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[AltarofScience]

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[GrayingGamer]

(good question, btw. "Pretty much every serious gamer has in mind an ideal game that they wish existed" - I totally agree!)

I've been engrossed by MMOs since Ultima Online. Ever since then, one of my day-dream careers is to develop my own (if I ever won the big lottery. Which I'd have to start playing to win...). It would basically be a mash-up of many genres:

1. Basic character gameplay/control similar to WoW
2. Character development similar to rogue-likes (quicker leveling, permanent death... long-term player progression would take place at the "house" or "family" level - characters would just be trying to earn fame + fortune for their house, and would often die in the process. Lots of true risk vs. reward assessments to be made.)
3. It would be a sandbox world
4. NPCs would be far more well developed and interesting than in other MMOs - like The Sims on steroids
5. Players would play on maps that could be "won" or "lost" over the course of weeks / months, giving each server group a goal to work towards (either competing against computer controlled players on PvE servers, or other players on PvP servers). Once a map was finished, you'd cycle to another one.
6. Server progression on each map would be very similar to RTS / Civ type nation building. Players would strike out and form outposts, harvest resources, establish trade routes, npcs would move in which would allow for upgrading, outposts turn into villages/towns, etc etc.
7. Guilds would obviously be important for organizing some of the bigger tasks, but systems would be in place so that solo players could also contribute to larger server goals. The game would track all contributions and players would be recognized for being excellent resource gatherers, or explorers, or adventurers, etc.

It's basically the most ambitious video game ever which is why it will probably only live in my dreams, but that's part of the fun =)

 

[Maniacal]

1. Basic character gameplay/control similar to WoW

This kills the fun. Why bother making the rest of the game innovative when you use one of the most over-used and boring combat systems in the MMO genre. As for the rest of it, I think Darkfall tries for some of that.

 

[GrayingGamer]

This kills the fun.

I knew that first one would draw out the haters!

So I wasn't gonna say anything, but this thread is about genre smashing with RTS and related genres. Can we please not start the MMO drama? I'd rather people discussed games in the RTS genre only, because its less likely to start a flame war. Also I am on a break from MMOs.

Oh sorry, lol. I'll shut up now.

 

[Disgustipated]

nothing wrong with wow gameplay, it's just a bit dated. Many MMO's offer much better action control from what I heard (I haven't actually played them) like blocking and such. Not that I like rpg's to be action games mind you, but most people do.

I prefer to keep my TBS and RTS out of my RPG games thank you. I hate RTS, but I do like Civ TBS games.

I'd love to see a Fallout MMO, but I'm not sure it would turn out well. I'd just be happy if Obsidian put out another Fallout game (no Bethesda, I prefer they contract that to Obsidian).

You know what my ultimate game is? Any game not designed with the console in mind.

 

[Maniacal]

RTS battles in TBS games are pretty awesome, since they generally rely upon more tactical gameplay rather than who can click the fastest. IE Sword of the Stars and Total War.

 

[GoodGame]

How about you guys? What kind of weird genre mash ups would you like to play? Pretty much every serious gamer has in mind an ideal game that they wish existed. I love to hear the weird and wonderful things that other people come up with.

I think if you look around, you'll find that most mash-ups have been attempted, but it does come down to implementation. Some of them may have been attempted first in the 1990s and 1980s when developers tended to be risk-takers.

My example is that I like the idea of Real Time Strategy-First Person Shooter mash-ups, but of the four or five serious attempts, only two interested me (Empires mod for Half-Life 2; and the indie game Tremulous); ironically they're both mods that are no where near being commercial quality, but they just work out really well. Execution and the finer parts of the design of the mash-up are significant, because like not every peanut-butter + chocolate hybrid is a Reese's Peanut Butter cup.

I think the new Sim City (de facto #5) will be a bit of a Sim multiplayer hybrid. I'm looking forward to that.

But also I think perfect mash-ups sometimes work better on paper, but when they're attempted they're sometimes too much effort to play, or have design problems that aren't obvious until beta.

But if you want RTS-RPG hybrid, then google "MOBA" and "DOTA".

 

[Yui108]

I loved sid meier's pirates. An expanded version of that game with more RPG elements would make my life.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

What game do I wish existed? I wish Spore as it was initially presented, and Spore as I imagined it actually existed.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

What I mean to say is that Spore is an example of a game that could have fused TBS, Simulation and RTS concepts into a single, integrated unit, yet ended up shying away from it and failing as a result. Basically, I want to play a game that is a simulation that incorporates strategy elements, either turn based or real time. I wish Spore could have been a game where your initial biological simulation begins to transition into a small-scale real time strategy at the tribal phase, and continues to gradually scale up into a city simulating strategy game like Caesar, a civilization simulator (perhaps like a real time version of Civ) and ultimately a galactic empire simulator, where your spaceship serves as a cursor for organizing your empire, rather than being the only thing with agency in your entire region of space- it is like trying to play a real time strategy game with base-building elements when you are only able to command one worker/builder/trader/warrior unit at once.

 

[GoodGame]

What game do I wish existed? I wish Spore as it was initially presented, and Spore as I imagined it actually existed.

I wish Spore had been both well-polished (it was) and actually had enough game depth (it wasn't) to actually have endured. I don't think having the sea era would have made the game that much better, just a little more customizable.
It really did try to fuse RTS, minigames, 4X, sim, and even RPG aspects, but it did it in such a shallow way that the game wasn't there. They did a terrific job with customization as a cream topping that became the main cream filling, but in the end it was just creamy and not very 'nutritious' as far as gaming goes.

Spore if anything taught me that user customizability does give a software product more longevity, but still doesn't make it an enduring game. The extra 11 months I played it past the first couple of weeks were just for the artistic/aesthetic fun, not because it had good game play going for it.


EDIT: and yeah SM's Pirates! is a great example of cross-mechanics mash-ups that work, because they didn't put too much stress on the gamer. Even the little bit of line-dancing they added in the re-make.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Exactly GoodGame- Spore's saving grace is its easy-to-use and versatile editors. Still, a game with great character creation and dull, repetitive gameplay has a lot stacked against it.

 

[GrumpyGamerLP]

I would like to see a game similar to Rome Total War. I would love it if you could actually build the cities in the game like in Caesar 4. I would also like a very extensive resource management system.

Here is what I envision. I start building the city of Rome just like in Caesar 4. I have to worry about things like placing roads and building placement. I can watch people and goods move around the city. I decide to build a coliseum only to realize that I need marble and I have no access to it. I go to a 3D world map just like in a Total War game and find a place with marble. I can either buy the marble from that place or I can just conquer them and take it. If I decide to conquer the place then a 3D RTS game starts just like in Rome Total War.

If I decide to conquer a large province then I want it to be a major logistic and strategic undertaking. If I have to invade the large province by sea then I want to have to acquire the wood to build the ships. I want to have to train the craftsmen to build the ships. I want to have to stockpile all the armaments, men and food to launch the amphibious assault. I want to be able to see these armaments, men and the food sitting in warehouses, barracks and granaries. When I am ready to start the war, I want to see these armaments, men and food loaded onto the ships. I want to see a storm hit the fleet at sea and I want to watch some of the ships in my fleet break apart and I want to see the drowning men scream for their mothers before they drown.

I want to be able to rename citizens and watch them live, age and die just like in the Sims. I think it would be cool to be able to bookmark people and check on them as they go through life. It would be cool to bookmark some aristocratic boy and watch him being taught by his Greek slave tutor. As he grows I want to watch him train in a military academy. I want to watch his political and military career. I would love to be able to check on him from any time he is born to when he overthrows the Republic and becomes dictator for life or alternatively when he is murdered in some Roman back alley.

I want it to be an adults only rated game. If I hover my mouse over a brothel then I want the roof to cut away and then I want to see a good old fashioned Roman orgy with full nudity and sex.

I know this game will never happen but I can always dream. This would be the last game I would ever buy. Lol.

 

[attackfighter]

Base building and empire management in turn based style, while battles take place in RTwP style.

By base building I mean something like Age of Empires base building, where you set-up every wall, watchtower and other structure manually. As a kid my favourite thing to do in Age of Empires was to build elaborate and extravagant defences, but I never got to put those defences to the test due to incompetent AI opponents being incapable of assailing them or competent human opponents not giving me the breathing room to build them in the first place. So this would be wish fulfillment fantasy... build TEH ULTIMATE DEFENCE and then perhaps you actually get to use it.

Empire management would be like Europa Universalis - only focusing on grand strategy features such as war, religion, diplomacy. No Civ style crap where you have to improve every tile and build every building manually manually. The only other micromanagement would be manually building defences of strongholds - which would be of course be costly to discourage spam and resultant micro-management overload.

Battles obviously would be in real time with pause, since there's no point in manually playing battles in turn based mode. It's mostly egotistical satisfaction with minor strategy involved. And I guess as an example of what I envision... King Arthur The Roleplaying Wargame. Except without heroes and on a bigger scale (thousands of troops instead of hundreds).

So in summary Europa Universalis with fortress building mechanics and generic RTwP combat. Oh and also lets throw in some add in some sim style mechanics ala Pharoh as well. But not really.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

More good things from the Pyromania Update.