quote: Original post by Taiyou
In my opinion, idea 1 is excellent and is the best and most original idea of them all. This must be the one you have spent the most time on so far since it seems like you have a lot more of this story thought out.

Yeah, it''s kind of ''my baby.'' It''s the game that I really want to make before I''m done.

quote: Idea 2 seems like it could be developed into something good, but be careful since it could end being very similar to some other games already out there.

Idea #2 is the youngest... but which games are like it? The only space MMORPGS I could find were Earth&Beyond and Eve.

quote: Idea 4 is good... but it seems a lot like a futuristic version of crazy taxy, which is a nice and original twist, just be careful it doesn''t end up being too much like the other game.

I guess I need to play crazy taxi. To clarify, you don''t spend most of the game as a taxi driver, that''s just how it starts.



Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates
- sleeps in a ham-mock at www.thebinaryrefinery.cjb.net

Idea 2 isn''t exactly like any game i''ve played, it''s just that when I read it I thought of Earth & Beyond with Shadowbane''s story system.

Well Idea #1 sounds more like an older game named Shadowrun. Which was a very cool game and definitely worthy of imitating.

Idea #2 sounds like Privateer/Wing Commander. Nothing wrong with that as I loved both games.

Idea #3 definitely a kid''s game, but it does sound like alot of fun. Hell, I would probably even play it myself. Seems as silly as the old Earthworm Jim game.

Idea #4 reminds me of Crazy Taxi/GTA 3 type game. It also reminds me of an OLD C64 game called Space Taxi.

As others have posted, 1,3,4 are definitely the more original ideas of the group. 3 being the most so. 2 is ok, but I think Freelancer will be the definitive game of that genre (although I am still partial to Privateer). 1 & 4 I would certainly play, with the scales tipping slightly towards idea #1.

1- MMORPG where you are a cyberpunk would kick ass. Youd have your own little internet in the game...I think you would have to base the whole thing ar0ound an actual language (or scripting system), so you could have vendors who actually make software for runs, and vendors who sell to corporations. Kinda like thos fantasty books, a while back. Cook I think was the author, it was computers mixed with magic. But anyways, the more casual players could just buy and use, not create.

2-Id rather have you be able to advance ships...What ship captain wants to control a tin can his whole life?

3-Intersting, sounds more like a shareware thing, though

4-Sounds really awesome. Like that HBO series, Taxi Cab Confessions, which i didnt particularly like.

M2C

All 4 ideas are good starting points but it''s impossible to say whether they are good or bad because they are so vague. For example, I like space-based games but some space games can be redundant and boring after a while.

Idea #1 - working title ''Cyber.''
I would TOTALLY dig this if it required the player to actually know how to program. Of course, your audience would be severely limited but that''s what I like. There are NO games that are directed towards the computer nerd market. Perhaps the game can be beaten with existing modules but programming the modules youself could lead to a much greater ending. I find this inspiring =)

Idea #2 - Space MMORPG
Sounds kinda repetitive. Just not enough information on it to give a thumbs up or thumbs down.

Idea #3 - Moo
How many people would buy this so they can get stoned and play it? I think I know a few personally. Just don''t rely on comedy. Make it challenging. Games that rely on comedy get boring very quickly (from what I''ve seen). Games like Grim Fandango relied heavily on comedy but also included challenging puzzles and beautiful graphics for its time. This would need to make the player feel like they''re accomplishing something. I think this is very promising.

Idea #4 - flying cars
Oh this would be so cool! Okay, okay, it DOES sound like a ripoff of both 5th Element and Crazy Taxi/GTA3... but who cares? It''s NOT 5th element and it definitely is NOT CT/GTA3. It''s enough of it''s own thing and more importantly, it sounds FUN! The hard part would be the physics. After that, if things are properly planned out, it''s a very feasible game idea.

Anywayz, you''re base ideas are good. The important thing is how well you can create a detailed design document and actually bring an idea to fruition.

- Jay

"Strictly speaking, there is no need to teach the student, because the student himself is Buddha, even though he may not be aware of it." - Shunryu Suzuki

Get Tranced!

I think that the first idea sounds great.
I agree that making the player do their own ''hacking'' would be fantastic! Obviously you shouldn''t make them do it in a low level language, this would cut out a huge part of the potential audience.
I think it should be like the programming in Swordfish. (ie. Not realistic at all!) You could have all sorts of 3D wireframe shapes that you solve puzzles with, and heaps of scrolling binary in the background for that authentic feel...
Obviously the text and wireframes would be in a VERY bright green
and perhaps as you continually upgrade your computer terminal the hacking graphics improves. Upgrading your terminal will give you access to new shapes to help you solve the puzzles etc.




''Your theory of a donut shaped universe is intriguing Homer'' - Stephen Hawking

I like them all. Idea #1 sounds a LOT like Uplink.. but .. it might work

It''d be the one I want to see most.

#1

Isn''t the ''future with everything run by giant corporations'' a bit of a cliche? Isn''t it also incompatible with an Orwellian utopia, in which everything is run by the government?

It seems unlikely that a shadowy government conspiracy would turn you into a non-person - in a society in which everyone''s life are documented in triplicate, a non-person would stand out like a sore-thumb. Better just to kill you in an ''accident'', or give you another identity, perhaps giving you an amnesia-inducing drug to stop you noticing.

Other than cracking, there are many other professions open to the legally indisposed - bootlegging, assassination (as other respondants have pointed out), protection rackets (protection from other criminals and, of course, from the oppressive government).

I must protest to the use of the word ''hacking'' to describe what is properly termed ''cracking''.

#2

Oppressive imperial government vs. the rebelious alliance? Cliche? Why not have a selection of factions, particularly if we''re dealing with a MMORPG?

I see you have a money economy. Why not a prestige economy (as you gain prestige, you get more stuff - ''buying'' stuff doesn''t cost you prestige, but buying expensive kit and misusing it would)? What if each faction has different economies? At least they should have different currencies, to make it difficult for members of one faction to elope to the other side.

Why the same ship? That hardly seems likely. Wouldn''t each faction have their own ships? Wouldn''t players want to get better ships as you progressed in rank or prestige?

#3

I''m sure I''ve seen a game like this on the N64. And then there''s that new game on the GameCube that I forget the name of.

#4

Fine, fine. Why do you have to be a taxi driver? If you help the police enough, perhaps they''d be be interested in hiring you? Maybe even the military would like your services? What about different environments? A cloud city, a spaceport, or even an underground city? All this opens the possibility of different vehicles - groundcars, hovercars, spaceships. Perhaps even boats and submarines could feature in an aquatic city.


Just Plain Wrong

#1 sounds like the best idea, I also like #2. #3 just sounds like a kiddy game.

I''ll go in detail on #4. It seems REALLY repetitive. It would have to have an awesome story and awesome gameplay to make it work, but good stories are hard to come by and a 3d super-highspeed superhighway type thing would be difficult to implement and play. If you toned it down, it just wouldn''t be the same, so you would have to find a perfect interface, etc for it to work.

#1 as you are thinking of it would be very boring/repetitive IMHO. The world seems like a capitalism-turned-socialism type thing. Where the rich have become richer and the poor poorer so much that there are only 2 types of people - the owners and the workers. Everyone who does not own a corporation works for a corporation, including government agencies and everything. However, there is also the "rebel" class. They perform assassinations, hack computers, steal things, etc. Your objective is to continually feed off and weaken the owners through covert operations until you become rich enough to battle on even ground. Of course, since everything is owned by the corporations, just about everyone is against you, except the rest of the rebels.

I think the way to implement it would be to make it an online rpg, like Diablo II. Only a certain amount of people can join a game, say 12 people, and each person''s achievements and goals are saved with their character. For example, you decide to hack into a mainframe to obtain a piece of software. The mainframe is behind a router that will not allow your computer to access it, period. So you must join a game with someone who has connections with the router operators, so that you can access the router. Then there is a password at the mainframe, so you must find someone who has that password. Basically, everyone would be able to cooperate and trade, and in the process gain knowledge/materials/money to help others, and that would be the game. In single player, when you had the money to start your own corporation, that would be the end. But in the multiplayer version, there would be no end. The developers would continue creating harder, more expensive goals for the best players to achieve.

OK...that was a long talk about #1. About #2, I think it has major potential. I see it as a mix between Counterstrike, Diablo II, and Ultima Online. It would be a space shooter as the battling, etc, hence like CS. The D2 aspect would be that you gain equipment, find new items, learn new tactics, etc. The Ultima Online thing is because its an MMORPG. Things you could do would be explore, team up, PvP, go hunting, find special ores to make better equipment, find scientists in remote areas that could make awesome equipment, find items in a space monster''s or thieves den''s hoard, or loads of other things. If you combined the best aspects of CS, D2, and UO and put it in a space MMORPG, it would be an awesome game IMO.

Just my two cents, well I guess for a post this long it would be about 7 cents, haha :-P

I''m assuming that these are small scale projects. Some of the ideas posted by Mayrel are really great but don''t take into consideration that this may be a one or two man team.

Also, I think we should keep in mind that if a game is cliche, it''s not necessarily bad. There was a game quite a few years ago by Lucasarts called "Full Throttle". The game was a total post-nuclear war cliche but the game didn''t take itself seriously (like Mad Max). The game took great advantage of it''s own cliche''s while providing an entertaining story and maintaining it''s coolness.

So, getting to my point... #1 is very cliche... almost to the point of being corny. But, if the game has enough funky cyberpunk coolness, it could work very well. I imagine the environment as a repressed state and people are basically slaves. Your character is a slave as well and you must play the part but meanwhile, you find things that give you clues and keep the world interesting. Once you are "killed" you use these clues to find your way into the underground. Once you''ve "cracked" your way in, you are introduced to new features. These features take what you already know of the game and show them in a new light. What seemed static in the game before now falls under your command. Well, anyway, just a suggestion I guess. I kinda went off on a tangent.

- Jay

"Strictly speaking, there is no need to teach the student, because the student himself is Buddha, even though he may not be aware of it." - Shunryu Suzuki

Get Tranced!