just floating an idea that has no name yet. i am playing with "The whining of the sheep" (The silence of the lambs, see), City Frankenstein,The city of smut (Gorod of Kak?) but the best would be The Stalker. Only, the problem is, that a game with such a name already exists... any idea? first person game. possibly rpg (why possibly, later on). you play a computer whiz of a kind. you become obsessed with another person (male, female, whatever - lets call it "she"). you follow it, but only through net, phones, etc. (no personal contact with outside world) - you break in through net, phones etc. you gain data about what She eats, drinks, studies, have sex with, medical records and so on. you are slowly building a file about that person, that includes almost everything. Thats the first part of the game possible second part: you find out there is a danger for She. but you cannot act openly, only under cover, if you want to act at all. and if you act, there are a lot of possibilities - some of them deadly for you. why documentary game (ok, not a good name)?. Everything you do can result only in some kind of document: email, fax, post, newspaper article. You are the whole game in your room, building up these files, breaking, phoning, faxing, pm-ing, messaging (all under false names and accounts). any kind of comment welcome comment, that this is a bad game idea welcome too, just explain why. additional: basically you play all time with the machines: anything happening can be seen only on the monitor of your computer, through camera, heard through phones (mobile, etc.), iPod, and so on. Learning curve includes hacking, lying over the phones and similar activity. If you stumble, people and authorities start to suspect and the level up the security. If you stumble several times, you can be caught, game over. additional: maybe there could be also action scenes - going out to photograph, to tape phones and computers... but definitely no fighting. you can stalk or run only. [Edited by - Borkhan on December 3, 2006 5:10:26 AM]

I think this is a cool idea. The stalker aspect definitely makes it a bit unique (though the Japanese have already pioneered this genre, with generally more... physical variants on the theme).

Another cool feature might be photography - like that one Nintendo game where you'd take photos of Pokemon, only you'd do it with a high-power lens from your window to hers... [smile]

Another variant on this basic premise is to turn it into a general investigation game - i.e. you're a private investigator , detective or perhaps even legal counsel trying to gather info/evidence to prove/disprove a case.

spartan i agree with your first proposal, photos should definitely be included.

i do not agree with idea, that the person is PI, or whatever. my idea is, a person with some computer skills, obession, and too much time on his/her hands. all the documents mentioned, are a confirmation, a blessing to such a person. only in the (hypothetical) second part, when the person (i cannot say hero) is vaccilating between action or non action, new parameters are introduced.

but, as i say, thats the floating of the ideas

There was a game on the Phillips CDI called Voyeur, where you are investigating a murder and you get information by spying on people through their windows. Of course the real reason for the game were the copious amounts of bra-shots. The game was absolutely terrible, and the acting may have topped Night Trap for worst acting ever.

I think the premise sounds pretty cool. But say if you can use phone, how are you planning on limiting numbers dialed? Is it sort of like you have to get number from someone to be able to call it or? Also are you planning on having cell phone/or untraceability on the phone? It would be hard to mastermind everything from the same phone number, people would meet and get suspicious, unless you have some other plan for it.

The other thing you might want to think about is how fast it takes to get to the action. In your description you make it sound like half of the game is getting info, etc. The longer without action the less likely a user will get to it. If it takes half the game to get there, you will have a very small audience. I would think that a tutorial over the basics, and then action would be good. For example, you can discover a longer term plot or something, like another hacker like you, but more predatory, who is planning on doing something x amount of months in the future, so you can still be building up contacts and info etc while the action is going on. This could also be interesting as you could have indirect battles with him. But I digress, my main point is that you probably want to carefully place where the action starts.

Really cool idea though :)

Reminds me of a show on Channel 4 years ago called "Killer Net". Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killer-Net-Tam-Williams/dp/B0007RUSX0

well, i got the idea from

Gene Hackman movie about spying
nosferatu vampires from Bloodlines
a novel, (cant remember the name) where someone was spying through computer only
very old movie of Terrence Stamp, about stalking and imprisoning a woman
recent news about hackers getting into sophisticated systems
the fact, that more and more people socialize through internet (in good or bad way)


so, my idea is a game in two parts, first part stalking only, second part fighting, but through internet, computers etc.