I had an idea last night, and while I''m writing up a more detailed design document, I thought I''d post about it to get initial responses (such as ''it''s been done'' or what have you). If you''ve seen the film Pulp Fiction, you will probably remember the storyline where the two gangsters have accidentally killed the kid in their car, and ''The Wolf'' gets sent in to take command and fix the situation before the guy''s wife gets home. The idea of a mafia ''fixer'' is something which intrigues me. The Wolf, or characters like The Cleaner in Luc Besson''s ''La Femme Nikita'' - being presented with a situation at short notice, and having to be decisive and resourceful to do the job as quickly as possible. Quite simply, I think it could make a good game. The player takes on the role of such a ''fixer,'' working freelance for mafia families in different cities, being presented with ''missions,'' for which they get paid. Once in a mission, it would play a little like a cross between The Sims, an RTS, and a classic point-and-click adventure. Interact with objects by clicking on them, and selecting an action from a menu; interact with other characters by talking to them (selecting one from a number of possible things to say); have an inventory of objects which could be used together to make other tools, etc. Scoring - the amount of money recieved at the end of a mission - is based on three categories: Speed, Efficiency, and Style. Speed is obviously the time it takes you to complete the mission. Efficiency is linked to the actions you take - because there will always be more than one solution to a problem, some solutions will be more elaborate than others. Style is linked to choice of actions as well - opening a bottle with your teeth could be more stylish than using a bottle-opener, but you risk it backfiring - not succeeding at opening the bottle would cost you style points instead of giving you them. That''s the basic idea. I''ll upload a proper design doc to my site sometime soon. Superpig - saving pigs from untimely fates, and when he''s not doing that, runs The Binary Refinery.

The wolf is seperated from his fellow mafiosos because of his ability to think quickly and intelligently; he seeks out the heart of a problem and determines a solution.

For this to work, you would need a highly interactive environment, with many, many ways of going about problem solving.

Linearity (or even limits) would ruin this concept.

Properly approached, I think it is a great idea.

The Tyr project is here.

quote: Original post by OctDev
For this to work, you would need a highly interactive environment, with many, many ways of going about problem solving.

Linearity (or even limits) would ruin this concept.

A resounding ''yes'' to that. I''m ruling that there should be as many possible solutions to a problem as possible (unlike the point-and-click adventure games, which usually depended on working out what was in the designer''s mind at the time). Starting with small things, like the ability to use four or five tools to bust open a lock, and then they would build upon each other to create a large variation of possible interactions.

One of the other things I''ve planned - the ability to ''shop'' between missions, where a certain amount of pre-emption must happen (due to some items taking several weeks to arrive), and then after mission briefing select the items you want to take with you (and the car you use, because different cars would have different amounts of space, but different effects on scores). Because there''s no way to ''return home'' until a mission has ended, it''s going to have to be possible for the player to complete a mission using only items within the mission itself. However, I plan to balance that with scoring effects.

I''ve heard the saying ''a game is just a collection of interesting choices'' - this game would be all about making lots of choices at high speed. Provided those choices are interesting, then...

Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates, and when he''s not doing that, runs The Binary Refinery.

Just one question for you: What sort of missions would there be?

From what I remember of Pulp Fiction, the character that was called in to clean up had to fix up the scene of the murder. Eliminate the body, clean the car, clean the main characters. None of these really sounds like a fun thing to do repeatedly in a game.

Still, there''s something about your idea that I really think could be good, I just can''t articulate it right now.

Here are some sample missions, off the top of my head:

* While visiting a businessman to discuss a deal, the ''incentive'' - a briefcase containing $100,000 - went missing. You have to track it down and retrieve it.

* After being continually bullied at school, the boss''s son has taken a weapon and is found (by your men) half-conscious on the gym floor, along with three corpses with bullet holes in their heads. You have to get the boy to hospital, dispose of the bodies, and set up a plausible reason for their abscence, before the faculty enter the gym.

* After suffering from worsening depression, a hood goes crazy and disappears, with the intention of knocking off a rival mob boss. Because that would trigger a mob war, your orders are to find the hood and persuade him to stop - or, if that fails, to kill him.

Missions would grow from their initial objectives. For example, look at that second mission above - what if another student walked into the gym? You''d have to deal with them, too, as a witness - talk them away, bribe them, or soon you find yourself buried in corpses, or transporting bound+gagged bystanders.

Because there''s multiple solutions to all situations, there shouldn''t be any need to repeat an earlier solution - once you know how to clean blood out of a car then you can do it more easily next time, but there would always be different ways resulting in different scores.

Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates, and when he''s not doing that, runs The Binary Refinery.