ive come up with this idea of having a multiplayer type coop game where there are 2 teams , prisoners and gaurds , you as the prisoners are trying to escape the prison with your team mates undetected ,i just think it would make a great concept of gameplay finding vents and digging holes to escape the prison while other players are the gaurds patroling and trying to catch the prisoners , altho they would get bored waiting for the prisoners to escape i would have to think of something for the gaurds to be doing ,

NOTE: This thread might be better suited for the Game Design forum, considering the content.

So essentially, you have taken Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory's multiplayer element and tried to translate it into a prison setting. You seem to have also taken elements of the Great Escape and Prisoner of War and tried to incoporate it in to your seemingly rough design.

Two things that are not quite right stick out at the moment:

1. You have not (in my view) actually laid down the fundamments of a story. That's why I said you should put this into Game Design. Give the design a story of some sort. Example: Three prisoners (as the "Prisoner" team are escaping), Six to Eight guards are trying to recapture them. The prisoner have decided to escape because they are going to be executed for crimes that they did not commit. The guards see them as dangerous and are armed with small arms like pistol, tazers and shotguns, so that they can shoot them if they detect them due to them perceived as dangerous. The prisoners can use basic stealth skills like concelment and distracting, but are not allowed to use guns and only melee weapons (planks, crowbars etc...). You get the basic idea. Mix a teeny bit of writing with gameplay design for starters.

2. To make gameplay - the way you are describing it - challenging, you'll need to put limits on both teams, like you see in SC:CT. Prisoners allowed stealth skills and limited weapon selection. Guards allowed access to all doors and defense and given law-enforcement issue weapons, that kind of thing. Little ideas like this flesh it out. (Just giving you a few pointers).

Things to look at:

- Story of the prisoners (why were they locked up, what did they do outside when they were free, how do they cope in prison etc...)

- Prison Life (What is it like, facilities, horrid or "pleasant" etc...)

- Prison History and Atmosphere (What does it look like- a high-tech security complex or a run-down grimey compound, has it had riots, is it a smelly and dirty place with blood stains common etc...)

- Guards (Their lives in prison, are they corrupt, sadistic and cruel, what are they armed with etc...)

All these things and others will be needed to make a half-decent game design brief (Not a full document reaching tens to hundreds of pages, mind you). Keep in mind that I'm not trying to be a hyper-critical bas@&*%*&5 like some members in different parts of the forums can be. These are the "real deal" pointers you'll need to develop the idea further. Liking the idea so far, "you've gotta spread in your head", if you want to be able articulate it better.

For Reference:

Movies: Shawshank Redemption
TV: Prison Break
Games: Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

Good luck! I'll help you with your idea, if you start to articulate the different features.

Hi, I agree that this is actually game design.

You are correct that your design has the flaw where, most of the time, the guards and the prisoners do not interact.

A rule set for multiplayer prison break:

0.11) The prisoners team can talk among themselves whenever they want, the guards can never hear them.
0.12) The guards can talk among themselves whenever they want, the prisoners cannot hear them.

0.21) To dig a hole, the prisoner must have a tool. It could be a shovel, a tooth brush, etc.
0.22) To get into a vent, the prisoner must have a tool. It could be a screwdriver, a book, etc..
0.23) Someone inside the vent cannot unscrew the screws from inside the vent.
0.24) No tool is locked. They are simply placed on the map.

0.31) A guard could confiscate any tool a prisoner has.
0.32) A prisoner can only carry one tool at a time.
0.33) A guard could immobilize any prisoner in the same room and place the prisoner inside a locked room.
0.34) Immobilizing a prisoner is a resource draining action.
0.35) A guard holding a tool cannot immobilize a prisoner.
0.36) A guard can only immobilize one prisoner at a time.
0.36) Prisoner cannot attack a guard, with or without tool.
0.38) Only guards can pass through locked rooms.
0.39) Scanning the tools in a room is a free action for prisoner but energy draining action for a guard.

0.41) There are more prisoners than guards
0.42) There are more tools than the number of guards
0.43) There are more vents than the number of rooms
0.44) There are more rooms than the sum of prisoners and guards
0.45) There are more guards than the number of lockable room
0.46) Each lockable room can only hold one prisoner
0.47) Each room has at least one vent.
0.48) A prisoner is always released the next day.

0.51) Confiscation is an energy draining action for a guard.
0.52) Inspecting hole and missing screws of vent are free actions for a prisoner
0.53) Inspect hole and missing screws of vent are energy draining actions for a guard
0.54) Digging hole and unscrewing are energy draining actions for a prisoner.
0.55) Covering a hole or rescrewing vents are energy draining actions for a guard
0.56) A guard can cover a hole or secure a vent using the same amont of energy regardless how deep the hole is or how many screws are unscrewed.
0.57) A guard also need a tool to cover a hole or to secure a vent.
0.58) Locking a prisoner drains all energy of the guard.
0.59) Each guard and each prisoner can do a finite number of energy draining activity per game day.

0.61) The effectiveness of hole digging and unscrewing are related to the effectiveness of the tool.
0.62) When a hole is sufficiently deep, the prisoner current at the hole is free
0.63) The vents only connect among the rooms. They do not lead to the outside.
0.64) There could be multiple sections of vents that do not connect.

0.71) A prisoner that is caught digging a hole, unscrewing a vent, or coming out of a vent is executed.
0.72) A prisoner that is stuck in a vent dies in 3 days.
0.73) The prisoners lose if all of them are stuck in vents.