A World War 1 Game

[Exocet]

snipped for great justice

Thats a pretty great idea man, like if the game started before you go into war, and it develops all your comrades a bit as enthusiastic young ones, but as the war drags on they become more and more melancholy hardened and bitter, their faces are dirty and sunken etc etc, and like at the end it shows a before and after shot of all these people who you've fought alongside in the game.
That could be powerful

Thanks,I've given some thought over the years,but the hardest part wouldn't be to make the game emotionally charged,with all the material you have to work with,that would be pretty easy(I can think of 10 ways to scare,sadden and basically make players sick to the stomach without really brainstorming).
The real problem would be marketing it so it doesn't flop.Alot of gamers,demonstrated by the user that posted right above you,only see the lack of real,meaningful action.You aren't going to be some super soldier with high tech gear,or even just a spec ops guys,doing behind the lines high risk operations,you would just be a regular schmuck that got dragged in a pointless conflict.
However,if it's properly shown that there's more to it than waiting to die,and break that feeling of monotony when imagining a WW1 game,it could make a very powerful game.

 

[Lord Honk]

Necrovision was ok, Darkest of Days was ok, but what I really liked was the civil war scene from Darkest of Days: Standing in a firing line, facing the enemy. Everyone gets his shot, and the side where people still stand wins. Not the best pacing for a video game, but it was an experience I hadn't seen executed in other games.

WW1, bring it on. WW2 scenarios can only be stretched out to an extent, and I think we reached that point some years ago.

 

[Geekosaurus]

I've been saying this for years. I loved WW1.

The Battle of the Somme.
57,470 deaths and injuries, to British troops, in just one day.
After forty days of fighting that number is 1.5 million.
That's 37,500 deaths each day.

 

[LebbyLegs]

ye quite

there is very little in WW1 that is heroic and even the small parts that were are overshadowed by the rest

i still live in the village where 8 generations of my family has lived. like most small villages in the UK we have a war memorial plastered in the names of people who died in "the great war" many entire male branches of my family included.

stick to the wars where heroism can be played out.
WW1 . . . even now the scars are still open.
i dont want teenagers thinking its something they can make a COD out off or anything else that glamorizes or downplays the senseless slaughter of it (and if it was realistic you wouldn't want to play it)

True, but the wounds of WW2 are still open, as far more people were killed and many more of them civilians, and thats the thing. In a world war 1 game it wouldn't be all about heroism, it would be about a bunch of normal soldiers just trying to stay alive. People the Players can relate to.
I don't think many people can identify with characters like Captain Price or Soap McTavish, because their the sort of soldiers who take down an enemy base for breakfast and then laugh about it with their mates afterwards.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

It could work if you had an approach similar to Battlefield 2 where you quantum leap to another soldier when you die.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Hey, anyone with a Steam version of a Source game, try this mod out:

http://www.moddb.com/mods/ww1-source

It proves that a FPS WW1 game can work. It's fun, relies on teamwork, and while there is trench warfare it's not that prominent.

 

[Wolfram23]

While there certainly was an abysmal amount of troups killed by rushing at a machine gun nest, there's also a LOT of very cool battles that took place. A game like this would almost have to flip flop around. I mean first off, the start of the war, the Germans marched almost to Paris. Fights all over the place, in cities, forests... everywhere. Then there's the Russian front, again just all kinds of crazyness. Germans had U boats going around sinking ships, meanwhile the British were blockading their ports. Not to mention the Bolshevik uprising in Russia right at the end of the war (partially responsible for it ending) was a crazy affair. When the war was "getting stale" there was a nice little affair in Mexico, as the Germans supplied them with weapons to fight the Americans so that they couldn't go to fight in europe.

I've read a couple really good books on WWI - namely Fall of Giants by Ken Follet and before that... I think it's called 3 Day Road and I forget the author but it was about a couple Native Americans from Canada who go to WWI as snipers, and one of them becomes a ruthless sniper feared by the Germans. It's an awesome story.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

A few simple reasons:

1.) It's never been done before. People don't like risk.
2.) A game centered around fear and tension would have to be made very well, and would be a daunting task.
3.) You lose half of your shooter audience when you tell them that it's less about shooting and more about story/emotion.

 

[SpireOfFire]

im sure it can be done, its just a matter of who and when.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Snippage

If done like that it would be closed to a work of art than a videogame.
It probably wouldn't have very fun multiplayer, for the reasons everyone else has mentioned.

It would be kinda like games that are really bad but are otherwise damn good fun to play, in reverse.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Actually,I think a truly well crafted game in that setting could be much more varied than alot of games we have today.
First,there's co-ordinating artillery by means of recon planes,along with primitive bombing runs.
Then there's defending your trench,sometimes even with your damn fists.
Not to mention crossing the no man's land.The game could be scripted to not have shells land too close to you,to insure you survive until you actually get to the fight.

Then there's a story my grandpa told me about his father that served at the Somme valley,in which telegraph lines were cut by shrapnel,and he was volunteered to act as messenger boy.SO he ran from the trenches to the HQ,then back.By the time he had to make another run,he found the HQ engulfed in gas.Imagine that in game.Hell after a few weeks,he saw so much killing that when he laid his rifle on a rotting cadaver that was basically part of the trench wall by then(let that image sink in for a few seconds),so he could take a piss right there in the trench,the cadaver's arm fell off,and all the soldiers around that saw just laughed.No digust,no shock,just laughter.

Hell,even on before and after pictures of soldiers that were physically unharmed,you can see they saw gruesome shit no one should ever have to.Imagine that as character developement.Seeing a friendly NPC that follows you during the war looking more and more...traumatised,and yet battle hardened at the same time,only to realise you are basically just looking in a mirror.

And what about Gallipoli?First modern amphibious attack that saw as many casualties as the entire Operation Overlord of the second World War,and hopefully give credits to the ANZAC for taking a major part in it.

I think shedding some light on this overlooked war would be a great idea.It could be one of the most emotionally charged and atmospheric games ever.
Also,who the hell gave you the idea that the rifles back then were inaccurate?The very same designs were used 30 years later,and they magically become accurate weapons,just because they're now set in WW2 and some have scopes.

It would be brilliant if done well, problem is it would be so hard to do.

 

[KissofKetchup]

It was a bunch of people sitting around in a ditch with shitty arse innacurate weapons occasionally charging like morons in a straight line to their certain deaths'

Actually.......the standard rifles from WWI (eg Lee-Enfield, Springfield M1903, and Mauser G98) are actually more accurate than most assault rifles today.

What I would be interesting for me would be a WWI sniper game.

Either that or a multiplayer game where you could design your own trench system and then duke it out and try and assualt each other's trenches

 

[MrGalactus]

It would be the perfect setting for a stealthy spy game

 

[baddude1337]

An epic scale RTS sort of a cross between Company of Heroes gameplay but the Total War series' epic scale I would buy.

 

[theriddlen]

WWI game?

Oh, i got rifle!
*bam
*bam
*bam
*bam
*bam

Okay, now reload.

*one minute of reloading
*bam
*bam
*bam
*bam
*bam

Whaaa? No more ammo?

*something explodes nearby, you lose your sight permanently. Next thirty hours of gameplay are you being in hospital, then game ends with a cliffhanger - you fart. What will happen next?


Exciting, isn't it?

 

[Exocet]

What you've described can be applied to any WW2 game, any Vietnam game, any modern warfare game, and any future warfare game. But we don't complain about those, because WE CUT OUT THE BORING BITS. This is not impossible with a WW1 game, considering the number of fronts there were (of which only the western front developed trenches for a period of time), and the sheer numbers of men and equipment involved.

Again,that's the only real problem with a WWI game,the stigma that it would be boring.
If modern warfare games were given the same treatments as WWI games,we would be complaining that the games would only be 2 hours of sitting around in an army base,then driving an armored car through traffic and getting hit by an IED.

The gentleman I quoted is most wise,people should heed his words.Perhaps it could even help publishers realise there are more settings out there to make a great game.