I've been playing around with a new game design as of late and would like to hear the thoughts of The Escapist forum community.
The setting: A cyberpunk-esque future set in New York.
Story-
You play the role of a synthetic humanoid who has just learned of his true nature through the events of a horrendous massacre, during which you have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start a new life. The story features a number of occupations ranging from detective to hitman, all the way up to corporate sabateur.
As you play through the game you will onlock various storylines depending on how you handle certain tasks, developing your character's story. Like many of these open ended RPG's you would have the ability to choose between varying degrees of good and evil, much like in a table-top game. Each disposition would give you access to different plots and subplots, and also affect how characters react to you. There is also a noteriety bar with each alignment, so a player may be quite evil but not well known, or a goody-too shoes but only moderately famous. Actions can effect this noteriety bar; for instance if you decide to murder a cadre of policeman as a hitman, hiding the bodies well or killing them with minimal fuss will mean you are harder to track.
The storylines are not linear though, you can bounce back and forth between occupations and plots as much as you like within reason (If you start out as a detective, you jump to hitman, but you can only jump back to detective if you help them turn in the crimelord your working for, thus closing the hitman strand off OR you could be an "informant" giving tips to the police while working gleefully for your Don of the Future).
As for the story itself, basically the entire game is an exploration of your character and how you play the game will influence how the game ends. You could start off as a hitman, work your way up for more "respectable" clients in the business world, jump to sabateur and stage a coup of the business, achieving a level of power unheard of in the city. You could simply meander around the dreggs of humanity, serving whatever boss pays you until your character becomes so jaded he drowns his sorrow in liquor until he snaps and goes on a killing spree OR ends his own life. The choices are all over the place.
One key feature in the story is that your being hunted. The more noteriety you gain, the more likely that those who want you dead will find you. Only by assuming the identity of other people can you survive. You can use technology to change your face accordingly, assuming the identity of another character OR creating a new interpretation of them. For instance, you walk into a mob boss' bar and he says something like "You ain't Vinnie", to which you can respond a number of ways.
"Vinnie's dead."
"Had to get a new face, cops getting too close."
"'Course it's me ya shithead."
"Your right, I aint him..." (At which point you shoot him, which may be a prerequisite for another mission)
"
Combat-
Each job unlocks new abilities, weapons, and resources for your character. If you choose Detective you would have all of the resources of the police at your disposal (back-up, the police armory, weapons training, charisma bonuses for when dealing with the public etc). A hitman would have less weapons but more innate abilities like intimidation, recognition, and urban combat.
The gameplay would be similar to that of Condemned. Every time an ability is triggered your character can respond accordingly. For instance, if you are a hitman and come to a locked door you can use your skills to hack the pad (You will actually have to cut open the interface and rewire it, then place an electronic device inside the interface to fry it; So no equipment, no hacking).
Your ability to blow people away will also be affected by the job you choose. A hitman would be more of a street fighter, inefficient but brutal and easily defeated by a more skilled opponent, but a sabateur would be able to take someone down quickly and quietly. The downside is that a hitman could bust a cap like nobody's business but a sabateur could only take someone down with a handgun, and even then only at close range.
The AI would act according to who you are fighting. Policeman would be cautious, surrounding whatever building your in and swarming in force once they are mobolized but will retreat if overwhelmed. SWAT would use flashbangs and other disorienting tactics to bring you down. Bums will just keeping coming at you like bulldogs until one of you is dead. Each type of adversary would react differently, meaning each encounter will be a challenge.
Atmosphere-
Think Blade Runner mixed with Neuromancer, a real edgy futuristic world. I'm still trying to peg the settings year...Shooting for somewhere around 2055.
New York is bigger, with artificial islands where the privileged live, while old New York is turned into a ghetto. The entire city is freeroam, with vehicles like motorcycles, cars, planes, and hovercraft. Public transportation is available as well, from monorails to gravity skiffs that ferry workers around the city.
With over 12 occupations planned and plenty of subplots, you'll be going all over the place. There are little "one-shot" story missions that influence your character's growth, missions that can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to complete, allowing you to truly play as you like.
________________________
Well, that's the general idea so far. I know it sounds big, but with a lot of feedback and work on the story I feel this could be a strong enough game for a developer to take interest.
The setting: A cyberpunk-esque future set in New York.
Story-
You play the role of a synthetic humanoid who has just learned of his true nature through the events of a horrendous massacre, during which you have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start a new life. The story features a number of occupations ranging from detective to hitman, all the way up to corporate sabateur.
As you play through the game you will onlock various storylines depending on how you handle certain tasks, developing your character's story. Like many of these open ended RPG's you would have the ability to choose between varying degrees of good and evil, much like in a table-top game. Each disposition would give you access to different plots and subplots, and also affect how characters react to you. There is also a noteriety bar with each alignment, so a player may be quite evil but not well known, or a goody-too shoes but only moderately famous. Actions can effect this noteriety bar; for instance if you decide to murder a cadre of policeman as a hitman, hiding the bodies well or killing them with minimal fuss will mean you are harder to track.
The storylines are not linear though, you can bounce back and forth between occupations and plots as much as you like within reason (If you start out as a detective, you jump to hitman, but you can only jump back to detective if you help them turn in the crimelord your working for, thus closing the hitman strand off OR you could be an "informant" giving tips to the police while working gleefully for your Don of the Future).
As for the story itself, basically the entire game is an exploration of your character and how you play the game will influence how the game ends. You could start off as a hitman, work your way up for more "respectable" clients in the business world, jump to sabateur and stage a coup of the business, achieving a level of power unheard of in the city. You could simply meander around the dreggs of humanity, serving whatever boss pays you until your character becomes so jaded he drowns his sorrow in liquor until he snaps and goes on a killing spree OR ends his own life. The choices are all over the place.
One key feature in the story is that your being hunted. The more noteriety you gain, the more likely that those who want you dead will find you. Only by assuming the identity of other people can you survive. You can use technology to change your face accordingly, assuming the identity of another character OR creating a new interpretation of them. For instance, you walk into a mob boss' bar and he says something like "You ain't Vinnie", to which you can respond a number of ways.
"Vinnie's dead."
"Had to get a new face, cops getting too close."
"'Course it's me ya shithead."
"Your right, I aint him..." (At which point you shoot him, which may be a prerequisite for another mission)
"
Combat-
Each job unlocks new abilities, weapons, and resources for your character. If you choose Detective you would have all of the resources of the police at your disposal (back-up, the police armory, weapons training, charisma bonuses for when dealing with the public etc). A hitman would have less weapons but more innate abilities like intimidation, recognition, and urban combat.
The gameplay would be similar to that of Condemned. Every time an ability is triggered your character can respond accordingly. For instance, if you are a hitman and come to a locked door you can use your skills to hack the pad (You will actually have to cut open the interface and rewire it, then place an electronic device inside the interface to fry it; So no equipment, no hacking).
Your ability to blow people away will also be affected by the job you choose. A hitman would be more of a street fighter, inefficient but brutal and easily defeated by a more skilled opponent, but a sabateur would be able to take someone down quickly and quietly. The downside is that a hitman could bust a cap like nobody's business but a sabateur could only take someone down with a handgun, and even then only at close range.
The AI would act according to who you are fighting. Policeman would be cautious, surrounding whatever building your in and swarming in force once they are mobolized but will retreat if overwhelmed. SWAT would use flashbangs and other disorienting tactics to bring you down. Bums will just keeping coming at you like bulldogs until one of you is dead. Each type of adversary would react differently, meaning each encounter will be a challenge.
Atmosphere-
Think Blade Runner mixed with Neuromancer, a real edgy futuristic world. I'm still trying to peg the settings year...Shooting for somewhere around 2055.
New York is bigger, with artificial islands where the privileged live, while old New York is turned into a ghetto. The entire city is freeroam, with vehicles like motorcycles, cars, planes, and hovercraft. Public transportation is available as well, from monorails to gravity skiffs that ferry workers around the city.
With over 12 occupations planned and plenty of subplots, you'll be going all over the place. There are little "one-shot" story missions that influence your character's growth, missions that can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour to complete, allowing you to truly play as you like.
________________________
Well, that's the general idea so far. I know it sounds big, but with a lot of feedback and work on the story I feel this could be a strong enough game for a developer to take interest.
