Pitch Your Video Game

Saw a similar one under Live Action TV and thought I'd start one here. Just for fun, pitch your idea for a groundbreaking new video game and see how your fellow Tropers respond to it.

Just a basic overview will do. Basic plot, possible story-arcs, characters and possible voice actors. Any genre will do.

A military first-person shooter game based around World War 2.

Awesome idea. Someone has to do this.

First off, the style. It'd be Half Life-style, with all first person and no cutscenes. Information would be given to the player while they are still in control, or while there is an actual in-story reason that they cannot move.

It would take place in the Jurassic Park universe, but quite a while after the events of the three films. BioSyn won the competition with InGen after John Hammond's death, ultimately buying them out legitimately. The Five Deaths were all converted into BioSyn bases - one island was set up to be a new Jurassic Park (focused entirely on entertainment of guests with dinosaurs, with much lower standards than Hammond had), one island was devoted to research on the behavior of dinosaurs in the wild, one island was devoted to experimentation on enclosed dinosaurs, one island was devoted to genetic engineering of new, manmade creatures, and one island was devoted to management (with some large spaces for Corporate's pet dinosaurs).

The game starts with everything running normally, though the irresponsibility of BioSyn means that they were setting themselves up for a problem even more than InGen was. There are thousands of people in The Five Deaths; the player starts out with one unlocked. Soon after the game starts, there is a disaster leading to a massive, eventually total loss of control and security for BioSyn. This is where Roguelike elements begin - though the starting conditions are the same each time, the disaster will modify the environment differently each time the game is played. Also like in Roguelike games, there may only be one save at a time, and dying erases the save. There are loads and loads of achievements (you don't see them as you get them, because there are so many that that would be distracting and would hurt the atmosphere). Unlocking achievements unlocks new people, when the game starts you may choose between any of the people you have unlocked. The people you unlock slowly increase in the ammount of authority and power that they have - it becomes easier to survive, and you'll learn more and more BioSyn secrets. Characters range from civilians visiting Jurassic Park to security guards and janitors to scientists and supervisors to, eventually, after days of play, executives.

I have to go to sleep now, more on this idea later.

I'd be interested in seeing something like this in any kind of game, not just the one you described.

I'll get the ball rolling

Title Heretics

Genre Science-fiction 3rd Person Shooter (think Mass Effect)

Rating M (ESRB)

Synopsis A dystopian future setting, on a planet similar to earth with Human Aliens. The main character wakes up in a skyscraper thats on fire with no memory whatsoever. The main character eventually finds out that the city is under attack by an unknown force. As the main character escapes the building, he meets the city guard, who try to kill him. The main character eventually finds out that the attack was an attempt to wipe out a pocket of Mafia-like rebels. Eventually, the main character ends up with the rebels during a fight. You can tell that they have a strange and semi-suspicious interest in the main character, and that they probably have something to hide.

And that's just a vague description of the first 20 or s 30 minutes of a giant, hours long game.

As it turns out, the city guard isn't just a city, but a majority of the galaxy itself (that have all been conquered at some point).

This game is designed to be The Epic, and features a galaxy full of places that the character must go to to stop the dystopian government and find out who he really is.

edited 17th Nov '11 10:59:14 PM by Crusader1025

P Down's seems to be Jurassic Park meets Deus Ex. That could be really cool if done right

Planescape Torment Recycled IN SPACE! could be cool.

Name: A Hero's Story

Genre: Action/RPG (more like Paper Mario than Final Fantasy)

You play as a 17 year old superhero who has (best described) Rubber Man-plus-Making a Splash powers.

More later.

A very deep and complex class-based FPS hat simulator.

(This is actually an idea behind a G Mod comic I wanted to do long ago, but I didn't follow through for reasons.)

Name: Deuxl

Rating: M

Premise: You are Thomas Hawkins, a respected science major and all around nice guy. On the verge of medical breakthrough, Hawkins is suddenly the prime suspect for the murder of his younger colleague, a crime which he didn't commit, but did. A wanted man, Hawkins must search the criminal underworld for the real killer, who just happens to bear a striking resemblance to the man he framed. The problem? The criminal is a master of disguise, and Hawkins isn't the only one he's done this to.

Yeah, a total mindscrew of a game, with gameplay elements from L.A. Noire (interrogations), the Batman Arkham series (hand to hand), and Max Payne (gunplay).

With Zeus Mendoza as Thomas Hawkins and Willem Da Foe as the Big Bad (unnamed).

edited 18th Nov '11 11:58:04 AM by SoCalToa

This is actually in the works. I write for it, but it's not my idea.

A Firefly MMORPG

Ever wanted to tool around the 'Verse and see the sights? How about homesteading out in the Rim or Border systems? Oh, I get it, you're of a more dangerous sort, you want to run hot cargo.

Well, chum, here's the thing, you need to find work for that pretty little ship of yours in order to make a little scratch. Talking a bunch of smack to Badger won't get you a job, no sir. You need to butter him up a bit. Nothing blatant, he sees through that, just little subtle things, like how nice his hat is.

Oh, so you got a load of cargo now, eh? Well, who's crewing this ship of yours? Oh, some fellow Player Characters, nice. Lemme guess that brute is your Public Relations guy - no? He's the Engineer?? Well, color me surprised. Ah, a backup pilot. Smart. So, what do you think about that Miranda Broadcast a few weeks ago? Yeah, the one that got Parliament all up in a tizzy, got some Ministers fired, and saw Blue Sun Corporation stock plummeting. I lost a lot of coin when that happened, lemme tell you...

Oh, is that so? Well, between you and me, I'd keep that opinion to yourself, chum. There are plenty of people around these parts that would not take kindly to someone of your persuasions, even if you're the guy delivering their illicit cargo.

Just one final thing before you blaze yoruself a trail of glory, chum, stay out of the Blue Sun system. Alliance got that whole thing under lockdown, what with all the Reaver crap, but I still say that there's nothing left of the gorram Reavers than scrap metal and bleached bones.

Shoot me a wave if you need a hand looking for work, I got a few contacts out on Ezra that can hook you up with some small-time deliveries.

Title: Spiral Arm

Genre: Strategic RPG

Plot: In the not to distant future, humanity has left Earth barren and devoid of resources. A federation of great minds created terraforming and FTL technology, and has since colonized hundreds of distant planets. You play the only survivor of an attack on a courier shuttle, who's stranded on an unimportant desert world. So you declare yourself to be the new captain and round up a crew of anyone who wants to leave. But life in deep space is no picnic, and the job the previous captain set out to do... Well, let's just say he wasn't paid nearly enough for it.

Gameplay: Most of it would consist of leading your Ragtag Bunch of Misfits on jobs to earn money and fame, so you can make a name for yourself out on the frontiers of space. Maybe you can find out why someone wants you dead in the process. You can pick up more specialist crew members later, and all of them have their own unique sidequests and backstories.

Class and Morality are combined in the Archetype system - you can play as a Bounty Hunter, a Pirate, or a Trader. Side missions are clearly one of the three, and Story missions have optional objectives which lets you complete them in different ways, one for each archetype. Completing a mission lets you choose a perk from a large tree, so that not every Pirate is the same, for example. Examples of perks would include vicious melee attacks, bonuses to boarding actions and terror tactics for Pirates; trick shots, stealth moves and battle formations for your crew for Bounty Hunters; and deceit, manipulation and technology upgrades for the Traders.

More mundane skills like driving, shooting and hacking would work on a proficiency system, where your character gets better at doing things by doing small challenges. For example, killing three enemies within five seconds with a rapid fire gun to gain Automatics Proficiency, or driving 200 meters without crashing to improve Ground Vehicles. There would be a limit on how many proficiency levels can be gained in a mission, to discourage level grinding. Your team-mates just improve whatever they like doing over time, faster if you've taken them on a mission recently.

In combat, as well as fighting on foot and ordering your away team about with simple instructions, you can switch to a tactical overhead view at any time using an link to your ship's sensors. From there you can give more detailed orders to your team or have the ship do a bombing run or a huge orbital strike, once you've upgraded it.

edited 18th Nov '11 12:44:06 PM by onFyre

Title: Vampire's Rage

Genre: Action-Horror

Rating: M

So basically you play as the super-powerful champion of a clan of Vampires that come with all the basic and advanced abilities they're known for having (you lack many of their weaknesses of course). You inhabit an abandoned town being occupied by a unit of highly trained soldiers dealing in paranormal-operations. The place has been over-run by c-list undead who've depleted the food supply (that is to say, the population) and it's your job to find a way to move your clan to a new location while protecting the location of your lair.

Your character is terrifyingly over-powered; I'm talking Class 3 on the Super Weight. You're given regeneration, functional immotality, hypnosis, limited telekinesis over people, limited telepathy and mind-reading, extreme strength, flight, teleportation, Shapeshifting, intangibility, casting illusions and others. None of the Mooks are capable of killing you, so instead you're supposed to play the part of a predator, sort of like a reverse of the Survival Horror genre (not unlike The Darkness or the Batman Arkham series with elements of Prototype). The real threat is the possibility of the sun rising before you've completed your work; sunlight won't kill you instantaneously, but it will kill you very quickly with sustained contact, and it's the only thing you can't heal from (also, it'll only get brighter past dawn). From here you can travel in shadows to find a way back to you coffin again (which reverses the gameplay into Survival Horror).

The threat your enemies offer is that they could potentially destroy you so thoroughly that it takes you much longer to come Back from the Dead, wasting your time (reviving is presented as a mini-game in which process is sped up and the clock noticeably counts down your remaining time). You can offset any destruction dealt to you through drinking blood.

The enemy undead are harder to subdue and they're potentially capable of reviving to attack you later; you could put in the extra time to destroy them completely, but it's often not worth it (they're much less likely to appear, are fewer in numbers, are affected by fewer of your powers and never run away).

Meanwhile the humans travel in large, organized groups, and attack you intelligently, setting traps and ambushes and the like (and they'll only learn more about how to kill you as time passes). Fighting them is like being on the receiving end of a tactical shooter. Their ability to walk around during the day can also turn the tide on you if you're trying to make your way back to your coffin. They're Made of Plasticine and will run away if you act viciously enough, but if you give their superiors enough reason, they may just decide the cause of the undead outbreak isn't worth finding out and wipe the town off the map (this is an instant game over).

To be clear, the actual reason for the outbreak will play out differently than it does in most games. Your character will only pay attention to the details that affect Vampires and it's possible the humans will pull out without ever finding out. To you it's ultimately a side-story.

One interesting mechanic is that the more people you kill, the more likely you come to giving into your bestial side. This can make your character even stronger and the combat more visceral, but it tends to waste time going on a rampage is far from your goal. Also more importantly, it wastes food: while these people are a threat, they're also your and you clan's only source of fresh blood. Blood can hold off the your own bestial instincts and bringing home a live meal can lessen the chance of one of your own venturing out. You don't want this to happen since they're not as powerful as you and are a bit more likely to get killed (which, unlike you, can happen to them). You have to find a balance between killing for food and not provoking too much human resistance.

The game is gore-heavy and presents the player as a horrific monster. For the most part you're the deadliest creature in the game. The main attraction comes from playing on the player's sadistic instincts and drawing them into the nature of vampire society. Sort of like asking the question of "What if something like Hellsing were playable?"

edited 19th Nov '11 11:21:29 AM by Alucard