>ideafagging thread's gone
Fugg, I've been meaning to post my game idea there for some time but never got around finishing it.
Do you have any game ideas yourself? Anything you'd like to share yourself? Don't worry about idea theft, there are any game devs browsing these threads :^).
>last thread's archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20230620223931/https://zzzchan.xyz/v/thread/175461.html
I had an idea for a somewhat linear FPS in a similar vein to Half Life, but instead of an underground facility it'd be set in a large spaceborn installation in a similar vein to SS2 but with more diversified environments: offices, R&D complexes, civilian areas, recreational buildings, military hangars, etc; it's essentially an enclosed space colony drifting in the void.
You start off as a newly hired field engineer set to work on the ship. The first 10 minutes or so will feature the player on a tour around the place, showing him some of the multiple sections in the facility. I haven't thought this out yet, but as you're shown the place something happens then SHTF and the station suddenly is being attacked both by an extraterrestial force and a military organization. As the station goes tits up it's up to you to make your way through and leave in one piece.
The main idea for the game lies within the NPCs you find along the way. Instead of entities that will only follow you along a certain predefined route, like scientists in HL1, you can get to recruit a large cast of characters you can arm, arrange and give orders to, that will follow you through the entire game. Think of it as an improvised commando made by common people that work around the place. Here are some potential party candidates I thought on:
>well-armed security officer who sticks with you from the very beginning of the game; level-headed, trustworthy and a good shot, the game's equivalent to Barney
>mid management bureaucrat in his late 30s with a casual office look and his hair glued back; looks like he came out of American Psycho or a sitcom from the 90s
>absent-minded computer science major working in IT with a constant poker face, the silent guy; think of the Postal Dude with his receding hairline and a strand of hair obscuring his onset hairloss
>biochemistry PhD in his late 40s, in charge of one of the many onboard research facilities distributed amongst the space colossus; think of Dr Pavel albeit less med looking, a pointier chin and a slick haircut styled up
>major staff and chief civil engineer in charge of overlooking the space station, has a prepping background and is found barricaded mid-game, clearly knows how to use a gun; well-meaning and knowledgeable, resembles Wilford Brimley before the diabeetus era
>accomplished enemy commando from the military organization you fight throughout the game, sees no choice other than joining forces with you after being left stranded in a similar scenario to Forget about Freeman; resembles the Remove Kebab dude, might bring some of his men with him
>low-level technician with an immigrant polish background found half-dead/mutating late in-game, only pushes forward on his desire to see his family again; a Mariusz Pudzianowski lookalike without the steroids
>one of the larger, sturdier alien enemies you've fought again you'll find locked in a pod that will obey your commands; think of the summoned shambler from Scourge of Armagon; there'll be two in-game, one that serves the story late in-game, and another one neatly hidden mid-game so the player's allowed to have fun
All of these characters would be managed though a interface laced with a map of the current location. Using this map you'd be able to split the party, create strategies, set objectives and adjust each character's friendly behaviour. On top of the usual commands, there'd be a few interesting options, such as the ability to record your character's movement through a certain section and have the NPC play those moves back. This would be useful, for instance, in a platforming section, so that said allies won't die a retarded death because of garbage bot behavior.
I've been thinking whether the player should be able to recruit women he'd find alongside the station. I've pondered long and come to the conclusion that, in a disaster scenario where every man is off to himself, women would not thrive at all and be amongst the first casualties. Besides, if you were to recruit women in a large, armed group they'd be a liability more than anything, being weaker, being terrible gunmen and overall bringing forth unnecessary drama. Besides, there are multiple, older games that present a male-only cast where this isn't a issue if any, such as Half-Life. In fact, they're very straightforward and enjoyable to come back to.
Settingwise, given current IRL happenings and CY's zeitgeist I'd thought of the space facility having Commiefornian laws which heavily punish gun ownership. As such, many of the weapons featured in the game would be clandestine, amateur DIY weapons, custom weapons that circumvent said laws britbongistan-style, or some of the citadel's equipment that's been tinkered with to be useful weaponwise, lasers for instance. This would be backed by the enemy forces using weapons with draconic protection measures, such as fingerprint locking on the trigger, for instance, though they would become usable later in-game after finding out a way to hijack them.
Lastly, on the gameplay itself, the game would play like your run-of-the-mill FPS, except you'd have plenty more companions beside you. Since shooting single enemies would be trivial with a huge party of fairly non-retarded NPCs, instead of a bunch of corridors the maps would consist of larger, more intricate areas you'd need to approach carefully. Large rooms with plenty of nooks and crannies and options to split your group (an abandoned office complex with many cublicles, for instance); large, open installations filled with places to hide and cover from fire, with multiple objectives to crack them open; or even vertical maps your squad would need to keep an eye out for multiple sources of enemy fire (something like UT's Phobos map, for example). Lastly, there'd be some resource management across all of your party members with a neat little screen where you'd be able to cycle through everyone's inventory. This seems like an issue if any of your party members suddenly run out of ammo in the heat of a shootout.
To speed up the gameplay loop I was thinking the game would benefit from shooting action similar to older FPS games: instantaneous weapon switching, minimal animations, fast/no reloads, etc. I doubt extremely fast walking speed would be ideal in what's otherwise a squad shooter, though there would be some advanced movement options to compensate, for instance a superjump akin to HL's.
What do you think, faggots? Do you think any of this would make for a compelling game? Any flaws or aspect of the game that aren't doing it to you? I accept critiques on my game that's absolutely going to release in the next 5 years.