Your Dream Video Games

[Jax]

So if you had a large game budget handed to you and a full team of eager coders to help you develop your own dream video game projects then what would they be? What genre, SP/CO-OP? Online or offline, story driven, standalone or a Mass Effect like saga? etc etc. I could think of several but for this post I will focus on one particular idea...

I would want a pure online "The Last of Us" game but in the style of Day Z or the recently early access release of H1Z1. So a huge map with a large city in the middle and then further out small towns, outposts, countryside, swamps, lakes and standalone structures etc. A map of AI enemies mostly different types of infected though I would introduce some new types of infected not seen in the 2013 video game. Somewhere between 50-100 players who can customize their characters and choose how they want to play with the only goal being survival.

* Base building to create a safe zone where clans can store what they find like large amounts of weapons/ammo cache

* Dynamic map always changing and being made larger over time

* If you die then you restart with a new character

* In game voice chat

A big feature I would like to see is a Day/Night cycle plus a season cycle...

* Each day lasts around 6 hours = 4 in game days per 1 real day

* Every in game 30 days (roughly every week) sees the start of a new month and you could do server maintenance during the switch.

* Every 3 months in game changes to a new season so Spring-Summer-Fall-Winter and the landscape and weather changes to match

* Day/Night cycle changes to match time of year so Spring and Fall would have 3 hours of day & 3 of night. Summer would have 4 hours of day & 2 of night and the reversal for winter.

Have a food/hydrate & Sick system but not as extreme as Day Z and I would keep the combat similar to that found in The Last Of Us but maybe tweak the melee system a little. Also NO F2P tier system at all, sell the game for like £25, €30 or $40 dollars with future expansions maybe to raise more revenue down the line.

So what do you think? and what dream projects would you like to make?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I like your idea of a giant zombie apocalypse world which evolves dynamically. Though, I love the idea of mandatory Iron Man mode, most modern gamers would hate that.

I'd having trouble picking genres. I suppose I would probably make an RPG which combines the best of both worlds between Japanese style and Western style RPGs.

-Combat is kind of like old school Baldur's Gate. You have full control of a large party and there is no AI making any of the decisions. You can pause the game and give commands.

-Story is Final Fantasy style, where all the characters speak for themselves including the main character, and they often enter and leave the party.

-World is Mass Effect style, with more adult themes and aliens.

-There is little separation between gameplay and story scenes. Story doesn't interrupt you with five minutes of cinematography. Story happens in the same space as you can walk around and explore.

-Story interruption in minimal. There's occasional big story sequences but you find out much more about the world by exploring it and talking to NPCs than you do in cutscenes.

-Characters are weakly typed in battle. That is, it's not a strict class system like D&D, but characters are often much better at some types of skills than others. No individual character the full skill set to carry a battle by himself, so group tactics are necessary.

-Levels and statistics are weak. If you fight a battle and lose it, you're much better off coming up with a better strategy or better setup than you are going back to grind.

-Side quests are not interchangeable fetch quests and kill quests. Every one of them has some kind of interesting story content. Not one person in the entire game asks you to bring them 'Three Vorlon Toenails'.

-Equipment does not just slowly scale up statistics, they all have some kind of unique effect associated with them. There's more to your equipment setup than just choosing between the armor with 54 defense and the one with 57 defense. Each weapon type has unique strengths and drawbacks, and some have special effects like the relics in Final Fantasy VI.

-Multiple endings, but not based on some one dimensional morality system like good/evil or paragon/renegade. It's based on the sum of your decisions and actions throughout the game. Maybe you make decisions that have unintended consequences.

 

[Kelthaz]

I don't want to play 100+ hour RPGs. I don't want to play complex simulations. I don't want to play interactive movies. I don't want to play online multiplayer games. I love arcade style games. I love games that are short, have simple mechanics, minimal story, and brutal difficulty. Games that force you to master the intricacies of their gameplay mechanics if you want to have any chance of seeing the ending. Fortunately they do make plenty of games like this today, but they're all retro-inspired 2D games like Hotline Miami, Super Meat Boy, Shovel Knight, and Volgarr the Viking. These are fantastic games, but I'd be great to see a modern 3D game with the arcade design philosophy.

So what are my dream games? Well it's easy for me because they already exist. The Dark Souls series and Bayonetta 2 are the type of games that I want out of modern gaming. But these games are few and far between, so I want more of them. Lots more of them. Make it happen developers. My wallet is waiting.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

That's the other kind of game I love, Kelthaz, but I like going back and forth between both kinds.

Super Meat Boy and Shovel Knights are two of my favorites. Also, there have been some excellent fan hacks of Mario 64 which step up the challenge.

Search for Mario 74 and Star Road. Also, there's a version Mario 74 Extreme which is so ridiculously unfair it's probably physically impossible without liberal use of save states.

If I were to design my ideal game on that side of things, it'd probably just basically be a Metroidvania Mario.

 

[bbjeg]

I always wanted to see an open-world first person Marvel Comics game (probably Manhattan), where you can create your own character or play a selection of pre-existing characters (with more downloadable) but not with Lego graphics and with more of a GTAV action warped realism (lighter gravity and exploding objects that shouldn't explode as much), and a multiplayer feature (created characters only) where you can join other heroes to face the great villains or group of villains, join other villains to fight great heroes or group of heroes, or fight in a 2vs2 to 5vs5 to 1vs5 (super-powered vs group) pvp queue.

Then, there will be a Savage Land expansion for a Skyrim-esq feel.

 

[Kemaiku]

Offline. No Origin, Steam, whatever idiotic clients and pushing entirely online play. I'm good with my copy of it thanks.

Massive amount of content at release, no DLC shit fests as nearly all games are now, relasing 20% of the game and paying through the nose for the rest.

Nearly 100% of the game is played, as few cutscenes as possible, no "playable movie" utter waste of games like Last Of Us.

Properly beta tested, so basically the removal of EA games.

 

[mimic]

Thinking about various games and what I like about them:

The humor, villains, and puzzles of Portal.
The atmosphere, difficulty, and exploration of Dark Souls.
The story/characters of Mass Effect.

So, I would make Half-Life 3.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I'd hire all of the Implementors (Infocom's name for their programmers and writers) who are still alive, including the ones that have made the Interactive Fiction contest winners every year, plus Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, plus the teams behind Fallout 3, Dragon Age, and Portal, and we would make Zork Online. Quendor fully envisioned as a complete and open MMORPG world, with every bit of the material from ALL of the old Infocom games (except the ones based on outside licenses such as Hitchhiker's and Sherlock, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos just because no ), novels, and related materials melded together as best as possible, with plenty of new material included, too, and we would license Dungeons and Dragons in case we wanted to crib or riff off of their material, too. The full Zorkian spell system, with new spells. Locations, items, events, and people only referenced in passing in the games. And plenty of little things that people can do that have no bearing on any game goal or mission, and plenty of odd results.

The offline, single player mode would have all of the material necessary for someone to play all of the original Infocom games (except the ones excluded above) with the same graphics as the MMORPG. No Steam or Origin or similar would be required to play the offline mode.

The box (and even if purchased online, a box would be sent to you) would include the game discs, cool game related literature, comically written instructions, and FEELIES, to include but not limited to a Zorkmid coin (minted in a new year different from the original ones included in Zork) and a glow-in-the-dark Wishbringer stone.

Material would be developed for the online game on an ongoing basis - but no material would be withheld at the time the game is released for that purpose: everything that can go in, goes in. DLC would be new *separate* offline games based on interactive fiction written by new authors and then realized by our developers in our graphics engine and then sold with a small cut for those independent writers, and a rating system so that the cream rises to the top. We would also sell replicas of the larger famous in-game items: the Sword of Elvish Workmanship, the Brass Lantern, etc.

The subscription for an online account would be $14.95/month with a discount for paying for a full year. The discs would be sold for $20, would include 1 month online for free, and would have NO DRM (if people copy the offline material, we'll consider it free advertising). Part of the TOS would be that if the game was ever shut down it would be open-sourced in its entirety, including all game-specific server-side software.

 

[Dude111]

So what do you think? and what dream projects would you like to make?

I would LOVE making a cabinet with ALL OF MY FAVOURITE games from Atari 2600,Colecovision and early 80s arcade games!!!!!!!!!!


Ah man!!

 

[Taylirious]

A more realistic looking World Of Warcraft. How it looks in the cinematic.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Dr Who, open-world, all of time and space.

Well, at least two world settings, and at least two time zones. AC Black Flag and Rogue both pull off enough different settings to prove it's possible.

 

[FPAlpha]

I'd love to see a truly massive online game that has elements on the level of a true standalone game.

What i mean by that is that you have a strategy game/shooter/space combat sim/MMORPG which are seamlessly integrated.

It could look like this.. you are in your HQ planning the strategic fleet moves and orchestrating some campaign, bulding various supply depots, shipyards and other installations (Strategy). You stand up from your desk, board a shuttle to your flagship and then lead the fleet into battle (Tactical Space Battles). Once there you fight your way to the planet or join a fighter squadron (Space Combat Sim).

Once you are on the surface you lead or join a team of soldiers who march out to their objectives (Shooter).

People could buy the single game titles that fit their preferred game style (or all of them) but they would all be combined and one would affect the others. You may land your forces on the planet but the ground troops crap out and you have to pull out again.
Or your fleet is losing but a crack Special Force team is able to sneak onto the enemy flagship and neutralize the commanding officer etc.

It would require a massive server base on the side of the publisher to handle all that but we are dreaming here, right?

 

[intrinsical]

I'd love to see a truly massive online game that has elements on the level of a true standalone game.

What i mean by that is that you have a strategy game/shooter/space combat sim/MMORPG which are seamlessly integrated.

It could look like this.. you are in your HQ planning the strategic fleet moves and orchestrating some campaign, bulding various supply depots, shipyards and other installations (Strategy). You stand up from your desk, board a shuttle to your flagship and then lead the fleet into battle (Tactical Space Battles). Once there you fight your way to the planet or join a fighter squadron (Space Combat Sim).

Once you are on the surface you lead or join a team of soldiers who march out to their objectives (Shooter).

People could buy the single game titles that fit their preferred game style (or all of them) but they would all be combined and one would affect the others. You may land your forces on the planet but the ground troops crap out and you have to pull out again.
Or your fleet is losing but a crack Special Force team is able to sneak onto the enemy flagship and neutralize the commanding officer etc.

It would require a massive server base on the side of the publisher to handle all that but we are dreaming here, right?

The ground part is already available with Planetside 2. You can play as a lonewolf soldier, squad/platoon soldier, vehiclle driver, plane pilot, squad commander, platoon commander or command the entire army. There are bases and continents that when captured, gives some advantages to the faction. The only thing missing is the space portion.

 

[Dexter Remmick]

I like your idea OP. I'd buy that game in a heart beat.

I would also love to see:

Harry Potter universe action rpg.
Kotor III made with The Force Unleashed mechanics.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I've also always wanted a game with seriously good AI. Like, AI that learns how to beat the specific player it's playing against.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I've also always wanted a game with seriously good AI. Like, AI that learns how to beat the specific player it's playing against.

And then if it got really good, we could connect it to run our military/nuclear strategies and tactics. Take the human error out of the whole thing.

 

[SPCTRE]

I'd love to see a truly massive online game that has elements on the level of a true standalone game.

What i mean by that is that you have a strategy game/shooter/space combat sim/MMORPG which are seamlessly integrated.

It could look like this.. you are in your HQ planning the strategic fleet moves and orchestrating some campaign, bulding various supply depots, shipyards and other installations (Strategy). You stand up from your desk, board a shuttle to your flagship and then lead the fleet into battle (Tactical Space Battles). Once there you fight your way to the planet or join a fighter squadron (Space Combat Sim).

Once you are on the surface you lead or join a team of soldiers who march out to their objectives (Shooter).

People could buy the single game titles that fit their preferred game style (or all of them) but they would all be combined and one would affect the others. You may land your forces on the planet but the ground troops crap out and you have to pull out again.
Or your fleet is losing but a crack Special Force team is able to sneak onto the enemy flagship and neutralize the commanding officer etc.

It would require a massive server base on the side of the publisher to handle all that but we are dreaming here, right?

On a slightly less integrated level, Eve Online (MMO component) coupled with Dust 514 for PS3 (FPS component) realized some of the aspects you're describing.