Books to games

[Jonathan Hexley]

Skulduggery Pleasant, Skulduggery Pleasant, Skulduggery Plea-
OK I'll stop.
Anyway, I toot this book's horn A LOT. Why? Because I love it. It's well written, humorous, and extremely gripping.
Which is why I think it should at least have a game based on it. Not a book-to-game adaptation, but maybe a game that draws from it's characters and such, but changes things around. For example, I just thought that the battle that originally killed Skulduggery could be a prequel level, where you fight hordes of enemies until you get to a certain point, where you die, and then the level ends.
And then, and then... I dunno, I think they could get the new parts written by Derek Landy himself (Skulduggery Pleasant's writer) so that they would stay true to the original style.
Basically, a game based on Skulduggery Pleasant definitely has potential to be an excellent game, it just needs to be handled correctly.

 

[photog212]

Virgil's "Aeneid"
God of War basically ripped this off but I would like to see a more accurate portrayal

 

[Protolandia]

Maybe if we get over the arrogant idea that the game MUST be like the book, since we have discussed that is either too difficult, or very very rare, or impossible, and just enjoy being in the world of the book, playing and interacting in the place we have all wanted to go. I would suggest a similar feeling towards books-to\-movies! I know Dante's Inferno will disappoint people who have read the poem, but come on - just envision the different worlds with their different characters, style, music, etc. It will simply be fun to see, I could care less if it follows some plot line - cause it's a game, NOT the book. I never expect them to be the same. Though, you can still judge a good game and a bad one. Just don't judge it for being exactly like the other media in which the idea was founded - unless it was stated to be just the same, then we can rip it apart for being a heaping pile of game poo.

 

[Meatstorm]

The count of monte cristo would be pretty interesting

I like that idea although you propably would follow the book too much to leave real choices to player?

 

[Cymraeg Phill]

glib much? Lord of the Rings Online is based on a book series, and it is traditionally MMO sandboxish in its design. And that's just one example.

You seem to be processing turning a book concept into a game as a period of directed game-play followed by being fed the book's text. Ignoring the several hundreds of successful games that follow that exact formula, I can name tons of Movie and Comic book franchises that do not use that game style.

Eyes roll at how remarkably dense a comment that was.

The last time this question was asked on the forums, I suggested Dante's Inferno would be a solid title for game development and what has been announced since?

Crime & Punishment would be an awesome sandbox title.

Shakespearean plays, Imagine the game-play that could be taken from Hamlet or Macbeth.

The Grecian theme is really popular right now, so How about a game based on Oedipus Rex or Orestes?

I could go on, there is a lot of potential in literature when it comes to developing interesting game mechanics.

Fair point. Although I have had several bad experiences with certain games that are based on novels but, like you've said, it's probably just a taste of the bad side of what possibly is a good idea. Note I say "possibly" for said reason of a lack of playing a decent novel based game in my lifetime.

Although I'm pretty curious about the frustration you portrayed in your last post, "Eyes roll at how remarkably dense a comment that was" perhaps being the most obvious. I would kindly suggest that if find a comment, like mine, ignorant in some way to PM me rather than vent it over the forums for everyone to see. ;-)

Don't get me wrong, I don't wish to start a fight because obviously there is nothing more pathetic than an argument over a forum, but I just wished to point that last bit out for you to consider in the future as you've pointed out my "flaws", so to speak, in your post.

 

[captain awesome 12]

What about a MIchael Crichton styled game, or Clive Cussler with Dirk Pitt? There is a lot of potential for a Crichton style psychological thriller that could be based on something like his book Prey. An adventure game with Dirk Pitt as lead character could work, only that it would be very similar to Uncharted. I think that the argument that because of characterization and dialogue books don't make good games isn't valid, since why couldn't a game focus more on the character's journey and who they are? Establish gameplay around them, and make them the focus of playing in general. Mix in the plot lines from these books and you'd have a diverse, fast paced, interestingly designed IP.

 

[Sennz0r]

In my opinion the games that were based on books tend to suck a bit. No wait Fellowship of the Ring was quite good, and then there's The Hobbit.

...Nevermind.

 

[Leeathal]

Romance of the three kingdoms was made into dynasty warriors, the warriors turned into the warriors, theres plenty of book to games out there you just need to look.

 

[pillaysteven]

There are a number of books I'd like turned into game but I'm not sure how well they'd work.

My favourite books are the Farseer Trilogy and the Golden Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb. But they're based so much on character development and internal thoughts that it would never work. Also it's set over many, many years so that also would be very difficult to do.

A book that could work is the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathon Strauss. The main character is a demon who is summoned by magicians to do their dirty work. The gameplay would be quite stealthy as he flees from larger demons and uses cunning to get things done. Also he has a number of planes of vision (most demons aren't visible on the lower planes) which could be an interesting gameplay mechanic. It's also quite funny which is always nice to have in a game. Could be pretty cool to be honest.

I'd love to see a game about Jimmy the Hand, a thief from Raymond E. Feist's books. I'd actually think of it as something similar to Assassin's Creed though darker and more lockpicking and thievery.

 

[barryween]

I would play a game based on Cell(By Stephen King). But only if they made it open world and not linear.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Catcher in the Rye
It'd be a dating sim, except there's no way to win.

 

[King wiL]

Though Technically a Manga Comic, then a film, then a book, i'd really love to see a game version of battle royale. naturally it'd have to be multiplayer and have realistic damage, would be hard as hell but awesome!

 

[The Antagonist]

Quite frankly, this is an interesting topic. boss battles seem like a toughy, but overall seems like an interesting subject. i would like to see them try to make the foundation series by issac asimov into a game. lol

 

[plastic_window]

Well a game based on Dante's Inferno is being made.

And it's probably the worst idea anyone has had for a very long time. It also looks to barely follow anything that literally happens in the book. That might be my very cynical opninion of EA, or the fact that someone sticks a crucifix into a shade's skull at the end of the trailer.

 

[Seydaman]

Clancy games and The Witcher...?
then there are things like LOTR games...

the witcher did a good job.

 

[FURY_007]

The count of monte cristo would be pretty interesting

I like that idea although you propably would follow the book too much to leave real choices to player?

Yea i thought about that, but maybe it could be a deus ex type game