I watched The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen tonight, and whilst it was not a good film, it did inspire me a little. How about a game with an invisible player?

• It'd have to be first person, I think. You could render a translucent player or a halo of some sort, but it would detract from the nature of the game character.
• Having said that, it would have to be stealth-oriented. Seems somewhat pointless otherwise [smile]
• To be completely invisible, you'd have to be naked. This would mean that carrying objects would render you visible - so carrying a gun or tool would be difficult - and you'd be more susceptible to the elements and stuff. Of course, you'd probably want to wear clothes when not trying to be invisible.
• Interaction with the environment would be key - because you can't carry a gun, you'd have to get as close as possible to somebody before grabbing a chair or something and smashing it over their head. Or even, if the opporunity presents itself, taking their own weapon and using it against them. Knife in a side pocket, anyone?
• There'd need to be some form of challenge to things, so the AI would need to be tracking you based on sound and 'effects' - things like footprints, objects bouncing off you or settling on you (powder).

I'm concerned about the idea of a first-person stealther; Thief did it well enough, but to my knowledge it's the only stealther that has done so. It's difficult to work in the minor platforming element (climbing ledges and stuff) when you're first person, but possibly even more difficult when you're invisible. Comments? I've not come up with any settings or story yet, more interested in getting the gameplay solid first.

Did the invisible man show up on infra-red? I seem to remember an old film ("Memoirs of an invisible Man" - Chevy Chase) where he did, but that was really a comedy spinoff.

If he does, then later levels could see you being tracked down by special forces equipped with such technology, and maybe the first levels see you escaping from the laboratory which created you...

That'd be interesting - I imagine he would, yes, as well as with sonar-based technology.

I guess those could be negated by hiding in hot places and foggy/cloudy places, respectively... I don't know how well each of those work with regards to background interference, but when you bring in the interaction with the environment aspect, you get some very nice things like players busting open a steam pipe to fill a corridor with particles.

There was also the more recent film Hollow Man in which they used infared goggles to pick him up. Being invisible, what would be his motivation or the end result for the game? To take down/expose the facility which created him? To find a cure? To rule the world? Or maybe all of the above? ;D

In the Graphic Novel, The Invisible Man did show up on infa-red. It seems that Mr. Hyde was a beast-like creature that could see in infa-red so he was able to see the invisible man, but he didn't let anyone know until very near the end of the book.

On another note, when the invisible man bleeds, his blood remains invisible until it dries out, then it becomes visible.

Sounds a lot like Thief, only with less emphasis on visiblity, and more on sound (so Thief 1 or 2 mainly). And no inherent equipment. I would advice putting aside some research funds (get Thief 1 Gold and Thief 2, they'll be in the bargain bin, and they are much better examples of the stealth gameplay then Thief 3, which was crippled to make it accessable to the console crowd)

superpig,

Why does the character have to be naked to be invisible? Sounds like a stupid question, but it seems stereo-typing invisible people as being naked. What if they have clothing that makes them invisible instead, which can open alot of doors to other possibilities. Then they could carry stuff with them, like guns. And I mention guns for a reason: a half-life 2 mod (called 'The Hidden' I believe) came out not to recently that uses this very same concept. There are 8 people per board, where one is invisible and the rest team up to kill the invisible guy. I haven't actually played this, but it sounds like it would be quite fun.

And as for having a stealth game, the new theif is a great example (and I have the feeling that oblivion will also be a great example once it comes out).

-brad

Quote:

Original post by Galapaegos superpig, Why does the character have to be naked to be invisible? Sounds like a stupid question, but it seems stereo-typing invisible people as being naked. What if they have clothing that makes them invisible instead, which can open alot of doors to other possibilities. Then they could carry stuff with them, like guns. And I mention guns for a reason: a half-life 2 mod (called 'The Hidden' I believe) came out not to recently that uses this very same concept. There are 8 people per board, where one is invisible and the rest team up to kill the invisible guy. I haven't actually played this, but it sounds like it would be quite fun. And as for having a stealth game, the new theif is a great example (and I have the feeling that oblivion will also be a great example once it comes out). -brad

You'll be taking the fun factor if you're invisible with invisible guns, might as well just play in GOD mode wouldnt you?

I don't mind naked characters as long as they're female [smile].

An "invisible suit", like the active camoflage used by The Predator or Covenant Elites or that chick in Ghost in the Shell, could be used a lot like the actual "invisible man" idea, but it takes some of the romance out of it, and you're almost obliged to have invisible opponents later in the game. It's just a thing.

If you do go the invisitech route, then there should be a very small array of gear that's compatible with the system. Maybe a pistol-of-last-resort, but when you fire it, it temporarily disrupts the thermoptic field and a "ripple" of visibility rolls across you.

I'd stick with having to be naked to be invisible. It's the most interesting method, and since he's invisible, you don't have to worry about your ESRB rating going up.

You would definitely have to deal with things like weather or other dangers to naked people. If you want to go out in the blizzard, you have to wear some warm gear, or face a freezing death. If you're wearing full snow regalia, you can be seen, but people won't necessarily think you're out of place if you stole the clothes from a locker room or something. If they get close enough to see your (lack of a) face, though, they'll figure it out right away.

This is a really neat concept. I'd like to see it explored, even if it's just a story, and not a video game. For a good story about how being invisible (and a little more than invisible, actually) can affect people in interesting and morally significant ways, take a look at the story of Gyges' Ring. It's from Plato's "Republic", but I'm not sure which book. You'll find uncanny links to both Lord of the Rings and the origin of The Green Lantern (the Hal Jordan story) in it. I'll try to find a link...

Here you go: Gyges' Ring.

Perhaps you could produce a damping field around you.
So, everything within 5cm for eg. is completely invisible. Anything within 10 is like a hologram, and everything after 20 is still a solid object.

so you can carry a small weapon (microneedler) without anybody seeing it. (and w/ silencer it should be pretty good).

Downside is that it takes about 1 1/2 secs to reload between shots. (ie. if you shoot one guard in a convoy of three......). Its also not the most accurite thing in the world. (and having a needle hit the ground right in front of you makes you want to duck for cover and start shooting).

You can have better guns (which can shoot through armour, do more damage, blow up thinse, set things on fire,ect.) but there bigger. Which means that you can't use them at a moments notice. (without being detected.)

Your also heavier with them. So you can't run as fast when you have lots of heavey guns/equipment strapped to you.

From,
Nice coder