The design of my game is that I am making a 1st/3rd person shooter/rpg where the character is a mercenary ''infiltrator''. He/She will have the ''limited'' option of choosing exactly which jobs they will take, from stealng things to gathering information, and they will be paid depending on the mission. I say that the option is limited, only because there is also a plot to this game that they will eventually be forced to proceed through. I am hoping to keep the fun in the game by putting the player into suspense through the missions, but also give them a sense of accomplishment by increasing skills and allowing the player to purchase new equipment. A typical mission might be for the player to get inside a military camp, avoid the countless patrols, create a distraction, get inside an officer''s office to steal a key, use the key to get into the back door of some sort of HQ and steal tactical information on troop deployment. This mission would probably pay better than stealing the rival high school''s mascot and more than likely this would be a mission the character couldn''t decline in order to win the game. Any opinions? ~Vendayan

So what''s the emphasis on? Fighting your way through, or sneaking around? I hope for the latter...

It certainly sounds interesting. You''ve got clearly defined goals - obtain ''this'' item, ''that'' key, etc. - and subgoals - create a distraction, obtain key to box, etc.

You''d need to make sure that you handle as many solutions to the problems as possible. In a game where you''re requiring the player to be resourceful, you can''t penalize them for being resourceful in a way you hadn''t intended for.

Otherwise, sounds nice - certainly combines several elements from games I like, at least. And a stealth-based game - rather than a weapons-based one - is definately a good thing, IMO.

Superpig
- saving pigs from untimely fates
- sleeps in a ham-mock at www.thebinaryrefinery.cjb.net

are there screenshots of your engine available?

The design sounds like fun, and it seems like the gameplay has been pretty clearly defined. However, the things you have described may be very challenging to implement.

Honestly - don''t bother with a 1st/3rd person game design unless its very different in some kind of freeform way.
Because there are a 100 level-based fps/3rd-person shooters around already and they are very hard to compete with...

SuperPig - The emphasis is on both equally or I should say it emphasises neither. Kinda like how Black and White doesn''t emphasize evil or good but allows both. Although from a game design perspective I would say that I am very interested in spending a great deal of time to very well IMPLEMENT both.

Hase - As I said I am asking for opinions on my design, before I begin ANY work.

AndyM - Would you suggest that I NOT make it level based then?

Thanks for the imput everyone, although I do thirst for more.
~Vendayan