"CUBE" a Movie That Would Translate Well Into a Game

[Emiscary]

Someone hasn't seen Cube 2: Hypercube I take it?

Yes, yes I have. I was only referring to CUBE in the post, which is why I said CUBE as opposed to Hypercube... thought it was fairly obvious.

Besides, Hypercube was a step down from the original.

 

[RJ 17]

C: A GROUP of people awaken to find themselves in a dangerous unfamiliar location with no idea what's going on.

P: A person wakes up to find herself in a clearly labeled testing facility and provided with a piece of technology to test.

C: A GROUP of people test the nature of that danger and discuss their potential courses of action.

P: A person is given instructions on how to use the technology by a (seemingly) friendly voice.

C: THE GROUP discover more about each other's pasts and are (occasionally, and brutally) killed by the location.

P: The single person experiments with the capabilities of the piece of technology.

C: Despite the almost assured death with each new room, there IS a way to get out without harm.

P: Despite the increasing complexity of each new test, there IS a way to get out.

C: 1 Of the original multitude of people escapes! ...covered in the blood of the 2nd to last member of the group (who had just tried to murder him).

P: The single person escapes!

Edited to reflect reality. The key similarities are mechanical traps, and the basic plot arc of a story wherein the protagonist(s) being confined is a key element. IE: escaping confinement is the primary motivation of the character(s), and them escaping/failing to escape will be the story's ultimate conclusion.

Seriously dude, they're similar in the same way that 2 Asian people are similar. Are there similarities? Sure. Are they similar enough for you dismiss them as identical? Or openly aping one another? No. Not unless you're comfortable with the idea of being ***** smacked by an irate Asian person.

It is unnecessary to highlight "group" with all those examples, as you're pointing out the same difference each time.

As for the other edits, I don't believe I ever said they were exactly the same, nor was I trying to make that assertion. All I've been saying from the beginning with my snarky joke of a response was that Cube and Portal are very similar in terms of setting and plot, I don't see why that's so hard for you to understand. The differences you've pointed out regard the stories - which is something different than plot - for each which are indeed different.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

I'm just waiting for Crytek to make a "Battle Royale" simulator. Now that's an online experience that'd rock peeps socks off....though have fun trying to release an FPS that involves shooting teenagers.

 

[Laughing Man]

A few thoughts

1). As a game it wouldn't work, if I remember correctly the Cube movies worked on the premise that the folk involved did not really know what was going on, once they worked out how to 'solve' the cube the concept of danger all but disappeared. In the terms of the movie it wasn't an issue keeping the viewer interested but in terms of a game, having no risk would make for a boring game.

The only way round it would be to change the rules on the fly, which kinda defeats the point or make the solution so convoluted that you would have no way of solving the problem.

2). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FQLT8qYvW4&feature=related

Yeah someones already done it.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Oh man... Cube. I'd forgotten about that freaking awesome movie. I tracked down a copy of it a few years back after a friend of mine told me about this quasi-horror movie that takes place entirely in a box, and somehow manages to be epic. His description of it was so deeply "wtf?" that I had to see it.

Too bad about the sequel and prequel, though. Best to pretend those never happened.

I'm not sure how well it would translate into a video game, though. I suppose it could work, I'm just not quite sure how.

 

[Emiscary]

Oh man... Cube. I'd forgotten about that freaking awesome movie. I tracked down a copy of it a few years back after a friend of mine told me about this quasi-horror movie that takes place entirely in a box, and somehow manages to be epic. His description of it was so deeply "wtf?" that I had to see it.

Too bad about the sequel and prequel, though. Best to pretend those never happened.

I'm not sure how well it would translate into a video game, though. I suppose it could work, I'm just not quite sure how.

If the rumours about the Fallout mod are true it's not that hard to design.

 

[RJ 17]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

There's a link for all you uninitiated young'uns.

Now then, anyone disagree with me? Because on paper it sounds spectacular as a game. You and a small group of seemingly random individuals with various colorful and suspect pasts find yourself in a sprawling trap filled labyrinth that's constantly reconfiguring. Your goal: escape. Go.

Seriously, the first time I heard about this series of movies I thought for sure they had to be based on games. Turns out I was wrong, but I still think the idea is sound. (Also feel free to ignore the sequels... they're mostly awful... mostly...)

:3 Now that we're done arguing the similarities and differences between between Portal and Cube, I'd like to take up the argument of "No, I don't think it would make for a good game."

Mostly for the reasons you laid out in your "Cube is nothing like Portal!" argument. The appeal of Cube isn't the setting, its the interaction of the characters. The setting is just one identical room after another, some kill you and some don't. It's a psychological thriller that examines the breakdown of various people's psyche when placed in a seemingly hopeless situation.

So what would a game version of Cube be? Hopping from one cubic room to another, hoping you don't get killed in a gruesome way? Figuring out the pattern to follow at which point the game literally becomes a walk-through seeing as how you've removed all possible conflict (the traps)? Or would there be other NPCs around for you to faf about with? At which point the logical question is "why don't I just watch the movie?" seeing as how completely linear the very nature of the Cube would demand the game to be.

Again I'll compare it to Portal. Each room in Portal is unique, you use what you've learned so far to solve a new puzzle. The only puzzle in Cube is "which room do I go to to NOT die" which there are clues. However once you've figured things out, as I said, the rest of the game would be a complete walk-through. Once a Cube trap has activated, you're dead. You're not trapped in a room trying to figure out how to not die, you go into a room and you die.

At best this could only ever be a game mod that is little more than a 3D maze that kills you if you take a wrong turn.

For the record, I did very much enjoy the movie Cube.

 

[Emiscary]

you mean this one?

No, the other Cube themed mod for Fallout

 

[Pinkamena]

Oh god. Yes. Cube was freaking amazing, and a cube-like game would be an instant buy from me!

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

If the rumours about the Fallout mod are true it's not that hard to design.

That's the thing though. I can definitely see it working as a mod, I'm just not sure how to make it work as a commercially available game... which I thought was what you were getting at, though I could be mistaken.

The biggest problem I see hitting it is characters. The big thing that made Cube great was the character interaction, and the different ways they mentally and emotionally coped with the odd situation they were in. To make Cube into a video game, you'd need to do one of three things with regard to characters...

1. AI-controlled NPCs: This would allow NPCs to travel with you through the rooms of your choosing. They would need to have some sort of spoken dialogue, whether automatic idle speaking or actual initiated conversations, and they would need to be able to help (or hinder) you in some way. It would also be particularly cool if it was possible for all of them to be killed, either by room traps or by other characters. This is probably the best course of action in my opinion, since it allows a bit of freedom to the player. Maybe even add in a feature where you could betray and kill them, or maybe they'll attack you if you fail to earn their trust (since the movie implies that each of the characters had something to do with the construction of the facility). But the catch is that it would need pretty good AI to be believable and not unintentionally funny (walking into walls, spouting the same line of dialogue over and over again, getting stuck on terrain, etc.).

2. Scripted characters. You could make far more realistic interactions with other characters this way, and far more realistic solutions to the puzzles... but the problem is that it might make the game feel linear. If solutions to puzzles become linear, it'll make the game feel more like a guided tour than a game. This is probably the best choice to make it look cinematic, but the worst choice to make it fun.

3. No other characters, just you. This is without a doubt the easiest way of doing things as it removes a lot of complexity... but you've also removed one of the major components of the film.

 

[Emiscary]

Sounds to me like the solution is somewhere between options 1 and 2. AI guided NPCS who at certain times or under certain conditions enter into scripted dialogue (maybe this is where the traditional dialogue wheel can make it's appearance?).

Either way if they managed to make the characters alive and engaging the whole thing would be spectacular.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah I can see that being a indie sort of game (I did watch film years ago). However something tell me that game will consit of many "reload" due to party members getting killed and reload to try again or pick another room.

 

[RJ 17]

Yeah I can see that being a indie sort of game (I did watch film years ago). However something tell me that game will consit of many "reload" due to party members getting killed and reload to try again or pick another room.

And see, that's what I'm getting at with my last post.

Even assuming you could get brilliant AI that make the inter-character interaction is deep and compelling as it was in the movie, there's still the matter of the nature of the Cube demanding that the game be unrelentingly linear. You either guess the right room or you don't. And I just can't imagine spending more than an hour or two on a game where that is the only gameplay mechanic there is: pick a door and hope you don't have acid sprayed all over you.

 

[HardkorSB]

I'm just waiting for Crytek to make a "Battle Royale" simulator. Now that's an online experience that'd rock peeps socks off....though have fun trying to release an FPS that involves shooting teenagers.

Now, this probably wouldn't work, especially online, since it would just be another deathmatch game. The movie had a plot and characters you know, and they were the interesting part.
With all the emotional content and social commentary gone, it would be just another TPS/FPS and we have plenty of those.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

There's a link for all you uninitiated young'uns.

Now then, anyone disagree with me? Because on paper it sounds spectacular as a game. You and a small group of seemingly random individuals with various colorful and suspect pasts find yourself in a sprawling trap filled labyrinth that's constantly reconfiguring. Your goal: escape. Go.

Seriously, the first time I heard about this series of movies I thought for sure they had to be based on games. Turns out I was wrong, but I still think the idea is sound. (Also feel free to ignore the sequels... they're mostly awful... mostly...)

Same here.
The cube itself was just a tool to test the humanity of the characters. All the prime numbers and other bull shit was secondary.
If you look up the whole "names of the characters are names of famous prisons" thing, you'll see that it's a character study more than a sci-fi film.
It could work but you would have to change and improve on a lot of things and if you're going that far, why not make something original?

 

[XMark]

I think it would be interesting if it was an online co-op game, which featured some kind of system where there would be rewards for co-operating but also some opportunities to screw over the other players to your own advantage. The movie dealt with themes of morality, trust, and co-operation and how different people work together (or not) in a survival situation.

It would be hard to design something like that which didn't just end up in rampant griefing though.

 

[STARSaIphaTeam]

I just saw someone talking about Cube and I had to get in on this. Amazing movie, not a bad idea for a game. It would probably be a Heavy Rain type of game. Not much action, but a lot of character driven exploration.

 

[bobfish92]

http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=66354

Friend made it.

 

[Emiscary]

http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=66354

Friend made it.

New rule: mods don't count

I wanna see it built from the top down with the same aesthetics and underlying themes as the original in game format. A complex story/character driven... puzzle/sci-fi/horror game..? Technically? Hard to pin it to a particular genre...

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Yeah I can see that being a indie sort of game (I did watch film years ago). However something tell me that game will consit of many "reload" due to party members getting killed and reload to try again or pick another room.

Save scumming would definitely be an issue for some players... but I'm inclined to believe that the ones who would do it for this game would do it for any game that allows for saving at any time.

You do raise a good point, though.

I suppose a checkpoint system or something might work to alleviate that... but the cubes themselves all look more or less the same (beside the color of the lighting), so if you died and got sent back to a checkpoint, it'd be difficult to judge exactly how far back you've been sent.

The more thought I put into this hypothetical game though, the more I am inclined to agree that this would, in general, work much better as a quick little indie puzzle game than a big release.