demagogue on 28/1/2013 at 06:16
The first idea I had when I read about Tokyo Jungle was what you just mentioned, and then I actually watched the play through videos and was disappointed because it wasn't really an open sim at all but really gamey. What you just mentioned would kick serious ass IMO.
I thought about a survival sim for an animal in a jungle, but an urban setting would probably be cooler. And playing to get an owner is an actual objective that naturally fits. Something you might add is the idea of controlling turf, pissing on stuff to set your boundaries, if you're a dog being all alpha and maybe building a pack for yourself.
If you pushed that idea, you could even have a kind of animal underworld that you're scrapping to control, and you have to fight your way to the top of the hierarchy. (And even natural factions, cats vs dogs vs rats, with people being like you described.) It'd need some thought to get the gameplay right, but I think there's a game there.
Sulphur on 28/1/2013 at 07:50
Wasn't my idea! It was someone's response to THQ closing down on Kotaku. I posted it because the language was so 90s Vanilla Ice it hurt.
But it's absolutely batshit and totally playable and I fully endorse it.
demagogue on 21/2/2013 at 12:07
Here's a cool game idea I don't think anybody has explored.
I'd call it "Me and the Devil Blues", and it'd be something between an adventure game, 1930s guitar hero, and RPGish.
It's basically the mythic story of Robert Johnson. You start as a nobody sharecropper's son in 1930 Mississippi, can't play guitar, can't do jack. Then you hear rumors about how to summon the devil & become a master bluesman by going to the crossroads and performing some ritual (this might be cutscene material), which warps you to some surreal alt timeline where you get guitar tutorials from a mysterious character, and then you appear back home like 6 months or a year later and everyone is bewildered at your disappearance... And from then on, things are never what they seem and the real world & alt world bleed into each other, and you're not always clear which one you're in, or what forces are acting to what ends.
But the actual game is basically going from town to town to build your reputation as a bluesman, with guitar-hero like blues challenges, and other adventure game & RPG like things you do (well, I'm not sure how RPG it needs to be), but getting to bigger and bigger towns, with more & more cash to throw around... with Chicago & the gangster highlife being at the top of the list. But lots of dark forces are also intervening, corrupting your life; sometimes you have to work in their world (you'd often enter that world in dreams, I think)... The more you compromise with them, the more success you find, but the bigger the cost it takes on those around you & taking you down a dark path. Or you can choose the higher road & try to extricate yourself from the curse, though it's not always clear it's "better" for you or your career... Leading up to a major moral confrontation in the end.
Now that's something original & interesting I think. Atypical setting, protagonist, gameplay, story & plot...
Sulphur on 21/2/2013 at 17:52
That's excellent, and I would play it. I'm willing to bet a lot of other people would, too. Sounds like a well thought-out arc.
It reminds me a little bit of The Real Texas, which is a game I should really start playing and see if it's any good.
PigLick on 27/6/2013 at 11:09
ok so a new genre of game - Survival Exploration
gimme a game like this please
DDL on 27/6/2013 at 13:48
Minecraft? ;)
Or more seriously, perhaps Miasmata? I guess that has fairly prevalent horror stuff to it too, though.
There are quite a few games (usually from former soviet bloc countries, surprise surprise) that are horror but with a very strong survival/exploration element. Pathologic, for example. Yes, has weird creepy stuff, but dominant memories are of things like "yes! I have a GUN! Finally! ....I can trade this for a loaf of bread and now I won't starve!"
PigLick on 27/6/2013 at 13:57
The thing is cant we have the survival part without the horror? Minecraft isnt a bad example because of the huge amounts of mods that cater for all types of gameplay, but I want something with actual immersive visuals.
demagogue on 27/6/2013 at 14:32
This is exactly a game concept I had where you play a "new planet mission" straight up sim style on a procedurally generated realistic world like VoxelFarm. Not cartoonish or gameified but as realistic as possible.
So the opening of the game your module lands on the planet, maybe there's four of you, two men, two women, either multiplayer or others are automated & you can switch PCs, but an individual would work too. It's a living planet, so there's vegetation all around and small animals, but of course you have zero idea what else is out there. Early game is setting up a food & water supply, and getting your modules in working order... finding out if anything is edible or poisonous, figuring out how to deal with small pests chewing cables or biting you or little annoyances that you don't know might turn into big problems like diseases... And as you go there will be hints of scarier things out there, and you'll want to set up a security grid. And you'll need to go exploring to get certain supplies. I just think the survival aspect comes out if the world is very alien & agnostic to you, and it's played straight, as a sim, without anything looking like part of a game. Of course I have some ideas to plant a little story into it too, but that would emerge later on.
PigLick on 27/6/2013 at 14:43
This sounds like a great idea, apart from the procedurally generated bit. I want a fully realised, unique world ala Morrowind, but not an rpg. And by morrowind I dont mean a fantasy setting or such, but something which has such a sense of 'place', with everyone who plays the game experiencing the same world.
Vivian on 27/6/2013 at 14:48
From what I gleaned, the 'procedurally generated' bit referred to item and AI placement, with some kind of AI director manipulating AI patrol paths etc around the players movements, so that you can never predict when or if you will have an encounter, find a specific upgrade etc.
Oh oops you mean dema's game idea.
