Great ideas everyone!
Now for my true addition to this thread (In order to keep this thread alive so other peoples ideas can be appreciated as well ;-) nemo! And I wanted to give you a glimpse into my thought processes as a game designer.)
FPS:
Discovering the Three Most Important Missing Elements of Today’s
Most Popular Videogame Genre (And the Birth of “Pandora Jack”) -Draft Notes
By Charles L. Mallory III
First-person shooter –the meaning of the FPS acronym, should stand for Fantasy Projection or Participation Shooter, but I digress. Whatever you want to call them, they've been missing elements that would make them a complete experience.
--One missing element is a convincing and gratifying hand-to-hand combat environment, especially the close-quarters and ambush styles of combat prevalent in guerilla and ninja warfare.
This should of course include very, very intuitive hide-and-seek play with jack-in-the-box ambushes from all hiding spots. Most FPS’ today let you hide, but you don’t really get to “pop out” from anywhere like a jack-in-the-box. Obviously, visibility is crucial to this style of play. So blinding light, sparks, smoke, fog, shadows, steam, snow, rain, fire, embers, cobwebs, sand and flying debris would be like a playground of double-edged swords; they will be hazardous to you and your enemies alike, but anyone can use them as weapons if careful. I call this “Pandora’s Jack-In-The-Box”, “Pandora Jack” or just “PJ” for short. If PJ’s in the game with bells on, the game is bound to “pop”, and when it pops, IT POPS –visually, aurally and interactively. You could even say, “This game’s got its PJ’s in a bunch!” The more wound up you are the harder you will “pop.” Even the environment will pop when interacted with. Enemies will grow intimidated by your “wound-up” presence. As with real people, there is a fine line between “popping with anger” and “popping with fear.” Straightforward physical interaction may cause anger, and indirect methods may cause fear. Players will be able to strike their own balance and create their own style of play. Imagine being able to give your enemies a false sense of courage by running and luring them to a trap, or scare them to death with fireworks and explosions.
You should also be able to push, grab, disarm and latch onto objects and characters. Imagine pushing an enemy over a railing and snatching his UZI, but he holds onto it and drags you over with him.
The Nintendo "Codename: Revolution" is the best system for this style of gameplay. The freehand controller can be used in many ways to simulate weapon use, combat moves, and environmental interaction.
This brings us to my second missing element: flinch movement and targeting. In today's FPS games, the time it takes to press the necessary button or button combo to properly respond to or initiate “sudden danger” spoils the fun and excitement of “sudden danger”. Most dodging and sudden movements that can be made in today’s FPS' are clunky and counter-intuitive, making you feel like you always have to think before you act which results in several split seconds of frustration and disbelief even for experienced players. A good game keeps a steady suspension of said frustration and disbelief. So now, FPS’ include slow-motion to compensate for their lack of quality “flinch-play”. Slow-motion is cool, but the lack of user-friendly flinch-play makes it fall far short of its full potential.
Again, the Nintendo "Codename: Revolution" freehand controller makes this all possible in a grand way. Now, all you have to do is FLINCH to block, dodge or target an enemy and attack. You will learn gestures that change which weapons you attack with. You no longer have to think about what you gotta do and which buttons make it happen. You can respond suddenly to sudden danger. This will bring A LOT of casual and NON-GAMERS into the FPS fan community, and Nintendo will be the Mayor and the Board of Education of this community.
A third and very important missing element is momentum/inertia. When you are running at top speed, you should be able to hit things much harder than you could while standing still or jogging, and jump much further as well. You should also be able to connect with things harder that are moving faster in your direction. The balance is that you can get hurt a lot more when coming in contact with the environment, weapons, and other characters the faster you or they are moving. Moving away from (with) the force of impact may cushion the impact or redirect the force. All non-player characters should be aware of the role momentum/inertia plays in combat, using it to their advantage and also recognizing the increased danger that momentum brings by moving aside or bracing themselves for impact. Imagine you a running down a hospital hallway a full speed, knocking gurneys and people out of your way, with a big knife in your hand and screaming at the top of your lungs. Shouldn't your enemy act scared and run while putting stuff in your way that you could trip on? This is what momentum could bring.
Characters should have an arsenal of momentum and momentum breaking moves and strategies, including planting objects that can be crashed into, snagged and tripped on. This would discourage and even prevent enemies from charging or ambushing you.
So, to summarize, FPS games are missing A) Hide-and-seek, “Jack-In-The-Box” close quarters combat, with environmental Pandora's Box, B) Flinch-play that is deep and easy to pick up, and C) Full momentum/inertia mechanics and a full awareness and utilization of them by the NPC’s.
GAME IDEA JOTS:
Pandora Jack, title character a.k.a. The Weasel is running from everyone, hiding in 3rd World countries and conditions in order to keep certain information from the wrong people. This information is a growing collection of inventions that could change the face of the world for the better or be used for incredibly selfish and evil gain. This info is gathered by a secret friend. Some of the technologies being sought after are actually in Mr Jack himself. Wherever he goes, he seeks to make the world a better place using his skills and the inventions he is provided with. All the while, the world he is saving is also out to destroy him and steal the knowledge he possesses. Assisting him is a scientist and engineer named Ms. Dandy, “The Dandy Lioness”, who happens to be an unidentified master of corporate sabotage, computer hacking and disguise and is also on the run. She utilizes stealth, infiltration and retrieval tactics. She doesn’t brag about it, but she has an alarming ability to get anyone to spill whatever information they have in minutes time, just like a lion on the neck of bull will bring it down fast. She is well known for using the environment as a weapon. Watch a documentary or two on the hunting practices of lions (mostly the females that hunt and mostly at night very methodically and strategically with a patient stealth and a viscious ferocity). These two characters have their own missions as well as overlapping and cooperative objectives.
Jack has many weapons, gadgets and combat techniques available to him. Jack is a weapons specialist with a vicious temper. Think Marv from Sin City crossed with Achilles from the movie Troy. He basically carries around everything that’s dear to him, which isn't very much since he’s always on the run. If you set him down in one spot, he can put together a bad ass weapon or trap from his bag of tricks and get into a very deadly Pandora combat stance that gets more deadly the longer you hold it. When an enemy comes by, or right before the enemy reaches him (if the enemy is charging) or right before he reaches the enemy (if he is the one charging) he can spring out and….all hell breaks loose. The view will switch to 3rd person when you form a Pandora stance, whether you are standing or charging and may switch back to 1st person until you attack. When you attack, the game will go back to 3rd person to show your ruthless activities. Remember Marv and Achilles they are great examples.
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Well, this post is a gift as I usually keep every last one of my ideas a secret, as I'm currently on hiatus from the game industry (for family) and would like to get back to it fast and start development on Revolution titles. Any companies interested? :-)
~Charles Mallory aka Mode Red
Topic: Your Revolution game ideas HERE! (Read 66080 times)
