Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: one day I'm going to create a video game

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Adopted Bronco:
    Javonte Williams
    Posts
    31,711

    Default one day I'm going to create a video game

    This is something I want to do, create a video game.

    I want to do it for the same reason writers feel compelled to write, rock stars to rock, painters to paint, and poets to poe. I feel like this could be my ultimate artistic statement, my expression of me-hood-ness. I want it to be a game for the ages, a once-in-a-generation experience that transcends the genre of video/audio/electronic fantasy simulation. Or at least ten people might really love it and it could become a cult/underground thing, and that's cool too.

    So the idea is that it's a fun game and all, probably a FPS or TPS type interface, with RPG type stylings. The plot/driving purpose is still up in the air, which is the toughest part for me. The things that I do know about it are really fragments...

    There will be several visual interfaces. Some segments of the game will be sharp with grays, others will be more blurred with saturated color. The contrast/color factor will often vary in surprising and unsettling ways to carry the drama of the game. There ought to be transitions from monochromatic to primary hue to balanced graphic schemes. Color itself will be a central aspect of the game. We might even shift the graphic schemes in terms of overall impression, like from realistic to world of goo, to anime, to cg, to stick figure, etc.

    The general ambiance/atmosphere is bleak. Dark. There will be contrasts here as well. Some parts of the game will be 'flashbacky' to the earlier parts of the plot sequence when all was happy (bright), but only to make the utter despair of the main plotline more stark.

    Literature and philosophic influences are important to me. In the game I would like to incorporate some of the same themes from artists like Kafka, Conrad, TS Eliot, Dante, Orwell, and McCarthy. Lovecraft. I don't want too get to involved in the details (and bore you), but the overall spine of this beast would be TS Eliot as found in Prufrock, Hollow Men, and The Waste Land. McCarthy's Road is also where I want to go with this. Both of those are echoes of Dante and Conrad to a large degree...as far as philosophy goes, I would like the game to bring about some of the major paradoxes and sublime contemplations of human thought. I would like to be able to weave together the action/background with concepts like Wittgenstein's 'language limit => world limit' (world limit => language limit, too) in ways that are not pedantic but enhance the unsettled mood. The philosophic interludes should undermine the player's views on reality until he is unsure of his own moorings. At the same time, there will be a strong effort to create a Zen atmosphere as the backdrop/foil.

    There will be a 1984 type conspiracy element of power elite.

    Other games that influence this might be Doom/Quake, Resident Evil, Half-Life 2

    Music will be important. We all know about how a score can affect emotion and suspense in a movie, so same thing goes here. I would like to use G. Ligeti in particular for some of the more maddening sections. I do earnestly want to make those that play my game brush against insanity. I would like the 'soundtrack' to kick ass though, overall. Here's another gem I want to include, at least Richard's intro...see if you can name it (it's on bottom if you want a listen, my focus is on the first 50 seconds):

    Richards had been working on the song's signature opening in London while Jagger was working on the film Performance. The song takes the form of a churning mid-tempo rocker. It begins with a rhythm guitar intro by Richards, followed by Jagger's lead vocal. On the recording of the album, Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, "Well, it's a very rough, very violent era. The Vietnam War. Violence on the screens, pillage and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense..." On the song itself, he concluded, "That's a kind of end-of-the-world song, really. It's apocalypse; the whole record's like that."
    Fractals.

    Love element similar to Final Fantasy VII.

    Characters will exhibit nuanced facial expressions conforming to FACS as found in Ekman's research. The idea is that characters will exhibit facial expressions in contradiction with their speech. Deception will be an element. Emotional sophistication on a level of literature, not video games.

    Some weapons in the games will modify moral outcomes instead of simply damaging. Or the effect will have some similar nonlinear result.

    I want to include the concept of entanglement and other oddball quantum details in different ways. I enjoy lateral thinking and false logic puzzles; that's the general idea. Not weird Myst/old school adventure game 'click on the weird fissure in the catacomb to find the ivory key' garbage, but a direct assault on reason and capacity for puzzle solving. Yes, I'll put a ESRB "G" for genius rating on the cover, so then everyone will want to prove they can defeat the game so they can have their merit badge...

    There will have to be the contrast of entire cycles of civilization and the smallness/inconsequence of a single life (in this case, the player's/protagonist's). This type of contrast would be most effective when the player becomes as insular/claustrophopic as possible...

    Likely to be set in a nuclear holocaust or similar setting. Nocturnal blizzards. Constant disorientation.

    Literal biblical stories.

    Real violence (castration, torture, hanging, etc...rape is taboo, right? These are things I detest but most of all I detest death and that is the main antagonist of this game)

    The goodness of water that is only revealed with painful thirst.

    Those are the fragments...now I just need a strong plot to fit inside.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sting
    "You know cos I just lost my parents--both my parents died in the same year...to this day, people come up to me and say 'my dad died and that album really meant a lot to me,' which is very nourishing {pats heart} for a songwriter to hear that your songs have a utility beyond just their own solace, that it actually helps other people."

  2. The Following 6 Users High Fived Hawgdriver For This Post:


  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    The Rock of Eternity
    Adopted Bronco:
    Drew Lock
    Posts
    16,031

    Default

    Put it out for XBox 360 and you have my money.

    An interesting twist I had on a WWII FPS or TPS game, since the subgenre is so saturated already....

    You're a father of a German family in Berlin, all innocent people. The Red Army are advancing on one side and the rest of the Allies on the other. You, your sons, and perhaps another family, the neighbors, take up the weapons of dead soldiers (that were literally everwhere at the time) and fight to escape the borders of Germany and avoid the rape of your wife and daughters and probably outright death.

    I think this is a great concept, but it isn't very politically correct.
    Last edited by Shazam!; 07-26-2009 at 11:19 AM.
    "I may not be a mathematician, but I can count to a million." - Shannon Sharpe

  4. The Following User High Fived Shazam! For This Post:


  5. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Adopted Bronco:
    Javonte Williams
    Posts
    31,711

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Shazam! View Post
    Put it out for XBox 360 and you have my money.

    An interesting twist I had on a WWII FPS or TPS game, since the subgenre is so saturated already....

    You're a father of a German family in Berlin, all innocent people. The Red Army are advancing on one side and the rest of the Allies on the other. You, your sons, and perhaps another family, the neighbors, take up the weapons of dead soldiers (that were literally everwhere at the time) and fight to escape the borders of Germany and avoid the rape of your wife and daughters and probably outright death.

    I think this is a great concept, but it isn't very politically correct.
    That's a good point...it might take some stones to push the boundaries of video games. This type of realism is OK in literature (hell, Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote about a 60 y/o (who was the protagonist) boning his (12 y/o?) granddaughter and made it on Oprah's list...)---why not a video game? Of course, the video aspect is probably what makes it tough...but there is a decent way you can do this to make the point.

    you know, there are those videos out there of the guy getting shot in the street in Vietnam (and you know it's real, see the puff of red), the guy getting his throat cut, etc. that stuff is really too much for me, i turn away. I don't want to see it and have it so much in my face. maybe some do. but there is a way you can do it that works but doesn't sacrifice the hardcore aspect.

    anyway, this idea of mine is a great joy to think about from time to time. i make notes about elements and so on. but to see it come to fruition I'll have to get rich...
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting
    "You know cos I just lost my parents--both my parents died in the same year...to this day, people come up to me and say 'my dad died and that album really meant a lot to me,' which is very nourishing {pats heart} for a songwriter to hear that your songs have a utility beyond just their own solace, that it actually helps other people."

  6. The Following User High Fived Hawgdriver For This Post:


  7. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    The Rock of Eternity
    Adopted Bronco:
    Drew Lock
    Posts
    16,031

    Default

    M rated games like Manhunt, Spartan-Total Warrior and Soldier of Fortune 3 push the envelope for violence so far, that almost anything can be in a game.

    Speaking of color aspects- Saboteor, an upcoming WWII game has an interesting take. The game starts off black and white, but as you liberate France from the Reich and inspire people to freedom, color begins bleeding into the environs. As far as I know this is a first.

    Now, with developers and publishers looking for the 'next big thing' and thing that are different and haven't been done before, if you are serious about it and get into game development, you could be on to something.

    If you are serious about persuing your endeveor and make a career out of it, best of luck.

    Keep us posted on your progress.

    I'd also liek to hear more of your ideas, they're intriguing.
    "I may not be a mathematician, but I can count to a million." - Shannon Sharpe

  8. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Adopted Bronco:
    only Von
    Posts
    37,064

    Default

    I want a game where you get to play as Anne Frank, but instead of dying you go out in your little dress and kill everybody. Can you picture Anne Frank with an AK-47?


    The shooter video games are getting boring to me. Because I suck at them. So make one that's easy for me.

  9. The Following User High Fived aberdien For This Post:


  10. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Waco, TX
    Adopted Bronco:
    Rick Upchurch
    Posts
    10,140

    Default

    I want an adventure game where you play as a pondering, wondering Death. First parts of the game you just take people out; old, sickly etc. But after awhile something horrible starts happening and everything is dying without you knowing how or why. Everywhere you go plants are withering and people are keeling over and the wildlife are huffing it through the streets before collapsing. Everything is out of order and out of sync. Being relegated to Earth, Death then ponders if there are others like him out there and if things are rippling through the Universe without his knowing. The gist is that Death begins to get scared and anxious with the realization that once there is nothing to left to kill he himself will cease to exist, thus he must prevent that; even if it means keeping people alive.
    How's your burger, bro? - Ancient proverb

  11. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    The Rock of Eternity
    Adopted Bronco:
    Drew Lock
    Posts
    16,031

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by aberdien View Post
    The shooter video games are getting boring to me. Because I suck at them. So make one that's easy for me.
    They do have difficulty levels. Halos and Gears of War make you better as you progress, even on lower and higher difficulties.

    I didn't play shooters for quite some time, after playing ones like Doom, Medal of Honor, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I had nothing to play and was at my friend's, and he gave me Call of Duty 2-Big Red One for PS2 that someone left at his house, and I became addicted to shooters as my genre of choice ever since.

    I used to play a lot of RPGs but I found myself not being able to invest 40+ hours into a game, and not having the patience to go dungeon-crawling in my old age anymore.
    "I may not be a mathematician, but I can count to a million." - Shannon Sharpe

  12. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Adopted Bronco:
    Javonte Williams
    Posts
    31,711

    Default

    This post was chiefly inspired by Amnesia: TDD by T. Grip and J. Nielsen. Frictional games. They made great titles and Mikko had great sound design.

    This is one of my best posts ever, I hope someone who reads this is inspired by the concepts.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sting
    "You know cos I just lost my parents--both my parents died in the same year...to this day, people come up to me and say 'my dad died and that album really meant a lot to me,' which is very nourishing {pats heart} for a songwriter to hear that your songs have a utility beyond just their own solace, that it actually helps other people."

Go
Shop AFC Champions and Super Bowl gear at the official online Pro Shop of the Denver Broncos!

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Your Greatest Video Game Achievements
    By MasterShake in forum Video Games
    Replies: 95
    Last Post: 09-26-2009, 05:24 PM
  2. Video from game against raitards?
    By johnnyj in forum Broncos Talk
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 12-09-2008, 04:05 PM
  3. good video players to study a game
    By haroldthebarrel in forum Video Games
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 09-11-2008, 05:09 PM
  4. Game preview video.....
    By Crush05 in forum Broncos Talk
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 09-08-2007, 03:13 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
status.broncosforums.com - BroncosForums status updates
Partner with the USA Today Sports Media Group