lets talk free roaming

[brokenfingers666]

free roaming is one fantastic idea, and has been played out with many a game. from gta to saints row, from crackdown to fallout. but if you could make your own free roaming game, how large and what storyline would you put?

the size of mine would be about the same as the gta 4 map, but i would have a zombie epidemic going on, so you have missions leading up to the ending, which can be as wide and varied as the gta missions, and may not even include the zombies, but it would be damn fun. although this may seem like dead rising, i think that a game minus time limits, minus weapon degredation and so forth, would make one fantastic game!

now whats yours people?

 

[StarkRavingSane]

I'd create a rather linear world with no free-roaming capabilities, yet give the players the illusion that they go wherever they want to and not where I want them to go. I'd achieve this by making my level designers cooperate with top psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists. I would then admire my elaborate web of deceit. In my comfy leather chair. In front of a mahogany desk. By the great, big window. In my office, on the top floor of a ridiculously tall skyscraper. And drink the blood of my enemies from the skulls of my other enemies.

 

[Beltaine]

I'd like to see a modern-day real-world free roamer. The world economy has tanked, governments are out of control, and the people are struggling just to survive under martial law.

Maybe that would hit a little too close to home to sell well though.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

I'd like to see a modern-day real-world free roamer. The world economy has tanked, governments are out of control, and the people are struggling just to survive under martial law.

Maybe that would hit a little too close to home to sell well though.

I'd buy it.

 

[XJ-0461]

I'd like to see a modern-day real-world free roamer. The world economy has tanked, governments are out of control, and the people are struggling just to survive under martial law.

Maybe that would hit a little too close to home to sell well though.

I'd buy it.

What better way to escape reality than see what 2010 will be like?

 

[coldfrog]

I would make The Path.

Oh wait, that's taken.

OK. First, I would find a way to get rid of the violent tendencies that sandbox games tend to encompass. Just about any game I can think of (GTA, Mercenaries, Saints Row, Dead Rising) all tend to be driven entirely by violence. So how would I make it interesting then? Perhaps a property management SimCity type game. You start as buying out a block of low-rent housing for some reason or other (possibly some slight storyline?) with the intention of building them up. You would have to micro manage from the beginning with the intention of making money, but also eventually your goal would be to own as much real estate in the city as possible. Unlike SimCity, though, the city would already be built up and instead of instantly investigating every section of the city, you can drive around to different neighborhoods and check out where you might want to buy or build. Thinking about it, this has the potential for not just exploration, but the city could change on its own, it could be randomly generated from the start, there could be options to include farmland or own factories, or any number of things like that. I like the idea of being able to explore a constantly changing city.