Adventure game - concept

[maniacs]

I mentioned in another thread the possibility of using a game Ive created to develope a War of the Worlds style adventure. Ive come up with a few ideas.

the player - I would have to invent a new character. Wilst Id like to stick to the writer it does become apparent I would feel more liberal with a new personality to work with. I would never deviate from the basic elements that make the story so appealing, the time and place, the martian equipment and weoponry.

basic gameplay - The player travels across various maps. Each map will represent a victorean scene. It could be a factory, a small village, a farm etc Each map has one way in and one way out.

Aim of game - We cant expect our hero to die of starvation as the war only lasts a couple of weeks. But we could go with the psychology aspect of the book and say that finding food and drink is vital for his moral. Or her. Therefore the main object of the game is to keep the player 'sane'

Objectives - solve a series of problems that present themselves to the player. Problems may involve the player making acts of humanity in an attempt to keep his sanity. ie getting food to a child, helping a trapped person, passing on information about a loved one. Selfless acts that hepl the player keep his humanity. Obviously the player may continue to his next destination. Its up to them. Other problems could result in instant death, path blocked until cleared. At the end of every level the player gets a roundup of his performance.

Baddies - Obviously the player is going to encounter martians both as ambience and on a more personal level where his life is in danger. Situations with black smoke, house fires and explosions could present themselves. Another 'enemy' could be desperados, criminals, escaped zoo animals - half crazed, half hungry etc

Id like to hear any further ideas. I would love to do this and I feel it would be more faithful to the story than previous games.

[Bayne]

[glow=red,2,300]If there will be a lot of action I hope you're planning it in 3rd person, I hate the idea of trying to dodge heat rays in 1st person view.
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[maniacs]

half the problem with WOTW is that if a martian sees you, your probably dead. You can't dodge a heatray.

I completed the 1980's version of Jw Video game version of WOTW. The basic conception was good but the tooing and froing was annoying. Encounter with a martian was just a matter of luck if you survive.

To remain true to the book Id like to imagine problems such as don't let the martian see you at all.

I really tend to imagine a true to book game as an interactive film rather than just a game.

[Bayne]

[glow=red,2,300]sounds very nifty indeed.
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[ArmoredTrackLayer]

What engine are you going to use? Also, maybe a create a character option would work?

[malfunkshun]

an interesting concept, but i'm not sure how well that type of game would work. after all, the war of the worlds is about martians, and if you have your character avoiding martians all the time, then where is your main conflict? i know, thats the way the book was, but sometimes ideas that work well in one form don't translate well to another, such as taking the book and trying to make an accurate game based upon it.

you've tried to introduce some other enemy-type ideas, but these i think will take away from the point that you're playing a game based upon WOTW, because you're not dealing with the martians. the exitement of WOTW is the fact that the martians play a central role in it and they are the source of the conflict.

thats why they had to change the pc game around some to make it fun, after all, who wants to play an RTS game where the humans are guaranteed to get their asses stomped 99 percent of the time and have to run and hide, waiting on the bacteria to do their dirty work? the humans had to be given a lot more ability in the game in order to make it an actual 'game'. this 'rule' i believe is the reason why a game like yours maniacs might not work so well in a WOTW theme. it might be a cool concept in and of itself, but if you're going to put it in a WOTW setting, i think that you should rethink the design so as to give the setting some credibility, instead of just acting as a colorful backdrop for your gameplay.

[maniacs]

Its a difficult scenario to make playable and remain faithful to the book. Thus I have only now considered the idea to proceed with a game now.

The idea would be to produce something that would give the impression of actually being there. As Ive said, more like a movie where you are actually in the scene observing. Obviously, being a game it still needs objectives and condtions which need to be

Such an idea would need to look very real graphically and I think it takes todays PC to achieve that.

The new enemies I mentioned would not be a constant factor. I'm not talking Q3 - War of the Worlds. Shooting tripods with a chaingun. Yuo would not get countless armies of zoo animals and criminals stalking the streets.

Levels would be set up differently. I easily envisage one level being a large town where the player needs to travel through and find his way out. Quite simple. Another might find him in the midst of a battle, explosions all round, falling big bens...erm debris etc
People fleeing in all directions, martians cruising down the streets.

Others might see no action but features a person trapped under debris and the player decides to help them.

[Bayne]

[glow=red,2,300]Could be the first proper survival horror game ever.

You should check out Steve Dismukes excellent Call of Cthulhu rpg scenario. It doesn't have the humans directly going up against tripods either but gets a lot of the atmosphere of the book.
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[maniacs]

At the mo I'm currently developing a fps inspired by LXG. Not my favourite film but I loved some of the hardware and saw where the film was coming from.

This means I could develope both projects in parallel. Using collected medias in both.

I have already made a fighting machine...kinda!

[twistedrabbit]

I love this idea. I think you're right about a high priority is making the game feel like the book with ambience and the different settings...that alone would make a lot of WOTW enthusiast salivate...the addition of puzzles to solve (get across the river without the tripod seeing you and boiling yah alive, escape a Handling Machine, or finding a way to get into an abandoned library, etc) would make it a game.
I'm very curious of your designs for the fighting machine. Do share!

[maniacs]

Im currently experimenting with the walking animation. Trust me these guys can move! The bueaty of the design I came up with is that it allows cruising speed like a walking human but can seriously increase its speed and run like a horse! These things could outrun a train easily!


When finished Im going to release a basic demo of it walking down the street for people to look. Maybe towards the end of the month... but probably mid-feb.

[maniacs]

What did occur to me was that not being able to defend yourself does add to the tension. Remember how Dr Who would scare you. Part of the tension for me was the sneaking around, trying to avoid being seen.

Just once I'd love to see a game produced just for the fans. I could create an action packed FPS but it would not be the same.

Besides I'm already doing that with the original FPS. I suppose I would consider the game I'm making a FIRST PERSON ADVENTURE.

[twistedrabbit]

Sounds good to me.

[twistedrabbit]

So maniac, how's progress going on this project? I'm sure not much, but I wonder how devoted you want to be to the idea, because seriously...it would kick so much arse.
If you need help modeling or need artwork done, or anything really...I'd be glad to help. I'm also a graphic artist as well as game art...in fact that's my current occupation while I trudge through school.
Look forward to seeing more!

[maniacs]

Ive currently reworked the original prog and come up with some ideas which could easily be developed into original source code. This, in a nutshell means, I will not be developing more source code over two years - thank the lords!!!

Its great that your interested but please wait until the demo is finished before making up your mind or getting excited. I don't want to be a another Hines to this forum.


Im relunctant to reveal anything until a level is complete. So as not to give away gaming ideas as yet it will be more a scripted scene. ie little danger to you but you should see some martians causing havc. This will also allow to work on spawning and AI.

[maniacs]

By the way does anyone have any ideas how I could do the aloo! I'm akay for the hooting.

[mekanik89]

I say maniac;

What Game engine are you employing?

I think something like HL2 would be fabulous for that.

Oliver

[maniacs]

Ive scratched the original prog myself. I'm currently working on another FPS based on a world thats a cross between WW1 and Science fiction called Trench Dogs.

Ive found that it's easily adapted to WotW scenarios I have thought up. Remember I am not doing an FPS although there may be access to a handgun and truncheon.

Ive worked the prog for two years and now currently developing a demo for both WOTW and Trench Dogs.

[maniacs]

I'd like to keep this thread going until I complete a website with the demos available.

If anybody has any comments or questions please do ask. Im also interested in ideas and hope at least one of the levels will compare to the Weybridge battle.

[twistedrabbit]

I think you should definetly go on with the WOTW level...your ideas sound awesomely enjoyable.

I was thinking about heading in that direction myself...in addition with WOTW: Refugee...maybe I'll end up modeling my war machines and a Horsell Common level for my final projects later this next year at my college. If I stick with the idea, I could have a simple functioning 3d game in a few years...who knows.

But definetly keep us up to date on your progress man!