(Looks at selected list on Wikipedia)...oh. I guess I should've been a little more specific. I (mostly) meant using characters from epic fantasies like Harry Potter. In other words, I'm thinking more along the lines of this, this, and this (just naming a couple of examples).
edited Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:36:20 by Nexus
...!
Miss Frizzle is top tier
TV Tropes #1 Anime Fan
@J Bridge: I know, I saw that in a gaming magazine about a month after I had this idea, and I was like "What the HELL! They totally used my idea!!" But then I realised it didn't seem to include the part where you turn into a 100-metre tall monster made of rubble, trees, vehicles, parts of houses, and people. I was kinda disappointed.
edited Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:05:12 by [AOD]
Feedback Of Heteronormative Gender Stereotypes in Anime
@[AOD]: Well then it isn't exactly a game concept only you think is a good idea. :P
Um, guys, Lego Universe
would like a word with you.
edited Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:25:31 by Mediiic!
...Why did I not hear about Lego Universe before now?
I hope I can try this thing out somehow, darn shame my lappy probably can't handle it.
...Why did I not hear about Lego Universe before now?
I hope I can try this thing out somehow, darn shame my lappy probably can't handle it.
- squees at LEGO Universe*
The crew
Ooh! I know! How about a first person combat game in which you play as a normal infantry man and fight in every major battle in human history, from ancient Egypt to The Gulf War or such.
...although nobody's said I was a psycho rapist before. Except SCIII, but that doesn't count." - Bobby G.
A Phoenix Wright-style game about scientific peer review!
...!
Oh! I've got a couple more.
- A Mario Bros. themed Advance wars (or similar) game made by intelligent Systems.
- A Smash Bros. SRPG also made by Intelligent Systems.
- A Phoenix Wright-style game about Psychiatry.
A Phoenix Wright-style game about Psychiatry.I'm pretty sure that's already been done. Sort of, anyway.
I got one: A strategy RPG from the creatos of Disgaea featuring Characters from DC Comics. Nippon ichi's quality+Annals of DC History= WIN(though i'd imagine that it would only appeal to american fanboys and thus alienate those waiting for Disgaea 4)
Speaking of DC Comics: A game where you play as Superman and your powers aren't nerfed. "Press any button to win".
I know that joke's been done before. I don't care.
A friend from grade school and I always wanted (and had gone so far as to start) to make a game that combined the storytelling of the RPG-like gang-war progression of Necromunda with the random world-building of an old classic called Scavengers of the Mutant World.
Now, some background on Sot MW, since most people haven't played it: Basically the game created a new world out of somewhat generic tilesets every time you started a game (Dwarf Fortress style). Scavengers's world creation would spread weapons, armor, ammo, blueprints for various vehicles, and the parts necessary to build them spread across the world in various shelters ("vaults," if you will). The game's algorithm was set up so that you could always find the blueprints and parts to build a vehicle capable of flight or sailing somewhere on your starting landmass, and you'd need to get to mountain or island cities to build one of the endgame vehicles (such as a space ship or time machine). Brilliant, right?
Well, the problem with the game was how the party worked: in your home vault, you had 20 randomly generated characters, rated on a D&D-like 3-18 for the main stats (unweighted), from which you had to scrape together a party of 4. Once characters died, they were gone for good, so if your one guy with 18 strength got rad poison and died, good luck carrying that car engine out of a searched vault. There was also no save feature unless you were logging off.
On top of that, enemies scaled up more rapidly than your party, so eventually you were fighting gamma demons that attacked your guys twenty times to your one attack... unless you had a super-speed or laser-eyes mutation (yes, you could get laser eyes), your powerful team of killers could be annihilated quite anticlimactically.
So my thought was that you could build a post-apocalyptic game that randomized a city (with a few permanents for story progression), team members (making sure to include recruitment from other "vaults" and that nobody is ever completely useless of course), and item/quest placement (you wouldn't always get the same gear or quests on a play-through).
It would be tricky, and I'm sure there's no way to make it with graphics that would be up to modern standards, but given that roguelikes are still prosperous after all these years, perhaps it would work. But probably not.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." - E. Gary Gygax
One thing I always wanted to see was a JRPG with a very low Cutscenes to Storyline ratio, with a big backstory that would be learned by talking to countless NP Cs and engaging into numerous sidequests. The FFXII went out and I cried "This is genius!"
And then I felt alone, so very alone... So I guess this is a "Video game idea I'm sure that only I think is a good idea" even if the game was actually made.
Anyway, one thing that comes so rarely in VG is opinion. I mean, we see a lot of political and religious intrigue nowaday, but it remains mainly conflit for power between uper-class leaders. For instance, we never get to see an election: there might be a good federation against the local evil empire, but somehow, world threatening situation and godlike Nietzche wanabes never come around an election year: We never see the head of state of the heroe's country losing an election, we never hear NPC's talking about the plummeting ratings of the Lord President of the Federation of Fantasy-Land because he gave the MacGuffin to his daughter's (the staff chick of the heroe's posse) new boyfriend. We rarely comes across newspaper: come on, even if you take Medieval stasis into acount, news bulletin already existed in ancient Rome and during the Han Dynasty, so how come we rarely see a NPC or main character commenting the news or reading a news paper, or an op-ed? On the religious side, we have the classic fundmentalist/corrupt/sold-to-crystal-dragon-Satan church, but the trope is becoming overused without using all of its potential: when do we see fundamentalists and reasonable people within a same religion, with all the tention, arguments, and potential clash that comes with? The opinion of the everyday man could be made into powerfull story elements: a shift in opinion within a the population of a powerfull republic chich cause a face heel turn of massive proportion (the main sponsor of the heroes turns against them not because of a coup or a conspiracy, but because its people actually decided to do so: bonus points if said people have legitimate reasons to abandon the protagonists): the main religion turns evil because its moderate yet corrpted high priests are overthrown by a revolution, a clash within the same team that does not comes with treason or some karma induced event, but simply because the main characters have a strong disagreament that breaks the nakama... so many ways to make a story interesting that are never used in videogames...
I got another one: a party game based on tv tropes. no idea how this would work but i'm sure veterans like fawriel and tangent could expand upon it, i mean look at us we're delightful and eccentric people, what's not to like about it?
Trivial Pursuit: EVERYTHING.
That's what that would be.
edited Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:32:52 by Matrix
Avvie-free for life!
@Meta Four: It wouldn't be an insta-win if it were a boss-rush type game that pitted Superman against folks like Darkseid, Imperiex, Anti-Monitor, Braniac, Sinestro, Parallax etc. in rapid succession with no save or pause function. Maybe simultaneously. Even for Silver Age Supes, that would be Nintendo Hard.
Better still, have them respawn infinitely and take away their Villain Balls.
edited Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:23:02 by Recon5
The Good Troper
Batman as an open-ended RPG.
Frank Miller Psychotic?
DCAU complex?
Silver Age wild?
It all depends on how you play!
Mathematics Is A Language.
Okay, this is really off-topic because I'm sure a lot of people would love this, but I just got this idea while watching AMVs.
You know those rhythm games where you "make" music and get rated for how close you were and stuff? And you know Elite Beat Agents, where you have to do some stuff in the rhythm of the song to cheer on people in a little story so they succeed in whatever it is they're doing?
Well, my idea takes both of these a little further.
Imagine an Earn Your Happy Ending setting, probably anime-style but with a subdued color scheme except for certain significant powerful colors when appropriate. The story is full of surreality, interpersonal drama, and epic battles between people and abstract concepts given form.
Before and after every level, there's a brief cutscene to establish where the plot is going. Then, the gameplay starts. A bout of anxiety potentially leading to suicide, a fight between lovers that might end in a hug or a break-up, or a physics-violating battle to the death... All of these, you have control over, because only if the music you produce is powerful enough will the character have enough strength to pull through. Basically, the levels are animated music videos, and your rhythmic precision and energeticness decide over its course.
When I watch AMVs, I want to merge with the music and explode in a burst of emotions.
That game would probably be the closest I can possibly get unless I ever learn how to breakdance. ._.
edited Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:56:22 by Fawriel
OG Troper
A survival horror-esque FPS set in WWI. Ypres, preferably. And when I say survival horror, I mean accurate portrayal of the conflict. The bodies, the gas attacks, the pointless charges, the artillery barrages, the flame-throwers. Bassically, the goal in the game is to survive as long as possible. You'll get orders to charge, or have to defend the trenches etc. It's all really hopeless and scary.
To contrast, throw in some Scenery Porn and Scenery Gorn. The no man's land between the trenches looks like Mordor it self, except in the spring, when the poppies pop up, but the sky will be just gorgeous, since that's really the only thing the soldier had to look at.
If done correctly, it would be like playing Left 4 Dead as a survivor, except the zombies have guns too, and occationally, shit's gonna blow up, or your skin might melt off if you don't get your gas gear on fast enough.
the statement above is false
Youkai Serious
About Mascot Fighters...
We need a Universal Webcomic Fighter. The licencing would be a bitch, but it would be so cool. Or somebody could just make it in MUGEN.
Characters: Penny Arcade: Gabe and Tycho, as a tag team
Order Of The Stick: Elan (the only character I can think of that would be balanced for a fighting game)
Dr Mc Ninja: The titular Doctor
VG Cats: Aeris (she's the more violent one)
Unforgotten Realms: Sir Schmoopy (in his first incarnation)
Homestar Runner: Either Homestar himself, or Marzipan (because she would be the only girl, discounting giant pink housecats)
Angry Video Game Nerd, although it stretches the definition of "webcomic"
Something Positive: Davan (Joke Character!)
edited 14th Mar '09 6:08:32 PM by mrsaturn
They assed first. I am only retaliating in an ass way. -The Dead Man's Life
Oh, I know what you mean. At some point I figured that it might be cool to make my own ROM hack of a Pokemon game, creating my own mons and giving it a completely new plot and everything - but of course, I don't have the time or programming knowledge to do this. So I decided not to think about it too much.
Months later, I now have a small bunch of critters with intricate backgrounds, an idea for a storyline that's already easily more complex than those of the real games (not that that's hard to achieve, though I don't know if DP managed to push any boundaries yet), and a whole set of ideas on how to subvert old Pokemon traditions and push the engine's limitations for the sake of awesomeness and teaching moral lessons to the player. ... Needless to say, I need to make this game at some point. ._.
Scholastic characters seem pretty random from what I see in Wikipedia's "Selected list of publications". Which may or may not be a good thing.