Your videogame ideas...

[Alex79]

I'm sure we had one of these threads many years ago, but lots of people have come and gone since then, so thought I'd make a new one.

We've all got them. Ideas for videogames. Maybe something totally new, maybe something adapted from another game, or a dream game idea that you'd love to see.

So what are yours?

This thread was actually inspired by an idea I had whilst playing a very specific section of Cyberpunk 2077 last night, whilst going through one of the Braindance sections. I really think it's a fantastic game mechanic. For anyone unfamiliar, think of Batman's detective mode in the last two Arkham games (Origins and Knight) where he can replay incidents, analyse the scene etc. It's like that, but more complex and involved. But it got me thinking, the way you can either watch the video through the eyes of the person who recorded it, or you can enter "edit" mode, which allows you to pan and scan around as you have free movement within the area.

So I was then thinking, what if there was an interactive story where a single event happens. Let's say a bank heist or something, but you can occupy the eyes of anyone involved for a period of, say, one hour. You could watch through the eyes of the robbers as they head towards the bank and plan out the mission. You could watch through the eyes of the bank clerk walking to work, or the couple arguing in the bank before the crooks arrived. Or the police who get the initial call out and then engage in a gun fight with the robbers.

It's literally just an interactive story which you can fast forward and rewind, but you can occupy the mind of anyone who's within that world. It could be told over chapters. The planning of the heist, the robbery and the getaway, and the fallout afterwards. But when viewed from the police eyes, it's a routine patrol, then the armed response, and then having to go and speak to the family of the officer who was gunned down. One big story, told through anyone's eyes.

There would be no further gameplay interaction than that - you don't control the robbers, the police, the bank clerk, you just watch the story unfold however you like.

I think that would be really interesting.

Anyway - tell me your ideas for games.

[FrittteShopClerk]

A game in which your character is a werewolf by night and human by day. In a modern setting and also the day and night cycle would be tied into your console clock.

So Vampyr+Altered Beast+Animal Crossing.

[Kasuga-san]

I think it would be kind of cool to have an RPG series centered around things like vampires, werewolves, witches, and hunters fighting various types of monsters. In my head I've thought about ways that could play out, like a mix of Persona 3-5 with more Western style RPG branching storylines, but approaching it in ways different from the Bioware Good/Evil or the current trend of "all options kinda suck". The bigger thing for me is setting games in places we don't get games placed in rather than yet another New York/Paris/LA/London/Tokyo setting or games that explore historical periods that don't get as much attention. I've also spent way more time than I should thinking about systems for persistent world games that would create more personal adventures for players and allow players who don't invest their lives in such games to feel like they have a part in the world and can join their friends who play more in ways that don't make them feel like they don't belong with the rest of the team (which I guess stems from my last experiences with games like Destiny). Since I'm not a developer I don't know the feasibility of any of the stuff I come up with (likely not if they're not implemented at this point).

[FrittteShopClerk]

I've always been a bit unsure why nobody ever made a game based on The Wickerman.

Make it like The Sims.

[DeadpoolNegative]

If I have a dream game, it's an open world video game based on the Marvel character Deadpool, as he fights his way GTA style to the top of the Marvel super villain food chain.

--Dan

[Jobobonobo]

Some ideas I have had brewing in my head for the longest time include:

- A 3D platformer with a claymation aesthetic. With modern technology, something like this could look amazing. Maybe the protagonist can be someone like Morph from those old shorts in the seventies and you can change both the environment and your own body shape to navigate and solve puzzles. Have not thought much of gameplay beyond the aesthetics to be honest. But would still love to see it!

- An underwater action adventure where you play as a tiny fish skilled in martial arts. Would be a combination of Zelda type exploration and puzzle solving with ghost of tsushima type combat. Your weapons consist of stuff such as a sword fashioned form a sea urchin spine, nunchucks made from coral fragments, etc. Of course, controls would need to be really, really good to make navigating underwater as enjoyable as possible. So admittedly, this would be the hardest sell of all as water levels are not well liked but I think with the right control system it might just work.

- An RPG set not in post apocalyptic times but in the actual apocalypse. Set 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period which was the time of the "Great Dying", the worst mass extinction in the history of the planet. You play as a ragtag group of ancient reptiles and ancestral mammals using various abilities as you heard rumours of a great evil that is behind the disaster facing the planet and you set off to stop it in the hope that conditions get better. You will be going through various dying environments with countless hazards and lots of enemies that will do anything to survive in this harsh world. Basically an entire RPG if it was set in the Dark World of FF6 and also some much needed representation of prehistoric life that isn't dinosaurs and ice age mammals.

[markfm007]

This is pretty vague but I've always liked the idea of making a game that's centred around a particular area, like a town or community. Games like that often stick in my mind, like Majora's Mask, Stardew Valley, Night in the Woods, even stuff like Life is Strange or South Park Stick of Truth. It just gives everything a sense of permanence, and it's fun finding new areas, watching the community change or getting to know the characters deeper within the community. I'm not really talking about open world games, or management type stuff like the Sims.