Your game ideas?
Author
Discussion

Pentoman

Original Poster:

4,835 posts

292 months

Friday 8th August 2008
quotequote all
Not sure I've seen this before but post your game ideas. I keep feeling I have loads which don't really exist. It's too easy to make a linear shoot 'em up or a sports game I suppose.

Mine:

More games set in free roaming cities/worlds that aren't boring. GTA is a great one but why does such a game have to be a real city? Could be in an abandoned future city, a post-armageddon city, etc, or even on an alien world (but there's a risk of just turning into another alien shoot-em-up then). I suppose STALKER is the closest thing to this in my opinion. To me it wins for creating a new, imaginary world but which you really get into, just like reading a good book.

Alternatively a driving game which isn't about going full speed. Think about it - we've all done it in every game and it takes something exceptional to make a new flat out racing game better than another. But on the road in real life it's perfectly interesting just going out for a cruise at more normal speeds in a nice car. So what is it about a game that makes doing this same thing totally dull? Train simulator/bus simulator/flight simulator games have a big following - it appeals to people to try real life stuff but without the cost or real life drama. So why not make them into games with the same demands but allowing you to have fun if you want to too. I think people enjoy doing what they're not supposed to, so going on a rampage with a bus in "bus simulator" probably would be (briefly) more entertaining than doing so on a mission in GTA.
Test Drive Unlimited had the best feeling of driving for driving's sake rather than to win a race, especially the showrooms and test drives, but ultimately still got boring when the novelty wore off the game life felt sterile. Call me sad but a game where you get to attempt daring realistic overtaking maneouvers would really thrill me!! paperbag And perhaps if you crash the damage is realistic instead of bouncing off and carrying on meaning there's no skill to it. Perhaps you could get mad commuters in Mondeos who you end up racing? And finally, games never have realistic traffic levels, I imagine down to computer power capabilities. Boo.

R1 GTR

2,152 posts

242 months

Friday 8th August 2008
quotequote all
If I could ever get it to work, Test Drive Unlimited would be my favourite game probably, as I agree with you on the free roaming idea. As I can't use it, I don't know what the physics are like, but something with that gameplay, i.e. driving exotic/fast cars on normal roads for the hell of it, and the physics accuracy of a pro-sim, such as rFactor, would be something I'd buy straight away. Would bring the concept of going out for a drive in your dream car almost life-like.

All IMHO of course hehe

ETA: After posting this I read to the end of your post and realised you've said a lot of what I have hehe

Edited by R1 GTR on Friday 8th August 14:52

Fume troll

4,389 posts

241 months

Friday 8th August 2008
quotequote all
Why don't games use proper 3D headsets / goggles yet?

That's what I want.

Cheers,

FT.

DKMsport

1,970 posts

218 months

Friday 8th August 2008
quotequote all
Carrying on with the test drive thing as that game was great if only it were more realistic, I'd love a game where its baisicly the entire world in a game, keeping a racing theme you can do races to earn money so you can fly to what ever country you wanted and buy what ever cars but when your not racing you can just drive around real cities, around entire countrys and their road networks and if it takes 3 hours to get from nottingham to london at 70-80mph then thats how long it takes to do it in game at 70-80mph. If you want to travel from one side of america to the other in a red 67 mustang then you can do. If you want to copy the long way round thing that Ewan Mcgreggor and Charlie Borman did then you can. The cars, every car you can physicly buy in real life would be available and any tuning and performance parts that are you can buy for your car in real life you can buy in the game so if its your thing you could max power a 1.1 saxo or you could build your onwn 1000bhp supra turbo. Then theres the police, if your spotted by them driving like a loonatic at 150mph then they will give chase, pull over for an smaller fine (no prison in my game) or have fun trying to get away. Speed cameras....there will be non!! lol All races would be like track days so they would be at proper race tracks rather than on the streets and you just turn up and enter a race that your car is able to compete in.


Something like that would be an ideal game for me.

LaurenceOnSynth

135 posts

219 months

Saturday 9th August 2008
quotequote all
i remember me and a mate having this conversation a whie ago.
we thought it would be cool to have a game based around driving, but that incorporated free-roaming and GTA style life like goings on, like buying houses etc.
i suppose it's alot like test drive, but instead of a hawiian island, we thought about maybe having the WHOLE of the UK, with real roads.
imagine driving down the M6 on your playstation pulling off and cruising up to your house that's actually mapped in the game!

we thought it was cool anyway biggrin

sparks87

12,738 posts

242 months

Saturday 9th August 2008
quotequote all
LaurenceOnSynth said:
i remember me and a mate having this conversation a whie ago.
we thought it would be cool to have a game based around driving, but that incorporated free-roaming and GTA style life like goings on, like buying houses etc.
i suppose it's alot like test drive, but instead of a hawiian island, we thought about maybe having the WHOLE of the UK, with real roads.
imagine driving down the M6 on your playstation pulling off and cruising up to your house that's actually mapped in the game!

we thought it was cool anyway biggrin
Within the next decade a game world the size of the UK will probably be possible to do as a game, but would anyone want a game that big? I wouldbiggrin Think about it, you would never tire of the same old places like GTA, it would be years worth of gameplay!

gazza_3

6,436 posts

237 months

Saturday 9th August 2008
quotequote all
sparks87 said:
LaurenceOnSynth said:
i remember me and a mate having this conversation a whie ago.
we thought it would be cool to have a game based around driving, but that incorporated free-roaming and GTA style life like goings on, like buying houses etc.
i suppose it's alot like test drive, but instead of a hawiian island, we thought about maybe having the WHOLE of the UK, with real roads.
imagine driving down the M6 on your playstation pulling off and cruising up to your house that's actually mapped in the game!

we thought it was cool anyway biggrin
Within the next decade a game world the size of the UK will probably be possible to do as a game, but would anyone want a game that big? I wouldbiggrin Think about it, you would never tire of the same old places like GTA, it would be years worth of gameplay!



I'd love A game like that. How fun would it be, I'd drive everywhere in the game, just for the hell of it.

sparks87

12,738 posts

242 months

Saturday 9th August 2008
quotequote all
gazza_3 said:
sparks87 said:
LaurenceOnSynth said:
i remember me and a mate having this conversation a whie ago.
we thought it would be cool to have a game based around driving, but that incorporated free-roaming and GTA style life like goings on, like buying houses etc.
i suppose it's alot like test drive, but instead of a hawiian island, we thought about maybe having the WHOLE of the UK, with real roads.
imagine driving down the M6 on your playstation pulling off and cruising up to your house that's actually mapped in the game!

we thought it was cool anyway biggrin
Within the next decade a game world the size of the UK will probably be possible to do as a game, but would anyone want a game that big? I wouldbiggrin Think about it, you would never tire of the same old places like GTA, it would be years worth of gameplay!



I'd love A game like that. How fun would it be, I'd drive everywhere in the game, just for the hell of it.
Especially if you could set traffic to "low" and have a garage full of supercars!

BigAlinEmbra

1,629 posts

241 months

Saturday 9th August 2008
quotequote all
sparks87 said:
gazza_3 said:
sparks87 said:
LaurenceOnSynth said:
i remember me and a mate having this conversation a whie ago.
we thought it would be cool to have a game based around driving, but that incorporated free-roaming and GTA style life like goings on, like buying houses etc.
i suppose it's alot like test drive, but instead of a hawiian island, we thought about maybe having the WHOLE of the UK, with real roads.
imagine driving down the M6 on your playstation pulling off and cruising up to your house that's actually mapped in the game!

we thought it was cool anyway biggrin
Within the next decade a game world the size of the UK will probably be possible to do as a game, but would anyone want a game that big? I wouldbiggrin Think about it, you would never tire of the same old places like GTA, it would be years worth of gameplay!



I'd love A game like that. How fun would it be, I'd drive everywhere in the game, just for the hell of it.
Especially if you could set traffic to "low" and have a garage full of supercars!
Speed cameras would be a fker tho.

Mattt

16,664 posts

247 months

Sunday 10th August 2008
quotequote all
Why would you want a game version of the UK? Just get in your car and enjoy the real world.

I do like gaming, but it should never replace reality.

sparks87

12,738 posts

242 months

Sunday 10th August 2008
quotequote all
Mattt said:
Why would you want a game version of the UK? Just get in your car and enjoy the real world.

I do like gaming, but it should never replace reality.
Well obviously real driving is one of life's great highlights, thats why we are all members of PH.... but half the stuff you could do in a video game you couldn't get away with in the real world. It would be a lot of fun and quite good for learning routes, providing its accurate.

timbob

2,205 posts

281 months

Sunday 10th August 2008
quotequote all
I think, given that it takes a number of years to recreate a small city, such as Liberty City in GTA4, we're not going to see the whole UK mapped out in a PC game, ever.

It's nothing to do with the power of computers, and everything to do with the man hours of creating it all in 3d - which would take decades.

Mattt

16,664 posts

247 months

Sunday 10th August 2008
quotequote all
Not decades, if you look at technology such as Google streetmaps, it won't be far off.

Codefaster

281 posts

222 months

Monday 11th August 2008
quotequote all
timbob said:
I think, given that it takes a number of years to recreate a small city, such as Liberty City in GTA4, we're not going to see the whole UK mapped out in a PC game, ever.

It's nothing to do with the power of computers, and everything to do with the man hours of creating it all in 3d - which would take decades.
I take your point, but detailed UK mapping with landmarks and elevation is being developed/improved all the time (for Sat Nav applications), and you can expect to see some convergence with the games market at some point. Probably not for a while though until the quality is there.

You're right about authoring environments in 3D though. Some of the tracks in GRID were upwards of 800 man-days to produce, and the process that they go through from conception to signoff is immensely complex.

rhinochopig

17,932 posts

227 months

Monday 11th August 2008
quotequote all
I would like to see an on-line shooter of Aliens. The premise being that they have taken over earth and the players have to take it back city by city. The game mechanic would be similar to BF2142 but with more indoor levels. The aim would be to wipe out the alien's nests.

BiggusLaddus

821 posts

260 months

Monday 11th August 2008
quotequote all
Online RPG set in shogunate Japan.

You chose your social class at the beginning, and then chose from the careers available to you (ninja, yakuza, samurai).

Game devs are the Shogun and crack down on any ninja clan, yakuza gang or group of samurai that gets too powerful to keep the game interesting for new players.

Whole idea of the game revolves around ninja's and samurai being cool and me wanting to be one.

WildCards

4,061 posts

246 months

Tuesday 12th August 2008
quotequote all
Pentoman said:
Alternatively a driving game which isn't about going full speed
I remember a game called Quarantine

You play a taxi driver in a plagued city where you have to earn enough credits to escape, the city is free roaming and you could drive anywhere and could have weapons on your cab, which you could upgrade. I'd love to see a remake of that, very playable.

71notout

3,674 posts

266 months

Tuesday 12th August 2008
quotequote all
MILF Strip Poker

Fidgits

17,202 posts

258 months

Tuesday 12th August 2008
quotequote all
WildCards said:
Pentoman said:
Alternatively a driving game which isn't about going full speed
I remember a game called Quarantine

You play a taxi driver in a plagued city where you have to earn enough credits to escape, the city is free roaming and you could drive anywhere and could have weapons on your cab, which you could upgrade. I'd love to see a remake of that, very playable.
i remember that now... that was a great game...

scorp

8,783 posts

258 months

Tuesday 12th August 2008
quotequote all
timbob said:
It's nothing to do with the power of computers, and everything to do with the man hours of creating it all in 3d - which would take decades.
Procedural rendering takes care of that (e.g. the grass / foliage is generated by noise-type algorithms rather than placed by hand).