I happen to love history a lot, and I''m always curious why games almost never take place in a setting before WWII or after the ancient civilizations? It doesn''t matter the genre....from startegy to FPS, to adventure, to RPG''s, it seems like no one wants to borrow from history to make a game. One of the few historical periods that does get any attention is the swashbuckling period, in which a few games of various genres have been made (Sea Dogs, Age of Sail, Monkey Island for example) but honestly, I don''t know why history is so neglected. Another is the medieval period, though usually as hack and slash or strategy. Even with the ancient period, I''d love to see a non-strategy game set in that time period. I just got done watching Helen of Troy (which seemed to be at odds with some of what I remember from the Iliad...I mean, where was Ajax and Patrocles?), but I think a melee game ala Rune would be awesome if set in the Iliad. What about an adventure game set in the middle ages, sort of like in the movie, "In the Name of the Rose" involving church politics (perhaps various religious fighting, monastic or mendicant orders are vying for power....read "Holy Grail, Holy Blood" for some ideas). How about a first person shooter game set as a British Colonial soldier fighting in Africa against the Zulus, against the Afrikaaners in the Boer War, against Indian uprisings all the way up to the Chinese occupation zones in the early 1900''s? There are so many fabulous historical settings in which to place game ideas, and yet no one ever does them. Is it because people find history boring? If so, I think people only find history boring because they haven''t been taught it well, and once they see how everything fits in historical context, and how it has shaped the world, most people find it quite interesting. I''ve often had conversations with people who hated history, but after I told them how certain events have impacted events in history, they usually find it quite fascinating. I think games would have an even more powerful effect on making history fun. So how come so few games are set in historical settings? My next game is most definitely going to be in a historical setting, albeit an alternate history setting so that I can tell a "what if" tale.

As a demographic, gamers/game developers have a much greater tendency to be into fantasy and sci-fi than the average person. Since game developers naturally tend to make the kinds of games they''d like to play, many genres get ignored. I suspect that pursuing new, largely untapped genres in games (examples of which you gave above) will reveal a large and unexploited market potential.

Atlas
Developing Genetica, a tiling / seamless textures generator

if u want suggestions, if u are going large scale, i recommend u do a history game based on china three kingdoms periods.
asian people are all fascinated about threekingdoms, (china/japan/korea/singapor/etc etc, but u have to do alot research on it, other wise, find a chinese friend who knows about alot on threekingdom period.

some companies have already trying to target it at different market, (america), the game was called (forgot) by eidos, it didnt turned out well because:
the game play is slow,
the game is too small scale.

while the real 3 kingdoms are much more violent, there are several battles that one side loses more than 800 thousands men
medieval battles cant even compete.

for example, in medieval age, there are numbers of castles, in 3 kingdom period, every city is a castle, the whole city is inside the castle, and the castle it self can fit thousands of men.


the only disadvantage of 3 kingdom game is translating. thats about all i can tell u, and i did not exagerate.

I think your first person shooter as a British soldier attacking African Zulus would raise quite a stir here in the States. I don''t care how historically accurate you made it, the game would be labeled as being racist within hours of its release.

History is sometimes not what people want to learn about. Sometimes it is what should have happened that people want to see, no mater how wrong that is.

I personally think that is a load of crap. Show history as it happened.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
I think your first person shooter as a British soldier attacking African Zulus would raise quite a stir here in the States. I don''t care how historically accurate you made it, the game would be labeled as being racist within hours of its release.

I agree. A solution may be to allow players to play as either the British or the Zulus, as they choose. (Of course, this would mean that either side should have the potential to win, bending history a little.)

Atlas
Developing Genetica, a tiling / seamless textures generator

Let me see if I got that proposal right: "White guy with gun shooting up black guys without guns."

I betcha Acclaim would publish it.

Some interesting thoughts and ideas so far

One of my very first posts on this forum was about FPS in different eras, and I listed the Colonial War period as an example. I think though that if you allow the player to chose either side, it could be quite interesting. So you could play a Zulu warrior or in American Western games you can play American indians. I for one would love to play a Nez Perce indian under Chief Joseph while trying to elude the 7th Cavalry. I wouldn''t mind playing the Ethiopians when they fought the Italians in the mid 30''s or late 1800''s either (even though the war was quite important to African Americans, the Ethiopians wanted to distance themselves from American blacks).

If it''s done right...especially with a storyline, then I think historical settings could be very fun and educating at the same time. There are sooooooo many untapped and interesting eras in history with which to come up with game ideas. Maybe you could play a game during the Crusades playing an enlightened muslim warrior under Saladin, or if you have to be Christian, you could play someone like El Sid.

And as Panzooka suggested, it doesn''t have to be based in Western history and culture. The Three Kingdoms period of china was their Golden Age of sorts, and many many of their stories and literature are about that time period. Ditto with Japan''s Warring States period. And why not cover cultures from Africa or South America or India?

Just a little digging reveals all kinds of interesting settings and storylines to take on for just about any genre of gaming you can think of. Unfortunately, I think Atlas is right. I think as a whole, both game developers and the powers that be that fund them are generally ignorant of historical settings because they are blinded by sci-fi and fantasy settings. I also think however, that a part of the reason is that they think history doesn''t sell (except ancients and WWII).

It''s no fun playing historical games because you always have a different level of competence than the character you''re playing. I don''t like playing American Civil War games because the commanders are either grossly incompetent or far more brilliant than me.

Winning as the dunces is no great feat and losing as the greats is not a fun prospect.

every game in eastern asia based on 3 kingdoms is garranteed sale

While the 3 Kingdoms period is historically fascinating, it''s one of the few periods of Chinese history that''s ever covered in games. I know Kohei has made at least one game during that time period, and I believe there have been several others. Why not cover the Song dynasty, or for Hong Kong martial arts fans, cover the Manchu and Ming dynasties (for which most martial arts films are based). Heck, why not have a game set during the Boxer rebellion and get to meet famous people like Wong Fei Hung, Chiang Kai Shek, Sun Yat Sen or maybe some of the other "Ten Tigers of Canton" (Wong Fei Hung was one of them). I''d LOVE to see a game set in the Boxer Rebellion, and leading up to the expulsion of Chiang Kai Shek''s forces into Taiwan. You could play one of the marines besieged in Beijing (Peking) or a little bit later, you could play one of the littoral riverine patrol boat ships (if you''ve seen the movie "Sand Pebbles" with Steve McQueen, you''ll get an idea).

The same can be said about Japanese stories set during the Warring Factions period (16th and 17th centuries). Why not during the Meiji period when the caste system was ending, and Japan was trying to figure out if it was going to become industrialized or not? If you''ve watched the anime Jin-roh, it was set in a very interesting alternate 1950''s Japan after the Occupation forces left Japan.

So I think there''s plenty of room for all sorts of ideas for just about any kind of genre you can think of.