be within an existing genre, or something completely revolutionary. Be as detailed as you like.

TLA and 0 A.D. for example are cop-out answers, BTW. We're talking about what you'd like to create some day outside of WFG's current projects.

It doesn't even have to be a brand new title. Is there a certain game that you love, and wish it could be remade using modern technology? What would you do differently?

[Night Hawk]

I would like to have a game that play's in 1 huge world, with country's you can control (like an empire building RTS), but you can also play the game like in morrowind. You should be able to ask frends to join your world and build city's togeter or quest togeter.

You should be able to select the setting, like modern world or fanatsy world (like LOTR) or any age in history, or start as caveman and see your empire evolve during time.

Offcourse when playing the game in First person style, you should be able to do any job you please, from freelance adventurer till race car driver or pilot of a 747 or a dragon tamer

I can think of a lot of features, bu i think you get the point

[Wijitmaker]

FPS Westeren Arcade Complete with:

Cowboys

Indians (er... Native Americans)

Trappers

Banditos

Soldiers (probably civil war era)

Just a wild and crazy shooter game.. something like Time Splitters II

[Swellick]

Won't get into all the details, but a computer game that picks up where AOEII left off - from the Renaissance to the 1902 - the last technology would be flying powered flying. Also, there would be flying throughout, from Da Vinci's crazy hawk wing thing to the Wright Bros. Flyer.

This is a great idea for a thread. WFG should try to do a few of these ideas - it would be fun.

[DarkAngelBGE]

I would make a game that is settled 10, 000 years ago. Weapons are not swords etc. Nope, it depends on how thick your stick is, what the 3d model of your stone in your right hand is like etc.

[Cougar]

My ultimate game would be a world simulation, like Morrowind on steroids. NPCs would lead real lives instead of must milling around. News and gossip would travel around the world as in real life. Legends would be created based on what you've done or how you've done it. My game would be awesome.

[Black Op]

I would make the ultimate FPS war simulator. It'll be like a combo of America's Army and BF1942 on steroids, where opposing armies, air forces, and navies duke it out over a massive Thearer of War. It'd have everything, with street to street fighting, tank warfare, air raids, navy battles, and so on.

[DarkAngelBGE]

I would make a game that is settled 10, 000 years ago. Weapons are not swords etc. Nope, it depends on how thick your stick is, what the 3d model of your stone in your right hand is like etc.

I was just kidding there if you haven't noticed (although that my be a good topic for a game, too). Creating a world simulation would be my dream as well. Ever since I have finished my Duke-AI I have dreamed of creating the code for an AI (in c++ or so), that would act like a human player. It is just fascinating...I wouldn't compile or debug this code, just something t be proud of. And you never know, maybe some game developer comes along who creates a world simulation and thus is willing to get a licence of the AI..

[Swellick]

Well, as a matter of fact, that was only one out of several:

Napoleon: The Emperor Returns - take Napoleon form Waterloo to escape from Elba and win the world.

A 'what if' RTS

The Gallic Wars - take command of a centruy of, Archers, Calvalry, or Infantry, lead them straight into the glorious fray.

Sort-of like an ancient shoot'em-up

How the West was Won - Your choice; become cheif of a powerful tribe, or ride at the head of the sixth cavalry.

Indians and Calvary RTS

Warrior of the Sea - Your are the midshipman in command of a sloop of war, after you have successfuly carried out your orders you are promted... Until finally you are Lord Admiral.

Naval RTS/RPG

General of War - Be the commander of a modern day army... and into the near future - equipped with ammazing wepons, and your determanation to win. Requires mirominding like no other game.

Explorers of Greatness - Become: Marco Polo, Colombus, Cortez, Lewis and Clark, Indiana Jones, Glen Armstrong, and a heap of others in your quest to discover the universe. RPG for discovery, fighting when nessesary.

Zulu - order your hordes to butcher the British. RTS

Insects - gather, colonize, destroy. Take the comand of ants, bettles, wasps, spiders, or termites in your quest to capture the world. RTS just like anyother RTS just different units.

Over the Top - become a British sergant in command of twelve men loyal and true; set explosives, introduce new technology, Charge over the top, and capture enemy positions. RPG, RTS

There are several more, but I don't have time to tell all of them right now...

[Widukind]

WW2 Urban resistance-GTA3 style with multiplayer and full immersion kinda like Pumped Up BF1942. Located in Poland probably,

[Fire Giant]

Hmm... I guess I'd make something like a simulation of the Roman Empire. This would be playable in two views: You could be a citizen in Rome, and starting as 18 year old, you could choose your way of living and your carreer. Go to the Legions and follow the eagle ? Get commander of a cohort in a legion ? Or stay in a town and build up a "company" ? Try to get into the senate or be a rich man in rome ? Or even go to the Arena and get a Gladiator or wagon driver ? OR - the final goal - get emperor of Rome and rule the empire !

The other viewpoint would be the classical RTS one - building up the Roman Empire right from the beginning and trying to conquer Europe.

Of course, the game would be in super-realistic 3d-graphics and with real simulation character, especially in battles (somewhat like the Rome - TW screenshots).

That's just an idea... but IMO it's impossible to realize that

[DarkAngelBGE]

That's just an idea... but IMO it's impossible to realize that..

Why ?

[Fire Giant]

That's just an idea... but IMO it's impossible to realize that..

Why ?

Oh well... it would be much TOO complex. See, modelling, programming and documenting the whole Roman Empire would take centuries... also, I guess there would be so many possibilities what you could do (it should be almost like real life), that it won't be possible to do that just by standard coding... there would need to be some *real* artifical intelligence involved, cause otherwise such a game won't be handleable (at least I think so).

[Quacker]

I've always had this idea for a MASSIVE multiplayer game. Have you played Lords of the Realm 2? (if not, find the demo, so you can understand better )

Anyhow, it'd be like Lords of the Realm 2 FPS style with a life. I.E., if you were a first time player, you would join the server as a young adult (18 yrs old), and from there go around the city leading whatever life you want, but of course everyone would want to join the army Then your province would go to war with other provinces, and you could become a knight, archer, crossbowman, etc, and fight in wars against other province's castles/towns, etc. That means whatever town you start in could be under attack!

[Acumen]

Great responses, guys. I'll get back onto my ideal game at a later time, but for a *remake* of an existing game ...

I'd choose Bloodnet. You've probably never heard of it, but it was an RPG released by Microprose back in the '80s. A classic case of awesome concept hindered by crippling execution.

+ Excellent setting. A cyberpunk world infested by an ancient vampire menace, set in 21st century Manhattan. The two should be contradictory, but the gothic and dystopic just seem to blend into a general dark sense of noir that works so well together that it deserves to be further exploited.

+ Strong plot. As a netrunner recently bitten by a vampire lord at the tail-end of what should have been a sleepwalk deal, only your neural implant is keeping you from becoming his thrall. You need to restore your humanity and overcome the undead threat before your implant burns out, and you succumb to eternal bloodlust.

+ Very well written dialogue, richly seeded with hustler slang and inventive cyber-jargon. Party members regularly made comments, breathing life into their personalities, in a fashion that would be used to great effect much later in Black Isle's Baldur's Gate series and Planescape: Torment.

+ Each character in the game had a unique well-drawn detailed personal portrait. And there were a *lot* of NPCs.

+ Life path character creation system, similar to Bethesda Softwork's Daggerfall, where you could answer a series of multiple-choice questions to define the nature of your protagonist rather than just rolling stats at character creation.

+ An interesting, though simplistic, implementation of Lawnmower-Man-style cyberspace, with upgradeable deck hardware and collectable softs.

+ You could assemble and dismantle items in inventive ways. For example, strip a weapon down to its basic components to reuse its fuel source in a different weapon, dismantle a decking unit to scavenge its memory chips to put into your own deck, or assemble a flamethrower from household parts. You could even mix your own drugs with a pharmaceutical kit.

+ Combat system featured a number of unique features for its time, such as aimed shots to different limbs of an opponent, and the ability to bite or mesmerise an enemy using your vampiric powers.

- Extreme reliance on Bram Stoker's Dracula for vampire authenticity. Hence, vamps walk around in dinner jackets and capes in a futuristic world, but nobody "bats" an eyelid. On the other hand, it does provide material for some interesting game mechanics (for example, in order to find a means to rest, you must acquire a coffin and line it with soil from your homeland).

- Very poor graphics outside of character portraits, especially for NPC sprites. Tremendously out of scale and barely-there animation. They have to be seen to be believed.

- An incredibly awkward interface, further encumbered by a woesome lack of online help (for example, you have no idea how much damage any weapon inflicts). Inventory icons are barely distinguishable, and most actions are laborious to an extent only matched in my mind by "Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura". For example, although there was a great deal of wasted space on the inventory screen, you could only view a few of your inventory objects at a time and had to click scroll arrows to get the rest.

- Though there was a wide variety of character statistics (including several that I've never seen elsewhere, such as Innocence, Leadership, Faith and Jury-Rig), I have a strong suspicion that most of them weren't used by the game at all. They also seemed to increase and decrease beyond my control.

- Most tasks are "Fed-Ex quests", requiring you to bring object x to NPC y in exchange for object z. This actually fit in very well with your wheeling-and-dealing profession in the game and the dialogue kept it interesting, but was still far too basic.

- Really awful turn-based combat, mostly on account of the aforementioned interface and artwork.

- While the game was really non-linear (you could accomplish most tasks in the game in any order), there was nothing stopping you from killing critical NPCs. In fact, if you didn't regularly consume the blood of the living, your bloodlust would peak and you'd drain a random NPC or companion dry, probably scaring off half your party in the process. Furthermore, a single botched conversation could alienate a character whose circumstance was vital to progress in the game. Not only that, but it was possible to be snared by net security at any time while navigating secure areas of cyberspace. This would permanently erase all software from your decking unit. This was a very unforgiving game where you needed to save early and save often.

[Acumen]

Heh. C L A S S I C, A S S E M B L E, and C I R C U M S T A N C E were censored in my last post.

[DarkAngelBGE]

Yeah sorry, Stuart. Fixed.