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Game Idea.

Cyberpawz · 2003-05-29T19:56:42

I''m new at this, so I don''t know if this is the right spot, but hell, I may as well try. I have been throwing around a game idea for people to see, and so far I have gotten good critisizim back, but the issue is, that I don''t know if they are trying to be "nice" to me or not. In any case, here is my idea, or partial of it. Please honest responces...This is one part of the whole, the entire history and backgroud consists of almost 50 pages. Cyberpawz ------------------------------------------------------------------ The year is 2012 and the world as we know it no longer exists. Governments have fallen, are barely in control of their own land, or are shadows of their former selves. For now, I shall only discuss the United States because that is where The Game will originate. The United States has been broken into ?Corporate Empires,? much like the early Greek City States. In the US, these Corporate States have taken control from the remnants of the American government. The Corporate States, although outwardly friendly to each other with treaties and agreements for mutual advantage, inwardly wish to annihilate each other. The corporations are not the only ones that are in the game for power. The American Government has lost power but it is still using whatever resources it has left to gain it back. Gradually, the former government is waging an internal war against the Corporate States to destroy their foundation and regain control back once again. All sides and various separate entities with their own agendas have use for fighters, computer hackers and various cannon fodder to fight for and further their aims. These will be the characters of The Game. A Little History: During the year of 2002 the United States Congress passed a law that would set the foundations of the downfall of the American Government. The law was a ?Clean Election Law.? This law gave a "fair chance" to all politicians or anyone running for office by restricting campaign money. All money had to come from the main party, and a candidate could not accept money from any other source. During this time, an older law was also enforced allowing a maximum of $500 per individual voter to give to a party during a year. This law restricted corporations from buying elections, so they used less legal means to influence the court system. The Supreme Court repealed the law in 2003, for limiting the public?s ?Freedom of Speech.? In 2005 a revised law was passed. This law skirted the freedom of speech issue, and the court system could find no way to overturn it constitutionally. The government had learned a valuable lesson, but it was too late. The corporations had moved their "influence" to the judicial where their power to invalidate laws was just as great as it had been under the system of open contributions to the elected. By 2019, money to the parties for elections had dried up because of the electorates apathy. Congress could not allocate tax dollars for elections because of the strangle hold the corporations had on the judiciary. The corporations were held out of election influence and even with the judiciary they were losing money. The Stock Market was in the toilet with little chance for recovery. The name of the game was consolidation. The corporations busily bought and merged to try to begin making a profit somewhere. The heavy restrictions placed on corporations after the failure of ENRON and Microsoft also weighed heavily on the corporations. By 2020 unemployment was over 30% and the government was bankrupt. The once solid dollar was worth less than a tenth of a cent and there were food riots in the major cities. The 15-year do nothing congress was forced to act. With almost unheard-of speed, both houses of congress repealed the "Clean Elections" bill of 2005. This again allowed the corporations to influence elections and the operation of the government. Now the corporations controlled all 3 branches of the government. By 2040 the government, although stronger, had become corrupted by the money. The American Government resembled the late Roman Empire with corruption at every level. Unemployment was at an all time low, but wages were at third world levels allowing the corporations to become even richer and more powerful. The per capita income of America fell below that of China while the compensation for senior corporate managers rose to unheard-of heights. During the 2050s conditions in America were the worst that the country had ever seen. The poverty level was similar to that found in Russia after the end of the cold war. Corporations were making money because of the low labor costs and selling products overseas at very high prices. The government was in complete disarray without effective legislation, judiciary or executive leadership. Race riots were common in the streets of major cities as the melting pot of America fought for the few jobs still available. Both the government and corporations took advantage of racial tensions to exploit voters and workers. The last labor union died. Politically several coups by dissidents were discovered and put down - two of them with bloody fighting in the streets of DC. Organized crime grew to be as large an operation as some of the major corporations. Attempts by the government were met with bribes and if bribes were refused - by extreme violence. Chaos and violence were the rule. In 2055 the corporations, finally realized that they had created a monster in their "controlled" government. It was so chaotic that the corporations could no longer get effective legislation to further their aims. The chaos in the streets and the rise of the crime syndicates was eating too heavily into profits to be tolerated any longer. If a coup were ever successful, the corporations knew that they would lose everything that they had gained in power and control of America and its cheap production facilities and workers. Profits and possibly even their very existence was being threatened by that which they had made. The corporations decided after much debate between CEOs and boards of directors to propose to the government that the corporations take charge temporarily. The corporations would take over all government functions. Each corporation would be responsible for the primary areas where they had the largest production facilities. This would effectively divvy up America between the 4 largest corporations with the help of the smaller corporations in some areas. The smaller corporations would answer directly to the big 4. The government had little choice but to concede to the corporations with the stipulation that the corporations would take control for a limited time. The deed was done, and America would never be the same. During the first two years of the corporate take over the corporations began taking over all government functions to include military and police. When the consolidation was completed, the corporations started a military campaign to take back the streets from the thugs, racists and organized crime. It was a bloody and terrible time in the large cities with gun fights on every street corner. Racism was not tolerated, organized crime was driven underground and efficiency was put into all government functions. In 2059 with the corporate controlled government running smoothly and profits rising the elected government asked to take back control. During the corporate control, they also had reorganized and felt that they were the legitimate government and should be returned to power in line with the original agreement with the corporations. The corporations refused. They now had power directly and were not planning to let it go. The corporations felt that they had the upper hand because they controlled the military and police. The elected government felt that they were in right and that the public would support them. America was at the brink of a second Civil War. Rich against poor, corporations against government. Because neither side wished to destroy what they were fighting for, the fighting was sporadic and fought on many fronts. During 15 years of often bloody fighting, the common people were the ones that took the brunt of the war and suffering was wide spread. The corporations finally won, but by this time the US was a third world country. The corporations began the long rebuilding process with the grudging cooperation of the populace. The year now is 2070, and the corporations are in complete power...

Writing for Games Game Design

Started by Cyberpawz May 24, 2003 02:36 PM

11 comments, last by Cyberpawz 21 years, 1 month ago

Cyberpawz

100

Author

May 29, 2003 03:24 AM

quote: Original post by Impossible
The story is very cyberpunk... It actually sounds very similar to the storyline of Cyberpunk 2020 (old R. Talsarian Roleplaying game.) You may want to check that out for inspiration. The interesting thing about it is that you said you don''t want to make it cyberpunk, but politcally it is very cyberpunk.

Actually I have nothing against making it Cyberpunkish, but it''s going to be a hard market in itself to break into... the hard core players may not like it, but the "noobs" would love it...

I am twisting the basic rules of Cyberpunk to my own, i.e. There is still a government... and magic won''t exist in the same manner.

But I may come into legality issues if I want to make it as it is... the company who make Shadowrun may find it too simular...

quote: Original post by Impossible
At first I thought you wanted to do the game in a completely modern setting with few fantasy or sci-fi elements (which would be cool), but I see you have the "super human virus." Which is cool also. The sequel game to Cyberpunk 2020, Cybergeneration had a similar idea. There is a nanotech plague that kills most people, but gives some of the youth special abilities. Once again, you may want to check that out. The book Snowcrash also has a similar setup.

I''ve been told about Snowcrash, I haven''t picked it up yet, although I probably should. The game itself is going to be based in the "near future" give or take two generations from now...

The "super human virus" you named was the catalyst, yet I have not yet thought of if the next generation will be effected by the disease in the same manner, or will it mutate...

I wanted to stay away from the "plague that nearly kills mankind" it has been overdone... ie Doom III, and others all follow that suit, tinkering with genetics,and demon gates to only release a super creature/virus that destroys mankind unless you can stop it...

quote: Original post by Impossible
The only problem I see here is there is lots of story and very little mentioned about the gameplay. This is the writting forum, so it''s understandable, but it took me a while to figure out that it''s some sort of RPG that you want to eventually change into an MMORPG? Working on background story is good, but don''t forget to think about how the combat system will work, what kind of puzzles and challenges the players will face, how the political system will work, etc.

I''m working on it

Right now we are debating a physics model, as well as the combat system, since the AI is going to be dependent on both, since it will have it''s own learning style, and it can be programmed to do almost anything... within reason...

The AI is going to learn all aspects of every weapon on it''s own, and learn what does the most damage to what, etc... we are also hoping to sell the potential "final" revision of the AI to the government for training...long story.

But overall the game is going to learn your style and force you to interact with on it''s own terms...

In other-words, you are a grunt that liked to "blow things up" it is going to force you to sneak around, or infiltrate a base to destroy a portion of it, or to kill a person, but no one can die, unless given the authority to do so... etc..

Puzzles will be more geared towards the hackers, thieves, and assassins, the others will be given simpler puzzles, but more difficult to solve them since brute force may, or may not be the answer all the time.

As for this MMORPG, by the time it gets to that point, I am hoping the data from gameplay on the servers will make the next gen AI superior to the old one... and give people a real challange...

This is just a taste, any more questions?

Cyberpawz

P.S. I would love to see game AI''s fight against each other one time... UT 2003 vs Doom III''s AI...playing Deathmatch... hehe

Font size: [size=7]Upon the new name of the new Windows OS (Longhorn), potentially coming out by 2005, to compete against the new Mac OS of 10.5 (Panther), a response was given.Panthers eat Longhorns. Does this remind anyone of Windows 95 ("Chicago") vs. System 7.5 ("Capone")?

Impossible

134

May 29, 2003 03:42 PM

quote: Original post by Cyberpawz
I am twisting the basic rules of Cyberpunk to my own, i.e. There is still a government... and magic won''t exist in the same manner.

A lot of cyberpunk still has a government, sometimes even a stable one (see SJ Games'' Transhuman Space.) Also, magic is definitely not a standard cyberpunk genre convention. You seem to only really be familiar with Shadowrun. Shadowrun is basically Cyberpunk 2020 + Dungeons and Dragons, so it''s actually two genres (hence the elves, orcs, trolls, dwarves, magic, spirits, etc.) It''s more cyberpunk than fantasy, but those fantasy elements are definitely not cyberpunk. If you want to read the book that originated the cyberpunk genre you should look at Neuromancer by William Gibson.

quote:
Right now we are debating a physics model, as well as the combat system, since the AI is going to be dependent on both, since it will have it''s own learning style, and it can be programmed to do almost anything... within reason...

The AI is going to learn all aspects of every weapon on it''s own, and learn what does the most damage to what, etc... we are also hoping to sell the potential "final" revision of the AI to the government for training...long story.

Sounds interesting... Goodluck with all of that.

quote:
But overall the game is going to learn your style and force you to interact with on it''s own terms...

In other-words, you are a grunt that liked to "blow things up" it is going to force you to sneak around, or infiltrate a base to destroy a portion of it, or to kill a person, but no one can die, unless given the authority to do so... etc..

Hehe, I always thought it would be interesting to do the opposite, have a game that analyzes that players style and adjusts to give them more of what they want. But thwarting the player''s favorite tactics would make for a challenging game and force players to try different approaches.

quote:
P.S. I would love to see game AI''s fight against each other one time... UT 2003 vs Doom III''s AI...playing Deathmatch... hehe

It would be interesting, but it would also require so much tweaking and porting due to some rather large engine differences that it''d be difficult to call the ported AI the same as the original. Also, UT2003 is a multiplayer\bot AI and Doom III looks like a more traditional single player AI, so there would be some functional differences as well.

Cyberpawz

100

Author

May 29, 2003 07:56 PM

quote: Original post by Impossible
nk still has a government, sometimes even a stable one (see SJ Games'' Transhuman Space.) Also, magic is definitely not a standard cyberpunk genre convention. You seem to only really be familiar with Shadowrun. Shadowrun is basically Cyberpunk 2020 + Dungeons and Dragons, so it''s actually two genres (hence the elves, orcs, trolls, dwarves, magic, spirits, etc.) It''s more cyberpunk than fantasy, but those fantasy elements are definitely not cyberpunk. If you want to read the book that originated the cyberpunk genre you should look at Neuromancer by William Gibson.

Actually I''m not familiar with all versions of Cyberpunk, but I do know about enough about Shadowrun (having to own nearly all of the books from the series) And the reason I''m staying away from the fantasy aspect (elves, dwarves, etc) is because I don''t need people comparing it Shadowrun...less money I have to give groups the better.

quote: Original post by Impossible
Hehe, I always thought it would be interesting to do the opposite, have a game that analyzes that players style and adjusts to give them more of what they want. But thwarting the player''s favorite tactics would make for a challenging game and force players to try different approaches.

Actually you will have your "favorite" actions, but the game will also force you to play every so often a type you don''t want to play... the grunt for example, ie: any fighter''s mentally... "Grunt smash, grunt kill, grunt make things go boom!"

Well you can play the game all you want, make things go boom all you want, but if you want to get that "extra money" you may have to do something you normally wouldn''t think about...or want to do (sort of like real life). But you can make money just taking your aggravation on the local gang, or go through the old government areas and try to find the real answer for the mutations, or whatnot... but if you want to make money you may have to do things you might not like overall, but the end result is very satisfying, for if you are with a group, and you are the only one that made it back alive, well you get the full kitty...

But that being said, you get bad karma in where other people might not think of going with you the next time, for the people who did, didn''t come back... hehe.

quote: Original post by Impossible
It would be interesting, but it would also require so much tweaking and porting due to some rather large engine differences that it''d be difficult to call the ported AI the same as the original. Also, UT2003 is a multiplayer\bot AI and Doom III looks like a more traditional single player AI, so there would be some functional differences as well.

Actually, UT2003, online is multiplayer, on your own personal computer, I expect you have levels you have to beat to make it as the "master" of that ranking...

I think in that aspect, both AI''s would be able to play against each other, since the Doom III has a built in agression/defence already... and could compete with the UT2003 already.

You are right though, it would take a lot of reporagming to make both work with the other''s physics, but I have an idea to solve the weapon issue...

Insta-gib...if not then allow usage of weapons they both have in common...and start from there.

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Game Idea.

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